The Haines Dolphins swim team had two competitors at the Southeast Champs meet Dec. 3-5 in Sitka, and both swimmers entered the maximum seven events.
Jackie St. Clair, 16, and Marty Fowler, 10, showed their all-around swimming talents, said head coach Steve Vick.
“I can’t really remember the last time where both of them had gone into an event and were pushed by their competitors to a point where they actually exceeded their own expectations,” Vick said.
The Southeast Champs meet, though, did just that, and especially for St. Clair in the 100-yard freestyle, he said. The meet also drew teams from Craig, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg and Sitka.
“Her surprising swim with unexpected results was her 100-yard freestyle that we’ve been working on, getting her to turn her arms over faster to be more of a sprint swimmer,” Vick said. “She has a nice, long stroke when she swims freestyle, and we’ve been working on getting that freestyle turnover rate a lot higher.”
St. Clair edged an opponent to take the title.
“Going into her last length, she was still in the lead and just really dug deep and finished really strong and out-touched the girl next to her by two-tenths of a second and got first place and broke a minute,” Vick said. “Breaking a minute in the 100 free is a big milestone. I just remember when she turned around and she was looking at the clock, I think she was just as surprised that she got first place as she was that she broke a minute, and it just kind of made her whole meet for her.”
St. Clair was second in the 100-yard backstroke, third in the 200-yard backstroke and fourth in the 200-yard individual medley.
“She placed in the top six in everything that she swam in, so that was really nice to see,” Vick said. “The last day, we had to leave before the finals, because the ferry was departing, so she qualified in the top six but wasn’t able to go to the finals in the top six, because of that.”
Fowler also was among the top six in all of his events. He swam the 50-yard backstroke, fly and freestyle; the 100-yard individual medley and freestyle; and 200-yard individual medley and freestyle.
Vick said Fowler dropped nearly five seconds in the 200-yard freestyle.
“Marty’s drive that last 25 yards really helped him get a best time,” Vick said. “It’s good to have good competition like that going into a race, because you push each other to achieve higher goals.”
The Dolphins next will swim at a Jan. 21-23 meet in Haines. Vick said the team needs about 100 volunteers to help with tasks such as officiating and timing at the meet.