Dawn Baird
Published: February 22, 2006
Pensacola Junior College’s Gulf Coast Pirate Swimmers brought home a trophy after winning first place in the 2006 Auburn Masters Invitational Swim Meet Feb. 11-12.
Swimmers, separated into age groups, competed in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and IM categories, winning by a whopping 500 points and outdoing last year’s win by 493 points.
The Gulf Coast Pirate Swim team is varied in age, and gender. Women’s age groups range from 25-29 through 80-84 and the men’s from 25-29 through 65-69.
Earning the most points for their age groups – Katherine Clarke 60-64, Sally Menk 65-69, and Marjorie Stone 80-84 won first place in 10 categories. Dotty Whitcomb 75-79 won first place in five categories, and Dennis Paedae 55-59 made a high point splash with second through fifth places in nine categories.
“We do it for fitness, exercise, and camaraderie,” said Whitcomb, PJC’s Aquatics Coordinator, who is proud of the 23 swimmers who helped them win.
When asked how she could improve on an already winning team, Whitcomb said, “Were just a team doing our best and having fun, but I’d like to have more swimmers.”
In fact, Whitcomb has her eye on Dr. Charlie Schuler, PJC’s department head of history, languages, and philosophy who she coached years ago when he earned a swimming scholarship.
“I want him back on this team. He would be such an asset.”