Flying Fish Hook Medals for National Meet

Staff photo by Andrew Craft

The Fayetteville Flying Fish swim team recently had three first-place finishes during the Black Heritage Swim Meet in Orlando, Fla.

The Fayetteville Flying Fish might have accounted for just 13 of the more than 450 swimmers gathered at the Central Florida YMCA, but the team refused to leave the National Black Heritage Swim Meet as small fish in a big pond.

The team finished the contest, held May 24-25 in Orlando, Fla., with three wins, six second-place trophies and 20 top-eight finishes.

The Sixth Annual Black Heritage meet featured 29 teams from as far away as California and Massachusetts.

The Fish competed in last year’s Black Heritage meet, held in Goldsboro. But when the competition moved to its new permanent home in Florida, Fish coach Oscar Roverato said the team faced the financial challenge of making the trip.

“Everyone there had a big sponsor,” Roverato said. “And then there we were.”

Without a major sponsor supporting the team, the cost of food and travel fell on each individual swimmer.

“I’ve never been the kind of coach to make kids wash cars and sell doughnuts,” Roverato said. “We are really just about the swimming and having fun.

“We had 13 swimmers because some families couldn’t afford to make the trip. Some took cars, some took the train, two of us flew.”

The Fish owe all three of their top finishes to 8-year-old Adrianne Stevens. The Fayetteville native was the most decorated member of the team, finishing first in the 100-yard freestyle, the 25-yard butterfly and 25-yard breaststroke among girls 8 and under.

She also finished second in the 25- and 50-yard freestyle events and fourth in the 50-yard butterfly.

Despite the number of the competitors at the meet, Stevens said she wasn’t concerned about the competition.

“I just tried to focus on what I was doing and finish hard,” Stevens said.

Joining Stevens in the 8-and-under category was Shaynna McLeod. The 7-year-old swimmer competed in six events and captured second place in the 25- and 50-yard breaststroke races, even though she said she felt nervous before swimming.

“There were a lot of people there,” said McLeod, who made her first trip to Florida for the meet.

The number of people didn’t concern 17-year-old swimmer Josh McNorton, who competed for the Fish in the 15-and-over age category in six events. However, McNorton did worry about facing off against more experienced swimmers.

“It was hard because I was racing some older people there,” McNorton said. “There were guys that were 20 or 25.”

McNorton finished second in the 200-yard freestyle, ahead of two swimmers in their 20s. It was his first meet since February.

“I thought I might finish in the top three, but it had been a while since I’d swam in a meet, so I wasn’t really sure,” McNorton said.

Ke’haulani Kiwaha also won a medal for the Fish, finishing second in the 100-yard backstroke and third in the 50-yard backstroke among girls ages 11-12.

For the Fish, the results of the Black Heritage meet show just how far the team has come since its inception two years ago. The team left last year’s Black Heritage meet without a single first-place finish.

The Fish originated at the Fayetteville YMCA, where Roverato worked as a swim instructor. The team is now an independent organization, sanctioned by both the N.C. Swimming and USA Swimming associations.

Since branching out on its own, the team has grown from about a dozen members, mostly youngsters who took lessons from Roverato, to nearly 70 swimmers.

The team bounced from the YMCA to Seagrove Park in search of a pool that would allow the Fish to have a dedicated practice schedule before settling at Fayetteville State University’s Capel Arena, where the team currently practices three days a week.

The Fish are now preparing for the team’s first trip to the N.C. State Games, scheduled for June 28-29 in Greensboro. The proximity of the event means that the Fish won’t have to worry as much about the cost of traveling.

“We’re taking everybody,” Roverato said.