Lavelle Stoinoff - Masters Athlete

Lavelle Stoinoff has been called the “Janet Evans of masters Swimming.” Stoinoff, who started swimming at the age of 12 at Portland’s Columbia Park Pool, holds over nine world records in the women’s 60-64 age group. She graduated from Beaverton High School after setting many Oregon high school swimming records. Unfortunately for Stoinoff, athletic opportunities for women athletes in the 1950’s were slim. College scholarships were awarded to male athletes and the Olympics had no long distance swimming events, Stoinoff’s specialty. So she retired from swimming in 1953 at the ripe old age of 20. After marriage and raising a family, Stoinoff returned to the pool in 1977 when she joined a small masters club to “lose weight and have fun.” It took only a year for her to regain her competitive fitness and become a national age group champion. And that was only the beginning of an outstanding masters swimming career for Stoinoff. With a training regimen consisting of six days in the pool, weight training, running, and stretching she has become one of the best female long distance masters swimmers in the world. Stoinoff currently holds most of the national and world records for women over 50 years old at distances greater than 400 yards. She owns world marks in the 400, 800 and 1500 meter freestyle and the 200-meter backstroke. She also holds national records in the 200, 500 and 1650 yard freestyle. Stoinoff’s exploits have been recognized in her home state as well as receiving the Oregon Women in Sports Award and was recognized as Oregon’s Outstanding Female Master Athlete of 1987.  She also has been named Oregon’s Outstanding Masters Swimmer of the Year nine times overall and six times in the 1990’s. Even more remarkable is that many of her records were set after recovering from tow torn rotator cuffs in 1990, injuries that doctors thought might end her swimming career.