Dolphins race to team records
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TweetHaines Dolphins Swim Team coach Erin Pratt grinned at practice last week while describing to fellow coaches and swimmers the nervous energy she felt at the Alaska Swimming Age Group Championships in Fairbanks.
“You should have seen me trying to keep it together,” Pratt said, pantomiming her own contained excitement, “while the swimmers were trying to keep it together.” Pratt’s pantomime was “edge of your seat” as she conceded she may have been just as nervous as her swimmers.
But the Dolphins didn’t show it in the water. Across the board, the team performed beyond any reasonable expectations.
The girls’ 10-and-under relay team took home gold medals in two events – 200 medley (2:30) and 200 freestyle (2:13) – something quite special because it is rare for small town swim clubs to field enough top swimmers to win relays against squads from larger cities such as Fairbanks and Anchorage.
The Dolphins also set marks in individual events. Pacific Ricke set a new team record in the 500 freestyle (6:48) and Rio Ross-Hirsh did the same in the 50 butterfly (33.95).
Lucia Chapell earned five new Alaska Junior Olympic times, while Emma Dorhn placed fourth in the 50 butterfly. Leo Wald recorded a personal best in six out of seven events and Dalton Henry was amongst the fastest 9-year-olds.
In addition, Ross-Hirsh qualified for the Northwest Region Short Course Age Group Championships in Seattle on March 23-26. The meet features the fastest swimmers from the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and Hawaii.
“They really impressed me,” Pratt said. “They swam so hard, they just blew my expectations out of the water. The other teams from around the state were just super impressed with the program; that we brought only six kids and did as well as we did, it was pretty cool.”
The energy around the Haines Dolphins is positive as swimmers set their sights on the local swim-a-thon fundraiser.
