Making Waves

Paige Thompson (left) and Cassie Rankin (right)

DCY Featured Swimmers

Paige Thompson attends Gibraltar School, traveling to Sturgeon Bay five times a week to swim mornings and nights. Paige had a fantastic breakthrough in the 100 free this week, swimming a 58-second 100 free for the first time ever. Paige is also a relay swimmer on the 13/14-year-old state qualifying relays. This group of girls have committed to swimming much more this year, with the goal of reaching National level swimming.

Cassie Rankin is part of our superb 8 and under girls group. This group could be the strongest 8 and under group in the state. Cassie has already made state times for every event she swims. This is a remarkable achievement. She swam her fastest 50 free in 33 seconds on Saturday, very close to our team record. Cassie is also part of our state qualifying relays.

Notes from Coach Mike McHugh: Very few people understand the scope and depth of age-group swimming, so I thought I would try to explain a little about the sport. Age-group swimming is the fastest growing sport in the USA, surpassing 400,000 age group swimmers this year. There are two distinct groups: YMCA swimming and USA swimming. YMCA swimming is a not-for-profit program, whereas USA swimming is a club sport managed for profit. USA swimming is the larger of the two groups, with teams spread across the USA in every state. YMCA swimming is strong in the Midwest and East, with smaller numbers in the South and West.

Swimmers compete by age, with 8-under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-open age brackets. All swimmers can swim for both groups, swimming USA for a fee. There are several competitive levels, from small meets with a few teams, up to Olympic Trial level. The big National level meets are the YMCA National Championships, and the USA Junior and Senior National Championships. You must qualify for these meets by surpassing cut times for each event.

High school swimming is a separate entity from these two groups. The competitive levels at the YMCA and USA meets are much faster and more competitive than high school, with swimmers committing to year-round training and workouts that are extremely demanding. For example, our Junior Elite and Senior team will have swum between 10,000-11,000 yards per day during the Christmas Break schedule. Next week I will delve into events and explain competitive times for Senior level swimmers.

Swim Term: Flip turn – Used to transition between laps by doing a forward somersault before the wall. Used in freestyle and backstroke events. The freestyle and backstroke flip turns are slightly different. There is also a backstroke-to-breastroke flip turn that is completely different than the freestyle/backstroke flip turn.

Upcoming Meet

Snowflake Meet, Manitowoc – Two Rivers YMCA: Jan. 3.

For more information visit the DCY website, teamunify.com/Home.jsp?team=widcy.