News and Announcements
NOVA MASTERS CONTINUE LONG COURSE RACING IN MISSION VIEJO
MISSION VIEJO, CA – 21 Nova Masters Swimmers enjoyed another gorgeous day and some fast swimming at the friendly rival’s pool just south.
Kate Meloney John Dauser
Dionne Caldwell Alex Cheung
Kim Thornton Robyn Clark
Don Cholodenko Tanya MacLean
Heather Scheferman Lee Jacobs
Ahelee Sue Osborn Alan Josey
Everett Smethurst Paula Fell
Krystal Deets Ira Cholodenko
David Reilly David Hayward
Bob Johnson Brad Arshat
Tom Angell
18 new team records were set by - Dionne Caldwell (7), Kim Thornton (8), Paula Fell (1) and Ahelee Sue Osborn (1) - see list below.
A most fantastic gallery of photos provided by Nova, Brad Arshat of the Nova team are posted on the gallery here:
http://multisportsoc.smugmug.com/Nova%20Masters/349376
Full meet results here:
http://www.spma.net/html.php?bdy=meetresults/2008/2008_mvn_lcm_results.htm
New Long Course Meters Team Records!
Kim Thornton – 55 200 Free 3:08.18
400 Free 6:22.65
800 Free 12:46.64
1500 Free 23:58.18
50 Back 46.53
100 Back 1:41.48
200 Back 3:38.12
200 Breast 3:47.71
Dionne Caldwell - 75 50 Free 49.22
100 Free 1:51.40
200 Free 4:08.64
400 Free 8:25.72
800 Free 17:07.94
1500 Free 32:19.38
50 Fly 1:00.23
Paula Fell – 43 200 Breast 3:50.98
Ahelee Sue Osborn – 50 50 Breast 41.24
FAST LC TIMES OFF A SHORT COURSE TAPER!
SANTA CLARITA, CA – For the fast swimming off the short course Regional Championships and Nationals, 8 Nova Masters Swimmers made the trip to the fast waters in Santa Clarita.
Don Cholodenko Tanya MacLean
Ahelee Sue Osborn Everett Smethurst
Krystal Deets Brad Arshat
Brian Amende Gerard Von Hoffman
Not typical for a single day meet, is TEAM SCORING, but scores were tracked in Santa Clarita for this meet.
Nova Masters Women – 1st Place Overall!
Nova Masters Men – 2nd Place Overall!
5 new Nova team records were set by; Gerard Von Hoffman (3), Don Cholodenko (1), Ahelee Sue Osborn (1) - see list below
A most fantastic gallery of photos provided by Nova, Brad Arshat of the Nova team are posted on the gallery here:
http://multisportsoc.smugmug.com/Nova%20Masters/349376
Full meet results here:
http://www.spma.net/html.php?bdy=meetresults/2008/2008_scm_lcm_results.htm
New Long Course Meters Team Records!
Don Cholodenko – 52 100 Fly 1:12.47
Gerard Von Hoffman – 52 50 Breast 33.84
100 Breast 1:14.52
50 Fly 28.25
Ahelee Sue Osborn – 50 100 Free 1:06.41
NOVA MASTERS NATIONAL TEAM BRINGS 4 NATIONAL TITLES HOME TO IRVINE!
The University of Texas has one of the fastest pools in the USA but has not hosted a Master's nationals since 1988.
It was an opportunity USMS swimmers took full advantage of and turned out more than 100 National Records.
The FINA Masters World Championships in Perth Australia seemed hard to top in swimming atmosphere. But The UT
with its facilities, Olympians strutting around the deck, and Coach Eddie Reese on hand to greet everyone made the
experience one of America's finest swimming exhibitions.
On the final day Nova swimmers finished up with 2 big wins for a total of 4 National Titles!
Gerard Von Hoffman won the 50-54 200 Breast, while Ahelee Sue Osborn won the 50-54 200 IM.
Final Nova Masters Medal Count:
Gold Medals – 4
Gerard Von Hoffman 52, 100 Breast 1:01.56 and 200 Breast 2:18
Ahelee Sue Osborn 50, 200 Free 2:04.37 and 200 IM 2:25.04
Silver Medals - 3
Ahelee – 200 Back 2:22.39 and 100 IM 1:06.29
Gerard – 50 Breast 28.58
Bronze Medals – 2
Ahelee – 100 Back 1:04.92
Gerard – 200 IM 2:08.24
Full results are here:
http://www.usms.org/comp/scnats08/
Nova Masters Photo Gallery is here:
http://www.multisportsoc.smugmug.com/gallery/4854582_jYg2P
Day 2
Nova Masters finished their 2nd day of competition at the Short Course National Championships in Austin, Texas
today.
