Parked at the pool for big swim meet

SUNNYSIDE -- Her daughter wasn't scheduled to swim until today, but Marilynn Sanchez visited Central Park on Friday afternoon to claim her spot in the shade.

"We're just picking a spot and then I have to get back to work," said the Toppenish resident.

Sanchez, watching her 11-year-old daughter Paytan Smiskin, will be one of nearly 1,000 visitors in Sunnyside's Central Park taking in the Mid Valley Swim League Championship Meet.

The annual competition, which started Friday night and will wrap up Sunday, attracts swimmers and their parents, grandparents and friends from seven different teams -- Naches, Selah, Toppenish, Sunnyside, Grandview, Prosser and Othello -- to one pool for the final hurrah of the two-month season.

The teams rotate the privilege and burden of hosting the event, which is free for spectators. Last year it was Grandview, next year it will be Toppenish.

This year, 440 swimmers have registered for the Sunnyside meet. Individual medley competitions were scheduled for Friday night with event heats today and finals Sunday.

But the activity at Championships -- as most swimmers call it -- goes beyond the eight lanes in the pool.

Teams haul in burgers or potluck food and dine under tents, cordoning off their patches of shade with rope, ribbon or caution tape. Younger brothers and sisters jump in bouncy houses. Meet-goers of all ages don their teams colors and, occasionally, face paint. Some families have even set up movie projectors and white screens.

"Just have a fun time with the grown-ups, kids and everybody just kind of congregating," said Nate Hazzard, who has daughters ages 8, 11 and 12 competing in the meet.

Like nearly a dozen other families, the Hazzards will spend Friday and Saturday night in a motorhome in the park. Saturday night, older swimmers will watch the younger ones while parents walk a few blocks downtown for dinner.

Others camp in tents, giving the park an atmosphere of part medieval fair, part refugee camp.

"This place will be covered with tents," said Rick Perez, the meet director.

Sunnyside police have scheduled reserve officers to maintain constant patrol, said Charlotte Hinderlider, a police spokeswoman.

John Banks, president of the Sunnyside Swim Team, said those outside of swimming circles probably underestimate how many people come to swim meets.

All swim competitions require an army of volunteers. Three timers and one recorder are stationed at the end of every lane, comforted by shade tents and water misters.

Perez, Hazzard and other volunteers spent Friday hanging banners, installing sound systems and setting up staging areas to keep the events rolling. A couple of them took a break with a quick swim themselves.

By mid-afternoon, a dozen or more motorhomes had parked in the north end of the park while families like Sanchez set up their shade tents.

In the eaves of the bath house, Tacoma vendor Scott Jones unpacked boxes of goggles, caps and towels. The owner of Northwest Swim Shop has become a fixture at swim meets the past few years, sharing 10 percent of his proceeds with the host team.

Swim meets make up more than half of his annual sales. This month, he and his wife Liz have set up at six.

Jones said swim meets are known for encouraging even the slower swimmers. He has seen hundreds of spectators cheer wildly when one youngster finally makes it to the end of the pool.

"A lot of times you see a lot of heart," Jones said.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 509-930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.