Each year, United States Masters Swimming (USMS) holds two national championship swim meets. The first is the Spring Nationals, which is a Short Course Yards meet. The second, is Summer Nationals, which is a Long Course Meters meet. Each meet is hosted by a different club in varying parts of the country. This year, the Summer Nationals was hosted by the Mission Viejo Nadadores swim club, one of the oldest and well respected swim clubs in all of California, if not the nation. Having been born and raised in southern California, I was well aware of this club and their awesome facility, the Marguerite Aquatic Center.
The upper photo shows the general layout of the competition pool. The lower photo shows the conditions during the meet, which were absolutely perfect.
My trip to Summer Nationals this year was "hands down" one of the best experiences in my entire life. This was my second USMS nationals swim meet, and this time I brought home a medal! Thanks to three of the Sun Devil Masters swim divas (Katy, Jonelle, and Christie), our 200 meter medley relay came in Third!
The medal win came on the first of four days of competition. I was secretly hoping to bring home at least a 10th place medal, but to actually win a Bronze was beyond my wildest dreams.
Besides winning medals, one of the best parts of swimming is the people! Our team this year was comprised of 35 wonderful swimmers from all over Arizona, including one Olympian, Clark Burckle, who competed in last summer's Olympics. Watching him swim his individual events, and his contributions to the relays was worth the trip alone. However, there were many, many, fun and exciting moments that took place over the four-day event that I will never forget.
What a team!!
Marc, Katy, Taylor, Aung Sann, Terry, Jonelle, and Christie, modeling the team t-shirt.
During the competition, points are awarded for 1st to 10th place, which are tallied at the end of the meet. Arizona Masters won first in the Men's, Women's, and the Regional Team categories -- a clean sweep!
In between all of the racing, we hung out together in our group of three shade tents.
I swim with a really fun bunch of people as evidenced by the following photos.
Swimmers come in all sizes.
Swimmers come from all walks of life. Here, we have a Technical Writer (me), a recent college grad, a lawyer, a family member of an auto racing equipment business, and an M.D.
Here we again have a lawyer, two software engineers, a nurse practitioner, a lab scientist, me, and an architect. I think I hang out with a pretty impressive crowd.
Some of the gals hanging out between races.
Rachel, Shoshanna, and Alicia having some fun with their Championship Patches and Medals.
Arizona Masters Swimming TATTOOS!!! (yes, they are temporary)
Brother and sister, Greg and Katy, photobombing the girls.
Alicia showing off her swimmer muscles. This was her first meet in 6 years and not only did she go home with several medals, she got to swim on the relay with Clark, our Olympic swimmer.
Alicia and Clark Burckle just before the start of their relay.
Clark last swam for the University of Arizona before competing in the 2012 Olympics, where he came in 6th in the 200 meter Breaststroke. While competing in this meet, he walked away with the Masters world record in the same event. Way to go, Clark! He helped us big time when it came to racking up points for the team, especially in the freestyle and medley relays.
Shoshanna waiting to swim the Butterfly leg after Clark's Breaststroke leg in the mixed medley relay.
This post would not be complete without recognizing a bit of history in the making. Think about it, in about 70 years, our youngest relay team will be the same age as the swimmers in the photo above!! These people are what Masters swimming is all about. Don't they look amazing?!! I had the pleasure of watching them swim this relay and throw down a new world record. I hope to be trying to achieve the same thing by the time I'm in my 90's!!
