USA Swimming to Make Swim Meet Debut in Rose Park

USA Swimming to Make Swim Meet Debut in Rose Park

ROSE PARK -- A USA Swimming-hosted swim meet will be coming to Rose Park--tucked away in Salt Lake City's northwest corner of the city-- for the first time this autumn when west side swim organization-based Race Swami hosts a pair of events on October 25th and 26th at the Northwest Recreation Center located near the Salt Lake City Fairgrounds.

The opener, dubbed the SWAMI Sunset Classic, is a Mountain Valley Alliance meet, which is a regional league that Race Swami joined this past summer. The new league is home to five clubs, all USA Swimming sanctioned swim clubs. The SWAMI Sunset Classic is scheduled for Friday at 5:00pm. According to Swami team president Leslie Motley, this will also be Race Swami's maiden voyage in hosting a USA Swimming sanctioned event.

"We originally wanted to host a swim meet last fall but the time just wasn't right," Motley said. "It's not easy hosting a meet when you don't have the infrastructure in place to host such an event. A lot of volunteer hours must go into it and a lot of planning. So we decided to hold off until we were able to address these vital issues. We believe we have now, and it should be a great couple of days of swim meets in Rose Park! Our community is excited."

Motley reasoned that because only four other teams (besides Race Swami) are expected for the Sunset extravaganza, the number of swimmers will be managable. However, the follow-up meet, the SWAMI Sunrise Developmental Open, might have the possibility to be a larger venue. That meet, scheduled for Saturday at 9am, is a USA Swimming Open Meet, meaning, any team in the Local Swim Committee (known as Utah Swimming) is eligible to attend. "We'll see how that goes," Motley said. "There might be a few more teams, but most of these kids will be in the early stages of their swim career, so again, the numbers should be manageble."

Both meets are open to public and there is no cost. Concessions will be available at both meets.