Nova Masters Swimming (Orange County, CA)

Race Report from NOVA, Brad Arshat!

Photos: http://multisportsoc.smugmug.com/Nova%20Masters/349376

The facility was BEAUTIFUL - indoor pool - and the pool area has heating for the winter and A/C for the summer! Decent, heated locker rooms and showers, swimsuit dryers, pretty much everything you could ask for at a swimming venue. Except - heads up - no food or drinks available, at least at this meet. But a very nicely kept facility.

It was a VERY fast-paced meet - it started at 1:30, and was over before 5:00 - very well run. Attendance overall was modest. The Grunions sent up a HUGE group, and the Coto Coyotes, were well represented. Mission Viejo had a decent contingent. Other than that, it was dribs and drabs from other teams. A decent group of locals as well, but they weren't as well represented as I thought they would be. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm used to these huge southern California teams.

Myself, Mike Murphy, Don Cholodenko and his brother Ira, David Hayward and Carolyn Wong swam for Nova. I think we all had a good meet, and certainly a good time. With the pace of the meet, I wasn't able to keep pace with eveyone's achievements. It seemed like there was more competition in the lower age groups. In 40 and up, it didn't seem like that much. When I'm swimming in some of the faster heats, you know it's a light field.

The meet pace was exhausting, though, at least for me. I swam 6 events in less than 3.5 hours. Very little recovery time between races - some of the events only had 2 or 3 heats. Even the biggest ones only 5 or 6, and only a few of those.

Anyway, it was a fun little meet. A small but enthusiastic group of Novas - a great bunch of teammates to be flying on your wing. Don even threw together a 200 mixed medley relay team, the first event of the meet, and a great way to start off with some team spirit! Thank you, Don! We even pulled off an age group first.

There's another meet - long course - up here later this year. Let's see if we can't get a bigger group up here, and maybe hit the town afterwards. This was a quick turnaround for most of us, so no chance to party afterwards.