Wood emerges as fastest swimmer in master group

Galen Scott

gscott@weatherforddemocrat.com

Steve Wood, an upstanding orthodontist from Weatherford, packed up and left for The Woodlands about a week ago — few knew he had revenge on his mind.

The rivalry started decades ago when Wood was on the swim team at Auburn University. Clay Britt, his NCAA rival, was swimming for the University of Texas at Austin. Both men were talented athletes. Britt would become a three-time NCAA 100 backstroke champion. Wood was good enough to attend U.S. Olympic swim team trials in 1980.

After college, Wood settled in Weatherford and started his practice while his college nemesis went to work for Smith Barney as a financial consultant and swim coach in Bethesda, Md. Their college days were over, but the pair of titans were destined to clash again.

Both men started competing in United States Masters Swimming (USMS), an organization which governs age-group swim competitions in America. Winning times from USMS competitions are compiled with those from parallel events in more than 20 countries across the globe and a coveted slate of world records goes up for grabs.

One year ago, Wood, who is now 47, set the world record for his age-group in the 50-meter backstroke event. But he had only been king for a few weeks when Britt, who is one year younger than Wood but competes in the same age group, showed up to snatch his crown away. Britt shaved Wood’s record down by one-hundredth of a second and bragging rights went north.

This year’s USMS Long Course National Master Swimming Championships took place in The Woodlands. Wood was there to settle the score.

It was a morning race. Moving like a human torpedo, Wood made it from one side of the pool to the other in less than 30 seconds. He made it to the wall and peered upward. His time was a full three-hundredths of a second better than Britt’s world record.

“You know the time to beat ahead of time,” he said. “It was kind of like tit-for-tat, you know? OK, you take one-hundredth; I’ll take three hundredths,” he said.

But Wood wasn’t finished. He still had the lead-off leg in the evening relay race to worry about. Luckily, he found a little extra inspiration.

“The guy next to me was one from the younger age group who is always trying to beat me in the backstroke,” he said. “I just didn’t want him to beat me.”

Wood exploded into the water and carved a full tenth of a second off the world record time he set just hours before.

“I was excited about the morning swim, but in the relay ... I touched and looked up — the clock was right above us — I was just, really pumped about that,” he said.

Wood went on to beat 148 competitors in his age class at The Woodlands meet. In addition to setting the new 50-meter backstroke record, he won gold medals in his other five events, which included 100- and 200-meter backstroke events, and the same three races in the freestyle category.

Wood’s impressive performance reset the bar. Britt was scheduled to compete in the Colonies Zone Meet last week, but was not listed in the results and may have opted not to attend.

“There is another meet coming up down in Puerto Rico. He may be going to that one, I don’t know,” Wood said. “He is an excellent swimmer.”

Approximately 12,000 men and women over the age of 18 compete in USMS meets around the country. At the end of every season, times are compiled to produce a Top Ten list. When the season ends on Sept. 30, the swimmer in each age group with the most Top Ten times is crowned the All-Star.

On Monday, Wood’s times were still topping the charts in all six categories. He has ranked in the Top Ten a number of times since becoming active in USMS six years ago, but has never achieved All-Star status.

“Steve Wood is very fast, and at the end of the season I think you’re going to find that he is the fastest, but there is no guarantee,” said Tracy Grilli, national office administrator for USMS.

USMS competitions are structured according to age group, sex and course format. Because competitors enter a new age group every five years, older athletes have a chance to remain competitive.

“The great thing about Masters swimming is that you can do this forever,” Grilli said. “Every five years, you get to be young again.”

If he keeps going at his current speeds, Wood agreed there could be more world records in store when he enters the next age group and the level of competition falls. But that’s not really how he looks at things.

“Everyone likes to age up; to be the youngest and usually the fastest,” he said. “But my goal is to move down into the age groups. As I get older, I want my times to be faster than the younger ones.”