One member of the Chadron Sharks Swim Team’s summer season has concluded with the Wyoming Swimming Summer Championships that were held in Fort Collins, CO July 19-21, 2024. 15-year-old Carter Peters was the only Shark to compete in the summer season, representing the Panhandle as the lone swimmer from Nebraska at nearly all meets he attended.
Peters had a successful winter season, which resulted in State-qualifying times in eight events, and at the Winter Championships om Laramie, WY, he had Top 9 finishes in all events, which included five Top 5 finishes.
At the beginning of the summer season, which runs mid-May through mid-July, Peters “aged up” and has been competing in the men’s 15-16-year old age group with an extremely competitive field of swimmers who participate in year-round swimming programs. In addition to the Summer Championships in Fort Collins, he competed in meets in Sioux Falls, SD; Buffalo, WY; and twice in Gillette, WY.
This summer, Peters succeeded in clinching State-qualifying times in five events: 50, 100, and 200-Meter Freestyle, 100-Meter Breaststroke, and 200-Meter Individual Medley, an event where the swimmer competes in a 50-Meter length in each legal stroke: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Freestyle. At the Summer Championships meet, Peters managed to touch the wall for personal best times in three events. His times from the competition are as follows: 50-Meter Freestyle – 29.91 seconds (PR), 17th place; 100-Meter Freestyle – 1:07.47 (PR), 19th place; 200-Meter Freestyle – 2:38.79 (PR), 16th place; 100-Meter Breaststroke – 1:35.75, 9th place; and 200-Meter Individual Medley – 2:55.67, 12th place.
The summer (aka “Long Course”) season is competed in Olympic-size pools, which are 50-meters long, as opposed to winter (“aka “short course”) season, which is competed in 25-meter, or more commonly, 25-yard pools. For reference, the poo at the Chadron Aquatics Center is a 25-meter pool.
Information about registration for the 2024-25 swim season will be announced after the start of school. Membership is open to the public, and the team has swimmers ages 4-18. Practices run October through February each year.