More Utah Madness!

by Bernie LaFianza

2008 marked the 10th Ski and Swim for Salt Lake City’s QUAC team. This year’s event was different but still a great time. WH2O was represented by Bill Shepard, Luis Bahamon and myself. Luis and I have attended previous Ski and Swim events but this was Bill’s first time. The “newbie” had a great time and if you ask him he will tell you that not only is he looking forward to next year but now he is more excited than ever to go to IGLA in Washington DC in June.

There were many events during the weekend including an opening cocktail mixer, a women’s event, ski day with a breakfast and a lunch, dessert parties and a big closing gala. Oh yes, there was a swim meet too! All three of us swam well and participated in some of the events of the weekend. Having been to a few of these events as well as quite a few IGLAs, I have made some significant friendships with many on the QUAC team and this weekend allowed me, along with Bill, to spend some quality time with them during and in addition to the events of the weekend.

Ski and Swim is a fun get away weekend at the end of the winter which I highly recommend other WH2O members consider attending in the future. The QUAC team is very friendly and hospitable and one is struck by how “connected” they are to each other. Salt Lake City is a nice small city (aren’t most cities small when compared to LA?) which has it’s own charm. The time spent in Salt Lake City with QUAC gives one a respite while at the same time you come home with a renewed appreciation of being part of WH2O, gay swimming and just living in LA. How can you beat time spent with good friends in a beautiful place and you get to swim and ski too? Seriously think about going next year – President’s weekend.

Guess Who Is Coming For Dinner?

This Friday is our monthly dinner social for all WH2O Swimmers and Polo Players. Come to the Friday night swim at 7pm at West Hollywood City Pool and stay around after. Everyone will be showering and heading over for a night of food and fun. More information online at our website at http://wh2o.org. Log in and RSVP. For you WH2O Water Polo Players you can swim for free with the swimmers on Friday nights if you are registered with SPMA (http://www.spma.net). Friday workouts are from 7pm to 8pm and are coached by Bernie.

So come form the swim and stay for the food!

Get Ready For The 2008 Caltech Pentathlon

The 2008 Caltech Pentathlon is set for Sunday, March 9th. This meet is a great chance to showcase your starts, turns and sprinting in a true race environment. Everyone swims all 5 events: 50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast, 50 free and 100 IM.

For entry forms, event descriptions, driving directions and other information please go to http://www.spma.net . Also let Matt our Swim Rep know you are going by emailing swimrep at wh2o.org.

Oh yeah and don't forget to take lots of pictures with your digital cameras and phones for our blog.

WH2O In Utah

This past weekend QUAC held it's Ski N' Swim Weekend. As you can see in this slide show a few WH2O'ers left the sunny land of West Hollywood for the fun but cold winter of Salt Lake City. Check out QUAC's website online at http://www.quacquac.org/

WH2O'ers Top Ten SCM List

The preliminary 2007 Short Course Meters USMS Top Ten List is now available. Check them all out at the USMS website at http://www.usms.org/comp/tt/toptenlist.php.

As you can see from the list below we have a lot of Top 10 Swimmers from WH2O. Congrats to all the swimmers. When the final official Top 10 Results are up we’ll post them. Congrats to all and keep on swimming. For those who didn’t make the list you have a few months to SCM season so start training today!

Here is a list of WH2O’ers who have made the preliminary SCM Top 10:

Men Age 18-24:

50 Freestyle SCM Men 18-24 (2007)
1 Christopher S Smith 23 Time: 24.80

100 Freestyle SCM Men 18-24 (2007)
3 Christopher S Smith 23 Time: 56.30

50 Breaststroke SCM Men 18-24 (2007)
4 Christopher S Smith 23 Time: 31.91

100 Individual Medley SCM Men 18-24 (2007)
5 Christopher S Smith 23 Time: 1:04.20

200 Individual Medley SCM Men 18-24 (2007)
5 Christopher S Smith 23 Time: 2:25.67

Men 25-29:

