Alana Aubin: 2022 Frank Wuest Open Water Award

Sometimes, the fastest swimmers don’t consider lending a hand to the slower swimmers around them, but happily, that’s not the case with long-time volunteer and passionate advocate of open water swimming, Alana Aubin. 

The enthusiastic New England Masters Swim Club member started swimming competitively at age 10 and launched her open water swimming career some 13 years later. She finished her first marathon swim in 2016. The whip-smart Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate has climbed the podium of many open water events over the years, including these selected highlights:

• 2nd overall in the 2015 Charles River Swim

• 1st overall Charles River Swim in 2016, coincidently placing ahead of Frank Wuest with an epic battle at the end, winning by less than 5 seconds that year

•  5th place finish in the 2016 10K Kingdom Swim in Vermont

• 3rd place finish in the 2017 10K Kingdom Swim in Vermont

• 1st female (2nd overall) in the 2018 10K Kingdom Swim in Vermont

• 1st female finisher (3rd overall) in the 2018 Boston Light Swim

• 1st overall finisher in the 2019 10K Swim with a Mission in Newfound Lake, New Hampshire 

• Completed a solo Double Boston Light Swim (16 miles) in 2019 and set a new course record of 6:18:01

• 2nd place finisher of the 2019 USMS National Championship in Lake Willoughby, Vermont

• 2019 USMS Long Distance All Star, recognized as a combination of Open Water National Championships and Virtual Championships event results

• 1st overall in the 2021 10K race at Kingdom Swim, Lake Memphremagog, Vermont

• Completed the 2022 Border Buster, a 25K race in Lake Memphremagog, Vermont

• 1st in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2022 Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival (water temperature 31 degrees F)

Aubin is a USMS Level 3 certified coach who gives back at many levels of swimming. She has led the New England Masters Swim Club and has served on the NELMSC Board as president and communications chair. Her communications efforts garnered her the 2019 U.S. Masters Swimming June Krauser Award. 

Aubin has made a substantial contribution to growing open water swimming in New England by serving as vice president and treasurer for the Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association. In that capacity, she manages the all-volunteer-run non-profit organization’s financial and business operations and assists in organizing the group’s several open water swims, including the flagship Boston Light Swim, an 8-mile race across Boston Harbor that was first staged in 1907.

Through her astute actions and ongoing, passionate dedication, Aubin continues to promote open water swimming while serving as a leader, role model, and committed community builder in the sport.

Laura Dennison: 2022 Appreciation Award

Para-athlete Laura Dennison joined USMS and the New England LMSC in 2013 and quickly set about making Masters Swimming more inclusive and welcoming to athletes of all abilities. In 2014, she joined the NELMSC Board of Directors, becoming the first LMSC Para-Athlete Chair within all of U.S. Masters Swimming. 

Since joining the board, Dennison has worked to increase the visibility of para-athletes among coaches and members alike by organizing para-coaching clinics in conjunction with Adaptive Sports New England’s Paralympic Sport Club. 

In 2020, Dennison continued that work by becoming the founding member of the NELMSC Diversity & Inclusion Subcommittee, which ran a survey of NELMSC coaches to determine what resources are most needed to help them better serve para-athletes in the future. She also advocates for para-division and exhibition race options for upcoming NELMSC championship meets to further increase para-visibility.

An accomplished para-swimmer, Dennison has generously shared her own journey and experiences in the sport. She qualified for and competed at the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Trials in the 50, 100, and 400 freestyle, the 100 backstroke, and the 100 breaststroke. In 2021, she presented a TEDx Talk at Western New England University titled “No Kick, No Prob: Becoming You in a World That Says Otherwise.”  

Dennison, who works at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, regularly shares information and resources related to para-swimming including meets, coaching clinics, panels, and discussions hosted by USMS and other organizations. 

Born in Senegal with cerebral palsy limiting the use of her lower limbs and causing spasticity in her hands, Dennison lived in Niger until she was 4 and needed major surgery. This led her to Boston Children’s Hospital where she underwent a series of interventions over the next year. Dennison later moved to Vermont, and after graduating from high school, she enrolled in Western New England College. She went on to complete a Masters in special education at the University of Alabama. While in Alabama, Dennison met six-time Paralympian Aimee Bruder, who encouraged her to try competitive swimming, and the rest is history. 

Friend and teammate Jennifer Downing says that Dennison is “a terrific advocate and champion of DEIB efforts and takes great pride in educating coaches and other swimmers about para resources and training modifications. It's been inspiring to watch her progression since she joined the team, and she definitely exemplifies perseverance and hard work. We're lucky to have Laura as a role model and active member of the NELMSC community.”

For her part, Dennison says her aim is to make sports better for people like her and particularly for people who didn’t find swimming until later. “Sports is a powerful tool to change perceptions. I may not be the fastest in the water (I sure try) but this can be my contribution to swimming and the larger Paralympic movement,” she told Joe Walsh of Adaptive Sports New England in October 2020. 

Alford Green & WPI Meet Management: 2022 Contributor of the Year Award

Led by Event Director Alford Green, Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s meet management team ― Spencer Coffin, Mark Wild, Ricky Coffin, and Adriana Owen ― organized and ran two successful New England LMSC championship meets in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without this team, there would not have been any NELMSC championship meets during the 2021-2022 season. 