Two National Championship titles were won by:
Gerard Von Hoffman 52, in the 100 Breast – 1:01.56
Ahelee Sue Osborn 50 in the 200 Free – 2:04.37
In addition the team included 50-54 year old John Dauser and Chris Ciborowski in the 35-39 division.
Ahelee's comments to the team:
John D. dropped his 100 breast time down to his high school best and cracked the top 20 with a 1:11.95!
Chris, the "young Nova sprinter" improves with each swim and is going into Sunday calmly trying to rip apart
the 50 second barrier in the 100 free (if that is possible after a weekend at the Austin Four Seasons and Spa
with his lovely wife).
Gerard bought a new FS-PRO skin suit and has not looked back. It is a long legged version and he swears it is great
for breaststroke! Not only did he win the 100 and get 2nd in the 50, but he smoked the 100 IM for 4th place.
There are at least 25 or so swimmers competing who went to The World's in Perth.
All are swimming better as the meet goes on and they get on normal sleep schedules.
The joke around here is "What day is it? Oh its Saturday – IN AUSTRALIA it's Saturday!
Day 3 Ahelee's comments to the team:
The final day of competition on Sunday had John Dauser and Gerard Von Hoffman in the 200 Breast and
Ahelee Sue Osborn in the 200 IM.
John finished in a best time, but may have been a little conservative as his 2nd half was finally the storming
speed he had been looking for all meet. Still a solid swim for John and a great reward for months of hard work
in the pool and out – and real inspiration going into the upcoming summer season.
Gerard dove in the next heat and also kept things in check with a 1:07 at the 100.
He built up the speed to finish in first place with a 2:18 winning by 5 seconds!
Check a video of Gerard's 200 Breast race here:
http://www.flocasts.org/floswimming/coverage.php?c=258&id=14461
He was congratulated at the finish by UT's Olympic Breastroker, Brendan Hansen who sponsored the event and
handed Gerard an autographed copy of his GO Swim Breastroke video!
It was funny to watch Gerard as he towered over Brendan who is surprisingly small…
Gerard and Ahelee both finished the meet with the 200 IM.
Ahelee followed advice by Ray Greene to "get out there" on the fly and not wait around to go on the back.
In fact with a 50 fly split in a PR of a 29. By the breastroke, lets' just say 3 weeks of travel and lots of races
started to become a reality. But it must have been all the practice racing the Nova boys at 11 and noon
because it came down to the final 50 free touch at the finish for a first place and a 2nd National Championship title!
Sunday night featured a social event at the local brew pub sponsored by some Austin Masters swimming orthopedic
doctors. The crowd was huge and so was the celebration! It's always good to see the swimmers looking so good out
of their caps, goggles and swimsuits.
Thanks to many time national champion Andy MacPherson from Davis, California for seeing the girls home safely
that night!
By Michael Collins, Head Coach of the Nova Masters Swimming program
Libby was such an influential member of the Nova Masters swimming program. She was a member of the team before I came on as coach in 2000. Upon arriving I found Libby to be a pleasant member of the team that swam toward the slower end of the pool. I got her to participate in a meet and suddenly something changed - her self improvement and competitive spirit mode turned on in swimming - which she already had in other areas of her life.
By 2005 she had received the Nova Masters Outstanding Competitor of the Year award, and held the team record in almost every event in the 45-49 and 50-54 age group. She would enter difficult events that she had never done just set the team record standard higher. She was constantly working hard to improve not only herself, but also to help others rise to a higher level. She would ask specific people to try swimming in a meet with her or to do one of the distance postal swim events. She led by example with her work ethic and had such a pleasant spirit that others wanted to follow her in striving for personal excellence in practice and in competition.
On more than one occasion Libby gave me unsolicited advice on how we may be able to improve the program that was well thought out and delivered in such a non-confrontational way that it was easy to accept and apply. She was always sending me excel spreadsheets with her time comparisons from vairous events she had done and an analysis of how she thought she could improve. She even started updating the Nova Masters teams records for us when I fell behind on keeping them current - as if she didn't already have enough going with her own work, swimming, and dealing with cancer.
So many of her lane mates mentioned to me over the years how she inspired them to try competing, try new events, or just to swim better at practice. They would say things like: "How can that skinny 50 year old lady be kicking my ass?"
"She is so nice and pleasant in the water, but man, she runs me down in anything over a 100."
"If Libby can do the Hour Swim, or 3,000, or 6,000, or 100 Fly, etc, then I think I can too."
She made them feel guilty about not performing to their own potential just by her trying to be the best she could be.
Libby and I had such a good bond because we both love swimming so much. A big highlight for both of us was attending every session of the 2004 Olympic Trial in Long Beach. We saw 6 World Records get broken and carpooled together each day and discussed how we thought the swimmers would do, how we could apply the techniques we saw to her swimming and our team, and about life in general. I don't know a lot about what she did at CS Long Beach, but know she was highly commited to her work as well. Between prelims and finals she would go over to the school to work.
