Oregon Masters swimmers have been a relative powerhouse in National relay records for more than a decade. In total, Oregon has less than 2% of registered USMS swimmers, but we currently hold 4.6% of the National relay records! Congratulate your fast teammates!
For this article, I am reviewing the numbers for the traditional pool relays: 200 Free, 400 Free, 800 Free, 200 Medley, 400 Medley. The longer distance Open Water and Postal relays are a different subject, which Level 57 Coach Bob Bruce often addresses in his Aqua Master articles.
There are a lot of different angles from which to view the record data. Think back to your high school math class, and envision the data as a 3-dimensional matrix. I can’t show it that way on your 2-dimensional computer screen, so word summaries will have to do. The three main angles are: Course (SCY, LCM, SCM), Freestyle relays vs. Medley relays, and Gender (Women, Men, Mixed). “Mixed” does not mean “mixed up”; it means 2 women + 2 men on a relay.
Here come all the numbers!
With the primary sort of Course:
SCY: Oregon holds 3.7% of the records.
LCM: Oregon holds 6.2% of the records
SCM: Oregon holds 3.9% of the records
Digging one level deeper in the Course data:
SCY Freestyle: Oregon holds 1.5% of the records
SCY Medley: Oregon holds 6.8% of the records
LCM Freestyle: Oregon holds 3.8% of the records
LCM Medley: Oregon holds 9.6% of the records (best category)
SCM Freestyle: Oregon holds 2.6% of the records
SCM Medley: Oregon holds 6.0% of the records
With the primary sort of Freestyle relays vs. Medley relays:
Freestyle: Oregon holds 2.7% of the records
Medley: Oregon holds 7.5% of the records
Digging one level deeper in the Freestyle vs. Medley data:
Freestyle – Women: Oregon holds 1.4% of the records
Freestyle – Men: Oregon holds 3.9% of the records
Freestyle – Mixed: Oregon holds 2.6% of the records
Medley – Women: Oregon holds 13.0% of the records (best category)
Medley – Men: Oregon holds 2.0% of the records
Medley – Mixed: Oregon holds 8.0% of the records
With the primary sort of Gender data:
Women: Oregon holds 6.1% of the records
Men: Oregon holds 3.2% of the records
Mixed: Oregon holds 4.8% of the records
And Now. . . going 2 levels deep in the data, (if you are a numbers person, you may have already figured this out) Oregon’s very best category is. . . (the envelope, please). . .
Women’s LCM Medley relays, where Oregon holds 3 of the 16 records, or 18.8%!
Conclusions? This is a Reader Participation Article (RPA). Send your conclusion ideas to the Aqua Master editor (Alice) by August 10. All submitted conclusions will be printed in the next issue of Aqua Master. The swimmer who submits the most insightful or entertaining conclusion will win free registration to the 2017 Northwest Zone SCM Championship meet in Hood River, Oregon on the November 11-12 weekend.
One more important list for the National Relay records subject. Here are all of the Oregon Masters swimmers who have set multiple National Relay records over the years.
Listed by number of record-setting relays. (not all of these Relay records still stand.)
33 Robert Smith
23 Bert Petersen
23 Karen Andrus–Hughes
22 Joy Ward
22 Earl Walter
21 David Radcliff
21 Tom Landis
21 Andrew Holden
21 Barbara Frid
19 Gerald Huestis
17 Gil Young
17 Ginger Pierson
15 Sandi Rousseau
13 Allen Stark
13 Mike Tennant
12 Colette Crabbe
10 Arlene Delmage
9 Willard Lamb
9 Wes Edwards
9 Hugh Richards
8 Janet Gettling
8 Valerie Jenkins
7 Richard Boyd
6 Forbes Mack
6 Herb Eisenschmidt
5 George Thayer
5 Steve Johnson
5 Patrick Allender
5 Bob Morrison
4 Bob Bruce
4 Rebecca Kay
4 Tom Fanning
4 Allan DeLay
4 Ann Whitmyer
3 Dennis Baker
3 Larry Philbrick
3 Petey Smith
3 Anne Brown
3 Mirjana Callahan
3 Nancy Ross
3 Harry Wedler
2 Ronald Nakata
2 Lavelle Stoinoff
2 Doug Brockbank
2 Pauline Stangel
2 Norma Bernardi
2 Margaret Wells
2 Don Schollander
2 Leroy Webster
2 Dick Weick
2 Vern Dasch
2 Catherine Imwalle
2 Karl von Tagen
2 Steve Mann
2 Floyd Eliott
2 Eric Guest
2 Charles Staples