CLUB TRIBE REPEATS AS COLONIES ZONE TEAM CHAMPS!!
We did it AGAIN! For the second season in a row we are the Colonies Zone Champions. Last year’s victory was a magical ride through three days of great swims, records and camaraderie that seemed impossible to replicate. Of course we didn’t. In many ways, though, we exceeded that accomplishment. Each season, each meet and each swim is its own story, made all the sweeter because we did it together.
Click here for complete meet results.
As always the statistics, although awe-inspiring, do not tell the story. We will start with one statistic, but leave the rest for the end as we weave our way through an exhilarating and exhausting three days.
Large Team Scores:
Club Tribe 1756
VMST 1227
Reston Masters 1036
Telling the story of last weekend would take a small book. Instead, we will look at a word collage of moments, little pieces of time that blend together into our weekend together. Each of these moments tells part of the story, but not all of the individual story or the team story. They are simply some of the things you would have seen, if you bounced back and forth from pool to pool; or the pictures we would have liked to have blended into a collage of our meet.
The meet began Friday night with the smallest distance crew we have had since 2016, but the largest ever Distance Day cheering section, with Club Tribe swimmers and their families supporting and counting. Despite the small numbers, we walked away with three 2nd places, including a “squeeze in” 1650 from Kyle Ahlgren (40-44) (before heading off to a wedding in NYC) and a demonstration of the growth of this team into new age groups with Vince Romano’s (70-74) fantastic 1,000 Free. [Editor’s note: Plus a gutsy 1,000 Free from author Dan Earle, who would earn five podium finishes in individual events and contribute to a pair of relay wins over the course of the weekend!]
We made our move beginning with the first event on Saturday. Katie Grier (40-44) led the way in and out of the pool with a lifetime best, meet fastest time, Zone and VA record in the 100 Free (51.49). Krista Gass (40-44) had a solid drop and also made the podium. In the Men’s Pool, Teddy Bulakul (30-34) began a typically great weekend with his own 100 Free win, while Tylor Martinez (25-29) began a two-day assault on his entry times, dropping almost 22 seconds. In the 200 Back, Hayley Wittsack (30-34) took the win to begin her assault on the backstroke events, while Doug Slater (60-64) broke his own VA and Zone record to start a dominant weekend.
Some of us got a brief rest while the Club Tribe Mixed Relays put up 3 of the top four times in the 400 Free Relay (18+ – 1st, 25+ – 1st, 35+ 2nd) and four of the top six (including the top three) 200 Medley Relays (18+ – 1st, 25 + -1st and 2nd, 35+ – 1st).
After the Relays, we picked right back up with multiple wins in the 50 Fly, including Gabby Mizerak (25-29) just missing her own VA record. In the Men’s Pool, we pulled in a ton of points, including Chris Wang’s (18-24) 23.69 effort. The 200 IM saw a continued run of dominance for our Women, as Laura Schwartz (18-24) put up the fastest time of the meet. Cory Camp (18-24) just snuck under 2 minutes (1:59.99) while Tom Gill (45-49) (our team outfitter) and Bill Bender (55-59) both put together great swims for 2nd in their age groups. Anna Wujciak (18-24) then completed a monster (200 IM/500 Free) double with her second dominant swim, taking the 500 in a VA Record. In the 100 Breast, our women continued to dominate with four of the six fastest times in the meet, including Victoria Maqueda (25-29) breaking her own VA record and Ellen Minzemayer (30-34) breaking the Zone record.
For some reason, no one swam the 200 Fly.
In the 50 Back, our women finished with the top three times in the meet including Catherine Mulquin’s (18-24) almost National Record (beat the time on the heat sheet, but it had been broken a few weeks ago) and Michele Choe’s (40-44) age group win. The men saw Bob Glover (18-24) demonstrate that his backstroke is actually faster than his freestyle and that he is terrible at predicting times swimming on one un-injured leg, while Joe Kimball (50-54) put up his best time improvement of the weekend and Nathan Stamps (25-29) continued a solid contribution with his “all the 50s” weekend.
We ended Saturday with the relay performance we have come to expect, a lot of fun, a lot of spirit and a lot of wins (top two women’s 800 Free Relays, top men’s 800 Free Relay, top women’s 400 Medley Relay, top men’s 400 Medley Relay, top women’s 200 Free Relay and two 2nd and two 3rd place men’s 200 Free Relays). We were also thrilled to roll out our first 45+ Relay ever at Zones (Mick Tingstrom, Joe Kimball, Bill Bender and Doug Slater).
On Sunday we welcomed a few new swimmers and many more great swims.
