Editor’s note: The Daily Illini sports desk sits down Sunday nights and decides which Illinois athlete or coach is our Illini of the Week. Student-athletes and coaches are evaluated by individual performance and contribution to team success.

Races of any kind carry with them a type of pressure. In swimming, the sound of the start sends competitors into the water to complete their laps and out-touch the others. The pressure can make athletes nervous or cause mistakes at crucial moments. One might think situations like these are anything but desired.

Then again, Illinois junior Courtney Pope loves the pressure that comes with her position as anchor of her swimming relay. Where many might crumble, Pope revels in the circumstances where her performance may determine the final result of the entire meet for the Illinois swimming and diving team.

“She’s always wanted to be in those high-pressure situations, and I think now (as an upperclassman) she’s taking that to an even higher level than she was before,” head coach Sue Novitsky said after seeing Pope’s performance in the first meets of this fall.

On the season, Pope is 2-0 in the 200 free and went undefeated in all four of her races last Friday against Michigan State. What is most impressive, though, is her ability to pull together an outstanding performance when the stakes are high.

“I know it’s going to come down to me at all the meets,” Pope said after practice on Monday. “But I love being in that position and I love the pressure.”

While Pope may have a craving for pressure, Novitsky said she has changed a lot since she joined the Illini, becoming physically stronger and more balanced with her strength overall.

“When she first got here, she couldn’t kick freestyle, which … is not a good thing,” Novitsky said. “So she’s worked really hard on that. … She’s a real hard worker.”

Pope said she remembers learning how to kick better, having come into college a long-distance swimmer before becoming more of a sprinter. She even recalls it being one of the hardest, most frustrating experiences in her collegiate swimming career; however, she is glad to have stuck out the transition and feels like it comes more naturally to her now.

“She’s not one to shy away,” Novitsky said. “You see her cheering on her teammates and also encouraging them and giving them a little push when they need it. … You pick your spots, which is part of what being a leader is. It’s not always saying something, but, a lot of the times, it’s doing with your actions.”

As a sophomore in high school, Pope said she never thought she would go to Illinois. It wasn’t that she didn’t think she could, but rather that her 15-year-old self wanted to get out of the state and go somewhere far away from her hometown of Homer Glen, Ill.

“(Now) I’m so glad I stayed only two hours away,” Pope said. “I love seeing my parents at all of my meets and my brother and sister.”

John and Kelli are at every meet. The two-hour drive to the home meets is one thing, but they have even made the long drives to meets in Kansas and Georgia.

Pope has the skill and support to make her dedicated to her sport, but she does have a life outside of the pool.

Growing up in the ’90s and living 35 ½ miles away from Chicago’s United Center, Pope has been a huge fan of the Bulls since she was 3. Besides the White Sox, she is a fan of every professional sports team in Chicago.

“It’s hard being a Cubs fan, but you just can’t give up on them,” Pope said. “My dad’s company works with baseball teams. When I was little, like 3 years old, (I remember) going into Wrigley Field, going into the dugout and meeting the players. Met Kenny Williams. So I always loved baseball.”

Despite her history with baseball, Pope said that her No. 1 team in Chicago is still the Bulls.  There are even pictures of her when she was very young dressed up like a Bulls cheerleader at a game where Michael Jordan played.

Aside from her sports life, Pope has also chosen to challenge herself academically by majoring in accountancy. Not only is she a scholar-athlete package in the Illinois accountancy program, which has been consistently ranked among the top by U.S. News & World Report, but Pope has also stayed and taken courses for every summer since she has arrived on campus.

“In my career field, I would love doing accounting or financial planning for a sport team or a university,” Pope said. “Honestly, if I could do anything in the world, I would be an Olympic swimmer. I love my sport, and it’s hard getting up every day at 5:22. To travel the world and be getting paid to stay in shape and do what I already love … that would be an awesome life.”

With two of the nine meets preceding the Big Ten Championships already behind Pope, the pressure is on to make an impression.

But then again, pressure is her specialty.

J.J. can be reached at sports@dailyillini.com and TheWilson9287.