FEDERAL WAY — Local unattached USA swimmer Eric Kemper, 13, traveled to Federal Way this past weekend for the 40th anniversary of the Washington Open swim meet.

Kemper was the only swimmer from Moses Lake to participate in this meet. The Washington Open is a senior level meet which requires qualifying times in order to participate. Kemper recorded best times in eight of the nine events he swam in.

In the 200 individual medley, Kemper dropped almost four seconds for a best time of 2 minutes, 12.81 seconds; in the 50 freestyle he swam for a best time of 25.55 seconds; in the 500 freestyle he dropped over four seconds for a best time of 5 minutes, 22.41 seconds; in the 100 butterfly he swam a best time of 58.13 seconds; in the 100 backstroke he recorded a best time of 1 minute, 4.10 seconds; he dropped a full second in the 200 backstroke for a best time of 2 minutes, 17.18 seconds; in the 100 freestyle he swam for a best time of 54.72 seconds; in the 200 butterfly Kemper dropped over two seconds for a best time of 2 minutes, 10.59 seconds.

Kemper would like to personally thank an old coach for taking the time to help him get familiar with the scheduling and pointing out a few areas of needed improvement.

This was a new experience for Kemper having to compete against mostly 15- 18-year-olds.

It was also a lot larger meet than Kemper has been used to. He was competing against 200-350 other swimmers in every event.

This meet also moved a lot faster than those dealing with age groups. Kemper had a lot of fun at this meet, dropped time on most of his events, and got a lot of experience in what is to come as he continues to improve as a competitive swimmer.