Neighboring swim teams compete at annual meet
Back
Swimmers take off on the first leg of the 100-meter medley relay during a swim meet between Petersburg Racquet Club and Cambridge-Stevens Point.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
It had all the makings of a first-class tailgate party.
Adults unfolded lawn chairs and enjoyed hamburgers and pizza. Children scurried around frantically like ants on a picnic blanket. Everyone readied to scream as loudly as possible as they cheered on their home teams.
One of the county's biggest rivalries played out Tuesday night, but it didn't involve any high school teams.
"This is the biggest competition we have," said 18-year-old J.R. Barrett. "We want to beat them as much as anybody else all summer."
Barrett, an assistant coach for the Cambridge-Stevens Point Piranhas, was referring to his neighborhood pool's road match against the Petersburg Racquet Club Crocodiles.
Sierra Padgett, 7, a swimmer for Cambridge-Stevens Point, grabs a quick breath as she competes in a swim meet at Petersburg Racquet Club in Evans.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Under the radar
It might seem funny to some that a neighborhood swim meet would be considered an important rivalry.
Consider this: an estimated 300 people showed up for Tuesday's meet between two neighborhoods that are separated by just two miles.
"How many high school games, outside of football, draw this many people?" Barrett asked. "Probably none. This is really big."
Both pools, which have about 100 members each, were 1-1 in Division 1 heading into Week Four of the CSRA Swim League, which pits 21 pools from Aiken, North Augusta, Martinez, Evans and Augusta in a five-week summer league. The league is designed to give many year-round swimmers a chance to relax and have fun and to teach younger swimmers the correct way to swim competitively.
The relaxation wasn't evident Tuesday.
Taylor Van Horn, 5, a swimmer for Cambridge-Stevens Point, is reassured by her mother, Kim Van Horn, before Taylor's competition at a swim meet at Petersburg Racquet Club.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
"When you go up against Cambridge-Stevens Point, you really want to win," said Amanda Rowland, a recent Lakeside graduate and three-year assistant coach of the Crocodiles. "There are bragging rights involved. We take high school meets and year-round meets very seriously. But we also take this seriously. You don't want to lose to a neighboring pool."
The rivalry means even more to some.
Because of the proximity of the neighborhoods, most of the competitors attend the same schools and are on the same school and year-round teams.
Bragging rights
Barrett, Eric Hauff and Austin Banks made up three of the four legs of Lakeside's 200-yard individual medley relay team that finished fifth in the state.
A large crowd attended the swim meet between Petersburg Racquet Club and Cambridge-Stevens Point in Evans. The two teams compete each year for bragging rights.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
But Barrett and Hauff are coaches with the Piranhas, and Banks is a Crocodile. Banks recently joined the Crocodiles after coaching and competing with the Piranhas.
"It definitely makes things interesting," said Barrett, a 12-year member of the Piranhas. "It really is the only chance I get to compete against Austin. The summer league is designed to be fun. But you also want to win, especially against a friend."
Banks downplayed the rivalry.
"This whole thing is about teaching the young kids how to swim, the proper techniques and everything," he said. "We want to make sure they are learning something. But I do want to win, and bragging rights are big."
Because the CSRA Swim League's divisions are arranged by pool size, the Piranhas and Crocodiles haven't always competed against each other. Cambridge started in 1991 and Petersburg has been around since 1985, and both pools moved up methodically from Division 4 to Division 1. Due to age disparity, the Piranhas joined Division 1 later but the two pools' rivalry has been heated ever since.
Swimmers from Petersburg Racquet Club cheer for their teammates during the swim meet.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
"We should always be in the same division," said Barrett. "It makes it special to get an opportunity to swim against them every year."
Going for the win
Ashley Duncan wrote "Eat my bubbles" on the back of 7-year-old Cassidy Campbell prior to the start of the meet.
Most of the younger competitors have writing and messages scrawled across their arms and backs as an adolescent form of intimidation.
"It has been a tradition to do that," said Rowland, a 12-year veteran of the Crocodiles. "I think it gets the kids into it and they really seem to enjoy it."
Rowland, along with the other coaches, take their job seriously. They are like cowboys, rounding up the younger children like cattle to the lanes before races. The coaches are also the team cheerleaders and most of the assistants - who are generally high school students - also swim in the 15-18 year old events.
Ashley Duncan, 12, writes some words of encouragement on the back of Cambridge-Stevens Point swimmer Cassidy Campbell, 7, during the recent swim meet at Petersburg Racquet Club.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
"This means a lot to these kids and these parents," said Gil Eustice, the CSRA Swim League president. "A lot of these kids go from 5-year-old all the way through high school on the same team. There really isn't anything like it. I think the kids that grow up with the team do have pride in their pool. They want to win."
When the scoring updates are announcing intermittently throughout the course of the four-plus hour meet, the team coaches that were ahead would usually glance over at their counterparts and make a face or smile.
"We want to win, but it is still fun," Barrett said halfway through the meet. "The kids have fun just swimming. The coaches have fun swimming against each other and we have fun beating them. We will brag about this for weeks."
Cambridge-Stevens Point edged out Petersburg Racquet Club, 413-392, to move into second place in Division 1 and hold bragging rights for a while.
Mary Lawrence gives some last minute advice to her daughter Sarah, 7, before her swim meet at Petersburg Racquet Club.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
But after the meet most of the competitors can go back to being friends and teammates. At least until one Tuesday next summer when the pools meet again.