Six TWIM swimmers and the new TWIM banner made their way north, on Sunday February 23, 2020, to compete in the first-ever Viking Invitational, hosted by Western Washington University Masters Swimming. The meet was held at Arne Hanna Aquatic Center in Bellingham, WA, which featured an excellent eight-lane, 25-yard pool (six lanes were used for competition).
Our thanks to Meet Director Marysia Smith, Meet Referee Morris Arthur, and a host of WWU Viking volunteers who came together to host quite a decent swimming event.
The six TWIM swimmers pioneering the Viking event were Holly Lickwalla, Brent Barnes, Vince Carmosino, new TWIMmer Kathy McDaniel, Tom Walker, and Dan Underbrink. Meet results show a total of 73 competitors at this meet. Local Bellingham TWIM member, Brad Jones, was unfortunately out of town for most of the event, but he stopped in toward the end of the meet to say hi and lend moral support to the team. Great to see you there, Brad.
Performances!
Holly swam in 50 Breast, 50 Fly, and 100 Fly, logging a first place finish in each event, and also smashing her seed times in all three! Nice work Holly!
Brent swam in the 100 Free (third), the 100 Breast (third), the 200 Breast (first), and the 50 Fly (second). He improved 3 of 4 seed times and continues to show marked improvement at every meet. Great performances Brent!
Vince swam in the 50 Free, 50 Breast, and 100 Breast, and took down first place in all three events! We could not ask for a better showing than that, Vince!
New TWIM member, Kathy McDaniel picked up second place in the 50 Free, and first place in both the 100 Free and the 100 Back, exceeding seed times in all three events! Welcome to the family Kathy, and nice job on your swims!
Tom swam in four events, taking first in the 200 Breast, third in both 50 and 100 Breast, and fourth in the 100 IM. As always, Tom was the greatest advocate for TWIM swimmers, providing encouragement to all, and just embodying the TWIM spirit all day long. Great swim results, Tom!
It was all 200s for Dan: 200 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Back, and 200 IM. Four first place finishes, so a pretty satisfying day all around.
We are hopeful that the WWU Vikings will continue to host this event in future years. Bellingham is not all that far away, and it would be great to see an even larger TWIM contingent at next year’s meet.
Until we “Meet” again,
Dan
