New England SCY Champs: April 5-7, 2002

Note -- Entries for this meet must be postmarked by March 18, or received by March 22. If you want to join us, get your entries in soon! -Rick Osterberg Meet Operations

This is the last day to postmark your entry to the 2002 NE SCY Championship meet. You may also send in your entry via express mail BUT it must be received by Friday March 22nd. We've received over 300 entries as of this morning and we expect more than 600 swimmers at this meet. This is the largest regional SCY meet east of California. Check out the entries processed to-date or get more meet information at: www.swimindex.com/meets/2002/nem-scy/

THE 2002 NE SCY CHAMPIONSHIPS IS NOW CLOSED FOR ENTRIES WE HAVE 683 SWIMMERS ENTERED FOR THIS MEET PROVING ONCE AGAIN THAT NEW ENGLAND IS THE CENTER FOR MASTERS RACING BASED ON MEET PARTICIPATION PRELIMINARY PSYCHE SHEETS ARE NOW POSTED ON OUR WEBSITE. CAN'T MAKE IT TO THE MEET? FOLLOW THE ACTION IN REAL TIME VIA LIVE SCOREBOARD OR WEB CAM. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: www.swimindex.com/.../

Sounds like you had a great meet. During the weekend I watched the score board - quite an operation -congratulations. My only question is before the meet: "WE HAVE 683 SWIMMERS ENTERED" and after the meet "We had 685 individual participants and 322 relays! " Were you taking deck entries? and everyone showed up. wow - you are the center. :-) michael

We did have a couple of really "late" entries... at least one that was very much delayed in the mail with a correct postmark, and one that appears to be completely lost which we added. Not everyone came to the meet... but we did have very high turnout. We actually had fewer scratches on the whole than we expected. Even for the early 500 free session after the daylight savings switch, virtually everyone made it in for check-in on time. -Rick

Results from the 2002 NE SCY Championship can be found at: www.swimindex.com/.../ We had 685 individual participants and 322 relays! A number of USMS SCY National records and many NE records were broken over the weekend. We will post a meet summary here very soon. Coverage of 2002 NE SCY Championship will be broadcast on National Public Radio "Only a Game" next weekend. We will also provide broadcast details will also be included in a meet summary. Good luck to master swimmers in other parts of the country as they prepare for their big meets.

Michael: Looks like I engaged in some vote counting ala the infamous local mayor Curley. As Rick reported to me after my post, the numbers for this year (adjusted for scratches and a few "late" entries): 2002: 675 swimmers 3,420 splashes 592 swimmers 2, 819 splashes You'll note that's about a 14% increase in entries and 20% increase in splashes. We had very few scratches in the distance events. The various results and timeline are updated on the website. I will have a meet summary ready by end of day to review USMS National and New England records that were broken during the weekend. I think it would be helpful to start a thread for people who run large "regional" meets to compare notes and benefit from different experiences. I believe that far more USMS members participate in such meets compared to Nationals and that these meets are probably more important in terms of building USMS membership and keeping people involved in masters swimming than current USMS Nationals. First question for someone with more energy that might want to begin such a discussion. How many people across the US participate in "regional" USMS sanctioned championship meets defined as State, LMSC or Zone Championships?

Pardon, that was a 2002 versus 2001 comparison in terms of numbers for NE SCY Championship. And no, we don't take deck seeds but we accepted a few entries at the last minute (one the first morning of the meet) by people who claimed their entry form was lost and could provide some evidence to support this claim. We also did turn away about a dozen people who wanted to enter well past the deadline (a few days before) or who couldn't resolve a problem earlier enough.

So Bob when can we expect this results report. Would be nice to see exactly how fast New England is. :D

