|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Good-natured meet wraps up Tri-County League season
The unique dynamics of the Tri-County League All-Stars swim meet decorated Sierra Heifner's right arm by day's end.
A handful of colored ribbons hung from it, in hand after Heifner placed among the top five in some events she swam Saturday at the Warrenton Aquatic and Recreation Facility (WARF).
And written on it, in thick black lettering by a sharpie pen, was the phone number of one of Heifner's opponents.
That epitomized the friend or foe tug-of-war created by the All-Stars meet.
"It's fun for everyone, and we meet new people," said Heifner, 10, of the Fauquier Springs Swim Club. "[But] it's very nerve-racking because the dads are videotaping everyone, and all the adults seem super nervous and all of the kids and teenagers are screaming. They want us to go as fast as we can."
The All-Stars meet was composed of the Tri-County League's top 18 swimmers in 59 events.
While no team scores were kept, the Orange Otters cleaned up with 23 first-place finishes, while Culpeper Rec. won 17 races, Fauquier Swim Club 14, Chestnut Forks five and Culpeper Country Club one. Fauquier's Springs had two runner-up finishes as their best.
The All-Stars meet and the Regional meet for non-all-stars, held last Thursday, are the only two occasions each year that all six TCL teams face off rather than compete in one-on-one duals.
"I think it's more competitive," FSC coach Angie Smith said. "You're swimming all the best kids all at the same time. That makes for a really interesting meet."
However, summer TCL swimming is also a largely relaxed affair by nature, so the All-Stars meet created an interesting mix.
Spectators clapped and yelled from the bleacher-filled balcony overlooking the WARF pool, hoping to motivate, but the swimmers were enough at ease to joke and laugh throughout the day, like when a FSC Frog hit the water with a belly flop during the mixed 10-and-under 100-meter freestyle relay.
Elsewhere, standing just behind the starting line for the 15-18 100 individual medley (IM), Chestnut Forks' Russell Jones taught other swimmers how make finger puppets just seconds before jumping into the pool for the start of his race.
"This is like, you're making jokes and hanging out with them. There's more competition during the season than here," Jones said. "Everybody seems to be a little more friendly. It's not like everybody's out to win. We're just here swimming."
Competing indoors also made this year's meet unique. TCL teams usually swim in outdoor pools, but the All-Stars venue change was largely liked.
"I felt like I was going faster," the Frogs' Patrick Koehr, 13, said. "I dropped a bunch of time in a bunch of [races]."
"Personal bests were left and right today," Smith said. "This pool is a good, fast pool to swim in. It's deep..."See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
You must be logged in to post a comment.