Liberty YMCA Heat swimming coach Donna Hooe not only coached the Georgia Masters Super team to a 25th-place overall finish at the 2011 YMCA Masters Nationals on April 14-17 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., she also swam well herself.
Hooe, who lives in Fleming, competed in the 45-49 age division. She swam in eight events and started the meet with what she called, “one of the hardest combinations,” in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Hooe came in at 22:06.46 for ninth place. She also finished ninth in the 1,000-yard freestyle finishing in 13:15.59.
In the second day of competition, Hooe finished sixth in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 6:03.53 and eighth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 3:18.53.
On day three, she placed seventh in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:50.43 and 11th in the 50-yard freestyle after finishing in 29.88.
Hooe ended the meet with a tough combo and her highest placement of the meet in the 200-yard butterfly, clocking in at 3:15.85 for fourth place. Nine heats later, she came back to swim the 100-yard freestyle in 1:06.65 for seventh place.
Hooe’s teammate, Marion “Tom” Dunlap, won the 200-yard backstroke championship with a time of 3:04.55. He also finished second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:25.81, just behind 1952 Olympian Yoshi Oyakawa.
Dunlap, from South Carolina, competed in the 75-79 age division.