USMS Swimmers of the Year 2000

This is a menu of the topics on this page (click on any):
A Few Good Men and Women    Gail Roper    Angel Martino    Wally Dicks    Jill Hernandez    Regina Brittingham    Wally Dicks (37)    Paul Smith  (41)    Bill Specht    Jim Lilley    Jim McConica    Sandy Neilson-Bell    Richard Abrahams    Rich Abrahams    Frank Piemme    Jurgen Schmidt    Rowdy Gaines    Ray Taft   .

USMS Swimmers of the Year

A Few Good Men and Women

By Michael J. Stott

2000 was a very good year for USMS members. Based on world, national and Top Ten rankings a dozen from the organization's 38,000+ roster have been chosen as Swimmers of the Year. Some are familiar and repeat performers. Others are relatively new to the accolade.

SWIM first chose Swimmers of the Year in 1996. West Coast aquanauts continue to predominate with seven Californians, two Coloradoans and one Nevadan. Joining them were a Georgian and a Virginian. All had considerable age group success, often on the national level. Some were NCAA finalists and medalists. Seven went to Olympic Trials. Others had QTs but didn't go. Gail Roper and Angel Martino (three gold, three bronze) competed in the Games themselves.

Most left the sport for an extended period and are now back with a vengeance, achieving lifetime or near lifetime bests. Students of the sport and firm disciples of the aquatic lifestyle, each was delighted to make this exclusive list. "There are a lot of great swimmers in a number of age groups. I'm honored," said Wally Dicks . "For all of us," added Taft.

Upon learning that Jill Hernandez had been chosen, coach Regina Brittingham offered the following observation. In her characterization reside traits inherent in each of the 12.

"I have had the good fortune to observe Jill train and compete since she was very young. She is a very private and gifted individual who is humble and unassuming on deck and away from the pool. Once in the water, she is 'The Destroyer.' She races every stroke with tenacity and efficiency.

"If her repeats do not meet her expectations she increases the pace until she gets what she wants. Then she ups it a notch! . . . Jill's success stems from swimming for fun and love of the water. I believe this holds true for all elite swimmers. The passion has to come from inside and it surely shows in Jill.

"As a USA Water Bandit, Jill is a motivator and mentor for all swimmers. Her low-key manner in assisting others and her witty jokes (often directed in the coach's direction) keeps the atmosphere fun and relaxed. If last year was a great one for Jill, I foresee an even higher level of achievement from her in 2001. Just a hunch!"

The envelope, please.

Wally Dicks (37)

"I had a really good year," says Fairfax, VA's Wally Dicks. Not only did he garner the top nine short and long course breaststroke times in his age group including a :56.0 in the 100 yard breast, but he also posted world LCM marks in the 100 (1:05.00 and world SCM records in 100 (1:02.7) and 200 (2:20.26).

But it was Dicks' flirtation with the big boys (he beat Jarrod Marrs and Ed Moses in one race) and stature as the oldest male to ever make Olympic swimming Trials that made his year. In Indianapolis he nailed his taper, finishing 41st out of 75 competitors. "I didn't make consols, but I wasn't disappointed. I deserved to be there."

In the four and one-half years Dicks has been involved in Masters he has learned to listen to his body and has gotten progressively faster. In 1999 he realized he had been overtraining, backed off and "basically went back to the drawing board." Under the tutelage of Patriot Masters and George Mason University coach Peter Ward and the support of his Montgomery, MD Ancient Mariner teammates, Dicks set his entire schedule around Trials and even flew to Washington State to successfully time trial.

Dicks trains six days a week, usually at 5,000 yards a clip, adding 90 minutes of weights on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He is also a stickler for stretching before and after practice and occasionally in front of the TV. That's 30 minutes a day minimum. "Mentally and physically we may be stronger, but as we get older we lose elasticity," he says.

He also does three sets of four of vertical breaststroke kicking drills. On intervals of one minute on and 30 seconds off, he kicks with his hands at water level, then kicks with his elbows out of the water and drills two sets with his hands streamlined over his head. "After that your legs are burning bad," he notes.

The year 2001 brings several challenges. Dicks would like to own the 200 LCM breast mark. "It's a very good time, I've just got to go for it." In yards he'd like to equal :55.0 from a flat start, a time he achieved in a relay. Aside from that, his goal is to "keep swimming and have fun."

