Each September, United States Masters Swimming gathers representatives from throughout its membership, to conduct the organization's business. While we have been professionally managed for almost 20 years, there are elements of running USMS that are the purview of delegates from the nation's 52 Local Masters Swimming Committees (LMSC).

The 2023 USMS Annual Meeting was held in Houston, Texas. This was the first in-person meeting since covid and included both both in-person and virtual delegates. Pacific LMSC, with the most members, had the largest contingent with 32 delegates, 19 in-person and 13 virtual. The proceedings included the election of new officers. Pacific’s Peter Guadagni turned over the gavel after four successful and challenging years as USMS President. Delegates also reviewed and voted on new rules and had the opportunity to discuss a range of issues important to conducting USMS business.

The annual meeting takes time to recognize the crucial contributions of volunteers from throughout the country. Volunteers are the life blood of the organization and each year USMS recognizes their extraordinary commitment.

It was most fun viewing the video presentation of the awards ceremony where six Pacific members and a Pacific Club are recognized for their outstanding contributions.

Tamalpais Aquatic Masters (TAM) was recognized as the USMS Club of the Year. view (starts at 10:29)

John King (WCM) received the Official of the Year award. (not in video)

Ali Hall (SNM) won the Open Water Service Award. view (starts at 15:39)

And 4 of our members were given Dorothy Donnelly Service Awards.

• David Brancamp (SNM) (starts at 0:43)
• Kim Elsbach (GFDD) view: (starts at 2:46)
• Stu Kahn (DAM) view: (starts at 4:00)
• Laura Shope (EDSB) view (starts at 5:39)

Pacific Masters is grateful for these and all of our volunteers who contribute and thank them for their time and commitment.

You can watch the entire House of Delegates proceedings here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gae8m9smv8dz8nais26f0/2023-awards- video-REVISED.mp4?rlkey=c5r1a377ssehlhlbivyylhki1&dl=0

Pacific Masters Swimming is a vibrant community with many swimmers and non-swimmers who enjoy officiating, organizing or supporting the community in other ways. At our Annual Meeting, we recognize those who participate or contribute in an exceptional fashion. We convey:

Do you know a Pacific Masters member that has gone above and beyond this past year? Nominations are open for our 2023 Service awards!

Pacific Masters Swimming is a vibrant community with many swimmers and non-swimmers who enjoy officiating, organizing or supporting the community in other ways. At our Annual Meeting, we recognize those who participate or contribute in an exceptional fashion. We convey:

• Nancy Ridout Award for Distinguished Service
• Contributor of the Year Award
• Personal Achievement Awards
• Appreciation Awards
• Peggy Lucchesi Award

See the section 101.8 of our Administrative Handbook for details on each award. To help with recall, past award winners are here. Who do you know that is deserving? Please think about this and sendnominations to our Chair by October 2nd.

In odd numbered years Pacific Masters is required to hold elections for our Pacific Masters officers at our annual meeting. This year we will hold our elections at our Annual Celebration and Meeting on November 12, 2023. Per our BYLAWS, a nominating subcommittee is formed and presents a list of at least one nominee for each office at the Pacific Masters Committee meeting prior to the Annual Meeting, Our bylaws also allow for additional nominations.

The 2023 Pacific Masters nominating subcommittee will present this year's candidates at our September 20, 2023 monthly meeting. The candidates will also be posted on our website on September 18 and listed in the next enews UPDATE published October 2.

If, after the publication of our 2023 candidates, a Pacific Masters member wishes to make an additional nomination for one of the elected positions, they may do so as a floor nomination at the Annual Meeting following the guidelines listed in the BYLAWS (reproduced below) and present them to the chair onsite at the beginning of the Annual Meeting activities (8 am, November 12). While these floor nominations are allowed per our bylaws, we encourage interested candidates to contact the chair ASAP so that we can prepare and run a smooth election.

103.5.5.D. Additional nominees shall be accepted at the Annual Meeting upon nomination by two (2) individual members of Pacific Masters Swimming and written consent of the nominee(s).

Davis Aquatic Masters hosted the inaugural open water swim of the 2023 season at beautiful Lake Berryessa in Napa County. After a few years of covid interruptions, draught conditions, and not such great weather, this year’s event was near perfect. After 39 years of hosting their swim, Davis has it down to a science. Coupled with beautiful weather, ideal water temperature and the team's well-oiled management of all aspects of the races, the swim came off without a hitch.

