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Szalak, who is a 6-foot-6 forward from Lublin, Poland, averaged 18.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game for Jan III Sobieski Private Secondary School in Lublin. He was the captain of his team and led the team in scoring. He also set a school record by scoring 32 points in one game during the 2003 season, and he helped lead his team to the quarterfinal round of the Nike Basketball State League.

"Krzysztof should be able to play both the power forward and small forward positions,” said MVNU head coach Scott Flemming. "He is an excellent outside shooter for his size. After seeing him work out and getting a strong recommendation on him, I am hoping that he can give us immediate help. I am looking forward to the interaction with him personally and learning more of his culture. It should be a good experience for him as well as our team and campus community.”

"I chose to come to MVNU for several reasons,” said Szalak, who plans to major in sports management, of his college choice. "I would like to continue my basketball career and I think I can help MVNU. I also like to travel. I am a hard-working person and I like to help people, so it should be no problem to fit into the environment at MVNU. My goal is to finish at the university and play professional basketball.”

The Cougars posted a 23-13 overall record in 2003-2004 to mark the seventh time in the past eight years that the team has topped the 20-win mark. MVNU also finished tied for second in the highly competitive American Mideast Conference South Division with a 13-3 mark, and the Cougars advanced to the National Christian College Athletic Association National Tournament for the third straight year where the team lost in the national championship game to finish as the national runner-up. MVNU also finished the season ranked 24th in the final NAIA Division II national poll.