News

More world records fall at 2009 zone LCM championships

GOLD swimmers broke three world records at the June 20-21 Dixie Zone LCM Championships held at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex.

Ricardo Valdivia (45-49) took 9 seconds off the existing1500m free world record with a time of 16:57.17. He also set a new American record in the 800 free with a time of 8:58.50.

David Quiggin (65-69) bettered the world record he set in May at Ocala, swimming a 100m free in 1:01.05.

And the Men's 280+ 200m Rreestyle record smashed the existing world record by 3 seconds and became the first 280+ 200 free relay team in the world to break two minutes with a time of 1:59.60. Relay members were Cav Cavanaugh, David Quiggin, David McIntyre, and Andy Morrow.

Florida LMSC defeats Florida Gold Coast LMSC in open water challenge

In spite of strong individual performances from Gold Coast LMSC swimmers, the Florida LMSC won the one-mile open water challenge on June 14 at Fort Myers Beach, avenging last year's defeat. Gold Coast LMSC swimmers were outnumbered two to one.

GOLD swimmers were Leticia Castro (1st, 45-49), Robin Stewart (1st, 50-54), Karen Lewin (2nd, 50-54), Becky Willman (1st, 55-59), and Robert Declercq (2nd, 30-34).

Also scoring points for the Gold Coast LMSC were Lars Pedersen (FLAQ, 1st, 65-69), Alejandra Cordovez (TAKB, 1st, 25-29), Julio Fuentes (TAKB, 1st, 25-29 and 1st male overall), Felipe Salamanca (TAKB, 1st, 35-39), and Bill Highsmith (UNAT, 4th, 55-59).

In the 5K on June 12, Darcy LaFountain won the women's 50-54 age group and Leticia Castro placed second in the 45-49 age group. That event was won by Barton Wells of Palo Alto, CA, and the overall women's winner was Eney Jones from Boulder CO.

USMS rules for legal competition suits change (June update)

USMS will adopt any FINA rules regarding the legality of competition swim suits. The changes will be effective immediately once FINA publishes its guidelines and rules. The USMS rules committee has rejected the USA Swimming interpretation and issued its own. Read the message from Kathy Casey, USMS Rules Chair.

BlueSeventy suits approved! Download the a list of currently approved suits from the FINA APPROVED SUITS LIST (suits approved through December 31, 2009). The list will be updated as more suits are approved.

Protzman takes four golds at Canadian Masters Nationals

Barb Protzman swam six events in the Canadian Masters Nationals (SCM) in Toronto May 15-18, taking gold in four events plus a silver and a bronze. Results from Saturday include 100 fly (1st - 1:25.69), 200 free (2nd - 2:39.86), 100 IM (3rd - 1:25.41), and 400 free (1st - 5:44.23), from Sunday the 200 IM (1st - 3:04.81), and from Monday the 400 IM (1st - 6:43.54).

Four GOLD swimmers in Fresno for USMS SCY Nationals

GOLD was represented at the 2009 USMS SCY Nationals in Fresno, California, by Phillip King (42), Kelly Legaspi (37), Brian McGloin (38), and Robert Siegmann (49).

RESULTS:

  • Phillip King: 500 free- 5:12.10 (18th), 200 back- 2:09.69 (7th), 400 IM- 4:32.90 (9th)
  • Kelly Legaspi: 50 breast- :30.90 (1st), 100 breast- 1:08.01 (2nd), 200 breast- 2:26.01 (1st)
  • Brian McGloin: 50 free- 23.86 (33rd), 200 free- 1:58.72 (24th), 500 free- 5:31.65 (14th)
  • Robert Siegmann: 50 free- :26.56 (40th), 50 breast- :36.11 (22nd), 100 breast- 1:20.90 (29th)

Broward swimmers at Y Nationals help needy kids, place 2nd

Those swimming for the Broward Y have helped provide swim lessons and summer camp for needy children in Broward County. Read a letter of thanks from John Spire, Broward Y Competitive Aquatics Coordinator.

See complete results on the YMCA web site (229 pages). For Debbie's recap of meet highlights, click HERE. The Broward Y team placed second overall behind the Sarasota Y. Third place was Central Texas, fourth Indy Swimfit, and fifth Mid-Delmara. Broward Y swimmers splashed to 63 gold medals. For a list of gold medal winners, click HERE.

