High school swim finals pushed back to March
The state's boys and girls high school swimmers will have to wait two more weeks to decide their state team and individual champions.
The boys and girls state championships meets had been scheduled for this weekend at Brown University's Smith Swim Center, but on Tuesday Brown closed the swim center because of concerns about facility's roof.
Yesterday Brown athletic department officials informed R.I. Interscholastic League officials that they could not be sure when the swim center would reopen. That sent league officials scurrying to find a new location for the meets.
The only other swimming facilities in the state that are large enough to host the combined championships are the pools at the University of Rhode Island and Roger Williams College, but both of those facilities were unavailable the next two weekends.
So league officials were forced to postpone the event for two weeks. The championship meets are now scheduled for Sunday, March 4, at Roger Williams. The qualifying competition will be held on March 3. Because the Roger Williams facility is not as large as the Smith Center, qualifying may also need to be held on March 2.
Also, the Divisions II and III boys swim championships, originally scheduled tonight at the Roger Williams College, have been postponed because of weather and rescheduled for tomorrow.
- Sports Writer John Gillooly
Posted by Mike McDermott 
at 3:27 PM | Permalink
| Comments (1)
The RIIL should consult with the swimming coaches and their respective schools before making a decision regarding the rescheduled dates.
As it is, the New England Ages Group Championships are being held the weekend of March 1-4 in Boston thus forcing some RI High School students and their coaches to make a difficult decision to which meet they should attend. These athletes are dedicated to their school and to USA Swim and have worked hard to earn the rights to attend both meets. Also think about the results to the student given the RIIL rules guidelines.
If the students do not complete at the RI State Championship, due to conflicting schedules, it will not be a true reflection of the talented teams and swimmers in Rhode Island.
Reconsider the location, Harvard has a great facility and I am certain that the parents of the RI Student Athletes will travel the distance.