The 2-mile race was reconfigured as two circuits of a one-mile course, a format that made the distance seem much more forgiving. It was followed by the one-mile race. Over 500 participants chose either the 1- or 2-mile courses, or both. Another change was men and women swimming together, with starting waves organized by submitted mile swim times. The top 3 finishers in each age group of each distance came away with beautiful logo emblazoned towels.

Stay tuned for Pacific's next open water event, the Santa Cruz Open Water Weekend July 29-30.

Find this year's Berryessa results here:
https://results.svetiming.com/UC-Davis-Aquatic-Masters/events/2023/lake-berryessa-open-water-swims/results

Any review of the 2023 USMS Spring Nationals must begin with accolades for the quality of the competitors and the competition. Nearly 2,500 swimmers made more than 10,000 splashes over the 4-day event. A large contingent of Olympians, including Nathan Adrian, Anthony Ervin and Jenny Thompson, a great number of younger athletes (18 through 29), throngs of Masters veterans, including the amazing 102-year-old Maureen Kornfeld, brought their A games to the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine California.

Woollett Center, a complex of two 50-meter stadium pools, a 10 lane 25-yard warmup pool and the attendant support facilities, is one of the most complete in the country. Yet with 2500 athletes, plus an army of officials, friends, families and others, the complex was stretched to its limits. The weather was cooperative through long days of racing.

To manage the largest attendance in Championship history, entrants were limited to 5 events. Men and women swam concurrently in the separate pools, 10 lanes to a heat. While this added to the efficiency of the meet, it meant teammates and coaches were challenged to see swims when start times conflicted. This led many to observe what felt like two separate meets.

USMS Championships are truly celebrations of our sport with inspiring performances, the chance to gauge our current swimming aptitude, reunions of lifelong friends, and exploration of new places. Seeing old friends and making new ones is part of the allure. The sea of team tents had an ambiance somewhere between Burning Man and a homeless encampment.

Pacific Masters was well represented both in number of entrants and records set. Heidi George, Benjamín Cono, Kristin Jaffe, Tracie Granger and Alison Zamanian each set a new national mark, while Laura Val and the Olympic Club 25+ relay added two more apiece. The Olympic Cub scored over 1,600 points to win the overall team competition.

To see all of the Championship results: 2023 Spring Nationals Results and Records | U.S. Masters Swimming (usms.org)

Pacific Masters 2023 SCY Championships

Pacific Masters members, along with our dedicated officials, volunteers, and friends of swimming, made their way to Morgan Hill for our annual Short Course Yards Championships. Crisp, cold mornings gave way to sunny afternoons and the wonderfully accommodating Morgan Hills Aquatic Center was the place to be last weekend. 540 swimmers completed 2438 splashes. Meet Results

We took the opportunity to break for a ceremony to honor Pacific's 2022 Age Group Swimmers of the Year.  The male and female with the most points in each age group, based on our comprehensive ranking system were recognized for their swimming prowess. 2022 Point standings

The ceremony also paid tribute to the Laura Val Swimmers of the Year, awarded to the Pacific members who distinguished themselves through their excellence in both their point totals, and other competitive achievements. Alison Zamanian was the women’s winner with Paul Frentsos and Richard Burns co- awardees of the men's honor. Swimmer of the Year

Sunday afternoon, while swimming in the last heat of the men's 50 freestyle, 89-year-old Bill Grohe suffered a heart attack. Despite rapid response from the timers, guards, and EMTs, Bill sadly did not survive. The break in the competition to attend to Bill was a sobering moment.

After meeting with coaches, and facility personnel, a decision was made to cancel the rest of the meet. With two individual events and a relay pending, the tally of the final results are under review.

Read More Tribute to Bill Grohe

Why Pacific Masters has a Diversity & Inclusion Committee

Phyllis Quinn
Chair, Pacific Masters

As the largest LMSC in U.S. Masters Swimming, Pacific Masters may also be the most diverse. Yet, we are one of only six LMSCs that has a Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Why, of all the LMSCs across the country, did we think Diversity & Inclusion was important enough to create a subcommittee?

Pacific Masters is constantly working to improve our operations, including understanding how other organizations are embracing Diversity & Inclusion. As Diversity & Inclusion has increasingly become a focal point for any organization, Pacific Masters has made it a part of our own structure. It’s even become integral to our vision statement - Pacific Masters envisions a diverse swimming community embracing inclusivity and an environment in which individuals of all backgrounds feel welcome and safe in U.S. Masters Swimming activities.

