800 to 900 swimmers gathered in Seattle, W.A. for the 63rd annual Husky Invitational swim meet on Dec. 2 through Dec. 4. Among these competitors were people from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, the University of British Columbia, and Grand Canyon University. Junior Carrie Dukes, after qualifying with her team The Arena Club Aquatics, earned the opportunity to compete in this event.

Each swimmer is allowed to enter up to a maximum of six individual events for the meet. Dukes competed in the 100 meter butterfly, the 200 meter butterfly, the 100 meter freestyle, the 50 meter freestyle, the 100 meter breast stroke, and the 200 meter individual medley.

In the 200 meter butterfly, Dukes placed sixth. In the 100 meter butterfly, Dukes placed sixth with a time of 56.33, which ranks her at 21st in the nation, an improvement from her previous rank of 83.

“Preliminary heats occur in the morning and the top qualifiers come back for the championship at night. In both butterfly events, I made it back and placed in the championship heat. This was big since my competitors at night were women who were much more experienced,” Dukes said.

Going into the Husky Invitational, Dukes’ goal was to lower her times in all her events in order to get closer to qualifying for Nationals and the Olympic trials.

“I was very surprised at how well I did. I dropped a lot of time in these events and moved up places from where I was seeded. It was a lot of fun because I got a feel of how the west coast kids swim and how I compare to them. Even though I did very well, there
are still people out there that are just as good as or better than me so I know I need to focus and keep working hard to accomplish my goals by the end of the season. My biggest goal for this year is to make Nationals in the 100 fly,” Dukes said.

Miranda Ripken is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.