Kristin Lilly was tired of being in the water. She needed a pick-me-up. So, Assistant Coach Bruce Bronsdon gave her one. He threw Lilly and himself into the pool.

Who can blame Lilly, Penn State's sophomore swimming sensation, for being tired? She has been swimming competitively since she was six years old and usually spends up to 11 months of the year in the water.

"It's a sport where you don't get to do anything else," Lilly said, "but I swim because I get a lot of satisfaction out of doing both workouts and competing. Also because I get to do things I like, and am good at."

That is evident in the six Penn State records she holds, plus the outstanding season she had this year, which will be capped at this weekend's NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Ind..

Not all of Lilly's success was expected this year. She was a member of last year's Eastern Championship 800-yard freestyle relay team that qualified for NCAAs, but the big surprise came when she captured two individual and three relay titles at this year's Easterns.

"I'd never would have guessed, this whole year, I'd swim faster," Lilly said. "I can't complain -- I'm eight seconds faster in the 200 freestyle than I was in high school. Penn State has given me a lot of opportunities through the training, coaches and people. It says how really good you'll become if you want to be."

"A Penn State alumnus sent us a news clipping about her," Coach Bob Krimmel said. "We got in contact with her and people wouldn't believe how easy it was to recruit her. We dream of these situations -- 99 percent are not this easy."

This season has proven the coaches made a wise choice. Lilly set Lady Lion records in the 100 and 200 freestyle as well as the 200 individual medley. She was also a member of the 200 freestyle and 400 medley relay squads.

Add to that her impressive performance at Easterns, where she won the 100 and 200 freestyle races, and was a part of the 200 freestyle, 800 freestyle and 400 medley relay teams. The medley relay, consisting of Denise Sonntag, Beth Haas, Kristen Elias and Lilly, will compete in NCAAs.

"We thought she would do well. We sort of expected it and wanted it, but when it happens, it's a great feeling." Krimmel said. "Just because we thought she'd do it, it doesn't make it less exciting."

Even with all of the victories, the modest side of Lilly begins to surface.

"Easterns was different," Lilly said. "Up on the podium it's a different atmosphere than being on the blocks, where you belong. But up there with the relay next to you, it's fun."

When speaking of the relay, the competitive nature and team swimmer in Lilly appears.

"The relays are most fun. I sort of like anchoring -- it depends. I guess I do, it works. I like it as long as I touch the wall first." Lilly said.

Next up for Lilly are the NCAAs, where she will compete in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events as well as the 200 freestyle and 200 and 400 medley relays.

"I like the 200 freestyle race because I feel like I have more control, the most confidence," Lilly said. "Because I'm a more of a middle distance swimmer, there's more to it than a sprint, but it's not too long. But the team makes it fun. It's a nightmare to go into the pool by yourself. It's fun to have someone to share it with."

Three other Lady Lions will join Lilly on her trip to Indianapolis, but that isn't enough to her.

"It's very disappointing, there was no one here over spring break." Lilly said. "There are a lot of people on this team who are so good and so fast. People who worked so hard couldn't go."

"She is a fierce competitor with drive and determination," Krimmel said, "yet she is modest because she swims with people as competitive as she is. She wants to be good, but she is conscious of those around her."

Going into the NCAAs against the likes of Mitzi Kremer, Angel Myers and most of the 1988 Olympic team, Lilly has her work cut out for her. Yet she takes it in stride.

"I love that stuff. It's so much easier to chase people and that's what I get to do -- chase the girls with big names." Lilly said. "The fact that I swam some of them (during the year), there is no reason why I can't beat some of them there."

This being her second trip to NCAAs makes it a little more relaxing, although not a lot. In describing the atmosphere, Lilly mentioned how intense and nerve-racking the feeling is, due to the amount of preparation each participant experiences.

Three-time national qualifier Elias agrees.

"It's a whole different league." Elias said. "With everyone in the country, the feeling is intense. Of course one of Kristin's strengths is her competitive nature and determination. The fact that she just doesn't want to lose."

After the season she has had, future opponents will be more wary of Lilly. That also means that repeating the kind of season she has had will not be easy.

"I know it's going to be hard to do, my times were consistent," she said. "I outlasted a lot of people by my fingertips. Next year there will be more pressure, but every meet I get more experience so I should get mentally tougher.

"I just have to keep doing what I did this year, yet I'm starting all over, I still have to make my cuts again."

Lilly will train this summer at the Santa Barbara Swim Club, where she hopes training will be less rigorous than the workouts she put in last summer at Bernal's Gators, a Harvard club.

Even though she graduates a year before the Olympics, she said that the extra year will benefit her, since she has the entire time to devote to swimming instead of balancing the pool and school.

"It's perfect -- that's a whole year to train," Lilly said. "I could still work and swim. Let's just say, if I made Olympic trials, I'd train."