By Grant Clark
Jill Wilson can remember a time, not too long ago, when she would sit in the bleachers alongside her daughter, Lauren, and watch her son, Brett, participate in swimming practice.
Every so often, Lauren would lean over and express to her mother her distaste towards the sport.
“When she was 6, she would always tell me how she never wanted to swim,” Jill remembered.
Things have certainly changed.
Lauren, now 12, is not only an avid swimmer, but is also one of the state’s best as evident by her selection to represent Pacific Northwest Swimming in the United States Swimming Western Zone Championships in early August in Maui, Hawaii.
Lauren, the only member of the Olympia-based Evergreen Swim Club to qualify for the meet, will compete in the 11-12 girls age group against swimmers from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.
“She’s had a pretty amazing season,” said Kelly Serrao, who coaches Lauren, a seventh grader at Evergreen Christian School. “The fact she had so much to overcome makes it even more impressive.”
Posting the times needed to be selected to such a high-caliber event is difficult enough, but Lauren’s journey to the Zone Championships didn’t just feature aquatic obstacles.
Back in February, one night Jill knew that something was off with Lauren, but every time she asked how she was doing the answer was always the same. Lauren would continually her mother that she was fine and simply a stomachache. It would subside momentarily.
Only it didn’t. It would significantly worsen.
“She has such a high threshold of pain, I never know if she’s really okay or just saying she’s fine because she doesn’t want to bother anyone,” Jill said, a physical therapist and owner of Fusion Physical Therapy & Pilates in downtown Olympia. “I was afraid it was appendicitis, but the area she said was in pain wasn’t consistent with where you would have appendicitis.”
It wasn’t until Lauren was doubled over in agony that the full extent of her pain was realized.
A quick dash to the emergency room confirmed Jill’s fears. Lauren was suffering from a ruptured appendix.
Surgery immediately followed at 1:00 a.m. Lauren would have little memory of the experience while her mother will never forget.
“It was just an incredibly scary situation,” Jill said. “No one wants to see their child go through something like that.”
Lauren remained in the hospital for a week following surgery and was excluded from physical activity for an additional two more weeks after she was discharged – which meant no swimming.
The location for the U.S. Western Zone Championships had been posted for nearly a year. When Maui was announced as the venue, Lauren, who had never been to Hawaii before, immediately set her sights on being one of the swimmers invited to represent the Pacific Northwest region.
USA Swimming divides the country into four Zones – Western, Eastern, Central and Southern – with each zone holding an annual championship where the top swimmers from each state or region compete against each other. Swimmers are selected based on time standards. The more events you’ve posted qualifying times in, the greater your chances of being selected become.
Prior to her hospital visit, Lauren had met the time requirements in four events. A great accomplishment, but no guarantee a selection would occur. She would need to post qualifying times in additional events if she wanted to advance – a task made even more difficult to achieve while resting in a hospital bed.
“We really didn’t talk about Maui too much when she was in the hospital,” Jill said. “We knew she was disappointed. We just figured we would cross our fingers and hope her four events would be enough to get her selected.”
Lauren did have one final chance – a meet in late March prior to the selection cutoff. However, by the time she was cleared to begin swimming again she would only have three weeks to get ready – not much time under normal circumstances.
“I had been aiming for Maui since we first heard about it,” Lauren said. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. I just decided to go out and do my best.”
Motivated, Lauren would go on and add two more qualifying times to her resume – giving her a total of six events, the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, 50 backstroke, 100 backstroke, 200 IM and 50 freestyle.
“She is the toughest competitor I’ve ever coached,” Serrao said. “Out of the pool she is the sweetest girl you’ll ever meet, but when she’s in the water she’s focused.”
Everything was now out of Lauren’s hands and all that remained was waiting to hear whether or not she had done enough to earn a selection.
“It was nerve-wrecking,” Lauren said about the six week wait. “I wasn’t really sure if I had done enough to get in.”
She received the news in early May, leaving the family just enough time to book the trip to Hawaii.
“I am more excited than nervous (about the Zone Championships),” an elated Lauren said. “It really is going to be a great experience.”
Yes, things have certainly changed.
