GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA – Anyone who thought Candace Vincent’s performance went swimmingly on Wednesday at the 2019 YMCA National Short Course Championship might agree her athletic talent Thursday took her a ‘stroke’ above.
On Thursday, April 4, Candence, 14, competed in the 50-yard freestyle and again qualified to participate in next year’s finals with a time of 24.46, propelling her from her qualifying place of 150th to 83rd.
Before attending the national championship, Cadence said her goal at was to “drop time,” meaning to become faster – a goal she achieved today when she shaved 0.12 seconds from her best time.
Cadence came in first place in her heat, and her times put her in a five-way tie with four others – Hana Spaulding from Skaneateles, New York; Miranda Byrne from Lakeland Hills, New Jersey; Marina Wang from Upper Mainline, Pennsylvania; and Grace Reeder from North Carolina.
Following today’s competition, Cadence snacked on cheese, crackers and pepperoni.
“I had that along with pickles and Chester’s Puff Popcorn,” she said. “Whatever mom makes me – good or bad – but mom never makes me anything bad. While here at the nationals, we have only eaten dinner at five-star restaurants.”
For the second day in a row, Cadence’s coaches had only praise for what they saw as an outstanding performance.
“Cadence swam a great 50 freestyle today – had her personal best time, and moved way up in the rankings,” Coach John Schmidt said. “I couldn’t be happier and can’t wait to see her 100 freestyle performance tomorrow.”
“Cadence did an outstanding job today,” Coach Brendan Cain added. “I am very pleased with how she has performed so far on this big stage, and I look forward to watching her compete tomorrow.”
The 2019 YMA National Short Course Competition started on Tuesday with a parade of athletes. The theme for that event was outer space and was set up in a similar manner to the Olympics, with the athletes parading in lined up by states. The theme song was, of course, “YMCA.”
One of Cadence’s pre-competition goals was to meet Olympian Nathan Adrian, a five-time Olympic gold medalist who is battling testicular cancer but plans to compete in the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. Cadence didn’t meet Adrian, but she did secure his autograph.
“I was able to get a coach to have some items autographed by him for me,” she said.
On Friday, Cadence will compete in her final event – the 100-yard freestyle. Folks wishing to live stream the event may do so online at ymca.ymcaswimminganddiving.org.
Cadence, who lives in Buckhannon with parents Eddie and Tracey Vincent, is a 14-year-old student at Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School. She has been swimming on the Elkins/Randolph County YMCA RAYS team since she was 8-years-old.
Please stay tuned to My Buckhannon to learn about Cadence’s performance on Friday as she makes works hard to “drop time” and represent Buckhannon and West Virginia.
