Reporting from San Antonio, TX, Spring Nationals April 28—May 1
The two oldest swimmers at Nationals last week were two women, 99 and 104 years old. I couldn’t help musing that they both must be excited to be aging up into new groups next year!
Swimming alongside these amazing women were over 1800 other competitors, 43 from PSM, with five of us representing the Blue and White: Dan Underbrink, Brad Jones, Steve Fogg, Dave Scott and myself.
The facility was, in a word, stunning. The competition pool ran simultaneous 10-lane heats, which moved the meet along at a brisk pace. As many as 3000 spectators can fit comfortably in the stands, behind which a diving tank provided a dozen more lanes for warm up/down. A few steps away from the diving tank was another 50 meter pool, this one indoors, and available all day with USMS coaches on deck for starts and stroke work.
With so many lanes available, we never felt the chaos like a start of an open water swim; there was plenty of water for everyone! The facility is only a few years old, the result of 12 area high schools pooling (!) their resources to build one spectacular facility instead of 12 smaller ones. It was a wise decision, resulting in a great experience for the high schoolers, and those of us perhaps a bit older. It’s become a great revenue producer for the area as well, and indeed the TYR Pro Swim Series held a meet here just last month.
The weather was predictably fickle. One moment it was cloudy, the next moment spitting rain, the next sunny, humid and oppressive. As Steve Fogg pointed out, “We got lucky with the weather. If it was sunny the whole time we were going to be very uncomfortable.”
With a great facility and good weather, we had no choice but to swim fast.
Dan Underbrink got us off to a proper start with a Top Ten finish in the mile. While his time was a little slower than his last 1650, he was still all smiles after the race. (We all are all smiles after a race, but one’s smile is always a little broader after a 1650!) Dan continued his aggressive schedule with a pair of 14th places in the 400 IM and 200 Back, a 16th in the 200 Breast, 19th in the 100 Back and 21st in the 100 Breast. A very impressive 4 days of swimming for Dan, who’s now all warmed up for Fort Lauderdale and the National Senior Games in a week’s time. Best of luck to you, Dan!
Steve Fogg, like Dan, spent a lot of time in the pool, swimming 6 events and recording Top Tens in all 6. His highest placing was 6th in the 50 back. He tacked on 8th places in the 200 fly, 100 back, and 500 free (crushing the 7 minute mark with a strong 6:55), and a pair of 9th place finishes in the 400 IM and 200 back. A great showing, and another decent warmup! Next week, Steve will be plying international waters at the Tunisian Open Masters Meet. Good luck, Steve, from everyone in the TWIM community.
Dave Scott had a great age-up meet, competing with the 55-59 year olds for the first time. He came with game and saved his best for last, swimming the final individual event on the final day, the 200 Breast. His time of 2:38.62 earned him 6th place in a very competitive age group. His next highest placing was 11th in the 100 Breast, where he crushed his entry time by 2 seconds. Other solid placings were 14th in the 50 Breast and 23rd in the 50 free. Dave also teamed up with Brad for 9th place in the 55+ Medley Relay. Excellent work, Dave!
Brad Jones experienced both the highs and lows of national-level competition. The highs: A stunningly quick 400 IM (4:49.65!) which put him 4th in the 55-59 age group, and a blistering fast 100 Fly (57.56), also good enough for 4th! In the 200 Medley Relay, 55+ age group, Brad swam the Fly leg and threw down a split of 26.0, doing more than his part to bring in 9th place. Unfortunately, during his fly leg, Brad blew out his shoulder and had to sit out the rest of the meet. The good news is that Brad did some serious damage in his age group before his shoulder shut him down.
Shoulder issues are common for butterflyers in particular, as yours truly can attest. I aggravated my right shoulder in the 100 fly at Bellingham, and did it no favors with a jammed finish in the 100 back at KCAC a few weeks ago. Bottom line: Back felt fine, free felt okay, breaststroke was hopeless (but it always is), and fly was painful and impossible, resulting in (reluctant) scratches the 50 fly and the 200 IM on Sunday. I did register a 14th place in the 200 back and a 17th in the 100 back, with solid times but short of my aggressive goals.
Now, I’ve never come home from Nationals without a Top Ten, so my streak was in serious danger. Brad’s misfortune turned out to be just the opportunity I needed. I got bumped up to the A 200 Free relay, 55+, and filled in for Brad on the anchor leg, bringing it home in 26.1, and an 8th place team finish! Whew!
Outside of TWIM, there were other impressive swims that came out of the PSM ranks. Sarah Welch won both the 50 and 100 fly, and served as our unofficial coach and organizer of relays, since the decision was made by PSM not to pay for a coach for the meet. PSM also had a slew of Top Ten’s which earned us, in the team scores, 10th for men, 34th for the women, and 19th overall.
Rick Colella? He found it impossible to swim without setting a national record in the 70-74 age group, going 6 for 6. During his 200 free, the meet announcer remarked, “Wow, this fellow in lane 5 has a seed time that’s faster than the national record. Let’s see if he can actually do it!” Well, he actually did it, crushing the previous record by 7 seconds. I believe he beat the 200 IM record by 11 seconds. We talked briefly after his 100 IM, and he was all smiles, only partly because he set another national record. You see, he wanted to break a minute. His time? 59.97.
I do hope they have nationals in San Antonio soon, so that more of us in the TWIM community can experience the facility, the generosity of Texas, and a lane filled with fast water.
In the meantime, it’s back to work. Some of us, like Dan and Steve, have events coming up. Some of us are going back into training, and I know at least two of us who will be doing some shoulder rehab.
But I do know this for certain: We’re all going to keep going.
Because one day, it would be nice to age up into that 105-109 group.
–Bob Moore