Records fall at Clearwater Valentine Meet

Karl Wiedamann, 70-74, swam a 2:50.02 200-yard breaststroke to break the existing USMS record at the SUN Masters Valentine Meet in Clearwater on February 14-15. He also set FG LMSC records in the 50 and 100 breaststroke.

Pat Sargeant, 55-59, established new Dixie Zone records in the 100 back, 200 back, 200 IM, and 400 IM and new FG LMSC records in the 50 free, 50 fly, and 100 IM.

Wally Dobler, 75-79, broke the FG LMSC record in the 50 fly and placed first in four other events.

Other GOLD swimmers turning in strong performances were Joel Dodds, Brooke Girard, Jill Johnson, Dale LeClair, David LeClair, Dave McIntyre, Paige Moore, Rober Parsons, George Schmidt, Ann Stewart, and Joe Wotton.

Of the 79 splashes for GOLD swimmers, 33 resulted in 1st place, 31 in 2nd place, and 9 in 3rd place.

Valdivia wins inaugural Florida Open Water Championship Series

With first place overall wins in the Swim Miami 5K and the Masters Mile and 10K Open during the Open Water Festival on Fort Myers Beach, Ricardo Valdivia was the overall winner of the 2008 Florida Open Water Championship Series. The series is a postal event including all sanctioned or recognized open water swims in the state of Florida during a calendar year.

Randy Nutt voted World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year

The 2008 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year is Randy Nutt, who outpolled an extremely accomplished field. Based on his decades in Masters swimming, volunteering for a number of positions and organizing boutique swims in the Caribbean, Randy received consistent support throughout the public voting, leading from nearly start to finish. Learn more...

2009 USMS individual registration underway

The 2009 USMS individual registration form is now available for Florida Gold Coast LMSC swimmers. All swimmers in the LMSC must use this official form to register. DOWNLOAD THE FORM. GOLD swimmers should put GOLD for the club. Workout group initials are listed on the registration form.

Swimmers planning to compete in the Plantation Masters SCY meet January 16-17 must have a 2009 USMS registration in order to enter.

'09 USMS Check-off Challenge hosted by Hammerhead Aquatics

Hammerhead Aquatics challenges swimmers to get fit and get swimming by sponsoring the 2009 USMS Check-off Challenge fitness event. More information...

Dixie Zone awards 2009 zone championships

Hosts for the 2009 Dixie Zone pool championships were named at the zone meeting during the USMS convention in September. GOLD will host the Dixie Zone SCY Championships on March 6-8 at the Pompano Aquatic Center in Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale Aquatics will host the Dixie Zone LCM Championships on June 19-21 at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex, and Columbia Masters will host the Dixie Zone SCM Championships on October 31-November 1 in Columbia, South Carolina.

FGC LMSC & Dixie Zone newsletters

Download a copy of the October Florida Gold Coast LMSC newsletter by clicking HERE. Previous newsletters may be downloaded by clicking the Reference page tab a the left. Download a copy of the fall Dixie Zone newsletter by clicking HERE.

2008 GOLD News

Check the archives for GOLD news in 2008.

Y Masters swimmers make a difference...

Congratulations to all the swimmers on the Second Place finish at the 2009 YMCA Masters Nationals.

On behalf of your local YMCA, we thank you and the other masters swimmers for your support and great effort. Your commitment to swim fast and support our local YMCA is greatly appreciated. Over the past four years the fees (or I should say contributions) you have paid has enabled the YMCA of Broward County to provide over 130 needy children swim lessons and an opportunity for over 30 kids to attend summer camp.

We all realize the difficult times we all are having and the YMCA of Broward County is no different.  In the past eight months we have seen a  dramatic increase in requests for financial assistance and/or scholarships for all of our programs including aquatics.

Your support of the YMCA of Broward County has helped this community in its time of need.

Again, Congratulations and thank you for support.

Broward Y finishes second

Wow!!!! You Swimmers were just amazing! I want to congratulate all of you on your effort and your outstanding swims. All of you rallied together to take the "I" out of swimming and make this a Team.

There were great swims by the novice and the experienced. Some of you were competing for the first time in over 15 years.

National Records were set by Cav Cavanaugh, David Quiggin, George Schmidt, Pat Sargeant, Mike Dively, Scott Woodburn and Robert Smith; Roger Parsons and Maureen Hughes set their first ever national records! Way to go swimmers. I apologize if I missed anyone.

The national champions are too numerous to mention but our oldest national champion was Joaquin Silverio 82!

Kudos to Dick Brewer. He stepped up to the plate and swam a 50 fly on the relay. He never had swum more than a 25. Great job!!!

