As co-captain of the Wheaton College synchronized swimming team, Christiana Butera has to focus on Saturday's season opener—the Wheaton Invitational. But nobody can blame her if her mind drifts to China and this coming July.

Butera, 20, surprised even her coach this month by making the U.S. national team in her sport, which will seek medals at the 14th FINA World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai. The world swim meet will hold synchro events July 16-23.

"We found out [about team picks] at the end of the trials," Butera said. "They named the team on Sunday while we were still at the pool. The whole thing seemed unreal. I was in complete disbelief."

She says she realized she had a good chance at making the team, but "I had no real concept of what that meant until they called my name and it started to sink in. I was so incredibly proud, honored, and excited."

After negotiations between her school and the national team, she learned she will be joining the team April 4 in Indianapolis.

"I will be completing my semester doing partial independent study so I can finish early," she said.

The Buteras live in the Mount Helix area. And in late December and early January, her family hosted members of Christiana's Wheaton College team, which trained at the La Mesa Municipal Pool, where Olympic legend Greg Louganis learned to dive.

Butera made the dozen-member Team USA by competing at mid-January tryouts in Indianapolis. Despite her relative short height (5-feet-2), she beat out dozens of the best swimmers in America.

"I'm not going to lie," said Rebecca Story, her Wheaton College coach. "I was pretty surprised. Going in, we we were hoping for a place, but we were also going to be happy with just the experience."

Story said Butera will have to re-tryout for the 2012 Olympic team, "so next year she'll go through the same process again and hopefully beat out the competition as she did this year."

Butera isn't built like the average top-notch synchro swimmer, Story said, but "she's got the heart, motivation and determination to make up for her missing inches. Her talent is the direct product of sheer work ethic and passion for what she does."

Story called Butera an incredibly smart swimmer, who "has learned how to power through most anything, and when I say 'smart' I don't just mean in the classroom. Synchro has so much to do with feeling, knowing how to move your body the right way, extension, quickness and the right mental perseverance.

From the first time she met Christiana, Story said, "I knew we'd make a great team. She posseses many of the qualities I've come to expect from all my athletes. To have a swimmer that exemplifies all my expectations is a true blessing."

Wheaton College, a private liberal-arts school of 1,600 south of Boston,  has always been very supportive of the synchro program, Story said, "so between Wheaton and my coaching staff, we've been able to supply her with some of the best resources for training."

Butera was selected for the team and combo events only—not the individual event.

"We're still working out the logistics for her training program," Story said. The national team this week started training at the natatorium of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and sponsor St. Vincent Sports Performance.

"Right now our focus has turned towards our collegiate season with the first meet being January 29 at home," Story said.

Butera, who attended Academy of Our Lady of Peace for high school, described the selection process via a Facebook message:

My ranking in the trial was a reflection of three different types of testing. There are 10 skills and four elements which are given to the swimmers ahead of time to practice. They measure strengths in height out of the water, propulsion, endurance, speed of movement, flexibility, presentation, breath control and stamina.

After these two processes, we went into phase 2 which consisted of three different performance swims of the technical routine used by the national team the previous year. Within the routine, you were judged on all the earlier mentioned criteria as well as the four specified elements being performed within the routine to music.

Two of the swims were done individually and the third was done with another person to test matchability and direct comparison between athletes close in rank.

This story was updated Jan. 28, 2011.