2019 USMS Spring National Championships
- April 25-28, 2019
- Mesa, Arizona
- SCY (25y)
- Live stream
- Meet Central
- Meet Results
The men’s and women’s miles and 1000 frees opened a marathon session on Thursday to open up the 2019 U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championship in Mesa, Arizona.
The headline of the day was a new National Record from Dan Kirkland of Oregon Masters in the men’s 70-74 age group 1650 yard freestyle. He swam a 20:16.24, which cut 13 seconds off the old record of 20:29.18 that was set by Graham Johnston in 2001.
Kirkland, who just aged-up into the group last year, is a FINA World Record holder and, once his latest swim is ratified, will hold 10 individual USMS National Records in the pool.
He also won the 1000 free in 11:59.94: topping his age group by just over 2 minutes. He already holds the National Record in that event, but was unable to match the 11:52 that he swam in January.
Other Day 1 Highlights:
- Allison Arnold, a former member of the varsity team at Stanford, won the women’s 25-29 age group in 17:42.27. That was the fastest women’s time of the day.
- Ryan Rosenbaum, a former Florida Gator standout, won the men’s 18-24 mile in 16:42.87. He was the only entrant, but that was the fastest time of the day. He pulled off the double – also winning the 1000 free in 9:48.95 (this time he raced against 5 other swimmers in his age group).
- Bonnie Spivey of LAPS swimming in Los Angeles won the women’s 60-64 mile in 19:58.83 – about 16 seconds away from the National Record.
- Sean Justice, the 1996 SEC Champion in the men’s mile, won the 1000 free on Thursday in 10:06.86: beating his seed time by 3-and-a-half seconds. This is his first Masters’ National Championship according to the USMS database, though he has on several occasions ended the season ranked #1 in his age group nationally.
Team Scores After Day 1:
Top 5 Combined:
- Arizona Masters – 204
- Colorado Masters – 140
- Puget Sound Masters – 112
- New Albanay Aquatics Club – 105
- San Diego Sswim Masters – 96
- The Olympic Club – 88
- Oregon Masters – 76
- Wisconsin Masters Aquatic Club – 71
- Palm Beach Masters – 67
- Sawtooth Masters – 63
