Adam Kolb returns for his senior year of swimming as a captain and one of the strongest members on the team. Kolb took two individual silvers and a bronze at last year’s Midwest Conference championships and hopes to further that su ccess over the course of this season. In addition to his pursuits in the pool, Kolb has been honored by the university for having the highest GPA in the graduating class of 2006.Hometown: St Paul, Minn.
Major: Biology
How he became interested in swimming: “My parents threw me into the pool when I was about 3 for swim lessons. After I finished the last level of lessons, my teacher told me he would be upset if I didn’t join a swim team. Since I was 9 at the time, this guy seemed pretty huge, and I didn’t want to make him upset.”
Goals for this year’s season: “Placing in the top two in conference as a team, beating Grinnell in the 400 freestyle relay as the last swim of my career, setting best times in the events I swim at conference, and generally enjoying my last season as much as possible.”
Favorite past swimming memory: “I have a lot, but the 200 medley relay at conference last year sticks out even though it’s a bittersweet memory. We set the school record but got disqualified on a controversial call. We swam the relay again as a time trial the next day, and swam an even faster time, but got disqualified again for a relay start that was too fast. We couldn’t believe that we got disqualified twice, because we had done hundreds of starts off each other and had them pretty much nailed, but it’s the ref’s opinion that counts. Even if the time was never official, we know we have that record.”
Plans for after graduation: “I am taking the MCAT in April. Next year I’ll be working in the Cardiovascular Repair Center at the University of Minnesota, taking biochemistry, and applying to medical schools.”
Who would win in a fight, Mike Tyson or a Cheetah?: “The cheetah would flee from Mike Tyson’s high-pitched taunts like a dog obeys a dog whistle, unless Tyson had already bitten off both the cheetah’s ears.”
But why male models? “J.P. Prewitt, world’s greatest hand model, might be better prepared to answer this question.