Busy Sectional Swim Meet Gets Whole Community Involved

It only takes a glance to tell that the sectional swim meet, to be held this weekend in Hudson, is different from any other the high school swimmers have faced.

There are so many competitors that the deck area of the pool has swimmers just a few feet, or even closer, from each other in most places, and if there is a desire, it's hard to find a place to collect your thoughts.

Scant little time is wasted between heats, with swimmers barely out of the water before the next ones take the platforms, and everything needs to run like clockwork for the meet to get done on time.

"Obviously, there is a lot more emphasis placed on this than a dual meet," Coach Joe Smolinski said, since this is what the athletes have been working toward since November.

Hudson's pool, located as part of the Middle School complex, is considered the third-or-so fastest in the state, said Joel Skinner, a longtime swimming parent and volunteer who is helping coordinate this weekend's meet.

"This is because the pool is modern, deep and has a high-tech design. So, all of the northern teams want to swim here. It falls to Hudson to be a good neighbor and host," Skinner said.

"The key to competitive swimming is the taper. For the entire season, swimmers train six to seven days a week," he said. "They work themselves slowly over time to a point of near exhaustion by steadily increasing distance and speed intervals."

Then, a week or two before a championship, in this case sectionals, the team quickly backs off of distance. This causes the body to have an explosion of energy and they use this to attempt to drop time (go faster), sometimes dramatically, Skinner said.

At Hudson, the boys started out doing 3,000 to 4,000 yards per day and worked themselves up to over 10,000 yards a day.

"To get to that point, they have to get up early and start practice at 5:30 before school. Then they have afternoon practice for three hours, too," Skinner said, adding tht the swimmers are literally exhausted just before taper.

"We try to maintain intensity, but decrease volume as far as how many yards you swim," Smolinski said, adding that they ease off on the muscles while maintaining strength.

"I think the average person doesn't really know," he said about the intricacies of conducting a taper. "In other sports there is (more of a team) strategy involved and you compete against another person," he said. "In sports like swimming, track and cross country, its how well you perform vs. how well someone else performs."

The scope of a sectional meet can be overwhelming to some athletes. Smolinski said that especially with younger swimmers, it depends on the person and their maturity level, as far as how each individual approaches the meet.

"I do the best I can to prepare them for that," he said

"Being at home gives us an advantage, as opposed to having to travel somewhere," Smolinski said. "I work with the AD and the booster club to make sure there is proper equipment and all the proper volunteers."

Stephanie De Vos, Hudson's athletic director, works hard to make this bigger meet come together, as did her predecessor, Larry Ofstedahl, Skinner said. But, he points out, one person can't do it all

"We need lots of volunteers and that falls to the parents, booster club, former coaches and athletes," Skinner said. "For example, there is a need for announcer, scoreboard operator, timing software, concession workers, hospitality persons, lifeguards, setup and cleanup workers, and timers of three per lane for each of the eight lanes."

"They all want to qualify for the 24 slots at the state championships in Madison the week after sectionals. The 24 is significant because there are eight lanes in a pool and there are three heats in each event," Skinner said

The winner in each of the six sectionals advances to state automatically. The remaining 18 slots go to the remaining fastest times at sectionals around the state.

The sectional tournament, which consists of 10 to 14 teams, starts at 5 p.m. today with the diving competition, while the swimming events begin Saturday at 1 p.m.