Isabella Mikulec '22 Recruiting Profile

Hi, my name is Isabella Mikulec, but everyone calls me Ella. I am also known as McQueen to my family and will get to that in a minute. First of all I am a Buffalo sports fan and Sunday’s are for tailgating. I am born and raised in Orchard Park, NY home of the Buffalo Bills. I am the youngest of 3, having two older brothers and a very competitive group of siblings at that. My whole life we have always competed and I was never granted any concessions because I was the youngest. I started swimming at the age of 4 at our local pool and tennis club. I also played tennis, softball, lacrosse, golf, and ice hockey. When I was 8 I told my dad that I wanted to swim year round and end my hockey career. I started with TWST, a club team in my hometown. I enjoyed the competition and the better I swam the more likely I could travel to bigger meets. And I love to travel. Even when my family and I travel we have always been competitive. We have family mini golf tournaments wherever we go. I am reigning international champion from when we went to Orlando, Florida last. We also have boogie board championships if we are ever near a beach. My nickname is Mickey McQueen on these “tours.” My all time favorite competition is with my brothers in which we call it “you suck.” This involves us playing catch with a football and if you drop it 3 times then you are scolded by the other siblings and “you suck!” Anyways I love to swim and competitive by nature. I have experienced much success and failure in swim, but I have never given up. I continued with my club swim team and then in 8th grade I made my high school varsity swim team. As an 8th grader I made states in the 100 free, 100 back and two relays. From then on I have gone to states every year. Our medley relay, which I am the backstroke leg on, has been top 5 in the state for the past 2 years. I have continued with club and varsity swim throughout high school. I have battled a few injuries throughout the years, one being a break to my pinky finger, which is permanently crooked. I broke my pinky, but I had a meet coming up in 2 weeks so I continued to swim until after the meet and then I took some time to heal. I rehabbed my hand by teaching myself the piano. I love all different kinds of music and find it theraputic. I found a new skill and something else that I loved to get me through my injury. I also took on a position in my high school government and am now Treasurer.  I was swimming well my sophomore year and was gearing up towards junior nationals, but unfortunately COVID came along. I took a break and allowed my body to rest, but then started to workout with a teammate of mine. It was great to get back exercising, but it was hard not being in the water. Over quarantine my family and I refurbished a boat and spent our days out on Lake Erie. I got my boating and fishing license and was out on the water as much as I could be, tubing, swimming, and spending time with family. As of writing this post my high school swim team is swimming a limited season, but we remain undefeated and have continued to break pool records! I’m extremely proud to be a part of this team! I have also been pushing myself in school and have taken on some AP courses. Even though it is a different world we are living in, I have found a way to push myself and make the best of it. I am very excited about new opportunities in college and want swimming to be part of that.