On Thursday, University of Hawai‘i swimmer Karol Ostrowski is set to compete at the NCAA Division I Championships in Federal Way, Wash., where he'll be one of 66 swimmers in the men's 50 yard freestyle competition.
Ostrowski, a native of Poland, is competing in the NCAA championship for the fourth time, competing in each year of his college career. Ostrowski has reached the pinnacle of collegiate swimming four times, but he also has reached the pinnacle of the sport overall. He swam in the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021, representing Poland in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay.
"It was amazing," Ostrowski said of swimming in the Olympics. "The only sad part was that it was during COVID. It was pretty weird to swim in such a beautiful pool with so many seats around you, but all of them were empty. It was amazing to race with the best people in the world. It was amazing to meet (American gold medalist) Caeleb Dressel. I even switched my (swimming) cap with him. That was really cool.
"It's a cool experience, but it's not enough. I think the next three years, I have to focus and try my best to qualify for the (2028) Olympics in Los Angeles, and then after that, I'm gonna have this full experience with the crowd and everything, and then I can finish my career."
Ostrowski began his collegiate career at Drury University, an NCAA Division II school in Springfield, Mo. He dominated at the Division II level, winning 50, 100 and 200 yard freestyle titles in 2021.
"I was doing really good there. I just always felt that I want to race with faster people," he recalled. "I know that the fastest people are in DI and I remember the second year when we came to Hawai‘i for a camp with Drury. I just fell in love with this place. When we were leaving, I was thinking that if there's ever gonna be an opportunity to come to Hawai‘i and live here a few years, I'm gonna take it, and straight after that, the opportunity came. I didn't even think a second. I just chose to come here."
In his first year at UH, Ostrowski set school records in the 50 freestyle (18.89 seconds) and 100 freestyle (42.43).
"Karol, in a lot of ways, is the complete package," first-year UH swimming coach Steve Allnut says. "As an athlete, he is great on land. He's strong, tall, long arms, big hands, big feet. As a swimmer in the water, he connects really well with the water, and he's able to do everything he could ever ask in the short course pool. He also has a great feel for the water. When he is swimming fast, it looks like he's going very smoothly, and he's not fighting the water, but he loves to work with it. He's just an all-around waterman."
Ostrowski did not make the Division I 50 free finals in 2024, where the margin for error is incredibly thin. The University of Florida's Josh Liendo won with a time of 18.07 seconds in the finals, while Arizona's Jonny Kulow, the last of eight, finished in 18.77.
While the 2025 NCAA Tournament began on Wednesday, competition for 50 free begins on Thursday, with prelims set to begin at 7 a.m. HST. If Ostrowski were to make the finals, he'd take the pool again at 3 p.m. HST.
"From what I remember last year, the energy was crazy during NCAAs," Ostrowski said. "When you start walking around the pool, you actually feel that there's just fast people around you. I think that was the coolest part I remember. And the most important thing is the hardest part is behind me. I was training really hard the whole season, and now it's just time to have fun. Stick to the plan. Have fun."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
