Nova Masters Swimming (Orange County, CA)

SAVANNAH, GA - While the Irvine Novaquatics had five national team members (Aaron Peirsol, Jason Lezak, Lenny Krayzelburg, Gabe Woodard, and Colleen Lanne) competing for the U.S. Olympic Team in Athens, they also had six Masters swimmers (Jim Phalan, Gerard VonHoffman, Frank Wasko, Tord Benner, Gabriella Phalan, and Kathryn Hager) competing at the United States Masters Long Course National Championships in Savannah, Georgia. The team set an incredible 15 new team records during the meet. The NOVA's placed 27th in the combined team score, with all 6 swimmers scoring points, for an average of 24.5 points per swimmer, which on a quality scale beats out the 9th place overall team (Colonials 1776) which had 408 points with 20 swimmers (a 20.4 average points per swimmer). Jim Plalan led the way taking home three National titles in the 25-29 men's division - 50 Free (25.58), 100 Free (55.88), and 50 Fly titles (26.96). The 100 Free and 50 Fly were also new Nova Masters team records. Gabriela Phalan, "the sprint queen" placed 4th in the 50 Breast (39.83), 5th in the 50 Free (29.15), and 6th in the 50 Fly (33.07). All 3 were new team records in the 30-34 age group. Frank Wasko set team records in all 3 backstroke events in the 40-44 age group: 3rd in the 200 Back (2:26.10), 4th in the 50 Back (30.39), 5th in the 100 Back. Frank also took 7th in the 50 Fly (28.36) Kathryn Hager finished 9th in the 100 Breast with a personal best time by 3 seconds (1:39.77), and 12th in the 50 Breast (44.69) Tord Benner avenged getting his 40-44 backstroke records being broken by setting new ones in all 3 backstroke events in the 45-49 age group, 50 (31.83), 100 (1:12.65), and 200 (2:38.77) and also adding the 800 Free (21:08.11). Finally Gerard Von Hoffman set team records in all 3 Breaststroke events for the 45-49 age group 50 Breast (2nd in 33.13), 100 Breast (2nd in 1:15.62), and 200 Breast (3rd in 2:48.62). He also placed 6th in the 50 Fly with a solid time of 28.34. The Nova men also has an excellent relay performance when the team of Benner, Von Hoffman, Wasko, & Phalan placed 3rd in the Men's 160-199 combined age group 200 Medley Relay with a new team record by 4 seconds (1:56.84). Benner's lead-off of 31.70 also lowered his own 50 Back record. Full results and splits are available at: http://www.usms.org/comp/lcnats04/results/ "I was very impressed with their results." Nova Head Masters Coach Michael Collins said. "It's tough to fly across the country and compete in a different time zone with very humid conditions and still have good performances. We don't have the luxury or time of the Olympic team to get there well in advance to adjust to the time difference and weather conditions." "We will be at a significant advantage next year when the Long Course Nationals will be held right here in our back yard at Mission Viejo (Aug 10-14, 2005). I am expecting a very large turnout from our team for that event. I think we will have about 100 swimmers participating in the meet. We should be a serious contender for the overall team title." "We are really looking forward to the pool reopening at Heritage Park (the newly renamed Woollett Aquatic Center), and growing our team membership. It is really a fabulous facility and we will be offering several practice times a day including early mornings, mid-day, and evening times which should make it very convenient for people to practice on a regular basis. We will also continue to offer practice times at Soka University in Aliso Viejo which is more convenient for our South Orange County members."

BIG BEAR, CA - Several Nova Masters participated in the events at Snow Summit in Big Bear over the weekend of August 14-15, 2004. In the Saucony Scramble 10K Trail Run Allison Garland placed 2nd in 30-39 (43:34) and Michelle Brown was 2nd in 20-29 (51:25). Michelle's husband Kevin completed the 12 Hours at the Summit Mountain Bike Race as a Solo competitor - completing 9 laps of the rugged 8.5 mile course. In the Xterra Sport Race Louis Bednar was 3rd overall and 2nd in 30-34 (1:36:30), while Rusty Moore was 5th overall and 2nd in 35-39 (1:40:21). Karen Mastro was the top 50+ female at (2:48:17). In the full Xterra West Championship and World Xterra Qualifier, Tomas Roba was the first Nova finisher placing 23rd overall and 3rd in 25-29. Coach Michael Collins was the first overall amateur out of the water but faded to 4th in 35-39 (2:47:19). Billy Livesay finished his longest triathlon ever (3:23:40), and youngster Brandy Bounds upgraded from the Sport race to the full Xterra just the day before and finished 3rd in 20-24 with a 3:55:44.

MADERIA ISLAND, PORTUGAL - 4 Nova Masters Swimmers participated at the ITU World Triathlon Olympic Distance Championships (1.5k Swim-40k Bike-10k Run) in the city of Funchal on the Island of Maderia off the coast of Portugal, May 8th, 2004.

Leading the way was Dan Neyenhuis who placed 4th in 60-64 division. This was a great return to the World's for him since he had to drop out during the run at the 2003 Worlds due to an injury he suffered on the way to the race that morning. His time was 2:36:48 which was the second fastest time from the USA behind Robert Plant who finished 3rd in 2:35:07.

