U.S. Masters Nationals 2005

I attended this meet because a friend of mine was competing. She wrote and said, "OMG I can't believe that I did this!" So I decided I could go support her. She was a swimmer in high school and had let her swimming go then joined a Masters class and thought it would be fun to do this competition. I LOVED it! It was so great to see age group swimming! A whole different age group though. There was the only man in the first heat of 50m butterfly. Robert Christians. He was 90 years old and he had to have assistance to get on the block. It was so inspiring. He is in the first few pictures in that gallery. There were quite a few World and National Masters records broken that day. One by 4 Men in their 80's that broke the world record by nearly 5 seconds. Amazing. There were people from ages 90 to 19. There were past Olympians like Gary Hall and a current Olympian, Gary Hall Jr. He was being teased mercilessly by all the "Sr.s"calling him "Jr" and telling him to take it easy out there. There were also some recognizable women there too, although it was so long ago that I have forgotten who they were. Sorry ladies! It was a very friendly and fun meet. The Halls were there promoting Race Club and the sport of swimming. It is good to see that people don't have to leave the sport when they hit say 30. All abilities were racing. People were sporting their fastskins and ready to make a mark and swim fast. I was really moved. I hope the trend catches on and other people who love swimming and racing continue after elite swimming is over for them. Or maybe some people who never did make it to an elite level find their way back to racing. Masters Worlds is being held at Stanford this summer. I have yet to see if I can make it there, but I think it would be great to see. Hey Janet... Janet Evans, start swimming masters. You can still be the queen!