Kovalenko set to make Upper Perkiomen history as first Class 3A state swimmer

Kyle Kovalenko was not a natural when he started swimming at the Upper Perkiomen YMCA when he was 8 years old.

No matter how hard he tried or practiced, Kovalenko couldn’t get down the efficient motions of the freestyle or butterfly kicks.

“My legs always bent in weird awkward positions,” the Upper Perkiomen senior said.

The problem did not exist in the breaststroke, however, as Kovalenko’s awkward leg movements, paired with his broad shoulders have made him a perfect fit for the event, taking him all the way to the PIAA Boys Swimming Championships for the third time.

Kovalenko will represent Upper Perkiomen at states this weekend, swimming in the 100 breaststroke on Saturday. After competing at the Class 2A level during the past two years, he’s the first Upper Perk boy ever to represent the school at the Class 3A level with the Indians moving up a classification this year.

“It is pretty awesome to be competing against the guys at this upper level,” Kovalenko said. “It was awesome last year going to states and all, but this year it’s even more of a big deal because this is the best of the best in the whole state.”

“With a small school like ours, when you’re moved up like that, that doesn’t usually happen,” Upper Perk head coach Brien Kalnoski said. “He really had to work hard to get to this level.”

Kovalenko went to 2A states for the first time as a sophomore, finishing 29th out of the 32 competitors after coming in as the 31st seed.

Last season, his goal was to get into one of the event finals. Kovalenko finished with the ninth-best time in the preliminaries (1:00.11), good enough to get him into a race later in the day, but one spot out of the A final for a chance to place first through eighth.

Kovalenko, who came into states as the 30th seed last year, went to the warm down pool satisfied, but a little disappointed at how close he had come.

Then Upper Perkiomen assistant coach Caitlin Warren came over and showed Kovalenko the official results. The swimmer ahead of him had been a disqualified and Kovalenko would get a chance to race in the A final.

“I just screamed,” Kovalenko said. “It was just so great.”

“That got me really hyped up,” he added. “I was like, ‘I can do a lot better in the finals.’”

With a top eight finish locked down, Kalnoski told Kovalenko there was no pressure, nothing to lose.
He didn’t waste the opportunity, finishing with a personal best time of 58.71 seconds, more than two seconds better than his qualifying time and earning a sixth place finish.

“During finals it’s a completely different atmosphere than all the other races I’ve had,” Kovalenko said. “They wait until there are no more waves in the pool, and there’s so much more intensity in the air. I just kind of pushed myself. I learned from what I did in the morning, how I could improve, and built upon that in the afternoon.”

At last season’s District 1-2A championships, Kovalenko finished second with a time of 58.95 seconds. He nabbed a personal best at the District 1-3A championships March 3, swimming the race in 57.79 seconds for another second-place finish.

While he was able to come away with another impressive finish, Kovalenko said racing at the 3A level was a bit of an eye-opening experience.

“It is so much tighter, especially the districts,” he said. “In AA, there were like one or two heats for the event, but in AAA there were like six heats, and they’re all back-to-back-to-back. Some of these heats are within one second. It’s really easy to go up or down in placement.”

Kovalenko has made great strides with his kicks since getting to the high school. Still he feels much more comfortable with the breaststroke.

Sometimes in practice when the team is doing intervals, he’ll ask Kalnoski if he can switch to the breaststroke kick so he can make the times.

“Whatever the anatomy is for his legs just has a natural way to be able to do a breaststroke kick,” Kalnoski said. “His breaststroke is unique to Kyle.”

Kovalenko isn’t sure where yet, but he plans on swimming in college somewhere next year. He mentioned the University Scranton as a school he likes.

The senior already has a long list of accomplishments for his high school career. He broke Upper Perk’s 24-year-old pool record in the 100 breaststroke this season and owns the team’s overall record in the event with the 57.79 he swam at this year’s District 1-3A meet.

Kovalenko comes into states as the 12th seed this year. With one state final already under his belt, another in Pennsylvania’s largest classification would be icing on top of the cake.

“Get to finals,” Kovalenko said of his goal. “I don’t want to overhype or overstress myself before the race, but going to finals is I think a great goal for me to accomplish. Coming back in the afternoon would be awesome.”

“He’s had a great career, and he’s done everything I’ve asked him to do,” Kalnoski said. “It will be sad to see him go.”

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The area will be well represented at Friday and Saturday’s PIAA 3A Boys Swimming Championships

On Friday, Perkiomen Valley senior Ryan Keenan plogle will compete in the 200 free. Other area individual competitors include Daniel Boone sophomore Chris Giuliano (200 IM), Upper Merion junior Aidan McNally (50 free), Upper Merion sophomore Michael Lemishko (100 fly). Phoenixville and Upper Merion both have 200 medley relay teams.

McNally and Giuliano will also swim Saturday in the 100 free. Boyertown junior Nolan Benner will join Kovalenko in the 100 breast and swim in the 100 free. Owen J. Roberts sophomore Dalton Fink (100 back) and Perkiomen Valley freshman Jacob Replogle (500 free) round out the area individual swimmers. Upper Merion, Boyertown and Perkiomen Valley all have 400 free relay teams.