Cook takes on competition in Hawaii

CRUISING COOK: La Grande High School swimmer Matt Cook is taking on the competition in Waikiki, Hawaii, at the Western Zone Championships. Cook begins his individual events today. Submitted photo

Cook earned a spot at the Western Zone Championships in Hawaii.

The Western Zone Championships are a huge qualifying meet for nationals.  Cook was the only swimmer from Eastern Oregon to qualify.  This meet takes the best swimmers from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. The meet began Tuesday and runs through Saturday.

“The great thing about Matt’s swim today was he dropped two seconds off his best time and he did it without his inhaler,” Matt’s mother, Kelly Cook, said. “Matt lost his inhaler and we got stuck in Waikiki traffic trying to get it to him and ended up missing his race.

“He felt pretty good about his time also, because he misjudged his turn, so he feels like he will be able to drop more time next time he swims it.”

Today Cook swims the 200-meter backstroke, his favorite event, and the 50-meter freestyle.

He is seeded fourth in the preliminaries of the backstroke with a time of 2:18.20. The leader, Williams Lee of California, is seeded with a time of 2:16.79.

Cook’s time of 26.68 has him in a tie for the ninth-place seed in the 50-meter free preliminaries.

Daryl Turner of Colorado is seeded first with a time of 25.02.