OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) — An area aquatics director and swim coach recently placed in several events at the U.S. Masters Swimming Long Course National Championship.

Oil City native and former Clarion University swimmer Jennifer Kissell McClellan, who works as the Aquatics Director for the Oil City YMCA, placed third in the 50 freestyle, second in the 100 breaststroke, third in the 100 Freestyle, second in the 200 breaststroke, sixth in the 50 Fly, and first in the 200IM at the LCM Nationals at Spire Institute in October.

McClellan, whose mother was also a swim coach, first began swimming at the age of five, following in the footsteps of her siblings. She swam on the Oil City High School team and continued swimming her freshman year of college at Clarion University.

“Competing was always fun because I was good. It was rewarding,” McClellan told exploreClarion.com.

“Big meets were my favorite and meeting people on other teams.”

However, she walked away from swimming competitively during her sophomore year in college.

“I quit in college because it was a lot and I thought I was burnt out…. but I was actually just being lazy!”

She only returned after taking on the position of Aquatics Director and Swim Coach of the YMCA team at the Oil City YMCA in 2013, starting out swimming to get back into shape after the birth of her son, then later returning to competitive swimming.

Since that time, she has been ranked nationally in several swimming events. She was ranked first in the 25 freestyle, sixth in the 100 IM, eighth in the 100 Freestyle and 20 IM, eleventh in the 200 freestyle, twelfth in the 50 breaststroke, 14th in the 50 butterfly, 17th in the 50 freestyle, and 18th in both the 100 backstroke and 500 freestyle for the 2018-2019 United States Masters Swimming.

Then, she ranked second in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle, as well as the 100 IM in the 2019-2020 season.

She has also represented well at the Keystone State Games, with four wins in 2018 and four in 2019, and has qualified to represent Pennsylvania at the State Games of America, which are held every other year. McClellan has also held the record for the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 50 breaststroke, 100 breaststroke, and 100 IM at the Games.

“Swimming is hard, but that is what separates it from other sports and makes it great…and you can swim at any age or level of our life,” McClellan noted.

According to McClellan, her goal for the future is to become a national champion.

“And, I wanna swim a 50 free in 24 seconds and the 100 free in 54 seconds.”