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Big Dog on the BlockBy Dick Cheadle

As you may have read in the Maynewsletter, this year’s SC Zone Meet up here inFairfax in April was won by the usual 1,000+points, a runaway. Except this time it wasn’tVMST that won it, it was Curl-Burke.

They deserved to win it; they had 84 entriesand we had 60. It really surprised me when I readthe “psyche” sheets a few days before the meet,because they had never had more than 15-20 before. I knew they were recruiting heavily, mostly goingafter young people who had swum for Curl-Burkethrough the age group programs. That means theyhave an unlimited supply of future prospects; youswim for Curl-Burke from age 6 until college, andthen come back and swim for them again whenyou’re ready to get into Masters.

The format favors them also, not that it wasimportant. They had all kinds of people swimmingback-to-back-to back relays before the regularevents started. That’s not hard to do when you’re20-25-30-35, it’s much more difficult to do andhave anything left when you’re 55-60-65-70. HarryDe Long, our on-deck coach for SC Zones, reallyhad his hands full at the meet, trying toaccommodate everyone’s wishes. We don’t knowhow many Curl-Burke will have at LC Zones, butlet’s go for a big turnout and a good showing!

A final word (or two) on relay courtesy:1. Let the person collecting split times know if youare or if you are not available for relays each day. It’s a tough job for the relay coordinator to make itwork. Sometimes we just need one more person tofill in on a relay.2. If you can’t make a relay for whatever reason,tell the relay coordinator so he/she can make achange or at least notify the other swimmers. 3. When you get to the pool, check the posted relaysto see if you have been entered. If you are on arelay that you don’t want to swim, tell the coach orrelay coordinator ASAP.

Let’s look for a good turnout in August andsee what we can do!

Relays for LC Zones

If you are planning to enter LC Zones, please sendthe following information. I will make sure it getsto the person who will be coordinating relays. Ifyou do not want to swim a given relay, indicate with“NA” for Not Available.

If you are entering and do not want to do any relays,let me know that also.

Event # Relay Split time or NA

Saturday Morning Relays1 400 Mixed Free _________2 200 Mixed Medley _________

Saturday Afternoon Relays11 Women’s 400 Medley _________12 Men’s 400 Medley _________13 Women’s 200 Free _________14 Men’s 200 Free _________

Sunday Morning Relays16 400 Mixed Medley _________17 200 Mixed Free _________18 800 Mixed Free _________

Sunday Afternoon Relays26 Women’s 400 Free _________27 Men’s 400 Free _________28 Women’s 200 Medley _________29 Men’s 200 Medley _________30 Women’s 800 Free _________31 Men’s 800 Free _________

Send to:

Betsy Durrant, durrant6@cox.net , orcall me at 757-422-6811.

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NEWS from Lisa Bennett

As a group of adults, one would think thatour level of excitement could be contained. Not sofor the first outing of SwimQuest Masters to the2006 USMS Nationals in Coral Springs, FL! Getting to the airport at an early hourwasn’t a chore as several of the teammembers are used to that ungodly time forpractice. The real chore was making surethat our coach, Dudley Duncan, made it! He didn’t fail us. But we thought wewere going to lose one member, BeckyFranklin, in the Atlanta airport when shewas almost run down by the people-movercart. Everyone in the airport heard the“beep-beep” sound except Becky!

But once we found and got settledin at the hotel, the real excitement ofbeing at Nationals hit us. The ladies onthe team gathered together and found a Party City tobuy the trinkets we wanted to take to the pool. Wegot plastic monkeys and paper fish to hang underour canopy. We even found an obnoxious hula girlto play “Wipe-Out” at the end of the lane as ourmembers were swimming. We had to havesunglasses for the intense sun too, so we each got apair of the most hideous ones we could find! Butwhat made us laugh was that the next day we sawsome other swimmers with the same sunglasses! Somuch for a fashion statement!

Our team members were so excited for eachother, and the cheering by all was quite a motivatorto get some really good times. It was the firstNationals for a few of the members and they reallyenjoyed meeting swimmers from other areas of thecountry. Seeing so many swimmers at such a highlevel was really thrilling. It got the adrenalinegoing. It was nice to see all of the hard work payingoff for us in the pool. One of the most excitingthings was that Tracy Hernlen didn’t stop after the150 of his 200 free! I guess he’s been gone fromFlorida long enough.

