Recording all of RoseMarie DeLeo's accomplishments in swimmingwould probably require several scrapbooks.
There are the seven Greater Boston League records she broke while
at Medford High, as well as setting school marks in nine events.At Boston College, where she is now a junior, she broke her ownrecord in the New England championships in the 100-yard breaststroke, missing the nationals last season by a scant two-tenths of asecond.
She was named most valuable on the team her freshman andsophomoreyears and at press time was unbeaten in dual meets in the 100-yardbreast stroke this year.
And her talent isn't limited to the swimming pool. A sociologymajor, DeLeo has a 3.7 grade-point average last semester.
DeLeo has also had a chance to see the world because of swimming.She has trained in Aculpulco and Puerto Rico with BC her first twoyears and the team recently returned from a training trip to St.Croix.
Her racing has taken her to Canada, Japan and Hong Kong as wellasother parts of the United States. Not bad for someone who turned 21two days ago, but it hasn't always been a smooth ride.
There was a time DeLeo didn't think she would be able to everwalkagain, much less swim a stroke. When she was 13, she contractedsalmonella from what she believes was bad mayonnaise used in lobstersalad, but to this day, she isn't sure.
The poison settled into her pelvic bone and nearly killed her.
'I came down with it all of a sudden,' said DeLeo. 'I was gettingready for the New England age group meet and I couldn't move at all.I couldn't get out of bed. My parents had come home {from work} totake me to the meet and I was still in bed.'
She spent a month in Children's Hospital, 17 days of thatunconscious.
'I had no muscle control,' she said. 'They had to roll me over inthe bed. I ended up having to learn to walk all over again.'
It was such a rare case that she was written up in medicaljournals. Her memories of the illness are still very vivid.
'I think I have a lot of inner motivation which helped me,' shesaid. 'There was a nurse at the hospital and at midnight, using awalker, she would take me out in the hallway and walk down the hallonce. I was too tired to do it after one time. Then she would helpmeback into bed.'
It took a year for DeLeo to fully recover from the illness andshecredits her swimming with helping her get through it.
'I don't take a lot of little things for granted like I used to,'she said. 'At the time, I really just wanted to get better. Icouldn't believe the condition I was in. The sport definitely helpedme because it taught me self-discipline.'
During her recovery, she was taking 14 antibiotics a day and theside effects included hair loss, which is especially tough when youare 13 years old.
'I got sick in the summer,' she said. 'I went back to school inSeptember. It was the year before eighth grade. My friends from theswim team came up and visited me. We joke about it now, but I usedtotell them not to make me laugh because it killed. When I was gettingbetter, my hair was falling out and some of my friends knew what wasgoing on. When it would fall out, they'd brush it off me. I wasembarrassed. I didn't want to brush my hair in front of anyone.'
She soon recovered and committed herself to getting back toswimming at the same high level. She joined the Bernal's Gatorsswimclub and stayed for six years before joining the Boston Crabs lastsummer.
'My whole life I always wanted to just succeed and reach mygoals,' she said. 'What I went through was hard, but it made me tryharder to get back to where I was. It was frustrating. There I was,13, and I had little 7-year-olds in front of me. I felt embarrassedbut it never crossed my mind to quit because I always knew I couldget back.'
Her performances kept improving until she reached her currentlevel and she said her goal is just to continue to get fasteralthough she said her career as a swimmer will end when shegraduatesfrom college.
'She's a very hard-working young woman,' said BC swimming coachTom Groden. 'The most impressive thing about her is that her timeshave improved each season.'
She holds the New England Conference meet record for the 100-yardbreast stroke and the 200 with times of 1:05.80 and 2:24.20respectively. She's also the breast stroker in the 200 and 400medleyrelays and last year the team set New England records.
As dearly as she loves swimming and after what she's gone throughto achieve so much, DeLeo said there is still the matter of themental toll the sport extracts.
'There's a lot of pressure involved in racing,' she said. 'But Ifeel every time I race I give it 100 percent effort. I enjoy thecompetition but when you get older, racing isn't as easy. I didn'tfeel pressure when I was young but it becomes a little moredifficult. The great thing about Boston College is that it's veryteam oriented.'
DeLeo's next big test will be the Big East championships Feb.8-10before competing in the New Englands Feb. 15-17.
Once her college career is over, she said she's not sure whatshe'll do.
'It does end after college, I will be out of competing aftercollege,' she said. 'If you win a lot, people are out to beat youandit can get to you. I enjoy the sport and I do enjoy racing but itgets mentally exhausting. I figure maybe the summer of '92 I'll beout of the sport unless I swim for a club for fun. I enjoy it nowandwouldn't be doing if I didn't but swimming ends. You get old. Iwantto pass on my knowledge of the sport to other people but I won'thaveto worry about pressure any more.'
