Girls swimmer of the year

Name: Kate Rollins 

School: Sabino 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Girls swimming and diving 

From the archives: Kate Rollins is one girl with a hefty trophy case.

Rollins, a Sabino senior, concluded her high school swimming career Nov. 6 in the 5A state championships at Arizona State University with a title in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

When she got back to town, Rollins just threw it on the pile. She had already won consecutive state titles in the 100 backstroke and the 200 free relay in her sophomore and junior years, along with a 200 medley relay title her sophomore year.

Rollins didn't win a third straight 100 backstroke title, but she did swim the best race of her life at state - it just happened to come in preliminaries and not the finals.

Rollins' time of 56.38 seconds qualified her for the 2000 Olympic trials.

But the next day, Rollins couldn't overcome a bad start and mistimed turns. She placed second, losing to Phoenix Mountain Pointe's Amy Wagner by .38 of a second.

But it wasn't as though Rollins had never won a state title. She was able to focus from the positive result that came from the meet - the trial qualification.

"It felt so good," said Rollins, the 1999 Arizona Daily Star Southern Arizona Girls Swimmer of the Year. "After getting that time, I know that I can break 55 seconds. I know I can go so much faster."

She'll get plenty of chances to show that she can indeed go faster. If not in the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, than definitely in college. Rollins recently accepted a scholarship to Nebraska.

"I just love it. You wouldn't think that you'd want to go to Nebraska to swim," said Rollins, whose family moved to Tucson from Vermont before her sophomore year.

"There's a lot of foreign swimmers there. They're really, really nice. The coach seems really good, and the team seems really fun." — Phil Villarreal, 1999