CSA Long Course Regional Masters Championship Meet Produces Six Masters World

THOUSAND OAKS, California, August 11. CONEJO Simi Aquatics (CSA) recently announced the results of its inaugural Long Course Regional Masters Championship Meet, which was held at California Lutheran's Samuelson Aquatics Center from August 2-3.

More than 200 athletes representing 37 teams from as far as Arizona, Colorado, Illinois and Indiana participated in what will be an annual competition hosted by CSA.

Swimmers ranged in ability from beginners attempting their first swim competition to local triathletes in training, to world-class competitive swimmers. The latter was evidenced by the six Masters world records and one Masters national record produced during the meet.

The following records were broken during the meet:
Women Ages 90-94 400 Meter Freestyle: Rita Simonton, 90, of Golden West Swim Club shattered the previous world record of 10:58.64 held since 2006 with her time of 9:04.93.

Men Ages 40-44 100 Meter Freestyle: Erik Hochstein, 40, of Southern California Aquatic Masters (SCAQ) broke the 53.45 mark set in 2006, clocking in at 52.48.

Men Ages 50-54 200 Meter Individual Medley: Ken Shilling, 51, of Stanford Masters Swimming, touched the wall in 2:20.99 to break the previous world record of 2:23.06 held since 2004.

Men Ages 60-64 50 Meter, 100 Meter and 200 Meter Breaststrokes Robert Strand, 62, of The Olympic Club (TOC), broke three of his own world records at the meet. In the 50 Meter Breast, Robert shaved almost a second off his previous world record of 34.20, set in 2006, clocking in at 33.52. In the 100 Meter Breast, he again lowered his own world record set in 2006 from 1:16.38 to 1:16.08. Finally, Robert dropped his 200 Meter Breast world record from his 2006 time of 2:51.93 to 2:50.77.

Men 400 Meter Medley Relay: The Ventura County Masters' team of Jim McConica, 58, Hubie Kerns, 59, John Derr, 59 and Larry Raffaellio, 65, broke the National Record of 4:58.50, lowering it by almost two seconds with their time of 4:56.71.

The CSA Masters (CSAM) team had an excellent showing with first-place finishes from Genny Aamoth (Women 18-24 100 and 800 freestyle), Heidi Christensen (Women 50-54 800 and 1500 freestyle), Julie Flores (Women 40-44 800 freestyle, 50 and 100 breaststroke), Matt Kracht (Men 35-39 100 backstroke), Jeff Moxie (Men 50-54 800 and 1500 freestyle), Danielle Sack (Women 18-24 200 and 400 freestyle and 50 breaststroke), Carl Warren (Men 35-39 100 breaststroke, 200 and 800 freestyle) and Thousand Oaks High School's Junior Varsity Swim Coach, Melissa Salderfer (Women 35-39 100 and 400 freestyle). CSAM also won the 400 Medley Mixed Relay with Jeff Moxie, Heidi Christensen and the husband and wife team of William and Shelly Marshall.

"Swimming is truly a sport for life and recent performances like those of 41-year old Dara Torres at the US Olympic Trials have demonstrated that swimmers can continue to compete at an elite level later in life," said Jon Irwin, CSA Board President. "The Regional Masters Meet was a great example of the tremendous interest we're seeing in Masters competition. It was exciting to witness swimmers achieving at all levels – from those who swam in their first competition to those who broke world records."

Special thanks to CSA for contributing this report.

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