Fred Bartlett

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 1 Relay

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors – 2 Relay

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 22 Relay

USMS Profile

I grew up in a military family, which meant moving at least every two years. This also meant never putting down roots, nor ever swimming on any swim teams growing up. Both my mother and father were in the Navy and first met at an outdoor officers’ pool, which meant that after I and my three siblings were born we were always in the water in some form or fashion. 

At an early age my father had us up on his shoulders, as he was on a saucer while my mother drove the boat we owned and then later we learned to saucer, then ski, then slalom ski.  Everywhere we went while crisscrossing the country to new posts, we swam, mostly in open water lakes and rivers.

In 1968 we moved from Meridian, Mississippi to North Kingstown, Rhode Island. At some point my father, who was back and forth from Vietnam tours, introduced us to NEM legend Dan Rogacki. At the time, Rogacki was in the Navy and had formed a kids' swim team named the Navy Junior Swim Team. For my brother, my sisters and me, this was our first introduction to a formal swim team – sans goggles, lane lines, pull buoys, and paddles. But we did have kick boards, which I hate to this day! Both my brother and I became lifeguards at the outdoor officers’ pool at Quonset Point, Rhode Island in our high school years before the base closed in 1974.

I attended the University of Rhode Island, where I tried out for the men`s swimming/water polo teams, under now retired Coach Mick Weskott. I lasted one semester before discovering I was not talented enough to be there and focused on ice hockey, golf, racquetball, and running instead.

Fast forward, after years of golfing and running after graduating from URI, a new sport arose called triathlon, which seemed to fit me to a T, since I wasn’t top notch in any one sport, but I could do many sports at a high level. Since triathlon involved swimming first, and with my growing up swimming open water, it became a passion of mine. With triathlon a growing sport, I occasionally dropped in to fellow honoree Stuart (the human dolphin) Cromarty`s masters sessions at URI to augment my one-lone wolf training.

Once Stuart left URI, there was no masters swim program in the South County Rhode Island area. So, somewhere along the way, South County Y allowed me to start a Masters team there. We started with three lanes, which quickly grew to all five lanes, three times a week. This group has been ongoing and growing for at least 28 years. 

Along the way, the team, now called the SCY WAVES, (yes, we have our own shirts, pink caps, and secret handshake) has grown to 60 USMS members, swimming in back-to-back sessions, three times a week. SCY WAVES are encouraged and trained up to swim the USMS Virtual 1-Hour Swim along with one or two 2 championship swims in New England each year.

Starting with one or two triathlon friends, open water swimming at Narragansett Town Beach (NTB) became a regular practice, which has also grown. Today, anywhere from 20 to more than 100 swimmers attend those workouts regularly in the summer months. 

Early years of swimming at NTB, Barber Pond, and other open water locations like Roger Wheeler Beach, was strictly by word of mouth or routine. But as the numbers grew, we established a swimming hotline to designate both time and place of the swims that would occur. In time, the phone tree became an email listserv, which eventually had 700 + emails subscribed. That has since evolved into a web site, swimtrirunman.org, where swimmers can find out about upcoming open water swims and other events.

I have participated in the Save the Bay Swim for more than 25 years and have coached the Leukemia/Lymphoma team in training for 7 years. I’ve been a part of the Laguna Mar Swim Camps run by Bob and Barb Crowder for six years, coaching Masters swimmers at the camp. I am still coaching triathletes and giving adult swim lessons.

Paula Yankauskas

• USMS Long Distance All American – 1 Relay

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 1 Individual, 1 Relay

• USMS Certified Coach – Levels 1 & 2

USMS Profile

Paula Yankauskas grew up in central Connecticut and always loved the water. The summer she turned 11, the City of New Britain opened five outdoor municipal pools – four 25-meter pools, and one 50-meter pool – spread out over different city neighborhoods. In the East End of New Britain, the home pool for those residents was Chesley Pool, and it was there that Paula spent nearly all daylight summer hours for the next five years. 

When she turned 16, Paula was eligible to work for New Britain Parks & Recreation; at Chesley, there was only an opening for a locker attendant. Paula worked it for a short time; when the lifeguard Captain of Stanley Pool (the 50-meter facility) asked if she’d consider joining their lifeguard roster; all loyalty to the “neighborhood” vanished, and she took the job at the rival pool Stanley, taking on coaching the swim team as well as teaching swimming (WSI – babies to adults) in addition to lifeguard duties. A small claim to fame was that she guarded there for a Masters Meet on July 27, 1972 in which Larry “Buster” Crabbe (of Flash Gordon and Tarzan fame) swam.

Paula is now a Vermont swimmer – she came to Vermont for college in the fall of 1972. Attending UVM for undergraduate work, she was on the swim team for seven semesters. She also worked as a lifeguard for faculty and open swims in the Forbush Natatorium, and put in one year toward a Master’s degree in physics. 

In 1977 Paula and her sister Valerie decided to swim across Lake Champlain and succeeded in crossing a 9-mile expanse in August. They tackled the swim because they felt they were good swimmers and thought they could do it. This was the summer before Paula started veterinary school; she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in Philadelphia in 1981.

Paula founded Lamoille Valley Veterinary Services (LVVS) in 1985 as a mixed animal practice. Over the years it has evolved into a seven-doctor, full-service facility for small animals – mostly cats and dogs. Paula’s current clinical focus is on the behavioral and emotional health of dogs and cats. 

Central to Paula’s life are 3 things: LVVS, family, and swimming, and not necessarily in that order (the attention devoted to each varies daily). LVVS and family took over for the 20 years between education and the 2001 opening of The Swimming Hole in Stowe, but once she had a pool to stretch out in, she was set to return to swimming and has not looked back since. To top it all off, the Green River Reservoir State Park is in Paula’s hometown of Hyde Park, Vermont. This “quiet” body of water (no power boats) is so ideally suited for open water swimming. 

A mature endurance athlete, Paula has, at times, held titles for age. She was formerly the oldest person on record to have swum the length of Lake Memphremagog, a 25-mile swim she completed in September 2014, at 60 years of age. Currently, she is the third oldest (average age) swimmer to complete the Triple Crown of open water swimming, which includes solo swims across the English Channel, which she completed in 2016 at age 62; the 20 Bridges Swim Around Manhattan in 2017 at 63; and the Catalina Channel in 2018 at 64. When she swam the English Channel, Paula was the oldest American female to have done so. 

In 2023, Paula reclaimed the title for the oldest person to have swum the length of Memphremagog, at 69, closing out and bookending the decade of her 60s with that swim. She does think the age thing gets a little “old” at times but is thrilled to motivate people to swim into their senior years, or even to get started then.

