Steilacoom swimmer Seth Koivisto embraces 200 individual medley

Seth Koivisto calls the 200-yard individual medley “the ultimate test.” And this weekend, he is ready to ace it.

It is one of two individual events the Steilacoom High School junior will swim in the Class 2A state swim and dive championships at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in hopes of helping the Sentinels to a fourth consecutive top-five finish.

“It’s the ultimate test of whether you can really swim or not,” said Koivisto, who is seeded 10th with a time of 2 minutes, 6.73 seconds. “It shows you can do anything, and go long distance.”

Coach Kathy Casey said that while Koivisto concentrates on the breaststroke and freestyle, he is Steilacoom’s second-fastest swimmer in both the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly.

“In gymnastic terms, he’s an all-around winner,” she said. “He’s fabulous.”

Casey said Koivisto is a natural fit for the 200 IM, which she calls “a breaststroker’s race.”

“It’s the third stroke and (the swimmer) is usually tired — and then the breaststroker takes over,” she said. “It’s really amazing to watch.”

Koivisto said he has always had strong legs, so the breaststroke felt natural when he started swimming.

“It got faster and faster, so I stuck with it,” he said.

At state, Koivisto will also swim the 100 breaststroke, in which he is seeded 11th with a time of 1:04.69, the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay and as the anchor on the 200 freestyle relay.

“It feels really cool, honestly, to be able to be at the top of your game and swim with everyone at the top of theirs,” he said. “It’s a humbling feeling.”

Ironically, there was a time when the top seemed like an improbable destination.

Koivisto learned to swim at age 7, joined a recreational team — and quit two years later.

“I didn’t want to get up early,” he admitted with a laugh. “I was a little kid, it was summer, and I wanted to play with my toys.”

He didn’t give swimming a second thought until his freshman year, when his parents were encouraging him to find a sport he liked. He got into the pool and never looked back.

Koivisto attributes much of his success this year spending much of the offseason in the gym, where he did bodybuilding exercises for two hours a day. As a result, his sprints have gotten so fast that he quit doing the 500 freestyle, which he swam at state in 2015.

His dedication comes as no surprise to those who know him.

“He doesn’t take it easy,” Steilacoom captain Connor Barr said. “He’s a natural-born athlete.”

Barr said he sees Koivisto as motivation, not competition. When the close friends race, they push each other to put points on the board.

“It wasn’t about who could beat who,” said Barr, a senior will also swim the breaststroke and on two relays at state. “It was about how high a placement we could get and beating as many people as we could.”

Koivisto, who also competes for the Puget Sound Aquatics club team, hopes to swim for a collegiate program and study aerospace engineering.

But first comes the biggest meet of his junior year, where he hopes to have “the race of my life.”

“I think I can keep going,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a ceiling for anybody. I think anybody can get faster, and state is the best place for that to happen.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Steilacoom swimmer Seth Koivisto embraces 200 individual medley."