Oregon Swimming’s oldest record, the 9-10 boys’ 200 Medley Relay record from 1968, was finally relegated to ancient history at the OSI 10 and Under State Swimming Championships in Corvallis, Oregon, on February 21, 2015.
A relay team made up of three 10-year-olds and one 9-year-old from the Lake Oswego Swim Club didn’t have plans to break the state’s oldest swimming record. They just went out in hopes of swimming their best and getting a gold medal.
The teammates instead swam their way right into Oregon Swimming’s record book.
Ten-year-olds James Kang (backstroke), Andrew Huang (breaststroke), Nick Simons (butterfly), and nine-year-old Walker Godfrey (freestyle), took down a record set by a team from so long ago, the record only includes the club name, David Douglas. The individual swimmers are long since lost to history.
The old record, 2:10.50, was lowered by the Lake Oswego boys who swam a 2:09.68.
“Coach Mike came up to us right after the race and said ‘You guys just broke the state record!’ We couldn’t believe it,” said Nick Simons, 10, who swam the butterfly leg. The relay team, coached by Mike McGrath and Courtney Szper, was ecstatic.
The young swimmers did the math and realized that the 47-year-old record was set by boys who are now 56 or 57 years old.
According to Oregon Swimming’s database, the 1968 record was the oldest remaining record for both relays and individual events. There was no older record, for men or women, in any other event.
Swim News courtesy Lake Oswego Swim Club
Any idea what the oldest state record from any state is?
Congratulations for breaking a long time record and making a lifetime memory for you and everyone that encouraged and cheered you on to victory!
Way to go, Walker!!!
You guys are awesome! Congratulations to for a job well done. Keep up the good swim!
Congratulations to 4 talented boys who show up, work hard and swim their hearts out to win the day. Congratulations too, to Coach Mike for picking, drilling and encouraging the winning relay team and to the boys’s parents for their commitment to getting the kiddos to practice, feeding them up, keeping them positive and loving them. Awesome good news about determination and perseverance.
WAY TO GO! Incredible team effort. Congrats.
That’s awesome. Nice job guys! I have a new challenge for you… I once ate two XL pizzas in a single sitting. Try to beat that!
Wow! That is incredible that a record stood for that long – congratulations to the boys from Lake Oswego! Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the oldest LSC record in USA Swimming is?