When the Peach State’s best swimmers converge on the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center for the state swim meet, all eyes are sure to be on Johns Creek’s Kaitlin Kitchens, who has made a name for herself as one of Georgia’s fastest swimmers.

“She’s a team captain and has been a go-to kid for us every year,” said Johns Creek swim coach Susan Lipscomb of Kitchens, who also competes with Swim Atlanta year-round. “She has an amazing kick in the pool and when you watch her swim you can see her power.”

Kitchens’ power was on full display at the Fulton County Championships earlier this month when she cruised to victory in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-Free and anchored the Lady Gladiators’ 200 and 400-Free relay teams to first-place finishes.

She was Georgia’s Class A-AAAA state champion a year ago in the 100-Free, was runner up in the 50-Free and led both her relays to sixth place finishes at state.

Moving up to Class AAAAAA this year, her coach expects Kitchens to make another push towards the podium in the state’s largest classification.

“She is one of the best sprint freestylers around, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her win it all this year,” said Lipscomb.

“She’s just a fierce competitor and when she gets behind those blocks I know she’ll be ready to go and focused on winning.”