WRITTEN BY SHARON ROBB
January 10, 2011
On a chilly, sun-drenched morning, all eyes were on ISHOF’s 41st annual Fort Lauderdale Rough Water Swim off Fort Lauderdale beach in the wake of U.S. national team member Fran Crippen’s tragic death in October in a FINA-sanctioned open water swim.
Conditions were ideal, both weather and safety, on Saturday morning to illustrate just how safe open water swimming can be.
World-class swimmers Ricardo Monasterio, 32, and Ana Marcela Cunha, 18, of Brazil, who train with the Davie Nadadores, won the overall titles to honor Crippen.
Both were friends and competed in several of the same open water swims that Crippen did through the years.
“If any good can come of a swimmer’s death in a race, people will now put the safety of the swimmer first,” said Monasterio, who won the mile swim in 18:04. “We all loved and respected Fran and this should never have happened and should never happen again.”
Cunha, 18, finished third in the same 10K race that Crippen lost his life in. She won Saturday’s race in 22:55.
Crippen was in Fort Lauderdale last year for an open water clinic for local swimmers and coaches and also won the Fort Lauderdale Rough Water Swim in 19 minutes and 25.4 seconds.
He was remembered before race start by Sid Cassidy, St. Andrew’s Aquatics Director and top open water official and coach who is a member of the Crippen Commission looking into the cause of Crippen’s senseless death.
Cassidy, who knew Crippen since he was 10, wore a Philadelphia Eagles cap, Crippen’s favorite team, in his honor.
“I know that he is with us here today,” Cassidy said before the race. “We are dedicating our swim today to his memory.”
Cassidy, who would not comment on any Crippen Commission findings, was pleased with how the swim turned out.
“We were blessed with a beautiful day and of course, that is a big part of helping us get it done,” Cassidy said. “Naturally, Fran’s death is on everybody’s mind especially officials and race organizers.”
Cassidy and other race officials knew the swim would be watched by others around the world.
“The world is taking a good look at a swim like this,” Cassidy said. “You put almost 300 people in the water of all varying abilities from the Women’s Open Water World Swimmer of the Year along with Ricardo Monasterio and some of the best age groupers all the way down to novice age groupers and Masters that are doing it for fun.
“It’s critical yes. Without professional supervision it would be a daunting challenge.”
ISHOF worked closely with Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue to ensure all standards established by the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) for open water swimming were in place including safety buoys.
“I got to give it to Brett Ballou, the beach patrol and ocean rescue, Bruce Wigo, Bob Duenkel and Jay Thomas,” Cassidy said. “Safety has been on the front of everybody’s mind. I think it’s critical when you have a professional lifesaving group involved and it shows. It went off without a hitch.”
The swim, parallel to the beach and swimmers, was observed from both the beach and ocean side of the course.
Race officials provided safety buoys to those swimmers who wanted to use them as an experiment to determine if they are viable for future open water races. The opinion was mixed from swimmers and coaches about the buoys and said they would rather use them in training.
Two South Florida Aquatic Club swimmers made their open water debut.
Morgan Nixon, 13, finished third in the 13-14 age group and 28th overall among women in 34:17, finishing three seconds ahead of her father, Richard Nixon, 45, a nationally-ranked triathlete, fifth in the 45-49 age group and 24th overall among men in 34:20. Rich Nixon is training for the May 1 St. Croix 70.3 Ironman.
“It was fun,” said Morgan Nixon, a Lyons Creek Middle School student. “It was hard to follow the age group kids because it was the ocean and there was a current. It’s different from a pool. It was fun and I would do it again.”
Nicholas Perera, 11, was second in the 11-12 age group in 31:29. Two other SOFLO teammates decided not to compete because of the cold water.
While a handful of college swim teams in South Florida training during the holiday break competed, entries were low for the annual swim despite several familiar faces including 2012 Olympic triathlon hopeful Sean Jefferson, Ricardo Valdivia, David Boudreau, Ramses Rodriguez, Scott Tolomeo, Bert Soden, William Zenga, Ann Thomas, Nicole Swift, Beverly Clark and Susan Peterson.
SATURDAY RESULTS
AGE GROUP
WOMEN: 13-14, 1. Megan Moroney 24:59, 2. Amanda Tipton 31:26, 3. Morgan Nixon 34:17, 4. Elizabeth Price 37:59; 15-18, 1. Ana Marcela Cunha 22:55, 2. Amanda Ford 24:21, 3. Nilsa Easta 25:13, 4. Mary Deedrick 29:20, 5. Julia Price 31:54, 6. Elizabeth Reeve 33:50, 7. Rebekah Escuage 35:33, 8. Brianna Dumas 37:53.
MEN: 10-and-under, 1. Guido Dominguez 34:08, 2. Jacob Harkins 1:08:58, 3. Zak Zakian 1:09:01; 11-12, 1. Tyler Tolomeo 29:51, 2. Nicholas Perera 31:29; 13-14, 1. Eric Crosby 20:44, 2. William Haeffner 24:30, 3. Jacob Colvin 29:12, 4. Alex Valdivia 35:06; 15-18, 1. Ryan Rosenbaum 18:14, 2. Richard Andrews 19:38, 3. Tyler McGrew 19:40, 4. John Szerd 19:41, 5. Jacob Percy 19:45, 6. John Rudnik 21:10, 7. Thomas Veale 23:37, 8. Quinn Cassidy 24:41, 9. Jared Fish 27:56, 10. Felipe Bricio 28:37, 11. Dillon Copa 28:40, 12. Blake Edwards 32:19.
