Boys swimming: Crown Point’s Kukurugya getting better with sectionals near

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Crown Point's Mike Kukurugya looks at his time after placing first in the 50 Yard Freestyle during the DAC boys swim and dive meet on Saturday, January 28, 2012, in Crown Point. | Scott R. Brandush~Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 8, 2012 8:16AM

Between high school and age-group competition, swimming is pretty much a year-round sport for someone like Mike Kukurugya.

But the Crown Point junior does have other interests outside of the pool, including hiking and rock climbing. “It’s just something fun that keeps you fit and active,” Kukurugya said.

And when he’s not climbing the walls at gyms in Homewood, Ill., and elsewhere, Kukurugya is moving upward in other ways. He had season-best times in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke at the Duneland Athletic Conference meet two weekends ago, winning the former in 21.85 seconds and going 54.42 to finish third in the latter. Those times both rank in the state’s top 20, and have Kukurugya encouraged as the Bulldogs gear up for next week’s sectional.

“This is the fastest I’ve ever been at this point in the season,” he said. “I’m definitely happy with where I’m at.”

Crown Point coach Doug Norris could see that pretty easily at the DAC meet, especially when Kukurugya became one of the few non-Chesterton winners by taking first in the 50 free.

“There’s this thing I call a ‘gold medal smile,’” Norris said, recalling a motivational video of an Olympic swimmer who overcame adversity to win gold. “Mike had that same type of look.”

Norris thinks this could be the breakout season for Kukurugya, who went to state in both the 50 free and 100 back last season but didn’t reach the finals. He also was on the Bulldogs’ sixth-place 400 free relay team along with fellow returnee Johnny Lynk and on the 13th-place 200 medley relay team with Lynk and current senior Dan Kvachkoff. “He’s always had time drops at the end (of the season), but this time I think he’s due,” Norris said of Kukurugya. “I think he’s mentally there.”

Kukurugya is playing a more prominent role this season for Crown Point now that standouts Blake Yeager and Marcus Trybula have graduated. “I think that happened (at the end of) last year when they were done,” Norris said. “He put in a load of work.”

The Crown Point coach keeps a log of how many practices each swimmer takes part in each season and Kukurugya is at 120 percent — not only has he made every Bulldogs workout, he’s also done extra sessions on his own.

The hope is that all that effort will pay off at the end of the month at the state finals in Indianapolis. “I really want to go down and place top eight in both individual events,” Kukurugya said.

Before that will be the Munster Sectional, where Kukurugya will be looking at more than just individual goals. The team race looks to be wide open with Northwest Crossroads champ Munster, NWC runner-up Highland and DAC powers Crown Point and Lake Central all in the hunt.

“Sectional is definitely going to be very good this year,” Kukurugya said. “It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens. Lake Central, Munster, Highland — they all have a bunch of great swimmers.”

And so does Crown Point. Case in point: Kukurugya.