Kimball reaches long-term goal

Saipan Swim Club’s Grace Kimball set a long-term goal and hit it when she was selected to compete in the 14th FINA World Championships.

“I can still remember seeing older kids go to the World Championships. At one point probably four or five years ago, our coach asked all the swimmers to write down our short-term and long-term goals. My long-term goal was to swim in the World Championships. It is amazing to realize that I am actually going to the long-course World Championships and reaching my goal,” Kimball said.

The 15-year-old SSC member is one of the three CNMI swimmers who will for Shanghai, China next week to participate in the 14th FINA World Championships, which will run from July 16 to 31. The two others are Kimball’s teammate, Victoria Chentsova, and Tsunami Saipan Swimming Center and World Championship veteran Rezne Wong.

In China, Kimball will be competing in the 50m and 100m freestyle races.

“I am hoping to drop times in my events and figure out some new techniques by watching world champion swimmers,” the daughter of Dan and Lisa Kimball said.

The SSC swimmer’s best time in the 50m freestyle is 30.64 seconds. Nina Mosley owns both the CNMI 15 to 16 age group marks in the 50m freestyle 28.08 seconds (June 28, 2006). In the 100m freestyle, Kimball’s personal best is 1:08.09. Mosley also holds the CNMI and age group marks in the 100m freestyle (1:01.25).

The World Championship will be Kimball’s biggest tournament so far after representing the CNMI to the 2010 Micronesian Games in Palau and she is thankful for the opportunity to swim for the Commonwealth anew.

“I’m really excited to be able to compete in such a high-level competition as the World Championships. It’s also a big responsibility to represent the CNMI again,” Kimball said.

The selection of the three CNMI swimmers was made only in May, but since the beginning of the year, Kimball has been training for future competitions.

“I have been training six days a week, for two to three hours each day for the whole year. Our coaches have been preparing us specifically for this swim meet since the end of May, and have worked hard to make sure we are ready to swim our best. I am swimming sprint events so I have been focusing on speed and on maintaining my speed over the entire distance of a race,” the 2010 Micronesian Games gold medalist said.

“I am dedicating this swim meet, like all of my other swim meets, to God, because He is the one who made me and gave me the ability to swim and compete. When I swim, I do my best to swim for Him. I would especially like to thank my parents and my coaches for helping me prepare for this swim meet. They have done a lot of work to make sure that everything happens,” Kimball added.