2008 Santa Clara International Invitational May 15 - 18

many texas swimmers are going it should be very fast they also put the prelims of the 1,500 on Thursday and Finals on Sunday

Funny/pathetic story--there's a copy of the meet sheet tacked to our team's bulletin board (our team is located in the Bay Area). I thought it was there as notice of a meet people might want to swim in, but didn't really look at it since the meet is mostly during the week (and is coming up quickly). I just looked at the meet sheet on line. I thought to myself, "wow these qualifying times aren't too bad... I could enter this meet". And then I realized that I was reading the women's qualifying times. Turns out I couldn't even make the "bonus" qualifying times (which are a couple of seconds slower than the "true" qualifying times). Yikes! So I guess the meet sheet was just posted for people interested in going to *watch* this meet. It should be pretty darn fast, too.

Michigan Masters has a swimmer at this meet. He has qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 100 Meter Back. He broke the USMS Record and went faster than the World Record at the Grand Prix meet in Columbus, OH. He was 3rd at the 50 turn to Aaron Piersol and David Cromwell but lost 2 seconds on the last 50 but went :57.00 for the fastest time ever in the 25-29 age group in masters. Because this was not a sanctioned masters meet, he only gets credit for the USMS Record. He is working real hard to improve his time when Omaha rolls around. His name is Kevin Doak and he is 27. He was featured in Swimming World magazine a couple months back with Chris Stevenson for setting backstroke records. He has set 8 USMS National Records in the last 8 months. He is the real deal. He even has his own website at http://www.kevindoak.com/ and a lot of masters swimmers know about him because he set his National records at the TYR Grand Prix. He received the Lawrence Award in Michigan this year for his outstanding performances. He was also a USMS All Star in the 25-29 age group.

Oh wow, they moved this meet up quite a bit this year for the Olympics. I have gone for the past three years but not sure I'll make this one.

I've seen Hansen and Piersol there a few times. Don't think Crocker has been on the roster any of the times I have attended. Last year it was fun to watch Phelps and Lochte go head to head.

Awesome for him and Masters. Boy, does he train a lot - almost as much as me. 7 Days a week, 6-7 hours a day. Michigan Masters has a swimmer at this meet. He has qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 100 Meter Back. He broke the USMS Record and went faster than the World Record at the Grand Prix meet in Columbus, OH. He was 3rd at the 50 turn to Aaron Piersol and David Cromwell but lost 2 seconds on the last 50 but went :57.00 for the fastest time ever in the 25-29 age group in masters. Because this was not a sanctioned masters meet, he only gets credit for the USMS Record. He is working real hard to improve his time when Omaha rolls around. His name is Kevin Doak and he is 27. He was featured in Swimming World magazine a couple months back with Chris Stevenson for setting backstroke records. He has set 8 USMS National Records in the last 8 months. He is the real deal. He even has his own website at http://www.kevindoak.com/ and a lot of masters swimmers know about him because he set his National records at the TYR Grand Prix. He received the Lawrence Award in Michigan this year for his outstanding performances. He was also a USMS All Star in the 25-29 age group.

Good for him, but the whole "I broke a World Record" story that did not count" must be a joke. I am too lazy to check out all the 25-29 swimmers in the world, but I am sure there is somebody in that age-group going a 54+ in the 100 Back. Not sure where he is training - but honestly, I barely consider myself a good Masters swimmer and I am turning 40 this year. Yeah, Frank's always pulling our legs here! You do know we're talking long course, right? USMS Records Men's LCM 100 Back Records Age Group Name Date Time M18-24 Leif Lyons 08-13-07 58.92 M25-29 John Keppeler 08-23-92 58.24 M30-34 Sean Murphy 07-09-94 58.66 M35-39 Michael Ross 08-10-06 59.18 M40-44 Rich Saeger 07-16-06 1:00.64 M45-49 Steve Wood 08-10-06 1:01.73 M50-54 Tom Wolf 08-15-04 1:04.83 M55-59 Gary Hall 08-10-06 1:06.16 M60-64 Hugh Wilder 06-02-07 1:08.77 M65-69 Yoshi Oyakawa 08-23-99 1:16.78 Richard Burns 04-23-08 1:13.85* M70-74 Yoshi Oyakawa 08-08-04 1:19.12 M75-79 Clarke Mitchell 08-13-07 1:26.00 M80-84 Ray Taft 08-23-99 1:35.36 M85-89 Aldo Da Rosa 07-14-02 1:49.54 M90-94 Woody Bowersock 06-23-03 2:10.36 M95-99 Tom Lane 07-05-92 3:19.14 M100-104 Tom Lane 07-09-94 4:13.84 FINA World Masters Records as of '07 25-29 57.45 04/13/1997 NZL JON WINTER 100 M. BACK LCM Not seeing that :54+ here, unless :57 is close enough for ya.

FINA does not accept masters records set at USA-S meets while USMS does (assuming, of course, that all the proper paperwork is turned in). That's why he could set a USMS (national) record for his age group that is faster than the FINA (world) record. That's what Frank meant by the statement that it "doesn't count."

There's plenty of 25 - 29 year olds who obliterate the backstroke times he's done, they just don't swim masters let's see how he does 20 years from now ehoch you're an awesome masters swimmer Good for him, but the whole "I broke a World Record" story that did not count" must be a joke. I am too lazy to check out all the 25-29 swimmers in the world, but I am sure there is somebody in that age-group going a 54+ in the 100 Back. Not sure where he is training - but honestly, I barely consider myself a good Masters swimmer and I am turning 40 this year.

I think ehoch is talking about swimmers in all meets, not just Masters. Randall Bal went 53.66 last year. Aaron Peirsol is going to turn 25 before the Olympics. This is why Masters records in the lower age groups aren't very meaningful. Pretty clear to me that Frank (the post ehoch was responding to) was talking Masters. I'd bet that the Masters World marks are meaningful to those who hold them, and perhaps those who coach them. There are a number of Masters swimmers who have made trials cuts this time around. I doubt anyone in FINA is worried about them breaking any "real" world records. Should that make them any less excited to be at trials? I imagine we'll see a few local Masters at Santa Clara trying to make cut times, should be fun to watch.