A grandmother, and practicing veterinarian, Paula has completed some of the toughest and most grueling Marathon swims in the world. In addition to completing the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, Paula has completed:

• The SCAR Lake Arizona swim series multiple times. This series features four marathon swims totaling 41 miles over four days.  

• Swim the Suck in Tennessee multiple times, a 10K race down the Tennessee River.

• The 25-mile length of Lake Memphremagog twice.

• The Three-Rivers Marathon Swim in Pittsburgh, a 30K urban swim. 

• The 8-mile Boston Light Swim.

• Multiple distances at the annual Kingdom Swim and Swim the Kingdom events in Newport, Vermont many times over.

• Cork Distance Week in Ireland many times.

• An officially recognized Ice Mile (a 1-mile swim in water that’s 41 degrees Fahrenheit or colder without any heat-retaining gear or assistance. She was the 98th person to achieve this grueling feat.  

Loving the water and swimming as a result is a lifelong, long-life experience, Paula says. And, as wonderful as pools are, the open water is a calling; for Paula there are many miles to swim before she sleeps.

David Vail

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 4 Relay

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 84 Individual, 39 Relay

USMS Profile

As a kid I snorkeled for scallops in Long Island’s Peconic Bay. But I got a late start in competitive swimming as a sophomore at Shaker Heights High in Cleveland. Senior year, I made the Ohio state finals in the 200-yard individual medley. 

At Princeton, I was a journeyman backstroker, freestyler, and water polo player. Three highlights of those younger years were: 

• Swimming on a 400-yard freestyle relay that set a Princeton record while losing to Olympian Steve Clark and his Yale crew.

• Serving as assistant to legendary Yale coach Phil Moriarty and his great mid-60s teams, while in grad school. 

• Coaching Uganda’s Makerere University swim team to third place in the Pan-African Games when I was a Rockefeller Foundation economist.

My Masters swimming also started late. At Bowdoin College, I served as faculty advisor to the water polo club and later Charlie Butt’s swim teams. But other activities – kayaking, cross-country skiing, and road racing – held my attention until stress fractures brought me back to the pool at age 50. I learned about innovations like goggles and pull buoys and lots more about stroke mechanics, body alignment, and race psychology. 

Although I took pride in winning at least one event at every New England championship I entered, New England records and national Top 10 rankings only became routine after I had shoulder surgery at 65 and talented competitors began to fall by the wayside. Since 2013, my training and competition have had ups and downs as I’ve coped with two cancers and some heavy-duty meds. At age 81, I think of myself foremost as a lucky survivor.

I’ve managed seven second-place national rankings in backstroke and freestyle but never made All-American because a few superstars my age just won’t quit. I’ve swum on four All-American relays with fellow Maine Masters members and have managed to win four golds, eight silvers and a bronze medal at the National Senior Games. In 1998, on a research sabbatical in Sweden, I trained with Stockholm’s Lidingö IFK club and swam in the Swedish short course championships, winning four individual events and contributing to two victorious relays.

Masters swimming is much more than racing: I’ve enjoyed being our Bowdoin workout group’s USMS contact person, collaborating with Bowdoin coach Brad Burnham to organize our fall meet, and hoisting a pint with MESC mates.

Dick Hutchings

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 9 Individual, 1 Relay

• USMS Top Ten Achievements -75 Individual, 16 Relay

USMS Profile

Freshman year at Worcester North High School, I met a classmate who swam with coach Leo Majcher at the Main South YMCA. I went to a few practices but my swimming career was short-lived. I don’t know if it was swimming with kids who had been on the team for six or seven years or if coach Majcher just didn’t see the promise in my dogpaddle.

At 41, I started swimming laps at the Worcester YWCA where I found out about Masters swimming. I entered my first meet at Swim Center 1 in Granby, Connecticut. Never having gone off the blocks before, I lost my goggles on my first start. In the spirit of Masters Swimming, Fred Dalby realized I needed help and introduced himself. He helped me tighten my goggles and gave me some suggestions to improve my starts.

After moving to Hubbardston, I started swimming laps at the MWCC pool and soon, at age 70, I joined Greenwood Masters with coach Dave Phillips. Under his direction and that of his successor, David Graham, my times improved each year in the 70 to 74 age group.

A memorable swim took place at the 2022 Summer Nationals in Richmond, VA. Not usually doing well in 50s, I finished 1st by 8 hundredths of a second and that converted to about four inches. Coach had told us to finish on our side.

It has been really important to see the reorganization of Mount Wachusett Masters. With their enthusiasm, their ability as swimmers, and their early success, the team has a bright future.

Tracy Grilli

• USMS Pool Records – Relay – 5 Lifetime

• USMS Long Distance Records – Relay – 2 Lifetime, 1 Currently Held

• USMS Long Distance All Star – 2000

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 4 Individual, 8 Relay

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors – 5 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 354 Individual, 222 Relay

USMS Profile

Tracy Grilli was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, in April 1957, just in time for the grand opening of Bearcroft Swim and Tennis Club where her family were charter members. Her mom brought Tracy and her siblings (Kim and Mike) to the club pretty much every day during the summer. Tracy passed her pool test at age two-and-a-half, and she swam in her first meet at age 6. “Many years later, someone created an ‘Orphans of Bearcroft Swim Club’ Facebook page which really bring back the memories,” she says.

Tracy continued to swim during the summers at Bearcroft and with the Seekonk Dolphins under coach Ellis Mayers during the winter until she was 16. “I was an OK swimmer, nothing to brag about,” she says. “But my high school sports and activities became a priority and that was it for swimming.”

Tracy graduated from Norton High School in 1975 and she attended Slippery Rock State College in Pennsylvania to study physical education. “I tried out for the cheerleading squad,” but didn’t make the team. “I was too big.” She also tried out for the volleyball team and made it to the last cut. Still searching for something to keep her occupied, she went out for the swim team. “I figured I was 500 miles away from home and needed to do something, so I joined the swim team. Again, I was just an OK swimmer.”

After graduation, Tracy got a job as the physical director at the Malden YMCA, “and that’s where I found out about Masters swimming! I also met David there, and the two of us joined NEM. Well, actually I was too young to join,” – the minimum age to join Masters at the time was 25 – “but I was allowed to compete at meets and was listed in the results as a ‘sub-Master.’ We just absolutely loved everything about NEM – the people, the fun, the meets, the parties, the camaraderie.”