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Swimming Couples
Introducing Julie & Ray Bennet

Rebecca Friedlander

Q) Tell us about yourselves.
Ray and I have been together for 28 years. We met while working for a wildland firefighting hotshot crew. We have two kids, my youngest is still swimming with the Carson Tigersharks. We started swimming in the Masters group because it was at the same time as my son’s practice. We had no formal swim training outside of lessons as kids and could barely swim 25 yards. That was seven years ago. We will be forever grateful to Coach Julie who taught our family to swim. We are active in the club. I am a board member and Ray is part of the setup crew for swim meets. Swimming and being a part of a team has provided an abundance of great life lessons for our family.

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Too Young and Too Early

Remembering George Ridout

Nancy Ridout has been a seminal part of Masters Swimming since the organization’s beginnings. As the administrator for Pacific Masters for over 20 years, Nancy was a friend, colleague and fierce competitor to many of our members. We are saddened to learn of her husband George’s recent passing from Parkinson’s Disease. While Nancy was in the pool, George could be found running. He was an accomplished runner, having completed 26 marathons, many under 3 hours. He was also an avid birder having identified over 3,000 species during travels around the world. George was also an ardent supporter of Nancy’s swimming career, both in and out of the pool.

George studied at Yale, U.C. Berkeley and the University of San Francisco while Nancy was at the University of Michigan. They connected while both attended Union Theological Seminary in New York. They settled in Marin County where George began his career with the San Rafael High School District, serving as teacher, vice-principal, and principal at San Rafael, Terra Linda and Madrone high schools.

George and Nancy were married for 57 years and had two sons, Joseph and Joshua.  Our entire swimming community expresses our condolences to Nancy and her family.

A Celebration of Life will be held for George on Sunday, February 26th, at the First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael, Fifth Avenue and E Street, at 2pm.

About Nancy
https://www.usms.org/people/NANCY
/c/6403675/file/PacificMastersHistory.pdf

For the Clamans, it's a Family Affair

by Kate Claman

This year, the Claman household made the USMS virtual hour swim a family affair. For the first time since my mom joined Tamalpais Aquatic Masters in 1994, at which point she was pregnant with my older brother, all four of us are participating. I was the most likely hold-out. Living in New York, opportunities to swim are few and far between, but when asked if I would participate, I responded with a resounding "Yes!" If the rest of my family had committed, I was happy to join them. This is the first time that TAM swimmers will complete their swims in the new fabulous Marin Academy pool. After years of swimming, counting, and timing at our old, dinky pool, a place that never the less holds myriad wonderful memories despite its quirks, the team finally has a pool to match the dedication and excitement of both its longtime members and newest additions.

As I completed my swim, I found myself both exhausted and overjoyed. While my limbs protested the fact that I'd only "trained" for the swim for ten days, I was so grateful for the opportunity to just swim. An hour is long, but purposefully so. It provides moments of excitement, others of peace and meditation, and even more opportunities to challenge yourself. I cherished each and every one this morning, and upon finishing, rediscovered the sense of triumph that comes from finishing a difficult event.

So, for those who are eagerly (or perhaps anxiously) anticipating their swim and those who are not sure about participating in the hour, let me say: dive right in! Swim for your family, your coach, your teammates, but especially for yourself. Take each moment as it comes, let the water guide you, and smile, grunt, and push your way through it—you'll be happy you did!

Note: There’s just a few days left to complete this year’s Virtual Hour Swim. Now’s the time to just do it!

From the Diversity and Inclusion Committee

Are you interested in helping Pacific Masters grow in a way that reflects the rich diversity of our region? If so, the Pacific Masters Diversity & Inclusion Committee invites you to join us! We meet once a month, during which time, we decide on, and work towards, SMART goals, and have enriching discussions about creating welcoming and safe environments for all people to enjoy masters swimming.

Our accomplishments in our first year (2022) include:

• Drafting a vision statement for Pacific LMSC that unanimously passed: Pacific Masters envisions a diverse swimming community embracing inclusivity and an environment in which individuals of all backgrounds feel welcome and safe in USMS activities.
• Hosting a webinar on how to use correct pronouns: Watch it here.
• Drafting a membership survey that will provide baseline information on how we are doing as an LMSC to foster inclusivity. We at Pacific Masters Swimming are cognizant of our members' time and will strive to minimize survey requests to only survey for those things which we feel are important to inform direction and growth for our swimming community.

In 2023, we will work closely with other committees to roll out the survey and then analyze the data to help inform Pacific LMSC strategies and programs.

Interested? Please contact Vicki Shu at Div_IncChair@pacificmasters.org.

USMS Stroke Development Clinic

USMS Stroke Development Clinic – a Participant’s Perspective

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Coaches Speak