Many of the individuals competing in next week’s NCAA Women’s Swimming Championships in Minneapolis will be content with just being there — satisfied that they made it that far.

Iowa State freshman Kim Reid isn’t one of them.

“I’m going in there with an attitude that I’m going to show them my Big 12 time wasn’t a fluke, and that they’d better watch out,” she said.

Reid, who will turn 19 in April, placed first in the 100 breaststroke at the Big 12 Championships in February, and earned the right to compete in the NCAA Championships in both the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke events. She is seeded 14th in the 100 and 31st in the 200.

She is especially confident about her race in the 100. “I expected to make it, and I’m expecting to make it to the finals.”

She added, “I know I can do well, so I can’t wait to go up there.” Reid attributes a lot of her success to her confident approach towards racing.

“I have a sort of cockiness to me that keeps me relaxed and gets me going,” she said. “I want to give them [the audience] a show.”

Reid displayed this attitude during an incident at the conference championship.

“The top seeded girl in each race got to pick the song that the swimmers came out to,” she said describing the incident. “I wasn’t the top seed in my 100 yard race, and when I heard what song was going to be played, I wanted to get it changed.

“I was told that I had to ask the girl who chose the song if she thought it was okay if it was changed, and I said ‘Forget about it, I’ll beat her anyway!’ and did.”

Reid is from Media, Penn., where she attended Penncrest High School. She participated in swimming all four years, making the state meet appearance her first three.

Pneumonia prevented her from taking a trip to state her senior year, and it left her feeling very frustrated.

“I got pneumonia right before I was to swim to qualify for state,” she said. “I swam anyway and just missed qualifying, which really irritated me, since I was one of the favorites to win a title.”

Reid also competed at the Womington Aquatic Club for 11 years, starting at the age of four.

Her coach at the club, Bob Mattson, had a major impact on her swimming career.

“With Bob you just did it. And if you didn’t do it, there was big trouble,” Reid said.

She added, “He was a great breaststroke coach and a big influence on me.”

Reid’s move to ISU has been a pleasant one.

She has enjoyed both the company of her teammates and the guidance of Coach Duane Sorenson.

“I love it here,” she said. “My team is like a family, and Duane is a great coach. He motivates me more than my other coaches did, and if I do something wrong, he lets me know it.”

She added, “I needed someone like that on my back to keep me going.”

Reid also said she likes how college splits into different events, and she enjoys intensity of the training.

She said her biggest support, naturally, comes from her parents, John and Barbara. “They’re really supportive, they both came down for the Big 12 Championships, and my mom was crying for me when I won.”

“My dad sometimes wants to talk about my swimming 24/7, which gets old, but he’s getting better at it.”

Reid begins competition at the NCAAs on March 19, and you can bet she’ll be putting on a show.