If Kathleen Golding could enter a time machine, she would fast forward nine months to August.
In front of friends, family and members of her school, the Cooper City High School senior signed her national letter of intent to swim at the University of Florida next season.
“It was so much fun,” she said. “I got my piece of paper in the mail the day before and it had the Florida Gator on it and I was so excited. I took it to school and all my friends and family came down to the room that I was in and I signed it.”
It was a sense of relief and redemption after she was unable to win a fourth straight state championship in the 200-yard IM at the FHSAA Class 4A state swimming and diving championships at the Sailfish Splashpark Aquatic Athletics Center in Stuart.
“I’m relieved,” she said. “I know I’m going. It is definitely happening. When you verbally commit, it is not like 100 percent and now that I’ve signed, I can have fun the rest of the year.”
Golding was second in the 200-yard IM with an Automatic All-American time of 1:59.30, and third in the 100-yard freestyle (50.86, AA-C) at the state meet.
Golding, the three-time defending state 200-yard IM high school champion, fell to Riverview rival Emma Weyant, who won the 200-IM in 1:58.07, also an Automatic All-American time.
“I was obviously disappointed because I had won states three years in a row and in my senior year I didn’t win,” she said. “But I still went a good time and I swam as fast as I could. I couldn’t go any faster. I think everyone else was scared that I would be super upset with not winning, but I am not upset with it. The coach from Florida texted me after and he said, ‘do we really have to wait nine more months for you to have to come?’”
She said she is looking forward to going to Gainesville.
“I love the campus and I am already friends with a bunch of people on the team,” Golding said. “I really can’t wait.
“It’s unbelievable,” she said. “If you had told me four years ago that I would be signing with the University of Florida, I would have been like, ‘yeah, right, that’s not happening…’ I am just really excited for the next four years.”
Also placing at the state swimming championships was sophomore Tyler Flowers, who took fourth in the Boys Class 1A diving competition with 441.05 points.
Cooper City High School’s Olivia Lewis, a three-time All-County midfielder, also signed a national letter of intent. Lewis, who has represented Florida on the Regional Olympic Development Program in the past, signed her letter with the University of Central Florida.
