Swimming
Favorite athlete: Katie Ledecky
Favorite team: Team USA
Favorite memory competing in sports:Winning Country Club Championships in 2016 with Manufacturers Country Club by half a point.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My cap falling off during a 200 free and then my hair tie came out as well and I still had to finish the race. My hair was everywhere.
Music on your iPod: Anything and everything depending on my mood
Future plans:Going to college at the University of Delaware
Words to live by:"An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. When life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means it's going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming.
One goal before turning 30: Travel to Europe
One thing people don’t know about me:My whole family swims including my 84-year-old grandfather.
By Craig Ostroff
For high school swimmers, the dual meet season is now in the past. It’s the time of year where nothing but the best will do – Leagues, Districts, States.
Understandably, many athletes describe these meets as “high-pressure,” “nerve-wracking,” and “stressful.”
Wissahickon senior swimmer Kelly Wild uses another word to describe these postseason gatherings of the best of the best.
Fun.
“I know it sounds weird, but I really enjoy those meets and those situations,” Wild said. “I get so excited for Leagues. It’s such a fun meet. I have friends on other teams and I get to see them. And it’s fun to have our whole team together and be at such a fast-paced meet.
“For me, I like big, high-intensity meets. And I usually swim my best at them. When I was younger, I used to find the big meets nerve-wracking, but as I got more experience, they became this big event where you swim as fast as you can. It’s an exciting time.”
And the sprinter has proven over the years to be the epitome of both a true team player and a big-meet performer.
And nowhere is that more apparent than in relays, where Wild has anchored numerous teams to remarkable times and finishes.
“I’ve seen her close these relays, and she has no right catching these kids, but she does,” said girls’ swim coach Laurie Hug. “She tends to go faster in relays than in individual events. She wants to win, and in the relay, she wants to do it for the team.”
“I’ve always loved relays and I think I always swim my best in relays,” Wild agreed. “Swimming can be very individual, but I think relays are the most exciting part. You have three other people depending on you. A lot of time, Coach puts me last, so I swim my best knowing there’s three other people that I can’t let down, they’re depending on me to win the race for my team and my relay.”
But while Wild specializes as a freestyle sprinter, she has proven over the years to always be willing to fill in wherever she’s needed. If the Trojans need someone to swim the 100 fly or 200 IM in a dual meet, Hug said she never has to look any further than Wild.
“Kelly has always had a super-positive, enthusiastic attitude, even when she was coming in as a freshman,” the Trojans’ coach said. “She’s one of the fastest kids on team, but she’s always a team player first. Her events are the 50 free and 100 free. But her attitude is always, ‘Whatever you need me in, I’m ready.’ She’s a great, positive force on the team, and a really good leader.”
“If we need someone in a dual meet, it’s more about the team,” Wild said. “I know I’ll get my races and I’ll get my times, but if I can help my team by swimming in a different event and get the team some points, it’s easily worth it.”
With an attitude like that, it’s easy to see why Wild was named one of the Trojans’ tri-captains this year. Her results in the pool speak for themselves as well. After missing the postseason meets her freshman year following shoulder surgery, Wild performed well as leagues and districts her sophomore season and advanced to swim in the PIAA State Championship meet as a junior.
“I have specific goals and times and where I’d like to place,” Wild said, “but I’m just having fun with it. I want to see how far I can go. I have times I want to swim and I know where I want to be, but it’s all about the ride and having fun and being together with your teammates.”
Wild and her fellow captains have also worked to ensure the rest of the team enjoys the ride – literally. They’ve taken to giving out goodie bags and playing music on the bus to away meets, and keeping the team – which features more than a dozen freshmen – positive and focused.
“I like to be the person who’s working hard and showing the team that this is what we should be doing,” said Wild, who comes from a family of swimmers and took to the water and the competition in the pool at a very early age. “But I also might be the loudest on the deck cheering for everyone, whether it’s a meet or just in practice. I want to make sure it’s fun and exciting.”
Wild’s desire to help others succeed in the pool isn’t limited to her team. This year, she helped coach stroke clinics for the Wissahickon Community Aquatic Club and has worked with groups of kids as young as 5 at WCAC to introduce them to swimming and help them improve.
“Watching her coach WCAC this past year, you can really see her maturity, patience, and the passion she has for the sport,” said WCAC coach and Trojans’ assistant coach Greg Beyer. “She genuinely wants the kids to get better at swimming, it's not just a job to her. And I think you can see a difference in her outlook on practices. She’s embracing the tough practices with an understanding of the long-term benefits.”
“My coaches have always been my role models, whether it’s high school, club, summer,” Wild said. “It’s really cool to learn what it’s like to be a coach, to understand their mentality. And I just enjoy teaching and working with little kids, seeing them improve and seeing them learn how to do the things they couldn’t do when they started.”
When she’s not practicing or coaching swimming, Wild is also involved with the high school’s Senior Class Committee (she’s been a part of the Class Committee all four years) and the FANS club. She’s got a few AP classes sprinkled into her school course load to keep her as focused in the classroom as she is in the pool.
It’s all preparing Wild for the next step in both her swimming career and her life. Next season, she will head slightly south – though she will continue to proudly wear blue and yellow – as she attends the University of Delaware. Wild said the program has the academics she desires – she said she’ll enter the school undecided but is leaning toward pursuing a degree in business or communications – and she will have the opportunity to make an immediate impact on the Blue Hens’ swim team.
“I know a lot of people say it, but it’s true – as soon as I stepped on campus and talked to the coach, I knew that’s where I wanted to go,” Wild said. “They have lost a few of their sprinters, so I have the opportunity to fit right in and help the team.”
Of course, Delaware’s gain will be Wissahickon’s loss. And Wild’s absence will be felt both in and out of the pool.
“When Kelly graduates, that’s really going to put a hole in our lineup, not just for her speed in the pool, but the whole package,” Hug said. “Delaware is getting a great kid who is going to fit right in, even as a freshman, and who loves being on a team and will do anything and everything to make her team better.”
But there’s still unfinished business at the high school level. Wild is focused on the upcoming district meet, with an eye on a state berth or two.
But however her final campaign in the pool comes to a close, one thing will be certain – Wild is going to have fun along the way.