MASTERS
WOMEN: 19-24, 1. Steph Jeppesum 30:06, 2. Erin Cunnane 35:51, 3. Sophia Minulolo 42:20; 25-29, 1. Jackie Hammelman 34:16, 2. Lauren O’Donnell 37:00, 30-34: 1. Sonja Koppenwaller 30:14, 2. Lauren Beam 35:59, 3. Yanet Benitez 37:44, 4. Carolina Lypinska 41:09, 5. Gina Siegers 44:07; 35-39, 1. Sharon Barbins 33:58, 2. Silvina Castro 48:42, 40-44, 1. Diane Babec 33:30, 2. Nicole Swift 42:28, 3. Kimberly Cerda 43:13, 45-49, 1. Dana Haugli 32:32, 2. Silvana Baner 46:22, 3. Lisa Cox 46:49, 50-54, 1. Ann Thomas 40:52, 2. Joanna Berry 45:00, 3. Pauline Watson 45:16, 4. Adrienne Chin Ogilvie 49:04, 5. Diane McVey 55:43; 55-59, 1. Helen Ederer 39:54, 2. Meg Mason 43:51; 60-64, 1. Beverly Clark 54:11, 65-69, 1. Susan Peterson 46:19, 2. Kitty Kessler 58:55, 80-84, 1. Hedy Esposito 1:17:28.
MEN: 18-and-under, 1. Alberto Perez 40:21, 19-24, 1. Israel Murat 24:08, 2. David Lippin 30:07, 3. Sean Jefferson 32:08, 4. Kyle Stewart 32:18, 5. Larry Cox 43:25, 6. Gyori Laszlo 1:09:27; 25-29, 1. Dan Fey 31:25, 2. Jen Alloway 37:53, 30-34: 1. Ricardo Monasterio 18:04, 2. Randy Reed 40:37, 35-39, 1. Ramses Rodriguez 26:51, 2. Johann Perera 36:03, 3. Alejandro Barragn 41:49; 40-44: 1. Andrew Farrell 30:09, 2. Jose Rodriguez 30:24, 3. Eduardo Panteagudo 35:54, 4. Sean Blesi 41:32, 5. Martin Hynes 43:01; 45-49: 1. Ricardo Valdivia 26:17, 2. Scott Tolomeo 30:43, 3. John Carr 32:13, 4. Hugo Vila 33:26, 5. Richard Nixon 34:20, 6. Michael Clark 37:37, 7. Thomas Krasner 45:19; 50-54, 1. Matt O’Grady 31:27, 2. David Boudreau 32:31, 3. Chip Green 34:44, 4. Bob Diener 39:59, 5. Glenn Schrager 40:09, 6. Roy Sonenshein 40:27, 7. Dale Cox 44:13, 8. Sean Dugan 46:28; 55-59: 1. William Zenga 32:45, 2. Carlos Lloreda 33:22; 60-64, 1. Bert Soden 44:24, 2. Walter Woolley 46:00, 70-74, 1. Ron Samson 43:33, 2. Frank Day 54:57, 3. Leonard Silverstein 1:01:15; 80-84, 1. Hume Hamilton 1:16:57.
WETSUITS
Women: 1. Ngozi Uwah 49:45; Men: 1. Doug Hutchinson 52:18.
COLLEGE DIVISIONS
Women Freshmen: 1. Colleen Tigne 27:07, 2. Laura Harris 28:03, 3. Erin O’Connor 28:07, 4. Rhiannon Urciuoli 28:10, 5. Kerry McIntyre 28:54.
Men Freshmen: 1. Thor Peterson 25:09, 2. Oscar Castillo 25:10, 3. Domenick Errico 25:29, 4. Brendan Malone 25:59, 5. Tom Malloy 26:00.
Women Sophomores: 1. Kelly Heyde 25:29, 2. Meghan Fay 26:56, 3. Kristen Schmid 27:02, 4. Ashley Bauer 27:21, 5. Bridget Hilferty 28:36.
Men Sophomores: 1. Tim Steiskal 25:27, 2. Billy Debsissone 25:43, 3. Thomas Kuhn 27:52, 4. Jack Eichenlaub 27:55, 5. Chris Coghill 28:31.
Women Juniors: 1. Amanda Thomas 22:38, 2. Nicole Huerta 27:10, 3. Kayla Wainwright 27:41, 4. Vivian Pitchik 27:48, 5. Jessica Rickel 28:40.
Men Juniors: 1. Matt Sorena 25:20, 2. Ray Conover 25:24, 3. Austin Mizzell 25:46, 4. Nick Ortlieb 25:52, 5. Erik Stefferud 25:54.
Women Seniors: 1. Nicole Chinnici 28:01, 2. Jenifer O’Neil 28:14, 3. Emily Stiles 28:51, 4. Casey Morrison 28:57, 5. Sofia Sokolove 29:13.
Men Seniors: 1. John King 25:53, 2. Thomas Hardy 26:52, 3. Jackson Webb 27:17, 4. Jesse Bregman 28:09, 5. Cullen Mentzell 29:12.
Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com
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