Christine McClafferty, Lex Higlett, Arlene Delmage, Jessica Stacy
The Southern Pacific Masters Swimming Short Course Championships returned after a three year hiatus. Perennial hosts Long Beach Grunion Masters debuted this meet in a new venue, the Long Beach City College Pool. The facility is an outdoor 65 meter by 25 yard pool with a bulkhead. Eight OMS members made the trek southward in hopes of finding warmer weather and fast swimming. As you may recall, the first weekend in December brought snow to the Portland metro area. Temperatures all along the west coast were cooler on that particular weekend but everyone agreed that they liked this new venue. For the past decade this meet has been held in Commerce and anyone who has ever attended can attest to the lack of warm up space at this location.
OMS members in attendance were Arlene Delmage, David Hathaway, Alexis (Lex) Higlett, Rick Howell, Christine McClafferty, Christian Sellers, Jessica Stacy and Scott Sullivan. There were 415 swimmers in attendance making it one of the larger SCM meets in the US. California swim meets tend to bring out some very fast swimmers. 55 teams entered and OMS came in 10th place with only 8 swimmers and no relays! High point award winners were:
Lex Higlett (35-39), Christine McClafferty (45-49), Arlene Delmage (60-64), and David Hathaway (60-64).
There was a lot of really fast swimming and Oregon masters definitely cheered on their teammates. Everyone agreed that the bonding was great and our team dinner on Saturday night (more Mexican food than you could ever eat) was super fun. If this meet fits your schedule you should definitely check it out. It is very well run and a lot of fun. This meet is always held the first weekend in December. If you are not in the holiday mood, this meet will put you in it.
Congratulations to all the swimmers for a really fast meet and a great time.
