WATER WARRIORS; SWIM CHAMPIONSHIP ATTRACTS NEARLY 450 CHILD COMPETITORS.Byline: Stacy Stacy may refer to: Places:
When Olivia Decourson's father woke her up before dawn Saturday, the Valencia girl knew it was for a good reason. ``It was time to swim,'' the 10-year-old said. Olivia joined nearly 450 area youths at the Summit apartment complex swimming pool for the 23rd annual Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. Swim League championship meet. A dancer and soccer player, Olivia said she had to check in at the meet at 6:30 a.m. to prepare for the breaststroke and freestyle The code name for the MCE version of Windows. See Media Center Edition. competition. ``I enjoy the competition of soccer and dancing, but for me swimming is it,'' she said. After six weeks of training, the four teams competing for medals in age groups ranging from 4 to 16 years old arrived at the Rockwell Canyon Homeowners Association property ready to win. ``This has been going on for so long, and the turnout is always big,'' said Susan Edwards, one of the event's organizers. The Olympic-sized pool at the Summit in Valencia can hold more than 500 swimmers and several hundred spectators, which does little to distract the disciplined competitors, Edwards said. ``They practice all season, so everyone is ready,'' said Valencia Hills coach David Plaster Plaster A plastic mixture of solids and water which sets to a hard, coherent solid and which is used to line the interiors of buildings. A similar material of different composition, used to line the exteriors of buildings, is known as stucco. , who competed in the league 18 years ago. ``We have fun, it's all about fun, and the kids will appreciate later in life the importance of sportsmanship,'' Plaster said. Brendan Dean, 11, who is coached by Plaster, said winning is a chief goal. ``I better win. I'm looking to get the highest point total in my age group,'' he said. Teammates are grouped in two-year age brackets brackets: see punctuation. from 4 through 16. Now in her last year of competition in the league and second year as coach of the Old Orchard orchard, generally an area on which fruit or nut trees are planted and cultivated. The words grove and plantation are often used when the fruits are tropical, e.g., a "citrus grove" or a "banana plantation. II team, Melissa Lincoln Lincoln, city and district, England Lincoln, city (1991 pop. 79,980) and district, Lincolnshire, E England, in the Parts of Kesteven, on the Witham River. said her team is excited about winning too. ``This is fun, and we've been training, and all of us are ready to win,'' she said. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos PHOTO (1--Color in SAC Sac: see Sac and Fox. SAC - 1. An early system on the Datatron 200 series. [Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)]. Edition only) Ryan Dean, left, and Scott Miako cheer a teammate on during the competition. (2--Color) (Ran in SAC Edition only) Katie Due competes in the breaststroke during Saturday's championship swim meet in Valencia. (3--Color) (Ran in SAC Edition only) About 450 children from neighborhood leagues participated in the final meet. John Lazar/Special to the Daily News |
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