by Holly Lickwala
This event was held at the two-year-old North Notomas Aquatic Complex in Sacramento. This facility was well thought out with plenty of locker room space, bathrooms, seating and parking; it could easily host a national event in the future as it has both a 50 meter and 25-yard pool. Held over three days with 750 registered, this was the largest number of swimmers for the championship in over ten years.
The aquatic center is close to the airport and there was plenty of lodging options within walking distance. We were fortunate that our hotel provided an airport shuttle service and was close to restaurants and shopping, so we did not have to rent a car. The weather was perfect all three days and the bleachers were covered so we never had to worry about getting too much sun except when in the pool.
Sacramento brought some solid competition with some using this meet as their big, short course meet for the season. For those swim nerds out there, like myself, here are a few examples of the speed and endurance from the meet. For the men’s 50 free, 19 swimmers finished in 23 seconds or faster and in the 100 fly 23 men swam under 60 seconds. On the women’s side, 20 women finished in under 30 seconds in the 50 free. And in the toughness category, 38 women swam the 200 fly!
Day one saw Holly Lickwala, Brent Barnes and Dave Scott all swim the 200 free with all three setting best times. Dave earned the toughness badge for the day as he flew into Sacramento just a few hours before racing and set his first of four personal bests for the weekend.
Days two and three had twice as many swimmers, yet it never felt overcrowded. There was still plenty of bleacher space and getting space in the pool was not too difficult, having 8 lanes offering continuous warm-up/cool down. Holly enjoyed the sprinter life competing in the 50 fly and 100 free and achieving a personal best performance in the 100 fly. Did she miss not swimming the 400 IM?No, not at all! Dave was the ironman of our group swimming seven events including his first ever 50 fly, along with the 100 and 200 breast. His times in the 100 free and 50 breast were impressive personal bests. Brent had solid swims in the 200 breast and 500 free. One of his meet highlights was completing his second only 50 fly. Additionally, he swam the 100 free that was just off his best time. Maybe, just maybe this writer can persuade more people into the land of butterfliers 😊
Even though PSM was only 3 strong in attendance, we amassed 230 points and placed 24th out of 58 in the small teams category. Thank you to Sacramento Aquatic Masters, the meet organizers and officials for all making sure such a large-scale meet ran smoothly. A special shout out Dave, the never boring announcer. You know this voice if you have been to a Master’s National Championship in the past few years. Maybe we will get to hear his voice in an upcoming local meet. As always, get out there, move your body and enjoy whatever pool you get to tip your toes into.
