During her freshman season at Wheaton College, Katie Cialkowski quickly asserted herself as one of the team's best swimmers.

A year ago, Cialkowski was named the College Conference of Illinois Wisconsin (CCIW) champion during the league meet in the 200-yard freestyle. To go along with her individual championship, Cialkowski also helped Wheaton to first-place finishes in the 400 and 800-yard freestyle relays.

After tasting that success a year ago, teh sophomore is focused on another successful campaign in her second collegiate season.

"Last year I ended the season with some personal best times, and had the chance to swim at the Division III national meet on a relay, and made honorable All-American," said Cialkowski. "This year, I feel like I'm training better and stronger than I was last year."

In the 200-yard freestyle, the meet she is most familiar with, Cialkowski swam a 1:53.66 (her personal-best in the event) at the CCIW Championships, and captured first place for Wheaton in the event.

"I really wanted my race to be an offering to the Lord, in a sense that I didn't want to swim for my own accomplishment or for my own glory," Cialkowski said. "I just wanted to race the race the best I could. I wanted to race, not for a personal-best time, but just because I wanted to accomplish what I have the ability to accomplish."

With her time in the 200-yard freestyle in the league meet, Cialkowski also qualified for the NCAA Women's Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, where she swam in two relay events. Wheaton won the league meet, defeating second-place Carthage College by over 150 points.

"I felt really grateful to have that chance to swim [at nationals]," Cialkowski said. "I qualified for the meet because I was part of the 800 freestyle relay with three other girls on my team. Because I had obtained a certain time swimming in our conference meet, I was also able to race my individual 200 freestyle. On the relay, I was able to swim my best time by over a second when I entered the relay."

While she certainly made her mark in an individual race, there's something about team relays that pushes Cialkowski even harder. That determination led Wheaton to championships in the 400- and 800-yard freestyle relays at the CCIW meet. The two relay teams were also awarded honorable All-American at nationals.

"I really do love swimming on a relay," Cialkowski said. "I think that really fuels me to push myself harder because I don't want to disappoint others."

At the Division III Championships, Wheaton finished in ninth place (7:30.41) in the 800-yard freestyle relay and 10th (3:27.44) in the 400 free relay.

Three meets into her sophomore season, Cialkowski is back in the pool as she continues to make her mark on Wheaton's program. She has personal bests on the season of 55.74 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, 1:58.92 in the 200-yard freestyle, 1:39.86 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, 5:24.17 in the 500-yard freestyle and 3:39.55 in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Cialkowski, a 2012 graduate of Salisbury High School, went to states each year as a Falcon. She earned three state medals over her high school career, and it's clear she has channeled that success onto the collegiate level.

"My high school coach at dual meets, I loved that his emphasis wasn't necessarily on time, but on pushing through hard races even when I was tired," Cialkowski said. "And making sure that, even if the time was what I wanted it to be, he did make sure that I gave everything I had to every race."

Cialkowski's other personal bests at the collegiate level are: 25.78 in the 50-yard freestyle, 53.15 in the 100-yard freestyle, 2:20.47 in the 200-yard IM, and 5:09.73 in the 500-yard freestyle.