BY Peninsula Gateway

Last spring, the Peninsula High School junior took a red-eye flight to the People’s Republic of China for a swimming and diving exhibition. It gave her a chance to showcase her abilities in front of another country.

“I tried showing them what I was made of last year,” Williams said. “That didn’t really work out too well. I did OK on some of my dives, and then some of them I bombed.”

Beyond the competition aspect of the trip, Williams said she had a great time in China. That could be a reason why she is returning this spring with Peninsula senior Kevin Koehl.

The student divers were nominated by the International Scholastic Dive Competition and selected for a 10-day adventure during spring break.

“This is pretty much any kid’s dream,” said Koehl, who will make his first visit to China. “I’ve never had anything this crazy happen to me and I’m excited.”

“Going to China is an amazing thing,” Williams added. “I love the Asian culture. I’m currently (taking) Chinese, so I can at least understand what they’re saying.”

“If they’re yelling at me in Chinese, I can yell back,” she said, joking.

Indeed, the magnitude of the trip for Williams and Koehl is unfamiliar territory for most high school students. After their arrival, the two will spend a couple days in Hong Kong and Guangzhou before finishing the trip with the competition in Hong Kong.

The diving event is strictly testing, while the swimming portion is competition.

“We get tested; they get competition,” Williams said. “It’s a little lower-key than the swimmers, because they actually compete and we kind of don’t ... it’s nice.”

Although they were selected by the ISDC, they will have to pay for the cost of the trip, which is close to $2,500. To offset some of those costs, the duo will host a spaghetti fund-raiser at the Peninsula High School Commons at 5 p.m. Thursday.

“We just need a little bit of help because everybody needs help sometimes,” Williams said.

“We just need a little bit of help with the money and all, so we decided to do a fund-raiser. Everybody loves spaghetti. It’s a classic Italian dish.”

“We’re trying to represent our school and show everybody that kids can do well when they’re not in the Olympics or when they’re not doing club diving,” she said. “We want to show people that we’re good, too.”

Koehl added that getting a spaghetti meal and helping fund their trip is a good tradeoff.

“I hope people can come out and help support me and Kelsie’s dream,” he said.

For more information on the divers’ spaghetti feed, call Peninsula High School at 253-530-4400.

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