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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 2015)
12A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2015 Swim club: It’s gearing up for its ‘long course season’ Continued from Page 1A The club is gearing up for its summer season, which Reed calls the “long course season” since it includes meets on 50-meter, Olym- SLFVL]HG SRROV 7KH ¿UVW meet of the season was May 1-2 in Longview, Wash. The swimmers are in Gresham this weekend for their second meet. Swimmers, 13 and up who qualify, will return to Gresham in July for state FKDPSLRQVKLSV 4XDOL¿HG swimmers, 12 and under, will compete at the state level in July in Albany. To prepare the swimmers, Reed — a former high school swimmer with the Gig Har- bor Peninsula Swim Club and coach at New Mexico State University — focuses on in- creasing endurance and cardio before perfecting techniques. “He knows what he is do- ing,” said Taylor Christie, an Astoria High School junior. “He starts off with getting us in shape and working on our endurance.” Set goals, be dedicated Christie, a North Coast Swim Club member for the past 11 years, reached the highest level in the region in 0DUFKZKHQVKHTXDOL¿HGIRU Senior Sectionals at the end of the winter season. Senior Sectionals is the level before Junior Nationals, where the fastest 18-and-un- der swimmers compete across the country. Christie, who competes in IUHHVW\OH DQG EXWWHUÀ\ WUDY- eled to Federal Way, Wash., to compete against the other top swimmers in the West. “She got to go up and com- pete against the best swim- mers in the Western states,” Reed said. Christie’s goal is to make it back to Senior Sectionals for the summer season and again this winter season. Club swimmers have short breaks between summer and win- ter seasons, but usually train year-round. Once she makes it back to Senior Sectionals, Christie said, her goal is qualifying for JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Tired swimmers take a short break between swimming lengths of the pool. JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Coach Alex Reed calls out times as each swimmer swims the length of the pool. Junior Nationals, which is in San Antonio July 29 to Aug. 2 this summer season. “You get to the Junior Na- tional level and you are get- ting full-ride scholarships,” Reed said. “She has been working hard. She is focused. She is ready to go.” To compete at a high lev- el, Christie said, it takes focus and dedication. “You have to set goals and be dedicated to the sport,” she North Coast Swim Club Coach Alex Reed times swimmers as they do single-length swimming drills at the Astoria Aquatic Center. said. “You have to be willing to push yourself to your limits.” ‘Like a family’ Unlike other swim clubs that have to travel hours to the nearest pool, Reed said, the North Coast Swim Club is blessed to have the Astoria Aquatic Center. Each year, the local swim club hosts two to three meets in Astoria. The meets usually bring at least 100 swimmers and their families to town for the weekend. When Reed joined as coach in 2013, he saw the po- tential the club had with annu- al meets at the Aquatic Center. Now, he wants to see the club continue to grow. “It’s come a long way and I feel like we have a long way to go,” he said. During practices, Reed — always carrying his stopwatch — keeps the energy high as he encourages the swimmers to shave seconds off of their lap times. Although swimming is an individual sport, Reed creates a team atmosphere where the swimmers share their lanes and push each other to get faster. “It’s really fun when you are with friends,” Christie said. “We are all like a fam- ily.” Supporting you for a Lifetime of Health WomenHeart of North Oregon Coast community support connection E Daily Astorian file The former Waldorf Hotel sits between City Hall and the Astoria Public Library Remodeling: Price tag for previous library renovation plan was about $4.6 million Continued from Page 1A “I would really like to see the original library — the current library — as an option on the table,” Price said. “And leave it at that.” Price said the city should in- dicate it is looking at Heritage Square and the existing library and let developers pitch ideas, including, potentially, projects that involve the Waldorf. “I think that we have a bet- ter ability to make a decision about the best choice if there is a choice,” she said. Some developers have said privately what City Councilor Russ Warr cautioned publicly this week: a Heritage Square project might be too expensive. The price tag for the previ- ous library renovation plan was about $4.6 million. The city ex- pects to produce a cost estimate for Heritage Square during the upcoming review. The pivot to Heritage Square came after the City Council backed away from a decision from last year to expand the ex- isting library into the Waldorf and demolish the decaying ho- tel. Preservationists, includ- ing Osborn, had appealed to the city to spare the Waldorf, a 1920s-era hotel formerly known as the Merwyn that is an exam- ple of Late Commercial with Renaissance detailing style. Some preservationists have also sought to preserve the existing library as a sample of the Brutal- ist style of the 1960s. Mayor Arline LaMear and city staff had met privately with the developers working with Ho and with Osborn before the City Council moved toward Heritage Square. LaMear questions whether a library renovation into the pri- vately owned Waldorf would work as an option if Heritage Square does not pencil out. The mayor said a more likely alter- native could be to remodel the library by using space in the li- brary’s basement, an option the city has avoided in the past be- cause of concerns about expand- ing the library’s staff. “My feeling is, however, that if we decide that Heritage Square doesn’t work, then we may go back to looking at the basement in the library rather than looking at the Merwyn at all,” she said. “Because if we’ve got to go down into the basement, we may as well use the basement of the facility that we already have and make sure that all the funding goes to the library and not to renovating the Merwyn.” Osborn believes that be- tween the basement of the exist- ing library and the basement and ¿UVWÀRRURIWKH:DOGRUIWKHUHLV ample room for a renovated li- brary that would meet the city’s needs. Housing could go on the XSSHUÀRRUVRIWKHKRWHO Osborn has shared his ideas with Price and remains interest- ed in a project, both personally or as an advocate for another developer. “I think we can get people interested because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. D Meetings: 3 rd Wednesday of the month, 6:30 pm CMH Health & Wellness Pavilion 3rd Floor Conference Room 2165 Exchange Street Astoria, OR May 20: Martha Pine, yoga instructor June 17: Dr. Diana Rinkevich, cardiologist Join your local chapter of WomenHeart, an organization for women living with or at risk of heart disease. This chapter is sponsored by Columbia Memorial Hospital. Contact Michele Abrahams for more information at WH-NorthOregonCoast@ womenheart.org. WomenHeart is the only national organization dedicated to advancing women’s heart health through advocacy, community education and patient support. As the leading voice for the 42 million American women living with or at risk of heart disease, WomenHeart advocates for equal access to quality care and provides information and resources to help women take charge of their heart health. &YDIBOHF4U"TUPSJB0SFHPOt XXXDPMVNCJBNFNPSJBMPSHt"1MBOFUSFF%FTJHOBUFE)PTQJUBM