Wrangell fields first competitive swimmers in 14 years

Young swimmers traveled to Petersburg over the weekend to compete in Wrangell's first competitive meet in over a decade.

Fourteen members of the Wrangell Swim Club participated, out of 28 total, and joined swimmers from six other communities in the three-day November Rain Swim Meet. Aged 8 to 13, Wrangell's competitors participated in more than 90 individual events, which were organized by stroke, distance, age and gender. For their efforts, the team turned in personal best times in every event swam and returned with 60 ribbons.

In the USA Swimming-sanctioned event, 12 of Wrangell's 14 swimmers qualified in at least one event to compete at the Southeast Champs meet that Juneau will host in early December, and six also qualified for the State Championships in Fairbanks next February. Additionally, four posted times which would qualify them for Anchorage's Junior Olympics in April.

Swim coach Bruce McQueen explained the meet was a "very satisfying waypoint in a four-year journey," which began with school senior MiKayla Stokes' capstone project. The community's previous competitive club had been the Stikine Sea Runners, which last met in 2002.

"At November Rain, Wrangell demonstrated we have some very talented swimmers, even though we were unable to enter medley events because we have not satisfied the requirements to be recognized as a team by USA Swimming," McQueen commented in a statement.

"They were fantastic," remarked Petersburg resident Susan Erickson in a letter to the Sentinel. "Visiting coaches and swimmers from the established swim clubs in Southeast were extremely surprised at their abilities/times. Their swimmers were heat winners and top finishers."

On Tuesday evening, Wrangell's club presented individual awards to its swimmers at the community center. There were plenty of ribbons to hand out – so much so that the audience took to adding an individual clap between each one given.

The Petersburg meet "was a great first step into the world of competitive swimming," McQueen added. "Both the Viking Swim Club and Petersburg in general were very supportive hosts, and there seemed to be no end to the compliments from other coaches and officials."

At the award ceremony, he thanked fellow coach Jamie Roberts and the parents and relatives who had made the club possible by supporting the team. Still relatively new, McQueen noted the club still had logistical challenges to overcome but that it should be able to attend at least a few upcoming meets.

The aforementioned Juneau meet occurs in only three weeks, and after that invitations have been received for the Ketchikan Killer Whales' "Spring Splash" on March 31 and a possible meet with Petersburg in the spring.

"We're going to be aiming for that," he said. The team may also try to send swimmers to meets planned for Craig and Haines, but behind the scenes McQueen and Roberts will try to lay the groundwork for becoming an officially recognized club.