“I was a swimmer my entire life, and I got to school and decided that I really didn’t want the dedication to swimming to go away,” Vann said. “So freshman year of college, I joined the triathlon club and did triathlons.”

Vann, who also is the traffic manager at The State News, had to qualify at nationals to make it to the next level. When she did, she said she could hardly believe it.

“You have to qualify a year in advance, so in August of 2011, I did the national championship … They take the top 18 from each age group,” Vann said. “Later on, they just send you an email, and the header is ‘Team USA.’ And so when I found out, I just started crying.”

Her fellow MSU Triathlon Club member and biomedical laboratory science junior Jamie Endicott said Vann had to go through a lot of training to get to where she is.

“Triathlon is a very big part of her life, and you can kind of see that through what she has done,” Endicott said. “It’s definitely a lot of work in each of the three disciplines. I know Kate has a strong background in swimming, mainly, and it’s more endurance athletics, so it’s about doing long periods of each of the sports.”

Also going to the world championship is Ken Frechen, a team leader of MSU Network Engineering, who learned to swim to participate.

“I’ve been an active guy most of my life, but I never knew how to swim,” Frechen said. “When I turned 45, I thought: ‘If I don’t start taking swim lessons, then I’ll never learn how to do it.’ So I took swim lessons and started going from there.”

Frechen said he was motivated to set a proper example for his sons.

“I have two college-age boys, and the other reason for doing it was I wanted to be an inspiration and a motivation for them, to show that anything you desire to do is possible if you put the effort into it,” he said.

Ultimately, he said he couldn’t have gotten so far without the help of his personal coach, MSU alumnus Aaron Bachman, who helped him prepare.

“He’s a fabulous athlete, and his goal is to try to qualify for the 2016 (Olympic triathlon),” Frechen said. “When he was working in the area, he worked with me and some other athletes here on campus and would give us coaching lessons. He still works with me — we email back and forth, and he gives me my weekly workouts. Everything I have accomplished, I owe it to him.”

Vann said she also was aided by others in her journey to the world championship.

“My parents have been with me through this entire thing, so if it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t be going,” Vann said. “My dad’s work is funding my trip because MSU isn’t funding it.

They have to put up with me, and I owe them a lot.”

Team USA will compete in the world championship on Oct. 22 in Auckland, New Zealand.