Back to Archive List Note: Thom Calandra, a Tiburon writer and speaker, this week is subbing for our technically superb Doug Grant. Please forgive his poetry.

SLEEPY HOLLOW -- We begin where all Marin Swin League meets begin this early June Saturday: a scramble for lawn seats, warm-ups, 14-year-old Riley Sikes of our Strawberry Seals stretching like a leopard as Dad yawns into his Rolling Stone. "It's all good, man," Riley says.

And with that, No. 5 Meet of 2009 is here.

The Star-Spangled Banner, complete with electric piano reverb from Sea Lions 7th-grader Taylor Walton, brings us to attention. Mixed relays are under way before you even slosh that Peet's into the carburetor: our Kimi Wu on the backstroke, Hannah Rose Grant flying, Luke Kopfler so free, and then, the 9-10'ers: Trinity on the fly, Curtis Kopfler like his brother, free-styling.

"They say it's all good," Bob sings, tongue-in-cheek, in his latest Dylan disc. There is nothing cheeky about the Sea Lions. The San Anselmo team has been feeder stock for the county's leading swim programs for more than two decades.

"I come here, and I so know, well, it ... is ... a ... tough meet," Seal Annie Whalen tells us like it is. Sister Maggie adds, "It's -- come on, a miracle if we do 'em, right?" (Well, yes. Still, we ask: Is it not a miracle that Maggie Whalen and Michaela Firmage and Caitlin Firmage and Sheridan Miller ... and Seals Moms & Dads galore [Whalen, Miller, Firmage, Joliffe, Allen] a mere 18 hours later ran the 99th Dipsea across our magic Marin mountain?)

So what, we ask our swimmers and their parents, makes a Sleepy Hollow meet "all good?"

"My coaches (Anna Tarka, Steven Marais, Marta Sato & Nick Wooters), they push me. If we come in last," says Annie Whalen, "I can still get a best time." (OK, we cut to the chase and suspend the suspense: Seals lose to Sea Lions; Seals get 174 Best Times!)
"My cousins and friends cheering me on," 10-year-old Sabrina Haechler tells us. Brother Sean: "And we have, you know, lotta lotta family." (Bonus points for these Haechlers: Mom Kelly screams like a banshee, hear her? "GO BRINI!!*!&.")
"When the competition is like this," Kendra Carr says, pointing at Sea Lions to the left of us/Sea Lions to the right of us, "you just get faster off the blocks." (Mom Joanne, almost hysterical: "She took 5 seconds off her backstroke; 5 seconds!" (Editor: Actually, 5.4 seconds, Ms. Carr. Plus: three best times.)

We could, you know, describe these rousing relays, these tales of personal triumph, the Phelpsian stretch at the close to touch out our pursuers. Or we could relay the condolences that touch our Seal hearts: Christine Watridge who broke her thumb and is out likely until Champs as Sister Shannon barks like a pup ... our Armani Roots, on her last day in the 11-12 group, nailing a BT in Freestyle and, oh it is so true, just getting snookered at pool's edge.

"Man," Coach Stephen tells us, "that was close, freaking best time and she finishes second!" Raging waters indeed.

So yes, we could sit here in the relative calm of laptop land and tick off the 11 Seals who three-timed their BTs, each of them gaining entry, as did 11-12'er Monika Knox, into his and her own Fort of gold: Look at this.

Or we might proclaim again to the county those 174 Best Times in all, a notable achievement for Meet No. 5 of the Season.

Yet just as importantly, as summer laps its way into Mill Valley, Tiburon, and yeah sure, even Sleepy Perfect Hollow, we look to close this report with two tributes: one to our Sea Lion competitors, which we save for last, and one to our elders.

Jim Asiano, a new Seals Dad thanks to 9-10'er Maia, brought his Dad, 80-year-old Leonard Asiano, to our June hollow in San Anselmo. "Fortissimo, we say in Italian. They're strong and that's good for us," Leonardo Asiano tells us about all these pups. "I was a starter for Scott Valley in 1975 and we had 34 kids the year we started. Look at all this now, would you?"

Yes, look at all this, would you please? Alison Miller, Arista Andrews, Bridget Lowry, Dakota Juarez, Ethan Zener, Hannah Berg, Julia Forshan, Kendra Carr, Monika (Fort-issima) Knox, Sophie Ellison and Zack Glenn - our three-timing BTs. Look at this.

We end with the promise of youth and the pursuit of excellence. In this instance, it is 8-year-old Sea Lion Stefan Venne, he of formidable breast stroke that took him to a 19.54, a mere 60 ticks from the Sea Lions pool record for this event. Stefan, you see, was to run that Dipsea in less than a day. He and 12-year-old brother Riley were exchanging their veteran (yes, veteran!) secrets on the USA's second-oldest footrace after the Boston Marathon.

Stefan, extending a continuum that appears to know few bounds (watch those school books, Stefan!), routinely tallied zee points for his Sea Lions in those raging waters, and then, 18 hours beyond on zee dirt, crossed Stinson Beach's finish line in 61st place - one of a Dipsea field of 1,500. (We thought Stefan would finish 65th or so in this handicapped and joint-aching trail run of 7.5 miles.) Riley, given his fewer head-start minutes in the wacky wonderful race, finished an equally impressive 219.

All we can say, in closing, is what we must say to each and every Strawberry Seal and Sleepy Hollow Sea Lion on this June 13, 2009, day in near-west Marin: "What a player, ladies and gentlemen. What a player."

Yo! You Sea Lions, we are so waiting for you in our Strawberry Fields.

- Thom Calandra | June 13 &14, 2009