Tracy and David married in 1981, and subsequently had two children; Victoria was born in 1982 and Luke in 1985. They moved to Londonderry in 1986. Tracy got a job at the Nashua YWCA where she worked for 10 years. Throughout all of these years since college, there were very few pool workouts between meets, and relying on her fitness and stamina from teaching fitness and aerobics classes. 

Sometime in her mid 30’s the “light bulb went on” and Tracy realized if she wanted to swim faster in meets, she needed to work out in the pool. She started swimming with the Granite State Penguins at the Nashua Boys and Girls club and at age 40, for the first time, she broke 1 minute in the 100 free. At the age 50, she broke 20 minutes in the 1650 and SCM 1500. At age 60, she had the fastest time in the world in the LCM 1500 in the 60-64 age group. Finally, she’d become a good swimmer

She says “For many years it was all about swimming my best times. Now it isn’t and I’ve adjusted my philosophy too. If I’m not going to swim fast, I’m going to have fun! No matter what it’s my best time of the day”.

Tracy is grateful she can participate in this sport, and the swimming friends she’s met since competing in her first meet in 1981 are just the absolute BEST.

Stuart (Stu) Cromarty

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 12 Individual, 12 Relay 

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors - 2 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 195 Individual, 71 Relay

USMS Profile

My swimming began at an early age in South Africa. My mother taught young kids how to swim in our backyard, and by age 2, I was already diving for coins in the deep end. I started competitive swimming late (around 12) and my first formal coach, Brian Wood, was the high school swim coach and English teacher. In my sophomore year of HS, I represented my state and eventually captained the state team my senior year. I represented South Africa in an international meet in Taiwan in 1981 and then represented my country in international lifesaving competition in Greece, Austria, Germany and the United States in 1982 and 1983. 

In 1984, I crossed the Atlantic on a full swimming scholarship to Boston University and captained the team in 1986 – the first foreign-born student-athlete to serve in that capacity at BU. I graduated with a BSc. in Biology and then went onto to receive my M.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Rhode Island. It was during this time that I was introduced to Masters swimming by Frank McQuiggan and Peter Solomon, who was coaching the URI Masters and RAM Club team at the time. When Peter Solomon left to coach at Middlebury, I took over the Masters Swim Program (1989-95) and kept it going for 7 years! I also helped coach the URI Age Group Team (1992-95) with Bob and Barb Crowder, who at the time were NEM members. 

During my post-doctoral years, I continued swimming masters; I swam in Atlanta, Ga. with the Pace Academy Masters Team (1995-97) while I did research at Georgia State and the Cambridge Masters (1997-2000) when I was Harvard Medical School. In 2000, I started my faculty career at Assumption University where I currently reside as a Professor of Biological Sciences. This was during my most active Masters Swimming, and I was inducted into the Rhode Island Swimming Hall of Fame in 2005. Then in 2009 the University asked me to start a NCAA D2 swimming program and suddenly my competitive Masters Swimming was paused while I built a college program from scratch–I did however manage to continue open water swims during the summers.

Building a college program took a huge percentage of my time but was very rewarding. I was most proud of the fact that even in the first year I never had a losing record as a head coach at Assumption. With a career 80-24 record in dual meets–we boasted an impressive 32-3 record at home (we never lost a home meet from 2011 to 2019). The team progressed each season from seventh in his first season to capturing three consecutive Northeast-10 Conference Championships in 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-2016. The team was runner-up the next two seasons and then in my final year of coaching (2018-2019) we finished first in the conference. During this time, I recruited and coached 125 student athletes and for 24 semesters in a row, we received the CSCAA Scholar All-American Team Award. I have been honored to attend 25+ weddings of my former athletes and still counting.

I was excited to get back into Masters Swimming in 2020 after not competing in pool competitions for 12 years. I missed the racing but more importantly I missed the camaraderie. One thing about swimming is that the friends you make last a lifetime. You may not see them for 5 or even 10 years but one day when you see their name on the heat sheets at a masters meet; you track them down and it is as if time has stopped, and all the great memories come back. 

Along the way during my early Masters days, I met and swam with many wonderful people, most notably, Peter Solomon, Frank McQuiggan, Jenny Mooney, Jacki Hirsty, Matt Gilson, Jason Eaddy, Mike Powers, Tom Manfredi, Fred Bartlett, Homer Lane, Doug Sayles, Tracy Grilli, Liz Welch to name just a few. I currently swim with Sarah Sutton, Chuck Barnes and EJ Testa.

Aagje Caron

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 7 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 279 Individual, 54 Relay

USMS Profile

I was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. After the war, my family moved to a small town in Meppel in the province of Drente also in the Netherlands. My father had started a leather making business and his company expanded to that town.

I learned to swim in the 4th grade, which was mandatory for everyone to receive a diploma in swimming and water safety. We were taught the breaststroke first. After receiving my swimming diploma, I continued to swim with friends in the pool and area lakes. 

While commuting by train to college in another city, I happened to see a sign about a swim meet. I signed up, swam the 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke and found that I liked competition. I did not belong to a swim team, but I continued to compete in a few more meets. After college I went into nursing and swam whenever I could. 

My family is still in the Netherlands. At the age of 23 I came to the United States, curious about the country. I met my husband Chet on a blind date. We moved from Virginia to Alexandria, New Hampshire, and after many years of not swimming, I was able to rekindle my passion. After a couple of months, I was asked if I wanted to compete, and I said yes. It was a great experience – I enjoyed the camaraderie and the competition and swimming keeps me mentally and physically fit.

Over the years I have competed in many national and world competitions. I enjoy meeting people from all over the world and learning about their cultures. I have also competed in horse shows (jumping) and triathlons. In addition, I care for my horse, take hikes with my dog, Janna, go mountain biking, and enjoy oil painting.

Karen Bierwert

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 6 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 240 Individual, 14 Relay

• USMS Certified Coach – Levels 1, 2 & 3

• USMS Adult Learn to Swim Instructor

USMS Profile

Like many things in my life, I sort of stumbled upon competitive swimming. We spent our summer days (all day) at the pool. When I was 9, the pool director started a swim team. I was rather reluctant to try it; but with a little encouragement, I did. Our “training” was to do twice our age in laps sometime during the week. This is a far cry from what I try to do today.

After that first summer in Western Mass, we moved to St. Louis County for five years. There was a strong AAU program in Missouri. So from 9 to 13, I competed in St. Louis County before returning to Massachusetts.

