Welcome to the Members

 Spotlight Page

Pieter Cath 

Pieter Cath loved swimming. Pieter was involved in masters swimming for most of his adult life. First and foremost, he enjoyed to swim. He could usually be found racing through the water and honing his skills at the Orange workouts. He met his best friend and companion, Lilly Kron through masters swimming. Pieter had a significant hand in the growth and development of O*H*I*O Masters Swim Club.  He was very involved in the administration of masters swimming not only at the local level but also at the national level. He was a true ambassador to the sport.

Pieter first started swimming with the masters in the early 1970’s when the idea of masters swimming was very new. He started at the Southeast YMCA in Cleveland, Ohio and later joined O*H*I*O Masters. Not only did he attend workouts and meets both locally and nationally, but he was also very involved in the development and leadership of O*H*I*O Masters. He was the president of O*H*I*O Masters from 1982 to 1986, leading the club during its early developmental and growth years. He was also the first newsletter editor and kept members appraised of activities, meets and best times.  Over the past 25 plus years, Pieter was responsible for directing more than 116 meets and numerous open water events. He worked tirelessly behind the scenes to prepare for the meets, then ran them on deck. He also usually managed to squeeze in an event or two himself. Pieter, being a computer genius, developed the computer software that he used to run the meets. His program was one of the first developed in masters history used to run the heats and tabulate results. In addition to the many local meets that Pieter directed, he also directed two national masters long course championship meets, the first one at the Canton CT Branin Natatorium in 1981 and the second at the Cleveland State Natatorium in 2002.

Pieter was also very active in the national administration of United States Masters Swimming. In 1999, he became Chairman of the Records and Tabulations Committee, a position he held until his death. His responsibilities included keeping track of the Top Ten times for the short course yards and meters events, the long course meters events and the open water swims. Pieter was also credited for developing a program to track the Top Ten times for the Lake Erie LMSC.

During Pieter’s swimming career, he himself made the top ten list twice and was an All American Relay swimmer.

Pieter’s contribution and commitment to masters swimming was truly significant. He helped make O*H*I*O Masters the strong swim club that it is today, and provided innumerable opportunities for swimmers to compete in a fun and positive way.

He will be surely missed.