| | Published August 17th, 2011
| 55th Annual OMPA Championship Swim Meet Rocks Campo's Soda Center
| | By Marissa Harnett |  | | Sophia Kosturos(OCC) at start for Girls 9-10, 50 yard freestyle
Photos Andy Scheck
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Lamorindans don't need a calendar this time of year. One look around town at the decorated SUVs complete with painted windows and rooftop paraphernalia indicates that it must be OMPA Championship weekend. The first weekend in August marks this three-day event at Campolindo's Soda Center where the nine teams that makeup the Orinda and Moraga Pool Association swim in one of the largest recreational meets in the country. This year celebrates 55 years of competition.
The face-offs began Friday night with just one event - the Individual Medley. It was an exciting beginning to the weekend as three records were brought down. In the girls' 9-10 category, not just one, but two girls broke the previous record that had been set in 1982. Both Sophia Kosturos of Orinda Country Club and Megan Colpo of Moraga Valley Pool managed to beat this nearly 30 year old time. Colpo will hold onto to the record because she touched first with a time of 1:08.55.
Saturday's action brought many hours of preliminaries and then final freestyle and breaststroke events with the medley relay capping off the day. Although six new records were crushed, a non-record setting swim by the 6-and-under girls in the 25 free final could not have been more dramatic. The first four finishers - Lindsey Lucas of Sleepy Hollow, Mia Colombini of Moraga Ranch, Kali Sharma of Sleepy Hollow, and Meghan McAninch of Orinda Country Club - touched just .3 seconds apart. Lucas posted the winning time of 18.23. More excitement followed when the next three finishers, all from Meadow Swim and Tennis - Lauren LaCour, Dania Innis, and Grace Clark - all touched with the exact same time of 19.94. Just .01 seconds behind them came Ellie Buckley of Moraga Country Club to create a virtual four way tie for that fifth place spot.
Sunday rounded out the weekend showcasing the backstroke, butterfly, and free relay events. Again, records went down, but an unbelievable finish to the day came at the last moment. In the boys' 15-18 200 free relay, the very last swim of the day, the OCC and Meadow foursomes vied for the top spot. Amidst the deafening roar of the crowd, the two teams furiously swam an intense neck-and-neck race. Everyone watching jockeyed for better positions to glimpse the photo finish. In the end, the first place honors went to BOTH teams as they touched simultaneously posting identical tying times of 1:27.70.
By the end of the weekend, a staggering 12 records were etched into history. OMPA embodies a community with unbounded spirit and love of competition. As Moraga Ranch parent Shauna Silva put it, "It's an exciting, crazy, adrenaline rush...the kids love it."
Total Team scores
1 Orinda Country Club 3,774. 50
2 Meadow Swim & Tennis Club 3,589. 50
3 Sleepy Hollow Legends 3,280. 50
4 Moraga Country Club 2,179
5 Moraga Ranch 2,018. 50
6 Moraga Valley Pool Swim Team 1,952. 50
7 Orinda Park Pool Swim Team 1,798
8 Campolindo Cabana Club 1,764
9 Miramonte Swim Club 1,465. 50
High Point winners
6 & under Lindsey Lucas Sleepy Hollow 48
Jordan Kumar Sleepy Hollow 45
7-8 Maya Supran OPP 69
Brody Crouch Moraga Ranch 64
9-10 Megan Colpo MVP 72
Garrett Dunn OCC 69
11-12 Analisa Pines Meadow 66
Scott Wu Meadow 72
13-14 Emily Byrne Meadow 68
Tyler Bartis CCC 72
15-18 Sierra Robbins Meadow 69
Charlie Wiser OCC 72
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 | | Megan Colpo (MVP) was 9-10 high point winner
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA