Whitman County swim teams begin 2023 summer season

COLFAX — With summer officially underway, many local towns in Whitman County have begun their summer swim season.

Areas like Colfax, Palouse, Oakesdale, St. John-Endicott, and Pullman all have swim teams for the summer.

One swim team this year is GPOP. This is a combined team, with athletes competing from Garfield, Palouse, Oakesdale and Plummer.

There is also a SELW team, which consists of athletes from St. John, Endicott, LaCrosse, and Washtucna.

For Colfax, their swim team began June 5, as they had their first official parents meeting and registration. They had 48 kids register for the team this season, with many returning swimmers to accompany the new faces joining the program.

Dry land practices for the Colfax swim team began a week later, on June 12. Dry land practices consisted of stretching, running on a track, calisthenics, breathing practices, as well as gaining muscle memory for repetition of stroke movements.

Official swim practices in the pool began June 23 when the pool officially opened. The opening was delayed just over two weeks after there was a mechanical issue that forced the pool to remain closed.

Janni Burt is returning as head coach of the team. Dee Bryson, Sarah Mortensen, and Robin Huber will be co-coaches and partners. Darcy Cochran will serve as the manager/treasurer of the team.

This year, the pool will be watched by former and current swimmers who will be serving as lifeguards at the Colfax City Pool.

New lane lines will be arriving shortly at the Colfax pool due to the fundraising efforts from the team from last season.

The first match for Colfax will be July 11 as they will compete against GPOP at the Palouse Pool.

Colfax will host three matches of the six scheduled matches this season, not including the Tri-County Championship in August.

The Palouse swim team will practice from 12-1 p.m. Monday-Friday. They will compete in six swim meets over the summer.

Palouse is part of the GPOP team, who are the host team July 11 against Colfax.

GPOP will have their home pool be the Palouse pool.

There are five pools that the teams can compete in this year. They are: Palouse pool, Pullman pool, Colfax pool, Enidicott pool, and Pomeroy pool.

August 5 is the Tri-County Championship at the Colfax pool, starting at 10 a.m.

All matches will start at 4 p.m. at the designated locations. Warm ups will being at 3 p.m. for each team at each pool location.