Wenatchee Masters Meet Recap

In the dark early morning hours of Sunday, January 22nd, somewhere in the Spokane area with Siberian freezing temperatures, two cars are getting loaded with swimming bags and brave people who will drive to Wenatchee in the snow for a masters swimmeet. Rick Mocabee even purchased a new car the night before, just to be better prepared for the trip. The team representation consists of Jaime Giraud (this is her first swimmeet ever!), Emily Johnson and Rick Mocabee who already have a little previous experience from our October homemeet, and experienced competitors Dan Sheahan and Harm-Jan Steenhuis. At the end of event 5, the Spokane Aquatic Masters Team is ranked deadlast with zero points. So far, none of our swimmers competed. That is about to change. In event 6, the 200 freestyle, Dan is on the blocks. The start signal goes, and so does Dan ending first in the event across all age categories! In event 7, the 50 breaststroke, Harm-Jan repeats this and also finished first across all age categories. Our first points are in and after this SWAT unleashes. Both relay teams are unstoppable and take away a first place. Jaime establishes goal times for future meets. Emily and Rick show tremendous progress, Emily dropping 8 seconds on the 100 free and 3 seconds on the 50 free. Rick dropping 4 seconds on the 100 free, 5 seconds on the 50 free and over a minute on the 500 free. Dan and Harm-Jan show the entire field that SWAT contains national level swimmers. Overall we take away nine first places, four second places, three thirds, a fourth and a fifth place in this competitive field. With our limited representation we may not have been able to beat the Wenatchee team on their hometurf but we gave them a run for their money. At our next meet in Coeur d'Alene we hope that we can show up with a much larger representation.