Sisters swimmer earns a fistful of medals

Swimmer Tom Landis returned from the masters nationals in Indianapolis last weekend with a fistful of championship medals in hand. His only blemish on a perfect record was a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, which he narrowly lost to Jim Elder of Minnesota, who was one of the meet's other stars.

Otherwise, all the medals were gold. Landis earned national championship honors in 1,000-yard freestyle (12:20.51), 500 free (6:02.35), 200 free (2:10.48), 400 individual medley (5:37.35) and 200 IM (2:34.62).

Landis, of Camp Sherman, had been training much of the winter in anticipation of this meet. He works out at Sisters Athletic Club and credits his success in no little part to the encouragement he gets there from members and staff, especially his indefatigable training partners, Kris Calvin and Scott Miller. Bob Bruce, Landis' coach from Bend, traveled to Indiana with Tom and swam well, earning top-10 finishes in all his races, including a second place in the grueling 1,650 freestyle.

Landis will take a well-deserved hiatus from swimming, before a return to competition in late summer.