Frank Williams keeps making waves

Frank Williams spent his professional career solving mathematical problems, but at age 86, the retired New Mexico State University professor has found something he's even better at — swimming.

And it’s not just recreational swimming. Williams is among the nation's top competitive Masters swimmers, and in 2025, at age 85, he recorded more No. 1 national rankings than anyone else in his age division, earning recognition as the country's top-ranked swimmer in the men's 85-89 division.

For a man who didn't begin organized competitive swimming until adulthood, it's a remarkable achievement. But Williams, who has spent most of his life in Las Cruces, seems to enjoy the competition as much as the recognition.

"When I say this, what are you? I'm a swimmer," he said. "It's the only thing I've ever been best in the country at."

He laughs when asked whether he ever achieved that distinction as a mathematician.

"No, not even close," he said. "I'm a solid journeyman."

Williams' competitive specialties are the butterfly, particularly the grueling 200-meter event, and distance freestyle races. In 2025, he recorded the fastest times in the world in a couple of his events, including the 200 butterfly, and accumulated more No. 1 national rankings than any other swimmer in his age group. He considers the 200 fly his best event, and one of swimming's toughest challenges.

"Most people of any age can't do a 200 butterfly, let alone do it in a race," he said. "And so it gives me a good ego boost to know I can go in there and be ... well, last year I was best in the world in the 200 butterfly."

Williams was a swimming fan long before he became a competitor. Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, he watched Ohio State University's powerhouse swimming teams, which included Olympic gold medalists. He enjoyed swimming himself but never joined a team or received formal coaching.

Basketball was his sport through high school and college, where he competed in intramurals. He even considered joining his high school swim team but found basketball offered certain advantages.

"Basketball games, you're out there in front of all the girls," he recalled. "No one was watching swimming."

His competitive swimming career began after his daughter joined a local swim team in Las Cruces in 1975. Williams, then in his mid-30s, decided that if swimming was good for children, it ought to be good for adults. He joined the program and began working with a coach for the first time.

Williams thought he was already a pretty good swimmer. His coach apparently had other ideas.

Over the next year, the coach suggested small adjustments to his kick, his reach and other elements of his technique. Eventually, Williams realized that nearly everything about his swimming had changed.

"I realized he'd rebuilt my entire stroke a little bit at a time," Williams said. "What I've told him afterwards is this: If you'd told me that on day one, there would have been no day two."

Within a few years, he was competing nationally in Masters swimming, which organizes adult swimmers into five-year age divisions. He gradually improved, eventually winning his first event at a national championship when he turned 40. He remembers calling his wife, Cally, to tell her about the medal.

"It's the prettiest thing I've ever seen," he told her. "Except for you, of course."

But competitive success brought its own complications. As he moved through his 40s and into his 50s, Williams found himself becoming increasingly concerned about results rather than enjoyment.

He stepped away from competitive swimming for roughly a decade, turning instead to tennis, racquetball and other activities with friends. Then, in his early 60s, he returned to the pool and discovered something unexpected.

He was still in good physical condition, but many of the swimmers he had competed against years earlier were not.

"I went off to nationals, and I won several events," he said.

By the time he reached the 65-69 age division, Williams had earned enough No. 1 national rankings to receive the U.S. Masters Swimming All-Star Award, an honor recognizing the swimmer with the most top-ranked performances in an age group during a calendar year. He repeated that achievement in 2025, his first year competing in the 85-89 division.

The accomplishment required considerable preparation. During a competitive year, Williams typically trained four days a week, swimming 2,000 to 2,500 meters per session. His workouts were carefully structured around specific events and race paces, with repeated intervals designed to teach his body exactly how fast to swim. In the 200 butterfly, pacing is especially important.

"If you go too fast at the beginning, at the end you can't even pull your hands out of the water," he said. "If you go too slow, well, then you're just not going to swim it."

His mathematical background might seem a natural fit for a sport measured in fractions of seconds, but Williams sees a more fundamental connection between the two pursuits.

"They're both competitive," he said. "And both also you sort of compete against yourself."

In mathematics, he explained, a researcher selects a problem nobody has solved and works toward an answer. In swimming, he sets a time or performance goal and works to achieve it.

Both also have a social dimension that he values.

Williams earned his undergraduate degree at Ohio State and his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin, where he met Cally. The couple moved to Las Cruces when he accepted a position teaching mathematics at NMSU.

He remained on the faculty until retiring in 2000, specializing in homotopy theory, a branch of algebraic topology. Even in retirement, he continued collaborating on research problems with colleagues.

In recent years, he has returned to university research seminars and begun exploring new mathematical problems.

He describes his life with characteristic humor.

"My whole life, I've had one job, one house, one wife," he said.

Swimming, however, has provided a different kind of continuity, particularly as he has grown older. Williams believes the sport has helped him remain healthy and active, although he acknowledges that maintaining his competitive level requires increasingly careful attention to recovery.

He once trained five days a week but eventually reduced his schedule to four, balancing the benefits of exercise against the physical demands of training.

Last year presented additional challenges. Williams and his wife both contracted influenza early in the year and COVID later in the summer, interrupting his preparation and forcing him to rebuild his conditioning before competitions. He still managed to finish the year with the most No. 1 national rankings in his age division.

This year, he has taken a break from competition and is gradually working his way back into shape. He hopes to resume competing, perhaps early next year.

And he already has another long-range goal.

In five years, when he turns 90, Williams will move into a new Masters age division, once again becoming one of its youngest competitors. He hopes to make another run at the All-Star Award.

He also has a longtime friend and former Ohio State swimmer who competes in Masters events. The two, separated by about two years in age, help keep each other motivated. Williams recognizes that winning isn't everything, even if it makes the experience more enjoyable.

"Like, you know, our kids go out to compete, and you say, well, the most important thing is to have fun," he said.

Then came the qualification that has helped drive his swimming career for half a century.

"But you have a lot more fun when you win."