Girls' Swimmer of the Year: James Wood's Kimberly Warnagiris

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI | The Winchester Star

Mar 28, 2018

WINCHESTER — For years, Alan Cavanagh marveled at what Kimberly Warnagiris was able to do for the Winchester Swim Team while he coached the Clearbrook Dolphins swim team.

“I just remember looking at all of her times,” said Cavanagh, who completed his first season at James Wood’s coach this year. “You just knew she was going to go far. She was blowing the boys away.”

As a freshman at James Wood, Warnagiris continued to post times that most boys would envy, and The Winchester Star Girls’ Swimmer of the Year blew up a good portion of the Colonels’ girls’ record book in the process.

Warnagiris achieved state qualifying times in six of the eight individual events — the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley. Of those six events, Warnagiris set school records in all but the 50 free and 200 free.

Warnagiris had the fastest girls’ time in the area in five events — her favorite one, the 100 butterfly (meter time of 1:02.88, 7.36 seconds head of the No. 2 swimmer), the 200 individual medley (2:24.48, 12 seconds ahead of No. 2), the 200 free (2:13.08, 5.97 seconds ahead of No. 2), the 100 freestyle (1:01.08) and the 100 breaststroke (1:15.72). In the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM, Warnagiris posted times that would rank second on the area boys’ leaderboard. In the 100 fly, she would rank third.

And in taking fourth in the 100 fly and fifth in the 100 breaststroke to earn all-state honors, Warnagiris scored 29 points by herself, nine more than the next-highest scoring local team (Sherando) at the Class 4 state meet.

Warnagiris’ performances at the USA Swimming level with the year-round Winchester Swim Team suggested to Cavanagh that she could do anything she set her mind to with James Wood this year.

And the determination Cavanagh saw from Warnagiris gave him a pretty good idea why she put up so many impressive times before joining the Colonels.

Ever since she was 10, Warnagiris has been training in the pool nine times a week, with sessions lasting 90 minutes to two hours. At 10, her mother Kelly said Kimberly didn’t need anyone to wake her up for practices in the morning before school.

During the high school season, Warnagiris worked even harder. She trained in the pool 13 times a week and also did three strength training sessions geared specifically toward swimmers with FASST in Winchester.

“She would do anything we’d ask,” Cavanagh said. “But we kind of have to watch it, because sometimes I felt like we were pushing her too far with everything she was doing.

“But she’s got a strong work ethic, and it showed. She’s even always looking to help out other swimmers. I don’t even have to ask her, and she’ll go and correct somebody on what they’re doing.”

Swimming has been a passion for Warnagiris ever since she was 8 years old and saw her friends competing for the Clearbrook Dolphins. Warnagiris spent one summer with Clearbrook, but has been with the Winchester Swim Team ever since.

At age 10, Warnagiris had her first major breakthrough, when she made the finals and medaled by placing in the top eight in the 50 fly, 100 free and 100 fly for the 10-and-under division at the state age group championship meet in Christiansburg.

“I was just like, ‘Man, this is pretty cool. I like this,’” Warnagiris said. “That’s when it really hit me that I could be good.”

Having already achieved high school state-qualifying times when she was in seventh grade, Warnagiris felt confident she could succeed at the high school level, and her times reflected that this year.

Warnagiris’ postseason this year showed her versatility. In high school, swimmers can participate in two individual events in each meet, and Warnagiris changed things up in each of the three postseason events.

At the Class 4 Northwestern District meet, Warnagiris entered the 200-yard freestyle and took second in 2:00.11, breaking the school record of former Winchester Star Swimmer of the Year Emalee Firestein that was set in 2010.

At the Region 4C meet, Warnagiris entered the 200-yard individual medley and took fourth in 2:10.16, breaking the school record set by former Winchester Star Swimmer of the Year Sarah Shell in 2003. (In meters, Warnagiris improved on Shell’s time by nine seconds.)

Warnagiris decided on the 200 free at districts and 200 IM at regions, because she had only participated in them one time each for James Wood and she wanted to do them again (Warnagiris missed some James Wood meets to do club swimming meets).

At the Class 4 state meet, Warnagiris chose the 100-yard breaststroke, because she thought she had a chance to place higher in that event than the 200 free and 200 IM. She placed fifth in 1:08.47 after recording a 1:08.22 in the preliminaries, a two-second improvement over the school-record time she came into the meet with (that mark was set in 2012).

The 100 butterfly is Warnagiris’ favorite though, and she did that at each of the three postseason meets. She won the event at the district meet in 59.44, took third in the region meet in 57.45, then took fourth in the state meet with a 56.78 after recording a 56.65 in the preliminaries.

That 56.65 is nearly five seconds better than the school record formerly held by 2017 graduate Zoe Schopick, a four-time state qualifier in the 100 butterfly who competes for NCAA Division III Macalester College.

“Her technique is flawless,” said Cavanagh in regards to Warnagiris’ butterfly approach. “A lot of kids, they’ll kind of break it up. They’ll do a single-arm pull, and then they’ll pause. Single-arm pull, and pause. You’ve got to treat it like a double-freestyle arm where it just keeps going, keeps going, and she has that. And her kick. Most kids kick down a lot harder than they kick up, but she does it well in both directions.

“And she’s learned the tricks of the trade about how to do the underwater swim. When you dive in, you do a butterfly kick until you get to the surface. You kind of have to teach some kids some of that, because a lot of kids like to get to the surface and start swimming, but you’re allowed to go 15 meters underwater. She already knows some of the tricks of the trade about actually doing that on your side, so you’re not fighting gravity. Most kids don’t learn that until college.”

Warnagiris couldn’t have been happier with how she performed in the butterfly during the postseason.

Often swimmers post their best times in USA Swimming meets, because there tends to be more competition in those meets.

But Warnagiris’ 100 fly time was the best of her entire career and was 0.64 better than the time she needed to qualify for the National Club Swimming Association championships, a feat that she considers the biggest accomplishment of her career. Warnagiris will be able to compete at both the NCSA long course meet in Indianapolis in August and the short course meet in Orlando next March.

“I hadn’t dropped time in the 100 fly in about a year, and then I dropped a second at regionals and a second at states,” said Warnagiris, whose USA Swimming times in all her other events are all faster than the ones she had for James Wood this year. “I just really got up and raced. At regionals I was two-tenths off the NCSA cut, and I really, really wanted to get it. At states, I pushed hard and did it.”

It was a great way to end a memorable first high school season.

“I love swimming for James Wood,” Warnagiris said. “Everyone’s so supportive and competitive. In the coming years, I want to win the 100 fly at states. That’s my main goal for high school.”

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