Rinconada Recap

Coach Joel poised for his 1000 free

Marta and Becky counting for Joel

Five Cruzers headed over to Palo Alto this past Saturday to compete in the 2016 Rinconada Masters Spring Short Course Meet.  Armed with a pop-up tent, lawn chairs, chairs, a hot water kettle, and a lot of winter clothing, Coach Joel, Cyndy Hertzer, Marta Bechoefer, Becky Barall, and I (Bridget Lyons) competed in twenty-one events and represented Santa Cruz Masters in style.

Coach Joel naturally won his age group for all four of his events (200 free, 1000 free, 200 IM, and 400 IM), and Cyndy won all five of hers (200 free, 1000 free, 200 breast, 200 IM, and 400 IM).  Cyndy, Marta, and I, who are all in the same age group, chose to swim three of the same events (1000 free, 200 IM, and 400 IM).  We placed 1-2-3 in all three of them – leading us to wonder if this tactic is a powerful show of age-group dominance or a silly self-defeating strategy.  Hmm.  Regardless, it was fun to have three of our 45-49 year-old women’s posse on the blocks together.  Marta and I each picked up a couple ribbons in the events Cyndy passed on (thankfully she can’t do everything) – Marta placed first in the 100 breast and I placed first in the 100  fly and the 50 fly (N.B.: competition is not all that fierce in the 45-49 women's fly events, if you're looking to win something...), and Marta picked up a second in the 200 breast as well.  There were 48 teams at the event, and 143 swimmers in total.  You can see the full meet results by clicking here. 

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Cyndy powers off the block

Perhaps most notable was Becky’s completion of the burliest race of the day – the 1650 fly.  Not only did she finish, she did a real butterfly stroke the whole time and, for the most part, looked like she was having a good time for all 40 minutes and 55 seconds of her experience.  In addition to gaining the undying respect of all of us mere mortals, she also gets her name engraved on a plaque commemorating all survivors of this event. Make sure to congratulate her if you see her on deck coaching in the next week or so.
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And…think about joining us for the Pacific Short Course Championships in April!  You can check out the details by clicking here.  There should be a decent sized group of folks going – and the more the merrier.

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This is the kind of weird stuff you get to see when you visit other pools...

He should be tired!!!

If you’re thinking about racing but aren’t sure if swim meets are up your alley, know that I hadn’t been to one in over thirty years.  I stopped diving off of starting blocks and switched to water polo when I was fifteen, and I was more than a little worried about starts, finishes, turns, and getting disqualified – among other things. 

With one meet under my belt now, I can say the scene was pretty mellow (it’s adult swimming, after all) and our gang was super supportive (Cruzers are cool, why wouldn’t hanging out with them and cheering them on be fun?)  I’d encourage you to put your concerns aside and give it a try.  Joel is planning on holding some sessions to help with all of those pesky competition-related details over the course of the next month, so do tell him if you think you’re interested in some pre-meet coaching.  ​