2009 SPMA Santa Clarita SCY Masters Meet: Personal best 100-free: 57.54 • Personal best 50-free: 25.64

Ahelee was in that heat as well and she is standing next to me 'stage left.'


FAIL! - Look at the two losers in the air. We are so out-classed by Ahelee for she has the reaction time of antelope! I guess the rest of us need to start playing "Whack-a-Mole" or something to speed up our pathetic slow-motion starts. As for now, time dilates when Ahelee is on the blocks!


The race was close from beginning to end. Look at Ahelee's reach; I am the guy at the bottom of the photo.


I need to work on shoulder flexibility; I am going to work on my kick as well. What happens to people on the third-lap of the 100-free? It's starts off with so much promise and ends in so much pain.



I came in at 57.54, a personal best and I was elated. I even got a blue ribbon after tying for first with a swimmer from Bakersfield. What made the win feel so good is that there were 10-people in my age-group trying hard for that ribbon and I got to share it with all the right people at the swim meet.

Rob of RobAquatics took these photos and I very flattered he shared them. Rob too swam a personal best in the 100 IM by .2 seconds after a 4-second drop 2-weeks earlier at the Cal Tech Pentathlon. Here he is below:

"Congratulations to Coach Chad and the Rose Bowl Masters!" - Coach Ahelee of NOVA Aquatics

Ahelee of NOVA Aquatics sent this in as a comment but I want it to make it post instead. I am very impressed with Coach Ahelee of NOVA Aquatics and I take anything she says as "AAA-bond."

The first few hours were a downpour of rain, but everything continued moving forward.

Extra Rose Bowl EZups were launched and the hot tub was roaring and hot. There was even Starbucks coffee, fresh oranges, and krispy donuts to be had where Trish was manning the front table.

The meet began with 5 heats of the 500 FREE!! Who would have thought so many masters would show up on a rainy winter day for an outdoor distance meet?

But they did - and swam great.
Some funny strories were:

86 year old Maurine Kornfield came rushing out for her 200 free heat, which she missed because she had trouble getting her fastskin swim suit on fast enough. Good officials found a lane for her in the next heat.

An elderly male masters swimmer with an entry time of 8:00+ in the 200 Back, swam an EXTRA 50 at the end of his race. No one stopped him because all were stunned he turned and wanted to keep swimming!

The Rose Bowl is a fun and legendary place to race. They even have their own swim shop in the lobby of the complex! Pasadena is a cool old town to visit. Beautiful neighborhoods with old homes and lots of good spots to eat.

Hope next year, we can organize a nice social attached to the event to attend after the meet ends.

This was a great meet that should turn into a tradition in the future. The race announcer was trying to come up with a name for the event, but I think between now and next year, they can create something better!

With more notice, the organizers should be able to split the meets on different weekends and everyone can swim and not be forced to choose between two meets on one weekend.

HOWEVER - I did hear many swimmers talking about being in Irvine for the sprint meet tomorrow!

See you at UC Irvine bright and early!

(I wonder if UCI has a hot tub?)

thank you Ahelee for the report. I missed the meet and will miss the one tomorrow due to this silly flu.

Jason Leezak fundraiser - Help get Jason to London in 2012!

Admit it, the 4x100 freestyle was the greatest Olympic moment in the entire 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was better than seeing Dara place second or Phelps out-touch Cavic. It was like witnessing "divine intervention." If you want to contribute and/or witness the possibility of seeing lightening strike twice, check out this fundraiser.

Swim Coach Ahelee sent me this tidbit regarding the fundraiser: There will be an auction of various Olympic items, and one of the items is the LZR Racer suit that contributed to the 46.06 split during 4x100 free relay.

Click on the image to see a larger size.