Oct 2019- Official of the month for October is Johanna Blackford, Administrative Official, from The Dolphins Swim Club (TDPS). Johanna is also an Electronic Timer Trainer and an Administrative Official Trainer. Johanna is an excellent team player and brilliant when figuring out how to best set up events in the computer to run a smooth meet. She is readily available to help at meets that her team doesn’t host or participate in and is willing to work any session from preliminaries to time trials to finals. She stays until the session is complete and helps to make sure that the sessions that follow are prepared. She is also readily willing to share her knowledge. If a meet has run smoothly whether it’s a local meet or a futures meet, Johanna has probably been a part of it. She exemplifies the type of official that makes our LSC top notch. Thank you for all you do, Johanna!

Martha Pagel – Oregon Electronic Timing Chair

Aug 2019 - Doug Hermanson of the BEND Swim Club is August’s official of the month. Having worked on deck as a Stroke & Turn official for four years now, Doug is training as a starter. Not only is Doug one of the friendliest guys you’ll meet on deck and at official’s meetings, he’s quite knowledgeable about stroke rules, jurisdiction, deck rotations and protocol.   Doug has worked several OSI championship meets, yet he is not afraid to ask questions when unsure about a specific interpretation. Father of younger and older swimmers, Doug often works both sessions at swim meets, even when his kids are competing at different pools across town. Doug has a fabulous sense of humor and listening to stories about his deck as well as life experiences is a hoot. I hope all OSI officials have a chance to rub shoulders with this wonderful official.  Congratulations Doug!

Reed Sloss – Central Oregon Area Chair

July 2019- It is an absolute honor to announce the July OSI official of the month, Evangeline Swift with the Tornadoes Swim Team. You can regularly find Evangeline on deck officiating with or without a swimmer in the water; she is one of those officials you know you can count on and will do whatever is needed to support the meet! She is always looking for opportunities to learn, adding them to her officiating tool box. Evangeline is a tremendous resource, scheduling and presenting clinics, mentoring officials on deck, and supporting the athlete. Along with more than 60 sessions worked this last year, she recently spent an impressive amount of time becoming YMCA certified so her team would have more opportunities. Next time you see Evangeline Swift on deck please join me in taking a moment to thank her for her dedication and commitment to OSI.

Judi Creech ~ Portland East-side Officials Chair

June 2019 -There are lots of great people who volunteer as swimming officials in Oregon, and one of them is Jennifer Milburn from the Albany Aquatics Association.  Jen wears many hats with the team in Albany, as a Swim Parent, Meet Director, and Official, and she excels at them all.  As an official Jennifer can be seen on deck, working hard, mentoring others, and learning all the time.  She actively works within the officiating team, is a positive presence on the deck, and as a S&T judge is a someone to count on.  What really stands out about Jennifer is her willingness to help in any way, and her desire to do a great job.  We are fortunate to have her as a part of our organization!

Sheila Lovell Otterstrom - Mid-Willamette Valley

May 2019- Oregon Swimming Official for the Month of May 2019 is Glen Sharp from the Oregon City Swim Club.  Glen is one of those officials who is really willing to do whatever it takes.  He is never hesitant to try something new and is willing to take whatever role on deck is needed to ensure a quality meet.  Glen first became an official in January of 2018 where he picked things up quickly.  His desire to learn as much as he can has led him to become a great trainer for Stroke & Turn Officials.  In February of this year Glen added Starter to his officiating toolbox.  Glen was a valuable contributor on the CJ team at the 11-14 Championships, despite the fact he was under the weather. In the past year Glen has dedicated himself to helping our athletes, having logged 42 individual sessions in the past year.  Please take a moment next time you are on deck with Glen Sharp to congratulate him on becoming our newest official of the month.  

Darrell Geymann  - Portland Westside Official’s Chair 

March 2019- I would like to recognize Sunny Burden from the Lake Oswego Swim Club as Official of the Month for March. Sunny is that official with the big smile that radiates across the deck. She is also the official that never says no when there is a job to be done. She has been the official coordinator for LOSC for the past two years. She makes sure the club is well represented at all the meets including meets for Lewis and Clark College. She is also responsible for setting up training clinics for the club. Sunny is a tireless worker with over 60 sessions worked this past 12 months. Thank you, Sunny for all you do for our swimmers.  

Joe Dahl - North Willamette Valley Officials Chair

February 2019 - I would like to recognize Margie Zerr as the Official of the Month.  Margie transcends officiating with developing new ways of doing things to improve the overall experience for our swimmers.  Training many officials over the years, she has helped build our team.  Margie creates a positive environment for our swimmers with her smile and positive outlook.  Her enthusiasm and dedication to the swimmers always puts the swimmer first.   She's a team player with her can do attitude and willingness to help wherever needed.  She ensures the most accurate results for our swimmers with clear, complete, accurate, and well summarized stroke briefings.  She does all of this without having her own swimmers in the water.  I would like to give a call out to Margie for all that she has done.  Please thank her the next time that you see her on deck.  

Bill Shreeve – Eugene/Springfield Officials Chair

January 2019 – I would like to nominate Cindy Eiynck from Superior Stingrays Swimming as our 2019 January OSI Official of the month! She is a delight to work with on deck—always smiling, willing to do whatever she can to make the meet’s officiating team stronger. She recently took it upon herself to attend our annual October meeting of officials so that she could take the class to become a stroke and turn trainer. What you may not know is that she drove up from the Medford area, so she had to give up the better part of her Saturday to make this happen. That is indicative of Cindy—always willing to learn more to help others. The lucky trainees that have worked with her have said on more than one occasion that they have learned SO MUCH from their session working with Cindy! Oregon Swimming is so lucky to have such a dedicated, positive person in our ranks of blue/black and white. May you soon get the chance to work with Cindy on deck to see this awesome official in action!

Julia Murphy – Southern Oregon Official’s Chair