DC Water Wizards

DC Water Wizards Swim Team hosted the DC Senior Games Swim Meet on September 24, 2023. There were 38 participants swam in the meet.

The following Water Wizards set team records in the short-course yards meet:
Ernestine Brown (Women’s 85-89 Age Group)
200 Yard Freestyle
200 Yard Backstroke
Karyn Baiorunos (Women’s 75-79 Age Group)
50 Yard Freestyle
Nevitt Greene (Men’s 75-79 Age Group)
100 Yard Breaststroke
Bruce Bradford (Men’s 70-74 Age Group)
200 Yard Freestyle
100 Yard Breaststroke
Undine Nash (Women’s 65-69 Age Group)
50 Yard Backstroke
50 Yard Breaststroke
Joshua Malamud (Men’s 30-34 Age Group)
50 Yard Freestyle
500 Yard Freestyle
50 Yard Breaststroke
100 Yard Breaststroke

Reported from: https://nsga.com/nsg-cup/

Excellence is forged in the fire of competition. Introduced in 2022, the National Senior Games Cup provides an exciting new way for states to compete against each other.

The NSG Cup is awarded to the state that wins the most medals per athlete at the National Senior Games. This “levels the playing field” for states large and small to compete for recognition and bragging rights at The Games.

2023 NSG Cup
WINNER: D.C. SENIOR GAMES

The Washington, D.C. Senior Games took home the NSG Cup for the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW in 2023 with 59 athletes earning a total of 56 medals. That’s a 95% medal rate achieved across all sports, besting our 85% medal rate from last year.

The 20 DC Water Wizards competing at the NSG won 28 of the 56 medals across all sports—50% of the DC medal total, and a 140% medal rate for our swimmers! Of the 28 medals, 22 were for individual events, and 6 were for relays.

Congratulations, Team!

2022 NSG Cup presented by Kohler Walk-In Bath
WINNER: D.C. SENIOR GAMES

The inaugural NSG Cup, presented by Kohler Walk-In Bath in 2022, was awarded to the Washington, D.C. Senior Games. Forty D.C. athletes earned 34 medals (17 Gold) for a medal percentage of 85%. The rest of the top five states included Nevada (80.68%), Washington (77.99%), California (77.14%) and Pennsylvania (73.41%).

The DC Water Wizards returned home from the 2023 National Senior Games in Pittsburgh with dozens of broken team records, awards, and personal season’s best times. Below are the highlights. Attached is a PDF summary of the full team’s results.

AWARDS SUMMARY – MEDALS/RIBBONS COUNT: 28 Medals & 30 Ribbons
(22 Medals/28 Ribbons for Individual Events and 6 Medals/2 Ribbons for Relays)
Gold Medals: 8
Silver Medals: 11
Bronze Medals: 9
Fourth Place Ribbons: 10
Fifth Place Ribbons: 7
Sixth Place Ribbons: 6
Seventh Place Ribbons: 5
Eighth Place Ribbons: 2

INDIVIDUAL SEASON PERSONAL BEST SWIMS: 63 out of 100 Total Swims

NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES TOP TEN QUALIFYING SWIMS: 5
Karyn Baiorunos – 400 Individual Medley
Kathy Labukas – 50 Backstroke, 100 Backstroke
Anne Forster – 400 Individual Medley
Luis Salazar – 400 Individual Medley

WATER WIZARDS TEAM RECORDS BROKEN: 32 Individual Events & 5 Relays

INDIVIDUAL EVENT TEAM RECORDS:
Ernestine Brown (Women 85-89): 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle, 500 Freestyle
Arthur Linder Sr. (Men 75-79): 100 Breaststroke, 200 Breaststroke
Karyn Baiorunos (Women 75-79): 100 Backstroke, 100 Individual Medley, 400 Individual Medley
Kathy Labukas (Women 70-74): 50 Backstroke, 100 Backstroke, 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, 100 Individual Medley
Marvin Blount (Men 70-74): 50 Butterfly
Bruce Bradford (Men 70-74): 50 Breaststroke, 100 Freestyle
Cynthia Nordone (Women 60-64): 50 Butterfly
Luis Salazar (Men 55-59): 50 Backstroke, 100 Backstroke, 200 Breaststroke
Anne Forster (Women 55-59): 100 Butterfly, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Individual Medley, 200 Individual Medley
Kim Dustin (Women 55-59): 100 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle, 500 Freestyle
David Diaz (Men 50-54): 50 Butterfly, 100 Butterfly
Rob Sokol (Men 50-54): 200 Freestyle

RELAY EVENT TEAM RECORDS:
200 Mixed Medley Relay (Ages 75 Plus) E Brown, A Linder Sr. K Baiorunos, N Greene
200 Mixed Freestyle Relay (Ages 75 Plus) E Brown, N Greene, A Linder Sr., K Baiorunos
200 Mixed Medley Relay (Ages 70 Plus) K Labukas, K He, M Blount, B Bradford
200 Mixed Medley Relay (Ages 55 Plus) L Salazar, A Forster, M Tingstrom, K Dustin
200 Mixed Freestyle Relay (Ages 55 Plus) L Salazar, A Forster, K Dustin, M Tingstrom

The DC Water Wizards kicked off their summer workout season with a bang at Banneker Aquatic Center the last week of June. The team is enjoying the fresh air and sunshine in the sparkling 50 yard pool.

Workouts are held Monday through Friday, from 8:00 to 10:00 AM. See the calendar for details and dates we’re off for holidays, during the National Senior Games, and at the end of the summer competitive season.

If you’ve been on hiatus or thinking about joining us, come on out! We’d love to see you.

The DC Water Wizards hosted their first officially sanctioned USMS swim meet on June 17. The Juneteenth LCM Relay Meet was held at Takoma Aquatic Center. The meet featured all the competitive relay events in each of the three competitive categories (women, men, and mixed events). A highlight of the meet was utilizing the long course set-up of the Takoma pool, which had not occurred in more than ten years.

Four teams participated in the meet, including Alexandria Masters Swim Team, the District of Columbia Aquatics Team, Reston Masters Swim Team, and of course, the host team DC Water Wizards.

All of the first place winners in each event, age group, and category established meet records, as this was the inaugural meet of what is planned to become an annual event. Congratulations, swimmers!