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The YMCA Bears swim strong

Sunday, July 12, 2009

(Updated Monday, July 13 - 11:56 am)

By Jesse Baumgartner
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — The YMCA Bears certainly weren't one of the larger teams at the Community Swim Association City Meet.

In just their sixth season in the CSA, they came into the three-day event with only 60 athletes — the fifth-smallest amount among the 23 teams.

But numbers didn't stop the YMCA team from quickly becoming one of the major stories in a competition that showcased more than 2,000 swimmers. By the time the water settled, the small group had themselves a 14th place finish with 797 points.

"It's just been phenomenal. This whole year's been phenomenal because we won two meets and we (hadn't) won a meet in over four years," said head coach Karmen Quakenbush.

The YMCA team was easily the most racially diverse team at the meet — "Minorities are our majority," the coach said — and their work in the pool had people buzzing.

"It's great because swimming has always been known as a white sport, but it's not anymore," Quakenbush said. "And we're definitely out here to prove that."

Friday was the starting point for the fireworks, as both the boys and girls 13-14 200-yard medley relay teams claimed victory.

But the team shone individually as well, thanks in large part to 12-year-old standouts McKenzie Cole and Safiyyah Abdullah.

Abdullah not only set the meet record in the 11-12 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 32.59, but beat out the boys in that division (Cole won the boys's division with 34.01).

"Yeah, I felt close. I don't know because, a lot of times when you think you're doing well, you're not," she said. "So I was really nervous. I was afraid to look &ellipses; but then I heard, 'Yay, Safiyyah, yay!'"

On Saturday she shaved more than a second and a half off of her preliminary time while winning the 11-12 50-yard butterfly. She said she was peeking at other people in the prelims, but it was full speed ahead in the finals for the win.

She then won the 100-yard individual medley for a clean sweep of her individual events.

Cole, meanwhile, was also a jack of all trades at Lindley Pool. After winning the 50-yard breaststroke on Friday, he, too, won the 50-yard butterfly and 100-yard individual medley on Saturday.

"Some of my friends, they were swimming in the same event as I did," he said.

"So I knew I was going to have a lot of competition because that's the way my dad always puts it. And I just did my best."

By winning their three events, Cole and Abdullah will be honored at next year's meet as Golden Swimmers. They finished their events just in time on Saturday, as a monsoon-like rain poured down for 20 minutes and people rushed for cover. Some adventurous swimmers eventually turned the wet grass into a muddy slip-'n-slide.

With all of those dynamic performances, the Bears showed there's some talent in their small group.

"They kind of consider us out, but we can still be in it if we want to," Cole said. "Most of us make 'A' finals."

Quakenbush is hoping the success will lead to increased numbers for the program. That has been an issue in the past, and she pointed out that the club's lower costs could be a draw with the struggling economy.

"We grew by 20 swimmers (this year), so that definitely helped," she said.

"We have more better swimmers this year, but not a great more than we did last year. It's just the way we set it up and practices have definitely been turned up a notch."

Contact Jesse Baumgartner at 373-7071 or jesse.baumgartner@news-record.com

2009 CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Final team scores from the 2009 City Championships, held Friday and Saturday at Lindley Pool in Greensboro:

1. Friendly — 2,332.5
2. Greensboro Country Club — 2,169
3. Lake Jeanette — 1,349.5
4. Sherwood — 1,221
5. Hamilton Lakes — 1,157
6. High Point GElks — 1,107
7. Green Valley — 1,087.5
8. Greensboro Elks — 1,057
9. Ridgewood — 1,007
10. Grandover — 880.5
11. Oak Ridge — 861
12. Cardinal — 842.5
13. Adams Farm — 811
14. YMCA Bears — 797
15. Pinetop — 485
16. Southeast — 454
17. Henson Forest — 365.5
18. Lawndale — 341
19. Sedgefield — 283
20. Battle Forest — 223
21. Starmount — 151.5
22. Bur-Mil — 112
23. Forest Oaks — 37.5

Individual results: At greensborocsa.org

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July 15, 2009 - 8:53 pm EDT

The YMCA Bears relay teams did not win, due to a controversy over the eligibility of their relay teams; and therefore their meet record had to withdrawn. The Bears swimmers were devastated. Sadly, the children don’t understand why their times were invalidated.

Prior to relays, because the rules are vague, the YMCA Bears coaches asked for a ruling on the eligibility of their swimmers. They were told that their relay teams were legal. After their victory and record breaking relay, several other teams contested the ruling (of course, it’s a coach's job to help their team win). The CSA board met and decided that the ruling did not reflect the original intention or sprit of the rule. Rather than disqualify the Bears' relay teams which had based on information from meet management, the team could re-swim the relays. However, it is much harder to swim a race a second time, discouraged and with no competition in the pool to race against. As you would expect, the second race did not break the meet record or win.

Small teams that do not have enough swimmers in one age group to for a full relay team may "swim up" younger members. This rule allows small teams to enter and compete in more relays and have a lot more fun. For example this rule allows a team that does not have four 15-19 swimmers to choose to up two younger swimmers to fill-out the relay team. Of course, the complete rule is a bit more complex than that, which is why the Bears coaches asked for a ruling prior to race.

Basically what was challenged was a 13-14 swimmer was moved one step up to the 15-19 team, and a 11-12 swimmer was moved one step up to the 13-14 team (filling the hole made by the first move); rather than moving the 11-12 swimmer up two steps to the 15-19 team. You be the judge; which is better: to move two swimmers up one step, or one much younger swimmer up two steps? To me it is clear; it depends on the individual children. The coaches should be able to do it either way, based on the swimmer’s maturity, ability, personality, etc.

My opinion is that the CSA board should not have overruled the original decision. The original ruling was not biased for or against any team. The ruling would not give one team an unfair advantage or disadvantage another team. What they did was not correct an error, but was more like changing the rules during the game. Instead the Board should have supported the decision. They would still have the option to clarify the rules for next year.

Even though I don't agree with the CSA Board's decision, it needs to stand.