Nineteen Records Smashed on Second Day of US Masters Nationals

By Phillip Whitten

HONOLULU, May 15. Nineteen national records were washed away on the second day of the USMS Short Course Nationals, at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Center in Honolulu.

Women's Records
Women accounted for 14 of the 19 records. Karlynn Pipes-Nielsen, Laura Val and Bettyann Barnet-Sallee led the record-breaking parade, as each racked up two national marks.

Pipes-Nielsen, 40, destroyed Jill Hernandez's 200 yard freestyle record for women 40-44 when she clocked 1:51.93. The time was faster than her own still-standing record (1:51.99) for women 30-34 set six years ago. Pipes-Nielsen set her second national mark in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 2:03.93. Beth Baker had established the old mark of 2:09.63 last year.

Val, 50, Tamalpais Masters, SWIM Magazine's "Swimmer of the Year" for 2001, began 2002 where she left off last year. Val became the oldest woman ever to break two minutes in the 200 yard freestyle, touching in 1:59.55, more than eight seconds under the old record for women 50-54. She followed by chopping ten seconds off the 200 yard butterfly mark with her 2:15.18. Ardeth Mueller had owned the former record of 2:25.73 for ten years.

Hawaii's Barnett-Sallee, 55, also broke an Ardeth Mueller standard, taking the women's 55-59 200 yd free record to 2:14.32, a second better than Mueller's mark. She nabbed a second record in the 50 back, touching in 31.63.

In the 400 IM, Oregon's Collette Crabbe, set a women's 45-49 mark with her 4:54.46. Robin Parisi's 4:59.60 also bettered the old standard. June Krauser lowered the 75-79 record to 7:27.88, almost 17 seconds faster than the old mark held by Lois Kivi Nochman.

New England's Joel Feldman led three women under the listed record (32.63) in the women's 50-54 50 yard backstroke, with her 30.52. Susan Halfacre (30.62) and Barb Gundred (31.09) also shattered the old mark. Two other swimmers have also bettered the former record this season.

Bunny Cederlund wrecked havoc with the 50 yard backstroke mark for women 80-84. Marjorie Sharpe held the old record at 50.24, but Space Coast Masters' Cederlund lopped over six seconds off it with her 43.81.

Julia Dolce, the meet's oldest swimmer at 92, figured in two records for the 200 yard freestyle. In the 85-89 division, San Mateo's Audrey Etienne went 4:05.11, easing Dolce's 4:08.61 from seven years ago from the books. But Dolce came back to take the 90-94 mark with her 4:56.62, a tad faster than the 4:56.80 posted by Hawaii's Aileen Soule in 1996.

Karen Melick, SCAQ, accounted for one of two records in the women's 100 yard breaststroke, as she clocked 1:11.35. The old standard for women 45-49 was Susan Roy's 1:11.83. Also bettering Roy's time was Colette Crabbe at 1:11.61.

Multnomah's Ginger Pierson swam the 100 breast in 1:18.30, making her the fastest woman ever in the 55-59 age group. Jayne Bruner held the old mark at 1:18.52, set back in 1991.

Men's Records
Men's records were much harder to come by today, but five were stricken from the record book, with three coming in the 200 yard freestyle.

Arizona Masters' Ron Karnaugh took the 35-39 mark down to 1:40.16. Splitting 48.21 at the 100, Karnaugh – a 1992 US Olympian – came back with a strong second half to knock off the 1:41.20 record set in '99 by Danish Olympian Franz Mortensen.

Colorado's Paul Smith lowered his own standard for men 40-44 with a 1:43.05 swim (50.86 split). He had set the old mark at 1:43.37 last year.

Ojai-Santa Barbara's Jeff Farrell, a 1960 Olympian, took the men's 65-69 record from 2:06.55 to 2:01.22. Cav Cavanaugh had owned the old mark.

The final two marks came in the 200 yard fly. In the 45-49 division, Jim Belardi, SCAQ, became the oldest man to break two minutes with his stirring 1:58.21. Dave vandam had held the record at 2:00.90.

In the 70-74 age group, Arizona's Ron Johnson went out too fast, but held on to crack the 11 year-old record of 2:53.57 set by Joe Kurtzman, with his 2:52.99.

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