After an amazing Friday, we had an equally impressive day two of the 2008 New England
LMSC Long Course Meters Championship. So far swimmers have broken 3 world
records, 4 US national records, 2 Canadian national records and a total of 26 New
England records.
Fred Schlicher's performance in the men's
60-64 200 meter IM earned him his first World Record of the day. His time
of 2:30.72 crushed the prior record of 2:36.07 set in 2006. Later, Fred set
another World Record in the 200 meter freestyle with a winning time of 2:12.69,
beating the prior record by a little more than a half a second. His time of 1:03.98
in the 100 meter fly was enough to earn him the New England record in that event.
Canada's
Len Gushe also toppled the World
Record in the men's 45-49 200 meter backstroke with a winning time of 2:18.25.
John Merrill set two new US National records.
The first was completing the men's 90-94 200 meter backstroke in 4:46.15 and the
second was his winning time of 55.45 in the 50 meter backstroke.
Although a relatively new team, the Middlebury Muffintops combined to break six
more New England records today. Middlebury's
Jessica
Holmes set the New England record in the women's 35-39 200 meter backstroke
with a winning time of 2:45.33, taking almost 10 seconds off the previous record.
She later took 2.5 seconds off the previous record in the 50-meter backstroke to set
her second New England record with a time of 35.38. That may be due in part to her
extra motivation after missing the 200 meter IM record by a mere 0.06 seconds.
Katherine Branch from Middlebury followed
her record-setting swim in the 1500 with another in the women's 50-54 200 IM. She
finished in 3:02.48 to get her second New England record for the meet, and then
followed that up with yet a third record in the 100 fly with a time of 1:21.54.
Jack Courtney from Middlebury set the New
England record in the 55-59 age group, completing the 200 meter backstroke in 2:45.62.
A relative youngster, Muffintop
Kaye-Lani Laughna
set a new record for the women's 25-29 50 meter freestyle with her 29.68 swim.
Rhonda Grasberger set a New England record
in the women's 40-44 200 meter backstroke in 2:55.64.
In the women's 80-84 age group,
Joan McIntyre
completed the 200 meter backstroke in 5:39.84 to earn her a New England record.
Doug Pride won the men's 45-49 50 meter
freestyle in 25.69, getting the New England record by 0.03 seconds.
Beth Estel won the women's 50-54 100 meter
breaststroke with a time of 1:27.65 and set a New England record as well. She completed
the 200 meter backstroke in 5:39.84 to earn a second New England record.
In the next higher age group,
Barbara Hummel
took the record in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:30.76. Barbara also set the regional
record in the women's 55-59 100 meter fly by finishing in 1:35.37.
Karen Bierwert, no stranger to fast swims,
set the New England record in the women's 55-59 400 meter free finishing in 5:49.23.
In the 200 meter freestyle, she also set the record with a time of 2:48.15.
Wrapping up the record-setting swims,
Walter Lincoln
set two New England best times with a 34.1 in the men's 75-79 50 free and a 47.47
in the men's 75-79 50 back.
Phew! I had no idea it would take so long to cover just the record-setting swims.
Everyone seems to be having a great time at the meet, enjoying the camaraderie,
the pool, and a long vacation weekend in Vermont's picturesque countryside.
Congratulations to everyone and we'll see you in the morning for our final day of
competition if we don't catch you at the social.
Saturday's Complete Results with 50-meter splits
Team Scores through Saturday's Events