Kinder's progress results in offer from Texas A&M

~ The Central senior signed recently with the nationally ranked Aggies.

During Central senior Hannah Kinder's three-year high school career, in which she only started swimming year-round following her freshman season, Kinder has turned herself into one of the top swimmers in the state and a factor on the national level.

On top of all of her accomplishments to this point, Kinder will be able to add NCAA Division I swimmer to her resume next year. Kinder has signed a letter of intent to swim for Texas A&M University next year.

"I didn't think I'd be here two years ago," Kinder said.

Kinder made the commitment to swim year-round following a freshman season in which she started to see considerable time drops. Since that time, Kinder has had four all-state finishes, including a pair of runner-up finishes last year.

"Sometimes you get a swimmer who has swam year after year who already is fast," Central coach Dayna Powell said. "To see Hannah make the cuts basically the last three years, it's been really fun. Year in and year out, when there's a fast swimmer, whether it's a boy or a girl, people will say that's so and so when they enter the pool. This year it will be Cape Central, and they'll be saying, 'Wow, that's Hannah Kinder.'"

During the past two summers, Kinder has also competed throughout the country at some of the most prominent meets in the nation. This past summer, Kinder swam at the Junior National Championships in Irvine, Calif.

"When you have someone who has the talent plus the commitment it's a great equation," Powell said.

Texas A&M is currently ranked No. 9 in the country in women's swimming. Last year, the Aggies finished 11th at the NCAA national championships and 13th the previous year.

"They're really swimming fast at their meets, and not just the big meets," Kinder said. "The freshmen are already having huge improvements and time cuts."

Kinder made official visits to Indiana, Texas, Georgia and Wisconsin along with Texas A&M.

"I've always wanted to go to school in Texas," Kinder said. "The team was like a big family, and the coach was really down to earth. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, College Station, and it's a really safe town."

With only a few years of swimming throughout the year under her belt, Kinder still has room to improve.

"She's going to have an Olympic cut by the summer, and at the Olympic trials she's a viable option to place," Cape Girardeau Gators Swim Team coach Steve Franklin said. "By 2012, she'll be one of the factors I would think to make a relay, and maybe make it all the way to the Olympics.

"All of the college coaches were drooling over Hannah because this is only her third full year. She's only going to do nothing but improve. She's going to be extremely fast, scary fast."