Olympian v. girlfriend’s dad in 50-meter swim at Cream Hill Lake

CORNWALL — The scene: the serene Cream Hill Lake Association beach. No crowds. 

The challenge: a swim race from dock to float and back, 50 meters. 

The contestants: the very competitive Skip Kosciusko, determined to turn one man’s vacation into an endless tournament, and that man, Tyler Clary, a gold-medal-winning Olympic swimmer determined to maintain a healthy relationship with his girlfriend’s father.

Clary and Caroline Kosciusko have been trying to relax for a few weeks with her family in Cornwall. 

He is fresh off his first NASCAR semi-pro auto race and a big win at the U.S. Swimming Championships. The couple lives in North Carolina near the Charlotte Motor Speedway, as Clary works his way slowly to pro level as a NASCAR driver while training to compete in the 2016 Olympics. 

His plan is to retire from swimming after those games and slide right into the race circuit.

As for Caroline, she is an independent website designer who needs only a laptop to do her job. Traveling is not a problem, and she can live where she wants.

The great race

While waiting for his opponent on Sept. 3, Kosciusko fired up a grill in advance of preparing a post-race dinner, and he talked about his strategies, the main one being to go with the breaststroke, which is Clary’s weakest. 

As he got ready for the race (and dinner), Kosciusko never quite got around to expressing why he was so confident that he would win. He and Clary were tied so far at the other competitive pursuits they’d faced off in. But why would one go up against an Olympian in his sport?

Kosciusko spends his days climbing trees and is on the rope rescue team. He has great upper body strength, but a three-decade age disadvantage.

There were hints of doubt   — such as Kosciusko refusing to let anyone take the tags off his new swimsuit and the way he appeared to relax a bit when the appointed hour came and went without a sign of Clary.

“This would not be the first time he’s ducked me. I think he’s chickened out again.”

As if on cue, the competition sauntered in.

Caroline held out a couple of Speedos, asking Clary if he wanted the rainbow ones. 

“It’s not going to matter,” Kosciusko muttered.

Clary attempted to maintain a nonchalant demeanor. This was clearly a no-win situation for him, but he had ducked it for too long. 

“Skip has no grasp or perception of how little this competition means,” Clary said in an aside to the press.

But Kosciusko was paying attention to the next arrival: his son, Mitch, with the coveted P-Cup, a gold (painted) trophy he made himself, the “P” supposedly a nod to the many failed attempts to get Clary to compete.

It was game on when Clary pulled out his white Olympic swim cap and, with the grace that comes from years of experience, snugged it onto his head, his name and American flag emblazoned on the sides doing the talking for him.

Even the smallest edge …

There was a lot of talk about strategy. Cornwall Fire Chief Fred Scoville was among those who thought Kosciusko should have gone with a full-body waxing, but once on scene, Scoville was more concerned that he refused to wear a life jacket. 

Like he was going to agree to that, when he was worried his racing goggles would slow him down.

As if to mock him, Clary showed up with a beard.

Would he give any other handicaps? 

“No charity here,” Kosciusko said, cutting off any offers.

A small crowd proceeded to the dock, where Kosciusko continued to reveal a bit of nerves by asking how the race was to start and so forth.

Finally, with Mitch filming from a canoe and Skip’s wife,  Annie, filming from the boathouse balcony, they took their marks. Kosciusko hit the water first, but Clary was already in the lead when he surfaced to take his first stroke halfway to the float.

He reached the turn about six strokes ahead and finished about 10 ahead, with an official time of 42 seconds. No one marked the second-place time.

Kosciusko was a good sport about it. His triumph was in going the distance and simply getting Clary to another competition. And his sense of humor was stoked.

“My strategy was to give him a comfortable lead, then sprint for the finish. But I ran out of breath, and I lost my goggles,” he said while shaking Clary’s hand and posing for photos.

A post-race note: Kosciusko no sooner finished grilling  steaks for everyone than the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to a serious traffic accident (see story, Page A2). The EMT and fire captain was off like a superhero.

For the YouTube video of the great race, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn38VbqI2pQ.