Lightning Swim Team Brings Trophy Home to Land O’ Lakes

They came. They swam. They crushed the competition.

With a lead of more than 200 points over the runner up, it’s hard to describe the outcome of the 2011 Tampa Summer League Champions any other way.

The Land O' Lakes Lightning Swim Team headed to the University of Tampa on Aug. 13 with 56 swimmers, ages 5 to 18, in tow. Members competed against eight other teams, including Tampa Bay Aquatics, the Berkeley Barracudas and the Greater Tampa Swimming Association.

The thought going in was they might take the runner up position, said Coach Robin Hilgenberg. The kids, however, had winning on their minds.

With Pasco County talking about closing the Land O’ Lakes pool because of budget cuts, the young swimmers felt like they had to bring a victory home to show the county they’re serious about their sport and keeping the pool open. The nonprofit Lightning organization has and is awaiting word from the county about the pool’s fate.

“We really wanted to win to try and save the pool,” said Dona McDonald, 15, who also swims for .

Austin Wachsman, 17, agreed. The Lightning swimmer is also a member of ’s team.

Both Wachsman and McDonald said they would be lost without the pool.

“It’s our life,” said McDonald. “We’re here every morning at 6. If this pool closed, I don’t know what I would do.”

Hilgenberg is proud of her swimmers for bringing home the win; especially considering her team was smaller than others they faced and because of the “circumstances we’re in right now,” she said.

The win, Hilgenberg said, was a big one.

“We were excited,” she said. “We were jumping up and down.”

The summer league is considered a developmental series, Hilgenberg explained. It gives new swimmers a chance to get a feel for competition while helping more accomplished swimmers maintain their training.

The Lightning scored 652 points in the competition with both its boys and girls team scores combined. Tampa Bay Aquatics was the runner up with 414 points.

Ask Amber Ewald, 7, why her team won the trophy and her answer is straightforward.

“We are a fast team,” she said. “We work together a lot.”

For more information about the Lightning, visit lollightning.org.