“My streamline, when I pushed off the wall, a few people on my club team used to say that I looked like Superman,” the KU freshman swimmer said. “You’re supposed to lock your hands together and I never did that.”

Working with Kansas coach Clark Campbell last summer greatly helped Robinson – so much that she’s already breaking her personal-best times in 200-yard freestyle, 500 free and 1,650 free races.

Most notably, Robinson’s career-best time of 4 minutes, 51.90 seconds in the 500 free notched her a finals victory Nov. 16 at the Maryland Invite in College Park, Md.

“It was really exciting and made it seem like all the hard training was finally paying off,” Robinson said.

A simple conversation with Robinson reveals her determination to succeed in the sport. Before the season, she set a personal goal in the 200-yard free of 1:51. In Maryland, she achieved the time. Now, Robinson said her new goal for the event is any time under 1:49.

“Hopefully, I’ll have it by conference,” Robinson said of the Big 12 Championships Feb. 14-17 in College Station, Texas.

Robinson’s rapid progress naturally had Campbell thinking of long-term expectations for the freshman.

“I think her greatest impact will be in the 1,650,” Campbell said of the mile race. “I think that is her ticket to the NCAA Championships.”

You might not realize how much different the mile race is, compared to other events. Robinson said ideally, swimmers should know if they were to race in the mile at least a week in advance. With the proper preparation and technique, Robinson could be a long-term answer for the Jayhawks in the event.

“I wouldn’t mind being a regular in the mile,” Robinson said. “It takes a lot mentally. When I get done with the mile, I’m not usually as tired. I’m better pacing myself than sprinting. You don’t want to feel too much pain too quickly, because then it has to last for 17 minutes.”

Robinson said the plan for now was for her to compete in the mile again at the Big 12 Championships. In between that time, her specialty event will be the 500 freestyle.

If you haven’t seen Robinson swim before, Campbell painted a vivid picture of her style. He said he first noticed Robinson’s grace in the pool when he recruited her at Free State High.

“She has really nice stroke mechanics and is really light in the water,” Campbell said. “She has a very rhythmical stroke. Instead of muscling through the water, she moves through the water.”

Robinson wanted to attend college outside of Lawrence until Campbell introduced her to the KU swimming program. And it’s fitting she became a Jayhawk. Her father, Ron Robinson, was a former KU football player. Her mother, Jeannie, was responsible for getting Robinson into swimming in the first place at age 9.

“I didn’t even want to do it at first,” Robinson said. “I didn’t like it, but she made me do it.”

Robinson said her most memorable swimming moment came four years later at a zone meet in Indiana. At age 13, Robinson recorded a time of 9:03 in the 800-meter race. It was significant because she couldn’t beat that time for many years to come.

“I hadn’t actually beat that time until this summer,” Robinson said. “And I beat it by less than a second.”