The experience of an alternate is all or nothing, and usually the latter. Most alternates suit up and wait in the clerk of course just to pull off their cap and goggles and return to their team area dry.
But not always.
Highlands mixed age boys’ relay received the unlikely nod moments before the start of the second heat of the 200-meter freestyle event at Wednesday’s NVSL All-Star Relay Carnival. The Highland Park leadoff leg false started (or more accurately, he fell as crowd noise extended past the whistle and decorum) and the team was pulled from the event amid groans from the coaches’ section.
[Six league records tumble at NVSL All-Star Relays; Overlee repeats as team champions]
The Whomping Turtles had about 30 seconds to get ready for one of their biggest races of the summer.
“Confusion is the best way to describe how we felt right before we swam,” 15-18 Scott Callander said. “But when the referee blew the whistle, we just got in the zone.”
A swimmer’s pre-race routine can’t be done in that short amount of time. There’s no time to stretch, no time to visualize the race, no time to prepare. As an instinct from years of experience in competition, the adrenaline kicked in just in time.
[A way too big photo gallery from the 2015 NVSL All-Star Relay Carnival]
Callander, along with 11-year-old, Tanner Moore, 10-year-old Jackson Wright and 14-year-old Diego Cruzado took full advantage of their opportunity, finishing 11th overall with a time of 1 minute 58.06 seconds. The Whomping Turtles cut nearly two seconds off their best time this season and moved up from the ill-fated 19th position.
“As an alternate you know the chances are slim that you’ll get in,” Callander said. “When we were called to swim and had to get ready, it was 50 percent sudden nerves and 50 percent adrenaline.”