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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cda Swimmer May Be The Wave Of The Future

`Ladies, take your mark.”

Coeur d’Alene’s Brooke Sprague bends into a question mark, her fingers and toes gripping the starting block’s sandpaper surface. She waits, still as stone.

I will win, I will win.

The starting light flashes. The waiting pool swallows a wave of lean, muscled legs. Arms whip with propeller speed, beating the water into froth. Ten seconds, 11 seconds. Brooke turns, sees other swimmers.

She’s too close. I’m faster. I should be farther ahead.

The line of swimmers gracefully expands into an arrow with Brooke at the point. Twenty-two seconds, 23 …

Don’t breathe. There’s the wall. Head down. Finish.

She touches first, oblivious to the crowd’s echoing cheers. She smiles when she sees the clock. That’s a good time. I’ve done a good job. And it’s over.

At 13, Brooke, a Lakes Middle School eighthgrader, is a half-second from qualifying for the Olympic trials in the 50-yard freestyle. But the Olympics is not her goal. She just wants to go faster.

At 8, she didn’t like swimming. She couldn’t go as fast as the big kids and thought sharks swam in the pool’s deep end. Her parents wouldn’t let her quit. She’d already quit piano and ice skating.

At 10, Brooke knew she had a gift. She didn’t work that hard but still won. So she got serious and faster and won in larger meets. She studied other swimmers, analyzed her races, listened to her coaches.

Adults who know swimming can’t watch her without visualizing her future.

“Sometimes I feel kind of trapped. There’s no way to get out now,” Brooke says, her brow wrinkled in thought. “I’m afraid I won’t live up to everyone’s expectations.”

But she won’t quit, can’t quit, not until she knows how fast she can go.

“I live for swimming,” she says with the same intensity that drives her through the water. “If you’re born with a natural talent for something, you should use it.”

Write On

Your writing could earn you money. The Coeur d’Alene Public Library has launched its annual writer’s contest and anyone older than 5 is eligible.

Write fiction or non-fiction. Top winners can pull in up to $100, courtesy of Hecla Mining Co. You have until 6 p.m. March 31 to get your magnum opus in. Call 769-2315 with questions.

For Brianna

Remember Brianna Hayes, the young snow princess diagnosed with leukemia last December? The little Mullan girl began chemotherapy and is hanging in there.

A benefit last weekend raised $4,200 for her treatment. On Saturday, money raised from a noon volleyball tournament at Mullan Athletic Pavilion and a 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. dance at the Mullan Morning Club will go to Brianna. Call 744-1712 for details.

Brianna’s type of cancer responds to treatment 75 percent of the time. She takes chemotherapy three times a week. If you can’t make this weekend’s benefit, send a donation to the Brianna Hayes Medical Trust at any First Security bank.

Calendar Girls

Coeur d’Alene Brownie Troop 503 invested its earnings from calendar sales in rubber - balls, that is. The 16 Brownies gave the balls to their second and third-grade classes at Borah Elementary. If they’re bouncy at meetings, at least leaders Lana Hamilton and Robin Downing know why.

Old News

Do you have something that has been in your family a long time (no in-laws, please) and could tell a whale of a story if it could speak? Share it with Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 83814; fax to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.