{"id":489129,"date":"2021-10-07T18:52:19","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T01:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=489129"},"modified":"2021-10-07T18:52:19","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T01:52:19","slug":"usms-nationals-deette-sauer-rises-to-title-laura-val-charlotte-davis-set-multiple-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/usms-nationals-deette-sauer-rises-to-title-laura-val-charlotte-davis-set-multiple-records\/","title":{"rendered":"USMS Nationals: DeEtte Sauer Rises to Title; Laura Val, Charlotte Davis Set Multiple Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

USMS Nationals: DeEtte Sauer Rises to Title; Laura Val, Charlotte Davis Set Multiple Records<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

By Daniel Paulling<\/em><\/p>\n

When she saw a sign advertising a new Masters swimming program at her fitness center in 1999, DeEtte Sauer<\/strong> decided to try it out. She had been looking for an exercise routine after suffering an injury doing shot put and thought she could swim after watching her daughters do it.<\/p>\n

Sauer, now 80, jumped in for her first practice without a swim cap or goggles and began doing dog paddle. Embarrassed that she couldn\u2019t do more, she apologized and said that she couldn\u2019t swim. Her coach, Stacey Van Horn<\/strong>, wouldn\u2019t hear it. She would turn Sauer into a swimmer.<\/p>\n

Three months after her first workout, Sauer competed at a local swim meet and was hooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just fell in love with it,\u201d she says. \u201cMy senior years have been incredible. I never thought I could be an athlete. None of this would\u2019ve happened without her. It\u2019s just unbelievable that I\u2019m doing it now. It\u2019s been 22 years, and I\u2019m still having a blast. I\u2019ve never gotten over the thrill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sauer\u2019s determination to keep swimming and Van Horn\u2019s coaching helped her win a national championship in the 800 freestyle on Thursday, the first day of the 2021 U.S. Masters Swimming Long Course National Championship at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.<\/p>\n

The USMS victory is just the latest accomplishment for Sauer, who has recorded 125 Top 10 times and was a USMS pool All-American in butterfly in 2016. But her having this much athletic success didn\u2019t seem likely several decades ago.<\/p>\n

Sauer, a member of Masters of South Texas, says she grew up loving sports but stopped participating in them in middle school because she thought at the time that girls her age shouldn\u2019t play sports. After becoming sedentary, she says, she became overweight and out of shape before losing those added pounds.<\/p>\n

She believes that Van Horn\u2019s patience and diligence in helping her improve was singular. Other coaches, Sauer says, would\u2019ve let her walk away after being embarrassed with her first workout.<\/p>\n

\u2022 More masters news<\/a>
\n\u2022 More meet coverage<\/a><\/p>\n

This made hearing that Van Horn had been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year difficult for Sauer. She honored her coach by having her husband write the words \u201cFor Stacey\u201d in marker on each of her arms during her 800 freestyle at USMS nationals.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that time, she kept telling me you\u2019re strong, you can do this, you can learn to swim, you can be competitive,\u201d Sauer says. \u201cNow the shoe is on the other foot. I\u2019m writing her notes all the time, sending her cards, calling her, texting her, telling her not to forgot how strong and courageous she is. It\u2019s like what goes around comes around.\u201d<\/p>\n

USMS Records Broken on Day 1<\/strong><\/p>\n