Making A Splash Cheney’s Gavin Peterson Qualifies For State Swim Championships In Four Events

It isn’t until Cheney swimmer Gavin Peterson pops out of the water and his hair starts to dry that you begin to notice there’s something different about this high school junior.

As if on cue, his electric-blond hair begins to stand up on end in what can best be described as a mohawk on Vivarin.

“We’re going to shave our heads for state anyway,” Peterson says more as a fact than a threat. “We always do funny stuff, to get people’s attention.”

Truth is, however, the 16-year-old shouldn’t have any trouble attracting attention after his performance at the district swim meet - even without the haircut.

After posting qualifying times in four events - the 500 freestyle, the 200 intermediate medley and a pair of relays - Peterson leads five other Cheney swimmers to the State AA swim championships Friday and Saturday in Federal Way.

The other Cheney swimmers to qualify are James Grant, Jessie Weston, Tim Jackson, Nathan Gosse and Matt Thompson.

Peterson’s district showing also included lowering his personal bests to 5 minutes, 3 seconds in the 500 free and 2:05 in the 200 intermediate medley, where he ended up a surprise champion.

After speed workouts this week in the pool at Eastern Washington University, Peterson now thinks he can go even faster.

“Once we’re tapered for state, our times will drop,” Peterson says. “Plus, there’s the adrenalin.

Sitting on a bench beside EWU’s pool, Cheney coach Mike Guertin watches Peterson and his teammates swim sets of 100-meter sprints - on a two-minute interval.

Guertin swam briefly at the University of Utah before a torn rotator cuff ended his collegiate career. At last week’s district meet, he was named High School Swimming Coach of the Year for Eastern Washington.

He tries to explain what is it that attracts swimmers to the sport - and can’t.

It can be boring, he says. It hurts. There isn’t a whole lot of glory in paddling around in a 25-meter pool.

“Maybe it’s the endorphin rush, smell of chlorine, the humidity,” Guertin says. “I don’t know.”

One thing Guertin does know, however, is that Peterson’s unorthodox, colorful style fits perfectly into the mold of a swimmer.

“Gavin is definitely unique, personality-wise,” Guertin says. “He’s the type of person who doesn’t mind having a Mohawk. He’s marching to his own drum.”

Take last weekend, for instance. Peterson was heading to the Washington State Sharpshooting Championship in Pasco. Peterson, an avid hunter, began competitive target shooting three years ago with the Spokane Rifle Club’s junior team.

But on this trip to the Tri-Cities, he missed the turnoff in Ritzville and ended up driving all the way to Ellensburg. Not exactly a bullseye.

“I think just about everybody who knows him would laugh and say, ‘That’s Gavin,”’ said Guertin, laughing.

“On the one hand, if you had a team full of Gavins, you’d have a great team. On the other hand, you also might go crazy.”

By the way, Peterson says his aim improved once he finally arrived at the shooting meet after five hours on the road. In the .22-caliber junior competition, he bettered his average by nine points.

Peterson is nothing if he isn’t relaxed. He’s been to plenty of big meets with the Eastern Washington Recreation Assocation swim team at EWU, where he started swimming as a third-grader. Now, he says he doesn’t get nervous any more before smaller-scale high school meets.

With the grin on his face - Peterson’s humor is dry enough to drain a swimming pool - it’s hard to tell whether he’s kidding when he says he doesn’t have any sort of race strategy, either.

“Some people have certain times they want to meet for each length,” Peterson says. “Basically, I just go out easy and pick it up as I go along.

“I’ve done some pacework, but I’ve done better when I just do it off the top of my head.”

And we already know what the top of Peterson’s head looks like.