As far as eggs go, the scrambled ones are the most simple of the bunch. A homogenous mixture, they do not stand out as the flashiest, nor do they boast an overwhelming taste or smell. Still, at the end of the day, scrambled is a reliable bet for a meal that gets the job done right. Over-easy eggs, on the other hand, leave a runny yolk and are more for the adventurous eater not afraid to have a boisterous yet delicious meal that spills its contents on first interaction.
So years after Jack Kono began taking his daughters to Sunday breakfast before swim meets, it is not surprising that their respective orders have become increasingly indicative of their prowess in the pool: Kelly Kono, the scrambled eggs, and Megan Kono, the over-easy. As they prepare to swim against each other at the NCAA Championships beginning Wednesday in Minneapolis, they will be doing so under the guise of their beloved food requests.
Kelly, a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, and Megan, a sophomore at Tufts, will be competing against one another in the 1,650-yard freestyle event at the Div. III Championships later this month, the culmination of what has been an incredible sisterly bond throughout the years. To discover the story of the Kono sisters, one has to travel 1,000 miles west of the Tufts campus to La Grange, Ill., a quiet, 2.5-square-mile, 15,608-resident suburb of bustling Chicago. It was there, 17 years ago, where Kelly and Megan were first introduced to the water at the local YMCA by their mom, Peggy McGinnis.
"Our mom always used to say that we were just like fishes when she put us in the water," Megan said. "They called us pool rats because we were always there, from when the pool opened at 10 in the morning to when it closed at nine at night. You could always hear them say, 'Oh, here come the Kono sisters.'"
A few years passed, with summer spent almost exclusively at the local pool and McGinnis often having to threaten to leave without the girls just to coax them out of it. It was then that Kelly and Megan came into contact with Melanie and Scott Walker, coaches at the La Grange Swim Club. They encouraged McGinnis to put the girls on a USS Club year-round swimming program, and the rest is history.
"The most vivid memories I have were going to meets with Kelly when we were young," Megan said. "Since USS meets are a lot slower than college or high school meets, my mom would take us there; we'd sit on our towel with our Cheerios and wait a couple hours to swim 25 meters. Everyone used to joke with my mom that she picked the worst sport to watch, but she always knew how much we loved it. I can't picture my relationship with Kelly outside of swimming because that's definitely where we bonded."
Once Kelly and Megan entered grade school, they began training year in and year out with their club swim team, sometimes as early as 5 a.m. While other girls were microwaving popcorn at sleepovers on Friday nights, the Konos stayed at home to prepare for meets the next morning.
When Kelly was 12 years old, for instance, she told her mom that she was ready for 5 a.m. practices but needed to be driven to the pool. McGinnis responded that getting up that early required coffee. True to her word, Kelly hopped into her parents' room the following morning, steaming mug of coffee in her hand, ready to speed off to the pool for another day in the water with Scott Walker.
Walker, the current coach at Lyons Township High School, from which the Kono sisters graduated, came into the summer coaching job through his wife, Melanie, and the relationship between the Walkers and the Konos has been thriving ever since. Scott's intense nature caught the attention of the young and inexperienced Kelly and Megan, who initially described him as a "crotchety old man."
But after years of time in and out of the pool together, the effect the Walkers have had is now undeniable. Megan works as an assistant coach in the summers for Scott, and even when they were on other club teams, Kelly and Megan continued to swim for Scott until they graduated. Both sisters still regard him as a pseudo-second coach, a role he wholeheartedly accepts.
"I consider it an honor to still coach them, even though I'm far away," Walker said. "I know they always pick up the phone whenever they just want to talk. I hope that even when I'm done coaching, I can be there for them."
While the Walkers served as the commanding influence on the pool deck, McGinnis and her husband fostered the sisters' love for swimming, encouraging them every step of the way. Described by Megan as complete opposites, Jack Kono and Peggy McGinnis comprise a formidable duo that would rival any parents out there in their support for their daughters. Jack, a special education teacher in La Grange, is "quiet" and, in Megan's words, "the typical silent Asian man." Still, he has remained one of the most important influences in their lives, providing insight even if in few words.
"My dad is the only person that I feel comfortable having a complete silence with and having that be totally comfortable," Megan said. "We could go hours without talking and have that be very natural. You can't really get much rise out of him at a meet, but he'll then go home and give so much praise."
Their mother, on the other hand, is "the life of the party" and "almost annoyingly loud," as Megan put it. Last year at the NCAA meet, for instance, McGinnis received a standing ovation from the Kenyon College parents' section for her T-shirt: half-Tufts and half-Washington University, cut up and sewn back together. But both sisters agree that with her playful and energetic nature at swim meets, their mother's support is unrivaled.
