SOMA happenings late March 2019

Hello SOMA nation,

Spring is in the air!  We are only about a month away from Spring Nationals in Mesa, where several of us SOMA swimmers will be having a blast swimming in the Arizona sunshine.  Then just 3 weeks after that is the Oregon Masters State Champs which is the target meet of the year for most of us. 

This is the one short-course meet each year where all of us from SOMA get to swim as a team (otherwise everyone in Oregon swims as one team).  The Oregon Masters State Championship meet this year will be held at the Tualatin Hills pool from May 17-19.  Plan to attend!

Entry and information on the OMS Association Champs meet can be found here:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1352&smid=11695

As I am writing this, we are out to the very early lead with 3 SOMA swimmers already registered out of 7 total entries!  Let’s plan to keep the lead in the number of people entered  

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Get entered in the Oregon State Championship Meet now!!

In other SOMA news…

2018 SHORT COURSE METERS (SCM) FINAL RESULTS ARE IN! – CONGRATULATIONS TO MICHAEL DIX AND WILLARD LAMB, ALL-AMERICANS

SOMA had 8 people earn one or more national top 10 times in SCM in their age group in 2018.  In alphabetical order by last name:
James Adams
Mike Dix
Wes Edwards
Rick Howell
Serena Johnson
Willard Lamb
Matt Miller
Maggie Trujillo

A full list of each SCM top 10 earned by a SOMA swimmer, along with their place on the list,  can be viewed by clicking on their name above.

For a modestly sized workout group of 44 swimmers in 2018, that’s really impressive.  Well done you all!

A special congratulations go out to Mike Dix and Willard (Wink) Lamb, who both earned All-American honors by placing 1st in their age group in at least one event.  As usual, Wink was our overachiever, earning 1st in all 9 freestyle and backstroke events in the 95-99 age group.  We’re blessed to share the water with him!

Mike Dix earned All-American honors for the first time this year with his 200 SCM fly swim (2:15.57).  He was a “mere” 20ish seconds ahead of the 2nd place person in his age group!!!:
https://www.usms.org/comp/tt/toptenlist.php?Year=2018&CourseID=3&AgeGroupID=6&Sex=M&SwimmerID=0ASE3#Event200Fly

That’s super impressive, even for a butterfly savant like Mike!

1-HOUR ePOSTAL RESULTS ARE POSTED

Preliminary results can be found here:  https://www.usms.org/events/national-championships/epostal-national-championships/2019-epostal-national-championships

There were 18 of us from SOMA, of our 44 currently registered already this year, who entered the event.  However, I know of at least 2 people who swam the hour and didn’t enter.  Bummer!  I know because I timed them!  We will get redemption for those people next year.

Congratulations to all of you who swam the event!  Well done everyone!!

Once OREG results are compiled and the top 12 list and records are updated, I will send out a list of the SOMA individuals and their results.  Overall SOMA had a very good showing and helped boost the OREG club in the Club standings, which will be posted after preliminary results are finalized.

SOMA RECORD BOARDS CREATED

After a bit of work – which should have been started at the conception of the club – SOMA now has record boards for pool events in all three courses (Short Course Yards, Long Course Meters, and Short Course Meters) and for Long Distance swims (ePostals and cable swims):
https://somaswim.org/soma-records/

Please take a look at the record board lists and let me know if anything has been overlooked.  I only added people’s swims who did them while they were registered with SOMA as their workout group.  So, for any swims done before joining SOMA, they won’t show on these lists.

Many of the SCY swims have asterisks next to them because of the incorrect measurement of the pool last spring at OMS Association Champs.  So let’s make a point to try to erase as many of those as possible this year!  I included them on the board because the pool was almost certainly legal length, just measure incorrectly.  We should try to overwrite most of these records at the OMS Association Champs this year in Tualatin Hills May 17-19.

Given that SOMA just turned 1 year old, there are many open slots in all of the record boards.  For some easy motivation, pick something that’s blank on the list to fill in this year!!  There are a ton of options.

UPCOMING OREGON EVENTS

Note these coming events on your calendar:  Much to do.  Plan to make some of these challenges, particularly those that SOMA sponsors (Eel Lake and Lake of the Woods)!

  • Oregon Masters State Championships:  Fri-Sun 17-19 May in Beaverton.  Very late this year!
  • COMA Long Course Meet:  Sat 15 Jun; part of the Wonderful Water Weekend along with the Lake Juniper Buoy Swim on Sun 16 Jun
  • Foster Lake Cable Swims in Sweet Home:  Sat 29 Jun.  We’ll host both masters and kids this year!
  • Portland Bridge Swim:  Sun 7 Jul.  Oregon’s longest swim!
  • Applegate Lake Swims: Sat-Sun 13-14 Jul.  The Oregon Open Water State Championships!
  • Cascade Lakes Swim Series & Festival at Elk Lake:  Fri-Sun 26-28 Jul 2019.  Our 25th anniversary!
  • Eel Lake Swims:  Sat 17 Aug.  Enjoy the Oregon Coast.
  • Gil Young Meet:  Fri-Sun 23-25 Aug.
  • Lake of the Woods Swims:  Sat 7 Sep.  Our open water season-ending event.

OK, that’s all for now.  For those of you who I don’t see regularly, I will see some of you in Mesa in a month or so and most of the rest of you at the OMS Association Champs in mid-May.

Keep working hard and stay fit and strong!!