Paul Smith (41)

You think you've got pool availability problems? Consider the plight of Paul Smith, West Coast sales director for Mephisto, a high-end European footwear company. Last year he spent 130 nights on the road. Ever resourceful, he hooked up with 16 swim teams in 14 states from the Fog City Masters in San Francisco to the Phoenix Swim Club to a delightful squad in East Wenatchee, WA.

And when he got to national meets Smith kicked some serious butt. In May he overpowered his foes establishing new USMS marks in the 50-100-200 frees and 100 IM. In Baltimore the Vail swimmer, who when at home trains at 7,000 feet, took four more firsts, including a WR 25.87 in the 50 fly. For 2000 he grabbed 14 Top Ten rankings.

Two years ago Smith had knee surgery. In late 2000 doctors repaired his AC joint leaving his status for Santa Clara somewhat in doubt. Two months of kick-only workouts and a gradual return to full swimming don't auger for a peak performance for Santa Clara in May. Smith does plan to be ready for Long Course Nationals. To that end he is supplementing his swimming with weightlifting, biking, spinning and yoga cross training.

Questions about goals are met with an "if I tell you, I'll have to kill you" response, but clearly he is looking for more swims "in the zone and that sensation of oneness and fluidity." He also revels in the Masters environment and the variety of training partners he regards as the "heart and soul of the sport."

As for the competition, it is his raison d'etre. He still holds the UCSB 100 fly record of 48.8 set in 1980 and remembers with remarkable clarity his 51.1 23rd place finish in the 100 free at 1984 Olympic Trials. His philosophy is "I don't go to Nationals to win my age group, but to win the meet." He misses the opportunities of an open division, but loves it "when Bill Specht , Jim Lilley and I beat the hell out of each other."

Jim McConica (50)

"The question was," How many world records do you have?" The answer, "I don't have a clue. I just try to break them." Answer: to date he has set 15 world and 29 NR.

McConica, the owner of a Ventura, CA auto dealership, is virtually the same weight and has the same body fat percentage and work ethic he did in 1971 and 1973 when winning NCAA 200-yard free titles. He also performed magnificently in 2000. To quickly review, in Baltimore he set six world standards and was the fastest swimmer in the meet in the 400, 800 and 1500 frees and damn near the fastest in the 200 behind two men 10 and 20 years younger.

He continued his onslaught in Long Beach in December where he had a "breakthrough meet" that included WR swims in the 200 (1:58.3), 400 (4:07) and 1500 (16:33) frees. "In all my events I exceeded my season goals."

The reasons for his dramatic improvement were fourfold, he says: ? lesser yardage, 25,000 Ā 35,000 per week, down from 50,000 ? daily workouts with "fast" age groupers ? better focus (the loss of a training partner to ovarian cancer was a wakeup call) ? a desire not to be old, and a ? a coaching change.

Swimming on six hours of sleep, McConica starts about 5 a.m. on Monday and continues to make most of the Buena Ventura Swim Club's nine weekly practices. "I'm one of those in the mix with the fast kids. They go 100 long course free on 1:15 and that's pretty tough for me. I enjoy being with them and swim just as hard to beat them in practice as they do to beat me."

After a stellar career at Southern Cal, McConica quit swimming for nine years when Sandy Neilson-Bell "sucked him back in." Time passed and he swam well indoors and in places like the Catalina and English Channels (8:39). However, a distressing 500 free (5:00) three years ago redirected him into realizing that "Life is like a race. You have to go fast before you can't go fast."

The question for 2001 he says is "how much faster than 2000?" He is presently endorsing the Millennium Victor Body Suit so that should help. "Even though it makes you look like a geek, it works. I'm sold." This from a guy who claims to "never have had raw speed. I don't have much now," he says.

The competition might not agree.

Richard Abrahams (55)

Rich Abrahams is one of those "fast then, fast now" guys. As a junior at NCAA's he clocked a 21.5 (hand-held) in the 50 free and finished second to Yale's Steve Clark . This year in Indianapolis the Rocky Mountain Master won five events in record time including a mind-blowing 21.82 in the 50 and a 48.37 in the 100, his fastest time since 1966. He also won five races at Long Course Nationals securing world marks in the 50 and 100 fly, a meet he regards as "disappointing" for swimming but great for friendships.

The key for 2000 was hard training, he says, including 50,000 meters for each of eight months leading to Baltimore. "That's a lot for me," he says. He also credits an inspiring invitation to the Masters camp at the Olympic Training Center in November 1999 as a jumpstart. There he concentrated on strength core training and functional strength using his own body weight. "It helped me maintain my speed," he reports.

