Summer swim season looking less likely as big meets canceled
UPDATE: On Friday, June 5, Contra Costa County allowed public swimming pools to reopen. There is a limit of 12 swimmers in the pool at a time.
The area’s two largest swim meets have been canceled, which does not bode well for over 1000 local girls and boys on recreation and year-round swim teams who would now be in the early stages of their summer meet schedules.
Terrapins Swim Team announced the cancellation of July’s Long Course Far Western Age Group Swimming Championships it was hosting. The Concord-based USA Swimming competitive program promised the Far Westerns will be back in Concord in July 2021.
The summer recreation season culminates annually in Lafayette with the Contra Costa County Swimming Championships. This was to be the 60th year of the meet.
Tournament official Jeff Miller told The Pioneer, “Although we are hopeful youth swimmers in the area will be able to get some swimming activities in this summer, we don’t think it is realistic to have thousands of swimmers/spectators on a pool deck in the near future.”
The city of Concord is in a similar situation with its Olympic-style Concord Community Pool where the 54th annual Concord Swimming Championships are slated July 24-26. Director of Parks and Recreation Steve Voorhies explains, “Unfortunately, no updates to the current health orders allow for the opening of public pools. Swim meets generally involve gathering of large groups which still seems highly unlikely this year.
“That said, we are hopeful that when and if health orders are relaxed, Concord will be in a position to appropriately reopen the community pool for certain types of programs identified as lower risk. For example, we would love to be able to provide learn to swim opportunities this summer.”
Dana Hills Swim Team of Clayton canceled the 26th Devil Mountain Pentathlon June 27-28 and the Otters team has yet to get going while its pool is one of many in the area closed during the pandemic. DHST has won 27 of the past 28 Concord City Meets.
Long-time Forest Park Swim Team and Northgate High coach Jeff Mellinger acknowledges there will be “no true summer season at this point. No big meets at all. If dual meets happen, they wouldn’t happen until August.”
He explains that FPST is “going forward assuming swim team will not happen as usual. We are holding swim camps in line with the orders set out by the County. They will run for four weeks and then we will see if there are any changes to the county’s orders.”