Kylie Demarets isn’t a stranger to moving, to packing up and having to meet new people. She moved from Utah to Pocatello before her junior year, enrolling at Century with a few hundred miles separating her and her friends.

But she’s quick to point something out. “I really only left my friends. It’s definitely easier to make friends than a family.”

That’s what she’ll have to do at Alma College, a campus she’s never been to in a state (Michigan) she’s only seen on a map. The Diamondbacks senior signed with the Division III school last Friday to continue her academic and swimming career.

“I was super nervous about leaving everyone and I don’t know anyone in Michigan, so that’s kind of nervewracking,” Demarets said. “But as soon as I signed, I just felt so excited. I love the coach and I already feel so welcome there. I don’t know, I didn’t really have any nerves when I was signing.”

That makes sense. She’s the same way in the pool. While nerves and butterflies fill the heads and stomachs of her competitors, Demarets thinks one of her biggest assets is the ability to jump in the pool or stand on the blocks and be relaxed and confident.

And it paid off. In a senior season that was nearly cancelled, Demarets excelled.

As a long distance swimmer, she mostly stuck to the 200-meter freestyle, the 500 free and the 200-meter individual medley – in other words, the three longest individual races in high school swimming.

Because of COVID restrictions this year, the state meet was virtual, which meant times at each district meet were sent to the state and shuffled accordingly. Many competitors could have won the state title and not known for hours or days.

In the 200 IM, Demarets finished first among 4A District 5 competitors and placed 12th at state. She placed ninth in the 500-meter freestyle and took bronze amongst the other 4A District 5 swimmers, hitting the wall just 0.02 seconds after her Diamondbacks’ teammate Ava Patterson.

“She’s just so versatile, that’s really what makes her stand out as a swimmer,” Century coach Peggy Kaiser said. “As a junior, she was doing like the 50 free and butterfly — I think she was doing backstroke too. Every one of her strokes looks great.”

A lot of that can be attributed to the work Demarets put in with her Portneuf Valley swim team, a Pocatello-based club swimming organization. Behind coach John Twiss, Demarets joined Portneuf Valley in the winter of her junior season and the improvement soon followed.

Before she arrived at Century, Demarets had never swum for a club team or pursued the sport year-round. At that level, Demarets said, it’s not so much that they teach technique, but rather push endurance through tough sets and plenty of yardage.

“I saw improvements with endurance and how I can hold my pace,” she said. “I feel like it takes me a little bit to get going in the water, but once I get going, I can definitely hold that same consistent pace.”

From the moment she spotted Demarets in a pool, Kaiser knew she could swim in college. And with two of her own kids already swimming in college, Kaiser has a good eye for those types of things. But she was afraid colleges would shy away from Demarets if she wasn’t able to swim her senior season.

“It was a tough decision this year to continue our swimming program,” Kaiser said. “With COVID this year, at one point, there was some debate — like, at one point, they were going to cancel the swim season this year because we had a limited schedule, couldn’t swim any meets and weren’t sure how many meets we could get in. But the school board and the public and everybody pulled together to make this happen.”

The effects of that were on display as Demarets put pen to paper last Tuesday inside Century’s gym. Demarets and her mom, Michelle, plan on visiting the Alma College campus in late April so she can finally step foot on the campus — and in the state — she’ll be spending the next few years at.

All she’ll have to do from there is make a new family.