John Pace '88
Hall of Fame Inductee
Swimming
John Pace attended Bishop O'Connell from 1985-1988. While there, he swam on the Varsity team all four years. In 1987, he broke the 500-yard freestyle record and was on the 4-man relay team that broke the 400-yard relay. In 1988, John was selected as Captain of the Swim Team and broke his 500-yard freestyle record. John also swam year-round for Curl Swim Club and competed in many swim events. In 1987, at 16, he signed up for the 4.4-mile open water swim across the Chesapeake Bay and, out of 414 participants, came in 2nd place overall. In 1987 and 1988, John was a USA Junior National Qualifier.
After high school, John accepted a scholarship to swim at the University of Richmond. He swam on the school team all four years of college and was Captain of the team in his Junior and Senior years. He competed in long distances and was the CAA Conference Champion in 1992 in the 1650-yard freestyle.
His impressive list of accomplishments include:
1983-86 Washington Golf & Country Club (Arlington, VA)
- 1983 Most Valuable Male Swimmer
- 1984 Most Valuable Male Swimmer
- 1985 WGCC Senior Medley Relay Record holder
- 1985 CCSDA Conference Champion- Butterfly
1985-1986 Knights of Columbus (Arlington, VA)
- 1985 Colonial Division Champion- Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly
- 1985 Pool record free & butterfly (June and July)
- 1986 Colonial Division Champion- Freestyle, Butterfly, IM
- 1985-88 Bishop O'Connell Varsity Swim Team
1987 500-yard free record holder
1987 400-yard relay record holder
1988 team captain
1988 broke his own 500-yard record
4 time Washington-Metro all conference
1987 The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim (4.4 mile open water swim), second place overall out of 415 participants.
1987 and 1988 USA Junior Nationals Qualifier
1989-92 University of Richmond Varsity Swim Team on Scholarship
1991 & 1992 Team Captain
1992 CAA Conference Champion 1650-yard Freestyle
1992-94 Texas Christian University (TCU) Assistant Swim Coach
1994-96 University of Richmond Assistant Swim Coach
2001 Ironman USA Florida (2.4 mile open water swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) with an overall finish 405 out of 1818 participants, 35th place out of the water and had a finish time 10:57:28, average finish time was 12:24:22
2002 Ironman USA Lake Placid (2.4 mile open water swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) with an overall finish 280 out of 1751 participants, 35th place out of the water with a finish time of 11:18:28, average finish time was 12:58:39
2010 Jim McDowell Lake swim (he signed up for back to back races that day, 1 mile first) a. 1-mile swim- 2nd place in age group, 6th overall out of 107 participants b. 2-mile swim- 3rd place in age group, 21st overall out of 164 participants
2010 The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim (4.4 mile open water swim) 23 years later he finished 74th overall out of 600 total swimmers. John did not wear a wetsuit and placed 5th overall out of 89 non-wetsuit swimmers.
East Coast Xterra triathlon championships (1-mile swim, 30km mountain bike, 10k trail run), where he completed 6 times.
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