By Eric Rhew
Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations
TOWSON, Md. – Sometimes, the decisions we make are based on gut feelings. Junior Kayla Zeller had one of those when she quickly made up her mind to attend Towson and become a member of the Tiger swimming and diving team.
“When I came here on my recruiting trip, I called my mom and told her that I wanted to come here,” Zeller explains. “My mom said 'It's only the first day. You still have other schools to look at.' But, I knew.
“I even signed early and canceled the other recruiting trips,” she added.
Towson was her top choice despite visiting other high-profile schools like Louisville, Miami (OH), Pitt and Michigan State. While those other schools could persuade her with a mix of facilities, Zeller's main focus was on getting better as a swimmer.
“While the other places were nicer and had better facilities, I knew that if I came here, Pat would make me faster and that was really important,” Zeller said.
For the Tigers, Zeller was a perfect fit for a group of distance swimmers who have helped the team win back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association championships. While classmates Meredith Budner and Brooke Golden have grabbed most of the headlines, Zeller is only worried about one thing – winning.
“I am not a person who worries about being in the newspapers and I really don't worry about it,” Zeller says. “When we swim together, I want us to go 1-2-3. I don't care in what order as long as it's 1-2-3.”
For the most part, Budner and Golden usually finish in the top two places in the 500-yard and 1000-yard freestyle events. But, Zeller earned her first win of the season in the 1000-yard freestyle in last Saturday's dual meet against Maryland and UMBC.
As a sophomore, the Landisville, Pa. native was the Tigers' fifth-leading scorer at the CAA Championship after placing fourth with a career-best time of 4:51.64. She also finished fourth in the 400-yard individual medley and had a seventh-place effort in the 1650-yard free.
During her freshman year, Zeller scored 43 points for the Tigers, which ranked 11th among all swimmers at the meet. She was one of three Tigers to earn an NCAA 'B' cut in the mile, finishing fifth at the CAA Meet with a time of 16:52.20.
Being a college swimmer is tough; Zeller's daily schedule is a great example of the dedication it takes to be successful. She wakes up at 5:50 a.m. three days a week and after a 45-minute lifting session, she is in the water from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
Then, she is either in class or studying until 12 noon before returning to the pool. She will go through some dryland exercises before jumping back in the pool for a two-hour workout from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
After her second workout of the day, it's back to class for another three hours. However, Zeller is okay with the schedule and likes how regimented it is.
“I like to be very scheduled,” she said. “If I get off schedule, it totally throws me off. It has helped me throughout my entire life. Even in high school, I had to be scheduled and very regimented.”
According to Coach Pat Mead, the goals for Zeller are definitely reachable this year.
“I don't think it is unrealistic for Kayla to have a goal of making the NCAA Championship in the mile and being there,” Coach Mead said. “If she stays healthy and focused and continues to believe in herself, I think it's actually a real good possibility that it could happen this year.”
And that just might be one of those good, gut feelings too.
