Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 31, 2002
BRANDON -- All the long hours of hard work started paying off last weekend for 11-year-old freestyle sprinter Kelly Dickerson in the 2002 Junior Olympic Swimming Championships in Orlando.
She set the pace for her Brandon Swim and Tennis Club Blue Wave teammates by capturing five medals, including three gold, in the long-course (measured in meters) meet featuring the best junior swimmers in Florida. Dickerson won gold in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter freestyle events.
Dickerson displayed her versatility with a silver medal in the individual medley, which includes backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle strokes. She also won a bronze medal in the 50 freestyle.
"This was our last meet of the summer before school starts back in August and I really wanted to do my best," Dickerson said. "This turned out to be my best meet of the season.
"Our next big meet will be the winter (Junior Olympics). We will start training for that meet as soon as school starts. I really love swimming and hope to continue improving."
In her freestyle events, Dickerson recorded times of 1 minute, 8.28 seconds in the 100, 1:27.59 in the 200, 5:04.30 in the 400 and 32.0 in the 50. Her 200 IM time was 2:48.97.
Alyssa Carroll, 14, Brittany Legal, 14, Katie Sienkiewicz, 10, and Brian Woodcock, 10, also scored points in the meet.
Carroll placed seventh in the 400 freestyle, eighth in the 800 free and ninth in the 400 individual medley. Legal finished seventh in the 800 free and eighth in the 400 free. Sienkiewicz captured a bronze in the 400 free and placed fifth in the 200 free. Woodcock placed eighth in the 400 free.
JETSTREAM DIVERS: In competition against recent USA Olympic and many college divers, Chris Colwill qualified for a spot on the 2002 USA Senior National Diving team with a fourth-place finish on the 1-meter springboard. He missed qualifying on the 3-meter board by two points.
More than 300 divers from around the nation competed in the senior championships.
Colwill, a senior at Tampa Prep, is competing in the Speedo Junior National Diving Championships this week at Stanford University. Joining him at the junior meet are Brandon Swim and Tennis Club Jetstream teammates Kaylee Doback, Crystal Rasmussen and Austin Hampton. Approximately 125 of the top juniors are expected to compete in the meet, seeking a spot on the USA juniors team.