Ten-year old Zachary Wallace, a long-time swimmer for the Wind ‘N Sea Swim Team (WSST), made a splashing debut at the 2007 All-Star Meet, held Jan. 20-21.
Zachary, a fifth-grader at Bird Rock Elementary, was the first-ever WSST athlete to qualify for, and compete in, the All-Star Meet held in Rancho Bernardo.
“Qualifying for the All-Star Meet means a lot to me, because I’ve always wanted to be a really fast swimmer, and be one of the top swimmers in San Diego County,” Zachary said.
And that he did. He was ranked one of the top eight swimmers in San Diego County. His best event at the meet was the 100-yard fly at 1 minute, 22:28 seconds.
Additionally, Zachary set seven new team records for WSST at the All-Star Qualifying Meet, while he achieved four personal-best times at the All-Star Meet. This gave him the opportunity to improve some of his time standards as a USA Swimmer.
Zachary, who has been swimming since the age of 2 and with the team for the past seven years, believes his best overall event is the 100 Individual Medley, which is one of the events he used to qualify. He has “good technique and quality strokes,” said one of his coaches, Paton McClung.
“Zachary is a smart kid,” explained McClung, who’s coached Zachary for the last three seasons. “He works hard. He pays attention to the coaches and tries to learn every day, and that is how he progresses each day. He goes above and beyond what a 10-year old boy would do. He’s excited about swimming.”
Zachary said likes swimming because it’s an individual sport.
“You get to do it all yourself,” he said.
Swimming runs in the Wallace family. Zachary’s 7-year-old brother Dominick is also a swimmer; and Zachary attributes his first years of swimming to his parents, who also both swim.
WSST is a private USA Swimming sanctioned team coached by McClung and Pam Eaton at the Coggan Family Aquatic Complex at La Jolla High School. Swim team tryouts are held the first Wednesday of every month at 3:30 p.m. WSST welcomes swimmers of all levels and abilities, ages 6 to 18.