Submitted photos – Huck Russell and Nathan Bareilles, along with coach Kelly Nathane.
By Ray Hamill — 2024 is expected to be a big year for the Humboldt Swim Club and two of the club’s swimmers are already living up to those expectations.
Huck Russell and Nathan Bareilles recently traveled to Hollister to represent the local club at the Pacific swimming Age Group Championships and both qualified for the upcoming Far Western Championships, which will take place in Pleasanton next week.
The impressive achievement showcases the growth of the team, which is the last remaining youth swimming club in the county.
The Humboldt Swim Club has a membership of 137 and is close to being maxed out in an Olympic year that is expected to see interest in the sport spike later in the summer.
“In Olympic years we get tons of people coming out for our tryouts,” club coach Kelly Nathane said. “And we get a lot of parents that want their kids to be water safe.”
Like many local sports clubs, the recent COVID years resulted in a decline in membership, with the swim club’s roster dropping from around 100 to approximately 70.
Over the last couple of years, however, club membership has risen to almost 140, and, according to Nathane, “We barely have room for any more.”
The Humboldt Swim Club, which is based in Arcata, features swimmers of all levels aged 6-18 and practices six days a week at the Arcata community pool, with the younger swimmers practicing a couple of days a week and the older and more competitive kids practicing almost daily.
Many of the older kids on the team also now represent both Arcata and Eureka high schools in competition during the spring months.
And the success of swimmers like Russell and Bareilles is helping to put the local club on the map.
“They’re pretty awesome,” Nathane said of the two 14-year-olds, who are both multi-sport athletes who have found a home in the pool. “They’re kind of an inspiration to the other kids.
“They put their heads down and they work hard. Their growth has been incredible, and they’re the ones doing it, and I think that’s pretty cool. They’re competing against boys who have Olympic trial times.”
The Far Western Championships will take place from April 4 to the 8, and both local standouts have qualified in multiple events.
Russell will represent the club in the 200 and 400 IMs, the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 200 butterfly, while Bareilles will compete in the 100 and 200 breaststroke.
Both young standouts, like several of their teammates, are well used to traveling for competition, something every local club team in every sport has in common here in Humboldt County.
Because the Arcata pool is not regulation size the Humboldt Swim Club is unable to host any USA Swimming competitions.
“The unique thing about our team is that we are the only team (in California) not to have a pool for competition,” Nathane said. “So we have to travel everywhere. No one can come here.”
Members of the Humboldt Swim Club.
The local club, however, recently received a grant from USA swimming that will allow them to rent out the Cal Poly Humboldt pool in order to host intra-squad meets, including one this coming Sunday.
And Nathane is hoping that will give some of the young swimmers a taste of what competitive meets are like and encourage more of them to make the trips for upcoming competitions.
In the meantime, swimmers like Russell and Bareilles will continue to carry the torch for the Humboldt Swim Club and reap the rewards of their hard work.
Over the years, several former club members also take their talents to the college pools, including Sadie Breen, who is currently competing for UC Santa Cruz, and Keenan Riggs-Turpin, who swims for Whitman College.
“It’s pretty cool when we get the kids to swim in college,” Nathane said.
Several other swimmers have impressed recently for the local club, including Camille Clem, Henry Workman, Luca Porter, Madison Trieu and Amalia Baugh, who were named the Humboldt Swim Club swimmers of the month for February.
Among the club’s older swimmers, Yogi Trieu recently qualified for the Senior Western Zone Championships in St. George, Utah, in the 100 fly and the 50 free, as did Baugh in the 50 free.
In addition to Russell and Bareillies, Tallin Brown, Luca Porter and Sophia Spellmeyer each also qualified for the recent Pacific swimming Age Group Championships in Hollister.
For more information on the Humboldt Swim Club and the upcoming tryouts, visit the club website here.
