If it were up to Kim Williams, Bainbridge Island might still be home.
The idyllic community where the Bellevue Christian freshman spent her first 12 years was tough to break away from two years ago and initially was a major source of frustration.
“I was kind of depressed,” Williams said of the aftermath of her family’s move. “I was really attached there.”
The reasoning behind the move was two-fold and the results have been better than she ever thought possible.
Kim’s sister Brooke is a level-10 gymnast and junior at Bellevue High School, but before relocating the family would commute across Puget Sound to make practices and competitions at the Bellevue gym where Brooke trained. Around the same time, Kim’s swimming coach and mentor on Bainbridge Island retired from coaching at age 80, leaving an uncertainty around how and where her career in the pool would continue.
Moving off the island became the best option for everyone and after what her father called a relatively short adjustment period, things started getting back to normal.
“It always takes awhile,” Al Williams said of the transition of moving for kids. “Kim is so friendly, she seemed to make friends instantly.”
Eventually, one of the most comfortable elements of living on self-contained Bainbridge Island shifted from a problem to an opportunity.
“On Bainbridge, your swim friends and school friends are the same,” she said. “Here, I made friends from my Issaquah swim team, at Bellevue Christian and now on my high school swim team.”
After beginning on an Issaquah-based club team to swim with local standouts like multiple-time 4A state champion Katie Kinnear of Skyline, Williams eventually landed on the Bellevue Athletic Club swim team and decided to join the team at Bellevue High School as well. While that has meant entirely new groups of friends and teammates, it has also led to some rather long nights.
Monday and Friday means two hours of intense club team workouts followed by an hour and a half in the pool for the high school team. On Wednesday’s, throw in an extra session with the BAC team that includes a “dryland” or weight lifting session.
“It really wears you down,” Williams said of her workout schedule. “But it gets you in great shape and you feel really accomplished.”
The workouts paid off last weekend at the 3A Sea-King swim and dive championships.
Williams swam a pair of automatic state qualifying times and also broke the district record in the 200 meter individual medley at 2 minutes, 3.18 seconds, defeating the defending state champion Grace Wold from Mercer Island with the automatic All-America time. She also won the 100 breaststroke in an All-America consideration time of 1:04.99. She will also swim anchor on the 200 and 400 free relay teams for Bellevue.
None of Williams’ success has been a surprise for Bellevue High School swim coach Lisa M. van Loben Sels.
“What’s nice about Kim is she couples her extraordinary talent with just being an extraordinary young lady,” van Loben Sels said. “Her competitive nature is second to none.”
While the state swim and dive meet is the most intense competition many high school swimmers will ever face, it will just be another day in the pool for Williams, who has competed in regional and national championships around the country.
“The atmosphere of high school swimming is a lot more fun and it’s more team oriented than club,” Williams said. “I just want to do well for my team.”
The 3A prelims will begin at Federal Way’s King County Aquatic Center Friday at 9:45 am. The finals are Saturday at 10 am.
