Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 9, 1990 TAG: 9007090166
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I was hoping to get maybe a fourth," said Wyatt, a 14-year-old from Richmond who was in town for the Virginia CorEast State Games All-Star swim meet Saturday at Fallon Park.
She was talking about a fourth place, in any event. But she won her fourth medal on Saturday and added to the loot Sunday until her stash totaled seven medals - four golds, two silvers and a bronze.
Wyatt, though, hadn't been invited to the meet until shortly before the State Games began. Swimming coordinator Sandy Brinser said the top swimmers in the state - determined by times set during the winter, short-course season - were invited to Roanoke. Wyatt's winter times weren't good enough to qualify.
Then, the 10th and last person on one of Brinser's zoned lists had to go on a family vacation and miss the State Games. Wyatt, from Richmond, was next on the list. Wyatt, who said she had heard about the State Games but was ready to attend a meet in Greensboro, N.C., instead, got the word from her teasing father.
"One day my dad called me at school," Wyatt said, "and he goes, `Conner, I have some bad news to tell you.'
`What?'
`You can't go to Greensboro.'
`What? Why not, Dad? This is my last meet [before the State Junior Olympics meet].'
"He said, `Well, let me finish, let me tell you why. You're going to Roanoke.'
`Roanoke?'
`The State Games.'
"I was, like, `Ahh!' "
Then she was, like, awesome. Wyatt won medals in seven of the 12 individual events in her age group, finishing first in the 200-meter butterfly, 200 freestyle, 400 individual medley and 400 freestyle; she was second in the 200 backstroke and the 200 individual medley; and she was third in the 800 freestyle.
"She's a good little swimmer, but I didn't expect her to dominate her age group like she has," Brinser said. "She had a good winter, but she's having a great summer."
The rest of the All-Star swim meet didn't hold too many surprises. Ryan Bradley, a 16-year-old from Richmond, won three gold medals: 200 butterfly, 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke. Tom Dolan of Arlington won six gold medals in the 13-14 age group: 100 breast stroke, 200 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 400 individual medley, 200 breast stroke and 400 freestyle. Kim Boren, from Newport News, won three golds and a silver in the girls' 13-14 age group.
Wyatt attributes her buoyant summer to the fact that she moved into the senior division with the Poseidon Swim Club about 3 1/2 months ago. The move involved a heavier training schedule that Wyatt said has helped build her stamina.
"It's giving me the training I need because I'm a distance swimmer," she said. "My coach says I have a lot of endurance and can keep going. So when other people get tired, I keep going."
Wyatt said she pared several seconds off her best times in a few of her events, and Brinser said Wyatt was just one example of a meet-wide trend.
"It's a very fast meet," Brinser said. "I attribute it to [the swimmers] being a part of the State Games. That was a psych factor."
In one respect, Brinser wasn't sure what to expect from the meet. The senior and junior national meets, she said, begin July 29 and Aug. 6, respectively. Two swim teams in Northern Virginia, Brinser said, didn't compete in Roanoke because their coaches didn't see the point in a meet just before the nationals, when many swimmers are scaling back their training.
But, apparently, the fact that the All-Star swimmers were invited to participate helped overcome some of the problems with the meet's timing.
Wyatt certainly didn't flinch when she got the call. She won her first gold medal on Friday, her 14th birthday and the first day of swimming competition. Her parents hadn't arrived yet, so she called them with the news. But she missed the chance to get back at her dad by pulling his leg about her performance.
"I forgot," she said, laughing.
by CNB