SLIPPERY ROCK — The gamble was worth it.

Slippery Rock High School swimmer Katie Antal gave up her junior season with the Rockets to compete with the Seneca Valley Swim Club full-time this year.

Her goal was to qualify for the USA Swimming Summer Junior National Championship in Irvine,Calif.

“It was a hard decision, but it came down to focusing on the goal I really wanted to achieve,” Antal said. “My coach at Slippery Rock understands and supports me.”

Antal realized her goal last week during the Junior Olympics meet at the University of Pittsburgh. She swam the 100 breast stroke in one minute, 13.71 seconds to win that event and qualify for Junior Nationals.

In fact, she qualified for the AT&T Winter National Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., this December.

The latter meet will have NCAA champions, Olympians and world champions competing.

“I’m not sure if I’m going to Knoxville yet,” Antal said. “All of the big dogs will be there. I want to see how I stack up (at Junior Nationals) first.”

As it is, Antal will be swimming against the top 15-over USA swimmers in California. The competitions runs from Aug. 5-9.

SV Swim Club teammate Madison Tretter finished second to Antal in the 100 breast stroke at Pitt. Antal finished second in the 200 breast.

Antal becomes only the fourth SV Swim Club member to reach Junior Nationals in the past decade.

“Katie’s strength is her persistence,” SV Swim Club coach Brian Blackwell said. “She’s been trying to make that (qualifying) cut all year and she got there.

“She really wanted to do this. She’ll keep pushing, too. She works with me and never really fights me. She has belief in the program, the coach and herself.”

Antal left the Slippery Rock High School swim team despite reaching the PIAA Championships as a sophomore.

“It’s a commitment in that a swimmer gives up some of the exposure she might get at the high school meets for college,” Blackwell said.

Antal may return to the Rockets for her senior campaign. With SVSC, she practices three mornings a week and lifts weights in the afternoon as part of an intense training regimen.

“I haven’t decided what to do there yet,” she said of her high school team. “My focus is on next week.

“I’ll probably finish toward the end — that’s how my time stacks up — but I want to go for one of the top times and make it back for the finals. The key will be not getting nervous and just keeping up with the competition.”

Antal has only been swimming since eighth grade. She’s hoping to land a Division I swimming opportunity in college.

“I know she has her eyes on some big schools, but the school has to fit the needs of the swimmer and vice versa,” Blackwell said.

Antal was a Scholastic All-American in high school this past year, carrying a grade point average above 3.5.

She opted to join the SV Swim Club “because the other big clubs in the area are in Pittsburgh and this best suited me.”

Antal attributes her quick and improving success in the pool to “my coaches, my family and teammates. They keep motivating me.”