27 World Records Fall at Aussie Masters Nationals -- March 22, 2002

By Stephen J. Thomas

SYDNEY, March 22. THE overseas visitors in transit' to the World Masters Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, took the majority of the twenty-seven individual world marks to fall at the AUSSI Masters Short Course Nationals held at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre March 16-18.

In all, twenty-three world records were broken by the international contingent.

Leading the charge in the men's events was South Texan based Graham Johnston with four new records in the 200/400 IM and 200/400 free. The 71-year-old took over fifteen seconds off the old 400 IM mark to clock 6:23.43 and more than four seconds off the 200 IM (2:55.58). His records in the freestyle events were 2:25.07 and 5:09.75.

Tom Landis from Oregon also set a new time for the 60-64 age group in the 200 free clocking 2:15.84, well under the old record of 2:21.31.

Wieslaw Musial from the Ontario Masters club in Canada, broke two backstroke records in the 45-49 age group. Musial took over three seconds off the 200 back to stroke 2:15.58 and shaved 0.35 seconds off the
100 back to record 1:03.04.

South African, Tim Shead lowered three records in the 50-54 age group. The Capetown based swimmer comfortably lowered times for the 100 IM (1:03.54) and 200 IM (2:22.23) and trimmed 8-hundredths of a second off the time for the 100 breast to record 1:09.88.

Alfredo Cherchi, the grand old man of Aussie Masters, wiped just over one and a half minutes off the 200 backstroke record in the 95-99 age group setting a time 7:01.87.

Among the women, US Masters champion, Danielle Ogier (50-54) and Canadian Bonnie Pronk (60-64) were outstanding with five world records from five swims apiece.

Ogier slashed the world marks over the three IM distances recording 1:13.12, 2:37.52 and 5:44.22. She also added the 200 and 400 free to her haul, clocking 2:20.61 and 4:54.01 respectively.

The British Columbia based Pronk had a clean sweep of the breaststroke events setting new times for the 50 (38.97), 100 (1:26.56) and 200 (3:06.48). Pronk continued her success by also lowered marks in the 200 IM (2:55.72) and 200 back (2:56.06).

German visitor Monika Senftleben, also competing in the 60-64 age group, also went under the old world marks in the 50 and 100 breaststroke. She swam faster than Pronk in the 50 clocking a hot 38.60 but recorded a slower time in the 100 (1:30.52). The old world marks were 41.35 and 1:30.58 respectively.

Aussi Pam Hutchings (65-69) set a new record for the 50 free, taking 1.40 seconds off the old mark to record a new time of 32.77. Hutchings also lowered the time for the 200 freestyle by just short of three seconds to clock 2:47.42.

Olga Krejci (65-69) swam 34.04 in the 50 free, 0.13 under the old record of 34.17 but well behind the record set by Hutchings.

Aussi Liz Wallis (75-79) took the world record for the 400 freestyle below the 7 minute mark recording a swift 6:57.33.


USSI Masters Nationals Sydney 16-18 March 2002


Event 1: 400m Freestyle
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................

Danielle OGIER IUN F 50-54 400FR 04:54.01 - - 04:59.56

Liz WALLIS NML F 75-79 400FR 06:57.33 08:17.47 07:13.87 07:00.56

Graham JOHNSTON IST M 70-74 400FR 05:09.75 - - 05:14.18



Event 2: 100m Individual Medley
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................

Danielle OGIER IUN F 50-54 100ME 01:13.12 - - 01:17.90

Timothy SHEAD ICT M 50-54 100ME 01:03.54 - - 01:04.97



Event 3: 200m Breaststroke
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................

Bonnie PRONK IBC F 60-64 200BR 03:06.48 - - 03:18.25



Event 9: 50m Freestyle
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................
Pam HUTCHINGS NSP F 65-69 50FR 00:32.77 00:34.32 00:34.32 00:34.17

Olga KREJCI ISL F 65-69 50FR 00:34.04 - - 00:34.17



Event 10: 100m Backstroke
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................
Wieslaw MUSIAL ION M 45-49 100BA 01:03.04 - - 01:03.39




Event 11: 200m Individual Medley
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................

Danielle OGIER IUN F 50-54 200ME 02:37.52 - - 02:47.01

Bonnie PRONK IBC F 60-64 200ME 02:55.72 - - 02:59.95

Timothy SHEAD ICT M 50-54 200ME 02:22.23 - - 02:24.32

Graham JOHNSTON IST M 70-74 200ME 02:55.58 - - 02:59.81



Event 12: 200m Freestyle
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................
Danielle OGIER IUN F 50-54 200FR 02:20.61 - - 02:24.43

Pam HUTCHINGS NSP F 65-69 200FR 02:47.42 02:53.49 02:53.49 02:50.40

Tom LANDIS IOR M 60-64 200FR 02:15.84 - - 02:21.31

Graham JOHNSTON IST M 70-74 200FR 02:25.07 - - 02:28.55



Event 13: 100m Breaststroke
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................
Bonnie PRONK IBC F 60-64 100BR 01:26.56 - - 01:30.58

Monika SENFTLEBEN ISG F 60-64 100BR 01:30.52 - - 01:30.58

Timothy SHEAD ICT M 50-54 100BR 01:09.88 - - 01:09.96



Event 16: 400m Individual Medley
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................
Danielle OGIER IUN F 50-54 400ME 05:44.22 - - 05:56.24

Graham JOHNSTON IST M 70-74 400ME 06:23.43 - - 06:38.98



Event 19: 50m Breaststroke
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................

Monika SENFTLEBEN ISG F 60-64 50BR 00:38.60 - - 00:41.35

Bonnie PRONK IBC F 60-64 50BR 00:38.97 - - 00:41.35



Event 20: 200m Backstroke
================================================================================
Heat Lane
Name Club Sex Age Event Time State National World
................................................................................

Bonnie PRONK IBC F 60-64 200BA 02:56.06 - - 02:57.92

Wieslaw MUSIAL ION M 45-49 200BA 02:15.58 - - 02:18.98

Alfredo CHERCHI NTR M 95-99 200BA 07:01.87 : . : . 08:32.34