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VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2 107 Distance Swimmers All-America duo bonds training and educational goals while far from home BY WILLIAM MEINERS Special to Gold and Black Illustrated T here's a certain symmetry to their journeys, even though each started swimming a half a world away from each other. For the Californian, Allie Davis, Purdue is the four-year campus, cultural and competitive experience that she may not have found in her native Golden State. And for Nika Karlina Petric, the Slovenian even farther from home, becoming a Boilermaker afforded her the collegiate opportunities that really don't exist in her homeland. "I kind of knew what college was supposed to look like through the movies," said Petric, a senior who first came to campus with her parents to see off her brother, Jan, who swam for Purdue from 2012-2015. "But there's no such thing as college sports in Slovenia." There wasn't much thought of heading off to the United States on a swimming scholarship, but after learning more from her brother about the campus and his successes, Pet- ric opened up some long-distance communication lines between John Klinge, Purdue's head coach, and Erica Be- ine, an assistant coach. The exchanged emails and Skype conversations led to her return to Purdue, just a year after helping her brother get settled. She has since matured into one of the team's top swimmers and a soft-spoken leader in the midst of her final year. "Allie's journey was a bit different," Klinge said of the Californian. "She was a little under the radar and not among those we recruited heavily. But after her campus Tom Campbell Nika Karlina Petric and Allie Davis (right) come from different worlds far away from the Purdue campus, but have formed a bond that has been hard to break during their days on campus.