As reported earlier, Terrapins made their way up north to participate in the championship short course meter meet for Colony Zones at the Rutgers campus in Piscataway, New Jersey. Here’s a little scoop on the travel conditions: The roads were cold, black mats of ice Friday before the meet when drives began. As the temperature cooled and the day turned dark, stalling traffic snarled and solidified into frozen congested lines that disappeared in the snow and fog ahead. Through-ways became sit-ways. For some, seven hours of car time greeted members of our 2003 SCM Colony Zone Terrapin squad, and at such glacial speeds, we watched the remains of cars, egotistical SUVs, and unlucky tractor-trailers sitting at odd angles along the roadsides and noticed their trails: how they careened into and then marked the guard rails, skidded and settled into byside embankments to stop largely unhurt and submerged in puffs of snow, or ran into one another to quickly puncture a silence held moments ago. In, on, and along the roadways vehicles lay as bulking gray fish beached and dead on the payment while we, combined in schools with our fellow travelers, passed northward to the meet, through these hulks, looking out upon their battered remains as if they were shadows.

But, heck! Let me tell you about those Terrapins! We had ourselves some Record Breakers, I’ll tell yah! We had some folks putting up a heck of a lot of points! And once the championship meet totals were combined, our crew, The Terrapin Rutgers Team, was crowned The 2003 Small Team Champions for SCM Colony Zones! Yup, you’re right, you should have been there!

And who do you think had the meet of his life? Why, it was Jeff Strahota, our favorite Muppet! Muppet got up off the porch and finally joined the big swim dawgs at this meet. Not only did he break the one minute barrier in the 100 short course meter freestyle (a goal a guy can work on for years), but he made a name for himself as one of the team’s fastest go-to fly guys. Get a load of this: Muppet swam a 29:81 in the 50 fly, replacing Barney Lynch by eight one-hundredths as the 19 to 24 year old record holder! Then he did it again in the 100 fly, treating Barney’s time much like a rag doll in a wrestling match and dropped that time to the floor pounding it by almost one and three-quarter seconds, swimming a 1:05.79! You can go to the results and see who swam better 100 flys regardless of age group, but those who did were few in numbers and not much faster. He has arrived. Muppet also bettered his 19 to 24 record 400 free time by eight seconds swimming a 4:43.32. We may get to see some of these times turn into top ten performances in the country by the end of the year!

Now that she’s back in the water swimming, Kelly Bowman continued her march across the women’s 19 to 24 year old free records. Yes, that’s right, she appears to be establishing herself as a dominate force in all freestyle events. She swam the 400 freestyle in a quick 4:45.54 time establishing a new record (previously held by Laura Antonietta, 1994), but get this too: Kelly swam the 100 free and just missed Petra Adamkova’s 100 record by a four one-hundredths of a second! A stunning performance. Can you imagine someone just "missing" Petra’s record when it’s hard enough to believe anyone could simply come anywhere close?

Beginning her own record breaking happy trail was Meredith Staken who bettered Erin Galloway’s 50 back time by seven-tenths of a second to 34.13. Meredith – heck, "Happy Trails" Staken rounds out the Team’s top three in the 50 and 100 free for 19 to 24 year old women. I bet we see her running up the records across the boards in other strokes too!

And running up the records, let’s put it out there that Muppet, Bowman, Happy, and James Crowder knocked out a new NATIONAL record in the 800 mixed free record for the 76 to 99 division. The puppies with their time of 8:51.55 even got some press. You can read about it here: http://www.swiminfo.com/lane9/news/6375.asp.

Let me tell you about a few more, and I’ll make it quick.

Hat Tricks: Mike Goodison completed a perfect hat trick in breaststroke for 30 to 34 year old men claiming the 200 breast record with a time of 2:44.57. Goody with his records in 50, 100, and 200 breast joins a prestigious group of other Terrapins holding Hat Tricks in the record books for short course meters non-free events: Dave Diehl (Back), Charlie Hoffman (Breast), Emad Elshafie (Back), and Michael Lee (Back, Fly).

Michael Lee (35 to 39) earned his second hat trick getting up and swimming the 200 fly at the meet (2:40.56). His team mates had fun shouting and laughing out, "He’s gone vertical!" on the last 50 of that swim!

Mike Doane, the team’s drop dead sprinter for 30 to 34 year old men, set two new 50 records and a 100 fly record. Doane drop kicked Michael Lee from the 50 free swimming two-tenths faster with a time of 25.48. Yes, the teammates voted on it and a new tradition was born! Guess what folks, if someone breaks your record you owe them a beer! Lee gladly complied, cordially serving up a pint of Guinness Stout to Mr. Doane, Saturday evening after the first day’s events! Doane also demolished his own 50 fly record – by over a second – swimming a 26.74 (try doing that time in yards!), and also swam a 1:05:28 in the 100 fly.

Steve Payne pulled down another free record for 40 to 44 year old men. Steve with a record 800 free time of 12:47.34 now owns the teams free records in his age group from the 100 free to the 1500 free, and not too many people can say something like that.

Terrapin Masters 1000/1650 Yard Meet

While some of our team was swimming in Rutgers, others in our crew settled in closer to home to swim and run Dave Diehl’s Terrapin Masters 1000/1650 Yard Meet, Saturday, December 7th, 2003.

Monte Lewis came in first in the 1,000 with a time of 15:35.65 set the record for 25 to 29 year old men. Welcome to the records, Monte! Now we only need 25 to 29 year old men tough enough to swim the 1,650 and 200 fly and the division will have records for every conceivable event.

Robert Benson knocked out another 1,650 record for the team. Robert who owns the record for the 55 to 59, and 60 to 64 age groups, swam a 28:29.67 to set the record for 65 to 69 Terrapins!

Boy! That's a lot of talk on records, and if you'd like more info, it's all posted of the team record section of the Terrapin Master's website!