The final day started the same as Saturday, with the top woman in a freestyle event, this time Emily Ryczek (25-29) in the 200. In the Men’s Pool, Bruce Fisher (70-74) continued to highlight our expansion to new age groups with another of his great freestyle swims while Bill Harper (50-54) dropped 8 seconds. The 100 IM may have been our best event of the meet, with the top two women, the top two men (Alex Montes de Oca (18-24) and Alex Henderson (18-24)), and eight age group wins, including Shaina Kulczycki (25-29), Christoph Berger (25-29), and David Bell (40-44), and a nearly 6-second drop by Sam Wooley.
Again, some of us took a break while the Mixed Relays put up the fastest time in the 800 Free Relay (18+); the three fastest times in the 400 Medley Relay (18+ – 1st, 25+ – 1st, 35+ – 1st) – including a lead-off 50.96 100 Back from Austin Glass – and the three fastest 200 Free Relays (18+ – 1st and 3rd, 25+ – 1st, 35+ – 1st). For the second day in a row, Adrian Maholchic took a little time out of a busy weekend to come rock a Mixed Relay.
After the Relays we focused on closing the meet out. Our Women’s Breastrokers again demonstrated their dominance, including wins from Kristen Harris (40-44) and Ruth Anne Thomas (35-39) in the 50 Breast. In the Men’s pool, Dan McGuire (25-29) continued an impressive Club Tribe Zones debut with a 28.19. In the 100 Fly, Evan Elsaesser (30-34) dropped a 51.95 to win his age group, while Kraig Gass (35-39) broke the 1-minute barrier to win his. Shannon Greene (30-34) made a new addition to her normal Ironman schedule with a 2nd place in the 400 IM, while Andy Greenhalgh competed in the most exciting race of the meet, coming from behind with a monster 52.34 freestyle split to win the 400 IM by 0.24 seconds in Zone record time.
The 50 Free saw Club Tribe women put up the four fastest times, while the men put up three of the six fastest times. Mick Tingstrom completed a 4 best time/4 relay performance with his best individual finish of the meet. Club Tribe then put up the fastest time in the Women’s 200 Breast and 100 Back. In the Men’s 100 Back, Chris Massonneau (60-64) competed in his eighth individual event (to go with two relays) with a best time and his best individual finish.
Once again, we put together a lot of fun, spirited and fast relays to end the weekend, including a 1st for the 18+ Women in the 400 Free Relay, the 3 fastest Women’s 200 Medley Relays (18+, 25+, and 35+), including two Zone records (18+ and 35+); the fastest Men’s 400 Free Relay, plus two other age group wins and an age group 3rd place (18+ – 1st, 35+ – 3rd, 45+ – 1st, 55+ – 1st), the first ever 55+ relay for Club Tribe at Zones (Bill Bender, Chris Massonneau, Bruce Fisher and Doug Slater); the fastest 200 Medley Relay and another age group relay win (18+ and 25+). We also saw Joel Thomas finish his final contribution to the team before gathering his family, who had been there basically the whole meet (including Friday night!), to head home.
Finally, John Rockwell, who went straight from an individual event to a relay on three different occasions, scored 40 points and unanimously won the hardest weekend of the meet award, got to sit down.
Intertwined within the swims were constant reminders of the closeness of this team. In addition to the Distance Day crew, Erik Lesnewsky – almost off injured reserve – was cheering us on from the deck both days. Sara Shaner showed up on crutches to cheer on her team Sunday, and Lewis Rockwell – a current H20Kie Aquatics stud and future Club Tribe recruit fresh off a stellar Southern Sectionals – was a constant presence on deck, cheering us on and taking excellent race videos. We had parents, spouses and kids in the stands. Saturday ended with the now traditional team dinner (graciously hosted by Michele and her family), and Sunday ended with the always traditional post-meet celebration. And we had more people cheering for every event than any other team. You could not have a Club Tribe swimmer in the water without teammates supporting them.
We did it. We had fun, we swam well, we saw old friends, we made new friends. This team continues to show what Masters swimming should be: fun, competitive and supportive.
