2009 State Swimming Championships Sunday, February 22, 2009

Pendleton's Nolan Hill (top) dives in as Deven Jennings completes the third leg of the boys 200 yard freestyle relay at the 5A state swimming championships Feb. 21 in Gresham. The Buckaroos finished sixth with a time of 1:33.67. [below] Taylor Goodwin makes the first turn in the boys 100 yard breaststroke. Goodwin tied for second in the final with Wilsonville's Mark Guyler.

I spent Saturday morning at the pool at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, shooting the 5A state swimming championships.

I find swimming one of the most challenging sports to shoot: there are limited positions to shoot from, the start/finish line is very cluttered, the athletes are out of sight about ¾ of the time they're racing, and during the race the participants are all repeating the same motion over and over again.

The standard swimming shots (e.g. Iverson and Hill below) are very easy to get—you get several chances in every heat. They look good, but they're also very common—and they look the same regardless of which meet you're shooting.

To get something different, I brought my new ultra-wide lens to the pool this weekend. The shots (above) are hardly original, but certainly a different view

[left] Jordan Iverson of Crescent Valley swims in the girls 100 yard breaststroke. The junior won the event in a meet record time of 1:04.34. [right] Pendleton senior Lucas Hill swims in the boys 200 yard freestyle. Hill's time of 1:50.51 was good for fourth place.

Click here for the full results from the 5A championships.