Unlike athletes in other sports, local swimmers are often forced to search for outlets other than their high school teams to gain notoriety for college. And while the latest swimming move by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association might not guarantee lots of future college swimming scholarships, it certainly can?t hurt.
Starting this season, swimming will be a state-sponsored sport. A regional meet was held in February, but this winter will showcase the first state meet.
“Now, we?re going to have regional championships and go beyond that to a state championship,” MPSSAA Executive Director Ned Sparks said.
The 2007 state meet -? split into two classifications ? is scheduled for Feb. 24 at the University of Maryland.
“When we meet up with other schools our size, we really get to see the fruits of our labor,” said Havre de Grace coach Aaron Thompson, whose 1A team competes in a strong Harford County schedule.
There are still some wrinkles to iron out, and it may take some time before there is full participation at the state level.
“That?s probably going to be a while just because of the availability of pools,” said Harford Tech coach Jason Mills, the District 7 swimming committee representative. “And swimming is a very expensive sport to start up.”
After finding an available pool, many programs around the state are forced to load swimmers on buses to travel for regular daily practices.
“You?ve got a lot of kids that want to be involved,” Sparks said. “You?ve got the demand for it, but many schools do not have pools at the school.”
Sharing a pool with a community makes finding practice and competition time very difficult. In addition, there is already an established meet, called Metros, for Maryland counties near D.C. that are held the same weekend as the new state meet. Montgomery County teams, which are some of the best in Maryland, have chosen Metros over the state meet for the time being.
“I think this is just a part of the growingprocess,” Sparks said.
Frederick and Harford County teams are strong, and Anne Arundel County is starting up this season.
As the state meet grows, the hope is that programs in Montgomery and other counties will participate. Supporters of the state meet are hoping the draw of a state title and the possible presence of college scouts legitimize the new event.
“They?re going to have kids, for sure, that are faster than our state champions,” Mills said of Montgomery County.
MAKING WAVES
» The state swim meet will be made up of a 1A-2A-3A meet and a 3A-4A meet, with the larger of the 3A schools joining the 4A and the smaller competing within the 1A-2A meet.
» Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Harford, Kent, Prince George?s, Queen Anne?s, St. Mary?s and Talbot counties will compete at the state meet.
» Baltimore, Carroll and Howard counties are among those that do not offer swimming as a county-wide varsity sport.
