Hitting the high water mark

Leading this group are coaches Scott McKay and Scott Bergstrom.

At the Splash and Dash event Thursday at the Ted Walker Memorial Pool in the North Wasco Aquatic Center, Bergstrom, who previously swam for Hood River Valley High School and just finished his sophomore year at the University of Denver, spoke on the emotion of leading youths to greater heights.

“I have been swimming for like 13 years and I love it,” said Bergstrom, who qualified for the last Olympic Trials. “To have the chance to teach people is quite an honor. The most rewarding thing is seeing these kids set goals for themselves and the joy they have on their faces when they meet or surpass those goals. That is what we all look forward to.”

The Ted Walker Memorial Pool has been around for more than 60 years and was in need to renovation, so the TDST twice attempted to get a bond for fixtures, but were denied.

In 2013, athletes went on a bond push, door-to-door, asking for community help.

Finally, it passed and construction started in February of 2014.

Sixteen months later, construction was completed and the team held its Splash and Dash event Thursday and the official grand Re-Opening this past Saturday.

“This has been a long time coming,” said TDST board member Amanda Evans. “We have got so much water around us and it feels great. Having a swim team is so important. We need the swim team for the kids, we need a place for them to be active and we need it for our community, not just for the kids, but for their families.”

Having a swim team has always been the main goal of the board members, this way several kids have an outlet aside from other summer activities.

The team will have one home meet and then another Splash and Dash event at the end of the year where kids can improve their times in the freestyle, butterfly and breastroke.

Next year, the Ted Walker Memorial Meet is back on the schedule.

“Our goal for The Dalles Swim Team is to get them in the water,” Evans said. “We want them to learn the important things that make them a good team member, we want them to build relationships with their peers, we want them to learn to be safe in the water and we want them to appreciate the community and what people can do together to make something good. Most of all, we want them to love swimming.”

For the past two seasons, Andrew Clifford has been a part of The Dalles High Swim Team, but since he was five-years old, he was always a TDST participant.

Now 17, Clifford will be leaned on for his experience in the tutorial process.

“I still don’t feel very experienced even though I have been on the swim team for a long time, but I look forward to having others look up to me,” Clifford said. “I remember looking up to older kids and thinking they were very cool and how I wanted to be just like them. Hopefully, I will be able to be responsible and a good role model.”

Practice times for the summer run from 7-8:30 a.m. for Gold members, and 8-9 a.m. for Silver.

Bronze level athletes and the Fishies hit the water from 9-10 a.m. for practice Monday through Friday.

From July 10-12, the team heads to Pendleton for a competitive meet, and then TD hosts a fun meet on Friday, July 30 at the pool.

TDST heads to Bend for a three-day meet starting August 7, then caps the regular season for a final home meet on Friday, August 14.

In 2013, TDST had 70 swimmers and there are 55 currently, but Evans said there is still time to join.

She can be reached via email at evansamandam@ gmail.com

“It is very good that kids are being given an opportunity to compete in the summer,” Clifford said. “You get to be around all of your classmates and get to have fun. It is just a rewarding sport for everyone.”