Katie Howlin ’12

Emily Baturka ’12 is a Co-Captain of the Episcopal Varsity Girls’ Swim Team, and is an accomplished athlete who was recruited to swim for the University of Pennsylvania next year. Baturka has been a contributor on Episcopal’s team since she was in eighth grade. Since then, she has been a two-time Delaware County Swimmer of the Year, a five-time All-American, and a two-time winner of the Episcopal Most Outstanding Swimmer award. In addition to these awards, Baturka has placed first in the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championship in the 50 yard freestyle and she holds four school records.

Scholium: What are your main events?

Baturka: Sprint Freestyle and Backstroke.

S: What are your goals for the team this season?

B: For a team, our goal is to make this as enjoyable an experience as possible. We work hard in the water but also support each other and push each other to succeed. We all have different strengths and talents so we are able to push one another. It would be great to win the Inter-Ac this year, but even if we don’t, I will still be incredibly proud of the girls because they work incredibly hard at practice and leave everything in the pool at meets.

S: What event are you looking forward to participating in?

B: We are anticipating our dual meet against Germantown Academy [on] January 20 as this meet will likely determine the Inter-Ac championship. Also, our final meet of the season, Easterns, will be exciting. It will be my last meet for Episcopal and our medley relay has an opportunity to win this year. Our relay has been together for three years now and last year we got second by only .08 seconds.

S: When did you start swimming? What got you into it?

B: I started swimming when I was 10 because I did not want to go to any day camps that summer. During the first week of practice we had time trials and my coach, Matt Stewart, saw a lot of potential in me. He really encouraged me to pursue swimming and get involved in clubs in the winter and from there, I became more and more involved in the sport.

S: What is your prediction for Episcopal’s season? Do you think you can win the Inter-Ac title again?

B: My sophomore year, we won the Inter-Ac title along with GA and PC but this year we believe we have a shot to win it outright. The title will most likely be determined at the GA/EA dual meet in January. We have been training really hard and hope to give GA, a team that has always won the title, a run for their money.

S: What is your favorite experience with EA swimming?

B: My favorite experience with EA swimming was the meet sophomore year where we beat GA. The medley relay starts every meet and after their coach saw our team annihilate his relay, he was scrambling to reconfigure his lineup because he knew he was in trouble. It was such an exciting atmosphere on deck because we were excited to race and were optimistic that we could beat them. At the end of the meet, we all jumped into the water with our fully clothed coaches celebrating.