by Dave Scott
I enjoyed the gentle sunshine of a sleepy autumn day as I drove across the Agate Pass Bridge to Bainbridge Island, making my way to the 19th Annual Bainbridge Island Aquatic Masters Festival (BAMFest). BAMFest is the only Masters meet hosted in Kitsap County and was sorely missed by the local “West Side” swimmers.
Three years had passed since I had travelled to this venue, so I hedged my bets and used my vehicle navigation system just to be sure I could find the Aquatic Center. The weather was beautiful for an October in the Northwest – 75 degrees and only the occasional cloud. It was obvious that Mother Nature had generously decided to delay the monsoon season in celebration of the resumption of BAMFest. The parking lot was full of excited swimmers extracting gear bags and chairs from their vehicles.
Eight eager souls from TWIM sojourned to the meet, including swimmers who recently joined the workout group: William Maibauer, Kerry Ness and Joseph Shelly. Gentlemen, welcome to Team Walker International Masters!
During the chaos of the meet, Dan Underbrink managed to introduce me to both Kerry and Joseph. In a brief conversation I had with Joseph, I teased out that yes, he could go sub-60 seconds in the 100 IM once he “gets in shape.” Man, that must be nice. He already sails past me as though I’m bobbing around like a cork.
Pent-up demand resulted in 119 PNA swimmers who were anxious to find some local racing venues. Surprisingly, there were approximately 30 first-time USMS competitors at the meet, prompting the meet facilitators to provide a brief tutorial of protocols relating to the start of each race, such as when to mount the blocks along with explanation of the beeps, boops, and jargon that will get you plunging into the water without mishap. Taking some time to mentor all the new swimmers was a thoughtful touch.
Are there enough electrons on the Internet to discuss all of Dan’s races? I’m not a physicist but I’m going to say “yes.” However, typing it all up might give me carpal tunnel syndrome, and Dan would feel bad about that. I’m confident Dan Underbrink sees the Order of Events through the eyes of a kid in a candy store. Nearly as predictable as gravity, Dan signed up for the maximum number of events you could swim (6), which added up to 1,150 yards of racing. He didn’t really seem that tired afterwards, but what would you expect from someone who swims around Mercer Island for fun?
Holly swam her 100 Butterfly within a half-second of her personal best, and in a pool that is not known for producing fast times, so….a very solid race indeed. Holly also ventured into new race territory and swam the 50 and 100 Backstroke, chocking up some very respectable times.
Joseph matched up with Dan in numerical quantity, swimming six events. I was in the lane next to him in the 200 freestyle as I watched him motor away from me at a high rate of speed. I didn’t know it was him at the time, but I remember wondering who that young whipper-snapper was cruising along ahead of me. Eventually I lost track of him but at least he didn’t lap me!
Looking at Kerry’s USMS profile, he’s now up to 475 swims, that’s some serious experience. Kerry raced the 50 Backstroke and both breaststroke events. Looking at his USMS results, Kerry is a very versatile swimmer that looks like he has a slight preference for the breaststroke while at the same time enjoying Individual Medleys and the occasional distance freestyle.
Brent swam a personal best in the 50 Freestyle, going a blazing half-second faster than the next closest swim in a total of eight attempts in his current age bracket. Well done Brent!! A half-second in a 50 is a big, big deal. Carl snapped a nice action shot of Brent in the 200 Freestyle….look at that form – head down, good rotation, nice arm angle.
Bill signed up for the 50 and 100 Freestyle races, chalking up his first two recorded swims on the USMS site. Bill, now you have a personal frame-of-reference to race against. The toughest competition is always when racing yourself. Best of luck.
Thomas was another 6-event swimmer, blasting away at the 200 and 500 Freestyle, along with other assorted races. Tom improved on this 500 free from this past July by 24 seconds. Congrats!
Carl swam a reasonable number of events, four, like myself, and acquitted himself admirably against his peers. His backstroke is so smooth you get lulled into thinking he’s not whizzing through the water, at least until you see the time up on the board. Carl was in the lane next to me in the 50 Breaststroke, so my best move was to try to duck under the lane rope and draft for a while, but I decided that might result in a DQ. So I swam a legal race while watching Carl pull away. For those of you not familiar with Carl, he swims all the strokes in a nationally-ranked sort of way, and adds insult to injury by making it look easy.
Dave (your author) swam the breastroke events, and kept the adventure alive by swimming the 200 Freestyle and the 100 IM. In the picture above you can see my head is too far back, bringing shame upon me, my family, TWIM, and my workout buddies. Even my dog looked at me funny when I got home. My coaches from the 1980s probably felt a disturbance in the Force. All was not lost however, as the lead-off event, the 200 Freestyle, went quite well for yours truly (not being a freestyle aficionado) with the event unexpectedly lacking the usual fade at the 125 mark.
If you’ve read all the way to the end, you must be a TWIM fan, and forgiving of amateur writing. Thanks for your patience!
