Members of the Chief Sealth/West Seattle High School swim team may have had their last official swim meet for the season, but there was one more on the books for Tuesday, Feb. 15 at the Southwest Community Center Pool across from Chief Sealth.

“Meet the Swim Team Swim Meet” was the name of the event and the goal was to encourage new swimmers, both 8th graders about to make the often-dreaded transition to high school and high school students looking for a new activity, to come swim with the team and hopefully sign on for the next season starting in October.

The meet was sophomore swim team member Kelsey Hastings’ idea.

“I missed a meet and I really wanted to make varsity so I came up with the idea,” she said.

Seven new prospective team members showed up for the meet.

“I was surprised,” Hastings said. “I thought there were only going to be like one or two people.”

First year coach Maari Olsen ran the meet, getting new faces and old hands involved in light-hearted races such as a flipper relay (where kids had to put flippers on before swimming) and a floaty belt relay (where kids had to wear a flotation belt that threw off their balance).

First place was the last thing on anyone’s mind in a jubilant atmosphere intended to welcome newcomers and let off steam at the end of a season.

Coach Maari, as the kids call her, recently moved to Seattle from the east coast and looks back on her first year fondly. Her coaching philosophy is as follows:

“I didn’t care how good you were, I cared about how hard you were working in the pool and how you were contributing to the team,” she said. “It’s not about being the best, it’s about being the best person.”

And Coach Maari knows a thing or two about hard work, having won a Master’s bracket national championship in the mile swim in 2005 in Savannah, GA.

West Seattle High School freshman Ivan Picinic just finished his first year on the team with a great measure of success.

“Ivan came and he just blew us away,” Coach Maari said. “He qualified for metros his first year, he was team captain for West Seattle as a freshman, which is unheard of, and he just brought it to the pool every day.”

Picinic, originally from Croatia, said his dad used to swim every day and he took a few lessons in fourth grade, then decided to join the high school swim team after a hiatus from the sport.

“I just worked hard and practiced,” he said of his successful year. He plans to continue swimming on the team throughout high school.

His best experience of the year was the day he qualified for metros.

“When I first qualified (his time was good enough to get into metros), I was just coming back to the wall here in lane two and then once I touched the wall Coach Maari came running and said, ‘You qualified for metros!’ Then after that I went to my Dad and he said, ‘Why did you get close to last place?’ and I said, ‘At least I qualified for metros.’ It was an exciting moment, a great moment.”

“We met lots of great kids who seemed to have fun and were interested in connecting with Chief Sealth/West Seattle swim teams next fall … and it is the beginner swimmers that drive my enthusiasm for the sport,” Coach Maari said. “Today wasn’t any different, I had a few swimmers who had trouble making it one length of the pool but at the end of the meet they were totally fired up to get involved.”

“Such a great feeling when today’s sports seem to be all about winning and being the best,” she added. “I am so glad that Chief Sealth and West Seattle swim teams are competitive but continue to offer a place for every level of athlete.”

To read more on the combined swim team, check out the Herald article, Combined Chief Sealth, West Seattle swim teams believe “WE ARE FAMILY” by Kurt Howard.

Fore more information on becoming part of the Chief Sealth/West Seattle swim team, email Coach Maari at maaribeth@gmail.com.