Alabama Senior Olympics swim meet comes to Hoover Rec Center Wednesday

The Hoover Recreation Center is hosting the Alabama Senior Olympics swim meet on Wednesday.

Forty-one swimmers from four states are signed up to compete, including 35 from Alabama and about half a dozen from Hoover, said Torrey Teal, the aquatics manager at the Rec Center.

The event is a qualifier for the National Senior Olympics, to be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in June 2019. People from other states are allowed to qualify at the Alabama meet, but they are not competing against the Alabamians, Teal said. Other states to be represented Wednesday are Arkansas, Georgia and Missouri, she said.

The swimmers range in age from 50 to 75, and there will be a lot more women than men competing, Teal said.

There are 16 events, including the butterfly, freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and a medley of all four styles at distances ranging from 50 yards to 500 yards, she said.

The swim meet starts at 10 a.m. and should last until about 1 p.m., Teal said. Swimmers paid a registration fee, but there is no cost to attend and watch.

Hoover this past weekend was host for the Alabama Senior Olympics archery tournament. Seventeen archers from four states participated, including 10 from Alabama and three who participate in the Hoover archery program, said Dee Nance, who organized the competition for the city of Hoover.

The archers ranged in age from 55 to about 80 and competed in five events: recurve, barebow recurve, barebow compound, compound finger and compound release, Nance said. The archers shot 30 arrows each at 40 yards, 50 yards and 60 yards, she said.

Because of the different events and age categories, everyone who participated qualified for the National Senior Games next year, Nance said.

When the Alabama Senior Olympics held its qualifying meet in Hoover two years ago, only one of the archers was from Alabama, so Nance said she was excited to see more participants from Alabama this year.