By Phillip Whitten<\/p>\n
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., May 12. FOURTEEN individual and two relay US national records were swept away on Day 2 of the USMS National Championships in Coral Springs, Florida. Three swimmers led the way, racking up two individual records apiece. <\/p>\n
Susan von der Lippe<\/b>
\nSusan von der Lippe, nee Susan Rapp \u2013 a two-time US Olympian \u2013 took down two of the toughest records in the women\u2019s 40-44 age group, and she did it with ease. In the 50 yards butterfly, the Colorado Masters superstar flew to a time of 25.40, almost a full second faster than the old record of 26.34, set by Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen in 2003.<\/p>\n
Later, von der Lippe, an NCAA champion at Stanford, breezed through the 200 yard breaststroke, splitting 1:05.85 on her way to a 2:17.06. Not only did the time destroy Caroline Krattli\u2019s superb standard of 2:20.13 from 2002, it was also the fastest 200 breast in the meet. In fact, it is quicker than the national records in the 25-29, 30-34 and 35-39 age groups. Von der Lippe also swam a leg on both record-setting relays.<\/p>\n
Paul Smith<\/b>
\nJoining von der Lippe as a double record-setter today was her Colorado Masters teammate, Paul Smith, 46, who knocked off two national records in the red-hot men\u2019s 45-49 age group.<\/p>\n
Smith, a collegiate standout at UCSB, swam a sizzling 23.00 to hack almost half a second from Bill Specht\u2019s mark of 23.48 set in 2003. Specht was second today in 23.89. Today, only one swimmer was faster than Smith. He was Andrew Jergen, whose 22.85 won the 25-29 division. Smith also swam the fly leg on one of the record-setting relays.<\/p>\n
No one was faster than Smith in the 200 yard freestyle, where Tall Paul negative-split his way to a brilliant 1:44.39, erasing Jack Groselle\u2019s 1:45.96 set four years ago. Out in 52.36, Smith came back in an amazing 52.13. <\/p>\n
Mike Freshley<\/b>
\nSan Diego\u2019s Mike Freshley was the third double winner today, setting his marks in the 65-69 age group. Freshley began his assault by clocking 27.44 for the 50 fly, taking out Bob Baile\u2019s five year-old mark of 27.75.<\/p>\n
In the 200 breast, Freshley became the first man over 65 to crack the 2:40 barrier. Splitting 1:14.76 at the 100, Freshley lit up the scoreboard at 2:38.69, well under Bob Patten\u2019s six year-old standard of 2:43.05.<\/p>\n
50 Fly<\/b>
\nAside from the three double record-setters, two other swimmers set national records in the 50 fly. In the women\u2019s 80-84 age group, Flo Carr, SYSM, clocked 54.87, 36-hundredths under Dori Russell\u2019s 55.23 from 2001.<\/p>\n
Bob Baile made up for the loss of his 65-69 record for the 50 fly by setting a new one in the men\u2019s 70-74 division. Baile, of WMST, hit the pads in 29.33 seconds, just under Ron Johnson\u2019s former standard of 29.47 set in 2003.<\/p>\n
200 Free<\/b>
\nIn addition to Paul Smith, there were two other swimmers who established national records in the 200 yard freestyle. DC Masters\u2019 Anne Walker was the day\u2019s oldest record-setter as she blew through the eight-lap race in4:42.10, well under the old mark of 4:56.62 set by Julia Dolce in 2002.<\/p>\n
The unstoppable Jim McConica disposed with Tim Garton\u2019s superb men\u2019s 55-59 standard of 1:52.90, which had withstood every previous challenge since 1998. Today, McConica, an NCAA champion at USC in his younger days, blasted Garton\u2019s mark with a beautifully paced 1:50.85. McConica split 54.81 \u2013 56.04.<\/p>\n
100 Back<\/b\nAmid a host of fast swims today, only one swimmer managed to set a national record in the 100 yard backstroke. He was Clay Britt of the Ancient Mariners. Swimming in the men\u2019s 45-49 age group, the former University of Texas NCAA champion split 25.58 on his way to history\u2019s first sub-54 second and sub-53 second effort in the age group, a brilliant 52.88. The time erased the old mark of 54.24 jointly owned by Bill Specht and Fritz Lehmann.\n\n\n200 Breast<\/b>
\nIn addition to Susan von der Lippe\u2019s and Mike Freshley\u2019s barrier-bursting swims, the 200 breast saw six additional swimmers break five national records.<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s 75-79 age group, 77 year-old Nan Bohl, representing MOVY, swam a strong 3:54.80, knocking off the former standard of 3:58.25 set by June Krauser in 2002.<\/p>\n
In the men\u2019s 18-24 age group, The Olympic Club\u2019s Gary Marshall, 24, swam the fastest-ever 200 yard breaststroke by a Masters swimmer when he touched in 1:58.34 (split: 55.62). That distinction previously belonged to Ron Karnaugh, whose 1:59.23 from 2001 likely will remain the men\u2019s 35-39 record for some years to come.<\/p>\n
Marshall, who graduated from Stanford just two years ago after a sterling NCAA career at Virginia and Stanford, destroyed the 18-24 record of 2:05.93 set by Eric Wyles in 2001.<\/p>\n
The race in the men\u2019s 45-49 age group saw two swimmers shatter David Gray\u2019s two year-old standard of 2:14.96: Jon Blank of North Carolina Masters (NCMS) and David Guthrie of the Masters of South Texas (MOST). Actually, Blank had already swum under Gray\u2019s mark with a 2:14.37, but today both Blank and Guthrie were on record pace from the very first stroke.<\/p>\n
Blank took the lead at the start and by the halfway mark was more than a second ahead of Guthrie, 1:03.44 to 1:04.55. He stretched his margin to 1.9 seconds at the 150 and appeared to have the race, and the record, locked up. But Guthrie came storming back. At the wall, the margin of victory had been cut to less than half a second, with Blank holding on to win in the new record time of 2:11.46 with Guthrie second in 2:11.94.<\/p>\n
The final record swim in the 200 breast was produced by The Olympic Club\u2019s Bob Strand in the 60-64 age group. Today Strand, who had swum well under Dave Gildea\u2019s mark of 2:32.87 from 2004, made sure there was no doubt who the record-holder is.<\/p>\n
Swimming smoothly from the start, Strand split a 1:09.30 before gliding home in 2:24.68 to win by almost 10 seconds. Strand now simultaneously holds the national records in three age groups: the 50-54, 55-59 and 60-64.<\/p>\n
Relays<\/b>
\nColorado Masters accounted for both relay records set today. In the 35+ 200 yard mixed medley relay, the team of Shari Hart, Susan von der Lippe, and the \u201cSmith Brothers\u201d \u2013 Paul and John \u2013 clocked 1:40.15 to erase the former mark of 1:41.52 by Arizona Masters in 2004.<\/p>\n
Hart and von der Lippe teamed up with Kathy Gerson and Barb Miller to set the day\u2019s final mark, a 1:36.46 for the women\u2019s 25+ 200 yard freestyle relay. The old mark of 1:L37.40 was set by Lone Star Masters back in 1989.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Phillip Whitten CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., May 12. FOURTEEN individual and two relay US national records were swept away on Day 2 of the USMS National Championships in Coral Springs,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-masters","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n