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Ed Zawatski came. He saw. He conquered.
In his four years on the Wyoming Valley West boys swimming team, not once did a District 2 swimmer ever beat Zawatski in a race. Not when he was a freshman. Not when the sprinter tried his hand at medley, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke or even distance events. Not even close at regionals.
Unblemished in hundreds of races, Zawatski leaves his mark as one of the top male swimmers to ever come out of the Wyoming Valley Conference. Adding to an already crowded resume that saw four regional championships, two state medals and two district records this year, The Times Leader names Zawatski its Boys Swimmer of the Year for the second straight season.
He said that the most memorable part of his career was forging relationships with opposing swimmers in the conference.
“It is definitely different people met in my life through swimming,” he said. “If I think about it, technically I feel a part of four different teams – WVW, Holy Redeemer, Pittston Area, and Crestwood. Sharing what I can do and the experiences that I had with all of the different swimmers of those teams… that’s the best takeaway from my four years.”
Zawatski will be taking his talents to the Big Ten next year. He signed a National Letter of Intent to swim at Purdue University on April 17 – his birthday. Immediately after making his decision, he received a flurry of congratulatory and birthday texts from his soon-to-be Boilermaker teammates.
“A lot of the talk in the swimming world is that the Big Ten is the place to be,” he said. “I’ll get to swim against Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana, some of the top programs in the country. It’ll really be a place for me the flourish. Everyone is advancing themselves and learning through competition.”
He said he chose Purdue because of its academic reputation, the coaches that “want to transform” him “into a huge threat at the NCAA level”, and the closeness of the Purdue team that reminds him of his own Wyoming Valley West squad.
Zawatski was fortunate enough to gain the last spot on Purdue’s relay team. He’ll be swimming in the 50 and 100 free, and will play around with the 100 backstroke and 200 free races.
His senior year was the one he finally took the elusive 50 free District 2 record that he’d be pining for four years. After coming 13-hundredths of a second short in his junior year, he overtook personal idol Jamie Grennan, of Delaware Valley, with a 20.36 second finish for a regional title.
He also broke his own District 2 record in the 100 free with a 45.58 second finish. Toying with breathing patterns throughout the season enabled him to find success in the event.
“The 100 free was very unique,” Zawatski said. “Every time I swam it, I swam it differently. I tried a different thing each time and my times increasingly dropped every time I swam it. I’d take no breath for the first 25 yards. Then take a breath three specific times.”
At states, he finished with a silver medal in the 50 free in 20.54 seconds. For the first time in his career, Zawatski garnered a state medal in the 100 free, coming in fourth place at 45.11 seconds.
His speedy times will only drop more significantly in the Big Ten. Zawatski is one of the few sprinters to abstain from the weight room.
“A lot of the guys I swim against lift weights. I’m saving up a little,” he said. “In college, I’ll have a professional nutrition, strength trainer, everything. My whole high school career I stayed away from the weight room. Occasionally, I’d go in there to use the medicine ball.
“It blew the college coaches’ minds when I told them. I love to race. Racing is everything.”
Zawatski won the 400 free relay at regionals with Stanley Zaneski, Logan Fluegel and Llyam McGlynn in 3:19.86. His 200 free relay team with McGlynn, Fluegel and Terry Vrabec won regionals in a time of 1:38.33.
The Zawatski name will still carry a huge swimming presence in the coming years. His brother Josh was also a member of the Spartans’ WVC champion team and claimed a fifth place medal in the 100 free.
“Our team had much more positive attitude with all of the new faces and senior leadership,” Ed said. “Positive attitude and positive environments make everyone swim better.”