Helen and Emily Silver both qualified for the 2004 Olympic Trials at last week’s spring US Senior National Swimming Championships at the University of Minnesota.
Helen celebrated her 18th birthday by placing sixth in the 100 meter backstroke on Friday, clocking a lifetime best 1:04.31.
The University of California at Berkeley-bound swimmer also placed seventh in the 200 meter backstroke two nights earlier in her first-ever national championship final. Her 2:18.00 in the prelims dropped more than two seconds from her previous best. She was slightly slower in the finals, swimming 2:18.58.
Emily Silver won Saturday’s consolation finals in the 50 meters in 26.20, lopping a full half-second off her previous best. Even more impressive, her time was better than four women in the subsequent championship race.
“Frankly, it was an astonishing swim,” said the girls’ father, Bob Silver, himself a competitor in the 1968 Olympic Trials. He noted that her 50-meter time placed her 71st in the world, while Helen’s 100 back time was just a hundredth of a second from putting her in the top 100 in that event.
Rounding out what Bob Silver termed a “spectacular performance” was Emily’s 19th place overall in Wednesday’s 100 meter free, in which she clocked 58.22.
The two girls swam for the Bainbridge Island Swim Club, and their 25th place finish (of 89 teams) was BISC’s highest ever. In addition, Helen’s two appearances in the Championship Finals marked the first time that a BISC swimmer has ever competed at that level.
Both gave credit to last summer’s intensive training with Irvine, California-based Novaquatics, the runaway team winner.
“When I went to big meets before, I’d be intimidated,” Helen said. “But after training with Nova, I knew I could compete at this level.”
For Emily, though, Nova almost became too much of a good thing. For much of the 50 meters prelims, she led Gabrielle Rose, a two-time Olympian and Nova swimmer.
“I concentrated too much on trying to beat her,” she said, “so I didn’t finish as strong as I usually do.”
But the Rose-less consolation finals, coupled with the fact that the earlier 100 meters had allowed her to get rid of her nerves, enabled her to relax.
“I wasn’t thinking about how fast I was going,” she said. “I just knew I could win it.”
Emily plans on staying away from the pool for about a month – doing other activities to stay in shape – then resuming training for August’s summer nationals in Florida. She has a powerful incentive: four international teams will be named based on the results at that time, and her coach at Nova told her that if she swam as well then as she did last week, she’d have an excellent chance of being named to one.
Helen will continue to train, though not as vigorously, and enjoy the rest of her senior year before heading to Berkeley in the fall.
“I’d like to get a job, make some money, travel a little and take up kickboxing,” she said.
