Former Williams Lake Blue Fin swimmer Kim Bryan recently made good on a lifetime goal at the Canada West Swim Championships at the University of British Columbia.
Bryan, 24, who now swims as a member of the University of Victoria Vikings swim team, placed ninth in the 50-metre backstroke with a personal best time of 30.8 seconds — qualifying her for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Nationals from Feb. 24-27 in Calgary.
Heading into the race, Bryan was ranked 17th.
“I was pretty amazed,” she said, and noted it took a bit of convincing from peers and coaches to sink in she had qualified.
“I didn’t actually know the time for the 50-metre backstroke. I just got out of the pool and one of my teammates said ‘congrats, you made it.’ I was so excited I was shaking. It was such a good feeling to know all the hard work and sacrifice I put in this year has really actually paid off.”
Following that on the first day of the competition, Bryan helped UVIC’s 4x200-metre relay team place fourth with another personal best time of 2:07.40.
On Saturday, Bryan finished 11th in the 50-metre freestyle with yet another personal best time of 27.43 seconds.
Later, she placed 10th (ranked 17th) in the 200-metre backstroke to qualify for her second race at the CIS Nationals with a time of 2:20.00.
Then, in the 4x100-metre relay, she finished fourth with a best time of 58.89.
Sunday, in the 100-metre backstroke, Bryan placed 11th, finishing with a best time of 1:05.86.
“By my calculations, I’d say I took off roughly 16-17 seconds this weekend alone with eight best times,” she said. “I haven’t done that since I was like 10.”
Bryan is currently in her last year as a member of the UVIC swim team, all the while studying for a degree in recreation and health education, and has been swimming since she was six.
Bryan still holds nine pool records in Williams Lake and has been recognized twice with city appreciation awards.
She attended three Western Canadian finals, two Age Group National Championships and two International meets all before the age of 17. While swimming on exchange in Australia in 2003/04 Bryan won double gold in the Victoria State finals in the 100-metre butterfly and 100-metre backstroke.
Bryan said while visiting Williams Lake over Christmas, the Williams Lake Blue Fins really provided a lot of support in helping her reach her goal.
“They’ve been really supportive over the years — especially over Christmas,” she said. “I think training with them and really having them support me helped to get to this point.”
The UVIC Vikings are currently wrapping up their training in preparation for nationals, and Bryan said she hopes to make the best of the opportunity to compete with the best in the country.
“I’ve never qualified for this before in all the years I’ve been trying to make it and haven’t been doing it,” she said. “But now that I’m here I’m like now what? I just want to go and see who’s there because it’s such a fast meet and just go and have fun.
“Maybe just go and try and better my time even more.”