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Day 2 of the 2009 USMS Short Course Nationals is
in the books and VCM had another strong day. Starting with the
400 IM, Coach Lee Anne (38 years old) and Mike Shaffer (43) placed
3rd in their age groups in PR times (5:12.11 and
4:16.41, respectively), while Coach Marty (39) and Bart Bleuel (67)
placed 7th in their age groups (4:39.28 and
6:32.48). Coach Kurt (4:40.21 - 12th in M40-44) and
Michael Wood (6:34.59 - 10th in M65-69) finished
out the event for VCM.
Next up was the 50
fly and former BSC President John Derr lead the way with a
3rd place finish in the M60-64 (:27.07). Bryant Lum
followed with a 6th place finish in the M45-49 division
(:24.72). Coach Marty (:25.60 – 21st
M35-39), John Chung (:26.79 – 26th M35-39), and
Andy Marker (:28.39 – 26 M45-49) had solid
swims.
In the men’s
200 free VCM had several highlight swims. Bart Bleuel
continued his amazing meet with another double-digit drop, this
time 13 seconds, and a 2:26.62 for 6th in the
M65-69. Michael Blatt had a superb swim with a 1:52.68, good
for 7th in the tough M50-54 division lead by Olympian
Rowdy
Gaines. Chris Cooper and Coach Kurt went 1-2 in
their heat to finish 14th and 15th in the
M40-44 (1:52.49 and 1:53.39). Coach Marty (1:55.19 –
17th M35-39), Ron Powers (2:05.72 –
31st M50-54) and Jim McConica (1:58.84 –
9th M55-59) had strong swims. In the women’s
200 free all 3 VCM women scored points lead by Stacey
Warmuth’s 6th place finish in the W50-54 division
(2:10.00), then Kim Leigh and Coach Lee Anne taking 7th
and 8th in the W35-39 (2:05.26, 2:05.80).
Next up was the 100
back and again Stacey Warmuth lead the way with a 3rd
place finish in the W50-54 (1:08.41). Following Stacey were
Larry Raffaelli (1:14.11 – 7th M65-69) and Andy
Marker (1:06.52 – 17th M45-49).
The last individual
event of the day was the 200 breast where 59 year old Hubie Kerns
nearly gave VCM its third national title, but fell short by a mere
17 hundreths of a second (2:25.46). One of the swims of the
day was recorded by Chris Cooper in this event with his
5th place finish in the M40-44 (2:18.75). Kim Leigh
battled for the top spot in her age group (W35-39) and finished
3rd (2:32.34). John Derr tied for 4th in
the M60-64 (2:33.27), Michael Wood took 5th in the
M65-69 (3:03.76) and Bart Bleuel placed 9th in the same
age group (3:11.77). Michael Blatt followed up his excellent
200 free with a solid effort for 14th in the M50-54
(2:28.50).
The day concluded
with some fun relays. First was the mixed 200 medley relay
with Mike Shaffer leading off in the back followed by Kim Leigh
(breast), Bryant Lum (fly) and Coach Lee Anne (free). The team
nearly won their heat from Lane 1 and placed 5th in the
35+ division. The men’s team fielded 4 teams in the 200
free relay, but due to 2 missing swimmers, one team had to take on
dual identities. Bart Bleuel lead off followed by Michel Wood,
then Bart remounted the blocks and swam again, and Michael did the
same after Bart finished his 2nd leg. The timers
were confused and it appeared that the officials may not have
noticed, but they did and the team was DQ’d. The other
teams scored in their races lead by the 35+ team of Shaffer, Chung,
Baron, and Cooper with their 4th place
finish. Coach Kurt had the split of the day with his :22.93 in
the 3rd position. The 55+ team of Derr, Raffaelli, Kerns,
and McConica placed 5th and the 45+ team of Lum, Powers,
Marker, and Blatt finished 8th. Michael Blatt
anchored the team with a quick :22.77.
After two days VCM sits in
7th place in the team standings with 2 more days of
competition remaining. Stay tuned for Day 3 results.
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