Early lap swim brings group together

It’s summer again and that means JoAnn Prestegard, Sharon Logston and Mary Dominique are at the pool swimming laps while many of us are hitting the snooze button on our alarm clocks.

They’ve been doing it for years, and it has given them a kind of camaraderie and pride.

The baby of the group at 75 is JoAnn Prestegard, a longtime resident of Cathlamet. She remembers riding her bike out to Wage’s Pond in the Elochoman when she was quite young. One time she was enjoying a float in an inner tube and ran into problems.

“George Hollar threw away the inner tube,” Prestegard said. “Then he threw me back in the water and told me to swim.”

That’s one way to learn.

Logston learned to swim in New Mexico, spending a lot of time practicing her strokes and playing in an irrigation ditch. She had a lot of traditional lessons and has continued swimming all her life, whether in New Mexico, Oregon, Kent, Washington or here. At 76, she’s fit and youthful.

They all are.

Dominique, 80, started swimming in 1978 after her husband died.

“I started because I needed to do something to keep my head together,” Dominique said.

She has lived in the area for 54 years and has no intention of leaving the area or the pool.

They all have their own reasons for swimming but there are strands of similarity that weave their reasons together. They all admit in one way or another that they would be lost without it.

“It makes you feel really good about yourself,” said Logston.

Prestegard is grateful for the energy the exercise gives her and adds, “the water is freeing and doesn’t harm your body.”

Dominique focuses on the benefit of relaxation.

“It’s also been a good influence on my kids and grandkids. They are active and all my grand-daughters are life guards.”

During the other nine months of the year, one can find them at the YWCA in Longview, diligently swimming one quiet lap after another and continuing to reap the rewards.

They look forward to the summer months and the outdoor pool, especially on a sunny morning when they can look up and see the blue skies, the erstwhile cloud, the airplane on its way to Seattle or Portland. The water is almost always warm and whether it is sun or storm, it’s a pleasant place to be.