Now for the statistics:
Top Scorers:
Doug Slater – 57
Ruth Anne Thomas – 48
Victoria Maqueda – 46
Katie Grier – 45
Teddy Bulakul – 43
Hayley Wittsack – 43
5 Individual Wins:
Katie Grier (40-44) – 100 Free, 50 Fly, 100 IM, 50 Free, 100 Back
4 Individual Wins:
Teddy Bulakul (30-34) – 100 Free, 50 Back, 100 IM, 50 Free
Catherine Mulquin (18-24) – 50 Fly, 50 Back, 50 Free, 100 Back
Emily Ryczek (25-29) – 100 Free, 200 Free, 50 Free, 100 Back
Laura Schwartz – (18-24) 200 IM, 100 Breast, 100 IM, 200 Breast
Doug Slater (60-64) – 200 Back, 50 Fly, 50 Back, 100 Back
Hayley Wittsack (30-34) – 200 Back, 50 Back, 100 IM, 100 Back
3 Individual Wins:
Victoria Maqueda (25-29) – 50 Breast, 100 Breast, 200 Breast
Ruth Anne Thomas (35-39) – 200 IM, 100 Breast, 50 Breast
Anna Wujciak (18-24) – 200 Back, 500 Free, 100 Fly
2 Individual Wins:
Christoph Berger (25-29) – 100 IM, 100 Back
Evan Elsaesser (30-34) – 50 Fly, 100 Fly
Bruce Fisher (70-74) – 100 Free, 200 Free
Andy Greenhalgh (18-24) – 500 Free, 400 IM
Ellen Minzenmayer (30-34) – 50 Breast, 100 Breast
Gabrielle Mizerak (25-29) – 50 Fly, 50 Back
Alex Montes de Oca (18-24) – 100 IM, 50 Free
John Rockwell (40-44) – 100 Back, 200 Back
1 Individual Win:
David Bell (40-44) – 100 IM
Cory Camp (18-24) – 200 IM
Michele Choe (40-44) – 50 Back
Kraig Gass (35-39) – 100 Fly
Shannon Greene (30-34) – 50 Fly
Kristen Harris (40-44) – 50 Breast
Shaina Kulczycki (25-29) – 100 IM
Records:
Katie Grier (40-44) – 100 Free 51.49 (Zone and VA); 50 Fly 26.34 (VA and Zone); 100 IM 1:00.53 (VA); 50 Free 24.02 (VA and Zone); 50 Back 28.23 (VA and Zone)
Catherine Mulquin (18-24) – 50 Fly 25.16 (VA and Zone); 50 Back 25.92 (VA and Zone); 100 Back 58.33 (VA)
Anna Wujciak (18-24) – 500 Free 5:13.39 (VA)
Laura Schwartz (18-24) – 100 Breast 1:06.03 (VA and Zone); 200 Breast 2:23.56 (VA and Zone)
Victoria Maqueda (25-29) – 100 Breast 1:08.57 (VA)
Ellen Minzenmayer (30-34) – 100 Breast 1:09.78 (Zone)
Doug Slater (60-64) – 200 Back 2:13.15 (VA and Zone)
Andy Greenhalgh (18-24) – 400 IM 4:09.99; 200 Free 1:40.59 (Zone)
Mixed (18+) 400 Free Relay (Cory Camp, Catherine Mulquin, Anna Wujciak, Andy Greenhalgh) – 3:20.12 (Zone)
Women’s 18+ 800 Free Relay (Anna Wujciak , Katie Grier, Emily Ryczek, Catherine Mulquin) – 7:59.09 (VA and Zone)
Women’s 25+ 800 Free Relay (Shannon Greene, Ellen Minzenmayer, Hayley Wittsack, Shaina Kulczycki) – 8:48.97 (VA)
Women’s 18+ 400 Medley Relay (Gabrielle Mizerak, Laura Schwartz, Shannon Greene, Victoria Maqueda) – 4:14.87 (VA)
Women’s 35+ 200 Free Relay (Ruth Anne Thomas, Michele Choe, Krista Gass, Katie Grier) – 1:41.94 (VA and Zone)
Men’s 25+ 800 Free Relay John Rockwell, Dan Earle, Kraig Gass, Christoph Berger) – 8:04.79 (VA)
Men’s 18+ 400 Medley Relay (Bob Glover, Dan McGuire, Evan Elsaesser, Andy Greenhalgh) – 3:36.99 (VA and Zone)
Mixed (25+) 400 Medley Relay (Christoph Berger, Victoria Maqueda, Teddy Bulakul, Katie Grier) – 3:55.30 (VA)
Women’s 18+ 200 Medley Relay (Catherine Mulquin, Laura Schwartz, Gabrielle Mizerak, Anna Wujciak) – 1:48.40 (Zone)
Women’s 35+ 200 Medley Relay (Katie Grier, Kristen Harris, Michele Choe, Krista Gass) – 1:55.50 (VA and Zone)
Men’s 18+ 200 Medley Relay (Bob Glover, Alex Montes de Oca, Evan Elsaesser, Andy Greenhalgh) – 1:34.56 (Zone)
Congratulations to everyone four pulling together and defending our team championship at one of the premier meets in Masters swimming.