 | | | Tori Yee of Orinda Country Club finished in seventh place overall with 45 points overall. Photos Gint Federas | | | | | | Barefoot 6-year-olds clad in tiny racing swimsuits and clutching snow cones squeezed past muscled high school swimmers on their way to the pool at the 54th Contra Costa County Championship Swim Meet on Aug. 16-17 at Acalanes' Heaston Aquatic Center. The meet, hosted by LMYA Swim Team at the end of every summer season, once again featured the fastest recreational swimmers between the ages of 3 and 18 years old from 54 teams in the county.
"The really neat thing is that you have 6-and-unders competing at the same time as 15-18's, so you have these sessions of the top 6-year-olds, the top 7-8's, the top 9-10's," said meet director Jeff Miller. "It does create that exciting environment."
Exciting it was as race after race of "County swimmers" took to the blocks and then to the water, crossing the pool in shockingly fast times. Though the Crow Canyon Country Club Swim Team ultimately won the overall meet with the highest number of total points for the tenth consecutive year, all 15 teams from the Lafayette Swim Conference and the Orinda Moraga Pools Association (OMPA) sent swimmers to the meet. The teams of Springbrook, Orinda Country Club, and Sleepy Hollow did especially well, securing fifth, sixth, and seventh place respectively in the Division I grouping.
For most swimmers, the opportunity to swim at the meet was more important than the results. Said Rancho Colorados parent Sam Darin, "It's great just to see the different levels of competition and just to be invited. It's a pretty big honor, and the kids are all excited."
Only recreational swimmers who achieve certain times in their events over the course of the summer season qualify to race. These swimmers make up the top 10-20 percent of their teams.
"Obviously it's exciting just to get these kids to achieve this level of time standard," said Rancho Colorados Swim Team assistant coach Tommy Rotticci. "You're giving them an experience they're going to remember for the rest of their lives, regardless of how they do."
Swimmers agreed that exposure to the fastest level of recreational competition in the county was nerve-racking but also motivating, inspiring an even higher level of performance from some. In fact, Miller described this year's meet as one of the fastest County Meets ever. Out of 82 events, 21 meet records were broken.
For some Lamorinda swimmers coming off of climactic league championship meets in the past few weeks, achieving personal best times was more of a challenge. Though 14-year-old Meadow Swim and Tennis Club swimmer Michael Dakis achieved an impressive third place finish in his 100-yard individual medley, he expressed disappointment at not having beaten his personal best time in the event.
"The league meets [are] kind of what you train for, so coming to County is hard," said Dakis. "But it's kind of a good challenge to have after your big meet, to have another big meet. It's hard, but it's still fun."
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA