By Dave Scott
This year the Viking Invite racked up a record number of entrants, reaching a total of 88 swimmers. There were a couple significant upgrades to the Viking Invitational meet since I last attended including fancy new-fangled starting blocks and electronic timing! It appears that the northernmost PNA meet is gaining momentum. Go Vikings!
The volunteer timers were very upbeat and friendly, wishing swimmers a “good race” along with other encouraging sentiments. I remembered my own advice and thanked them for volunteering.
The meet used PNA Order of Event Rotation #4 (see Section 7.3.3 of PNA Policies), and included all the 200-yard events, many of which are often omitted at non-championship meets. Many swimmers took the opportunity to enjoy themselves by racing in these exhausting events.
Team Walker swimmers included Carl Haynie, Brad Jones, David Scott, Joseph Shelly, and Dan Underbrink. Kerry Ness was unable to participate at this meet but still made himself available on-deck to encourage his fellow TWIM racers.
Dan swam the 100 IM, the 100 Breaststroke, 200 Backstroke and 200 Breastroke – the last two were back-to-back events. If my math is correct, Dan did not rack up the most aggregate yards in the meet, which may be a first for TWIM and surely puts a wrinkle in my heretofore well-ordered existence. It appears Brad edged him out by 50 yards. Could this be a new rivalry? Stay tuned.
Joseph swam the 50 and 100 Butterfly. I noted in the USMS database that Joseph’s three 50 Butterfly races (in his current age group) are all within 9-one-hundredths of a second of each other, a little thing I like to call “consistency.”
Carl swam the 50 and 100 Breaststroke. Carl had a scare right at the start of the 50 with a calf cramp. but persevered to continue on to another race.
Dave (your author) swam the 100 and 200 IM, and 200 Breaststroke.
Brad swam the 50 and 100 Butterfly along with the 500 Freestyle. Brad was within striking distance of all his times from last season’s Nationals meet, more so when considering factors such as pool features and tapering.
Around the half-way point of the meet, I found myself staring at the wall in lieu of watching the races unfold. Occasionally you notice odd details in the way folks help out. President Dan had somehow managed to affix the TWIM banner to a slick, damp, cinder-block wall using nothing more than masking tape and an astonishing amount of optimism. The thing stuck to the wall the entire meet, refusing to comply with the laws of physics. A visual metaphor regarding the tenacity of Masters swimmers? Perhaps.
See you at the next meet.
