COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Phil '98 and Melanie (Koll) '98 Kern were both student-athletes at Saint John's University and the College of Saint Benedict.
 
Phil was a quarterback on the Johnnie football team, while Melanie competed for CSB in volleyball.
 
Swimming, however, was nowhere on their radar – at least not until the couple's four children came along.
 
"My older brother started swimming because one of his friends in Delano was a swimmer," recalls Colby Kern, who begins his senior season at SJU when the Johnnies travel to Minnesota-Morris for a non-conference dual meet scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Friday.
 
"Then I started to swim because he did, and it became a chain reaction. I think my mom and dad thought it was a phase their kids would grow out of, but we never did. Now they've become full-blown swim parents."
 
Indeed, oldest brother Sam, 23, swam into middle school before going on to play lacrosse at Lewis University in Illinois.
 
Daughter Emma is now a sophomore at the University of Texas, where she earned All-America honors in the 200 medley relay and All-American honorable mention distinction in the 100 backstroke last season, and youngest daughter Bella is a senior swimmer at Delano High School this fall.
 
Colby, meanwhile, has followed in his parents' footsteps – arriving at SJU as a freshman in the fall of 2021 and making an immediate impact on the Johnnie swim team. He earned MIAC swimmer of the week honors after scoring 135 points in his collegiate debut at the St. Catherine Pentathlon in St. Paul.
 
He's gone on to become an 11-time All-MIAC performer, including a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle at the conference meet last season.
 
"I believe I can count on one hand the number of practices/meets/team events that Colby has missed in the last four years," SJU head coach Ben Gill said. "He will push himself through a wall if it means the team will be better as a result.
 
"As a leader of a team, you literally cannot ask for any more. He personifies hard work in the pool day in and day out. And when he steps on deck, he says the right things to the guys on the team to motivate them to do the same."
 
But Kern's impact at SJU has extended well beyond the pool. The mathematics major became a member of SJU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) late in his freshman year, and now serves as the organization's president for the 2024-25 school year.
 
That means he's taken on a lead role in the organization's work on campus – including collections for Toys-for-Teens, fall and spring campus cleanups and the annual Kids Fighting Hunger food packing event.
 
"I've always been drawn to volunteer work and outreach, and that call to service is a big part of who we are at CSB and SJU," Kern said. "If we have the opportunity to impact the lives of other people around us in a positive way, it's a no-brainer to take that on."
 
Kern is also passionate about his volunteer work with Special Olympics – a calling that dates back to his time as a high school student in Delano.
 
"It's a very special cause to me," Kern said. "I have friends with special needs, and they inspire me. I see the drive and attitude they have. That's what's moved and continues to move me.
 
"They've also taught me so many valuable lessons. Their days aren't dependent on how well they perform. It's about who they're with and how much fun they're having."
 
Swimming, volunteering and keeping up in the classroom may seem like a lot for one person to balance. But Kern doesn't view it that way at all.
 
"I look at it all as opportunities," Kern said. "It takes some time management, but my attitude is to do what I can when I can. I try to put 100 percent of my focus on whatever I'm doing at a given time.
 
"If I'm swimming, I'm totally focused on that. I'm not thinking about school or SAAC work, and I take the same approach the other way around. There's a time for everything and it's really about staying present in each moment."
 
Kern will graduate this May and hopes to land a full-time job – perhaps in the actuarial field – while he considers what degree he might eventually pursue in graduate school.
 
Before that, though, he has one more season of college swimming in front of him. He's part of a Johnnie team that returns eight All-MIAC performers from a squad that finished third in the MIAC a year ago, and 89 percent of its points from last season's conference meet.
 
"We really feel like we have a chance to bring home a conference championship," Kern said. "Everybody will need to be on top of their game and swimming their best races when it matters most. But we know we have the talent to accomplish that goal."