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Destiny Kling from Chandler High School in Chandler, Arizona has verbally committed to swim at the University of Nevada.
Kling, who started her high school career with the Westside Silver Fins and Verrado High School before transferring to Chandler and Pitchfork Aquatics, won an Arizona Division II State Championship in the 200 free as a freshman in 1:53.91. As a sophomore, she had moved to Chandler High, where she dropped big time, across the board, and placed 5th in the 200 free, this time in Division I (big schools).
As a junior, she worked her way back to state champion once again – this time in the 500 free, which she won in a nail-biter of a race in 4:55.75 (a .18 second win over then-freshman Mia Rankin last fall). She was 3rd in the 200 free in 1:51.25.
She’s continued to drop time in chunks since last year’s state championship, improving her 500 free by almost 4 seconds at Sectionals in March – her spring taper meet.
200 Free Progression:
- 8th grade – 1:55.91
- Freshman – 1:51.77
- Sophomore – 1:51.39 (PROGRAM CHANGE
- Junior – 1:50.31
500 Free Progression:
- 8th grade – 5:05.29
- Freshman – 5:08.09
- Sophomore – 4:56.91 (PROGRAM CHANGE)
- Junior – 4:52.09
Best Times in Yards:
- 50 free – 25.24
- 100 free – 52.21
- 200 free – 1:50.31
- 500 free – 4:52.09
- 1000 free – 10:16.40
- 100 fly – 57.17
- 200 IM – 2:04.12
- 400 IM – 4:24.87
Nevada has had success with 200 freestylers in the 2-year tenure of head coach Brendan Bray: last year, they had 3 of the top 8 200 freestylers in the Mountain West, all of whom returned this season, and led by now-junior Diana Sokolowska (1:47.03). In relative terms, the 500 free has not been as much of a strength: their best-ranked swimmer in the Mountain West in each of the last two seasons has been 9th.
Kling, who has not hit an apparent plateau yet, would’ve scored around 35 points individually at last year’s Mountain West Conference Championships in her 3 best events (with either IM being next-best). Her challenge will be that the IM races conflict directly with her best events, the 200 and 500 free, in the MWC championship schedule, so she’ll either have to attack a tough double, or develop a different 3rd event.
Current Nevada freshman Alexa Markl is also from the Phoenix area.
The Nevada women finished 3rd at last year’s Mountain West Championships and 24th at the NCAA Championships with 33 points.
https://twitter.com/destinyykling/status/1044770843153199105
