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State Championships

 A long weekend by the pool in the tropics… sounds nice!  And we did not have to go far from home this summer – just to Wesleyan for the 2003 Long Course Connecticut State Swimming Championships. 45 teams brought an impressive group of swimmers, showing us over and over how hard work and dedication lead to excellence in accomplishment. 

The briefest swim was over in less than 25 seconds; the most protracted lasted more than 21 minutes. And in between there were 3939 other finishes recorded. That’s a lot to get done, but fortunately the athletes came prepared to swim very fast. We thought last year that, with an individual and three relay records set, it had been a very successful meet. But that was NOTHING! This year four swimmers broke records in a total of seven individual events, and another seven relay records fell. Personal bests were melting away everywhere. Congratulations swimmers on an outstanding Championship! 

Thomas Edison famously said that genius is “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”. It follows then that these dedicated volunteers are all geniuses, because they all were perspiring like crazy as the blazing Middletown sun beat down upon the teeny-tiny ventilation windows: 

-         Our great friends from Cougar Aquatic and our new friends from Westport Water Rats ran the office with great efficiency and good spirits, and kept me from losing sanity at many critical moments.

-         The Cheshire Water Devils kept us fed and, most importantly, watered. “Water Angels” would be more appropriate.

-         Connecticut Aquatic took the Awards table over and like magic at the end of Sunday Finals there they were, all sorted into 45 bags. Great job, and great having you on deck with us!

-         The computer table, situated in one of the harsher micro-climates on deck (and in all of North America!) ran perfectly with the sure hands of Stacy Murphy, Rick La Frenierre, Ginger McCurdy, Ann Levine, Joanne McKeown, Mike Jackwin and Karen Krustapentus on the controls. And special thanks go to Dale Maine who lifted the hood more than once to keep the machine in top working order.

-         Meet Referee Carol Feeney and all of our excellent officials kept their cool and ran an efficient, fair, high-quality competition.  

Thanks go to everybody who braved the conditions to spend a morning or help out! 

We’re grateful to the folks who run Fantasy Island – the coaches and athletic directors of Wesleyan and especially building guru Casey – who make us feel very welcome. Also on the hot seat were those special friends of Connecticut Swimming: Jim Ligouri and Kevin Carneiro, who ran the timing system flawlessly. 

As always we owe the highest degree of gratitude to Nan Cooper. Nan juggled a dozen jobs with her usual skill and humor. No matter what comes her way, she’s never hot under the collar! 

Finally, I have a complaint. Makes me grouchy and irritable just to think about it. My problem is that one of our most treasured volunteers, Bonnie Fisher, has announced that she will shortly move to Florida. “NO FAIR”, I say! Over the years Bonnie has done it all, including managing the Age Group and Senior Championships and most recently our Zone Team Program. Bonnie: we’ll miss you and we wish you well. 

It’s been a fast and fun season. Please enjoy the photos, which are specially designed to re-create the terrific feeling of being at Connecticut State Championships. To get their full realistic effect, first turn off all air conditioning and close all your windows…. 

See you at the Swimposium! 

Best regards, 

Barry Silver
Meet Director and Age Group Chairman

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Heartfelt thanks to Barry Silver for the countless hours he put into this meet as Meet Director. "Meet Director" looks so concise and simple in print; two words that we all understand. Yet, in actuality it means everything from assigning 900 kids to 8 lanes for warm-ups, to troubleshooting the starting system, to quoting USA Swimming rules from heart, to working 16 hours days, to using vacation days from paid employment, to coordinating a legion of volunteers that you only hope show up.  Another great meet, Barry.  Thank you!

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RESULTS     SCORING        RECORD-BREAKERS
PHOTOS 
Photo credits go to Barry Silver

Congratulations to Jon Levine!!
Age Group Coach of the Year

Jon Levine and Dave Reilly, Technical Planning Co-Chair

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