The Haines Dolphins swimmers hope to take a dip in victory this weekend at their only home meet of the season.
About 100 swimmers between the ages of 6 and 14 from Haines, Whitehorse and Juneau are set to compete Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Haines Pool. Thirty-six out of 50 youths on the Haines team will compete.
This home competition also will be the first competitive swim meet for 10 of the Haines Dolphins.
“I’m scared for the diving part,” said first-grader and first-time competitor C.C. Elliott.
“I’m going to pretend I’m sick maybe!” said second-grader Sydney Salmon.
The pair will compete in the 8-and-under girls’ relay race with kindergartener Makayla Henry and second-grader Cora Hoffman.
“They’re best friends. It’s so fun to watch them swim together,” head coach Erin Pratt said of the girls.
Pratt said she expects fourth-graders Pacific Ricke and Emma Dohrn to excel among the 10-and-under girls. Emery Tipkemper-Wolfe and Loyal Tormey should swim especially well with the 8-and-under boys.
“They’ve been working nonstop and just love swimming,” Pratt said. “They’ve given it their all in practice.”
The 9-and-over competitors are working toward achieving age group championship times to qualify for next month’s statewide meet in Fairbanks.
Ricke and Anica Tipkemper will swim the 1,650-yard freestyle for the time, and many swimmers will compete in the 500 freestyle for the first time as well, Pratt said.
“They’ve really been working hard to prepare,” said assistant coach Jim Green. “We do have some competitive swimmers and I think they’re going to really shine.”
The Dolphins are still looking for volunteers to become stroke and turn officials, timers or do assorted jobs during the meet. Contact Leslie Ross at [email protected] to be a timer or Jim Green at [email protected] to become a meet official.
The meet schedule for the rest of the season includes AK Age Group Championships – Fairbanks, Feb. 24-26; Spring Splash – Ketchikan, March 31-April 2; AK Junior Olympics, Anchorage, April 27-30; Yukon Championship Invitational – Whitehorse, May 5-6.
“Bring your Friends to Swim Team Week” will follow the weekend festivities.
All new swimmers ages 5 to 18 can swim for free Monday through Friday, Jan. 23-27, at 3:30 p.m. The only requirement is kids must be able to put their face in the water comfortably and make forward progress on their own.