With Federal Way hosting one of the nation's most prestigious swimming facilities, it might seem natural, then, that the community might also welcome some of the world's most talented swimmers.

Members of the The King Aquatic Club, a Seattle-based swim club for exceptionally gifted athletes with championship aspirations, showcased their talent at the Weyerhaeuser / King County Aquatic Center recently, before heading off to participate in the World Championships in Australia.

The staff of swimmers and coaches boast resumes as impressive as their trophy cases.

Coach Sean Hutchison has been the Head Coach of King Aquatic Club since September of 2002. In that time, the team has transformed from a regionally competitive club into an emerging national power. During Coach Hutchison's tenure, the King Aquatic Club has won the American Short Course Championships, Senior Sectional Championships, PNS Championships, two individual National Titles, broken several National Age Group records and accomplished a whole host of other competitive achievements.

Sean moved out this way because he'd "had enough of the cold weather."

When he lived in Portland, OR for three years, he coached Inge Debruijn, who won mulitple medals in Sydney and Athens.

Currently he's working with 27 people.

"It's a great job; I get to work with amazing people," Hutchison said.

When asked about his philosophy of swimming, he gave the example of someone swimming back and forth over and over again, and said "Swimming can be boring, but I try and teach people the idea of giving purpose to everything they do, even if it's something they're doing for seemingly no reason." "The goal is that everything we do has a reason," he said. "I get people to train and race with their own personality... it makes them more successful in their sport."

Megan Jendrick, a 23-year-old PLU student, has been swimming for 14 years. Jendrick currently holds the U.S. Record for the 100 BS, and the World Record for the 400 Medley Relay. She originally didn't want to pursue swimming, but her parents made her take swim lessons for water safety. "I was really bad when I first started," she said, "but only 7 years later I won two gold medals at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney."

Ariana Kukors, a 17 year old, has been swimming competitively since she was five. She's originally from Auburn, WA. She tried all sorts of sports, and swimming was "the one that stuck."

She says she's best at the 200 and 400 IM. Her younger sister is also on the King Aquatic Club team, and her older sister swims with Auburn University, the reigning NCAA Champions.

Heather Brand is 24 years old and has been swimming since she was five. She was on her first competitive team at 8 years old. She has been in WA for 6 years now. She currently holds the Zimbabwe Record for the 200 Butterfly.

Brand was in a car accident last December, and Federal Way's Dr. Greg Summers, the team physician, "helped tremendously to get [her] back to swimming."

"I wanted to train with Sean because I love the way he thinks, and his whole philosophy on swimming," Brand said.

"The King family is tremendous, great to work with, and extremely motivating."

Svetlana Karpeeva, 21 years old, has been swimming for 13 years.

She came to the U.S. in January 2007 because she wanted to practice with strong swimmers, like Ariana. Svetlana won a competition in the U.S. at the 2006 World Cup in NYC (that's also where she met Ariana).

Currently she is in the top 20 in the world for the 200 IM. Her most important competition this year will be the World Summer University Games in August, held in Thailand.