The Swimming Scene: The independent plight

Marie Lucas was literally second away from states in 2008.

The then-seventh grader placed sixth in the 500-yard freestyle (5:15.50) and 200 freestyle (2:04.31) in the Nassau girls swimming championships as an independent swimmer.

Though she missed the state cut times in Nassau by a matter of seconds, the future looked bright. Then, in the spring of 2010, Section 8 passed a ruling no longer allowing independent athletes to compete with established high school teams. That means no county records, no state records. Not even the chance to compete for them.

Now a freshman at Baldwin high school, Lucas swims for the Long Island Aquatic Club, an independent team. Last year she posted times in the 500 free (5:11.65) and 200 free (1:58.61) that would have qualified her for the state tournament.

“I think it’s kind of sad, because I picked swimming and I don’t get to pursue it at my high school athletic-wise,” Lucas said. “People don’t even believe me that I swim sometimes. It’s sad to see all my friends in swimming on TV and in the paper. They get to participate in homecoming and I’m just there to watch.”

This is not to stress Lucas’ case over that of any other independent swimmers’, it’s just to note that there are other swimmers out there. So next time we talk about Olivia Chan, Nicole Honey or Angela Sun, make sure you think about all those like Lucas, who won’t get the chance to get the headlines.