After a year-long break from swimming competition, Sweet Home’s Chloe Tyler got a chance to get back in the fast lane at the USA Swimming Spring Speedo Sectionals Meet in Phoenix, Ariz., March 19-22.
The meet includes swimmers who have qualified from the Western Half of the United States including many college swimmers and those training for Olympic trials and international swimming leagues.
Tyler qualified for the meet a year ago February, but had not been able to compete due to COVID shutdowns.
The meet had around 900 swimmers spread between three pools for preliminary racing each day, with the top 32 finishers from preliminaries coming to the same pool for finals each night.
Tyler, who will be a junior for Sweet Home High School this year, finaled in both the 100 Backstroke and 200 Backstroke.
Her times for the weekend were: 53.83 in the 100 Freestyle; 57.5 in the 100 Backstroke; 2:06.90 in the 200 Backstroke; and 1:00.31 in the 100 Butterfly.
“The meet provided some good racing, an example being that her finals heat in the 100 Back started out with all eight swimmers within two-tenths of a second in their seed times,” said her mother, Rachel Tyler. “The 50 Free had 162 swimmers, all of which were within less than 2 seconds of each other in entry time. It was, overall, a great experience for Chloe after not racing for almost a year.” Tyler trains 15 hours a week in the pool and spends another eight to 10 hours practicing with the high school volleyball team, as well as lifting multiples times a week.
“It’s nice to see her hard work pay off and she looks forward to her next meet, which will be in Utah in April,” Rachel Tyler said. “She is now less than a second from breaking the Oregon state high school swimming record in the 100 back, so is hoping for a chance to race at high school state this spring which is dependent on what Oregon’s COVID rules and regulations are allowing.”