Colonies Zone News | February 2024

2024 | February 7

2024 Meets Galore! Entries are Open!

Colonies Zone SCY Championship

Jeff Rouse Swim & Sport Center, Stafford, VA

April 19-21, 2024

Need a competitive short-course-yards tune-up meet at a great pool before Spring Nationals? Not going to Nats and want a well-run taper meet? Just want a fun getaway?

Join us April 19-21 at Jeff Rouse Swim & Sport Center in Stafford, Virginia. All SCY individual and relay events will be offered. Records will fall!

Volunteers from multiple LMSCs have been working cooperatively for the past year to offer a 500-swimmer Colonies Zone SCY Championship at this premier facility. Come enjoy the camaraderie of hundreds of festive Masters swimmers, dozens of teams, fiercely contested individual and team awards, rubber duckies, and more!

For the team-points competition, there will be four club-size divisions. Rally your teammates to sign up and vie for Colonies Zone Champion bragging rights by sharing this meet info link: https://bit.ly/colonies-scychamps2024

Thanks to the meet committee — VA LMSC Chair Caycee Buscaglia, Colonies Zone Vice Chair & DV Chair Jeremy Gross, PV Chair Brett LaPlante, Colonies Zone Chair & NE Officer Douglas Sayles, VA Officers Heather & Chris Stevenson, NE Chair Jason Weis — for helping plan and run this zone championship.

Enter Colonies Zone Meet

USMS Spring National Championship

IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN

June 20-24, 2024

Entries are open for the 2024 USMS Spring Nationals, June 20-24, at the storied IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The meet will take place during the final weekend of the U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials, June 15-23, at nearby Lucas Oil Stadium.

USMS members can meet Olympians and swim in the Trials pool by donating to the USA Swimming Foundation, which provides grants to USMS Adult Learn-to-Swim programs.

Swimmers looking to work out during Trials before Spring Nationals starts can browse this list of other Indianapolis-area pools and/or drop in at Indy Aquatic Masters practices.

Spring Nationals Website

The Harvard Meet is Back!

2024 New England LMSC SCY Championship

March 9 – Distance Day, Boston Sports Institute, Wellesley, MA

March 15-16 – Main Weekend, Harvard University, Boston, MA

The popular New England LMSC Short Course Yards Championship is returning to Harvard University's Blodgett Pool for the first time since 2019. Distance Day is Saturday, March 9, at Boston Sports Institute in Wellesley, Massachusetts; the Main Weekend is at Harvard on Friday and Saturday, March 15-16.

Longtime meet director and announcer Rick "The Voice" Osterberg is also back, supported by New England LMSC officers and an A-list officials crew.

Before the pandemic, this annual four-day event averaged 800 swimmers and was the largest non-Nationals Masters Swimming meet in the country for many years. This year's 3-day schedule has an estimated 500-swimmer limit, with plans to return to the traditional schedule and capacity in 2025 if this year's meet sells out as expected.

Harvard Meet Website

Upcoming Meets of Interest

in and around the Colonies Zone

2/4: Delaware Valley LMSC Upper Perk Valley Y Masters Meet (Pennsburg, PA)

2/9: Virginia SCY State Championship (Richmond, VA)

2/10: Carol Chidester Memorial Swim Series Meet No. 5 (Severna Park, MD)

2/11: 2024 Phillips Exeter Academy Mini Meet (Exeter, NH)

2/11: Ground Hog Meet (Westport, CT)

2/11: Canandaigua Sawbellies Masters Invitational (Canandaigua, NY)

2/17: UVM Valentine's Invitational (Burlington, VT). Combined CCS-USMS meet.

2/18: Flying Fish Heads Love Your Swimmer Meet (Pittsburgh, PA)

2/23-3/3: World Aquatics Masters Championships (Doha, Qatar)

2/23-2/25: South Carolina SCY Championship (Myrtle Beach, SC)

2/25: The GYM Snowman Swim Meet (Goffstown, NH)

3/2-3/3: Winter Distance Meet (Baltimore, MD)

3/2-3/3: North Carolina SCY Championship (Cary, NC)

3/3: AYST Masters Swim Meet at the Auburn YMCA (Auburn, NY)

3/9: Delaware Valley LMSC SCY Championship (Fort Washington, PA)

3/9, 3/15-3/16: New England LMSC SCY Championship aka "The Harvard Meet" (Wellesley & Boston, MA). 500 swimmers!

3/16: Albatross Open - SCM (North Bethesda, MD)

3/16: St. Patrick's Day Invitational (Kingsport, TN)

3/17: Carol Chidester Memorial Swim Series Meet No. 6 (Annapolis, MD)

3/23: Binghamton University Masters Swim Meet (Vestal, NY)

4/6: Metropolitan SCY Champs at AGUA Masters (New York, NY)

4/6: Cherry Blossom Pentathlon (Springfield, VA)

4/7: Hawks Masters Spring Splash (Long Branch, NJ)

4/13: Spring Fling SCY Masters Swim Meet (Saratoga Springs, NY)

4/19-4/21: Colonies Zone SCY Championship (Stafford, VA). 500 swimmers!

5/9-5/12: YMCA National Masters Meet (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

5/18-5/19: Somerset County YMCA Masters "Last Chance" Meet (Basking Ridge, NJ)

5/19: SJAC Spring Splash Masters Meet (Voorhees, NJ)

5/24-5/26: Speedo Canadian Masters Swimming Championships (Windsor, ON)

6/20-6/24: USMS Spring National Championship (Indianapolis, IN). 2000 swimmers!

6/22-6/23: Bay State Games (Wellesley, MA)

7/18-7/24: PanAm Masters Championships (Trinidad and Tobago)

8/21-8/25: USMS Summer National Championship (Mission Viejo, CA)

USMS Event Calendar

Largest-Ever Combined CCS-USMS Meet Bridges the Generations

Video of the 2023 Rhody College Club & Masters Swimming Meet

What happens when you combine 365 swimmers from 30 different College Club and Masters teams and mix in some phat tunes? A lot of smiling, cheering, dancing, and great swimming. The 2023 Rhody College Club & Masters Swimming Meet was a blast! Click here to watch the recap video.

Have questions about hosting a dual-recognized CCS-USMS meet? Contact: [email protected] or [email protected]

Colonies Zone | colonieszone.org

United States Masters Swimming is the national governing body for adult swimming. USMS comprises eight Zones and 51 Local Masters Swimming Committees across the country. The Colonies Zone consists of 10 LMSCs covering the northeast and mid-Atlantic states. LMSCs are volunteer-run, nonprofit subordinates of USMS that serve as the regional governing bodies in their respective jurisdictions for USMS-registered clubs, workout groups, swimmers, coaches, and officials.