Full results are posted in various formats on our meet website: www.swimindex.com/.../ We broke 8 USMS National records and 104 NE records. I've extracted portions from the NEM E News below: CAMBRIDGE MASTERS TRIUMPHS IN NEM WORKOUT GROUP COMPETITION 8 USMS NATIONAL AND 104 NEW ENGLAND RECORDS ARE BROKEN STORY ON NEM AND 2002 SCY CHAMPIONSHIP MEET WILL BE BROADCAST ON NPR “ONLY A GAME” SEE MEET WEBSITE FOR DETAILS www.swimindex.com/.../ Preview broadcast this morning at 7:45 am. Tomorrow's broadcast scheduled 7-8 am and 2-3pm on Boston's WBUR 90.9 2002 NE SCY CHAMPIONSHIP BIGGER AND FASTER THAN EVER More than 670 swimmers ranging in age from 20 to 80 participated in the 2002 New England Short Course Yard Championships held this year at Harvard University's Blodgett Pool from Friday April 5th through Sunday April 27th. This is the largest masters swim competition east of California and this contest was both the largest and fastest NE Championship meet ever. Cambridge Masters (CMSC) won the 2002 NEM Workout Group competition outscoring more than 40 NEM-recognized workout groups throughout New England. Some 8 United States Masters (USMS) national records and some 104 New England masters records were broken over the weekend. Congratulations to all 40 NEM Workout Groups for this year’s great performance. 8 USMS NATIONAL RECORDS ARE BROKEN The swimming was exceptionally fast at this year’s NE SCY Championship. A number of people “aged-up” at this meet hoping to move up in the final standing only to find that with the increased competition it’s getting harder each year to improve your position within the age group. That wasn’t a problem for Joel Feldmann, who moved into the Women’s 50-54 age group or Jim Harvey who just joined the very competitive Men’s 35-39 as they both broke United States Masters National records. Joel Feldman set two USMS National Women 50-54 records in the 50 freestyle (25.83) and 50 backstroke (30.72). Jim Harvey broke the USMS National Men 25-29 record in the 200 individual medley (1:53.98). Five years ago, NEM assembled a relay team of 45+ men that broke several USMS National records. . This year, NEM put together a relay team of 45+ women that clearly surpassed the performance of the NEM men The fleet foursome of Joel Feldmann, Jacki Hirsty, Jenny Luker and Gayle Wettach (each USMS All Americans based on past individual performances) surprised no one when they broke 3 USMS 45+ Women National Relay records. It’s extremely rare that any club can field a relay team of four USMS All American swimmers in the same age group, at the same meet all in top condition. The swift quartet established new USMS marks for the 200 Free Relay(1:43.32 almost 5 seconds under the record and only .7 off the 35+ mark also held by NEM) 400 Free Relay (3:55.15 nearly 12 seconds under the mark( and 200 Medley Relay (1:57.99 nearly 3 seconds under the record). We predict that some of these records will last more than 10 years—unless the NEM fierce-some fore-some should try again next year. CMSC, a NEM workout group of some 120 swimmers who train at Harvard’s Blodgett pool, have broken at least one USMS National Relay record at every NE Championship meet for the past three years. This streak remains intact as CMSC broke USMS 19+ Mixed 400 free and 800 free relay records. USMS NATIONAL RECORDS BROKEN AT THE MEET Women 50-54 50 Yard Freestyle 1, Feldmann, Joel, Keene YMCA-NE, 25.83 (USMS National Record) Women 50-54 50 Yard Backstroke 1, Feldmann, Joel, Keene YMCA-NE, 30.72 (USMS National Record) Men 35-39 200 Yard IM 1, Harvey, Jim, Maine Masters, 1:53.98 (USMS National Record) Women 45+ 200 Yard Freestyle Relay 1, NE Masters - Unattached 'A' (Feldmann, Joel 50, Luker, Jennifer 45, Wettach, Gayle 45, Hirsty, Jacki 49), 1:43.32 (USMS National Record) Women 45+ 400 Yard Freestyle Relay 1, NE Masters - Unattached 'A' (Feldmann, Joel 50, Luker, Jennifer 45, Wettach, Gayle 45, Hirsty, Jacki 49), 3:55.16 (USMS National Record) Women 45+ 200 Yard Medley Relay 1, NE Masters - Unattached 'A' (Feldmann, Joel 50, Luker, Jennifer 45, Wettach, Gayle 45, Hirsty, Jacki 49), 1:57.99 (USMS National Record) Mixed 19+ 400 Yard Freestyle Relay 1, Cambridge Masters-NE 'A' (Cadwell, Pete 31, Stokes, Jessica 25, Wang, Emily 23, Eaddy, Jason 26), 3:25.12 (USMS National Record) Mixed 19+ 800 Yard Freestyle Relay 1, Cambridge Masters-NE 'A' (Dornaus, Dave 27, Stokes, Jessica 25, DeVito, Amy 23, Eaddy, Jason 26), 7:39.06 (USMS National Record) You can check out the meet website referenced above for the 104 NE records and other fast swims last weekend. Good luck to our fellow competitors in other parts of the country