One night at dinner, our team thinker, DaveFrisch, came up with an idea for some added speedin the water. He thought it would be nice to have a“swimming jockey” on our backs to get us going. Of course it only embarrassed his daughter Xandi alittle because she is used to her dad’s “unique”sense of humor. But our team artist Kelly Clearycouldn’t resist. So by warm-ups the next morning,she was drawing tattoos on our shoulders of theinfamous “swim jockey”. I think the little guy

worked. And when wordgot out, she had a dozenother swimmers lining upfor one too!

We had our own“team mom” to look out forus too. Brenda Siggs madesure that we all wereproperly hydrated and filledwith Scooby Snacks. With abroken toe, and notswimming, Brenda was thegodsend bringing thecanopy, and coolers filledwith water. She even got

good at changing the story around with severalversions of how she broke the toe!

One of the most exciting times wasswimming on the relay! It was quite a sight to seeso many different ages up there yelling for eachother. But when our team of Angela Howsmon,Sherri Vaughn, Kelly Cleary and Lisa Bennett gotup to swim, we found that we had to teach onemember of the VMST 55+ team how to wear hernew full-length suit. She was wondering why it wasso uncomfortable. We had to explain to her that thecrotch wasn’t supposed to be just above the knees! I think I’ll remember that the next time I have to fitinto one of those suits.

But I think that the debut of SwimQuestMasters was a fun time had by all. There weresome excellent swims, some great camaraderie,great dinners, and a ton of laughter. We are hopingto share many more nationals together so we canshare with our children and grandchildren all of themature things that we did at the meets.

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Photographs from 2006 Meets

Jo Downing and Kitten Braaten in Coral Spr i n g s

Tracy Hernlen and Lisa Bennett

in Coral Springs Bud Swiger and Nancy Miller at

the private schools state

championship

Kim Kurkowski

at the Chinn meet.

Paul Cieurzo at Richmond meet

Karlyn Pipes-Neisen Clinic

Karlyn (the 2004 World Masters Swimmer of the Year) and her husband Eric were at the Zone Meet inApril. They combined a trip to Boston for Eric to run in the Boston Marathon with some clinics on the eastcoast. On the way to a clinic in Charlotte, they swam in the Zone Meet.

While they live in Hawaii, they travel all over the country to give clinics. In doing this, they scheduleclinics in a given area. Karlyn and Eric will be on the east coast in September. If you would like to host a clinicwith Karlyn and Eric, go to www.aquaticedge.org.

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Swimmers at Beijing Olympics to Swim in

Soap Bubblesby Ray Novitske

A cube of giant soap bubbles covering over 600,000square feet is rising in the Beijing Olympiccomplex. No, this not something from a Godzillamovie. This is a unique structure that willeventually become the new swimming venue for the2008 Summer Olympics in China.

Known as the Watercube, the National SwimmingCenter will contain aquatics facilities and seatingfor 17,000 spectators. The unique idea was theresult of an architectural competition between tenprominent international design firms. PTW, anarchitecture and engineering firm based inAustralia, eventually took the prize with a designbased on water bubbles. Their winning buildingconcept incorporates a random geometry of bubblesformed into a massive cube.

Scheduled to be completed later this year, theWatercube consists of a giant rectangular formcovering the interior swimming pools and spectatorseating. The cube form was selected to act as acounterpoint to the adjacent circular OlympicStadium - almost as a Chinese Yin Yang. So whybubbles for a structure?

"We were researching the meaning and relevance ofwater, and we were intrigued by images of foam,soap bubbles, molecules and corals, and the organicstructures behind them," explains PTW's KurtWagner. "Then we became interested in what auniform structure that occupied three-dimensionalspace might look like, and we came across theoriginal Kelvin foam on the web."

Lord Kelvin, the famous nineteenth centuryphysicist, worked on ways to divide cells of equalsize with the least surface area. Present dayresearchers at Trinity College in Dublin expandedon Kelvin's ideas to develop theories on the

structural efficiencies of foams and bubbles. In aconventional stadium, columns, beams, or cablessupport the walls and roof. In the Watercubestructure, just as in foam bubbles, walls and roof areone unit - all seamlessly one and the same. Theresult is efficient and organic, structurally and aesthetically.

The innovative design does not stop at the structure.The building's exterior panels between the bubblestructure consist of a new transparent teflonmaterial, chemically abbreviated as ETFE. This skinmaterial is designed to react to lighting andprojection to create a "visual and sensory experiencefor spectators and television viewers" during thegames. The skin also acts as a greenhouse. Most allof the solar energy falling on the exterior will betrapped within structural zone between the claddingpanels and will be used to heat the pool and interiorareas.

So during the next Olympics, the aquatics centermay actually turn out to be as equally exciting as thecompetition it is home to.

Editor’s Note: Bud Swiger sent me this articlewhich appeared in the newsletter of the PotomacValley LMSC.

