Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
With one season remaining in her collegiate swimming career, Joslyn Jurski has made school history.
The Clay alum, who is a junior at Clarion University in Pennsylvania, recently finished her season off by competing at the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships in Indianapolis.
She swam in four events — 1650 freestyle, the 1000 free, the 500 free and the 200 free — and in each one, surpassed the NCAA B cuts to get to nationals.
As a team, the Golden Eagles finished 10th with 140 points.
Nova Southeastern won the national title with 475 points, followed by Drury, which had 463 points.
The previous week saw Jurski become the first female swimmer at Clarion in 12 years to win two individual conference titles. She took first at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships in the 1000 free and the 1650 free.
"I can say that my coach and I were happy with how the season ended,” Jurski said. “When she was recruiting me going into freshman year (of college), she said, ‘I know you can break some school records and get to the national meet.’ That was a goal we have been working on for some time. I barely missed making the national meet as a freshman and sophomore."
At the PSAC Championships, Jurski became the first Golden Eagle woman to win two individual conference championships in more than a decade.
Clarion’s head coach, Brehan Kelley, has led the boys and girls programs since 2016 after working as an assistant coach for seven years before that.
"My coach was an All-American who swam at Clarion and has been here (coaching) for quite a few years,” Jurski said. “As a freshman, we tried to figure out what I was going to be doing as far as training (and) certain yardage. We have definitely figured out what I need training-wise. She's a great coach, is easy to talk to and very caring. She wants to see her athletes succeed in or out of the pool and in the classroom.
Needless to say, being a student-athlete is certainly a challenge, especially for someone majoring in two disciplines — business management and accounting.
"It's quite difficult,” Jurski said of her balancing act. “There are some late nights studying and doing homework. I've always been very particular about my school work and prioritized what needs to be done. I just make sure I stay on top of my school work.
“The professors know we're student-athletes and take into consideration practices and meets. They accommodated me with turning in assignments (at different times). School comes before swimming. I have to get my school work done before I can focus on swimming."
Jurski said the work is time consuming, but worth it.
"Every morning, I get up and we have a 6 a.m. practice until 7:30,” she said. “Three days a week, we lift (weights) for an hour. Two days a week, during the afternoon, we have practice from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. We swim one day on the weekend. When we're in season, we have meets about every week, so it is very time consuming, (but) it is worth it in the end. It's always been time consuming. I always had to pass up spending time with my friends in high school.
"You have to be willing to do what others aren't."
Jurski's brother, Trevor, graduated from Clay in '21 and currently attends Lake Erie College. Her parents are Jim and Heidi, and Jim Jurski is known to many in the area because he is the principal at Clay High School.
Joslyn, meanwhile, will soon start preparing for her senior campaign.
"Right now, I'm on a little break as my coach wanted me to take off a couple of weeks,” she said. “We'll be lifting soon, and I swim at the Greater Toledo Aquatic Club with Coach Brent Ransom."
When she was in high school, she also used to swim at the Eastern Community YMCA in Oregon.
"It was definitely a big jump going from the Clay swim team to swimming collegiately,” she said. “My greatest memory was that it was always a goal going into high school was to make it to state, and I (qualified) my sophomore year in the 200 free," she said. "Just knowing I was capable of doing that was special — setting goals, swimming in college, being a conference champion, and making it to the national meet.
"In high school, we had a smaller team, and it was more individualized. I had a great group of friends on the team, and going to college, there are 40-plus kids on the team. College swimming, I enjoy it very much. You get to create bonds with all different groups of people."
