The Cook County Northerns Swim Team rises to the challenge at the Grand Marais swim meet

This young swimmer showed great form in the backstroke event at the swim meet held recently at the Cook County/Grand Marais YMCA. Photo courtesy of Janet Arneson

The Cook County YMCA Northerns Swim Team hosted a swim meet at the Cook County YMCA in Grand Marais on Saturday, December 17th. Twenty participants from the Northerns competed against 28 swimmers from Superior and 38 swimmers from Duluth, and many placed in the top five in their events. In all, the Northern swimmers finished 1st in eight races; 2nd in 10 races; 3rd in eight races; 4th in four races and 5th in five races.

“It was great to see our swimmers competing here at home for the first time this season! Our swimmers are often the visiting team at meets and it was a great experience for Cook County to host this meet here at home and to have so many families and other members of the community volunteer and support the team,” said Karen Runkle, Aquatics Coordinator and Northerns Head Swim Team Coach.

The Y’s core values for swimmers include, among other things, developing healthy living and social responsibility, working towards and achieving personal and group goals while empowering youth to discover who they are and what they can achieve, and that competitive swimming can and should be FUN!

 

“The kids work hard at practice, and their dedication shows at the meets and during their personal events as they continue to decrease their times. It’s great to see their big smiles, their positive energy and their pride,” shared Allison Plummer, Northerns Swim Coach and parent of one of the swimmers.

The Northerns have two more meets before the Sectional Swim meet in early February and they plan to train hard for them by learning and practicing more difficult racing strokes such as the breaststroke and butterfly. “These strokes are more mentally and physically challenging, mainly because there are more potential ways to get stroke infractions and to be disqualified,” said District Vice President and Swim Official Emily Marshall.

Local finishers:

Natalia Smith