Upcoming Events
June 11, 2023, Make a Ripple 9 Meet, Overland Park, KS.
July 30, 2023, (details coming soon regarding a LC meet in Bentonville)
August 12, 2023, TMSC Oklahoma Memorial Championship Meet, Jenks, OK
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!
New Records Set at the 17th Annual Hall of Fame Meet
Scott Halliburton (keeper of all LMSC records) reports that the following swimmers set either state (S) or citizen (C) records at the meet in Little Rock. By the way, did you know that you can find all of our records on the ARK Masters webpage? If you find any corrections, please contact Scott at: scott.halliburton@gmail.com
Doug Martin 70-74: 50 Free (S&C) Note that this swim set a NATIONAL RECORD!!
Hannah Calhoon 19-24: 50 Backstroke (S), 100 Backstroke (S&C)
Cindy Bowling (Tulsa) 65-69: 1650 (S)
Robert Williams 75-79: 1000 Free (S)
Daryl Sroufe 65-69: 1650 Free (S)
Jay Yarid (Lone Star Masters): 50 Back (S)
Howard Rutenberg 75-79: 50 Back (C), 100 Back (C), 200 Back (C)
Claire Bristow 25-29: 100 IM (C)
Gary Wright (DOC IU Masters) 65-69: 200 Fly (S), 200 Breast (S)
Jack Gooding 65-69: 400 IM (S&C)
Full results from the meet can be found here.
Little Rock Masters team members: (from left) Mike Huckabee, Marvin Schwartz, Sardn Markovic, Jack Gooding, Doug Martin, Calvin Schildknecht, Larry Golden, Trip Strauss.
Home Court Advantage
We owe a big thanks to Marvin Schwartz (author and long time Little Rock masters swimmer) who was kind enough to draft a nice article about the history of masters swimming at the gorgeous Little Rock Racquet Club. Enjoy!
If the idea of “home court advantage” applies to swimmers, members of the Little Rock Masters (LRM) swim team will insist they’ve got it. The handful of highly accomplished competitors on the central Arkansas team believe their training site offers the most attractive and accessible pools in the mid-South.
In a hilly, residential neighborhood of Arkansas’ capitol city, a 50-meter pool is surrounded by towering pine and oak trees. Next to it, a 25-yard pool is available for short-course training. Both pools are outdoor venues with heaters and chillers that allow full-year training. The pools belong to the Little Rock Racquet Club (LRRC), a private athletic facility whose 10-acre site includes an extensive weight room, exercise classrooms and staff fitness instructors, tennis courts, and more. The club is also home to the Arkansas Dolphins age group team.
The LRRC was established in 1967 with a mission to produce world-class athletes – Olympic swimmers and Davis Cup tennis players. Since then, the club has been a central Arkansas swimming mecca for masters and age-group swimmers alike. In the 1980s and 90s, Dolphins Coach Paul Blair gained national recognition for the team with his sprint training techniques. In1996, Olympic gold medalist John Hargis cited his early swim training with the Arkansas Dolphins as key to his adult success.
LRM swimmers are members of the Dolphins team, as are many of their children. In this multi-generational partnership, LRM swimmers register with USA Swimming and compete in open events at age group meets, gaining additional race experience through the year. In Little Rock, age group and masters swim meets are held at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock pool, where Aquatics Director Tom Genz, a former Dolphin swimmer, US National Team member, and Jonesboro Jets team coach, is as supportive of local masters swimming as are the Dolphins’ team coaches.
These remarkable partnerships, along with the outstanding pool access and Little Rock’s swimming heritage, have helped create an extraordinary masters swimming program. LRM is one the smallest USMS clubs in the nation. It has no coach or team workouts. All LRM competitors train on their own schedule, yet virtually all are repeated national champions with extensive Top 10 swimming records.
Some current LRM swimmers have been training at the LRRC since the club opened. USMS national record holder Doug Martin and national champion Trip Strauss swam there as teenagers. So did former age group national champion Noel Strauss and AAU Senior National qualifier Linda Bland. Additional LRM swimmers and USMS National Champions include Jack Gooding, Marvin Schwartz, Calvin Schildknecht, Srdan Markovic, Larry Golden, and Frank Lorge. Many LRM swimmers have been inducted into the Arkansas Swimming Hall of Fame, have been selected as Arkansas Masters Swimmer of the Year, and have served as officers in the state organization.
Decades before the LRM club was created, great Little Rock swimmers gained national attention on local Boys Club, YWCA, YMCA, and the Arkansas Masters state teams. Little Rock continues as the center of that heritage. Today, one can find top performing athletes from the LRM team at regional USMS meets and National Championships where they continue to score high against clubs with far larger membership.
Marvin Schwartz, an Arkansas Masters swimmer since 1985, is the author of “Racing Starts: A History of Competitive Swimming in Central Arkansas.”
Arkansas Masters Swimming 