Nine local swimmers from the Palisades-Malibu YMCA ventured to Indianapolis, Indiana last Thursday through Sunday to compete in the YMCA Master Swimming Nationals. Over 500 swimmers from 75 YMCA programs across the United States competed at the Indiana/Purdue Natatorium, a world-class indoor facility. And while the competition heated up inside, it rained, hailed and snowed outside throughout the meet. ”Larry Raffaelli started off Paly’s winning ways by finishing first in the Men’s 1,650 Freestyle in the 60 to 64-year-old division with a time of 20:34.79. Joel Hefner followed with a winning time of 22:35.82 in the Men’s 35-39 age group. The 1,650 was followed by the 1,000 Free and, once again, Raffaelli won his division in a time of 12:19.96. Hefner finished sixth in 12:49.63. ”Raffaelli began the next day’s events by winning again’this time taking the 200 Free in 2:10.54. Paly’s father and son team of Steven and Marc Segal followed Raffaelli, with Steven placing ninth in the 50-54 division in 2:09.13 and Marc swimming sixth in 1:55.95 in the 25-29 division. ”Next, Hubie Kerns began to make his mark on what was to be a banner meet. Kerns scored for Paly by winning the Men’s 55-59 division of the 50 Breaststroke in a blazing 30.15, just six hundreths of a second off the national record. ”Paul Henne, coach of the Paly Masters Swim Team, competed in the 55-59 Backstroke events, finishing fourth in the 50 Back (30.62), sixth in the 100 Back (1:08.73) and seventh in the 200 Back (2:37.0). He also led off Paly’s 55-and-over Medley Relay with a backstroke time of 31.25. Kerns followed with a Breaststroke leg of 30.16, followed by Russ Walker swimming the Butterfly in a personal-best time of 29.91. Raffaelli anchored the team with a strong Freestyle leg of 26.56. Paly’s time of 1:57.88 set a new national record by one hundredth of a second. ”Paly’s 400 Free Relay in the Men’s 25+ age category finished fifth in 3:39.23. The team comprised Heffner (54.82), Steven Segal (56.29), Mark Segal (51.64) and Kerns (56.48). The final relay was the 200 Free, where, once again, the team of Henne, Walker, Raffaelli and Kerns, won in 1:43.36, within five-tenths of a second behind the national mark. Paly’s effort was just enough to hold off a foursome from Plymouth, Massachusetts (1:43.57) at the wall. ”Kerns continued to excel on Saturday, breaking three national records, despite finishing second in the 200 Backstroke in 2:21.82, breaking the old record of 2:23.33 but behind the new standard of 2:20.7 set by Daniel Rogacki of Andover, Massachusetts. Kerns exacted a measure of revenge on Rogacki in the 100 Individual Medley with a new meet record of 1:00.39. Kerns followed that with a record swim of 2:30.95 in the 200 Breastroke, eclipsing the old mark of 2:32.69. ”On the final day of competition, Kerns had two more swims and set national records in both. This time, he clocked a 1:07.2 to shatter the previous record of 1:09.64 in the 100-yard Breaststroke’a record that had stood since 1986. Fittingly, Kerns closed out the meet with a record-setting time of 2:15.26 in the 200 Individual Medley, giving him four individual records and an additional relay record. ”Raffaelli also won the 500 Free in 6:01.91, finished runner-up in the 100 Free (59.39) and second in both the 100 Back (1:12.79) and 50 Back (33.24). He ended the meet with four first-place and three second-place swims. ”Diana Hrabowecki, the only woman representing the Palisades-Malibu YMCA, performed well in the 45-49 division, finishing seventh in the 500 Free (7:18.04), eighth in the 100 Free (1:13.02), ninth in the 50 Free (32.04) and 10th in the 200 Free (2:38.29). ”Hefner had to get back home to the Palisades for soccer with his boys, so he only competed for two days. Still, he did not leave empty-handed. He won a fifth-place medal in the 50 Breaststroke (31.3) and swam seventh in the 100 Backstroke (1:04.93). Russ Walker finished sixth in the 50 Free (25.32) and 100 Free (58.04), seventh in the 50 Breast (35.31) and 11th in the 100 Individual Medley in the 55-59 age division. ”Paly’s Julian Whatley competed in the 40-44 division and finished fifth in the 200 Individual Medley (2:22.05), sixth in the 100 Individual Medley (1:04.13), 10th in the 100 Butterfly (1:09.36) and 11th in the 50 Butterfly (28.78). ”Marc Segal also finished fifth in the 50 Free (22.60), sixth in the 100 Free (50.52) and 100 Individual Medley (1:00.17) and seventh in the 50 Butterfly (25.69). Steven Segal was seventh in the 50 Free (25.15), 11th in the 100 Free (55.37), 12th in the 1,000 Free (13:17.3) and 13th in the 500 Free (6:07.6). ”Paly’s eight men finished eighth overall in team competition against many teams with over 100 athletes. The Palisadians are looking forward to swimming again at the Nationals next year, to be held in Orlando Florida.
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