BUTLER TWP — It’s a few minutes before 5 a.m. and the alarm buzzes in Brooke Zukowski’s ear.

The sun won’t rise for more than an hour, but Zukowski will.

Her primal reaction is to roll over and return to sleep. But a voice coming from inside her won’t allow her head to return to the pillow.

It’s practice time for the sophomore on the Knoch girls swimming team.

Seconds are trimmed in the early morning hours when the world is fast asleep and no one is looking.

“I just try to think, ‘If I do this, it’s only going to make me better,’” Zukowski said. “I look at the positive side of it. Lots of times, I don’t want to get up in the morning. I want to sleep. But I think, ‘You need to do this for yourself.’”

As a freshman last season, Zukowski won a WPIAL title in the 100-yard backstroke and placed fourth in the event at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championship.

A work ethic that demands a copious amount of pool time drags her out of bed and into the pool.

This season, Zukowski is striving for more. She wants to see her times shrink and her accomplishments grow.

“Brooke’s very talented and she’s swimming for the Butler YMCA this year,” said Knoch boys and girls swimming coach Rick Hassler. “She has a bull’s eye on her back this year. People know who she is now. They follow the times in the newspapers and things like that. They’ll be ready for her at WPIALs. I have no doubt she’ll be fine and she’ll be ready.”

Zukowski is almost in the pool more than she is not.

Two days a week she has morning practice. The other days of the week she either has a meet, high school practice or YMCA practice.

Or all of the above.

Swimming is sort of the Zukowski family business.

“I’ve always loved it. It kind of runs in the family,” Zukowski said. “Both my parents swam. My aunts swam. My brother swims. My cousins swim. It’s kind of the family sport.”

Her business this season is winning.

She has lofty goals to repeat as WPIAL champion in the 100 breaststroke and to place higher at the state meet.

Zukowski said she doesn’t feel any additional pressure to top her freshman season in the pool.

The pressure she does feel, she said, is constructive and comes from within.

“I guess I don’t really worry about it,” Zukowski said. “I just focus on what I need to focus on. I just see what my times are and what I need to improve upon.”