We made the trek to Walnut Creek, swam a bunch, broke some records, and generally were recognized as 'a presence' !!
First of all a big 'THANK YOU' to all the swimmers who made a personal commitment to represent Bay Masters at the Championships !!!
I appreciate your team spirit and it helped make the endeavor all the more satisfying for all of us there.
We were definitely noticed as a team ! The coaches from other teams noticed our 'presence', and the swimmers from other teams noted our fast swimming
So here are the results 'by the numbers'
In 2008 we placed 2nd overall in the team competition with 1, 743 points -- this year we also retuned with the 2nd place team trophy, but with 2,146 team points !
And we had more points scored per swimmer than last year also !!
Unfortunately we 'lost' a lot of team points due to disqualifications ('DQ's') -- due to not paying attention to proper (and legal) technique -- but this is something that can be easily rectified by 'ALWAYS' doing legal turns in practice each and every day !!
But we also were well represented in the 'Individual High Point Award' category also !! That award is given to the one swimmer who scores the most points (by virtue of how high they place in all their events) in their age group, by sex over the entire 3 days of competition.
In the 25-28 Women -- Devon Chen took home the 'High Point Award' and in the 30-34 Men -- Clayton Jones won that trophy for his age group. Congratulations to both !!
but we also had some 'depth' in that competition by virtue of all our swimmers who placed in the 'top 4' in their respective age groups.
Here are those 'top 4' finishers in the "High Point" competition:
Women (18-24) Megan Baker (2nd) Ashley Acevedo (4th)
Women (25-29) Christine Tarn (4th)
Women (30-34) Dawn Kalmar (2nd) 'Kika' Jonnson (4th)
Women (35-39) Virginia Alber- Glanstaetten (4th)
Women (45-49) Laurie Lewis (4th)
Women (50-54) Barbara Klencke (4th)
Women (55-59) Jacklyn Litman (4th)
Women (60-64) Kathy Bailey (4th)
Men (25-29) Coram Byrant (2nd) Jesse Zalatan (4th)
Men (30-34) Casey Ketterling (2nd)
Men (35-39) Matt Harrington (2nd) James Giulianotti (4th)
Men (40-44) Michael Johnstone (2nd)
Congratulations to all the above swimmers !!
And now the "record breakers" -- we had a number of swimmers, and relays, that broke Pacific Masters records and well as a National Record !!
In 'individual events' --
Women:
1) Megan Baker broke the Pacific Masters record for the 1500 meter Free by over 30 seconds ! And she also broke the Pacific Masters record in the 200 meter Breaststroke by over 6 seconds !!
Men:
1) Clayton Jones broke the Pacific Masters record in the 50 meter Free (and interestingly it was held by one of my swimmers on another team from years ago ...) ! And he also broke the Pacific Masters record for the 100 meter Free (also held by a former swimmer I coached) -- and Clayton's time in that 100 Free was only 13 hundredths of a second off the National Record !! And finally Clayton broke the Pacific Masters 400 meter Free record by over 3 seconds !!
Thank you both for making it an exciting weekend !
In 'relay events' we did some damage to the record books too !!
1) in the (Mixed 100-119 age group) the 200 meter Free relay team of (Devon Chen, Casey Ketterling, Megan Baker, and Clayton Jones) broke the Pacific Masters record by almost 6 seconds and were just a few seconds off the World Record !
2) in the (Mixed 100-119 age group) the same 4 swimmers nipped the Pacific Masters relay record in the 400 meter Free relay !!
3) And finally -- in the (Mixed 120-159 age group) the relay team of Megan Baker, Darrin Connolly, Devon Chen, and Clayton Jones smashed the Pacific Masters record for the 800 Free relay by over 12 seconds -- AND -- eclipsed the current NATIONAL RECORD for that event by over 3 seconds !!!
All in all a great weekend and with only a few 'slip ups' that can easily be corrected with focus and attention !!
So, again -- to all who made the trek to Walnut Creek -- "THANK YOU" -- and your team mates Thank You -- and 'Bay Masters' is a better program for the honor that you brought to it by virtue of your presence and performances at Walnut Creek!!
Here are some photos provided by some of our swimmers.
Scooter Morris