Kudos to Jonathan Olsen he kept track of the score on Sunday. We started 21 points down and finished 39 points ahead to finish in 2nd.

Some observations I would like to share...The Cocoa group knows how to party at the meet. The wine and cheese table was set up in the early morning! Our older men, Lars Pedersen, Jim Ward, Cav, George Busse etc...know how to tell stories (I think I will leave it up to your imagination). Those that were sick and still competed David Walley, Bill Korey and Andrea Woodburn. Those Blue Seventy suits!!!!

The icing on the cake was that everyone was having fun and swimming fast!!!!!

A big Thank You to Peggy McDonnell for taking care of the Y sign ups and to Barb Protzman for doing the meet entries and spending 6 hours with me doing the relays!!!

I hope everyone had a great experience and I hope to see you around the pool!

Debbie

Notice to all U.S. Masters Swimming members:

June 1, 2009

The following U.S. Masters Swimming's official interpretation of Swimwear rule 102.14 was published March 26, 2009. These USMS interpretations have not changed and will remain in place until further notice. While USA Swimming chose to modify their rules, U.S. Masters Swimming has chosen to maintain its rules and interpretation until FINA has completed its processes and informed us of its interpretation as it applies to Masters Swimming. While our policy remains unchanged during this interim period, there is new information in the questions and answers following the interpretations.

#1. USMS SWIMWEAR INTERPRETATION

FINA approval or rejection of new swimsuits introduced after September 30, 2007, will be accepted by U.S. Masters Swimming for USMS sanctioned and recognized competition.

The following interpretation regarding the use of two suits during competition was also published March 26, 2009.

#2. USMS SWIMWEAR INTERPRETATION

For purposes of Article 102.14 of U.S. Masters Swimming Rules of Competition, Swimwear, the use of more than one swimsuit at a time during any USMS sanctioned or recognized competition is prohibited.

 

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:

1. Question: Can I wear a regular racing suit that is not a body suit?

Answer: Yes, suits introduced prior to September 30, 2007, are legal for U.S.M.S. competition.

2. Question: Can I still wear my LZR or TYR Tracer at meets including long course meters meets?

Answer: Yes, because at least some of the LZR and the TYR Tracer models are on the new list of FINA-approved suits that was published May 19, 2009, and none of these suits are on the not-approved list. All LZR and TYR suits are legal at least until the retesting is completed. (We have not seen the official list of suits being retested, so we don't know if there are models of these suits included.

3. Question: Can we or can we not continue to wear the BlueSeventy suits in USMS meets/

Answer: Currently you can wear the Blueseventy. We are waiting to hear about the retesting and also waiting to hear from the FINA Masters Technical Committee about how the new FINA suit interpretations impact Masters swimming (we have asked). We need clear, complete information before we can be completely clear in our answers. Stay tuned for further notices from the Rules Committee.

4. Question: Why don't I see the new suit I bought on the new list of FINA-approved suits?

Answer: There are 136 suits that are currently being retested by FINA. The target date for those results is June 19, 2009. The suits are being retested under the new system for buoyancy (no more than 1 Newton), material (no thicker than 1 mm), and construction (no trapping of air), just to mention a few criteria. At the point of publication of those results, the USMS Rules Committee will consider those test results.

5. Question: How will this impact Masters competitors?

Answer: That suit you bought after September 30, 2007, is legal at this moment, but it could be reconsidered by the USMS Rules Committee after the next FINA-approved swimsuit list is published. Regardless of the upcoming new list, that old Fastskin or similar suit that you have will be legal since it was introduced prior to September 30, 2007.

6. Question: My coach is forcing me to swim the 1650 Free as a training swim. Can I wear a drag suit over my jammers?

Answer: No. Although wearing an extra drag suit may not be perceived as having an advantage, the interpretation is that only one swimsuit is permitted.

7. Question: Does "one suit for competition" mean I can only wear one suit for the whole meet?

Answer: No. You can change suits during the meet, but you can only wear one suit at a time. This restriction applies only to the actual races (competition). You can wear more than one suit during warm-up and warm-down. This restriction applies to all types, makes, and models of swim suits, but it is not intended to apply to athletic supporters or modesty type wear (a single pair of "briefs" or "bikini bottoms or top" or a sports bra worn to ensure modesty and privacy).

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Kathy Casey, Chair
U.S. Masters Swimming Rules Committee
rules@usms.org

 

 

 

 

 

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