USMS, Riverside Aquatics Association Swim Team hosting Spring National Championship

SARASOTA, Fla.—U.S. Masters Swimming and the Riverside Aquatics Association Swim Team are excited to host the 2017 Nationwide U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championship on April 27-30 at the Riverside Aquatics Complex in Riverside, Calif.

More than 2,000 swimmers ranging in age from 18 to 95 have registered for the meet, one of two national championships USMS has each year.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to hold our meet in the swimming-rich area of Southern California,” says Dawson Hughes, USMS’s chief executive officer. “The West Coast has historically had a vibrant and active Masters Swimming community and some of our largest USMS National Championships have been held in California. The turnout for this meet will provide our members an outstanding opportunity to compete in a state-of-the-art pool. Participants will enjoy a long weekend with the greater Masters Swimming community, all hosted by our outstanding partners in Riverside.”

USMS and the Riverside Aquatics Association Swim Team have partnered with the Riverside Sports Commission to stage the meet, which will happen in Riverside for the first time.

“This will be a great opportunity for our swimmers to have a big meet right in their own pool,” says Kevin Timko, meet director and president of the Riverside Aquatics Association Swim Team. “It’s an honor that USMS decided to have its Spring Nationals here.”

Shaheen Roostai, the director of the Riverside Sport Commission, adds: “We’re excited about the economic impact the 2,000-plus swimmers who are participating and their families will provide for our community, and we hope that their experiences will entice them to come back to Riverside in the future.”

The meet will occur in the final days of USMS’s April is Adult Learn-to-Swim Month campaign. More than one-third of adults in the United States can’t swim the length of a pool, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to raising awareness, USMS trains and certifies adult learn-to-swim instructors. USMS’s charitable arm, the Swimming Saves Lives Foundation, is supported primarily by donations from USMS members and it funds programs across the country that offer low- or no-cost swim lessons to adults.