The USMS Summer (long-course) Nationals were just held in Auburn, AL on Aug 3-6. The results have been added to our website; there were 15 members of our LMSC present, representing VMST (13), QMST (1), and FYSM (1). Results for our LMSC members are available as a text file and in a nicer PDF format.  There was a lot of fast swimming!

• Nine of the swimmers won one or more individual national championships: Pam Dameron, Billy Gaines, Channing Hardin, Kate Hibbard, Dave Holland, Danielle Myers, Kelly Parker Palace, Beth Schreiner, and Chris Stevenson. These swimmers amassed 26 championship titles; Billy and Chris won 5 each, while Beth is still batting 1.000 in 2011: she won all 4 events that she entered, repeating her feat from the Spring (short-course) National Championship.
• Two VMST relays also won national championship titles; both winning relays consisted of Kelly, Beth, Betsy Durrant, and Nancy Betts.
• A whopping 29 new LMSC records were set; see the table below for more details. Kelly led the way with 5 records, while Billy and Kate had 4 records apiece. Eight of the new records are also potential new Colonies Zone records, while Beth and Chris each set one new national/world record.
• Virginia Masters Swim Team (VMST) was very impressive in winning third place in the Local Clubs category, scoring a mere 2 points more than 4th-place Woodlands Masters. For a change, scoring between genders was pretty balanced — usually the women carry the team — with VMST placing third in both men and women scores. But guys, don’t get too full of yourself: it took 7 men to score about as many points as 5 women…!
• This was new masters swimmer Nancy Betts’ first-ever national championship. She was very impressive in her debut, setting a new LMSC record in the 50 backstroke and being a member of two national championship relays. Way to go, Nancy!
• The Auburn facility and campus were very impressive. Bill Winters, normally a member of VMST, proudly represented his alma mater as a member of the Auburn Masters team, and helped two relays win national titles. War Eagle!
• As usual, USMS posted daily videos with interviews and highlights of the meet. Watch them all: it’s the next best thing to being there! My favorite was the Day 2 video, which is embedded below. But don’t miss the Day 1 video, with its interview of VMST member Mark Palace. We also uploaded plenty of photos of the meet.