She’s the defending CAA Rookie of the Year. She’s nearly unstoppable in the 1,000-yard freestyle event and has already set three Towson records.

What makes this even more impressive is that Kaitlin Burke is only a sophomore.

“I think I shocked myself more than anyone by my own accomplishments at CAAs,” Burke said, reflecting on winning the 200-yard freestyle event in last year’s CAA Championship. “Being able to contribute to the team winning is an indescribable feeling.”

Burke, who started swimming at the age of eight, is a Baltimore native with Towson University in her bloodline. Her father graduated a Tiger.

With the influence of her older sister and friends, jumping in the pool was an easy decision for Burke.

Burke continued swimming when she got to high school, swimming for Loyola Blakefield Aquatics. In her time there, she earned Scholastic All-American honors.

Towson Head Coach Pat Mead had been following Burke for a long time, and when the opportunity came to recruit her, he said it was a no brainer.

“I had known Kaitlin from when she was an age-group swimmer,” Mead said. “During her high school years, I followed her progress and saw the improvement from year to year. The biggest factor in us wanting her to join our team was her willingness to want to improve and the willingness to work hard. Those two factors are key to anyone being successful in our program.”

After earning all-CAA honors in five different events her freshman year, Burke has continued her success this season, serving as a catalyst in the success of the women’s team, which currently holds a record of 10-1, 5-0 CAA.

“I love to race, that has always been my main motivation in the pool,” she said. “I consider myself to be pretty competitive, so I expect to win and I expect my team to win.”

Last weekend at Old Dominion, Burke lost the 1,000-yard freestyle event, something that rarely happens.

What makes this even more rare was that she placed a season-best time in the event.

However, with her competitive nature, she didn’t give up.

“After having made a move at the 500 mark, the ODU swimmer held on and then went on to beat Kaitlin in the last 200 of the 1000,” Mead said. “Kaitlin had to swim the 50 free and 100 free later in the meet. These two events are not her strongest events, but yet we needed her to win them for the team to win the meet. Kaitlin stepped up big time for the team in those events and won both.”

The determination and competitive nature Burke has is something that Mead said can ultimately propel her to the national level.

“She is not even close to having reached her potential,” Mead said. “If she can surround herself with the right people and enjoy the process, then she has the abilities to be one of the best in Towson’s history.”

Despite all of her success, Burke credits others, not just herself.

“Swimming can be a very individual sport, but I owe all of my success to my teammates and coaching staff,” she said.

The CAA Championship takes place Feb. 22-25, and Burke and the rest of the team have their eye on the prize.

“The success that my teammates, such as Meredith [Budner] and Cari [Czarnecki], have had has set the bar very high for the rest of us,” Burke said. “People have high expectations for us based upon previous years and I see that as a major motivation. As a team, we have to recreate the same success that we have had in previous years, then surpass it.”