Area swimmers beach-bound for national meet
CAT HIGGINS/Charleston Catholic
Travis Green, a South Charleston High School sophomore, takes some laps.
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By Cat Higgins
Charleston Catholic High School
This April, four area swimmers are taking an early spring break when they make their way to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. for the YMCA Short Course National Competition. Caitlin Cook, Katherine Crain, Travis Green and Evan Walker, all of whom swim for the Huntington Y Charleston Aquatics Team, have been training hard for the event.
The group swims an average of 3,500 yards per practice and also lifts weights. They are expected to attend five to seven practices a week, one of which must be on the weekend, and they must attend three “dry land” practices (weights, running, etc.) each week for the duration of the season.
Coach Greg Olson said the weekend rule is so that the swimmers do not get used to sleeping in late on weekends. Warm-ups for big meets are usually early in the morning, and Olson wants his swimmers to be used to being ready to swim early.
While Olson might be seen “firmly” reminding his swimmers to pay attention to the clock or work harder at practices, he knows them well and knows what each one is capable of. He has confidence in each of his Nationals swimmers.
Caitlin Cook, a senior at Capital High School, will be swimming two events, one of which is the 200-yard butterfly. Olson has very high hopes for her in this event.
“Caitlin is a competitor. I wouldn’t bet against her in a race,” he said.
Evan Walker, a freshman at George Washington, will swim the 1,000 and 1,650-yard freestyle events. This is his first trip to Nationals, and Olson believes he will swim well there.
Travis Green, a sophomore at South Charleston High School, will be swimming the 500, 1,000 and 1,650-yard freestyle events as well as the 400-yard individual medley. “If he has his head on straight, he could win all four [events],” Olson said. “I think he could at least win two and finish in the top five in his other events.”
Katherine Crain, a sophomore at Charleston Catholic who will be swimming the same events as Green, has been out of the water for a few weeks due to a broken foot from a sledding accident. While she hasn’t been able to practice at full capacity, Crain has been able to get in the water and swim laps, as long as she does not push off of the wall too hard. She will still be able to compete in Ft. Lauderdale.
Another HYCAT swimmer, freshman Meredith Davis of George Washington, also qualified for Nationals, but her parents are not allowing her to miss a week of school to swim one event. While this is disappointing, it is a reality of such competitions.
Some of the other swimmers acknowledge that you do miss a lot when you miss a week of school. Crain, who also attended Nationals last year, said that making up missed assignments is not as difficult as making up the tests and quizzes that she misses when she’s gone.
“I’m not going to lie. It’s not easy, but it has to be done,” Green said.
Swimming is a sport that demands an enormous time commitment and amount of dedication, especially if you are as serious about the sport as these four swimmers are. It sometimes makes normal things, such as having a boyfriend or girlfriend, difficult.
But when asked if he had any trouble finding time for a girlfriend, Green said with a smile, “Well, if I find someone, I’ll make time. I will definitely make time.”
