The King Marlin Swim Club hosted the last meet ever at the Oklahoma City Community College Olympic Festival Pool June 26-28, and in a fitting tribute to a pool known nationwide for fast swimming, competitors ended the pool’s 26-year run with six new state records.
OCCC announced in April that the pool will close at summer’s end due to funding issues. The facility was built in 1989 to host the Olympic Festival and has since been home to hundreds of swim meets as well as numerous local and high school swim teams. Last weekend, more than 300 athletes from across Oklahoma and nearby states came to say their farewells to the pool during the KMSC Firecracker Open.
Setting records at this final meet were KMSC Edmond swimmers Kate Janzen, 12, and Rylee Lindhardt, 17,as well as Piper McNeil, 10, an unattached swimmer from Shawnee, Okla.
Janzen swam a 2:30.72 in the 200-meter backstroke and a 1:10.06 in the 100-meter backstroke to set two state records in the Women’s 11-12 Division.
In the Women’s 17-18 Division, Linhardt swam the 400-meter individual medley in 5:02.97, the 200-meter backstroke in 2:18.91 and the 50-meter backstroke portion of the 200-meter medley relay in a 31.56 for three state records.
McNeil, swimming in the Women’s 10-and-Under Division, set a new state record in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:49.17.
“The KMSC Firecracker Meet was a bittersweet experience,” said KMSC Co-Head Coach John Brown. “It was definitely exciting to leave this storied pool with six new state records.”
“On the flip side, this pool has been the heart of Oklahoma swimming for more than 25 years,” Brown said. “Kids have learned to swim here and watched their dreams come true here. Shuttering this facility is a significant loss to Oklahoma swimming and to our community. I remain hopeful that we can come up with a way to fill the void left by its closing.”
KMSC is a competitive USA Swimming team with locations at OCCC in south Oklahoma City, The Lighthouse in northwest Oklahoma City and Mitch Park YMCA in Edmond. The team was created in spring 2014 by longtime Oklahoma City area coaches Brown, Kathy Mendez and Josh Everett.
Swimming news courtesy of King Marlins Swim Club.
This is crazy. I stumbled across this article today and I still can’t believe OCCC closed their pool. I remember this day clearly, and It is crazy that it has been 3 years.