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W&J senior Orstein concludes swimming career
The 200 breaststroke will be the last of Orstein's three events at the NCAA Division III championships and cap a career that has made her one of the most decorated athletes ever at Washington & Jefferson.
The 25-time Presidents' Athletic Conference champion also will swim in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke at the final meet, which begins today. She holds NCAA DIII records in the 200 breaststroke and the 200 IM.
"I just want to surprise people," said Orstein, of Mt. Lebanon. "I just want to do the best I can. I surpassed what I thought I was going to do at (the PAC championships), so I'm not going to put any expectations on nationals. I'd just like to be better than anything before."
Orstein has been making headlines since high school, winning six individual PIAA titles, setting school and state records and helping Mt. Lebanon to three WPIAL titles and one PIAA team crown.
She qualified for and competed in the 2004 Olympic Trials in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter individual medley. In 2006, she traveled to the Macabi Australia International Games in Sydney and won five gold medals for Team USA, both personal career highlights.
Last month at the PAC Swimming and Diving shampionships, the senior was named Most Valuable Performer for the fourth consecutive season and set pool, school, invitational and conference records in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.
Coming to a close
Kaitlyn Orstein, a Mt. Lebanon graduate, will end her swimming career as one of Washington & Jefferson College's most decorated athletes ever. She swims her final three events this weekend at the NCAA Division III championships at Miami University's Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center in Oxford, Ohio. Here is her schedule of events:
Today - 200 individual medley
Friday - 100 breaststroke
Saturday - 200 breaststroke
Orstein, 22, admits that the years of ultra-early morning and afternoon sessions, the attention to diet and nutrition and the need for plenty of rest have not always been easy. When friends head out to have fun, she often declines and turns in early.
But it's that drive, said her father, Michael, who is her coach at W&J, that makes her great.
"The sport of swimming is very important to her," he said. "It's a big part of who she is and what she does and it really defines her. She takes a great deal of pride in being the best and she's one of the most focused athletes I've ever been around."
Kaitlyn said the significance of her long list of accomplishments probably hasn't sunk in yet, but her father has chronicled her career every step of the way.
"He's made a scrapbook of every article ever written about me," said Orstein, who appeared in Sports Illustrated's March 10th issue in the "Faces in the Crowd" section. "I don't think I really understand everything I've done yet, but probably one day."
After graduation, Orstein will join her mother working in real estate. She also hopes to coach high school swimming somewhere in the area.
"(This weekend) will be bittersweet; it will be sad ending it," Orstein said. "But I've had a great career, so I'll be happy to end on a high note."