From 14 to 17, I swam both on high school and YMCA teams with my mother as coach. The girls’ high school team won Western Mass in 1968. I was the 200-yard freestyle Champion in 1969. There were no state meets in those days. This ended my early competitive years, for my college had no swim team. However, I was still drawn to water: I rowed and did synchronized swimming in college.

I started Masters in 1983 in the NEM era of Jim Edwards and Tom Lyndon. I have swum almost continuously since then (minus a decade in the ’90s when I played a lot of tennis).  My swimming strengths seem to lie in longer events, but I like variety and each stroke has been my “favorite” at one time or another. 

I love swimming and the challenge of setting goals and striving to achieve them. The swimming community is so welcoming and supportive.  At meets, I have met people I have swum with as a kid, people I've coached, and people who have swum for my brother, who was the coach at Smith College and is now one of my several Masters coaches. 

Highlights of my Masters swimming career include making Top 10 times in both USMS and FINA. I set the top FINA time in the 400-meter IM SCM 2017. I’ve also set some New England records, but times are only part of this experience. Attending my first Nationals meet at Industry Hills, swimming in the Olympic Trials pool in Omaha, and swimming at Worlds in Montréal are also stand out moments. 

But, it’s not just the big meets that are special. As Jim Edwards once said, meets – mini-meets, regional meets, all meets – are just socials with some swimming thrown in. Making new friends and sharing time with likeminded people is the essence of Masters swimming.

I taught for 30 years, primarily math and science at the middle school level. I also conducted math education workshops on the school, district, and national levels. In addition, for about 25 years, I taught swimming from tiny tots to adults and coached YMCA, USS, and high school swimming. Since retiring from teaching, I’ve tutored high school math, been a family caregiver, and have been active in city issues. I play the hammered dulcimer and volunteer as a performer for a local historical ssociety. Rounding out my swimming are paddle board, pickleball, and running. Finally, I love both geology and travel, so I combine these in trips from Iceland to Australia.

Masters Swimming is so much more than swimming. I am glad to have participated in it for so many years. It’s an honor to be recognized and to be part of this induction class 2024.

Little known fun facts:

• I was on the cover of Swim magazine’s February/March 1985 issue with a photo from a meet at Brown University 1984.

• For one year, I swam in the pool where Bill Yorzyk, the 1956 Olympic champion in the 200-metter butterfly swam when he was in town. The pool was 40 feet long and only 2 or 3 lanes wide with a low ceiling and minimal deck space. It wasn’t’ much, but if it was good enough for Bill, it was good enough for us.

• I have a loose-leaf notebook with all my swims, splits, and meet locations since 1983. 

Frederick “Fred” Allen

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 8 years (33 individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 73 individual

Fred Allen, a native of Nottingham, England was educated in New York’s Stuyvesant High School and at Springfield College (class of 1924). He received a master’s degree in education from Boston University in 1936. A World War I Army veteran, Allen also was a physical education teacher in the Providence public school system for over 40 years, retiring in 1968. Although Fred was active in sports and physical conditioning all his life, it was not until 1977 at the age of 78 that his competitive swimming career began.  

He was “horsed” into swimming Masters by his son Monroe, a NEM member. There was a mini-meet in Seekonk and Monroe suggested that Fred bring his suit with him, so that he could swim between heats.  When he arrived at the pool, he was advised “the first event is a 200-yard handicap race and you’re in it.”  Fred had not swum that far in at least 15 years, but he started (crawl) and finished (backstroke). When he learned that his time would have placed him in the Top 10 nationally in his age group, that, as Fred put it, “really fired up the furnace.”

At the 1980 Short Course National meet in Fort Lauderdale, Fred who was over the age of 80, was summoned from the bleachers to take the place of a missing teammate in the men’s 35+ freestyle relay already in progress. The relay team won no medals, but Fred won the hearts of his teammates. 

“Well, I finished, didn’t I?” The quotation was characteristic of Fred’s attitude towards competitive swimming. He liked the training and the good physical condition that it brought. Although he didn’t object to the medals, the attention, and the records (he held several age-group long course world records at the time of his death at the age of 87 in 1986), he never became obsessed with winning, or thought that he was a phenomenally good swimmer, or lost his ability to chuckle at himself.  Once when asked why he participated in the Masters program, he said, “first, I was ‘horsed’ into it. Second, I like it for the health of it. I enjoy trying out new techniques in the art of swimming the different strokes. And third, where could you find a better group of people to share your experience with?”

Marguerite “Mardie” Brown

• USMS National Records – pool individual 7 lifetime

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 12 years (32 individual)

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors – 5 years (individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 239 individual

• USMS Profile

Mardie was born in Portland, Oregon, educated in the schools of Portland and received a bachelor's degree from Mills College. She met her husband, Donald Brown, while getting her master's in art at New York University, moving to Palermo Maine in 1949 and raising their three children Tony, Mike, and Dino   there.

Mardie taught art at a one-room schoolhouse and swimming lessons to the local children. She was a member of the Palermo Grange as well as the Farm Extension. Later in her life, Mardie worked as a probation and parole officer.

Mardie describes her pre-masters swimming history as “rather short.” It consisted of her swimming 400 meters in a telegraphic net at Mills College to pace another girl. Mardie set too fast a pace and won the race. She first became involved in the Masters program in 1976 participating “in a little meet in Augusta” and found she had the killer instinct, so she joined New England Masters.

She regards as her most memorable Masters race the 1500-meter free at the 1985 Long Course Nationals at Brown University because she swam 1600 meters instead of 1500! The year before she had set a national record for the 1500 in the 60-64 age group, but the record stood for only 10 days.

Mardie was a very athletic person, participating in competitive running and swimming events well into her 80s and receiving world recognition for holding records in swimming in various masters age groups. She was an inspiration to many with her commitment to working out and setting the example that physical fitness can be an activity for life. 

Mardie’s son Dino says: “She would have been very proud to receive this honor. Mom was very competitive but not to a fault. Her winning was less important than her knowing she had done her very best meeting the thrill of the challenge.”

Irving Katz

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 11 years (39 individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 206 individual

Irv swam for Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York, class of 1941. He captained the team for three years, set a school backstroke record, and finished undefeated in his last year. His best events were the 50 and 100 free and the 100 back. He started his college career at Brooklyn College, where he broke the college and pool record for the 150-yard backstroke in his first varsity season. Teammates voted him “most valuable” after his first season.  

He continued to swim at Cornell University starting in 1941 by setting backstroke records for the 100 and 150 distances. Unlike most college swimmers in those pre-Masters days, Irv kept competing for several years after graduation. He won the NY State AAU backstroke title in 1948. In 1953, at the then-seemingly-advanced age of 29, he scooped up two golds, a silver, and a bronze at the 1953 Southeast AAU Conference Championships.  

