Young Maine swimmers set to compete in Soviet Union

Eight Maine swimmers will depart Dec. 11 for the Soviet Union where they will compete in a three-day international meet with swimmers from Germany, Finland and the Soviet Union.

Doug Springer of the Old Town-Orono YMCA is coordinating the event which came about following a visit to the Soviet Union last summer by Rich Abramson, executive director of the Augusta YMCA, through the Bridges for Peace program.

Abramson, on behalf of the state’s YMCAs, agreed to a three-year contract with a sports center in the Soviet Union whereby Americans will travel to Russia and Russians to the U.S. each year for international competition.

The Americans will compete in Russia Dec. 15-17. The Russians will visit Maine in late April for a meet with Canadian and American swimmers.

The eight Maine swimmers will visit Moscow and travel to Skytyvkar for the event. While in the Soviet Union, they will stay with Russian families.

Springer said the swimmers were chosen on a first-come basis with some qualifying time requirements. “I think we came up with some good swimmers, some good representatives of the state of Maine,” he said.

Leaving for Russia Dec. 11 and returning Dec. 22 will be Bangor senior Amy Walls, a state champion freestyler; Mount Desert Island sophomore Nellie Fox, another freestyler; Portland junior freestyler Carrie Swan; and Tammy Campbell, a senior from Boothbay, who specializes in breaststroke and individual medley.

On the boys team will be Old Town senior Scott Bloemen, a freestyler and butterflyer; Morse of Bath senior Daryl Morse, who swims the breaststroke and freestyle events; Hebron Academy junior freestyle and distance swimmer Abe Newton of Boothbay; and Boothbay freshman Chris Williams.

Coaching the teams will be Ellen Newton of Boothbay Harbor and Norm Palmer of Bangor, who came out of retirement three years ago to coach the Old Town-Orono YMCA team. Palmer teams haven’t lost a meet since his arrival.

Accompanying the travelers as group leader will be Chris Beattie of Meredith, N.H., who speaks fluent Russian.

“This will be a great opportunity for these kids,” Springer said. “Actually, swimming is secondary, although it will be nice for them to get in the water with some international competition.”

The swimmers are primarily funding the trip themselves, although the YMCAs were asked to help out if possible. “It’s kind of an interesting situation because all we have to pay for is the air fare over,” Springer said. “Once they get there, everything else is taken care of.”

The more difficult part of the arrangement, Springer said, comes on the other end when the Russians return the visit. “We’ll have a bit of a harder time because we’ll have to pick them up in New York City, find housing for them, and arrange for sightseeing and touring.”

This trip came about, in part, as a result of the Bridges for Peace program, Springer said. “Lots of things have been happening between Maine and the Soviet Union,” he said, “and a lot of it is an outgrowth of (the late) Samantha Smith’s visit.”