Looking at Renton senior Lynhda Vuong before she takes on her event at a swim meet, there’s one word that seems to fit her best: intense.

Sitting by herself, she’s focused completely on what’s ahead. And it’s working so far. Vuong will be taking on the rest of the state this weekend at the 2A state swim and dive meet, where she’ll swim in the 100 free and the 400-free relay.

“It’s been a really good season,” Vuong said. “Going to districts and state is a really exciting feeling.”

Vuong first made the state meet her junior year. She was part of Renton’s 200-medley and 200-free relays (along with Tonie Canlas, Eloisa Bautista and Tala Hild).

“It was nerve-racking,” she said. “But it was a really good experience.”

Vuong, who also plays softball at Renton, takes a little extra pride in competing with year-round swimmers, while she only trains part of the year.

“They’re a little more experienced than me, of course,” she said. “But I can keep up.”

Without club experience and with no year-round training, Vuong has still shown quite a bit of improvement since she joined the team.

As a freshman, her 50-free time was 32 seconds; now it has dropped to 26.8. The story is the same in the 100 free, where she’s gone from one minute, 11 seconds to 58.9 seconds.

“She’s now one of the top sprinters in Seamount,” said Renton coach Diane Pavelin. “All through hard work and dedication while training only about four-five months out of the year.”