As a senior in high school, choosing a college can be quite tough and it definitely was no easy task for DU freshman swimmer Karen Iverson.
When springtime rolled around in the Iverson household last year things were still stressful and the college decision was still up in the air. Being heavily recruited for her skills in the pool, Iverson had many choices to choose from, especially two that her family had history with.
“My mom wanted me to stay in state and my dad was pushing the academies, so it was tough,” explained Iverson.
Her mom and dad met in the army, as her dad was drafted and her mom was a nurse at the time.
Her brother recently graduated from West Point and is currently in training to become a ranger and her sister is currently in the Air Force. Iverson was also being looked at by Rutgers, CSU, Maryland and Missouri.
“I was looking at the Air Force Academy and West Point, because of all of the opportunities you get as soon as you graduate, there is so much open for you,” said Iverson. “I was really interested in that and I could handle the physical pressure.”
As the decision time came, the Littleton native decided in the end that she wanted to be close to home and also enjoy the college experience and thus she choose DU.
“I decided to go to DU because of Coach Jim and also because I wanted more of a college experience and see how far I could go with swimming,” said Iverson.
With her brother and sister already avid swimmers, Iverson decided to make it a family thing as she dove into the pool for the first time at age five. She then started to swim club and then swam high school for two years until her club coach decided it would be better if she swam club year round.
Iverson’s specialties in the pool include the 100 and 200 fly and the 200 and 400 IM as well as relays.
“My favorite part of swimming has to be the competition,” said Iverson. “I like to get up and race and try to win and be the best in my heat.”
This year has been no different than the past for Iverson as she has put up amazing numbers in the pool, including bests of 2:08.39 in the 200 fly (which is a second off of the NCAA qualifying time), 57.89 in the 100 fly and 2:05.7 in the 200 IM.
“This year I want to get NCAA’s in the 200 fly, and right now I am a second off of that, and in three years I would like to see myself in the Olympic trials,” said Iverson.
When she isn’t swimming she also likes to have some fun.
“I watch a lot of TV and movies and like to play video games like Super Nintendo, and just hang out with my friends,” said Iverson.
It might have been a tough decision choosing between all the colleges, but in the end DU is very happy to have Karen in the pool for four years.
