Eleven-year-old Sam Ford of The Dalles Swim Team was a medalist in four events at last month’s Oregon Swimming Inc. long course state swim meet. Ford received a first-place medal for the 100m freestyle, a second-place medal for the 200m freestyle, a third-place medal for the 50m freestyle and a fourth-place medal in the 400m freestyle. At right, Ford wears his medals proudly. Contributed photo
Eleven-year-old Sam Ford of The Dalles Swim Team was a medalist in four events at last month’s Oregon Swimming Inc. long course state swim meet. Ford received a first-place medal for the 100m freestyle, a second-place medal for the 200m freestyle, a third-place medal for the 50m freestyle and a fourth-place medal in the 400m freestyle. At right, Ford wears his medals proudly. Contributed photo
The 2022 long course state swim meet in Gresham was as easy as 1-2-3-4 for Sam Ford.
The 11-year-old swimmer from The Dalles Swim Team earned exactly those placings at the Oregon Swimming Inc. championship meet at Mt. Hood Community College Aquatics Center this July.
“I knew he was going to have a good meet as he has worked hard and trained well all summer, but the amount of improvement was impressive,” The Dalles Coach Ann Goodman said of Ford. “It was very exciting to watch him compete and learn how to race yet remain humble and appreciative the whole weekend.
“All three coaches were there at different times to watch, and we were all impressed with his maturity and proud of his accomplishments.”
Ford improved his personal records in all six events he swam this season, making significant time drops on all four of his freestyle events over his times at the Ted Walker Invitational in The Dalles in June, Goodman said.
All of Ford’s medals at state were in freestyle events. In the 50m freestyle, he received third place with a time of 30.01 seconds, a a time drop of 3.58 seconds from the Ted Walker Invitational. Ford won the 100m freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 6.7 seconds, which was a drop of 3.25 seconds. He got second place in the 200m freestyle, with a time of 2:27.50, a drop of 10.70 seconds from his previous time. Finally, he placed fourth in the 400m freestyle, with a drop of 24.79 seconds from his Ted Walker time. Ford also competed in the 50 and 100 breaststroke; he recorded personal-best times and finished in 10th and 12th place, respectively.
The Dalles Swim Team will compete in its final long course meet of the 2022 season Aug. 13-14 at the Bend Invitational.
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