What is a pentathalon anyway?

In swimming, a pentathalon is a meet where swimmers compete in all four of their individual events (the freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke) along with an individual medley, or IM.

For each swimmer, the times for all events are totaled, and the swimmer with the fastest total time wins their age and gender group. 

The pentathalon is a physically demanding event, but it allows swimmers to compete in more than the usual number of races, which is three in a typical meet. For the Kaiserslautern Kingfish swim team, this meant yet another victory.

On Sept. 15, 58 Kingfish swim team members traveled to SHAPE, Belgium, their first away meet of the season, to take on the SHAPE Seals, the NATO Marlins and the Rota Tiburones in the first of two pentathalons scheduled for this season.
The Kingfish continued their winning streak with a 533-479-328-34 victory. Of the 12 individual pentathalon titles up for grabs, the Kingfish came away with five.
Annika Zimmerer (6:00.18) and Elizabeth Gorske (3:53.55) swam away with victories in the 12 and under groups. Both swam 50-meter individual events and a 100-meter IM. 

Danielle Davis (8:06.69), Bobby Gaston (7:46.49) and Connor Davis (6:55.07) took honors in the 13 and over groups. They swam 100-meter individual events and a 200-meter IM.

Connor Davis, 18, also left the pool with all five individual first place finishes in hand. Also of note was that the girls’ 11- and 12-year-old group. The Kingfish trio of Gorske, Penelope Washington and Nagisa Reed managed a 1-2-3 sweep of the top spots.

“We told the kids to go after it, and they did,” said meet coach Chip Bassett. “I was really happy about that.” 

Noah Craig, 13, and Alyssa Nelson, 10, certainly did go after it; both of them achieved five personal best times. Sam Bassett, 13, and Chloe Craig, 11, posted four personal bests.

Forty additional swimmers ended the day with at least one personal best time. Swims of the meet included Preston Harrison’s 200-meter IM at 3:23.19, which was a 24.78 second drop in his previous best time, and Gabby Managbanag’s 50.89 time in the 50-meter breastroke, which represented a 2.28 second drop.
 
The Kingfish host their next meet Saturday at the Ramstein Aquatic Center. They will host teams from Lakenheath, Hohenfels, Wiesbaden, Heidelberg and the Eifel.

(Courtesy of the Kaiserslautern Kingfish swim team)