WH2O at Regionals

A group of WH20'ers travelled to the SPMA regionals Nov 30-Dec 2 where they swam oceanside at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach. The Belmont pool, which was originally built in 1968 to host the Olympic trials, hosted the WH20 contingent including Dan Adams, Luis Bahamon, Stephen Benjamin, Amy Dantzler, Adam Davis, Scott Genkinger, Errol Graham, Grady Harmon, Paulo Figueiredo, Jon Kaufmann, Chuck Larson, Brad Lengyel, Joel McKenna, Gregg Ogorzelec, Brian Olver, Chris Smith, Matt Schmidt, Jessica Seaton, Doug Wilson, Tom Wilson and Tamara Draper. Tamara D, who was red-shirted due to injury, led the cheering section which included Bryan Libit, Jonathon Price, Rocky DeAngelis as well as team significant others Susan (Grady) and Mike (Matt). Our coach for the weekend was Kiley Ames-Klein.

The meet began with the dreaded 1500 freestyle. Chuck L. showed off both his swim prowess and brain power by entering the first heat with a fake time - so he could go back to the office –but only after placing second in his age group! The rest of the distance swimmers could only wait glumly for their heats to be called on Friday but once they swam they proved that WH20 can go the distance as all who entered placed. The 1500 was followed by the 400 IM where Paulo placed 3rd and Luis placed 8th. The day ended with the 800 free with an amazing swim by Gregg, Brad and a breathless just-off-the-plane Tom Wilson.

Saturday saw the day open with Amy Dantzler dazzling her team mates with her 2nd place (swimming against former Olympian Susan von der Lippe) win in the 200 free thus setting the precedent for a day full of great WH20 swims. Not to be outdone, the men entered the 200 free in droves with fantastic swims by Brian O (1st), Jon (5th), Gregg (5th), Dan (6th), Adam (7th), Joel (8th), Luis, Brad and
Scott all swimming this event.

Next up - 50 fly swum WH20 Englishman Stephen Benjamin (2nd), Grady (5th), Adam (8th) Errol and Paulo (2nd). Jolly good swims! As the meet progressed, we then saw Brian O (1st), Jon K (3rd) and Luis in 100 back; Matt (1st), Grady (4th) and Dan (8th) in the 100 breast. In the 200 fly Amy (1st) dazzled again, as did Joel (3rd). Chris (1st) showed up on Sunday to swim the 50 free, as did Stephen (5th), Grady (8th), Adam (7th), and Brad.

The 200 IM follows the 50 free and Chris was anxious to make up for lost time. So he entered this event as well and placed first, setting a precedent of great swims by Brian O and Matt. Luis and Paulo (2nd) also swam the IM.

We swam on to the 400 free where the women – Amy (1st) and Jessica (4th) - showed the men how it's done. The men's response was to continue with the meet tradition of commandeering the distance events as Brian O (1st), Gregg (3rd), Jay (3rd), Chuck (1st), Brad (8th), Dan (7th), Luis (8th), Paulo (5th) and Doug (8th) all contributed to the WH20 sweep of this event.

On to the 100 fly, where there was a strong showing by Chuck (6th), Errol (8th) and Paulo (3rd). In other short axis events we had a similar strong showing with Matt (1st), Chris (1st), Grady (5th), Brad (3rd) and Jay (6th) in the 100 breast.

The short axis swimmers then had a break as they cheered their long axis teammates on with Brian O (1st) and Chuck (6th) in the 200 back, while Coach Kiley put together a 400 IM relay of Brad (back), Brian O (breast), Adam (fly) and Chris (free).

Stephen (2nd) swam the 100 free as did Adam (5th), Brad, Gregg (5th), Doug and Errol. Matt (1st) and Brian O (1st) both swam the 200 breast – soon they'll be in the same age group and one of them will have to come in second. Dan (5th) – displaying his newfound swim camp skills on his turns - and Jay (5th) swam this event as well. Errol (6th) swam the 50 back, warming up the pool for Stephen (1st), Grady (3rd), Adam (3rd), Matt (2nd) and Luis who finished up the swim meet with the 100 IM.

With so many great swims, West Hollywood had a ninth place finish.