THE FRONT ROW with BRUCE BOURQUIN, May 22, 2015

Victoria Dickinson and Lorna Henry each finished second in the nation, swimming last month for the Kroc Masters Swimming Club.

Dickinson, a 69-year-old massage therapist, and Henry, a 74-year-old who cares for her blind husband, excelled at the U.S. Masters Swimming Spring Nationals from April 23-26 at North Side Aquatic Center.

In the 50-yard backstroke, in the women's 65-69-year-old age group, Dickinson touched the wall with a time of 38.28 seconds.

THE NATIVE of Houston, who has lived in New York City, Paris, Ohio and Connecticut also finished fourth in the 100 individual medley (1:23.57) and was fifth in the 50 free (31.19).

"I entered it as a lark," Dickinson said. "I hadn't practiced it much. I'm proudest of my individual medley. I took six seconds off my best time."

Henry equaled that result with a runner-up finish of her own, in the 70-74 backstroke (44.04). She also tacked on third-place finishes in the 200 backstroke (3:26.42) and the 100 back (1:37.36).

"No one seemed to doubt I could do it, but I did," said Henry, who has lived in Coeur d'Alene since 1999. "I'm stunned."

Before 2014, both swimmers hadn't swum competitively for several decades - 52 years for Dickinson, who has lived in Cd'A since 1979, and an even 60 for Henry, who worked as a secretary, including the University of Idaho's College of Education from 1984 to 1996.

"I had abdominal surgery in the fall of 2013," Dickinson said. "When I returned, I thought to myself, 'Don't let them talk you into a swim meet.' Two months later, I started in January of last year."

BOTH ARE very accomplished swimmers from when they were younger. Dickinson swam from 1963-1967 with the University of New Mexico, has one son, Blaine Mynatt, who swam from 1989-1993 with the University of Washington. She has three grandchildren who are all swimmers. Her father, John T. Dickinson, was a diver at Princeton and her mother, Marjorie (Breidenbach) Dickinson, was asked to try out for the Olympic swimming team - Victoria said she's not sure if it was the 1936 or 1940 team - but mom decided she had too many other things to do.

"It's a legacy, something my family passed down," Dickinson said.

Henry is a local legend in Portland. In 2010, she was inducted into the Portland Interscholastic League Hall of Fame, for her accomplishments at Cleveland High until 1958.

"I tied for third as a 15-year-old," Henry said. "I swam for the Multnomah Athletic Club and I was inducted into their Hall of Fame."

DICKINSON SAID the facility in San Antonio featured a 22-lane, 25-yard main pool, a 13-lane warmup pool and several other pools nearby. She was also part of a 200 medley relay team that finished 15th and a 200 free relay team that finished 18th. The seven-member team representing the Kroc Masters - including Cindy Clutter, Margaret Hair, coach Mike Hamm, Julie Mauer and Sharpe - combined to finish 49th out of 188 teams in the entire meet.

"I felt real good about that," Dickinson said.

She should and so should Henry. Not bad for competing after two generations' worth of time off between competitive swims.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, via e-mail at [email protected] or via Twitter @bourq25