TWIM engaged in some amazing swims this past weekend at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way on November 19th and 20th. Yes, this year’s Puget Sound Masters (PSM) Short Course Meters (SCM) Championships did not disappoint as 140+ masters of all ages splashed their way to glory!
Kudos to Meet Director Lisa Dahl, Meet Referee Teri White, the many top notch officials, and all the volunteers that made this meet so much fun to be a part of!
When TWIM wasn’t busy swimming, we looked on as 15 World, 18 USMS National, 63 PNW Zone, and 80 PNA records fell!! In fact, smoke could be seen rising from the Meet Announcer’s mp3 player during his last play of Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”.
Ten TWIMmers signed up this year but illness kept 1.5 of us away. We say .5 because Coach Brian Guillen couldn’t keep himself away for another day. On Sunday, while battling a cold, he swam exceptionally well in two relays. We can be most proud of his butterfly split in the 200 Medley Relay – right around a best time we think we heard him say – along with an equally fine performance in the 400 Free Relay.
Carl Haynie must not have gotten the memo about avoiding too many relays. He found himself humbled leading off two World Record Men’s Medley Relays in the 240-297 age group with the likes of Olympic medalist Rick Colella, awesome butterflyer Don Graham, and blistering fast freestyler Dave Hannula. He also secured a Zone record in the 200 back on Saturday (bettering his mark from last year by 3 seconds), a Zone record in the men’s 200 free relay, and a PNA record in the 100 breast.
Brad Jones got firsts in every event he swam Saturday and Sunday, capturing the high point award in his age group! In fact, 3 TWIMmers won such an award when the dust finally settled last weekend. Brad was quoted as saying he wanted to swim some “uncomfortable” events in this meet, and we think the 400 IM and 200 Fly proved that! Yup, imagine 700 meters of IM and 350 meters of Fly. Did it slow him down? Nope! His 100 IM was 3 seconds faster than last year. And his 100 Fly was 3.5 under. Excellent!
While Betsey Kassen “only” swam 4 events, she swam farther than most of us, tackling such events as the 1500 free, 800 free, and 200 free. Conventional wisdom would dictate one would slow down before aging up into your next age bracket in Masters, but that does not apply to Betsey. She broke her PNA records in the 1500 and 200 free, proving she’s getting faster with age! And her 800 free wasn’t far off from her 12:02 record posted last year. Fantastic!
Tammy Regan Koppelberger swam in 7 – count ’em – 7 races including the 800 free, 400 free, 200 IM, and 800 free relay. Her second home seemed to be behind the blocks or in the dive tank getting ready for the next race, we’re not sure. She nabbed at least 4 personal best times as a Masters swimmer, improving her 800 free by nearly 17 seconds(!) over last year, her 400 free by 7.5 seconds, her 200 free by 2.5 seconds, and (inhale) her 100 free by 3 seconds. Awesome!
Winning the “animal” award this year was our own Kathy Pelham. She tore up 3100 meters of water with her 5 swims. And her Women’s 800 free relay set a Zone record to boot! The 1500 free is an absolute beast of an event, and this year it came at the end of the meet on Sunday. Did that matter? Heck no! She took two and a half minutes off her estimated seed time before it was all over. Her 800 free was 21 seconds faster than last year and her 400 free 8 seconds under. Amazing!
Frank Powell swam 7 fast races, and he never looked fazed once. In fact, he was commanding in the 100 free and looked great in the 50 back, taking a second off his time from last year! Just like Brad, he left his comfort zone and tried all sorts of different races. And we think it paid off! His one “comfort zone” swim, if one can call the 100 back “comfortable”, was a blistering 5 seconds faster than last year. Way to go, Frank!
Valerie Powell gets speedier and speedier! Her 50 back was a smoking 7 seconds under last year’s time, and her 100 free was 6.5 seconds faster. She medaled in 5 races nabbing gold in the 100 free, 50 back, and 100 back. Her 50 free was also her fastest 50 free to date. Rounding out her 6 races were strong swims in the 200 free and 200 back. Oh, and yeah, Valerie won the high point award in her age group. Congratulations, Valerie!
Chairman Tom Walker has swum more races than anyone we know. Since they’ve been keeping track online (2000?), he has swum 492 of them before this weekend! And we know he swam in many meets before 2000. Well, he added a few more this past weekend. Like coach Brian, he wasn’t 100 percent, but he still gave the 200 and 100 breast a go and looked great in the 50 breast on Saturday. So, now, 495 races are in the books. Very cool!
All in all, it was a great weekend. Go TWIM!!!
