Although everyone goes to a swim meet for fun and competition, you sometimes don’t know what else might happen that goes beyond swimming your best times. Two of our Michigan LMSC swimmers discovered this last spring during the 2024 State Meet Championship.
During the first heat of the 1650 Freestyle, Lindsey McFarlane began swimming along with the other seven swimmers in her heat. One of those swimmers that we’ll refer to as “John Doe” swam alongside her. John started out strong, but toward the end of the race, he faded and fell way back. When the heat was over, John and Lindsey headed to the diving well to cool down. As they walked to the diving well to cool down, John was kind of stumbling as he walked toward the pool. Lindsey reached over, offered a hand and suggested that he sit down. He was struggling to catch his breath, was very wobbly, and could barely keep his eyes open. His daughter was on the pool deck and came over, at which time Lindsey then asked her if he used an inhaler, or if he had other health issues. Despite his condition, John insisted on getting into the diving well to cool down.
Another Michigan swimmer, Denise Brown was already in the diving well warming up and hung on the wall with John to make sure he didn’t let go. Lindsey then asked the lifeguard for her tube to slide under his arms so he could float and help out Denise so she wouldn’t didn’t have to worry about him as much. John continued to press that he needed to swim down and get the lactic acid out of his legs. Lindsey then told Denise to continue with her warm-up that Lindsey would swim with John, knowing Denise still had her mile to swim. They all floated around for a bit and John slowly got his breath a little more under control and was able to swim a little more. Lindsey swam some ½ laps, then whole laps with John and stayed with him until her and Denise could talk him into getting out of the water. The lifeguard then brought over a nursing student who began monitoring him from the deck and eventually called for the paramedics to take John to the hospital, where he was treated for a heart condition and underwent emergency surgery.
So, for all their quick thinking and action, we would like to present Lindsey McFarlane and Denise Brown with a Michigan Masters 2024 Special Services award.
Greg Robinson is a lifelong competitive Swimmer. He attended and swam at Detroit’s Northwestern High School and then competed at Tennessee State University from 1975-1978. In 1976 Greg formed and coached the Detroit Swim Club, an inner-city based age group swim team that ran from 1976 to 1984. In 1980, he led them to an “Inner-City” National Title held in Philadelphia, PA. In 1990, Greg also organized and hosted a “Masters Swimming Black Nationals” that was held in Detroit. Over the years, Greg has coached several Detroit area swim teams including the Detroit Recreation Department, Hamtramck Recreation, University of Detroit High School, Centerline Swim Club, and the Birmingham Bloomfield Atlantics Swim Club. Over the past two decades, Greg has won four Michigan Masters State Meet titles in his signature event, the 200 butterfly, including this year’s 2024 State meet. He is a former United States Masters swimming, and YMCA Masters Swimming “All American”.
And most recently, Greg took the lead role in organizing current and former Detroit swimmers from all over the United States for this year’s 2024 State Meet Championship, which was the first ever held in the city of Detroit at Wayne State University. Greg assembled a team of 75 swimmers and coached them all to a first-place finish. His dedication and perseverance to take the Detroit Masters Swim Club over the finish line to a first-place victory is one of his crowning achievements.
So, for all of Greg’s efforts organizing the Detroit Masters Swim Club team’s win, we are pleased to award Greg the 2024 Coach of the Year award.
Are You a Member of USMS? Do You Need to Renew Your USMS Membership? Please visit the USMS website to register or renew. For detailed information, please visit the MI Masters Registation page.
