2023 Spring Nationals
Nineteen Club Tribe swimmers competed in late April at USMS Spring Nationals in Irvine, CA and we had an absolute blast! This Nationals roster was truly special, comprised mainly of a group of tenacious 35-and-overs and a highly energetic group of 20-somethings; as usual, Club Tribe cheered and pulled for each other throughout the meet and brought a ton of our own brand of energy to the proceedings.
The highlights and personal achievements are too numerous to fully capture here, but I offer a summary below (full results are available here).
TEAM HIGHLIGHTS
This was the largest, deepest, fastest meet in USMS history, with more that 2,500 swimmers and standards for scoring in most age groups at an all-time high. Club Tribe finished an impressive 13th among 259 teams – 3rd among non-California teams and comfortably 1st among all clubs with 30 or fewer swimmers.
INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
Club Tribe’s top individual scorers were as follows:
1. Brent Holsten (49 pts.)
2. Dave Bell (37)
3t. Bonnie Zhang (34)
3t. Carter Bristow (34)
5. David Cole (32)
We had many swimmers score lots of points and record Masters-best and personal-best times, but I’ll highlight those who placed in the top three in at least one individual event and/or broke Virginia LMSC records (full VA LMSC Records are available here):
-- Brent Holsten swam to two National Championships in the M 50-54 age group (50 Fly, 23.65; 100 FR, 49.78) and a trio of 2nd-place finishes (100 IM, 50 BK, 50 FR). Brent’s 100 FR swim is a new VA LMSC Record and he also lowered the 100 IM record to 56.03.
-- Dave Bell took down the M 45-49 50 BK (25.78), also finishing with a 2nd and 3rd in the 100 BK and 200 BK, respectively.
-- Carter Bristow won the W 18-24 200 FR (1:54.15) and took 3rd in the 200 IM in a new VA LMSC record time of 2:09.28.
-- Bonnie Zhang had a pair of 2nd-place finishes in the W 25-29 age group – establishing new VA LMSC records in the 50 FR (23.84) and 100 FR (51.47). Bonnie also had a pair of 3rd-place finishes (50 BK, 100 FR) with her 50 BK time of 27.04 a new VA LMSC record.
-- David Cole took 2nd in the M 45-49 50 BK and 50 FR, and 3rd in the 100 FR in a VA LMSC record time of 49.89.
-- Christopher Johnson finished 3rd in the M 18-24 500 FR.
-- Sam Kettlewell-Sites placed 3rd in the M 25-29 100 BK in a VA LMSC record time of 49.48 and also lowered the 50 BK VA LMSC record to 23.47.
-- Paul Klepchick re-wrote the M 45-49 VA LMSC Breaststroke records with a 28.45, 1:02.16, and 2:18.26 in the 50, 100 and 200, respectively.
RELAY HIGHLIGHTS
Relays are always a great strength of Club Tribe and this meet was no exception. We had a number of excellent relays that finished just out of the scoring in addition to the following eight relays, which amassed an impressive 126 points:
-- In a swim for the ages (check out the race video in our private Facebook group!), the 45+ Men’s 200 Free Relay of Brent Holsten (22.34), David Cole (22.11), Paul Klephick (23.29) and Dave Bell (22.90) won the National Championship in a blistering 1:30.64, establishing a new VA LMSC record. That same group also demolished the VA LMSC record in the 200 Medley Relay with a 2nd place swim of 1:39.77 (with an order of Bell, Klepchick, Holsten and Cole).
-- Our 18+ Mixed Relay crew lowered the VA LMSC Records in both the 200 Medley Relay and 200 Free Relay, which had each been held for several years by the “Club Tribe Kids 1.0.” The Club Tribe Kids 2.0 team of Matt Healey, Sam Kettlewell-Sites, Carter Bristow, and Bonnie Zhang ripped a 1:28.96 in the Free Relay – good for 2nd place – and the Medley Relay team of Sam Kettlwell-Sites, Jack Portmann, Carter Bristow, and Bonnie Zhang finished 3rd in 1:39.22.
-- The 18+ Women’s 200 Medley Relay of Bonnie Zhang, Carter Bristow, Helen Geddes and Sarah Klabunde finished 3rd in 1:52.25, while those four swimmers also combined to place 4th in the 200 Free Relay (1:40.72).
-- The Men’s 18+ 200 Free Relay of Jack Portmann, Matt Healey, Christopher Johnson, and Sam Kettlewell-Sites finished 3rd in 1:24.18, with Sam realizing his goal of breaking 20.00 with a scorching anchor leg of 19.85. Full send : )
-- Finally, the Men’s 25+ 200 Medley Relay of Sam Kettlewell-Sites, Jeremy Linaburg, Jack Portmann, and Matt Healey finished 8th in very fast field with a 1:35.60.
IN SUM
Banding together with a big group of teammates for a Nationals meet is a tremendously rewarding experience, and I highly recommend that any of our team members who have never done it (or for whom it’s been a while), to take the plunge and target a Nationals meet. Our next opportunity is Summer Nationals in Sarasota (Aug. 2-6), and we are already hearing of very strong interest from many team members. Be there!
For some more color/background on the event, I’d highly recommend Dave Bell’s post in our private Facebook group, which beautifully summarizes so much of what we’re trying to accomplish as a team and why these big meets are so valuable.
Congratulations to the entire Nationals team and to all Club Tribers who contributed in any way to this tremendously successful short course season – onward!!