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Mail Call

Workout in Virginia Beach/Norfolk:TAC will be swimming at VWC this summer on thefollowing schedule: M & W 6-8 am, and Sat 8-10. Other teams have the pool on other days and times. The head coach of TAC, will be there during thesetimes and said that Masters are welcome duringthese times and that he will run the workout.

From Sandy Galletly:Note: Sandy lives in Scotland and swims for SCAQ(Southern CA). He hung around with VMST atnationals and several us pointed out to him theadvantages of joining VMST next year.

Many thanks for your E-mail. Glad to hear that youall arrived home safely. I had a nice couple of daysrelaxing in Ft. Lauderdale - some sun bathing on thebeach and swimming at the Hall of Fame, also a fewthunder storms!!Re. info. on meets in the UK, go towww.britishswimming.org - click on "masters" -click on "calender and competition info" - click on"masters domestic calender" - this should give youwhat you need. Any problems or any further info.on any particular meet, just get in touch.My heart felt thanks to you all for inviting me intoyour group, it really made the meet all that moreenjoyable. I look forward to being "one of you" inthe future.Give my best wishes to everyone. Best Regards, Sandy

From John Sultan:Note: John lives in northern CA. He use to swimand coach in Virginia Beach.

I have not been competing much over the last 4years, but swimming on a regular basis and bikingas well. I have been coaching a lot with both highschool boys and girls swimming, high school boyswater polo and club, Penguin, swim team. So, I amstaying way too busy, but I must admit I do enjoy it.I decided not to go to Worlds either. I am 59 andreally not training. I may go down however and visitwith some of the swimmers, Sandy and others. Say

hello to everyone and hope to see you sometimedown the road.

From Chuck Wilmore:Note: I had a typo in the June VMST newsletter andwrote that Patty Miller won the 200 “beast.” Assoon as the newsletter arrived, I had a phone callfrom Forrest Sullivan, giving me a hard time. Then,an email from Chuck...My apologies to Patty – shewas first (and national champion) in the 200breaststroke.

You might have known that the two smart-aleckswould be Forrest and I. Maybe there is something toastrology – Forrest and I have the same birthday. Iwill try to take your advice and train some and entera couple of things at LC zones. I haven't done muchresembling a workout for a while. I have just beendoing some yards a couple of times a week. It takesa lot longer to get in shape these days. Maybe I willsee you at Zones

From Terry Sue Gault:The James River Splash was a success forvolunteers and paricipants. Our #'s more thandoubled and everyone had a great time. I havepictures that I will email to you.

From Lou Revelle:Note: Those of you who swam in the late 70's andearly 80's may remember Lou. He contacted meafter reading a history of Masters Swimming inVirginia on the USMS website.

Yes.....We do visit on occasion....at present we arein the process of moving our remaining belongingsfrom Norfolk to Altavista Va. (where I have livedfor 2 years) I am 61 years (young) and even though(still) perfectly capable of swimming in masters, Ihave not done so for many years. I really do miss it.I have much memorabilia packed away frommasters swimming in the 70's and I remember youfrom the Beach "Y" at Mt. Trashmore and theschool system....Those were great times....As soonas the dust settles on our move I will be more thanglad to get these items to you..... Best Wishes LouRevelle

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Local Masters Swim Committee for Virginia Dee Delong, Registrar6103 Eagles Nest CircleManassas, VA 20112-3029

LMSC ElectionsAt the next LMSC meeting we will elect LMSC officers. The meeting will be in October; no date has beenfinalized yet. The current officers are listed on page 2 of this newsletter. The position of Chair is limited totwo terms, and Charlie Cockrell has served two terms. It is our challenge to find a new Chair as active andinvolved as Charlie has been. There are no term limits on Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. The currentofficers can be nominated again, if they are willing, but we should also look to involve others.Charlie has asked Terry Sue Gault to chair the nominating committee and Bud Swiger (Virginia Masters) andEileen Span (Winchester Masters) have agreed to serve on the committee. Terry Sue can be reached attsgvmst@aol.com. Please contact Terry Sue, Bud, or Eileen if you are interested in being an officer or if youwant to suggest someone else.

From Charlie: “I encourage anyone with interest in running for an LMSC office to speak up. Many or youhave made very valuable contributions to masters swimming in Virginia and we will continue to rely on yourcollective efforts and leadership in our quest to further the goals and objectives of masters swimming. I'd liketo ask each current officer, committee chair, club delegate, or any other active member to consider how youwould like to be involved in the future.”

Prstd StdU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDRichmond, VAPermit #1630