A week ago tonight, the Cherry Hill West girls' swimming team captured the Caribbean Division title when sophomore Amy Stelmaszyk, on the last relay leg in the last event, touched the wall a moment ahead of Haddonfield's star anchor.
It was a clutch performance by Stelmaszyk, who held off Emily Creran's late charge to help the Lions to a 96-90 victory in the South Jersey Swimming League event at Camden County Tech. Her clutch performances have become typical. "I counted five key races last year when she caught and passed opponents in the last 25 yards," Cherry Hill West coach Scott Sweeten said. "So far this year, she's added another two." Stelmaszyk would be remarkable even if she hadn't spent more time in the waiting room of doctors' offices in one year during junior high than most people do in a lifetime. She would be an inspiration to her coach and teammates even if she weren't battling a rare and occasionally debilitating condition that has turned her mere presence in the pool into a profile in courage. "It's just an obstacle," Stelmaszyk said. "Other people have worse situations that they have to deal with." Stelmaszyk has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a cardiovascular condition that often strikes youngsters who undergo significant growth spurts early in their teenage years. Stelmaszyk's mother, Karen, said her daughter grew from about 4-foot-11 to 5-foot-6 in about a year, around seventh grade. The condition isn't life-threatening, but can be life-changing. It results in dizziness, headaches, nausea and persistent fainting - a result of a steep drop in blood pressure when the individual stands up. "I'm not a medical person," Karen Stelmaszyk said. "But when some kids grow quickly, their cardiovascular systems can't keep up." The worst part for Karen Stelmaszyk was the dread of the unknown: For more than a year, her daughter's condition went undiagnosed, even as her symptoms worsened. The worst part for Amy Stelmaszyk: When things got really bad, she couldn't swim. "That was the real low point," she said. "I love swimming so much, and I had to go to meets and watch my friends swim, and I couldn't be part of it. That was hard." Karen Stelmaszyk said her daughter saw cardiologists, neurologists, and other specialists. She underwent PET scans and electrocardiograms. "She had every test you could possibly imagine," Karen Stelmaszyk said. Finally, a neurologist recommended a "tilt-table test," in which her daughter was strapped to a turnable table and gradually flipped upside down. "They said she fainted faster than anyone they ever tested," Karen Stelmaszyk said. The diagnosis was a relief. Even though POTS can be a difficult condition, it can be managed with medication, as well as heavy doses of fluids and sodium. There's also a decent chance Amy Stelmaszyk can outgrow the condition in her mid-20s. But there also was the issue of her swimming. One of the symptoms is "exercise intolerance." At one point, when her symptoms were severe, she couldn't even enter the water. "I was afraid she was going to pass out and drown," Karen Stelmaszyk said. Amy Stelmaszyk is no average swimmer. She has been training with the high-powered Wahoos Swim Club since she was 10. She competes for the Covered Bridge Swim Club in the summer and is a key member of the Cherry Hill West team. "It's pretty much my whole life right now," she said. In spite of her condition, Stelmaszyk swims six days a week. She sometimes attends Wahoo workouts at 4 a.m. and Cherry Hill West workouts after school. "Although it's clear at times that she might be affected by her illness, her competitive nature and intensity have led her to often do great things in races in spite of how her body was not cooperating," said Sweeten, the coach. Stelmaszyk has become an important swimmer for a Cherry Hill West team that is 7-1 and No. 3 in The Inquirer's Super Six rankings. The Lions' only loss was by 95-91 to rival Cherry Hill East on Jan. 7 - a setback the team hopes to avenge in the Central A state tournament. "That's definitely our goal right now," Stelmaszyk said. In the big meet against Haddonfield last Thursday, Stelmaszyk won the 100-meter butterfly in 1 minute, 1.51 seconds. Sweeten chose her to swim the anchor in the 400-meter freestyle relay, the last event of the meet. The meet was tied at 86-86. "It was nerve-racking," Stelmaszyk said. Stelmaszyk's teammates - Leigh Anne Patterson, Cathy Howard and Emily Bart - gave her the lead. With the crowd cheering every stroke, Stelmaszyk held off Creran, the Ohio State-bound senior who probably is South Jersey's best individual swimmer. It was a great moment. For the people who know Amy Stelmaszyk, it was even better than that.