By Jeff Commings – Dolphins of the Desert Masters

During my warmup on the first day of competition at the 2023 USMS spring national championship, it suddenly dawned on me that this was the 20th anniversary of my first national championships, which was held on the campus of Arizona State University in May 2003. As I made my way through the yardage of my usual warmup routine, I flashed back to those hot days in Tempe, when I was in awe of the environment of my first Masters nationals, seeing men in their 90s swim freestyle and backstroke races.

Not much has changed in my view of the scene at nationals. I am still in awe of the variety of people on deck, including first-time competitors, Olympians, grandparents, recent college graduates, and 101-year-old Maurine Kornfeld, easily the top celebrity of the meet. The only thing that has really changed about nationals is the size. Nearly 2,500 people attended this year’s meet in Irvine, California, a record number of swimmers and a positive sign for the growth of U.S. Masters Swimming.

This was the first time I’ve attended the national championships as a full-time coach, guiding 13 members of my team, Dolphins of the Desert Masters, through four days of events. Last year in San Antonio, I was also coaching and swimming at the same time, but with only four other members of my team in Texas, it was easier taking on the dual roles. This year, being coach and swimmer was challenging, but very rewarding. All of my swimmers swam at least one Masters-best time, and many were already making goals for their next nationals.

I am always amazed at the efficiency of the meet, and this might have been the first nationals in a few years to end every session within 10 minutes of the timeline. A lot of moving parts combine to make that happen, and when a meet is run efficiently, everyone has a good time and can concentrate more on their swimming.

In between watching my own swimmers and competing in my own races, I cheered for as many people from Arizona as I could. The Arizona Masters regional club was one of the best teams in the pool, placing third out of 20 regional teams with 1,159 points.

Ten men and seven women from Arizona won individual events, led by Doug Springer and Kelly Harrigan as the only Arizonans to win all of their individual events. Springer won five events in the 75-79 age group, highlighted by a 1:15.92 in the 100 breast. That time was only seven tenths off his own national record! Harrigan’s top swim was the 100 backstroke, in which she chopped more than a second off her seed time with a 57.14.

The mixed 200 medley relay and the mixed freestyle relay in the 75+ age group were the only national record setters from Arizona in Irvine. The foursome of Craig Shaffer, Doug Springer, Mary Ann Case, and Lyn Moreno were part of both relays. Up first was the freestyle relay, where they combined for a 2:23.90. Two days later, they swam 2:43.23 in the medley relay.

Below is a list of individual event winners from the 2023 spring nationals:

• Melissa Belote Ripley
• Mary Ann Case
• Devon Colgan
• Jill Fritz
• Kelly Harrigan
• Judith Laney
• Joanne Menard
• Patrick Brundage
• Peter Churchill
• Jeff Commings
• Jack Fritz
• Richard LeRoy
• Mark Modjeska
• Scott Shake
• Doug Springer
• Matt Ulrickson
• Jeff Utsch
• Judy Gillies

Jeff Commings is a Masters world and national world record holder. He is the head coach of Dolphins of the Desert Masters in Tucson and the co-owner of Dolphins of the Desert Swimming Academy.