Euclid hosts Suburban Swim League Championships
Euclid played host to the Suburban Swim League (SSL) Championships, Aug. 8, as 995 swimmers and their families took over Memorial Pool and the surrounding park for the annual event. The culmination of a summer of swimming for 10 local city teams with swimmers competing in events up to age 15, the SSL Championships was a two day event split between two local community pools. The event started Saturday in Willoughby and continued Sunday at Memorial Pool. Euclid last hosted the event in 2006 as part of its rotation within the league.
With a total crowd estimated at 2,700 by Euclid officials, the event was a massive undertaking for the Euclid Panthers summer swim team, an organization run by volunteers with support from the city. Planning for the event began almost a year ago as the Euclid Panthers swim team board began outlining what they needed to accomplish to make sure the event was a success.
“We viewed this as a great opportunity to showcase our city, our pool and let people see what Euclid has to offer,” said Pat Essel, co-president of the volunteer board of the Panther swim team. “We got a lot of volunteers, help from the city and support from many local businesses to make it a success.”
Meet Director Matt D’Arcy, who coordinated the event with Karyn Ross, agreed: “We’re in a league with communities all over the east side and sometimes we hear negative comments about Euclid. Some people just don’t have a good image of our city. This represented a great opportunity – not just for our summer swim team, but for the entire city of Euclid to showcase how great of a community we have. We’ve been hearing and overhearing how well received everything has been from people visiting from other cities.”
In the days leading up to the event, city workers could be found throughout Memorial Park cleaning, painting or repairing where needed. City leaders made sure the event was fully supported.
“Swim championships is a rite of summer. We knew people would be coming from other areas, so just like at your home, you spruce up before getting visitors before the holidays,” said Annemarie Finch, aquatics director for Euclid. Finch, recreation director Kathy Will and other staff members worked extensively with the swim team volunteers to make sure that things went smoothly in the weeks leading up to the Sunday event.
“The city worked really well with us and everyone pulled together to make this a very successful event,” said Ross.
“The best thing is how all the parents stepped up to help wherever it was needed,” added D’Arcy.
Anyone walking through Memorial Park would have seen a park filled with over 100 colorful tents, a large concession area being manned by 10 to 15 parent volunteers throughout the day, headed by coordinators, Sean and Kristi Ward and an impressive Chinese Auction spearheaded by Barb Diturno. Spectators watched the races in bleachers just outside the pool area while the C.E. Orr ice arena was filled with hundreds of waiting swimmers, organized by Clerk of Course head Marty Sudar.
In addition to the positive feedback from the other cities’ teams, the Panther swim team was able to raise money to support the self-funding organization. Any profit from hosting championships is put back into the program in the form of swimmer support including keeping fees low, helping to buy new equipment or covering other necessary expenses.
While the event itself was a success, the Euclid swim team had some ups and downs in terms of their performance. Entering the meet, the team was 5-1 in dual meet competition, with the team’s only loss coming at the hands of SSL powerhouse Highland Heights. By Sunday night of championships, Euclid had accumulated enough points to finish in fourth place, just two points behind the Willowick squad. The Highland Heights team dominated the meet with Mentor easily capturing second place. Euclid’s top-four finish ensures they will continue to swim in the more competitive division for dual meets next season.
The Euclid team pulled off some impressive accomplishments throughout the two-day meet. One of the highlights of the weekend involved the 200-meter four-man medley relay in the 13-15 age group. The Euclid squad broke a 27-year league record in the 200-meter race, with a time of 1:59.07. That team included local swimming star Derek Hren, who was scheduled to swim at the Junior Nationals later in the week, Jack Joyce, Michael Wenrich and Marcus Brochetti.
Hren, who begins his sophomore year at Ignatius in the fall, swam in his final race for the Euclid team at the pool where he has spent much of his youth perfecting his stroke. Hren holds numerous records at Memorial Pool. “I liked all the teamwork and having fun as a team,” said Hren. “It doesn’t matter what any one individual person does; it’s the team that matters. What we did today was pretty amazing. It ended on a good note.” Over the course of the weekend, Hren added to his collection of records, setting individual, league, team and pool records in the 100-meter backstroke, the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter individual medley.
Other records the Euclid squad broke during the weekend were:
- Girls’ 8 & Under team members Sophia Holzheimer, Grace Delaney, Alexa Moe and Faith Gron set a new team record for the 100-meter medley relay.
- Girls 11-12 team members Maggie Jones, Jordi Hughes, Lorelei Brochetti and Jane D’Arcy set a new team record in the 200-meter medley relay.
- Andrea Bartel set a team and pool record in the 100-meter breaststroke at Willoughby Pool. Bartel also set a pool and team record in the 200-meter individual medley.