Oregon Swimmers ROCK Riverside

Riverside, CA; April 27-30, 2017

20 year old Jennifer Sprueill and 22 year old Rahevin Potter-Clark

Twenty-two Oregon swimmers made the journey to Riverside, California, to compete in the Spring SCY Nationals, April 27th-30th.  After the long Oregon winter, it was energizing to swim outdoors in the 80-90 degree weather.  Instead of wanting to feel the sun on our skin, we were all doing our best to stay in the shade and not get burned.  The brother of MAC swimmer George Dingeldein saved our pasty white hides with a canopy we could all sit under between our races.  THANKS DOUG!

Jill Marie and Jessica Stacy hug

Twenty-year-old Jennifer Sprueill and 22 year old Rahevin Potter-Clark both expressed how much they enjoyed racing on the relays our coach Brent Washburne put together, and cheering for their new OREG friends.

Whipper-snappers Hailey Bambusch and Jessica Stacy had HUGE smiles watching Olympian Nathan Adrian race.  We learned that Hailey yawns before a race she is about to crush, and is still young enough to dine on Snickers and Twix during a meet.  Jess swam her 100 breast faster than she did as a kid and was inspirational with her perfect streamline and underwater fly kick that propelled her to a 1st place finish in her Womens 25-29, 200 fly.

Oregon City Tankers Tom Phipps, Britta Daubersmith , Tessa Reeves, Alex Crooks and Sonja Skinner were inseparable.  Tom dropped 18 seconds in his 400 IM.  His secret…BEER!

Britta crushed it in all of her backstroke events and Tessa dropped 8 seconds in her 200 fly.  Sonja raced to a 1st place finish in her Womens 40-44, 100 fly.  Can I get a “What! What!”?  The Oregon City swimmers did an amazing job cheering for all their OREG teammates.

Dave Radcliff negative split his 1000 free, going 50 seconds faster than he did a few weeks earlier at Associations.  Dave said “Elevation sucks, but Bend is wonderful!”  Karen Andrus-Hughes won her Womens 55-59, 50 back and Janet Gettling won her Womens 65-69, 200 fly.

Scot Sullivan with Ryan Lochte in background

National Coach Brent Washburne

Multnomah Athletic Club men Scot Sullivan, George Dingeldein, Eric Meier, Mike Peyton, and Brent Washburne were all racing at Nationals.  Coach Brent Washburne medaled with a great race in his Mens 55-59, 50 back.  Scot Sullivan medaled in both his Mens 50-54, 500 free and 1650 free.  One of the OREG team highlights was watching brothers George and Doug Dingeldein duke it out in the pool.  Scot managed to capture a great shot of Ryan Lochte before a race.

Jill Marie Asch sprinted to 1st place finishes in both her Womens 50-54, 50 free and 100 free.  Only 8 100ths second separated the top 3 finishers in her 50 free.  SO CLOSE!  Jill Marie’s favorite Nationals memory was the GIANT hug she received from her swim daughter Jessica Stacy after her race.

Brent Washburne did a great job as our OREG Nationals Coach, making sure everyone made it to their relays and cheering us all on.  THANKS BRENT!

Jill Marie Asch
MAC Masters Swimming