Eight Masters Marks Fall on Final Day of USMS Long Course Nationals

By Phillip Whitten

PISCATAWAY, New Jersey, August 17. THE five-day-long US Masters Swimming Long Course National Championships ended today with a bang, as eight more world Masters marks were washed away by the waves at the Sonny Werblin Aquatic Center on the campus of Rutgers University.

The team title went to host Garden State Masters, which pulled away from challenger Colonials 1776 on the final day. The score: 2274 to 2068. New England was third with 1623.5 points.

400 meter freestyle
Suzanne Heim-Bowen completed her sweep of the women's freestyle records in the 45-49 age group, lowering the global standard in the 400 free for the third time in five days. Before the meet, Laura Val's record stood at 4:52.03. Heim-Bowen lowered it to 4:44.34 on her way to a record-setting 1500. Two days later, she split 4:41.64 en route to a record swim in the 800.

Today the Walnut Creek Masters ace clocked 4:39.20 (2:18.22 – 2:20.98) for the 400.

Two other world marks fell in the women's 400.

After setting four US national records, San Diego's Jackie Marr slipped under the 60-64 world record of 5:46.79 by Japan's Yoshiko Osaki from five years ago with a 5:46.17.

Golden West's Rita Simonton was golden once again as she hacked almost an entire minute off the 85-89 standard. Simonton's 8:32.79 made mincemeat of Japan's Ume Wada's 9:31.21 from 1997

100 meter backstroke
North Carolina's Fritz Lehmann finally got his world record. Yesterday, he broke the world mark for 200 meters backstroke in the 45-49 division, only to finish second to Canada's Wieslaw Musial. Today, though, it was all Lehman as he clocked a smoking 1:02.62, more than a second under Tom Wolfe's 1:03.68 set three years ago. Three other swimmers — Bill Specht, Scott Shake and Musial — swam 1:04s.

OHIO Masters' Yoshi Oyakawa scored his second world record of the meet and, once again, Japan's S. Sekikawa was his victim. Oyakawa touched in 1:19.38 to erase Sekikawa's 1:21.64 from earlier this year.

200 meter individual medley
Illinois Masters' Nadine Day, who always seems to wear a smile on her face, did something this day very few Masters swimmers have done: she broke a world record set by Karlyn Pipes-Nielsen.

Going for broke from the start, Day, 33, touched in 2:25.63 to shave five-hundredths from Pipes-Nielsen's 1996 record.

The game of Musical Chairs that has been played with the women's 45-49 world record in the 200 IM took another turn today. But this time, the record may have been put out of reach.

Oregon's Colette Crabbe, whose record had been snatched by Australia's Jenny Whiteley two weeks ago, took that mark down almost three full seconds. Going out hard from the start, Crabbe had built up a decisive lead by the final turn over Aussie Shane Gould, the 1972 Olympic champion who held the 45-49 WR several spins of the wheel ago, and Metro's Karen Einseidler.

Though she tired noticeably on the final lap, Crabbe touched in 2:35.74. Gould was second in 2:39.51, closely followed by Einseidler, who outsplit the field on the final 50, in 2:39.67.

The 60-64 division saw Canada's Bonnie Pronk, the WR-holder at 3:00.52, win easily in 3:03.53. Jackie Marr finished second with a USMS mark of 3:12.07.

50 meter freestyle
Jessica Foschi, who swam a USMS record 58.20 yesterday in the 100 free for women 19-24, only to be DQ'ed for moving on the start, clocked 27.42 today in the 50 to set a USMS mark in her age group.

In the 40-44 division, Metro's Maria Doelger took her second sprint record of the meet, once again victimizing Beth Emery. Doelger clocked 26.88 to erase Emery's 26.97 set last year.

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