Upcoming Events
March 9, 2024, Short Course Meet, Bentonville, AR (details to be emailed soon)
April 20, 2024, 18th Annual Hall of Fame Meet, Little Rock, AR
April 26-28, 2024, South Central Zone Spring Championships, Shenandoah, TX
June 20-24, 2024, USMS Spring Nationals (short course), Indianapolis, IN
For a full listing of events around the country, visit the USMS Events Calendar.
For events happening within our zone, visit the South Central Zone Event Calendar Page.
Interested in hosting a meet? Here’s a Meet Checklist to help!
Records Fall at Little Rock Meets
A big thanks to Calvin Schildknect for hosting 3 days of competition in Little Rock last month. These two meets (short and long course meters) were quite popular with swimmers aging up, as USMS rules state that for meters meets the age bracket is determined by your age on Dec. 31st of that year. So, a meet early in the year is a big advantage – especially if you have a birthday later in the calendar year!
Scott Halliburton reports on the following records from our LMSC:
LCM Women had 16 new records, 15 state and 1 Citizen (Linda Bland)
LCM Men had 42 new records
SCM Women had 25 new records, 24 state and 1 Citizen (Linda Bland)
SCM Men 86 new records, 66 State and 20 Citizen
Not including relays, these swimmers broke ARK records:
Linda Bland (2), Calvin Schildknecht (3), Tom Bullock (3), Srdan Markovic (2), Dominic Mastracchio (4), Byron Shefchik (10), Scott Halliburton (4), Daryl Sroufe (4), Marvin Schwartz (6), Howard Rutenberg (1)
Several swimmers from other LMSC’s also broke World Records including:
Penny Noyes, 70 of Bowling Green, KY and swimming for Ensworth Aquatics Masters broke 4 world records! LCM 50 fly and 200 Fly; SCM 50 Fly and 100 IM
Cameron Owen, 35 of Indianapolis, swimming for Southeastern Area Masters Swimming; broke 1 world record in the SCM 200 Fly. Interesting story, Cameron broke the oldest record in the Arkansas Masters book, set by David GIllanders in 1975 (49 years ago) and again lowered by David in 1979, which was 1st in the nation at the time. That record was finally broken by Cameron, who broke the World Record, so that will probably stand for a while.
Hubie Kerns, of Fort Lauderdale broke 2 world records, one in the 100 IM and another in the 200 Fly, He came within a few tenths on 2 others.
The Lone Star Masters swimmers (photo below) from Texas broke an amazing 15 World Records during the 3 day meet. Read all about their accomplishments here.
Speaking of Records…
Scott Halliburton has an important, and yet thankless job. After every in-state meet, he updates the state and/or citizen records for our LMSC. In addition, if one of our members at a meet outside the LMSC and sets a record (and notifies him), then he updates the records. Having done this job myself for many years, I can confirm that it is a slow, manual task – yet very important to those who have set records.
Scott recently revamped the records, which are kept in a spreadsheet. The records are now sorted by age group, rather than event. All of our records can be found on our website, so check them out and get motivated to break some of them! And please give Scott a big thank you for his time in this endeavor.
Mount Sequoyah Marlins
It is always exciting and encouraging when new masters groups are formed, and long-time Arkansas swimmer, Anita Parisi, has done just that. She runs the Mount Sequoyah Marlins, an adult lap swimming program at an outdoor 4-lane, 25 yard pool on the grounds of the Mount Sequoyah Retreat Center in Fayetteville. She has been joined by Co-Coach Paige Grunnagle.
Although the pool is small, the program has a dedicated following and has grown from a 2 month summer program in 2020 to a current program that runs May through October. For the summer of 2023, she maintained an average registration of 80 swimmers, and for the fall season, she had over 55 swimmers registered! Due to the small pool, the swimmers register for a morning, noon, or evening session and they average about 20 swimmers per practice. Each session has grown to form their own “personality” – from a strong “I want a good workout” group to a camaraderie focused “let’s have brunch after practice on Sunday” group. Swimming truly checks off so many boxes for adult health – fitness, mental health, social health, etc.
In addition to the workout groups, this past summer they also offered Adult Learn to Swim classes and Lap Swimming Basics classes from May through July. Many of the attendees segue into the Adult Marlins workout groups. And the most exciting news is that after some fall fundraising, the pool now has a tent to cover the pool allowing more swimmming opportunities in the winter. Read all about this new venture here.
Social Media Channels
Arkansas Masters has a new Marketing Chair, Parker Touchton, and he needs our help securing content from around the state to post to our social media channels. It can be anything from a workout you did to a group of friends swimming. Even photos from past events would be wonderful! When we are so dispersed, social media can bring are community closer. Please send content to: parker@emeraldventuresgroup.com
Make sure to follow our new Instagram page @Arkansas_Masters_Swimming, along with our Facebook page: Arkansas Masters Swimming
Arkansas Masters Annual Meeting
The annual Arkansas Masters LMSC meeting will be held Sunday, February 25, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held via Zoom, and any registered member is welcome to attend. Please contact our LMSC chair, Byron Shefchik, at byronshefchik@yahoo.com for a link to the meeting.
USMS Launches Grown-up Swimming
Have you heard about “GROWN-UP SWIMMING” yet? It is so much FUN! We are starting a league right here in Arkansas! Think summer league swim team, but for adults! We are in the planning stages currently, so if you want to be involved, aka “play in the pool this summer,” now is the time to reach out. We boast an 85% accuracy on timing. In other words, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Grown-up swimming is to have fun and to build a community of adult swimmers. Learn more at https://www.grownupswimming.com or simply email Bonnie@thejoysofswimming.com to become a “Team Captain” today!
Arkansas Masters Swimming 