Weiser Dolphins compete in first meet of season

Splashing and yelling filled the air July 11 at the Weiser City Pool as the Weiser Dolphin Swim Team had their first meet of the summer. Starting at 9 a.m., the meet consisted of 72 events for the 45 Weiser kids to compete in.
 Due to COVID-19, the other teams in the conference, Cascade, Boise, and Mountain Home, did not join the Weiser team for this meet, making it so only the Weiser Dolphins raced against their own teammates.
 The 72 events consisted of the four strokes of freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly, along with some medley relays and freestyle relays. The swimmers, from the age of when they complete the required swim test to 18 years of age, swam in two to four races each. The events were split by ages, swim styles, and gender.
 COVID-19 has also caused some changes in how the swim meet was ran. First, the swimmers had to do flyover starts. This means that the swimmers who just finished a race must remain in their lane in the pool until the next race starts. Second, there was only one entrance and exit to the pool deck for the swimmers, and a separate one for the parents. The parents were only allowed on the pool deck when their kid was racing.
 “It was such a blast to watch the kids finally compete this summer,” Abbey Shirts, manager of the pool and swim team coach, said.
 The meet that was supposed to be Saturday, July 18 hosted in Cascade had been cancelled due to COVID-19 threats. The only other team the Weiser Dolphins will hopefully compete against this summer will be Mountain Home. The other two teams will not participate due to the virus.
 Also, any future meets this summer will be hosted at the Weiser City Pool, as no other team in the conference including Mountain Home can host.
 The team hopes to host a meet against Mountain Home on Saturday, July 25 if all goes well before then.
 If this meet does in fact happen, Mountain Home will bring about 30 swimmers to compete against the Weiser Dolphins, giving them more competition to race against than just their own team.
 With COVID-19 still a big issue, the swim team will take the summer and future plans day by day, making sure everyone’s safety comes first. Despite this, this first meet of the summer was a success and a great time for both the swimmers, coaches, and volunteers.