In 1954 Irv and his wife Rosalie moved to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, area and then to Rye, in 1977. It was at a long course meet at Brown in August of 1979 that convinced Irv that Masters swimming competition would provide him a worthwhile diversion in his then-imminent retirement as a consultant in management technology. “That, was a most pleasant experience: good people, good swimming, a most beautiful college town weekend.”

John Merrill

• USMS National Records – pool individual 6 lifetime, 2 currently held

• USMS Pool All Star Honors – 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 17 years (25 individual)

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors – 1 year (1 individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 350 individual

• USMS Profile

John Merrill was born February 12, 1917, in Buffalo, New York. After high school, John attended the New York State Merchant Marine Academy. There he continued his tradition of strong swimming established in high school. On one occasion in 1936, he swam an exhibition backstroke event with Olympian Walter Spence in Bermuda. He swam in a meet against the Panamanian Olympic Team in Balboa, Panama.

Merrill served in the United States Coast Guard from 1938-1951. His assignments included International Iceberg Patrol (1940), Ketchikan, Alaska (1942-1944), U.S. Coast Guard Radio Engineering and Maintenance School at Avery Point Groton, Connecticut (1944-1951). He was employed at the Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory from 1951 to 1979, eventually becoming head of the submarine electromagnetic systems department there.

After WWII, John stopped swimming competitively until the early 1970s when he caught wind of the fledgling Masters program. He held many national titles and age-group records in U.S. Masters Swimming, most recently being affiliated with the New England Masters Swim Club after many years with Connecticut Masters.

Following his retirement, Merrill wrote several books and articles on marine subjects. He served as president of the Waterford Library Board, was a member of the Connecticut State Library Board, and was a fellow of the Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport. Among other honors, Lafayette High School in Buffalo recognized him as an outstanding alumnus in 2007. The Town of Waterford named him Citizen of the Year in 1987.

From long time Connecticut Masters Teammate Ronnie Kamphausen “John has to satisfy himself. His satisfaction comes not just in winning, but in measuring his performance against what he's done and hopes to do in the future.” 

John’s youngest son Justin swam for the University of Maine and his grandsons Colin and Liam swam for Connecticut College. The Merrill swimming legacy is on its third generation!

James “Jim” Doty

Jim Doty was an American open water swimmer and race director. He served on the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Board of Directors until his passing in 2012 and was inducted as an Honor Swimmer of the IMSHOF in the Class of 2007.

In 1956, Jim finished 78th in the Boston Marathon and decided that longer was better. He had been spending his summers on Black Cat Island, Lake Winniepasaukee, New Hampshire. One time he had to swim a half mile for help after his boat broke down. That swim coupled with his recent 26-mile marathon run and a liking for long distances, led Jim to start swimming long distances in 1968, training with Jack Starrett, a 1964 English Channel Swimmer. Jim trained for a couple of summers with Hall of Fame coach Charlie Silvia at Pine Knoll Swim School in Massachusetts. 

It didn’t take long for Jim to become a local open-water swimming legend; there isn’t a body of water in New England that Jim didn't swim over the course of his lengthy career. In addition to completing a staggering number of marathon swims over several decades, Jim was also dedicated to offering more swimming opportunities to others. To further this mission, he formed the New England Marathon Swimming Association (NEMSA), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting swimming and a clean environment in New England waters. (NEMSA has since become the New England Open Water Swimming Association, which continues to offer open water opportunities throughout New England). Jim also re-started the Boston Light swim in 1976 after it was halted in 1941 due to World War II. He won the 1976 race with 6 swimmers. In total, Jim swam the Boston Light Swim 18 times and participated as part of 5 relay swims.

He established the International Swimming Hall of Fame Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award in 1968 and was also a future recipient of the award.

Jim is the namesake for “The Doty Swim,” an annual, informal, one-mile swim held in memory of James Doty each June at the L Street Bathhouse. There are two Jim Doty Memorial Clocks posted at the clock tower at the L Street Bathhouse in South Boston that aim to help open water swimmers training in the harbor know how long they have been out in the water.

If you want to know more about Jim, there’s a book about his swims, “The Jim Doty Story: Accounts of Some of the Marathon Swims of a Great Boston Swimmer,” by Robert L. McCormack. Jim stated on the dedication page of McCormack’s book: “I want to thank my family: my wife, Paula, and children Polly, Elinor, and Jay. They did not see much of me on the weekends from May to October for many years. Unfortunately, this is one of the sacrifices one makes in the pursuit of a career in ocean and marathon swimming.”

Dori Miller

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 1 year individual

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors – 1 year (1 individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 32 individual2014 English Channel two-way solo crossing – 26 hours 21 minutes

• 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 South Head Rough Water swim 

• 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 South Head Rough Water swim 

• 2011 Rottnest Channel (Perth Australia) – 19.7km

• 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 South Head Roughwater (Sydney)  solo– 10km

• 2013, 2015 South Head Roughwater (Sydney) Duo– 10km

• 2010 Bridge to Beach (Sydney Harbour) – 10.4km

• 2009 Santa Barbara swim – 16 miles Santa Barbara to Ventura

• 2008, 2010, 2012 English Channel one-way solo

• 2007 Lake George Marathon Swim

• 2005, 2006, 2010 Boston Light Swim – 8 miles

• 2006 St Vincent’s Swim Across the Sound Swim – 25km

• Swam 50 x 400M on her 50th birthday

• USMS Profile

Hailing from New Haven, Connecticut, Dori has been a competitive swimmer from 11 years of age. She attained an athletic swimming scholarship to the University of Maryland. A testament to her tenacity and commitment to swimming, Dori has swum the English Channel five times, including a grueling two-way swim in 2016 in 26 hours and 21 minutes.  

Dori migrated to Sydney, Australia in 2009, and immediately got involved with ocean swimming and surf lifesaving. She joined the Bondi Surf Club in 2010. She has won more than 50 gold medals in Australian Masters Surf Life Saving and Pool Rescue championships (6 world records) and Masters World Lifesaving Championships. She was named NSW Surf Lifesaving Masters Athlete of the Year in 2014 and was inducted into Surf Life Saving Australia Hall of Fame – Masters Legend in 2022.

In addition to participating in ocean swims, Dori is the race director for the Bondi Blue Water Challenge, a fundraising event for Bondi Surf Club, held at Bondi Beach Australia in February each year. The event, which includes 500m, 1.5km and 3km race distances, draws 600 swimmers to swim at the iconic beach.

