After making hundreds of turns to the home stretch, Lauren Kalinosky knows that the end is truly in sight for her. Kalinosky is a senior for the Eastern Michigan University women’s swim and dive team.
She comes to EMU from Mattawan, Mich., which is five minutes from Kalamazoo and the hometown of EMU volleyball player Megan Crawshaw.
Although she does not mind saying that Mattawan is her hometown, Kalinosky prefers Kalamazoo more.
“If I just say Mattawan, then no one really knows where it is at, so I just tell most people I am from Kalamazoo,” Kalinosky said.
Before coming to EMU, Kalinosky was a three-sport athlete at Mattawan High School; she was on the swimming team and played soccer and softball.
Ultimately, she chose swimming over the other two sports.
“I did not have good hand-eye coordination on the soccer and softball fields,” she said.
Kalinosky is a sports management major and her favorite subject is sports marketing.
“I enjoy the hands-on, creative side to it,” she said. “We actually worked with some make-up products and had to figure out a business plan.”
When it comes to traveling, she doesn’t go out of state often, but says that Alaska is her favorite place to go. In fact, one of her favorite Alaskan trip memories is going bass fishing with her uncle, who is a charter boat captain.
“We caught salmon and other types of fish,” Kalinosky said. “Once all of the fish were caught, he filleted them on the dock and showed me the step-by-step process of doing it properly. Once the filleting ended, me and the whole family ate all of the fish.”
When not in the classroom or the pool, Kalinosky likes to unwind by reading books and singing tunes by Whitney Houston and Celine Dion.
“I just like to listen to music in my room and put it on high,” she said.
Kalinosky’s biggest role model is her mother.
“I know it is cliché, but I love her so much and she has always been there for me,” Kalinosky said. “I instantly cried when I hugged her on Senior Day.”