Is it freezing around here or is it just me? It must just be me, ‘cause we’ve got folks jumping in bodies of water all over the place - and, guess what - they’re lighting those bodies of water on fire! Let’s get down to business then. We’ve got three meets to cover for the last three weeks. Here we go!

Our friends up North held a couple little inter-squad meets in which they were nice enough to allow some of the Terrapin faithful to swim. (Terrapins also provide timers and a handful or our registrants swim in the land of ABCs! "It’s Just One Lap!") South in Virginia, Alexandria Masters held a nice "Tropical Splash." So here’s a few record-setting vignettes from these meets! (What’s the team’s Secret Weapon?)

We have a new name in the record books, and it is Ellis! Welcome Andrew Ellis! Andy swam a 2:44.18 200-yard breaststroke to begin to close out the 35 to 39 year old team records. Now, I don’t know what he’s been doing to gain all that leg strength -but it’s working! You may find Ellis shortly claiming the 500 free records too!

Now, Steve Payne’s been a whirlwind of activity in the record books. For 40 to 45 year men, he bested Jim Nealis’ five-year old record in the 50 backstroke with a time of 38.12, and then set a new team record in the 50 breast with a 42.13!

You’d think that’d be good enough for Steve Payne, but nope. Ol’ King-o-Beers wants himself some competition, and he’s been looking over in Eric Nordlund’s direction. Now, how many of you know to leave a sleeping dog alone? You’ve all heard the adage. And the last thing you want to do is go over to that nice sleeping beast that’s comfortably laying in the sun - and poke him with a stick. Hmmmm. Good idea? OR BAD IDEA? Steve’s been having a jolly good time placing the nomer "No Show" on to Nordlund. Old, Eric "No-Show" Nordlund.

No-Show, No-Show, No-Show. Poke, poke, poke.

Guess what happened?

Eric showed.

Maybe we should call it a semi-show or maybe we should give Nordlund a break and let him go back to his hill top to lay in the sun, smell the flowers, dream the swims of yesteryear and say nary another word.

Naw, maybe we’ll have a couple words.

Eric "Semi-Show" flashed his mettle at the Tropical Splash meet. Nordlund knocked off Toby Shannon’s 50 free time of 27.79 set way back in 1991 with a time of 26.66! (Imagine, grabbing a record that’s lasted a dozen years!) But, Nordlund wasn’t done yet. Nordlund was just beginning to show that Ol’ No-Show was - for this moment in time - NOW-Show. He had business to attend to and that business was Steve "King-o-Beers" Payne.

Before the meet, who held the 200 free record? Who held the 500 free record, and who held the 50 back record? Good Ol’ King-o-Beers.

We all know Eric loves his beer. He talks beer, he goes in, out, and around the State to drink new flavorful beers and he’ll animatedly tell you all about the aromas associated with these flavorful hopped beverages. Eric is a master of beer.

And when it came to the King-o-Beers, Nordlund threw that beer down!

The new Men’s 40 to 44 year old 200 free record is 2:13.32; the 500 free, 6:14.69; and the 50 backstroke, 32.36. Look for Eric (is it No-Show, Briefly-Showed or Will-Continue-to-Show?) Nordlund to bust that two minute barrier in the 200 free this year. His money and his word are on the line!

We’re not done with the Nordlund name yet. Eric’s much better half, Deborah Morrin-Nordlund continues to hold her own over in 40 to 44 year old women. Eric, himself, knows you’d better just not mess with the woman. She garnered another team record in the 50 backstroke with a time of 45.33. Deb also owns the 100 back record for the age group. It could be close, but if Deb knocks off Hartzell Stinger’s 200 back time of 3:06 set way back in the very first month of 1996, she’ll be one of the few holders on the team of a Terrapin Hat Trick (50 back, 100 back, and 200 backstroke records)!

