Dive, Youth and Masters Swim Spring Success

This Spring, YMCA member-athletes competed at the three National YMCA meets.  22 divers traveled to Fort Lauderdale’s International Swimming Hall of Fame pools, 31 boys and girls traveled to the Greensboro Aquatic Center and 44 adults raced at the Fort Lauderdale complex as well.

There is a serious competitive piece to these youth programs but our coaches keep foremost that these are some of the YMCA’s best programs to develop strong character skills in youth and set them up for success in college and for life.  For our adults, the mental and physical health benefits of swimming are enormous as well as fostering the deep relationships that the program enables.

For 20 years, Todd Hill, Schroeder’s long time dive coach, has administered the dive contest where 110 youth gathered this year to compete in 1 Meter & 3 M springboard and platform contests.  YMCA competitive diving and its YMCA National Diving Championships were on the ropes until Gary Cox revived the meet in 2009 and led the administration of the competition until he passed the torch to Todd in 2019.   Gary was awarded the YMCA’s highest honor in competitive aquatics for this achievement - the Joseph G Rogers award.

Rite Hite / Schroeder’s divers accumulated enough points to win the Girls Team Contest and were second in the combined team contest. 

Schroeder’s youth swimmers enjoyed one of their best competitive results in the program’s 45 year history finishing second in combined team scoring to defending champion Greater Somerset County YMCA from New Jersey.  The girls were second overall and the boys were 3rd.  Schroeder had 3 national champion relays and set a new national record in the 4 x 50 Medley Relay and also had a national champion in the boys 1000 and 1650 yard freestyle events.  

Both events were part of Centennial celebrations of YMCA Competitive swimming and diving.  The first national championship was in 1923 in Brooklyn, NY.  There was considerable recognition and hoopla around the marking of the Centennial before and during the meet.  View the 1 minute video

Schroeder’s Second Place Combined Team, Greensboro, NC

Last, adult members who rise to train before many in Milwaukee are even awake, competed successfully within their age groups in sunny Fort Lauderdale Rite Hite / Schroeder finished 4th in combined team scoring!  The Hall of Fame pools have been heavily renovated and more than a handful of past Schroeder youth teams enjoyed a memorable experience.  These swimmers had raced successfully at the Hall of Fame pools in their youth back in the 1990s and early 2000s and some have children who are now in Schroeder's swim program.