4th Bde. 'Highlanders' take top honors in intramural swim meet

By Dustin Perry, Fort Bliss Garrison Public AffairsNovember 13, 2014

4th Bde. 'Highlanders' take top honors in intramural swim meet
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4th Bde. 'Highlanders' take top honors in intramural swim meet
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4th Bde. 'Highlanders' take top honors in intramural swim meet
3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Crystal Michealson, assigned to 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Armored Division, dives into the water at the start of her leg of the women's 400-meter freestyle relay during the Commander's Cup swim meet Nov. 6 at the Aquatics Training Cen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT BLISS, Texas (Nov. 13, 2014) -- Though their unit nickname includes the word "land" in it, the Soldiers of 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division, proved equally at home in the water when they won the Commander's Cup swim meet held Nov. 4 through 6 at the Aquatics Training Center on East Fort Bliss.

The 4th Bde., 1st AD "Highlanders" performed consistently across 11 individual and team events, finishing with 45 points -- a comfortable 10 points ahead of second-place finishers U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy, and a whopping 30 points ahead of third-place finishers 11th Air Defense Artillery Bde.

The multiple heats in each event were completed in rapid fashion, with male and female swimmers diving into the water in quick succession and only short breaks in between to confirm completion times, tabulate scores and get the next group of competitors situated in their respective lanes.

Several members of the Highlanders began preparing for the meet months and weeks in advance, a fact that likely gave them an edge when it came time to compete, one team member said.

"This year we had a concerted effort to put together a team," said Megan Jantos, who won silver in the women's 100-meter backstroke and claimed at least five medals in the first two days of the competition. "We put in a lot of hard work; we were pretty steady throughout simply because we had the numbers; it showed that we practiced."

Jantos said she has been swimming all her life but has never done so competitively, so her preparation for the meet involved working on improving her turn speed and refining her breathing technique in the water.

"This was about coming out and having a good time and doing the best that I could and earning points for the team; I just wanted to come out and support the unit," said Jantos. "I'm getting ready to (change duty stations), so this was sort of the last event I got to do with my unit."

One Highlander was a competitive swimmer in high school and college but admitted that prior to the Commander's Cup event, the last time he raced was in 1998. He learned of the meet two weeks beforehand and essentially had to double his weekly swimming regimen in order to prepare.

"We were training a couple of hours every day, Monday through Friday, and since I was behind I was doing two hours on Saturday and Sunday on my own," said Ricardo Morales, who won individual medals in the men's 100-meter butterfly, breaststroke and freestyle, and shared a silver in the men's 400-meter freestyle relay. "It was awesome because I learned from people who had been swimming regularly. It was awesome seeing them swim and seeing us come together as a team (at the meet)."

Winning the competition was a great accomplishment, but intramural sports in the Army are about more than medals and trophies, said Morales.

"This is about resiliency," said Morales. "We work from six in the morning until sometimes six at night, so we need some release. Some people go to the gym, some people play football or soccer, but being in the pool -- for me -- is like being in the ocean; it's freeing. That helps a Soldier to perform on a daily basis."

Event distances ranged from 50 meters up to 500 meters, and included individual heats in the freestyle, butterfly, back- and breaststrokes. Team events included the freestyle relay and the medley relay, where each member of a four person team swims one each of the competitive strokes.

Other units that competed in the meet included the Combat Aviation Bde., 1st AD; the 15th Sustainment Bde.; William Beaumont Army Medical Center; 2nd Bde. Combat Team, 1st AD; the Brigade Modernization Command; and Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st AD.