A slightly biased account based on some fact and some hearsay with a tiny bit of first hand knowledge pieced together by the swimmer who spent the least time there….
1016 swimmers registered for USMS Masters LCM Nationals at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. 15 swimmers from Puget Sound Masters attended including three TWIMmers: Zena Courtney, Maoz Alsberg, and Kathy Pelham. The meet lasted 5 days to accommodate the number of distance swimmers and apparently would have gone longer had they allowed distance swimmers to swim both the 1500 and 800…
It was a well-organized event in a lovely city. There were a total of 55 national records and 39 world records broken.
The 1500 free on Wednesday was the first event….
Kathy swam the 1500 on a slightly extended layover in Minneapolis on her way to a family gathering in Michigan. The water was warm, her swimming wasn’t fabulous, but her time of 21:48:44 gave her a 5th place finish in her age group, a medal, and the ability to say she’d swam in a national event for the first time ever.
The live feed was a huge thrill for her family—All of her living relatives: 3 kids, husband, aunt, uncle, and sister gathered in front of the television in Glen Arbor, Michigan (population 788) to sit and watch (super exciting…yay.) Kathy swim back and forth. Her ever sarcastic sister suggested she would only watch if Kathy did a synchronized swimming move at the end (yes, I once, briefly, was a synchronized swimmer… but that’s another story) But after the 1500, exhaustion overcame her and she was unable to comply with her dear sister’s request. Plus, she had a flight to catch and vacation to attend to….
Zena arrived on Wednesday, briefly passing Kathy outside the pool but didn’t swim til Friday. She swam exceptionally well, finishing the meet with 2 gold in the 100 and 200 back, silver in the 50 back, and 4ths in the 50, 100 and 200 free. A very impressive load of medals for a short period of time! Congratulations, Zena!!
Maoz’s first event was the men’s 200 Medley Relay with PSM swimmers, Mats Nygren, Rick Colella, and Todd Doherty. With a time of 1:58:59, they finished in 2nd place. Maoz’s lightning fast 50 free spilt time of 25.48 brought them to a nail biting finish.
In his most unusual choice of events, the 50 back, Maoz placed third, proving that there isn’t much he can’t swim well. (I’m still waiting to see a 1500 one day….)
The 100 free was next and then Maoz’s final event, the 200 free relay. This was not intentionally his final event. He apparently forgot he isn’t a human bulldozer and slammed into the wall with such force he broke a bone. The impact was so great that, upon examination, doctors felt he needed a cast on the destroyed arm.
Although he looks a bit like a shadow of his former self in this picture, he has since lost the cast and it appears he will make a full recovery. If it is indeed true that bones mend stronger after a break, we will await (with great anticipation) the appearance of the new and improved version of Maoz.
The pool, on the other hand, has seen better days….
One thought on “USMS Nationals August 2-6, 2017”
Way to go TWIM!! Especially Maoz… that’s impressive!