by Dan Underbrink
It was the last swim meet of 2024 for TWIM and a few other PNA swimmers. The meet was on Sunday, December 15, at the Clark County Family YMCA, in Vancouver, WA. This meet was sanctioned by Oregon Masters Swimming and the format was Short Course Yards. One fun feature of this meet, that some TWIM members took advantage of, was the 25-yard events!
Our thanks to Oregon Masters, Meet Director Colette Crabbe, Meet Referee Evangeline Swift, and all the officials, timers, and the YMCA Staff, who worked hard to produce a very fun event for all in attendance!
Speaking of attendance, 10 TWIM members (plus four other PNA swimmers) made their way to Vancouver for this one. From TWIM, we had Holly Lickwala, Brent Barnes, Graham Anderson, Lou McDermott, Bill Maibauer, David Scott, Steve Fogg, Kelly Vikstrom, Mary Underbrink, and Dan Underbrink. The other PNA swimmers in attendance were Jennifer Tran, Danielle Latimer, Tyree Reynolds, and Tom Weyhrauch.
Pre-meet communications indicated 91 swimmers registered, but a look through the results shows that 84 swimmers competed. This put TWIM at a whopping 12% of total attendance at this meet! Nice turnout, TWIM! We are living the TWIM values!
At least five TWIM members, Dan, Mary, Steve, Graham, and Kelly, made the drive down to Vancouver on Saturday, with various levels of storminess encountered on their drives. Dan scrambled to get set up at the hotel for a Saturday afternoon TWIM Board of Directors meeting. I believe the rest of the squad travelled on Sunday morning, arriving in time for the 9:00 AM warm-ups.
Dave Scott brought bag tags and tree ornament gifts for the TWIM squad. Thanks for those, Dave! Very nice of you!
On to the swimming!
Kelly wowed us with first place finishes in 200 Free, 200 Back, and 200 IM, and a third place in the 100 IM.
Holly treated us to first place finishes in the 100 Back and 200 Fly events. It was fun to watch!
Mary placed first in 100 Free, second in 50 Free, and third in 200 Free. You were looking good, Mary!
Brent had some solid swims in the tough Men’s 55-59 competition: a second place in 100 Breast and fourth place finishes in the 50 Free and 100 IM.
Louis McDermott, in his second meet with TWIM, had a first place in the 25 Free, a second place in the 100 Free, and third place finishes in both 50 Free and 200 Free. Very impressive, Lou!
Dave Scott was perfect for the day, finishing all three events, 50 Free, 100 Breast, and 100 IM, in first place!
Dan Underbrink had a first in the 200 Breast, and second place finishes in his other five events, the 50, 100, and 200 Back, the 100 Breast, and the 100 IM.
Graham Anderson was first in the 200 Backstroke and had second place finishes in the 50 Back and the 25 Fly. Nice swimming, Graham!
Bill Maibauer posted first place finishes in the 25 and 50 Free events, and a second place in the 100 Free. Way to represent TWIM, Bill!
Finally, Mister Steve Fogg was impressive, with first place finishes in both the 200 Back and the 200 Fly! Steve also had a second place in the 100 Back.
That meet wrapped up TWIM’s competition year. It was great to see everyone swimming so well, and fun chatting with teammates throughout the day! The drive home proved gentler weatherwise, which was a nice change from Saturday’s rain-fest!
