I think it’s fair to say that EGHS senior Claire Kienzle has been building up to this point for several years now, and has had the dream in her mind of qualifying for the state swimming meet. Through a lot of hard work, that dream has now come true. She will be swimming a leg of the Fort Dodge Dodgers 200 freestyle relay in Marshalltown this Saturday after their finish at the regional meet.
“I’m excited,” said Kienzle. “It was my best split time of the season, so I had a good feeling that we would be going.”
Swimming started for her while she was in middle school, but it didn’t go so well at first. “It was alright at first, but then I wasn’t sure about it so I quit for a couple weeks,” she said. “Coach talked me into coming back and trying it again. Then I ended up liking it a lot and wanted to keep doing it in high school.”
Since there was no Eagle swim team at the high school level, a cooperative sharing agreement was set up with the closet team at Fort Dodge Senior High. The Dodger girls, under the direction of long-time head coach Ashley Beaumont, have had many individual qualifiers over the years with several medalists. It seemed like the perfect fit for Kienzle, and Beaumont and the rest of the girls welcomed her into their ‘family.’ The freshman was joined in her sophomore year by Olivia Andersen, Emma Johnston and Shanna Thul as they made trips everyday after classes here for the practices and meets. It was a big commitment to the sport she now loves, and all of those hours of practice and competition have paid off.
“I still get a little nervous before an event because I don’t want to let my teammates down, but it’s also exciting to see how I can do,” said Kienzle.
She will now end her high school swim career at the place everyone wants to be, swimming against the best in the state. It seems very fitting for a girl who came back to the sport at a young age and stuck it out to now get to where she is. She should be an inspiration to other young girls out there to never give up. Congratulations Claire, you have truly earned your moment in the state spotlight!
