20 Y Records Fall on Day 2 of Masters Y Nationals; Oyakawa and Shead Notch Two Apiece

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 16. TWENTY national YMCA Masters records fell on the second day of competition at the YMCA Masters National Short Course Championships, while the competition was enlivened by tight team races.

In the large teams division, there’s a three-way battle for the top spot Halfway through the competition Anne Arundel County Y leads with 1140 points, followed closely by West Broward Y with 1004 and Arthur Jordan with 994.5.

The small teams division is even closer with Andover in front with 554.5 points, just 23.5 more than South Hills. Sarasota is third with 433.5, followed by Orlando with 428.

Records were a lot more plentiful among the men than the women, with the men notching 14 national YMCA marks and the women four. Two records were set by mixed relays.

500 yard freestyle
Jean Troy swam 8:03.66 for the 500 free to slice almost 16 seconds off June Krauser’s Y standard in the women’s 75-79 division. Krauser still holds the USMS mark with the only sub-8 minute effort ever in the age group, 7:59.37.

Jeff Erwin won the 35-39 men’s division in a Y record 4:43.54, more than seven seconds under the old mark. It was Erwin’s third Y record swim in three races.

Bill Specht, Orlando, took the 45-49 age group in 4:55.58, just two seconds faster than Jerry De Muro’s previous record.

100 yard IM
Two records were set in the sprint IM. Peter Berndt, former East German Olympian now swimming for West Broward, blazed a 54.46 to take the 40-44 men’s division. The old record, 55.93, was set by Clay Evans, a Canadian Olympian, eight years ago.

In the men’s 50-54 age group, West Broward’s Tim Shead clocked 56.85, well under the former standard of 59.14 by Dan Rogacki.

200 yard breaststroke
Regan Kenner set the only women’s record in the 200 breast, taking the 80-84 race in 4:55.92, some 85+ seconds faster than the old mark. In contrast, the men accounted for four records.

Craig Paller, of Leaning Tower, Illinois, clocked 2:13.40 to erase Benn Doyle’s 1995 record in the 35-39 age group of 2:14.95.

Andover’s Rich Landry lowered Olympian Rick Hofstetter’s 1997 standard in the 40-44 age group from 2:18.90 to 2:18.47.

Tim Shead scored his second YMCA record in two events, clocking 2:21.72, to erase the 50-54 mark of 2:24.95 by Rich Bohan from 2001.

Finally, Robert MacDonald took out Paul Krup’s decade-old record of 3:24.56 in the 75-79 age group by almost 10 seconds. His 3:14.66 just missed the USMS standard of 3:12.35.

50 yard freestyle
1952 Olympic champion Yoshi Oyakawa won the men’s 70-74 50 free in 27.29 seconds, more than half a second better than Dick Webber’s 27.85 from 2000.

In the 75-79 division, Peter Van Dijk blazed a 29.11 to wash away Paul Hutinger’s former mark of 31.16.

200 yard butterfly
Cathy Mancuso of West Broward reduced the 200 fly record for women 50-54 by eight seconds, touching in 2:50.41. In the same age group for men, John McCall, lowered his own record, set last year, from 2:12.91 to 2:10.39.

200 yards mixed medley relay
In the 55+ division, South Hills (Penn.) went 2:10.95. The old record of 2:11.67 was set six years ago by another South Hills team.

In the 75+ age group, West Broward slashed the two year-old standard by South Broward by six-plus seconds. The Westies clocked 2:50.36.

50 yard backstroke
Terry Freerks cracked the women’s 50-54 record for the two-lap dorsal sprint with a 31.62-second effort. Ann Guins was second in 32.11, also under the previous record of 32.22.

Yoshi Oyakawa lost a record when John Smith clocked 30.28 seconds – 17-hundredths under Yoshi’s former mark — to take the men’s 65-69 age group. But he came back to win the 70-74 age group in 30.95, notching his second Y record of the day. The old standard of 34.26 was held by Paul Hutinger. Yoshi’s time was also the only USMS national record set today, as he lowered his own mark of 31.20 set earlier this year.

The final record may have been the most remarkable, as it demonstrates that there’s always room for improvement. Swimming in the 90-94 division, 91 year-old Ray Edelhoff sprinted to a 1:03.35 time – nearly two seconds faster than the previous 90-94 record of 1:05.18. That record had been set just last year – by 90 year-old Ray Edelhoff. Reportedly Ray is looking forward to breaking a minute next year.

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