In 2006 while in the midst of dealing with cancer she decided to compete at the World Swimming Champs at Stanford. Here is what she sent out to her friends after the meet:
===========
The next day I headed out with teammates from Irvine Novaquatics to swim at the FINA World Championships in Stanford. Four of us stayed at the Stanford Linear Accelearator Center Guesthouse, which was an interesting experience. The swim meet was for masters swimmers from all over the world and about 7,000 swimmers were expected over the week of events. I took it easy and only registered for 2 events -- the 100 meters free on Saturday and 200 meters free on Sunday. I competed well in both events, only slightly off last year's time from the Long Course USMS Nationals for the 100 free, but 10 seconds off last year's time for the 200 free.
After getting a good rest on Monday and seeing a bit of the Stanford campus, I learned I was in 2 relays on Tuesday. The first was a mixed (male/female) medley relay where I swam the 3rd leg, which was 50 meters butterfly. I was just happy to make it to the wall as I hadn't swum butterfly since December! The best event was the Women's 200 meter free relay where I swam the anchor leg in a personal best time of 34.59. Combined with the talents of Meg, Nina and Carol we placed ninth in the 200-239 age group (add ages together) and we brought home medals!
After flying back late Tuesday, I went for labs and to see the doctor on Wednesday. All the nurses were quite impressed by my accomplishments; the doctor was nonplussed and more concerned with my lab results! Thursday was chemo for perhaps the last time and I ended up in the large room in chairs with about 10 others. I was one of the few that reclined from 9:30 to 3:30, most others were there for shorter stays. All that swimming had made me tired so I slept off and on during the treatment.
Libby
==============
It was a challenging switch for us in our relationship when Libby got cancer. I could no longer push her to work harder and strive for personal excellence, and in fact, had to comfort her a bit about not being able to do her times any more or even make some sets in the water that used to seem so easy. We had to switch modes to just being happy that she was at the pool, and to enjoy whatever swimming she could do at whatever speed. I know it was tough for her to watch the team hammer out some tough sets while she had to swim easy or kick to keep her heart rate down and breathing at a comfortable level. Still, she was such a social creature that she wanted to stay a part of the team.
Sometimes she would come swim right before or after a chemo treatment and I would have to ball someone out for complaining about doing a kicking set without fins. "Look, Libby just got out of Chemo and I don't hear her bithcin' about not getting fins."
Just a few weeks before she passed she was still thinking about the team and how her team mates could perform better, she contacted us to see if we could come pick up her expensive racing suits for others on the team to use at our regionals swimming championships. It was her way of trying to be a part of the championship team without being able to compete.
Myself and the Nova Master love and miss Libby and appreciate everything she contributed to our lives.
NOVA MASTERS WIN 3rd SPMA CHAMPIONSHIP IN A ROW!
As the final day of competition wrapped up in Mission Viejo's world class facility, The Nova Masters completed a year of victories in each of the previous season's SPMA Championships forcefully with record breaking participation by members of the team!
August 2007 Long Course SPMA Championships in Mission Viejo (75 swimmers)
December 2007 Short Course Meters SPMA Champs in Long Beach (85 swimmers)
April 2008 Short Course SPMA Championships in Mission Viejo (119 swimmers)
Short Course SPMA Championships April 11-13, 2008
Results found here:
http://www.spma.net/html.php?bdy=meetresults/2008/2008_mvn_spma_swzone_scy_results.htm
Nova Masters Photo Gallery found here:
http://multisportsoc.smugmug.com/Nova%20Masters/349376
109 REGISTERED NOVA MASTERS SWIMMERS
10 Relay Only Swimmers
119 Total Nova Masters Swimmers Participating
116 New Nova Team Records
http://www.eteamz.com/novamasters/handouts/index.cfm?cat=82191
3 National Records
Matt Marshall
50 Back – 23.03
50 Fly – 22.03
100 Fly – 48.36
Age-Group Meet High Point Champions
Christina Venturacci, 18-24 63 pts.
Chris Swanson 18-24 48 pts.
Mike Matz 25-29 54 pts.
Emily Odgers 40-44 52 pts.
Katsuya Takahashi 40-44 61 pts.
Ahelee Sue Osborn 50-54 61 pts.
Dionne Caldwell 75-79 54pts.
Top 10 Teams
Nova Masters 3069.60
Mission Viejo 2301.50
Ojai Masters 1,296
San Diego Swim Masters 903
Arizona Masters 588
Long Beach Grunions 401
Heartland 346
Ventura 339
SoCal Aquatic Masters 334
Rose Bowl Masters 282
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