Zoltoski Swimming Pentathlon

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It’s pretty safe to say that fundraising is an integral part of youth sports. It helps defray costs for equipment facilities, maintenance, end of season gifts, etc. The Lock Haven swim parents were faced with the same issue several decades ago and came up with a novel approach to raise funds; a swimming pentathlon. What at one time was a simple fundraiser has turned into a premier swimming event in central Pennsylvania.

The pentathlon was the brain child of John and Mary Ann Zoltolski along with several other swim parents who in 1980 created a race in which each athlete swims in four individual events: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. The times for each event are added together and the seeding for the last race, the individual medley (combination of all 4 stokes in one event) is based on those times. After all five events, the swimmer with the lowest accumulation of times is the winner.

John and Mary Ann had a strong interest in swimming as their three kids started swimming at a young age and continued on through high school. “John and Mary Ann loved swimming because they felt that it taught sportsmanship,” said Loretta Jones, longtime friend and ex-president of the Lock Haven YMCA Swim Team Parents Association. “In addition, the Zoltoskis’ believed that not only was it a team sport but a sport that allowed an individual to excel”.

John passed away in the 1990’s and the parents named it the John Zoltoski Pentathlon. Mary Ann carried the torch until her death in 2008. At that time, the YMCA Swim Team Parents Association changed the name to better reflect the effort of both supporters, the Zoltoski Memorial Pentathlon.

“Kids return year after year because they tell me that it’s fun”, said Jones. “Mary Ann always had a story about swimming. My favorites were the ones that involved kids a little rough around the edges and the discipline of the sport that eventually straightened them out”.

Now in its thirtieth year, it attracts swimmers from all over central Pennsylvania and the Zoltolski’s swimming passion lives on.