"To have our parents be so unconditionally supportive, I feel like it's really rare," Megan said. "I could have a good or a bad race, and they would be so excited. We always make fun of her that she is this totally embarrassing, completely annoying woman, but she is always so proud of us."
Now, from far away with her daughters off at college, McGinnis still finds time to make her presence felt. Before every big meet, she sends Kelly and Megan an e-mail saying, "Are you ready to kick some ass?"
"The Kono family is so loving and loyal, not only to each other but to my family," Walker said. "It's what makes coaching this sport so special. You run into people who trust you with their daughters to make them better swimmers and better kids. You can't put a dollar value on that."
Out of this familial love for the water emerged a Kono tradition. Every Sunday, especially before a meet, Mr. Kono would take his two daughters out to breakfast at a local restaurant to order the same meal: one egg with bacon, hash browns and toast. Megan, described as the overly talkative and social sister, always asked for over-easy eggs, while Kelly, the less assertive sister, got scrambled. Looking back on their career together, despite the opposing personalities, the sisters shared an unspoken bond that even polarizing breakfast orders could not crack.
At Lyons Township High School, the two became known as "Kono" and "Mini," putting the usual competitiveness associated with sibling rivalry aside to become a formidable tandem in the water. With Kelly in the third lane and Megan in lane five, their contrasting personalities and teenage qualms were thrown aside from the instant hands touched water.
"Kelly was the strong, silent one who worked really hard and minded her own business," Megan said. "For me, it was just comforting to know that she took the pressure off me. As long as one of us swam well, it was great, because she took the brunt of whatever people saw the Kono girls as, and I just got to do my own thing. She's just always been that person that you always look up to, and you always want to be like her."
"I think the two of us are well-connected; I'll call her to tell about stupid gossip and ask her opinion," Kelly said. "She's one of the wisest people that I've ever met and just has a keen sense of understanding things and knowing what the answer is. I've shared what she's said with friends, and they wanted me to ask Megan questions for them."
When Kelly enrolled at Wash U, Megan was just beginning her junior year in high school and starting to think about what school she would end up at. Not until she visited Kelly at school, though, did the idea of swimming in college even cross the younger Kono's mind. She went to see a few meets, absorbed the atmosphere of a collegiate swim team and came back to La Grange realizing how much she would miss it if her career were over after high school. In a way, Megan said, she wanted to carry on the Kono family name in the water.
"Megan brings an air of lightness to the pool," said Nancy Bigelow, Megan's current coach at Tufts. "All you have to do is say her name and people start smiling. She is a kook in many ways, but it's good to have those people who can segment different parts of their life and do it because she enjoys it."
Once Megan enrolled at Tufts, the Kono dominance was fully shifted over to the collegiate atmosphere, bringing with it the work ethic that had developed at the Y back in La Grange. In her short stint on the Hill, Megan has already broken the Tufts records in the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle events and is a member of the record-holding 800-yard freestyle relay team. Last year, in her first NCAA meet, Megan finished 21st in the 500, 29th in the 200 and 19th -- three spots shy of All-American status -- in the 1,650. She enters this year's Div. III meet seeded 20th in the 500 and seventh in the 1,650, the same event in which Kelly is seeded 19th.
If Megan got her knack from success anywhere, it certainly came from Kelly. A co-captain at Wash U, Kelly is an 18-time All-American for the Bears and holds six school records. Despite being plagued by a nagging back injury that has forced her to undergo regular therapy and get cortisone shots, Kelly earned All-American and Academic All-American status last season.
"I think that Kelly has set the standard out there that this is what is required to do well, that you have to believe in yourself, to be surrounded by an encouraging and supportive team that pushes you," Bigelow said. "Kelly has paved the way for Megan. To know that you believe in yourself, you can do a lot. It's sort of a mantra the Kono sisters have adapted."
"They're teammates first, even though they're sisters," Walker added. "I have never seen, in all my years with those two, them argue with each other, something you would consider normal for a sibling relationship. They just know that they have each other's backs."
For Megan, even the chance to be in the same pool house as her hero is worth it. The defining moment of this sisterhood relationship came when they were both in high school and Kelly was racing in the state finals with Megan in the stands. When Kelly walked along the deck and looked up at her sister, Megan was holding a sign that said "Kelly Kono is my sister and I am so proud," a moment which left her sister "just dumbfounded" with pride.
"To know how hard she's worked and to know that this is her last meet, it makes me really happy," Megan said. "The underlying competitiveness between us is really just not there. It makes me so proud to tell people what my sister has been able to accomplish, so to be able to be there for her last race and not just in the stands cheering for me, but to be on deck with her, it's going to be cool.
"Dating back to when we were five years old and sitting on our towels waiting for our events to go, I can't imagine that coming to an end," she continued. "That's the stuff I'm going to remember about her."
"It's not like we're going to be punching each other out or anything," Kelly added. "I'm just happy to finish my career with my sister."
