CORRECTION: Bluffton Community Pool will close at 6:00 p.m. on Friday July 7 due to lifeguard involvement at the swim meet. Saturday hours will be as usual.

The Bluffton Sardines will swim their last event for the summer of 2023 at the 40th annual Elks Invitational Swim Meet and WOAL League Championship in Kenton on July 7-8. Of the 148 swimmers on the Sardines team, 104 will be competing at Champs and will be the largest team there.

Five Sardines who will be aging out of the program: Landon Armstrong, Avery Bowers, Allison Diller, C.J. McCall and Riley Verb.

Sardines board member Jeff Bowlus told the Icon that the Championship meet is a very collaborative event with every team doing something. Bowlus said that the swimmers are looking forward to this meet, having learned a lot and had a lot of fun despite some weather challenges.

Champs will be held in Bluffton in 2024, which has been coordinated to fall on the 50th anniversary of the Bluffton swim team.

Family and friends are invited to attend the Kenton meet at the Kenton Municipal Swimming Pool,920 W Franklin St. More than 500 swimmers will compete at the event, which is open to swimmers aged 5-18 who are members of a Western Ohio Aquatics League team. The meet is free and open to the public.

Teams participating in the competition are from Ada, Bluffton, Findlay, Kenton, Shawnee Country Club, Wapakoneta, Westside and Van Wert.

Friday, July 7 - 9:00 a.m.-2 p.m.

Saturday, July 8 - 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

League champs will be crowned at the end of day two and one female and one male WOAL 2023 high school graduating swimmer will be awarded The Beverly R. Little Memorial Scholarship in recognition of their participation in the WOAL Swim League. The Lima Mayor’s trophy will also be awarded by Kenton Mayor Lynn Webb, to recognize an outstanding individual(s) service to the WOAL. 

Local companies and individual sponsors for the WOAL include Lima Elks #54, The Beverly R. Little Scholarship Fund, Around the Clock, Century 21 Sunway Realty, Diamond M Vet Clinic, Golden Graphics, Graphic Packaging, JTB Tech, Kenton Fire Department, Office Experts, Poco Loco, Precision Strip, Quest FCU, and Rogers Insurance Agency. 

Food trucks will include 101 Smokehouse; Kona Ice (Findlay); Mark’s Homemade Ice Cream; Circle U Waffle Co. ; Glazed Over (Kenton); Moore than Just BBQ; Burgers, Fries and More and Kloepfer’s Kitchen.