800 Freestyle SCM Men 25-29 (2007)
10 Bryan Libit 28 Time: 10:39.43

50 Backstroke SCM Men 25-29 (2007)
4 Jeff Brooker 29 Time: 29.35

100 Backstroke SCM Men 25-29 (2007)
5 Jeff Brooker 29 Time: 1:03.30

50 Breaststroke SCM Men 25-29 (2007)
2 Matthew B Schmidt 29 Time: 30.88

100 Breaststroke SCM Men 25-29 (2007)
1 Matthew B Schmidt 29 Time: 1:08.10

200 Breaststroke SCM Men 25-29 (2007)
1 Matthew B Schmidt 29 Time: 2:31.57

100 Butterfly SCM Men 25-29 (2007)
7 Jeff Brooker 29 Time: 1:00.40

100 Individual Medley SCM Men 25-29 (2007)
6 Matthew B Schmidt 29 Time: 1:02.78

200 Individual Medley SCM Men 25-29 (2007)
2 Matthew B Schmidt 29 Time: 2:18.98

200 Individual Medley SCM Men 25-29 (2007)
9 Mike Crosby 28 Time: 2:25.88

Men 30-34:

200 Freestyle SCM Men 30-34 (2007)
2 Brian J Olver 30 Time: 1:57.06

400 Freestyle SCM Men 30-34 (2007)
2 Brian J Olver 30 Time: 4:14.30

100 Backstroke SCM Men 30-34 (2007)
2 Brian J Olver 30 Time: 59.18

200 Backstroke SCM Men 30-34 (2007)
1 Brian J Olver 30 Time: 2:08.39

200 Breaststroke SCM Men 30-34 (2007)
3 Brian J Olver 30 Time: 2:28.30

200 Individual Medley SCM Men 30-34 (2007)
1 Brian J Olver 30 Time: 2:08.33

Men 35-39:

200 Butterfly SCM Men 35-39 (2007)
10 Joel Mc Kenna 37 Time: 2:28.48

Men 40-44:

400 Freestyle SCM Men 40-44 (2007)
9 Gregg A Ogorzelec 41 Time: 4:30.35

800 Freestyle SCM Men 40-44 (2007)
7 Gregg A Ogorzelec 41 Time: 9:35.92

1500 Freestyle SCM Men 40-44 (2007)
7 Gregg A Ogorzelec 41 Time: 18:28.43
Men 55-59:

200 Butterfly SCM Men 55-59 (2007)
8 Charles Larson 55 Time: 3:04.06
Men 60-64:

100 Butterfly SCM Men 60-64 (2007)
8 Paulo Figueiredo 61 Time: 1:18.55

200 Butterfly SCM Men 60-64 (2007)
7 Paulo Figueiredo 61 Time: 3:20.27

400 Individual Medley SCM Men 60-64 (2007)
7 Paulo Figueiredo 61 Time: 6:15.83
Women 30-34:

50 Freestyle SCM Women 30-34 (2007)
6 Sarah L Lassek 34 Time: 30.17

100 Freestyle SCM Women 30-34 (2007)
4 Sarah L Lassek 34 Time: 1:06.23
Women 40-44:

200 Freestyle SCM Women 40-44 (2007)
5 Amy L Dantzler 43 Time: 2:18.28

400 Freestyle SCM Women 40-44 (2007)
3 Amy L Dantzler 43 Time: 4:48.55

200 Butterfly SCM Women 40-44 (2007)
4 Amy L Dantzler 43 Time: 2:51.19

Monday 2/18 Update

Members and Non-Members don’t forget to check out our official site at http://wh2o.org. Members should log in and update personal information. Starting next month anyone who hasn’t registered for online credit card payment who continue to pay by check will be charged a monthly $10.00 surcharge for check processing.

While you are logged in please register for this Friday’s Dinner Social and for this Saturday’s Butterfly Clinic. With our new website all you need to do is log in and register online for these and other events.

If you are a member and cannot log in please email Joel at vpadmin at wh2o.org with your full name and current email. If you are not a member and want to keep current on WH2O events keep checking this webpage for updated information as we will be updating more often.

Members if you have any pictures of team events or storis email Jim at secretary at wh2o.org. The team blog is our online team newsletter so let’s all work together to make it the best masters swim blog out in the world wide web.

President's Day Holiday Schedule

Just a reminder that this coming Monday, February 18th, is Presidents' Day so we will have our holiday schedule. That means there will be only one workout on Monday, from 7:00-8:30am. There will be no evening practice.

Butterfly Clinic

WH2O is beginning the 2008 swim clinic season with BUTTERFLY!!