Nova Masters & Triathlon Coach, Michael Collins, had his best performance at the World Championships in his 3rd try with a 5th place finish in the 35-39 age group. Collins finished 20th at the World Championships last year in Queenstown, NZ, and 26th in 2002 when the race was in Cancun, Mexico. Collins, a swimming specialist, was first out of the water in his age group, just ahead of the eventual age group winner, but was nearly a minute ahead the rest of the field. Collins stayed strong enough to drop only one place on the bike and two on the run. Collins time was 2:11.09 which was the 2nd fastest American time behind Timothy Valley who finished 2nd in 2:08.19 with an extremely strong bike and run.

Christen King, competing in the 25-29 age group finished a surprising 10th in her first World Championships. This was a far better showing than her 12th place finish at Nationals which qualified her for the World Championship race. Christen relied on a strong bike to move through the field after the swim, and also passed two competitors in the last 400m of the run to move up from 13th to 11th. Christen finished the race in 2:27:36 with the third fastest American time.

Finally, the youngster of the team, Kyle Hughes, competed as one of the Team USA Junior Elites (16-19), for the first time, and finished as the 2nd American in the Sprint Distance Race (750m Swim-20K Bike-5K Run) with a time of 1:12:03 for 44th overall.

For full results and splits go to: www.triathlon.org

Congratulations to the eight Nova Masters swimmers who were listed in the USMS TOP 10 rankings for Short Course Meters in 2003! Keith Ryan, Adam Craun, Frank Wasko, Hank Greenberg, Shannon Flahive, Jessamyn Miller, Fiona Petersen, & Libby Deschenes. Below are the team results including relays. To see the full listings by age group go to: http://www.usms.org/comp/tt/ 200 Freestyle SCM Men 19-24 (2003)  2   Keith Ryan   2:03.02  100 Backstroke SCM Men 19-24 (2003)  3   Keith Ryan   1:03.49  100 Butterfly SCM Men 19-24 (2003)  3   Keith Ryan   1:00.25  100 Individual Medley SCM Men 19-24 (2003)  3   Keith Ryan   1:02.61  400 Individual Medley SCM Men 19-24 (2003)  2   Keith Ryan   4:42.97  50 Butterfly SCM Men 25-29 (2003)  10   Adam Craun   28.27 100 Backstroke SCM Men 40-44 (2003)  10   Frank Wasko   1:07.65  50 Butterfly SCM Men 40-44 (2003)  3   Frank Wasko   27.41  200 Butterfly SCM Men 55-59 (2003)  4   Henry Greenberg   3:03.37 100 Backstroke SCM Women 19-24 (2003)  10   Shannon Flahive   1:17.43  50 Breaststroke SCM Women 19-24 (2003)  1   Jessamyn Miller   34.67  100 Breaststroke SCM Women 19-24 (2003)  1   Jessamyn Miller   1:15.74  200 Breaststroke SCM Women 19-24 (2003)  1   Jessamyn Miller   2:41.10 50 Butterfly SCM Women 19-24 (2003)  3   Jessamyn Miller   30.95  100 Butterfly SCM Women 19-24 (2003)  1   Jessamyn Miller   1:08.64  200 Freestyle SCM Women 30-34 (2003)  10   Fiona Petersen   2:19.06  400 Freestyle SCM Women 30-34 (2003)  8   Fiona Petersen   4:55.08  800 Freestyle SCM Women 30-34 (2003)  8   Fiona Peterson   10:17.68 1500 Freestyle SCM Women 30-34 (2003)  4   Fiona Petersen   19:19.20  200 Breaststroke SCM Women 30-34 (2003)  7   Fiona Petersen   3:08.81  400 Freestyle SCM Women 50-54 (2003)  8   Elizab Deschenes   5:41.54 800 Freestyle SCM Women 50-54 (2003)  7   Elizab Deschenes   11:52.73 1500 Freestyle SCM Women 50-54 (2003)  6   Elizab Deschenes   22:12.60  200 Freestyle Relay SCM Mixed 100-119 (2003)  2   Jessamyn Miller (23)  Fiona Petersen (30)  Adam Craun (29)  Keith Ryan (19)  200 Medley Relay SCM Mixed 100-119 (2003)  2   Keith Ryan (19)  Jessamyn Miller (23)  Adam Craun (29)  Fiona Petersen (30) 

PALM SPRINGS - The Nova Triathlon program placed five relay teams in the Palm Springs Half Marathon Relay on Feb. 22, 2004. Coach Michael Collins organzied the teams for his birthday weekend in conjunction with a Triathlon Technique Camp in the desert. Tomas Roba, Michael Collins and Jon Clark combined to win the male relay division with a 1:13:32, winning by over 8 minutes. Fiona Petersen, Kaylyn English, and Frankie Rivera won the female division with a 1:30.42, while Michelle Brown, Allison Garland and Laurie Donneley placed second in 1:50:33, just two seconds ahead of third. Michelle & Greg Staffon along with Ellen Lofton won the Masters Mixed Division in 1:43:39, and Kevin Brown and Lily & Donald Frantum placed 2nd in the Mixed division with a 1:46:49. Full Results can be found by clicking the link above.