Even though she was ranked No. 1 in the nation, when Joy Gallagher entered the IUPUI Natatorium for the NCAA Championship Meet, she felt like the underdog.
"It was almost surreal," Gallagher said. "I felt like this little tiny swimmer from this little tiny school without a big swim program."
And she was right.
Now married and named Joy Kraus, she was the only swimmer at the championship from a mid-major school. Kraus went on to finish ninth in the nation in the 50-yard freestyle, six-hundreths of a second from making the final heat, which gave her a chance to win the national championship and be named a 1st team All-American.
"When I realized I finished ninth, I was pretty angry," Kraus said. "I really felt like I could have been in the top eight, but it's just one of those disappointments that you go through that make you a stronger person in life. It was extremely disappointing."
Almost 12 years following that disappointment, Kraus will be one of four athletes inducted into the Ball State University Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday.
Kraus grew up in a family of older brothers, which coach Bob Thomas said was a valuable asset for her.
"Joy fought for everything she got," Thomas said. "That carried over into the pool. She was a fighter and scrapper. A true competitor."
Kraus was highly recruited from Ball State when she was in high school. Her brother, Mike, was already on the team. She said he was a major influence in getting her to Ball State.
"She was one of those diamonds in the rough that just turned out," coach Laura Seibold-Caudill said. "We knew what kind of talent she had and had met her many times because her brother was already swimming here. He played a big part in getting her here."
Mike Gallagher's friend, Leonard Kraus, was a senior when Joy Kraus started at Ball State.
"When she first came to Ball State, her brother Mike came up to me and told me to help him watch out for her," Leonard Kraus said.
It wasn't much longer before the two started to date. After Leonard Kraus graduated in 1994, he joined the Ball State swimming and diving coaching staff as a graduate assistant. He would spend his next few summers training Joy and pushing her to become the best she could be.
"Dating Leonard was a huge help to Joy. The last thing he wanted to see was for her to fail," Thomas said.
Leonard Kraus said even though they were dating, he and Joy were able to keep a professional relationship while at the pool.
"It was really tough coaching my girlfriend," Leonard Kraus said. "As the relationship evolved, we got better at being able to separate the two. When we were at the pool, meets and swimming functions, we were able to separate and become coach and athlete. When we were away from the pool, we were able to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Without being able to have that separation, we would not have been able to make it."
Joy Kraus holds Ball State records in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle and in the 200-, 400- and 800-yard freestyle relays and Mid-American Conference records in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle. Joy Kraus was also named MAC Swimmer of the Year in 1996 and 1997.
Seibold-Caudill said Joy Kraus was a hard worker whose work ethic is what made her a great athlete.
"She knew how hard it was going to be to swim at the level she wanted to be at," Seibold-Caudill said. "She worked year-round. She had a lot of drive and motivation and was always going above and beyond the goals I would set for her. We started setting these goals higher and higher, so she would just train harder and harder. She was a true champion."
Leonard Kraus said his wife is a rare type of athlete. He said if people are better than her, she will work until she is better than them.
"She loves to be pushed and to push," Leonard Kraus said. "You find the better the athlete, the more they want to be pushed. Most coaches demand of their athletes and the great athletes demand that back. That's exactly what Joy did."
Joy Kraus qualified for the NCAA National Championship meet her junior year, but failed to make it out of the preliminary round. Seibold-Caudill said not qualifying gave Joy a goal for the following year.
Her senior year, Joy Kraus was the No. 1 swimmer in the nation in the 50-yard freestyle. She is the only swimmer to win the event four years in a row at the MAC Championship.
"Not only was she ranked No. 1 in the country, but she was one of the fastest in the event of all time," Seibold-Caudill said. "Her fastest times were up there with national champions, Olympians and some of the best of all time."
After her disappointing ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championship, Joy graduated from Ball State with a degree in elementary education in 1997. She stayed in Muncie for a year and coached the Cardinal Swim Club. While coaching the club, she coached Seibold-Caudill's daughter, Karin.
Leonard Kraus is currently the head coach of the Marshall University swimming and diving team. Joy Kraus is a stay-at-home mom and coaches the Huntington Y Charleston Aquatic Team, a youth swim team. Last year, she was named the West Virginia youth swimming coach of the year and was a finalist for the national award.
She coaches her two daughters, Alena (9) and Makayla (7). Last year, Alena was one of the highest ranked swimmers in the nation for the 100-yard butterfly in her age group.
Leonard Kraus said he remains proud of his wife's accomplishments at Ball State, and also said the NCAA Championship swimmer remains just as competitive as she was when she left Muncie 11 years ago. "I have always been incredibly proud of her: her accomplishments at Ball State, as an athlete, as a wife and as a mother," Leonard Kraus said. "Joy doesn't like to lose at anything. She hates to be second, and that really passes on to everything she does."
Achievements
- 1996 MAC Swimmer of the Year
- 1997 MAC Swimmer of the Year
- School record in the 50 freestyle
- School record in the 100 freestyle
- School record in the 200 freestyle
- School record in the 400 freestyle
- School record in the 800 freestyle
- MAC record in the 50 freestyle
- MAC record in the 100 freestyle
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