Dori is a consummate athlete in the water and on land competing in Ironman Wisconsin, and eight running marathons, including the Boston Marathon five times and the Philadelphia Marathon two times. 

Phil White

• 2013 - selected by the Newport Daily Express as Man of the Year

• 2014 - one of 10 nominated by WOWSA for Man of the Year

• 2019-2020 recipient of the Service to Marathon Swimming Award from the Marathon Swimmers Federation

• 2020 - selected as one of the Vermont Sports 30: people and organizations who have had a significant impact on Outdoor Recreation in Vermont during the past 30 years and who have shaped Vermont’s outdoor recreation landscape

• 2022 - received the Jim Doty Award from the L Street Swimmers for devotion to swimmers

• 2022 - swims were among 10 nominees for WOWSA’s Event of the Year

Phil is an open water swimming race director, administrator, and photographer from Newport, Vermont. The following is from his 2014 nomination for the 2014 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year - 

“Race directors have to be committed, caring, and creative. Phil White is the epitome of the much-appreciated organizer who has breathed a renewed sense of community, adventure, and challenge into the idyllic Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, a region dotted with numerous lakes of rare beauty. White envisioned all kinds of courses and competitions where none existed before. He not only has attracted athletes and volunteers from many states and countries to his green corner of the world, but he has also kindled a wide spectrum of support from corporate to governmental entities.” 

With his wide-reaching Kingdom Games, Phil and his team now support more than 40 days of competition ranging from ice swimming to marathon swimming. He inspires people from all walks of life, ages, and abilities to participate in races both short and long on a year-round basis. He enthusiastically encourages daring people to dream and helps them achieve those goals. 

Chronology of the growth of swimming in the Northeast Kingdom

• 2009 – Started Kingdom Swim as a 1, 3, and 10-mile event.  100 swimmers of all ages signed up

• 2010 – Started the Lake Willoughby Swim (5 Miles) with 12 swimmers.  200 showed up for Kingdom Swim

• 2011 – Started (with Elaine Howley) In Search of Memphre, a 25 mile international swim the length of Lake Memphremagog between Newport, VT and Magog, QC  9 solo swimmers and 1 relay.  Only four completed the swim that first year.  A added a 6-mile distance to Kingdom Swim.  A added a Lake Caspian Swim on the Sunday following the Willoughby Swim.

• 2009 to 2013 – Held these swims as fundraisers for Indoor Recreation of Orleans County (IROC).  In 2013 IROC closed its doors.  Started Kingdom Games, Inc. to continue and grow open water swimming, biking, and running events.  It is a small for-profit company based on Newman’s Own with all net profits going to local charities.  Started with no capital on a cash only basis and the patience of many local vendors.  Now host over 50 days of running, biking and swimming in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the Eastern Townships of Quebec.   

• 2013 – Started the NEK Swim Week, swimming 8 lakes in 9 days for a total of 46 Miles.  Crystal, Island Pond, Lac Massawippi, Seymour, Echo, Memphremagog, Willoughby and Caspian.  Sarah Thomas double crossed Lake Memphremagog in some fierce conditions.  Renamed his house, The Clubhous, as the nerve center for Kingdom Games, with a small amount of lodging available to participants, and as a place from which to swim out and around the islands of Derby Bay on Lake Memphremagog.

• 2014 – Added the Border Buster (15 Miles) to Kingdom Swim.

• 2015 – Held the first Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival.  Ice was 3’ thick.  41 Winter Swimmers participated.  Crewed for Sarah Thomas, Elaine Kornbau Howley, and Craig Lenning in their Loch Ness Swim, establishing the Triple Crown of Lake Monster Swims (Loch Ness, Memphremagog, and Tahoe) 

• 2016 – Lengthened the Border Buster to 25 km.

• 2017 – Crewed for Sarah Thomas during her 104-mile swim on Lake Champlain 

• 2019 – Reorganized In Search of Memphre to eliminate the use of kayaks and small aluminum boats, and instead escorted two swimmers at a time using two pontoon boats, in several three day windows, selecting the best day in each window.

• 2020 – In the midst of the pandemic, Kingdom swim postponed for a year.  Started the Saturday Clubhous Swim Series with no more than 10 swimmers and 10 kayakers.  Held the NEK Swim Week with similar limitations.

• 2021 – Resumed Kingdom Swim and NEK Swim Week and kept the Saturday Clubhous Swim Series.  Started some regular cold water swims from September through the beginning of January

• 2022 – The Border re-opened and we resumed In Search of Memphre.  9 swimmers successfully completed their swims.  9 more are scheduled to attempt the swim this year.

During the winter of 2023, 155 winter swimmers participated in The Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival.  Over 150 swimmers have registered for Kingdom Swim and more than 50 swimmers have already signed up for one or more swims during NEK Swim Week. The Saturday Clubhous Swim Series now has 5 to 15 swimmers signed on for any given Saturday.

Over the course of the past 15 years the Northeast Kingdom has become widely recognized as a world class venue for open water swimming.  The lakes we swim are clean (many are pristine), beautiful, with low boat traffic and strong community support, all of which makes for an unlikely mecca for swimmers of all ages and all abilities. Over the years, we have drawn thousands of swimmers and kayakers from over 45 states, three Canadian provinces, and 15 other nations around the world. We have done this with substantial local support and a volunteer pool that has grown to over 150, some of whom travel from as far away as California, Maryland, and around New England just to volunteer.   

A robust, tribal, and joyful community has developed around these swims. The Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival roars with joy.  The Kingdom Swim has become a true celebration of open water swimming, with youngsters parading beside Triple Crowners at our Pet and Swimmers Costume Parade and sharing the same award ceremony at the end of the day.  Our motto has stood the test of time: NO LANES – NO LINES – NO LIMITS . 

And, I have made some of the best friends of my life among swimmers, kayakers, and other volunteers.  

Nate McBride

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 4 individual

• USMS Certified Coach

• SWIMMER magazine May-June 2010 article – “Extreme Stroke Makeover” – Breaststroker Learns the Value of the Streamline

• SWIMMER magazine May-June 2009, “Web Workout”

I started swimming at the age of 5 for the Tanterra Tarpons Swim Club in Olney, Maryland, and, for the next 13 years, I transformed into a decent backstroker/IM'er. It was just one of many sports my parents enrolled my brothers and me into, in an attempt to exhaust the energy supply daily. I continued to be an all-sport athlete throughout my child/teen years, but despite whatever sport I played: soccer, lacrosse, hockey, I always also did swimming (mostly with LRAC). My time in the water waned at the end of my high school career as the final (of four) high schools I attended did not have a swim team.  

