The Tribune

SWIFT swimming club had its best performance thus far at the 2013 US Masters Swimming Spring Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana.

This year was the 8th consecutive time attending the US Masters Nationals and the team of seven swimmers made its presence felt, bringing home 19 medals and scoring 123 points for a 36th place finish out of 204 teams.

Swift offers a Masters swimming programme to encourage and promote improved physical fitness and health in adults and to enjoy the fellowship and camaraderie among swimmers. The natatorium where this year’s meet was held is a great swimming facility that has hosted many of the US Olympic trials and will this summer be hosting the US World Championships trials.

The Swift Masters were represented by Percy Knowles swimming in the men’s 80 to 84 age group, Andy Knowles swimming in the men’s 55 to 59 age group, Nancy Knowles swimming in the women’s 55 to 59 age group, Andrew Higgs swimming in the men’s 45 to 49 age group, Jeremy Knowles swimming in the men’s 30 to 34 age group, April Savage swimming in the women’s 25 to 29 age group, and Elliott Knowles swimming in the men’s 25 to 29 age group. The National meet gives medals for the top 10 finishes in each age group.

Jeremy Knowles led the way with 4 gold and 2 silver. He was first in the 50 fly in 22.65, 100 fly in 50.21, 100 IM in 51.58 and 200 IM in 2:54.77. Second in the 50 breast in 26.52 and 200 fly in 1:54.05.

Percy Knowles continued his medal haul with five medals. He was second in the 100 IM in 2:20.56, 4th in the 200 breaststroke in 4:25.45, 5th in the 100 breaststroke in 2:00.36, 6th in the 50 breaststroke in 53.92 and 8th in the 50 free in 48.42.

Andy Knowles won 6 medals, starting with a silver medal in the 1650 free in 19:03.26, a 5th in the 400 IM in 4:59.56., a 7th in the 200 free in 1:58.77 , a 8th in the 500 free in 5:25.85, a 9th in the 200 IM in 2:18.50 , and a 10th in the 100 free in 54.14.

Nancy Knowles got a medal with an 8th place finish in the 50 butterfly in 39.52, and April Savage got a medal with a 8th place finish in the 50 breaststroke in 34.31 Nancy also picked up a 13th place finish in the 500 free in 7:51.46 and a 16th place finish in the 200 free in 2:54.59. April followed with a 13th place finish in the 50 fly in 29.46, and a 20th place finish in the 100 IM in 1:06.97.

Andrew Higgs improved on his times with a 1:12 in the 100 breast with a 20th place finish and a 27.16 in the 50 free for a 41st place finish. Elliott Knowles was the youngster on the team and swam the 50 free in 24.35 for a 24th place finish and the 100 free in 57.93 for a 35th place finish.

Swift Swimming also swam in two relays, the 200 free relay and the 200 medley relay. The 200 free relay finished 18th in 1:37.48 with Jeremy, Elliott, Andy, and Andrew in that order and then the 200 medley relay finished 12th in 1:51.97 with Andy, Andrew, Jeremy, and Elliott swimming in that order. It was a great meet for Swift Swimming as the team beat many of the bigger Masters programs around the US and the team has now raised the bar for next year’s World Championships.