MONUMENT — This is a Colorado swimming story nearly 30 years in the making, one that spans the Atlantic Ocean and incorporates two families.
Frida Berggren is 17, and has been living here for only six months, but the forces that brought her to this town 20 miles north of Colorado Springs and to this weekend’s state swimming championships, in which she could place in four events for Lewis- Palmer High School, began long before she was born.
In 1982, Frida’s mother, Pia, then 16 years old, left Sweden to spend a year living in Utah as a foreign exchange student. Pia landed with the Roberts family in a suburb of Salt Lake City. Pia quickly acclimated to the family and American life, bonding with the Roberts’ middle-school-age daughter, Nancy. Pia joined the swim team and won a Utah state title in the 200-yard freestyle.
“Pia doesn’t have a sister, I don’t have a sister,” Nancy Roberts Turner said, “so we’ve always been like sisters.”
Four years later, Nancy spent a year living with Pia’s family in Sweden, and the two have remained close since. They exchanged letters and e-mails, and when they both married and had families of their own, they took joint vacations, including a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Fla., about 10 years ago. Two years ago, Pia brought Frida to Colorado to visit, and Frida and Nancy’s daughter Andie quickly bonded over swimming.
It was Andie, now 14 years old, who first asked Frida to come spend a full year living in Colorado. With their family history, how could Frida say no?
“I decided that would be fun,” Berggren said.
The Turners and Berggrens were hoping Frida would be able to come here last year, but piles of paperwork and the bureaucracy of the foreign exchange process delayed Frida’s arrival until August, for the start of her junior year of high school. Berggren, who competed on the national swimming level in Sweden, immediately joined Andie Turner on the Colorado Springs Swim Team and emerged as a star on the Lewis-Palmer team this winter.
Challenge for Franklin
Berggren did not lose an individual race all season and qualified for the state meet in every event. She will compete in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly, as well as two relays, at the Class 5A state meet this weekend in Fort Collins.
Her seed times, based on high school meets, are modest (according to MaxPreps she is ranked No. 20 in the state in IM and No. 9 in the butterfly). But at the U.S. Junior National meet in Austin, Texas, in December she posted times in both events that should place her among the fastest swimmers in Colorado, even in a 5A meet that includes elite swimmers Missy Franklin from Regis Jesuit, Cherry Creek’s Bonnie Brandon and Heritage’s Michelle Patton.
“She was obviously good when she got here, but she’s gotten quite a bit better,” Lewis-Palmer coach Alan Arata said. “She had somewhat plateaued in Sweden, so to be able to come over and train with other swimmers, it has been very, very good for her.”
Arata worked with Berggren to make minor changes to her backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke techniques, and they worked hard on Berggren’s underwater form. With those tweaks and a training program designed to peak at the state meet, Arata and Berggren are hoping she will post her best times at the state meet.
“Our goals are to win every event she swims. I mean, what else is there?” Arata said. “We know what competition is out there, we know how good it is, and we know she’s at the same level as the girls right at the top.”
Colleges on radar
Swimming for the Rangers has been a new and rewarding experience for Berggren, who swam only on a club team — a much more individual experience — in Sweden. After half a year swimming here, Berggren is considering returning to swim at an American university after she finishes high school back home.
“There isn’t a college in the United States that’s not going to want her. Her times will get her into any place,” Arata said.
Arata said he envisions Berggren winding up at a Division I college in a city with a major airport that has direct flights to Stockholm. Being so far away from home has at times been difficult, Berggren said, though she keeps her friends and family updated through a blog and frequently talks with her mother on Skype, the online video chat.
“I like to be here, and it’s a good family that I’m with here,” Berggren said.
Lindsay H. Jones: 303-954-1262 or ljones@denverpost.com