An unexpected cold ten days before Indy also worked to Abrahams' advantage. "Periods of rest, mentally and physically, are important. I think sometimes it takes more discipline to take time off than to train. The cold helped my taper."

Abrahams is now facing a prolonged, enforced layoff because of rotator cuff and biceps surgery done in late January. "I'm going to go to meets and be a timer and see my friends. It will give me a chance to volunteer and chat," he says. "I love the time lines in Masters swimming. I probably won't compete until 2002 and, for me, it's not a problem. In Masters no one pays a lot of attention to your swims except you. What counts is how you do against your own expectations."

To that end Abrahams will keep spinning and riding a mountain bike to maintain his considerable aerobic capacity. When in the water he'll revert to 25-meter underwater dolphin kick sets or the ever-pleasant vertical kicks whereby he places his hands by his ears Ā and kicks for an hour.

Think he'll be ready by then?

Frank Piemme (75)

In 1996 Ojai Ā Santa Barbara swimmer Frank Piemme was described as "dominant." In the five years since nothing has changed. In May he set six national records. At Worlds in Munich he set world standards in the 50 and 800 meter frees. At LC Nationals in Baltimore he established four global marks and added a USMS standard in the 200 breast. After an impressive SCM showing in Long Beach, he now owns every world SCM free record (not all verified) plus standards in the 50 and 100 fly, 100 and 400 IM and national marks in the 100 and 200 breast.

He has achieved the above despite severe pool availability problems. Most of Piemme's training takes place at Vandenburg AFB or a 40-foot country club pool outside Lompoc. By swimming diagonally he can expand the distance in the club pool to 55 feet, straining hard to avoid the steps at the three-foot end and a 90-degree turn at the other. "The turning is not the best," he comments, "but after all the years I've got that down pretty well."

Piemme likes to log 2,400 to 3,000 yards in 75-minute sessions swimming solo or with buddy Jurgen Schmidt when pool closures aren't an issue. "I'm pretty whimsical about my practice approach," he says. "I don't know in advance what I am going to do." He always executes a 1,000 warm-up, going 400 easy, 4 x 100 free and 4 x 50 free alternating strokes. IM and free form the basis of a main set.

"I'm trying to concentrate on swimming fast, alternating real hard with rest," he says. He does do IM kick sets and keeps the repeat fly to less than 200 yards. Kickboards? No. Paddles? Never, he tried them once for three months and suffered extreme shoulder discomfort. Weights? He doesn't recommend them. Stretching? Sure, during the workout. Golf? "My expectations exceed my ability. But," he adds, "people don't know my expectations."

Well, maybe not on the links, but in the pool it's a different scenario. There he peaks for meets with an eye to winning everything he enters. By years-end he wants all the top age group times in all the freestyle events (a goal only he and Rowdy Gaines have ever attained) and anything else he can earn.

And, what's wrong with that?

Ray Taft (81)

Ever since he and his wife Zada opened their swimming school outside San Francisco in the 1950's Ray Taft has been giving back to the sport. And for his yeoman service as a competitor, coach, teacher, water-showman and administrator for Masters Swimming he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1996.

In 2000 Taft did some taking. In May at Short Course Nationals, the San Mateo Marlin won six events and set five USMS records in the 80-84 age group. In Baltimore he notched five first places and one world mark. At Worlds in Munich he scored four firsts and a second. Currently he holds six world LCM and 13 SCM standards. In his career he has established 44 and 32 records respectively. He has 137 national records to his credit.

Taft, an IMer, trains three times a week putting effort into technique and pace work. In preparation for the Hour Swim, he'll do four, six or eight 100s on a pace of 1:45. "I like feeling my way with less resistance and I think about kicking, strokes and breathing." He does very little buoy work and eschews kickboards and hand paddles in favor of raised body position and kicking to produce bubbles at his feet.

Into his regimen he incorporates mild stretching with hand cords and pulleys and dumbbells two or three times weekly. Such exercise and active gardening keep him loose for the full array of competitive distances he enjoys.

A confirmed open water guy, Taft has won the 2.4 mile Waikiki Rough Water Swim 26 times. Recently when a whippersnapper in the 35-39 age group bet him an ice cream cone that he could beat him, Taft thrashed him by almost two minutes. "I usually win my age group and want to beat or keep up with the people close to me," he says with a grin.

Too bad no one told that young guy.

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