Class of 1999
Sport: Swimming
Athletic Accomplishments:
A four-year letter-winner at St. Mary’s, Kimled her team to a four-year dual meet record of 31-15. As afirst-year, she set a St. Mary’s and Capital AthleticConference (CAC) record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.77seconds. She bested that mark in 1998 with a time of 24.45 seconds,still a school record and one that lasted as a CAC record until the2003-04 season. An NCAA Division III provisional qualifier in the50 freestyle event in each of her four seasons, she wasinvited to the NCAA Nationals in 1996 and again in 1998 where shewas seeded 15th, at the time, the highest NCAA seeding achieved bya St. Mary’s swimmer. She also swam on the College’srecord-setting relay teams in 200 and 400 yard medleys and 200, 400and 800 yard freestyle. Kim was named St. Mary’s FemaleAthlete of the Month as a first-year and sophomore; was a two-timeschool MVP for swimming; and was named to the CAC All-Academic teamher senior year. She still owns or shares three school records: the50 freestyle; 400 medley relay; and 200 freestyle relay.
Most Memorable Sports Experience at St.Mary’s:
“My most memorable sports experience while atSt. Mary’s was achieving an NCAA “A” cut time,breaking the school and conference records in the 50 freestyle.Usually in a 50 free, everyone arrives at the wall at the sametime; it’s only tenths of seconds that separate everyone. Butthat race for me was different; right before I got on the blocks myfavorite pair of goggles broke. I almost hyperventilated at thatmoment; fear and worry were on the faces of my teammates behind mewho were waiting to cheer me on. I ran to my swim bag and grabbedmy second best pair of goggles. Now, the second best pair to aswimmer almost might be as good as not wearing any goggles. Theyare the pair you haven’t trained with as much and could fillup with water as soon as you dive in. My adrenaline was pumping,and I ran back and got on the blocks. Once the race had started, asI was coming out of the flip turn, I looked over at the competitionand didn’t see anybody coming out of the flip turn with me. Ithought for a split second that maybe there was a false start andno one had stopped me yet, but I figured I just better keepgoing. So I did, and when I touched the wall and looked up atthe time, I couldn’t believe it. My teammates were screamingand celebrating and pulled me up out of the pool to celebrate withthem.”
Thoughts on Swimming at St. Mary’sCollege:
“Even though most consider swimming an individual sport,those who actually participate in it know that without yourteammates, your accomplishments on your own are meaningless. I didbreak records and go to the NCAA’s, but what I remember mostis the cheering of the team and how proud they were of me afterraces. I also remember that in many a hard practice, we would allthink that we were going to perish but yet we found a way tostruggle through together. The team is your family. They make youfeel like a part of something bigger – bigger thanyourself.”
