PENDLETON — With more events returning to Oregon and Umatilla County, Pendleton is moving fast to play host, including for Oregon Swimming’s 2021 Championships from to July 22-25 for swimmers 11 years and older.

Oregon Swimming, a local swimming committee of USA Swimming, put on the championships, which normally take place at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham. But, Mount Hood made the decision during COVID-19 to not open for any events this summer, forcing Oregon Swimming to find a new venue for their championship event.

“Initially we didn’t even know if we would be able to hold a championship meet,” said Debbie Laderoute, the executive director of Oregon Swimming.

With 28 teams in attendance, approximately 35 officials, 50 coaches and nearly 500 athletes (down from around 800 in 2019) plus family members, Laderoute estimated the event helped Pendleton see an influx of more than 1,000 people during the course of the competition.

Swimmers from Portland to Bend to Medford converged on Pendleton and were well supported by the community, she said. Pendleton, with one of the few 50-meter swimming pools in the state required for the long course swim season running from April until the end of August, seemed like a good choice. Better yet, the Pendleton pool was outdoors, which would help prevent COVID-19 from spreading.

Laderoute and the team at Oregon Swimming reached out to Jeff Hamilton, a recreation supervisor for the city of Pendleton, who agreed to host the championship at the Pendleton Aquatic Center.

“They were really excited to help us plan this event,” Laderoute said. “They helped make it happen for us.”

Additionally, the Pendleton Aquatic Center and Pendleton Swim Association loaned Oregon Swimming the use of all of their equipment for the event, which was generous, she said. The Main Street Cowboys also were in attendance to help and donated two canopies for coaches to escape the sun.

“Our families and teams are extremely thankful to Pendleton and the aquatic center and to the Pendleton Swim Association,” Laderoute said.

All this, despite the Pendleton Swim Association and Umatilla County residing outside of the boundaries of the Oregon Swimming committee. The local swimming organizations instead are in the Inland Empire Swimming committee, which also consists of parts of Idaho and counties in Eastern Washington. Only members from within the Oregon Swimming LSC were allowed to compete in the Pendleton event, however.

“For a lot of our kids, this is the first event that they’ve had an opportunity to be a part of since COVID,” Laderoute said. “We had a short course championship meet at the beginning of March and that’s in around the time that things started shutting down.”

And, with no host team this year, Laderoute said she was proud of how the Oregon swimming community pulled together to make this event a reality.

“It really felt like our community coming together to make it happen,” she said.

Additionally, Laderoute credited volunteers who traveled from across the state to take part in the return of championship swimming in Oregon.