In the sport of swimming, the journey and process of a season is just as important as each individual competition. In the season of COVID, the journey has been cut short while the process has risen in difficulty for swimmers across the state.
Going into 2020, The Dalles Riverhawk swim team was coming off one of its best years in recent memory, qualifying two individual swimmers for state and a couple relays, as well. Looking to duplicate or improve on those results was not out of the realm of possibilities, but the pandemic has since altered those dreams with no state meet this year. The high school season ends for IMC swimmers at Saturday’s district meet in Hood River.
“We have had the same challenges other teams have been dealing with, having to go through all the COVID restrictions,” said Coach Derek Shortt.
With pools being some of the last buildings to reopen during the pandemic, the challenge has not only been to find times to train but also finding teams to compete against.
“We have had to get creative finding all the pool time we can so we can get all our swimmers in,” said Shortt. “Also, with the changing and different schedule, it has been harder to find meets.”
The Riverhawks were able to secure two competition dates before heading to Hood River for district on June 19. Their first meet was June 3 against Hood River Valley.
Despite a lack of training time, Shortt was impressed with his team’s performance. “I think we swam super well!” he said. “Lydia (Digenarro) and Micheal (Cole) had some impressive wins. We were outnumbered 16 to 33 but had a ton of close races and a couple of wins.
“We had a couple of highlights. Lydia Digenarro and Micheal Cole both won their 50 free races. Our boys 200 free relay (Skyler Coburn, Carter Randall, Wes Parker, Cole) also won their race. We also had a few PRs: Micheal cut time in both his 100 fly and 50 free; Quinn Raffensperger and Kennedy Abbas also cut time in their 100 free. Both Hanna Haight and William Hoover dropped time in their 100 breaststroke.”
After a couple more days of training the team headed to Madras for its last tune-up meet before district.
“I think we’re getting closer to the goals we set before the beginning of the season,” said Shortt. “I’m proud of everyone on this team for dealing with adversity and showing that they want to be here and improve. We have a really young team this year and so we’re hoping to continue to build towards the future.”
While the journey may have been cut short, the process of getting swimmers ready for the end of the season remains the same. Shortt and his staff are focused on getting their team prepared for what is to come.
“I think we will be; it will be more difficult with the short season,” said Shortt about this week’s district meet. “In a normal year we would still be building but we are already at the end of the season. I think the kids are excited for a big meet.”
The IMC district championship meet begins at noon June 19 at Hood River Aquatics Center.
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