The Los Altos Masters Swim Club made its presence known at the Pacific Masters Long Course Championship, coming away with 14 first-place ribbons and three seconds.
The club didn't send an army of swimmers to the competition, either. Only three members took part in the meet, held July 23-25 at UC-Santa Cruz. Each of them won at least three events.
Leading the way was Jim Triolo of Cupertino. He captured seven events in the 80-85 age division and broke a slew of records in the process.
Sunnyvale resident Megumi Masuda, swimming in the women's 25-29 division, won four events.
Della Sehorn of Los Altos had three wins and three second-place finishes in the women's 70-74 division.
Triolo, the oldest man in the meet at 85, dominated his division. Not only did Triolo win all seven events he entered, but he set new age division records in each one as well.
His time of 4 minutes, 34.08 seconds in the 200-meter backstroke shattered a national record by nine seconds. Triolo broke Pacific Masters records in his six other events: the 50 back (56.30), 100 back (2:10.38), 100 freestyle (1:55.30), 400 free (8:52.84), 800 free (18:49.33) and 1,500 free (35:37.65). His 1,500 time was a whole four minutes better than the previous record.
Triolo said he went into the meet expecting to break five records, but he didn't anticipate doing so well in the shorter races.
"I'm not a good sprinter," he said. "I'm much better after 200 meters. My strength is endurance, not speed."
Triolo was particularly proud of his effort in the 100 free.
"I was very surprised" he said. "I celebrated that one the most."
Triolo hopes to do even more celebrating at the National Long Course Championship, set for Aug. 19-22 in Minneapolis, Minn. He has qualified in six events.
Sehorn won't be going to Minnesota, but she does have experience swimming at the national - and international - level. She made the U.S. Olympic team in 1952 and competed in the 200 breaststroke at the games in Helsinki, Finland.
Sehorn didn't compete again until about 10 years ago when she joined the Los Altos Masters.
In this latest meet, Sehorn placed first in the 50 back (52:21), 100 back (1:55.38) and 200 back (4:11.12). She came in second in the 50 fly (53.93), 50 free (44.90) and 100 free (1:40.68).
"Those weren't my better times," said the 72-year-old Sehorn. "I had been ill and would have done better if I had been healthier."
Masuda, 25, took first in all her events: the 100 free (1:07.49), the 400 free (5:03.88), the 200 individual medley (2:41.53) and the 400 IM (5:41.53).