Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 29, 1990 TAG: 9007290153
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When it comes to Duane Whitenack Memorial City/County swim meets, all Hidden Valley has to survive is the suspense. There was plenty of that this weekend.
A record 1,300 or so participants and an army of patient fans All in the family. D1 had to agonize through an extended computerized points tabulation before it was official Saturday at the LancerLot.
Hidden Valley had won for the seventh straight time in this mammoth event, edging Roanoke Country Club.
"The meet is so long and then having to wait down to the wire ..." said Hidden Valley coach Keller Hodges, rolling her eyes. "It's crazy."
"You just have to hope for the best," said Hidden Valley swimmer Donald Thomas, who appeared as if the news came none too soon for him, either.
Hidden Valley scored 4,501 points to Roanoke Country Club's 4,438 1/2, which is about the distance represented by a pair of goggles and a bathing cap. Elks Club, with 3,201 1/2, was the only one of the 20-team field within splashing distance of those two.
Roanoke, which has swept its Roanoke Valley Aquatic Association events during the summer regular season, including an opening-day victory over Hidden Valley, led by 56 points going into the freestyle races.
Then, relying on the efforts of its veteran swimmers, Hidden Valley pulled it out.
Hidden Valley didn't roll up big points with its younger swimmers as did Roanoke, which got a huge chunk from one family, the Logans. But Hidden Valley got the job done with its veterans and by placing a lot of swimmers.
Emily Rappold, for example, who swam in the second-level Silver Division for Hidden Valley, collected four firsts. A first in Silver is worth 20 points compared with 30 for one in the top-level Gold Division.
Hidden Valley got its share of Gold points. Billy Young, who was competing in the 19-24 age bracket for Hidden Valley, won five Gold events.
"All our kids did really well," said Hodges, who won two events in the 19-24 bracket herself. "But then, so did Roanoke's."
They had to, Roanoke coach Kenneth Clarkson said.
"I thought the pressure was on us," he said.
Coming through magnificently in the clutch for Roanoke were two brothers and a sister of the Logan family. Fielding, the oldest brother and swimming in the 17-18 age bracket, won all five races in which he participated. John, 14, won three events, setting a meet record in one and missing another by nine one-hundredths of a second. Mary, 10, set records in the 50-yard freestyle (29.81 seconds), 50 butterfly (33.19), 100 individual medley (1:14.71) and the 50 backstroke (34.7).
Her formula for success?
"I tried to think positively," she said.
Both her brothers are only summertime swimmers. Fielding goes to Episcopal High in Northern Virginia, which has no team. John goes to North Cross, which also lacks a team.
"I'm fast, but I don't have a lot of endurance," Fielding said. "The 50-yard sprints are OK, but if I get into anything longer than that, I'm in trouble."
Hidden Valley was cruising in safe waters as long as it had swimmers such as the 16-year-old Thomas on its side. Thomas won the 100 freestyle, and collected a fourth and two thirds.
"We knew that after Roanoke beat us earlier this year, we really had to come back hard here," he said.
\ NOTES: Not only was there a record field for this event, but plenty of other records proved to be in jeopardy. Twenty-four were broken. Mary Logan broke four, James Impara, competing in the 45-and-older category, did the same. . . . The Duane Whitenack Award, given annually by the RVAA to those who have contributed most to promote swimming in the Roanoke Valley, went to Kent Smith and Les Airy, both of Castle Rock. Whitenack helped establish the RVAA and died in the late 1970s.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on July 30, 1990\ Correction
Because of a copy editor's error, Les Eary's name was misspelled in a swimming story in Sunday's sports section. Eary and Kent Smith, both of Castle Rock, received the Duane Whitenack Award, given annually by the Roanoke Valley Aquatic Association to those who have contributed most to promote swimming in the Roanoke Valley.
\
Memo: correction