Moses Lake senior Anna Fair walked through the doors at the Tony St. Onge Pool of Dreams, set her gym bag down, took a deep breath and got ready to go to work.

For the first time in a long, long time, the current school record holder in the 100-yard backstroke (1 minute, 02.00 seconds) felt like the light at the end of the tunnel wasn’t an oncoming train.

It’s been a rough patch the last couple of years with the loss of her father, Randy, and close friend Thomas Hamm, whom she considered a brother. The Moses Lake 17-year-old is coming off her second surgery in the past seven years, one that cost her a serious run at the 4A state backstroke championship last fall.

If that isn’t enough, she was diagnosed with a chronic lung problem in June that cut short her long-course schedule so she would be ready for the high school season.

But sitting there watching her in her element on Wednesday afternoon, days prior to the 2017 season, it was clear she was at peace with it all. The smile never left and the desire to make a difference still remains. If there was ever a picture next to the word “fortitude” in the dictionary, it would be one of the blond girl from the Columbia Basin.

Swimming is what she does, it's not who she is. But the pool has been her sanctuary, that special place where order is maintained by hard work and progress is decided by increments of time. It’s a place she goes when life is not, well, fair.

“With Thomas, something similar happened with my dad, so the pool was my safe zone, my comfort place,” said Fair, who set the school backstroke record in 2016. “Thomas’ mom and my dad used to date for about four years. I’d go on vacations with him. I’d call him a brother.

“When it came to Thomas, I wanted to be a better friend. It was really upsetting to hear that someone that close to me was hurting and I wasn’t there to do anything.”

She will forever remember her father’s encouragement and feel his spirit when she goes off the blocks in pursuit of fast swims and the school’s 100-yard butterfly record (58.85) that is within her grasp.

Thomas was always a good friend, maybe a little closer because of the family connection. She moves into her senior year, having endured troubled times and hoping they make her a better person with a kinder, gentler spirit, more determined to make a difference.

Fair is the Associated Student Body (ASB) president and actively involved in student activities on campus.

“I have a lot of responsibilities. But it’s basically, ‘What can we do to make the school a better place? What can we do for students?’” said Fair, who intends to pursue a medical career in college. “Overall, I would like to make students enjoy coming to school. We are an overcrowded school and sometimes they don’t always feel heard or they don’t get classes they want. I just want people to look forward to coming to school and not dread it.”

The past 15 months have expanded her horizons on a personal level, she said.

“I’ve been more compassionate and I’m definitely more aware of how others feel,” Fair said. “I just don’t want people to go unnoticed.”

Last fall, she slipped on the wet deck of the pool at the King County Aquatic Center at the state swimming and diving championships, damaging the patella (kneecap) in her left leg. Fair would eventually have her second knee surgery in the past seven years.

Instead of going into the 4A swim championships as a contender in the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke she showed a little of that Moses Lake grit and swam with the injured leg anyway. The end game wasn’t what she set out to do, but she’s not one to back down from adversity. She placed 21st in the butterfly (1:02.10) and 23rd in the backstroke (1:04.58). Not exactly the times you’d expect from someone that’s competed in the Senior Western Zones, but considering the fact she had surgery a month later, she “Cowboyed Up” rather nicely.

Anna Fair has walked through difficult times and come out the other side. The repair, the rehab, the work to get back to the place where she feels safe has been a long, difficult journey through her emotions and her convictions.

She’s still a little nervous to jump in the shallow end because of the jolt to the knee, but as far as she’s concerned, there’s going to be fast times at Moses Lake High School once again.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com