Name: Curtis Klein
Photo: Sharon KleinAge: 16
Grade/school: Junior at West Linn High School
Teams: West Linn High varsity swim team and Tigard Tualatin Swim Club
Coaches: Katie Wilson, West Linn High, and Jeanine Serrano, Tigard Tualatin Swim Club
Highlights: “I competed at the Winter Junior National Championships in Austin, Texas, the second weekend in December representing Tigard Tualatin Swim Club. I achieved personal best times in all my events and finished 18th in the 200-yard backstroke. And, competing for the West Linn High swim team, I won the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard freestyle in a meet against Canby High, and I was also on the 200-yard medley relay and the 400-freestyle relay and we won both of those against Canby.”
How he got started: “My parents threw me in the water and I’ve been swimming ever since.”
Coaches’ advice: “Swim fast.”
Favorite part of sport: “Hanging with friends at swim meets.”
Favorite meal the night before the big event: “Fish, cheeseburgers or burritos.”
Off-season? “Swimming has no ‘off-season.’ ”
Rules to live by: “Make a big splash!”
On his iPod: “AC/DC and Def Leppard.”
On his nightstand: “The Complete Sherlock Holmes.”
One thing someone may not know about him: “I like to take things apart, even though I can’t always put them back together.”
–Originally appeared in the print edition of the SW Weekly section of the Jan. 7, 2012 Oregonian – Link to story Oregonian Sports Spotlight