I picked up swimming again in my sophomore year of college when I walked on to the Division III team at Connecticut College to reprise my former role as a backstroker. That lasted only a short time as I realized that I enjoyed the distance workouts way more than the sprint/IM-focused workouts, so I switched to learning how to swim the 500/1000 combo. During this time, our team needed to raise funds for our annual winter training trip to Florida, and one of the ways we did this was by coaching the Eastern Connecticut Masters Club (ECM) in our pool after our workouts were over. While many of my teammates dreaded having to do this, I loved it so much that I did it nearly every day after practice and found that I had a passion for it.  

That following summer, I ended up getting a job as a lifeguard and Masters swim coach at Barrington YMCA (in Barrington, RI), and, for the next two years at school, I morphed into a full-time swimmer dropping all of my other sports pursuits while also coaching ECM year-round when I could make time.  I also continued to coach the Barrington Y Masters in the summers and became the Barrington Y age group coach for the final two summers of my college career.  

After college, I moved to Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, to be a Latin teacher and, to make some extra money on the side, I also coached the White Plains Masters (and lifeguarded) for my one year in NY.  After that, I moved back to MA and got a job as the Director of Technology at Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, MA. Cushing did not have a swim team, but I was able to rent lanes at Greenwood Swim Club and Wachusett Community College to train Cushing kids who wanted to continue with their swim training.  

After two years at Cushing, I moved to Winchester, MA, and decided to get back in the pool for myself.  I joined the Minuteman Masters team coached by Rich Axtell, which was swimming at Hanscom AFB in the LCM pool. I loved swimming with that group and felt like I had discovered something so special with the NEM Masters community at large. 

I wanted to give back to NEM, and there was no shortage of opportunities to do so. I helped build the new NEM website, helped with recovering the NEM registrar database after a terrible data crash, joined the NEM organization leadership, and even devised a new model for team scoring, which helped the little teams get as much recognition as the big teams!  

Though I was still chasing that elusive sub-5 for my 500 time (which seemed to get further away with each year) I did go on to win the mile at LC Nationals in 2004 and swim the mile fly at 2007 SCY NE Champs to settle a bet. Those were my two crowning moments in the pool. 

Rich was gracious enough to give me a chance to be an assistant coach at Minuteman, and that was a huge turning point for me.  After a few years of coaching (and swimming) with Minuteman, I eventually started my own team, West Side Swim Club, in Sudbury, MA. I spent the next three years rethinking everything I knew about swimming and applying it to a Masters and Triathlete program.  Nothing was off the table, and I obsessed about everything from dissecting the perfect stroke, using active rest in workouts, incorporating mid-set drylands, and trying to somehow put it all together.  

I was very honored to receive the first annual Tom Lyndon Award in 2011 and am still so grateful to have been a part of such a wonderful community after all these years.

Crystie McGrail

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 22 individual

• USMS Profile

LMSC Positions:

• 2021 to 2022 – New England LMSC Immediate Past Board Chair

• 2019 to 2021 – New England LMSC Board Chair

• 2014 to 2019 – New England LMSC Coaches Chair. Created a series of local clinics for coaches and swimmers and scholarships for coach education.

• 2013 – New England LMSC Asst. Webmaster

Coaching Positions:

• 2010 to 2022 – Head Coach & Club Manager, Great Bay Masters Swimming, Inc. (GBM), Dover, N.H.

• 2018 – Started GBM’s annual “April is Adult Learn to Swim Month” program at the Dover pool, expanded to the Portsmouth pool

Meet Director Roles:

• 2022 – Portsmouth Mini Meet, Portsmouth, N.H. (30 participants)

• 2011 to 2022 – Jenny Thompson LCM Mini Meet, Dover, N.H. (80-100 participants)

• 2012 to 2020 – Exeter SCM Mini Meet, Exeter, N.H. (90-100 participants)

• 2010 to 2014 – New England LMSC SCM Championship Meet, Boston, Mass. (3 days, 400+ swimmers)

Other Assignments & Honors:

• 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 – USMS National Coaches Clinic Attendee

• 2019 – USMS Dorothy Donnelly Service Award

• 2019 – New England LMSC Contributor of the Year Award

• 2018 – USMS Convention Task Force

• 2014 – New England LMSC Coach of The Year Award

Crystie has been a swimmer her entire life. When she relocated to New Hampshire, she was happy to find a robust adult swim community through a college teammate who suggested she join Great Bay Masters. She was quickly integrated into a wonderful community of well-organized and spirited people. 

As the team evolved and roles changed Crystie started coaching workouts and becoming more involved with club and meet management. Her role quickly expanded to running multiple mini meets and workouts at two sites for the club. Crystie found herself on the regional stage while taking over the coordination of the NELMSC Short Course Meters Championship Meet hosted by Great Bay Masters in 2010. She continued to run this meet until it was transitioned to a new host site in 2015. 

After meeting more of the regional volunteers, Crystie was encouraged to get involved at that level. In 2014 the NELMSC Coaches Chair role opened and when Crystie suggested this role become more robust by offering local coach education and networking, she was offered the opportunity to bring that vision to fruition. During her six years as the NELMSC Coaches Chair Crystie also delved into volunteering at the national level for USMS by joining the National Coaches Committee from 2016 to 2018 and then moving over to the LMSC Development Committee from 2019 to present. 

Crystie attended her first USMS Annual Meeting as a delegate in 2017 and has been a regular attendee in person, or virtually, ever since. An understanding of what is happening across the country and at the national level is incredibly helpful to better support and bring new ideas to our local swimmers and programs in New England.

Following intentional succession planning Crystie was elected to the NELMSC Chairperson role for a two-year stint from 2019 to 2021. This is when the pandemic created everlasting change in our lives and was a very atypical experience as a volunteer and club manager. Crystie focused on getting volunteers virtually connected regularly to help maintain a sense of community and share best practices for dealing with a whole new set of restrictions around swimming.

During the pandemic, Crystie worked to keep the Great Bay Masters community together by coordinating virtual socials such as online game nights and video workouts that included the novelty of “Soup Can Swimming”. She created a support group called “Accountabilibuddies” where each week participants were given five days’ worth of workouts and mental health practices. Participation was tracked and points were scored and celebrated to help keep people engaged and physically active while in lockdown. 

