Columbus East freshman Josh Pendleton and Columbus North junior Brooklyn Pendleton pose for a photo Wednesday at North’s Chick Newell Natatorium. The Olympians and Bull Frogs will compete in their annual dual meet Tuesday at North.
Submitted photo
When Tyler and Elise Pendleton and the youngest three of their six children attend the annual crosstown swim meet on Tuesday, they’ll be wearing half-blue, half-orange shirts that say “A House Divided.”
That’s because the Pendletons’ second-oldest, Brooklyn, is a junior on the Columbus North girls team, and their third-oldest, Josh, is a freshman on the Columbus East boys squad. The Bull Frogs will host the annual dual meet with the Olympians at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Brooklyn said. “Obviously, we’re not actually going to be swimming against each other, but with the teams competing and cheering, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Brooklyn and Josh are part of a family of swimmers. Although the oldest, Kenzie, now a freshman at BYU, ran cross-country at North and never swam competitively, Brooklyn got the ball rolling when she began taking swimming lessons at age 9 from Rachel Sabotin at their neighborhood pool. Sabotin, who swam at Trinity Lutheran and Akron University, talked her into trying out for Club Olympia.
“In our old neighborhood, we had this pool, and I started swimming, and I really enjoyed it, and that turned into swimming competitively,” Brooklyn said.
Josh began swimming around age 3 and has had a decorated age-group career.
“I just like being in the water,” Josh said. “Once I started getting good, I liked to win.”
Lily, a seventh-grader at Central Middle School, and Chad, a fourth-grader at Southside Elementary, also swim for Club Olympia. Greta, 3, likes being in the water.
“I don’t think I ever really envisioned us getting into swimming like we did,” Tyler said. “After Brooklyn had the tryout with Club Olympia, I volunteered to help coach (Jennifer) Brinegar with coaching, and Josh followed up, and then Lily and Chad. I don’t know if Greta will end up swimming or not. It’s just whatever she wants to do.”
Tyler swam in high school in Utah and lifeguarded and taught swim lessons in college at Utah State, where he met Elise. Elise ran cross-country in high school, also in Utah.
Tyler, Elise and Kenzie moved from Utah to Columbus in June of 2008 when Tyler landed a job with Cummins. A month later, Brooklyn was born in Indianapolis after Columbus Regional Hospital was closed because of the historic flood.
“We had to take a few back roads,” Tyler said. “We were kind of on an island, but we figured out how to get there.”
Columbus East freshman Josh Pendleton and Columbus North junior Brooklyn Pendleton pose for a photo Wednesday at North’s Chick Newell Natatorium. The Olympians and Bull Frogs will compete in their annual dual meet Tuesday at North.
Submitted photo
Brooklyn has been playing soccer longer than she has swam. She began playing parks and recreation soccer in elementary school, then with the Columbus Express Soccer Club in middle school. She has been a starter at center back for the Bull Dogs the past two years.
“They’re just super different,” Brooklyn said. “Soccer, I like the team aspect and competing as a team. Swimming, I love the community and the training and the endurance that goes into it.”
Meanwhile, Lily and Chad also ran cross-country this fall, and Lily has been involved in dance.
“(Swimming has) been a bonding sport for the kids,” Tyler said. “It makes for some fun conversations at dinner time. We also encourage them to try other things, pursue their passions and see what they really enjoy the most.”
For Josh, that has primarily been swimming. He’s off to a strong start to his first high school season, having won both of his individual events in each of his first two meets.
“I’ve been looking forward to it for the past two years because I’ve been swimming with (the high school kids),” Josh said. “So it’s a lot of fun. I’ve had some decent swims in the dual meets so far for being tired.”
The entire family is excited about Tuesday’s meet.
“It will be really hyped,” Josh said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Tyler added. “This will be my third time attending it, and a lot of the swimmers on both teams swim for the club that I’ve helped coach. It’s competitive, but they’re also good friends, and it’s a friendly competition, and they all get together afterward to have pizza. They want to win, but it’s a friendly rivalry. It’s one of the highlights of the season for sure.”
