We had three of our lane mates swimming at the beautiful Greensboro Aquatic Center last weekend at the annual spring short-course nationals put on by United States Masters Swimming, our governing body.
Jim Green, 83, I had a fourth place finish in the 1650 yard freestyle after leading most of the way, and some doubled confusion the last hundred yards of the event! Always the overachiever! Well done, Jim. You’re always a champion of our hearts.
Lars Farestvedt, 62 swam many individual events and relays under the North Carolina Masters banner and placing top-10 in the 60 to 64 year-old age group for all events!
Highlights for Lars: 54.9 seconds for the 100-yard freestyle, 1:00 for the 100-yard Butterfly, and a 1:02 for the 100-yard IM! Also a 26.5 50- yard butterfly and a 24.3 50-yard freestyle on two relays with Steve Bradshaw!
Great job Lars !
Steve Bradshaw, 57 years-young swam to victory in both the 50-yard backstroke going 25.5 and 100-yard backstroke going 55.7, and is faster than he swam five years ago! Congratulations fast tadpole!
Steve also swam the relays (24.0 seconds for the 50-yard freestyle and a 25.8 backstroke leg) with Lars, our friends Marty Moran and Kirk Hampleman from the Piranha Masters training at TC Roberson’s pool. Gillyweed? You decide.
Here are a few comments from our friends about their experiences at the meet!
Steve Bradshaw: “I really enjoyed my conversations behind the blocks with two very different 84-year-old swimmers. One was a sweet 84-year woman who used a walker and swam regularly once a week. The other was a man, Bob, who looked 10 years younger, was nervous before the race, and had a goal to break the SC state record of 42+ in the 50 back. Bob and I were seeded in the same lane so I got to congratulate him after he went a 41.9. Bob didn’t start swimming until he was 50.
The meet was very smooth for having so many swimmers. They ran two 10 lane pools with the odd heats in one and even heats in the other. The diving area and a second 50m pool gave the swimmers ample 25yd lanes for warm-up and warm-down throughout the meet.”
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Jim Green: “My primary race was the 1650. I lapped the field in my age group 3x.” Alas, based on split you’ll see if you click on his results Jim was leading the field with 100-yards remaining. Then through a series of unfortunate events got out, had to get back in for another 50-yards… GOT OUT A SECOND TIME and had to get back in a second time for his last 50-yards! The National Championship somehow alluding him by confusion and misunderstanding! Excellent splitting nonetheless, Jim!
Jim Green continues: “I have been to several Nationals, and this was the deepest and fastest I have seen. Most events for those under 45 had 3 or more heats. The under-45s swam most of their races underwater off the turns. The results will be up on the NCMS website soon. The results are available on the USMS website, (and worth checking out, your age group)! NCMS won the overall team, with Wisconsin in second. One thing you can say about the Greensboro Aquatic Club is that they know how to run a meet of this size. With TWO 10-lane pools running, they didn’t miss an event time start. Very impressive.”
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Lars Farestvedt Shares: “Participating in the USMS Spring (short course) National Championship in Greensboro this past weekend was fantastic. We were joined by more than 2000 masters swimmers from all over the country, including more than 300 just from North Carolina (we were the highest scoring team there). We were close to a dozen swimmers from Asheville, so lots of cheering and encouragements. I was personally very happy with my own swims – and everyone did a great job. The relays were fun as well – especially the ones where we pulled Asheville swimmers together for relays. Definitely something I will do again – and I would encourage more swimmers from Asheville Masters team to join us next time.”
Well done gentlemen, your dedication to your craft and your fitness / health and your competitive spirit is inspirational! 
Asheville Masters Swimming 