Great Bay Masters Takes Second Place USMS (Non-NEM) Title

at 2005 NEM Short Course Yards Championships

Despite the nice weather, a motivated group of 39 swimmers traveled down to Harvard University for the New England Masters Short Course Yards Championship on April 2 and over the weekend of April 8 –10. Many GBM’s participated in both individual and relay events over the four-day championship.

This year was the first time we participated in the SCY Championship event as our own club. Despite higher participation than last year, Great Bay placed second in the non-NEM teams and in fifth place overall. The second place showing was due to the New York City Red Tide team, who took first place by showing up in large numbers this year. Nevertheless, GBM had some great swims and managed to stay ahead of Maine Masters, who was favored to win the Non-NEM first place slot.

NEM workout groups Minuteman Masters placed first, followed by Andover YMCA and home team Cambridge Masters Swim Club. Over 55 different workout groups, most from all over New England and a few from other parts of the country competed in the four-day event.

Three of the team members swam eleven or more individual events as well as competing in relays. These individuals were Carol Prescott who competed in13 events, plus all five relays, for an impressive total of 18 races, Steve Smith who swam 12 individual events, and Jim Robertson who swam 11.  Both Jim and Steve also competed in four relays.

The top 10 Point Scorers were:

NAME      AGE     POINTS
Prescott, Carol   36      169
Robertson, Jim    35      139.5
Gendreau, Edmund  42      121
Caron, Aagje      63      118
Smith, Stephen    55      115
Tweedie, Jennifer 27      103
Fredette, Ann     60      101
Read, Phil        62       83
Tunstall, Nancy   42       79
Read, Susan       59       56

TOP 10 TEAMS (NEM AND USMS COMBINED)

Minuteman Masters (NEM) 5789

Andover (NEM) 5688.5

Red Tide of NYC (USMS) 3797

Cambridge Masters (NEM) 3768

Great Bay Masters (USMS) 2376.5

Swim Rhode Island (NEM) 2283

Maine Masters Swim Club (USMS) 2001

South County YMCA (NEM) 1876

Boston LANES (NEM) 1689

YMCA of the North Shore (NEM) 1585

Overall, it was a well-run meet despite the higher numbers of swimmers this year, and many commented on the “perfect” water temperature for racing this year. Next year, we hope to see higher participation and more swimmers showing up for multiple day events so that we can take our first place spot back again! Thank you and congratulations to all GBM’s who came to swim in Blodgett Pool! For complete results, please visit the website: www.swimindex.com/meets/2005/nem-scy/results.shtml