Dancing in the pool

The WaveRyders Swim Club finished in sixth place Nov. 6-8 at the Missoula Athletic Club Fall Invitational swim meet in Missoula, despite being one of the smaller clubs represented.

With only 14 team members at the regional event — which featured more than 350 swimmers — the Wave Ryders came home with 10 gold medals, 12 silver and 13 bronze.

"We were only 4 percent of the swimmers at the meet, so to get that many (medals' is pretty good," Wave Ryder coach Deidre Loyda said. "Three of our swimmers couldn't go because they had the swine flu."

As a team, the Wave Ryders posted 71 personal-bests out of 101 swims, including 65 state qualifying times.

"We just had our home swim meet and again got personal-best times," Loyda said, "To do that in a two-week turnaround is big deal."

Sage Jackson was named the Whitefish swimmer of the meet for the WaveRyders for her efforts in the pool and as a teammate.

Jackson, 13, tallied six state-qualifying times in the meet and eight personal-bests.

"Sage had an outstanding meet," Loyda said. "She was the ultimate swimmer, not only in the pool, but she was helping the little kids get up, too. She is a great role model for the younger swimmers and is joyful for every person on the team."

Jackson says helping younger swimmers at meets is fun for her.

"I've always been a kid person," she said. "Seeing them get up and swim is cool."

Jackson has been swimming since third grade, but she recently became burned out on turning laps and decided to take more than a year off.

"In sixth grade, I didn't like swimming anymore," Jackson said. "I was making excuses not to go."

She used her time away from the pool to focus on her passion for hip-hop dancing, but recently decided she missed being in the water.

"I don't know what it was," Jackson said. "I just missed swimming, I missed all of it."

Loyda said Jackson's time away from swimming hasn't set her back in the pool. In fact, her aptitude for dancing has translated into a nice swim stroke.

"Dancing really helps her in the pool," Loyda said. "She knows where her body parts should be."

Jackson agrees, saying a lot of the dance moves she practices have strengthened her legs.

Loyda said Jackson has the "eye of the tiger" at meets and isn't afraid to take on top-tier swimmers, a trait on full display at the Missoula meet.

"She knocked it out of the park (at the meet)," Loyda said. "But, that was just her having fun."