by Brent Barnes and Holly Lickwala
This little adventure started with a family trip to the thriving metropolis of The Dalles for the NW Zones, hosted by Oregon on August 5. Getting there involved a breathtaking drive through the Columbia River Gorge. If you are not familiar with the location of this great Oregon town, think of Hood River then drive about 25 more miles east. It was a nice location and a perfect day for racing outdoors as it remained overcast the whole time with the 95 degrees temps not settling in until well after the meet was completed. As always, Oregon hosted a great meet with the only drama being the electronic timing system not working. Nothing three timers per lane couldn’t fix!
Holly had one major goal in getting over some of her fear of swimming the 200 LCM fly. She had a solid first swim in that event with a 3:04.44. While happy to have completed it, she knew that she would do it again in one week. Holly also tackled the 100 fly clocking a 1:18.93. Brent had best times in the 100 free (1:21.39) and 100 breast (1:31.45), getting closer and closer to his goal of under 1:30. He also had solid results in the 200 free and 50 free with not much rest between events.
After a couple days at home, the duo was off to the Southwest Zone Championship, with 260 swimmers ready to have some great outdoor swims. Brent and Holly love the pool at the Margarette Aquatic Center and this meet has become a tradition they very much look forward to. After one training day at the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine (sound familiar to anyone??) it was time to tackle some hard events just a few miles south in beautiful Mission Viejo. One little side note here, Summer Nationals (LCM) 2024 will be held at this pool and if you are even a little bit on the fence, you should look at making the trip down for the competition. The facility is wonderful, the pool is fast, and they host a spectacular meet.
Since they were only swimming the first two days of the meet, that meant picking either the 1500 free or 400 IM on the first day. Brent singed up to tackle the 1500 free and Holly had a momentary lapse of reasoning and thought the 400 IM would be a good idea. Holly rocked it and carved 32 seconds off her time from a few years ago and Brent completed his first 1500 long-course free. On day two, we shook off the soreness and jumped back into some long events with Brent starting the day off with the 400 free and Holly repeating the 200 fly from last weekend. Holly dropped down to 3:03 and Brent hit a personal best in the 200 breast (3:21) and had a solid 50 breast swim.
It would not be a proper TWIM blog without mentioning the belly-up stroke. Holly took on the 100 back, but not without some memorable moments. First, she realized on the start that she had no idea where to put her head; should it be tucked, should it not? Definitely not the place to figure out that detail. Then during the swim, she hugged the lane line like a security banket desperately trying not to DQ by appearing to tug on it. Swimming backstroke outside has some unique challenges. Holly will leave that to experts like Carl and Steve.
While Brent and Holly were the only PSM swimmers, there was a group from Oregon who often travel to these meets (6 strong this time) who made us feel like part of their team. They had some amazing swims as a group including breaking numerous State records and almost, one National record.
Thank you, Oregon, and thank you SPMS for putting together two fantastic meets at two great facilities.
