Area swimmers suit up for SCSA meet

On Saturday, nearly 500 of the best young swimmers in the Tri-parish area will compete in the South Central Swim Association (SCSA) summer league championship meet.

The meet begins at 8:15 a.m. at the Larose Civic Center Pool, 307 E. Fifth St.

SCSA, created in 1985, is an organization comprised of the area summer swim clubs: Orca, Bayou Black Recreation District, Bayou Sting Rays, Cut Off Youth Center, Larose Regional Park, Lockport, Bayou Country Club and Tri-City.

“The league is excellent for the region,” said Henri Boulet, executive director of the Bayou Civic Club, which governs the Larose Regional Park and Civic Center. “This league does an excellent job of training the youth to be excellent swimmers in an environment like coastal Louisiana.”

Over 1,100 youngsters ages 4 to 18 began team practices in April. This year’s six-week dual meet schedule lasted from May 24 to June 28.

Each swimmer team’s top three swimmers in each event qualify for the championships.

Defending champions, the Larose Lasers, look to repeat after a 6-0 summer season.

“It is going to be up to the swimmers as to who wants it the hardest,” said Larose head coach Jeannette Coffey. “It’s going to be very close between the top three teams, Bayou Black, Orca and us.”

Here is a breakdown of the teams participating:

Larose Lasers

2008 dual meet record: 6-0. Defending SCSA champions.

Coffey, the four-year coach of the Lasers, has never believed in teaching her team how to swim faster.

“I base my practice on technique because if you have good technique, the speed will come naturally,” she said.

That approach has paid off the past two years, but still Coffey was surprised how well the team did in 2008.

“This is what we consider our low year because we have a lot at the bottom of their age group,” she explained.

One of the Lasers’ strengths is that many of the swimmers are part of the Cajun Clippers year-round swim team, so they are used to competition. Sixty-one of the Lasers’ 126 team members will be in the championships.

“All the kids in the association are getting stronger, and the coaches are getting more knowledgeable about swimming,” she said. “That’s why the competition is so tough.”

Bayou Black Tarpons

2008 Dual meet record: 5-1. Finished second last year.

Despite being one of the newest SCSA clubs (it began in 1999 and joined SCSA in 2000), the Tarpons have become the largest team.

“We had 187 swimmers register for the team this year; last year we had 175,” said Amy Williams, who has coached the Tarpons since their inception. “Each year the number has risen from our starting team with 23 swimmers.”

Bayou Black draws kids from central and east Houma, Gibson, Schrievier, and Bourg. That size has been both a strength and a weakness for the Tarpons.

“It is hard to work with swimmers and to help them the way we would like,” Williams said. “On the other hand, we have a lot of depth in each age group. This helps us on relays.”

Sixty-four Tarpons will be in the championships, 10 of whom swim on year-round teams and 14 whom also swim on high school teams.

Orca

2008 Dual meet record: 4-2. Finished third last year.

After winning three straight SCSA titles from 2004-06, 2007 was a tough year for team Orca.

Head coach Mindy Scott stepped down after her first year to help a relative battle cancer. Then the team was orphaned from its home pool at Ellendale Country Club.

This year Scott is back, and Orca has a new home at the James Buquet YMCA on Valhi Boulevard.

Despite losing about 45 swimmers over past three years, Orca has reloaded, developing its younger swimmers.

“Our strengths are our 6-and-under girls, 7-8 boys and girls, 9-10 boys and girls,” Scott said. “We have strong swimmers in each age group, but those groups are large and strong.”

The older swimmers may be fewer in number, but they know about winning. Six of their eight high school age swimmers were on last year’s state champion Vandebilt swim team.

Sixty-one of Orca 120 swimmers are going to the championships.

Bayou Country Club Bandits

2008 Dual meet record: 4-2. Finished fifth last year.

First year head coach Bridgitte Landry has seen the Bandits grow a lot since the days she swam on the team.

“We struggled to get 70 swimmers,” she said. “We have about 140 swimmers on the team this year.”

Landry has seen many improvements this year, especially the newer swimmers finally doing the strokes the correct way and not getting disqualified.

“Our strengths this year are in the free and medley relays and also breaststroke,” she said. I think the team as a whole is improving on its endurance.”

Sixty-seven Bandits will be in the championships.

Cut Off Hurricanes

2008 Dual meet record: 2-4. Finished fourth last year.

The Hurricanes predate the formation of the SCSA. Founded in 1972, the club has the most prestigious history of any SCSA team – 10 SCSA championships (the last in 2001) and 14 dual meet titles (the last in 2003).

First year coach Erin Danos hoped to improve the Hurricanes’ dry spell. She has two of the nation’s best swimmers on her team.

Monique Lefort, competing in her final summer league meet, is a seven-time state champion in the breaststroke and seven-time high school champion (three in breaststroke, four in butterfly). Elie Mcrae has the second best time in the nation in the 11-12 age group in the 100-meter breaststroke and fifth best in the butterfly.

The club has eight year-round swim team members and 11 high school swimmers.

Bayou Sting Rays

2008 Dual meet record: 2-4. Finished sixth last year.

The Sting Rays are the newest team in the SCSA; they began in 2000. While they have not been close to winning a summer league title, they team has grown rapidly and closed the gap between them and other teams.

“We started out with 69 swimmers back then, and we have 139 swimmers this year,” said Bonnie Soulet, who has coached the team since its inception.

With 15 high school swimmers and five year-round, the Sting Rays have plenty of talent.

“Our strength is we’ve been together for a number of years, so our relay teams are becoming very comfortable with each other,” Soulet said. “Their experience and hard work is really becoming evident.”

Sixty-five Sting Rays will be at the championships.

Tri-City Silver Tide

2008 Dual meet record: 1-5. Finished eighth last year.

Tri City represents Morgan City, Berwick and Patterson. Competing its ninth year as a team, the Silver Tide is the smallest club in the SCSA.

“We had 78 swimmers this year,” said B.J. Castaneda, who has coached the team since the beginning. Usually we average 75 to 120 swimmers.”

With no year-round swimmers and a handful of high school swimmers, competing against the other SCSA can be tough. But it should help the team improve over time. “Our strengths are dedicated swimmers [who] work hard,” said Castaneda.