Rancho San Dieguito Swim Team’s annual USA swimming-sponsored event raises $75,000

Boys & Girls Clubs of San Dieguito’s Rancho San Dieguito Swim Team (RSD) held its annual Swim-a-Thon this year with record-breaking swims in the female and male categories from Revere Schmidt (5,350 yards) and Carlos Munoz Renteria (5,800 yards). Collectively the 324 RSD swimmers aged 5 to 18 covered a distance of 991,765 yards, or 563 miles, which is roughly the distance from San Diego to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Mendocino in Northern California, Moab in Utah, or San Ignacio in Baja Mexico.

Participants with the Speedo googles they received.

(Courtesy)

The event raised $75,000 in proceeds for youth financial assistance and updated equipment for the Doug & Marianne Pardee Aquatics Center at Boys & Girls Clubs of San Dieguito’s Harper Clubhouse in Solana Beach. Swimmers also received prizes--groups with the highest rate of participation received the newly released Speedo EV Vanquisher goggles from Speedo, one of RSD’s official team sponsors. USA Swimming awarded incentive prizes, and prizes were given to the top three fundraising groups, the two female and male record-holding swimmers, and top female and male group leaders by yards.

The annual Swim-a-Thon is typically a one-day event, but this year it was stretched across a full week in order to accommodate all swimmers while complying with social-distancing guidelines that limit the number of swimmers permitted in the pool at one time. RSD coaches and staff were happy to be able to adapt the event so the annual fundraising tradition could be upheld. Joe Benjamin, who has been head coach for RSD for 25 years, described how this year was a unique one:

“It is always rewarding for me to see how our athletes and families rally around our team by participating in our annual Swim-a-Thon event. This year was even more special because I know that our families, our athletes, and our coaches have all had a challenging year with struggles of their own related to the pandemic and the quarantine, which kept us from the thing we all love and work so hard for. To see our families and swimmers participate at the highest level in our team’s history, during the year that has been the most difficult in our team’s history, means so much and it speaks to the culture and environment we all cherish at RSD and Boys & Girls Clubs of San Dieguito,” said Benjamin.