When you think about tough athletes, swimmers are not usually the first people that come to mind.

They don't hit anybody or throw things at anyone or kick anyone or hit them with a stick. They don't even touch another swimmer. They're roped off in their nice and safe lanes while almost weightless in the water.

But if toughness is defined by the ability and willingness to overcome pain to achieve a goal, freshman swimmer Stephanie Klegarth may be the toughest student-athlete at Mansfield University this year.

You see, every time she got in the pool for practice or for a meet, the odds were good she would end up dislocating one, or both, of her shoulders.

An award winning swimmer at Dieruff High School in Allentown, Klegarth has been swimming competitively since the eighth grade. For almost the same amount of time she has been plagued with shoulder problems. Not a good thing for a breaststroker, a stroke that derives most of its power from the shoulders.

The lay term for her condition is loose shoulders - the medical term is subluxing shoulders. Either term means the same thing -- being prone to painful and frequent partial dislocations of the shoulder. And it happens when you put strain on your arms and shoulder or place them in an unnatural position, which is also a good description of the breaststroke.

Her doctors tell her it's a condition she's had most of her life and since she's been competitively swimming it has happened dozens of time, the last being early this season. It kept her for making the team trip to Puerto Rico.

It happens so often that she puts her shoulder back into the socket herself. Sometime she pulls a Mel Gibson-like move from the Lethal Weapon movies, and simple hits her shoulder against a wall until it goes back in place. Other times she gets a teammate to help her snap it back and if it gets really bad, as it has on six occasions, she needs to seek a doctors help.

The condition is so chronic, she almost didn't get the chance to compete this season. Klegarth had to convince the Mountaineer athletic training staff and clear a series of test and physicals before she was even allowed to get into the pool. She barely passed, but was overjoyed when she did.

"I just love to swim and compete," replies Klegarth matter-of-factly when asked why she would put herself through anguish. "This is what I do and what I want to do for as long as I can."

She rebounded for his last dislocation to go on to become the Mountaineers top swimmer this season, pushing herself and her shaky shoulders to new school records in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the final regular season meet of the year. She reached her goal of qualifying for the PSAC Swimming Championship, swimming in breaststroke and on the Mountaineer relay teams.

By the end of the season, the situation and pain was so bad, Klegarth finally had to agree to undergo career threatening surgery.

"They removed some of the cartilage that had been floating around after being worn off the joint and then wired my right shoulder together," said Klegarth. "I'm going to be in this sling for awhile, but I plan on swimming this summer and I'm already excited about next season at Mansfield."

Klegarth already knows she will have to get her left shoulder done also. If not successful, the next step being total shoulder reconstruction. Still, to her, not swimming is not an option.

"A lot of people give up on things because it gets too tough," said head coach Danita Fox. "It's not just swimming, it could be anything. Something takes too much time or too much effort and people just quit. Stephanie is not one of those people. She's not going to let anything get in her way or get her down and that's why she's an MVP."

Klegarth was named the team's MVP for her performance this season, but it's her toughness that's really impressive.