By Swimming World Intern Richard Kang<\/i><\/p>\n
PISCATAWAY – It might seem peculiar to spend a trip to Europe visiting 50-meter pools instead of the more mainstream landmarks like Big Ben or the Eiffel Tower. But when you live in a state with zero long-course pools, the concept of seeing one still seems new. For Harrison Homans, there is no other way he\u2019d imagine spending his vacation than mapping out the locations of 50-meter pools in each city.<\/p>\n
The 14-year-old from Southern Maine Aquatics Club visited another 50-meter pool much closer to home recently. He competed in multiple events over the course of three days at the CeraVe Invitational, winning seven and breaking two meet records and three state records. One of those records came in the 400-meter individual medley, a race Homans had never swum in competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hurt a lot and I was very tired, but I felt good that I broke the state record by three seconds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Over the course of his swimming career, Harrison has competed at more than 200 meets. The CeraVe Invitational would mark his final competition in the 13-14 age group. He had no teammates around him in New Jersey to help mark the occasion, as he attended with only his father, Frederick, while the rest of the team was racing in Massachusetts. Harrison said he chose the CeraVe meet because he \u201cwanted more experience in the long course because long course matters for international meets.\u201d<\/p>\n
With each team at Rutgers boasting dozens of athletes huddled together in the athlete area, Harrison said it was tough to find the motivation to race as Southern Maine\u2019s sole athlete.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty lonely being by yourself, but having no teammates to talk to gives you the opportunity to talk to different people from different places,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s weird by myself, but you get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since breaking his first state record at 10 years old in the 50 butterfly, Homans has since broken 13 state records and two New England records. He owes these achievements to his coach and father, who works as an assistant coach at Southern Maine Aquatics. A two-time Olympic Trials qualifier for the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Games and the first swimmer to be selected from Maine for these Trials, Homans pushed his son to swim after Harry\u2019s sister started the sport. Since then, the trio have toured the United States, and even competed in Germany. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have no expectations for Harry,\u201d Frederick said. \u201cI leave it up to him. I\u2019m really only here for support. He\u2019s got his own strategy in his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was evident before the 200 freestyle at CeraVe, Harrison\u2019s first event. When asked by his father about his race plan, Harrison replied, \u201cJust watch me, Dad.\u201d The result: a win by two seconds and a personal best by nearly three seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that, I didn\u2019t ask him anything anymore and let him swim.\u201d Homans said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
On the final day of the CeraVe Invitational, Harrison swam in and won all three of his races. What made it more difficult was doing timed-final swims in the 400 free, 100 fly and 200 back with little to no rest, but Harrison had confidence and won all three.<\/p>\n
With this hat trick under his belt, Homans enjoyed his last meet in his age group because \u201cYou only swim once and it\u2019s final. The rest of (my swimming career) is going to be trials and finals.\u201d <\/p>\n
Harrison won the 200 backstroke by nine seconds, but the large gap between his competition didn\u2019t mean he wanted to let up on the effort. After the first turn, Homans was a full 10 feet in front of his competition, but he refused to stop pushing, trying to improve his own times.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the guys behind me but I didn\u2019t focus on them,\u201d Homans said, \u201cI wanted to make the cut for future meets like the National Championship and the (Arena Pro Swim Series).\u201d<\/p>\n
In his new age group, Homans hopes that these more selective meets will prepare him for his ultimate goal of swimming at the Olympic Trials like his dad. These goals are very achievable for this wonder child in the near future, and maybe his next tour of 50-meter pools around the world will allow him to race in them as a member of the USA national team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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