Swimmer Spotlight: Nancy Vincent


Age: 57
Workout Group: Lacamas Headhunters
Occupation: Engineering Manager at HP

Nancy Vincent

Nancy Vincent

As a child growing up in Palo Alto, CA, I swam in a few summer league meets,  but really started competing when I joined my Junior High Swim Team in 7th grade.  After that season, I begged my parents to let me join an Age Group team and I’ve been swimming ever since.

I attended Dartmouth College as an engineering major and swam all 4 years there.  After college in 1982, I moved to McMinnville, OR, to work at HP.  I was tired of spending so much of my time devoted to swimming and I decided to try other things.  I really didn’t think I was going to get back in the pool any time soon.  I started running, which led to triathlons, which led back to swimming.

In 1986 I joined OMS and started swimming in meets because I found out Masters Nationals would be in Portland that summer.  I’ve now been a member of OMS for 31 years, although I haven’t been active in swimming during all those years.  In the 80s and early 90s I swam with Masters workout groups in McMinnville and Newberg.

In 1997, I took another job with HP in Vancouver, WA, when HP decided to close the site in McMinnville.  When I first moved to Vancouver, there were very few places to swim and none were convenient.  I took a year off from swimming and went back to exercise classes and running.  In early 1998, Lacamas Swim & Sport opened in Camas with a 3 lane 25m indoor pool that was near the HP office.  I joined before the club opened and started swimming again, but didn’t compete for several years as my kids were young.  In 2003, the outdoor 8-lane 25m pool was built at the club and we started a Masters team.  I joined and was one of the charter members.  I’ve been swimming there ever since.

As a Masters swimmer, probably my most memorable experience is competing in the World Masters Championships at Stanford in 2006 with a large group of OMS swimmers.  That was a fun team experience.

Currently, I am a manager of a team of engineers at HP developing ink jet printers.  I try to swim 4 times a week with the Lacamas Masters team, although sometimes work and family get in the way.

I am married to a runner and have 3 children, one in college and two in high school, none of whom are swimmers.  In my limited free time, I enjoy reading, hiking and skiing.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *