Swim Meet Reports
Terrapin Masters 1000/1650 Meet
By Dave Diehl
The 1999 Terrapin Masters 1000/1650 Meet was, by far, the most successful in the 17 years of hosting this event. Ninety swimmers entered the meet held at the University of Maryland (College Park) Natatorium. More than one third of the entries were from outside of Potomac Valley including 22 from the Maryland Masters Swim Club. We also had entries from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Despite the record number of entries, a very fast pool and a lot of great swims there was only one meet record broken (Robert Williams, 55-59) in the 1650 (20:16.44).
The Maryland Men’s and Women’s Varsity swimming teams again helped with back up timing, counting and cheerleading which was most appreciated by the competitors.
The annual Terrapin Masters 800/1500 Meet is scheduled for June 18, 2000. Watch this newsletter for the entry form and plan to join us for good "times".
Age Defeats Youth!
Following in the footsteps of thirty-somethings Dara Torres and Angel Martino who are shooting for their fourth and third Olympic teams, several area masters swimmers competed in recent USA Swimming meets and showed that age is not hampering their speed.
Wally Dicks, 36, won both the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke at Potomac Valley Junior Olympics in mid-December. The meet is widely regarded as one of the fastest USA Swimming meets in the country. Wally's 100 breast time of 56.68 was less than 0.4 seconds away from qualifying for the 2000 Olympic Trials. Later in the meet, he improved his time to 56.64 in a time trial.
As fast as his 100 time was, his 200 breaststroke may have been more impressive. At the 100, he was mired in seventh place with a split of 1:02.08. Still trailing in sixth place at the 150 yard mark, he unleashed a stirring 30.74 final 50, passing everyone and finishing in 2:04.94, 1.5 seconds ahead of the second place finisher and breaking his own seven-month old USMS mark. The parents in the stands went wild.
Michael Fell, 37, swam masters best times of 21.52 (prelims) and 47.41 in the 50 and 100 free to finish eighth and ninth. Tim Boyd, 29, finished sixth and third in the 50 and 100 with times of 21.55 and 46.53. Jeff Roddin, 30, finished seventeenth in the 200 fly in 2:01.21. When someone ahead of him scratched out of finals, he quickly followed suit so he wouldn't have to swim the 200 fly twice in one day!
Wally, Mike and Jeff were joined by Clay Britt, 38, to finish second in the 400 medley relay, lowering their existing 25+ USMS record to 3:27.33. Olympic gold medalist and 400 IM world record holder Tom Dolan swam the breaststroke leg on the winning Curl-Burke relay team. Wally out-split him, 56.23 to 57.48.
Clay opted not to swim the 200 medley relay the next day, but that was no deterrent. Wally, Mike and Jeff simply recruited 17-year-old fellow York Swim Club swimmer Dennis Brosnan and they went on to win the relay in 1:35.99.
Wally and Mike also swam a 400 free relay with teenage teammates Kevin Shortt and Justin Stephenson and finished third in 3:09.75. The youngsters were helpful in this case, as the "old guy" team of Wally, Mike, Jeff and Chip McElhatten only managed a 3:13.88 last year.
Not to be outdone by the men, Virginia Master Beth Baker, 38, competed in the NBAC/RAC Fall Festival Classic Swim Meet at UMBC in November. Beth finished first in three events: 50 free (24.81), 100 back (1:01.40) and 100 fly (59.30); and third in the 100 free (54.86).