It's been a while since our last post...but what better way to update everyone with an account of the La Jolla swim from First-year Ian Mariani. Enjoy!
Taylor Pool felt like a bathtub today compared to the 61 degree water of La Jolla, where 5 studly Tigers took on what seemed like the entire swimming population of Southern California (and even some from Arizona) at the La Jolla Rough Water Swim. In the early hours of our much-cherished Sunday morning, 17 swimmers boarded two Oxy vans bound south for La Jolla. On arrival it was instantly clear that the water temperature was not the only worry for the 5 swimmers, as the fog lay thick over the entire stretch of the beach. Needless to say the 80 degree heat of Oxy was sorely missed.
Claire Coddington was the first to compete, swimming hard through the colder patches of the water and countless other swimmers, finishing strongly in the first big section of swimmers. Later on in the day, Miner Ross and Riley Kimball swam together in the Men’s Masters Division, both finishing very strongly around the 25 minute mark. Miner’s success is partly due to the courageous efforts of Claire and Juliet Seuss, who literally flung a replacement pair of goggles to Miner when his broke minutes before the starting whistle. Rounding out the day at 1:30, freshmen Jack Butcher and Tim Healy competed in the 17-18 division, both of them overcoming the harsh competition to finish strongly, an optimistic indicator for the two distance swimmers for this coming year.
Just as commendable were the 12 swimmers that came along to cheer on their fellow Tigers, as well as all taking a dip themselves in the chilly water before the buses packed up and headed for home, stopping only once for a team lunch at In-n-Out. Season kicks off next week with an intrasquad meet and then the first Saturday practice of the year, at which point the Tigers will again road trip to the beach, hopefully with warmer water.