Sat. Feb. 23, 2008

West Hollywood Pool 3:00-5:00PM

This is a great opportunity for all team members to get some individualized attention on their butterfly stroke and technique. All participants will be filmed on top and under the water and given a copy of their stroke on a DVD. Great for all levels of swimmer...from the beginner looking to understand the fundamentals....to the advanced looking to perfect their stroke for upcoming competition. The coach for this clinic will be Coach Bram.

LIMITED TO A MAX OF 12 PARTICIPANTS. Space is limited so please RSVP early to swim rep Matt: swim@wh2o.org.

Cost is $20/person
Bring fee to the clinic or place in the box at the pool (write Butterfly Clinic in the memo space). All individuals who RSVP will be charged even if you do not show up.

This is your chance to get over that fear of butterfly or shave those important few seconds off your time!!!

WH2O'ers Hitting The Pool

Some of our members have gone and posted video's on them swimming on YouTube. Check out this one of Adam Davis, Gregg Ogorzelec, Grady Harmon, Chris Smith swimming back in November at the UCLA SCM swim meet.


Mens Masters 200 Free Relay:

Our Newest Member

Team member Alexia Nalewaik sent me this video of a swimmer she met on a recent open water swim. After much conversation, she managed to talk the swimmer into joining WH2O! Welcome aboard! The board unanimously voted to waive this new swimmer's SPMA and Admin Fees because, well, they're in the ocean and probably won't make it to the West Hollywood pool anytime soon.

Check out the next entry to find out more about Alexia's accomplishment in swimming to Catalina. Thanks, Alexia and Congrats!

Your Loving Secretary

WH2O team member Alexia Nalewaik tackles Catalina yet again!

The Mermaids joined with three “mermen” to swim across the 22-mile Catalina Channel from Cabrillo Beach (San Pedro, California) to Long Point (Catalina, California) on January 15, 2008. The distance was swum in 12 hours, 0 minutes, 40 seconds.












The six-person team for the mixed 3/3 relay included Alexia Nalewaik (Pasadena, California), Diana Corbin (Beltsville, Maryland), Don VanCleve (Culver City, California), Davina Walker (San Diego, California), David Palomino (La Jolla, California), and Greg Farrier (San Clemente, California).












Although Catalina crossings are typically swum between the months of July and September, when the water is significantly warmer, this team was well prepared for water temperatures that varied from 53 to 55.6 degrees. In accordance with CCSF rules, each team member wore only a swimsuit, cap, goggles and earplugs. With very little wind and a nice sunny day, conditions were ideal for the crossing. The team was accompanied at times by marine life during the swim, including dolphins, sea lions, and large purple-striped jellyfish. However, the highlight of the day was a pod of fin whales that surfaced alongside the swimmers and circled the boat for approximately two hours.












The relay commemorates the first successful Catalina Channel swim, 81 years ago. William Wrigley, Jr. sponsored a competition on January 15, 1927, with a $25,000 purse to the winner. Of the 102 swimmers who entered the race, only one entrant (George Young) completed the crossing. The 1927 Wrigley Ocean Marathon swim began a long history of Channel swimming in the United States.












The Mermaids is a squad of eleven female swimmers from across the United States who excel at long-distance swimming, co-captained by Alexia Nalewaik and Claudia Rose. Their intent is to find interesting stretches of water to cross, some of which have never before been swum. Other events scheduled for the Mermaids this year include a relay from Coronado to La Jolla Cove in April, a relay from bridge to bridge in San Francisco in May, and a relay at Pennock Island, Alaska in August.

Female WH2O members are encouraged to contact Alexia at alexia.nalewaik@mossadams.com or (213) 399-1373 to participate in future ocean swims.

Water Polo ala Paris

With IGLA a little over 6 months away, I thought it would be fun to revisit last year in Paris. This covers all of water polo for Paris 2007, but a big portion of it is our final game with QUAC. Watch it, learn, and get fired up to take back the championship in DC.

IGLA TIP 2007 Clip Waterpolo
Uploaded by ParisAquatique

Holiday Party Pictures

New Year's bells have rung; it's time to settle in for 2008. But let's savor the holidays one last time...



Thanks to Boyd for hosting an awesome Holiday Party. Now get back to work.

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.