Megan Kingsley's Colorado Olympic Training Center Experience!

BY AMANDA KELLEY

SPORTS REPORTER

Megan Kingsley has already crossed off several major milestones in her swimming career, and she’s only 14 years old.

The Conway Christian freshman swims for the Myrtle Beach Riptides and has been a member of several select camps in addition to top finishes in the state and region. She competed in the highest swim meet for an athlete her age traveling all the way to Irvine , Ca. for the Junior National Championships last summer.

She’s added to her list, earning an invitation to the USA Swimming National Select Camp. The camp is the highest as far as camps go and was held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co.

The next step would be the elite team which would send Kingsley to international level competitions.

The camp takes only the best swimmers. To earn an invitation, the swimmers earned two of the top fastest times in the nation. Then an additional eight swimmers were added to the list based on their IMX ranking.

The IMX ranking gives swimmers points based on performances in a series of events at specific distances. The higher the IMX number, the better the ranking. Kingsley’s 4951 score was sixth in the nation among women between ages 14 and 15 and was high enough to earn the invite.

“It was pretty exciting,” Kingsley said. “It was a long flight out there. I didn’t get much sleep and it was hard training, but it was an awesome experience.”

The Olympic Training Center is a mile above sea level. And if that wasn’t a big enough change, the workouts were in an Olympic sized –50-meters or long course – pool.

There is no pool that size locally, and in the winter club teams train in pools 25-yards long.

“It was harder to breathe,” Kingsley said. “It was definitely different because we don’t have any long course pools here and I had to swim long course doubles. I haven’t swam doubles since the summer. So I had to get used to the altitude and now I’m back to sea level and short course.”

Though the change in altitude and pool size had her physically exhausted, Kingsley returned excited and ready for her next challenge.

“Now I know what to shoot for next,” she said. “Getting on the elite team would be my goal for next year.”

She swam in a foreign state with 60 swimmers she had never met before.

“The coaches, the swimmers they were just like me,” Kingsley said. “There were 30 guys and 30 girls who are just like me and go through the same things. We didn’t know each other but everyone was cheering for each other and pushing each other because we understand.”

The trip included seminars and swim clinics. Kingsley said she learned a new start that she had never even heard of, and then learned about nutrition and safe supplements.

“We learned how someone can test positive from supplements and vitamins,” Kingsley said. “Certain vitamins that aren’t approved can show up positive.”

Earning the spot in the National Select Camp puts Kingsley in the spotlight nationally, showcasing her as a swimmer to watch.

But before this season and this trip, Kingsley said she wasn’t sure about the future of her career.

“I was in a really tough spot,” she said. “I didn’t want to swim anymore. I was really frustrated.”

But changes have the young star motivated once more. The Riptides have a new head coach in Brittany Todd, who competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials before an injury ended her competitive career.

“Having a new coach is great,” Kingsley said. “I haven’t had a female coach in three years. She’s younger and she’s just like us. She understand how we work through things and cares about us.

“She’s definitely pushed me, but the parents are getting excited and everyone’s getting fired up.”

Kingsley thinks the changes in the tides will boost the team to new heights.

“The Riptides will be boosted to a level we can’t even really imagine,” she said. “We’ll be a team we haven’t been before.”