By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Open water lured 60 swimmers ages seven through 60 plus to an Open Water Swim meet sponsored by the Traverse City Breakers Saturday morning.
The local youth swimming club's first effort was deemed a success by organizers, happy to bring the first USA Swimming (USS) and United States Master Swim accredited meets to the region. The USS organization is for youth swimmers while the USMS is for adults over 19.
Five classes of swimmers started and finished at Bryant Park, completing a course that varied by age: one or two miles for adult swimmers, two miles for ages 15-18, 1.5 miles for ages 13-14, one mile for ages 11-12 and a half mile for swimmers ten and under.
"Open water is just getting a lot bigger so we thought we'd jump on it soon," said Krista Hirr of the Breakers and an organizer for the event. "We wanted to host a USS meet in the summer but we don't have the pool or the facilities for an indoor meet. But we have the beautiful water and the beautiful beaches so we thought we could do this."
Two USS officials from downstate officiated the event while volunteer lifeguards on boats and kayaks watched swimmers closely. The lifeguard also helped swimmers stay on course between buoys.
"I hope to see the Breakers continue this, there's a lot of interest," said Bill Pitylak of Lansing, a USS official. "The water quality out there is fabulous and it's calm — you couldn't ask for anything better."
Although the Breakers conceived of and scheduled the open water event relatively late, they hope that it will draw swimmers from around the state and Midwest in future years. If they can make it a USS zone event — a competitive level above states — that will let youth swimmers qualify for zone championships.
"Now the only way to qualify for a zone meet is to swim a mile in the pool," noted Hirr of local swimmers.
Some of the swimmers were novices to open water racing, such as Elyse Schultz, 16, who will be a junior next year at Traverse City West High School. Swimming with the Breakers since she was six and a member of the high school swim team, Schultz adapted her racing technique and cues Saturday.
"It was a different kind of swimming, you kind of had to forget about technique because you had to lift your head to see where you are," she said. "Sometimes I didn't even know where I was, I just followed the person in front of me."
Coping with no lane markers and changing strokes a few times to help with navigation, Schultz noted that open water swimming is even more of a mental challenge than in-pool racing. Although it helped that Saturday morning's calm, sunny weather did not kick up waves or chill swimmers.
"You have to keep your own focus, especially for people not used to thinking about that distance," she said.
Tyler Sylvester, 15, took first place in his class of males 15-18 years old. Swimming two miles was a change for the butterfly sprinter, who will compete in swim meets for the Breakers next year. He agreed with Schultz that swimming distances requires mental focus to persevere through the hour-long event.
"I've done triathlons before and you've got to sing songs in your head, do something to keep busy," said Sylvester, who has been swimming competitively since he was 10.
Veteran open water swimmer Marilyn Early of Harbor Springs took first place in the women's masters division with her two-mile effort.
"[Open water swimming] has always been around, just not here," she said, noting that Harbor Spring's Hammerhead Swim Club will host its 13th annual open water swim in August.