The 50-yard freestyle is the rawest and most elemental of swimming events. It’s a quick race -- one trip up the lane, and another back – with a razor-thin margin of error. It’s maybe the most nerve-wracking of all events; some swimmers candidly admit in private to not liking it much. Success often hinges on executing three elements – the start, the turn, and the finish. A late start, a slip on the turn, a gliding finish – all can spell the difference between finishing first, or not.
In the recently concluded Division 2 state meet, Monona Grove’s Hayley Martin entered the final heat as the favorite in the 50 free. She’d been undefeated all season in the event, earned the top seed for the meet, and drew the coveted lane 4. Next to her in lane 5 was chief rival Maggie Smith of Whitefish Bay, who had finished second in the event last year. Martin ended up winning, with a time of 24.19, just ahead of Smith’s 24.35, and she essentially won the race with her start.
Here’s a look at the start of the 50 free final. Martin, in lane 4, is just about to enter the water. Smith, to her right in lane 5, also got off to a solid start, but was slightly behind Martin – a deficit she would never make up. To the left of Martin is Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol’s Taylor Trelka, who finished T-7th, in part because of what her coach described to the Door County Advocate newspaper as an indifferent start: “"She got too high on her start and fell about a half-body length behind the leaders," said Mike McHugh. "She made up some ground, but that's a lot to overcome in a short race like that."
(Thanks to Chuck Martin, Hayley's father, for use of the photo.)
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