Fast Swimmers = Top Finishes at Long Course Nationals:


With thanks to Annie Tom for this report.

Fast Swimmers = Top Finishes at the 2001 LCM Nationals held in Federal Way, Washington August 16-19. (In the Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center) Wonderful weather in Seattle made this trip a memorable one! With 954 swimmers participating, 3 from SCAQ were present. All three swimmers excelled in their performance with top ten finishes!

PAUL CARTER was SCAQ's leader in top finishes! He *FLEW* so fast and broke the record in the men's 40-44 age group in the 100 Meter Butterfly with a 57.57(Old record was 57.79) for a 1st place finish. WOW! He also broke his own record in the 200 Meter Freestyle with a 1:59.58 placing 2nd behind Paul Smith. (Paul Smith from Vail Swimming Masters broke Paul Carter's previous world record that was set August 4th and 5th at Regionals in Irvine with a 1:58.61 the record was 1:59.92). Carter also placed 1st in the 100 Meter Freestyle beating Smith by .63 seconds (54.03). As you can see both Paul's were facing off on the same events throughout the weekend. Oh...so frustrating! Despite the face off, Carter did awesome finishing behind Smith in the 50 Meter Butterfly and 50 Meter Freestyle. Smith just kept on out-touching Carter for 1st by a fingertip! Training at USC SURE did pay off!!

Having to age up this year, 2 women did just fine adjusting to a *FASTER* herd of swimmers. Placing in the top ten was so exciting because all races were really tight. You just had to have "THE TOUCH!"

NEWEST SCAQ Office member, Kirsten Morningstar, *SPARKELED* her was to 5 top ten finishes from her ex-hometown. She "Backed" her way to an awesome 4th place finishes in both the 50 and 100 Meter Backstroke. She also placed 5th in the 50 Meter Breaststroke, 6th in the 100 Breast, and 9th in the 50 Free in the close and fast 25-29 womens age group. SEE... consuming 1 alcohol beverage the night BEFORE does contribute to fast swims!!

COACH Annie Tom also had 5 top ten finishes in the womens 25-29 age group. Despite wearing a knee brace throughout the weekend, she "Stroked" her way to 6th in the 50 Breast, 8th in the 100 Breast, and 6th in the 200 Breast. She also placed 8th in the 100 Free and surprised herself with a 5th place finish in the 50 back. (Her worse stroke). She also placed 11th in the 50 Free. She was 100% satisfied with her swims at this nationals than in Santa Clara. NO EXCUSES this time!

All in all, a great meet with really close swims! Who could ask for more? With numerous records broken, from all age groups, it was exciting and memorable for all!! Let's all air for the 2002 Hawaii Nationals in May!! Let's have a great turnout SCAQ'ers!!!!