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.

Elizabeth Mancuso

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 9 years (21 individual)

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

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 105 individual

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Liz grew up swimming in Andover, MA.  She raced in her first swim meet at age 3 and fell in love with the sport. Liz swam for the Merrimack Valley Pirates and the Andover/North Andover YMCA club teams. She was also a four-year member of the state championship–winning Andover High School Swim and Dive team. In high school, Liz was named 2003 Massachusetts Swimmer of the Year. In 2023, Liz was inducted in the Punchard/Andover High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Following high school, Liz attended and swam at Dartmouth College. She majored in psychology with a minor in education. Liz was a four-year member of the varsity swim team, previous multiple individual and relay event school record holder, and co-captain. As a senior, she was awarded the Kenneth Archibald Prize, the highest honor a Dartmouth athlete can receive for best all-around athlete, moral worth, and high standing in scholarship. In 2009, Liz was inducted into Dartmouth College’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Post college, Liz jumped right back into the pool for Masters swimming. She swam at Boston University Masters Swimming, where she met her husband, B.J. Brannan. After a move to the South Shore, she currently swims at Scituate Racquet and Fitness Club. Liz has participated in numerous open water races including winning the 8-mile Boston Light Swim in 2010.

Liz is an elementary school psychologist. In addition to her love of swimming, she also enjoys playing tennis and paddle, skiing, going to the beach, and spending time with her family and friends. Liz has two sons, George and Paul. She hopes they, too, will find a sport or activity to enjoy and create lasting memories and friendships.

Karen Mareb

• USMS National Records – pool individual 1 lifetime

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 13 years (20 individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 167 Individual

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I was born in Bangor ME and am the second of five children. I grew up spending winters in South Bend, Indiana, and summers in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where my Father did research at the Marine Biological Laboratory. I learned to swim in the ocean in Woods Hole and competed in the summer beach swim meets held at Mass Maritime. Although I swam all summer long recreationally, I did not join a swim team until 1973 at John Adams High School in South Bend. I fortunately made the varsity team my Freshman year with few skills and learned the breaststroke, as that was what was needed. John Adams Girls’ Swim Team won the State Title three years in a row from 1972 to 1974. I was part of the winning State 200 IM relay team in 1974.

I graduated high school in three years and was accepted at the University of Notre Dame. My freshman year was the first graduating year of women at ND and my first year I swam with the Boys’ team (poorly). I spent my sophomore year in Rome, Italy, studying Italian and art. On my return in my junior year, Notre Dame had a club team, but it was nowhere near the powerhouse status of today. During my college years, I worked as a Falmouth lifeguard and competed on the Falmouth lifeguard competition team as the swimming leg for various events. In 1979, I swam to Martha’s Vineyard from Woods Hole with a group of swimmers from MBL completing the swim from Nobska Point to West Chop (approximately 3.5 miles) in 1 hour and 51 minutes. I swam to the Vineyard again last summer (2022) 43 years later - albeit at a much slower pace!

After several years, I reconnected with my Falmouth lifeguard boyfriend, Fred, and we got married in 1984. I swam for a few years with the Andover YMCA team until I had my children and proceeded to take the next 15 years off. In 2003 at age 45, I returned to the pool and swam for 10 years with Andover YMCA Masters group, competing in local meets and Y Masters Nationals in Fort Lauderdale. I bettered all my high school times except for one. In 2014, I started swimming with the Granite State Penguins and have been a regular at all of the major meets including most SCY Nationals. I have also competed in FINA World Competitions in Riccione Italy (2012), Montreal (2014), Canadian National (2017), and Budapest (2018).

My interests include anything connected to the water, (boating, fishing, snorkeling) traveling, good food, and good books. My latest challenge is learning the game of golf.

Ildiko “Ildi” Szekely

• USMS National Records – pool individual 1 lifetime, 1 currently held

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 11 years (33 individual)

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

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 74 individual

• USMS Profile

For some, swimming is a healthy exercise, for me, it is a lifestyle. I grew up in Hungary, and by age six, I was a competitive swimmer. Swimming has been so ingrained in my life that I can no longer separate it from my identity. I love the sport; it has provided me with opportunities others can only dream of. Yes, (along with many young children) I had dreams of the Olympics. While I did not attain the rights of the five-ring tattoo on my body, swimming has led me to a New World, to an athletic scholarship, to a master’s degree, to my best friends, and it continues to take me to amazing venues in the world.

A brief overview of my swimming history: I qualified for the Cadet European Championships in the 200- meter butterfly when I was 12 years old. At 16, I received the bronze medal at the Hungarian National Championships in the 200-meter butterfly and anchored the 4x100 free relay to a National title. However, for my Hungarian coach, I become too old and not elite enough.

I tried my luck across the “Pond,” and continued the sport at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania under Olympic alternate and Michigan State alumnus, Pete Williams. He trained me to Junior Nationals and helped me get recruited by his alma mater. At MSU, I became a four-time Academic All-America, earned three individual and two relay school records, was named Student-Athlete of the Month by MSU Athletics, and made the Olympic Trials cut in the 200-meter butterfly in 2002.

After six years of hiatus, I found love again in Masters swimming. These past 11 years with the help of Coach Chris Morgan, I became a World Champion in the 200-meter butterfly in 2014 and 2017, as well as Pan-American Champion in 2018 and 2022. I earned National titles in 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2021 as well as Open Water 1-mile Masters National titles in 2017 and 2022. I love to travel to open water races as much as possible, too. I have no doubt racing will be a significant part of the rest of my life.