Karlyn Pipes

Pipes was born in 1962 in Lompoc, California, and learned to swim by taking classes at the local YMCA at the age of four.

At the age of 12, Pipes changed teams and joined the Coronado Navy Swim Association to be coached by two-time Olympic Gold medalist Mike Troy.

[1] [2] By the age of 19, her party lifestyle, "poor work ethic" and "lack of discipline" caused her to forfeit her scholarship at Arkansas after three semesters.

On April 16, 1993, at the age of 31, Pipes entered a ten-day alcohol and drug rehabilitation program at Sharp Cabrillo Hospital.

By the time she was 35, she was ranked first in the United States in every distance and stroke in 54 official events in the 35-39 age group and came within a few tenths of a second to qualify for the 1996 US Olympic Trials in the 200-meter backstroke.

In 1997, Pipes accepted a full athletic scholarship to attend Cal State Bakersfield, where she graduated cum laude with a BS in communications in 1999.

While at Bakersfield, Pipes swam for coach Pat Skehan and helped the Lady Roadrunners to second place finish at the National Division II Championships.

[7] [8] Pipes's records stand the test of time and currently span six age-groups reaching back over twenty five years.

Stanford in Palo Alto, CA in 2006, Perth, Australia in 2008, and Riccione, Italy in 2012 winning all twenty events she entered.