Cheryl Wagner as well is the team’s Champion in the 50 to 54 year old age group. She holds the 50 record and posts two new freestyle records at the Tropical Splash meet in the 200 free (2:33.54) and 500 free (6:42.44)! Her split at the 100 when swimming the 200 free would have easily captured the team’s 100 free record (A record that been sitting there for over a decade!) She also owns the 1650 record. Every freestyle record for Terrapins should have her name next to it. Seriously, they should. Only the 100 and 1000 frees to go!

Here’s another fun one. Only a select few on the team are IRON men and women. Yes, that’s right: Swimmers of the 200 Fly. Cheryl Wagner’s done it, Jane West, Jeff Hoyle, Emad Elshafei, and Michael Lee to name a few of the very few. Often times, it and the 1650 are the outstanding swims that need to be punched so we can have a complete set of records and close the age groups down!

Guess who showed up to the IRON fly party, baby! Why, it’s our favorite Muppet - Jeff Strahota! Now get this. This is fun. Muppet goes to the Tropical Splash and swims that 200 fly and posts the team’s 19 to 24 year old dude’s record with a time of 2:24.92. Folks are reporting that he not only swam the beast, but he swam it well. In fact, Muppet reports, "Yeah, they said I looked even better than Michael Lee when he swam it over in short course meters." Hmmm. A quick look in the record books and a conversion later to short course yards - well, thanks for playing Muppet, but Lee’s time to beat is 2:23! A 2:24 is nice, but it’s not quite a 2:23!

Would you believe what that Muppet did? He played on. Flash one week forward past the Tropical Splash meet to the second of the little Maryland inter-squad meets.

Muppet again signs up for the 200 fly.

Muppet’s swimming the 200 fly two weeks in a row! Back to back! That crazy cat! He’s on the blocks ready to swim the 200 fly again. He’s fired up. Off the blocks and he’s looking good during the first part of the swim. He’s keeping it together, holding his own on that final lap and bammo! A fist pump in the air and Muppet’s calling out 2:21! What a crusher! What a devastating blow! We’ll have to buy that man a Guinness! A 2:23 is nice, but it’s no 2:21!

TWO 200 flys in a row...Crazy Muppet!

Before we move on to the third meet, let’s go back out of chronological order to the very first meet. (Those first stories reported on were just too good to hold off!) We’ll clear up the rest of the records and report on the Secret Weapon.

Young’n first of course. Poor Barney Lynch continues to get lit up in the records book. When’s he going to knock off the quality triathlon stuff, quit being the multi-talented stud, and get back in the competitive waters? He’s getting smoked! James Crowder waved "bye bye" to Barney-the-man in the 50 breaststroke and took the 25 to 29 year old men’s 50 breast time, which was way back in the land of 31.15, down to a 30.40! (The question remains, when will the 50 breast time plunge under the 30 second mark in this age group? Younger swimmers and older breaststroke swimmers have done it...why can’t James, Barney or the Pookie-Bear?) Barney who now holds only the 200 SCY breast record must stave off a young Crowder whose itching to claim a Terrapin Hat Trick (50, 100, and 200 breast records) in this age grouper-roo!

Now, we also have to raise a toast to James Crowder for joining the ranks of the IRONMEN (and LADIES, of course.) "Meat" not only joins the Ironmen, but as he’s leads the team with the fast time - 2:12.45 set for the 25 to 29 year olds. This beats Emad Elshafei’s time of 2:13.43 for the darned tough and competitive 35 to 39 year old group.

The team’s drop dead sprinter set two impressive records at this little dinky meet. Yeah, he wore the full leggings in his swims, but Mike Doane’s 24.68 in the 50 fly and 56.38 in the 100 fly are just darned fast. In the 100 fly, we bid adieu to Saul Vesonder’s time of 58.74 (sayonara, Saul!) Saul remains in the team’s standings with a record 1650 swim. You’ve got some swimming to do, Saul!

You know, I’m going to hold off on that third meet for now. We’ll get to it later of course and post the latest records on the Terrapin website (Thank you, Cheryl!). Oh! And we’ll report on a chilling new development for Terrapins. Yes, in deed! There is a new Secret Weapon! Bwah-ha-ha-ha!