After the excitement of the pandemic Crystie stepped back from the role of Chairperson to past chairperson and continued to help support the NELMSC board and volunteers in new roles. She continued to coach and run swim meets until January of 2023 when her family relocated to Colorado. 

Crystie will forever be grateful for the amazing community of swimmers across New England and all of the energy and effort that goes into providing the best adult swimming experience! The opportunities to grow as a person, a volunteer, a swimmer and a friend while in New England are stamped on her very soul. 

Charles "Chuck" Barnes

• USMS National Records – pool individual 13 lifetime, 9 currently held 

• USMS Pool All Star Honors – 2019 

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 5 years individual (32 events); 4 years pool (8 events) 

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 47 Individual, 30 relay

• USMS profile

Chuck Barnes is a member of the BC High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame. One of the most accomplished male swimmers at Brown in the last 50 years, Barnes holds the school record in five different events, including the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. Barnes earned First Team All-Ivy honors seven times throughout his career and won the Phil Moriarty Award as the top swimmer at the EISL Championships for three straight years.

He was also named the Ivy League’s most valuable swimmer for three straight years and was recognized as a Top 100 Athlete of the Century at Brown. Barnes finished 18th  in the 200-yard backstroke at the NCAA Championships in 1999, the highest finish by a male swimmer at Brown since 1984.

Barnes was named the team’s MVP all four of his years at Brown and served as captain his senior year in 1999. He is just the second Brown swimmer to earn the Phil Moriarty Award at the Eastern Championships and holds the most Eastern Championship Titles in Brown history, racking up seven throughout his career.

After earning his degree in Business Economics from Brown, Barnes spent 15 months training for the Olympic Trials and qualified in the 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly and 200 free. His best finish was 12 th in the 200 back. After finishing his swimming career, Barnes competed in triathlons and placed 37th in the world’s largest in Chicago.

Barnes then took 18 years off and only started swimming again after seeing information for Masters swimming when bringing his child to swim class. He started swimming 1 to 2 times per week at first, then 3 times, and he now swims 4 to 5 times per week.  “Masters swimming has allowed me to get away from working all the time and enables me to travel to different places I probably never would have gone to without Masters swimming. It enables me to meet many new friends and do what I love to do, which is compete.”

Katherine Branch

• USMS National Records – pool individual 4 lifetime

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 17 years (20 individual)

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors – 2 years (2 individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 278 individual

• USMS Profile

My life in competitive swimming started when I was 10, at the suggestion of coaches at a sports “boot camp” where I essentially flunked the other five sports but was able to swim a 500-yard freestyle. After a couple years of summer swimming in Albuquerque, New Mexico, my family moved to New Delhi, India where I started “year-round” swimming. Our morning swim team practice started with us kids skimming the pool surface to remove an almost solid layer of locusts, crickets, dragonflies, and many other bugs that looked like cockroaches to me. Highlights of that year in India included my placing second in the 100 butterfly, freestyle, and backstroke in the Junior Girls category at the National Aquatic Championships and our 400-freestyle relay breaking the Indian national record.

After moving back to Albuquerque, I started swimming in earnest with an AAU team and my high school team, then enrolled at Arizona State University in 1975, swimming on the women’s team and making the 200 backstroke qualifying time for the Association for the 1976 Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Nationals (before women’s college athletics was part of the NCAA). Two of my ASU team-mates represented the United States at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal: Melissa Belote (who had won three gold medals at the 1972 Olympics) and Maryanne Graham (who set the American record in the 200 backstroke at 1976 Trials)—both women have swum or are currently swimming in USMS competitions, as is my college friend, teammate and roommate Karen Andrus-Hughes.

After 1976, I stuck to intermural inner tube water polo and lap swimming until after the birth of my second son in 1987, when I joined USMS with Maryland Masters. I carpooled to my first Masters meet with the legendary Nancy Brown (916 USMS Top Ten swims!) and her daughter Jill Springer. Between her beer relays, her swimming with a bouncy eyeball headband, and her energetic love of the sport, Nancy showed me how much fun Masters swimming really could be. I joined New England Masters in 2007, after I moved to Vermont.

Besides beer relays, other highlights of my aquatic adventures including my meeting my future husband while swimming laps at the University of Arizona, placing 5 th overall (1 st in women’s) in the 4.4-mile Chesapeake Bay Swim, watching my sons compete in all four years of collegiate swimming, having my older son also meet his future wife while swimming laps, breaking the 200 backstroke SCM world Masters record in my 30s and competing at the World Masters Championships in Montreal.

Outside of the pool, I had a career as a medical and science librarian, then worked as a Masters swim coach and at a fair-trade handicrafts store until I retired. Besides swimming, I serve on several of my town’s commissions, raise a large vegetable garden and try to see my three grandchildren as often as I can.

William “Bill” Jones

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 4 years (4 individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 299 individual

• USMS Profile

I learned to swim at the town beach on Hobbs Pond, Hope ME.  At the Y in Philadelphia, they lined up everyone for a 25-yard race at the end of general swim.  I always won, so they put me on their team. They had the only good coach I ever had.  One day, our butterflier didn’t come so I filled in and got the job.  After junior league, I swam for Germantown Academy, later famous for swimming.  In 1955, I was the surprise winner of the Eastern Interscholastic 100 fly. I regularly made All American in high school and college.  The breaststroke-butterfly rules were changing then.  My only flirtation with national records was when you were allowed to swim breaststroke under water.  My best national rank was 4th in the 200 breast - not good enough for the Olympics.

Upon college graduation in 1959, I was sick of swimming.  I spent 17 happy years neither competing nor paying attention.  Worsening back trouble threatened forced disability retirement by age 40.  I just dodged surgery.  One MD said patients like me were doomed to a life of therapy and pain, but that, occasionally, some who swam a lot didn’t return.  Judging swimming preferable to the knife, I resumed swimming and heard about Masters.

I have swum for DC Department of Recreation and Parks, then Maine Masters, since age 40.  Work time lost to back trouble declined, though I travelled to nationals in Chapel Hill NC flat in the back of a station wagon and could not dive start the night before winning the 200 fly.  On our DC relay fly start, I got to send a wave over MA’s relay’s Paul Tsongas.

Over the years, I have picked up occasional national championships, mostly in long butterfly and IM, and recently by being the only one in my age group to swim something — nationally first and last.  I’ve been on some national-championship Maine relays, including a mixed 400 IM that held the national record for 6 years.  At 75, I made national top-10 in all 53 events except for the 50 breast, in which I was 11th.  I hold or have held a variety of Maine and New England records.  And I haven’t had back surgery yet.