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by Lynn Hazlewood, Zone Rep
One of the hallmarks of the Colonies Zone has been its contribution to USMS leadership over the years. The current crop of members is no different. We have twelve seats on the USMS Board of Directors, including two national officers, six committee chairs, two USMS Past Presidents, the zone rep, and the USMS legal counsel. The USMS executive secretary also comes from our zone. Following is a list of our national leaders:
In addition to providing USMS leadership, Colonies Zone members have been busy this year working on three Zone projects which were identified at last year's convention: 1) Zone Web Site; 2) Open Water Zone Championships; and 3) Zone Operating Guidelines and Archives. In addition to these projects, we will have two zone championships this year and numerous zone members have had notable achievements.
The most exciting new development is our Zone Open Water Championship series which will begin next summer. The Zone will be divided into three geographical areas. Each area will hold an open water championship which shall be a minimum of one mile in length. The zone will present a participation award to any swimmers who compete in all three championships. In the future, the series will be expanded to include the naming of zone champions for each age group. Placing will be determined by accumulated points earned in individual championships with participation in a minimum of two zone championships.
At the 1999 annual meeting, the zone voted to set up it's own web site with the domain name of colonieszone.org. Webmaster will be Ed Tsuzuki with Rich Barkan as the second. The Zone Rep and each LMSC will also contribute pages to the site.
I have been working on the operating guidelines and collecting archives of zone information. The guidelines are intended to record decisions made at zone meetings. Many people have contributed to the archives. Most notably, I have collected old zone newsletters, minutes from meetings, and a complete set of official results from SCY and SCM Zone Championships. The operating guidelines will be posted on the web site as will the electronic archives.
At the convention, the method of financing zone operations was revised. The LMSCs will contribute a fee per registered swimmer. The fee will not exceed 50 cents per swimmer. The close-out number from the previous registration year will be used for the calculations. At the annual meeting, we voted to charge 15 cents per swimmer for the year 2000. The old method of charging each LMSC a flat $50 fee has been eliminated.
Our SCY Zone Championship, held March 30-April 2 attracted over 500 swimmers. It was held in the new natatorium at the University of Maryland in College Park. Many records were set in this fast pool. The SCM Zone Championship will take place after convention at Rutgers University on November 6-7.
Achievements of Colonies members this year are many. Jim Miller, Virginia Masters, is the 1999 recipient of the Ransom Arthur award. Kelley Lemon, DC Masters and Potomac Valley, was inducted into the Swimming Hall of Fame in ceremonies on May 7-8. Marcia Cleveland, Connecticut Masters, published "Dover Solo", a book about her 1994 English Channel swim. The ranks of Colonies Zone national committee chairs increased by two when David Diehl, Potomac Valley, and David Grilli, New England, were named as chairmen of the Officials and Fitness Committees respectively. USMS Service Award Winners were Bob Kolonkowski, Metropolitan; Jim Matysek, Niagara; Lynn Hazlewood, Potomac Valley; Ed Nessel, New Jersey; and Art Mayer, Delaware Valley. Tom Lyndon from New England designed the cover for the 2000 Rule Book. Empire State Masters won the bid for the 2001 Long Distance 1-Mile National Championship. Finally, Jim Matysek received the USMS National Championship Award for implementing the online registration for national championships.
In addition, several teams did well in championship meets this year. In the 1 Hour Postal Championship in January, New England Masters took second place and Empire State Masters third place for extra large clubs while Connecticut Masters took third in medium clubs competition. In the Women's Divisions at USMS SC Nationals, New England Masters was second in medium clubs and DC Masters took second for small clubs. Finally, the D.C. Aquatics Club from Potomac Valley won an unprecedented fourth World Championship at the 10th International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics Championships held in Atlanta in June. In doing so, they outdistanced the host club, Atlanta, by 1510 points.
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