THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 16, 1994 TAG: 9410140256
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, BEACON SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Virginia Beach is finally in the swim of things.
It has long been a curiosity that a city surrounded by so much water, that has produced several nationally-ranked young swimmers, has never offered swimming in its high school athletic programs.
That all changes this winter when the Beach District begins a swimming program.
The first year will feature competition in a ``club team'' format, with next winter scheduled as the first varsity season under Virginia High School League guidance.
It is a program swimmers like Darby Chang, Katie Arris, Lisa Dubbe, Sean Stringer and Erin Bissell - a few of the top area swimmers who attended or are attending top colleges - never had.
For years and years, swimmers have had to compete in the Virginia Beach Swim League during the summer and for the area's five club - ODAC, TIDE, TAC, TCAC and CYAT - teams.
In the past, scores for one club meet each season were broken down by high schools, but it wasn't like swimming for your school.
In the first year of the new program, schools will be assigned to a particular Virginia Beach Department of Parks and Recreation rec center.
Bayside, Princess Anne and Green Run will swim under the Bayside Recreation Center banner; First Colonial and Cox will be at Great Neck; Kempsville and Tallwood will be at Kempsville; and Kellam, Ocean Lakes and Salem will be at Princess Anne.
Dual meets will be held on Fridays beginning Dec. 2 and continuing through Jan. 20. There will be no meets Dec. 23 or 30.
The club team championship meet will be held Feb. 3 at Princess Anne.
Swimmers will compete in 11 events ranging from a 50-meter freestyle to a 500-meter free. There will be a 200-meter individual medley and three relays.
A big reason swimming wasn't introduced earlier was because of available facilities - there just weren't enough.
That is no longer the case, since the fifth city recreation center opened last year. The school and recreation sides are working hand-in-hand to make the new program work.
``We've both wanted to do this for years,'' said Teri Dalone, the recreation department's aquatics coordinator. ``But we just couldn't until the fifth facility opened. Then we studied when the best low-use times were and that's in the afternoons.''
Dalone stressed that during practice times, a lane or two of the pools will still be open for public use.
``It's really not going to be much of a strain on the facilities at all,'' she said. ``We're very excited about this.''
The schools will provide coaches, timers and officials, while parks and recreation is merely providing the facilities and expertise.
While there are more than enough swimmers around to make for some quality competition, many of the area's top swimmers might not be available for school teams.
The U.S. Swimming schedule will be at the height of its serious competition about the same time as the high school meets.
Said one private club official: ``I'm not sure if it will be a good idea for the national team-caliber swimmers to compete in both. They'll be getting themselves set for some very big meets at that time.''
Even so, there are hundreds of high school-aged swimmers not at that level who could make up the membership of each team.
Part of the program will include exhibition heats for swimmers who aren't accomplished U.S.S. swimmers.
``We think we've put together a pretty nice program,'' said Mike McGee of the school division's student activities office. ``I think people will be a little surprised at how well this comes off. It's something people have been asking for for quite a long time.'' by CNB