For the last several years, Central Oregon Masters Aquatics (COMA) has played host to a different and fun event at the Juniper Swim & Fitness Center in Bend. Titled the “All-Around Challenge: SCM Pentathlon and Brute Squat Meet,” meet director Bob Bruce shares that the event started as an intersquad contest and evolved into a regular meet on the Oregon Masters swim calendar (December 10 this year).
The All-Around Challenge has four different Pentathlons to choose from:
- Sprint Pentathlon is 50s of each stroke (fly, back, breast and free) & the 100 IM.
- Mid-Distance Pentathlon is 100s of each stroke & the 200 IM.
- Long-Distance Pentathlon is 200s of each stroke & the 400 IM.
- Brute Squad is the 200 fly, 400 IM and 1500 free.
A neat motivator for this meet format is that Oregon Masters Swimming keeps records for the cumulative time of the five events in the Sprint, Mid-Distance and Long-Distance pentathlons: http://swimoregon.org/records_pdfs/OMS_Pentathlon_SCM_records.pdf
This year, a rather large winter storm hit central and southern Oregon on the night before the event. However, that didn’t keep these dedicated swimmers from showing up and swimming fast!
One particularly riveting match-up this year was a COMA spouse “duel-in-the-pool” in the Sprint Pentathlon. Gillian Salton pulled out a win in the last event over hubby Jan Voeller, to earn the cumulative 5-event win by just 0.12 seconds (3:53.04 to 3:53.16)! Gillian’s time was also a new Sprint Distance Pentathlon record for women age 45-49. Congrats Gillian!
In addition to Gillan’s record, there were 5 other swimmers who set Pentathlon records:
| Sprint | Women 70-74 | Ginger Pierson | 5:06.22 |
| Sprint | Men 55-59 | Keith Uebele | 3:16.22 |
| Mid-Distance | Women 35-39 | Stacey Kiefer | 8:06.46 |
| Mid-Distance | Men 30-34 | Matthew Marceau | 7:09.10 |
| Mid-Distance | Men 35-39 | Matt Miller | 7:23.38 |
Keith Uebele also set an Oregon record, on his way to the overall Sprint Pentathlon record for Men 55-59, in the 50 fly with a time of 29.18. Well done, Keith!
Matt Miller, Hardy Lussier, Matthew Marceau and Scot Sullivan Relay. Set a Zone record by 20 seconds.
There was also quite the showdown in the 1500 free, the final individual event before the relays at the end of the meet. Across the middle of the pool the lane assignments were: Sara Nelson, Scot Sullivan, Darren Kling and Hardy Lussier. These are all amazingly fast, record-holding swimmers, and the race they had was unforgettable. Scot and Darren finished only 0.11 seconds apart! And Sara Nelson swam herself to two Oregon records (with a split at the 800). Her 1500 was also a Northwest Zone record. Great job, Sara!
The other Northwest Zone record that was set at the meet took place in the Men’s 160-199 800 freestyle relay. Despite having just swum the 1500, Scot Sullivan and Hardy Lussier somehow saved enough energy to combine forces with Matthew Marceau and Matt Miller to obliterate the Zone record with a time of 8:30.69. The relay broke the previous Zone record by over 20 seconds! In fact, it is about 20 seconds faster than any 800 SCM freestyle relay in any age group in the history of Oregon Masters Swimming, and the second fastest time ever in the Northwest Zone. Great swimming, guys!
Sili Pint Awards
If you’ve never attended a Pentathlon meet, it’s definitely worth checking out and giving a try. In addition to being a fun experience, a Pentathlon can also introduce you to events you may have never swum before – you might just find a new favorite event! At the very least you’ll go home with a cool SiliPint drinking cup!