In December 2021, WPI hosted over 200 Masters swimmers at the Colonies Zone and NELMSC Short Course Meters Championship. Four months later, in April 2022, the group hosted the Colonies Zone & New England LMSC Short Course Yards Championship. In a post-meet survey, 93% of meet participants were “satisfied” or “very satisfied with the meet overall. A similar percentage said they were “likely” or “very likely” to attend a NELMSC championship meet the following season. 

With unflappable good humor, Green and his team pulled together two consecutive successful meets and overcame myriad obstacles, including so many pandemic-related uncertainties, compressed planning timeframes, and bureaucratic red tape. Swimmers from across New England were thrilled to have a chance to compete after a difficult and uncertain period of pool closures, team furloughs, and the disappearance of all competitive swimming opportunities.

Green, who received the NELMSC Coach of the Year award in 2016, was the founding coach of Worcester Area Masters, which launched in May 2011. Within a few years, he took over as meet director for the December NELMSC and Colonies Zone SCM Championship, which has been held at Worcester Polytechnic Institute since 2015. He also serves as assistant coach for the Crimson and Gray swimming and diving team at WPI. 

Not just a coach, the 2012 graduate of WPI who holds a degree in civil engineering, is also a fierce competitor. Green swam sprint freestyle and butterfly during his four years on the WPI varsity team. As a Masters swimmer, he’s notched two dozen Top 10 times and earned All-American Honors.

Green grew up in Kingstown, Jamaica, and immigrated to the United States in 2008 when he enrolled at WPI. An LGBT asylum seeker himself, Green now works as the director of the LGBT Asylum Task Force in Worcester, a ministry of the Hadwen Park Congregational Church. He was awarded the Eleanor Hawley Human Rights Award in 2019 by the City of Worcester’s Human Rights Commission for his work. 

Michael Hurd: 2022 Appreciation Award

A gifted communicator, Michael “Mike” Hurd of Maine Masters has contributed to the ongoing business of the NELMSC Board in many ways. As Secretary, his most tangible and lasting contribution has been all of the extensive documentation of meeting minutes he’s created that tell the story of the club and its business. 

He’s also contributed blog posts, meet recaps and photos, and other materials to the LMSC website to help keep members informed and engaged. At the club level, Hurd has served as an Officer of Maine Masters, contributing in various roles. Most notably, he served as editor of the club newsletter reporting on and promoting the activities of Maine Masters and the LMSC.

Ever the encourager, Hurd is a life and business coach by day, and he brings that positive energy and focus on helping others become their best selves to every interaction he has with other swimmers. He encourages others to participate in meets and events and shares what’s worked best for him as he’s grappled with several health challenges over the years. 

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurd was especially instrumental in helping club members keep their connections with each other, despite the challenges the virus posed. He supported members in navigating alternative communication methods and created workgroups and online access so that meetings could continue safely. He did all of this in an effort to keep the sport of swimming thriving for members even when so many pools were closed.  

This was no small task as we all adjusted to COVID-era restrictions and isolation. With endless patience and compassion, Hurd effectively guided users – some with little to no experience and some with ample technology experience – in getting set up to conduct online meetings. The technology isn’t always intuitive, but Hurd’s ability to support others is, and he made sure everyone knew how to participate in the online meetings to have their voices heard, which he then recorded in his meticulous minutes.

A consummate coach, Hurd has an innate ability to provide the space others need to absorb dialogue and feel comfortable in a conversation. He also encourages everyone to develop the confidence to share their opinions and experiences in large and small group settings. He offers an inviting space for others to be heard, seen, and valued.

Hurd also served as a representative of the LMSC as a delegate to USMS Conventions and as a Board Member, Officer, and an active member of the Maine Masters Workout Group encouraging participation and a spirit of camaraderie everywhere he goes. 

Hurd has been a tremendous asset to his club, the NELMSC, and the whole sport of Masters Swimming. His efforts to cultivate a sense of community through transparency and inclusivity have consistently made Masters Swimming in Maine and across New England a brighter thing. 

Amanda Smith Dakowicz: 2022 Frank Wuest Open Water Award

Great Bay Masters Swimming member Amanda Smith Dakowicz embodies the best of what it means to be an open water swimmer. The Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based swimmer and triathlete has made a substantial contribution to open water both as an athlete and as a supporter of others aiming to achieve big things in the sport.

In 2022, Smith Dakowicz completed a 9.22-kilometer clockwise circumnavigation of the Isles of Shoals in the Gulf of Maine in 3 hours, 37 minutes, 44 seconds. A top triathlete, she often swims in a wetsuit and completed this event while wearing a wetsuit, booties, and two caps to ward off Maine’s frigid chill. The swim was ratified by the World Open Water Swimming Association.

Smith Dakowicz has also completed the 25-kilometer Border Buster in Lake Memphremagog in 2021 and the 12-mile Swim with a Mission in Newfound Lake, New Hampshire. 

Always ready to give back, Smith Dakowicz acted as observer for Alyssa Langlais’ 12-kilometer Boon Island to Long Sands Beach, York, swim on July 17, 2021. It was the first documented swim on that course and was ratified by the Marathon Swimmers Federation thanks to Smith Dakowicz’s diligent documentation.

She is also a certified Adult Learn-to-Swim instructor and has helped out coaching at open water swimming clinics, volunteered at races, and served as a kayaker for several area open water events. 

As one admirer notes, “whether it’s a 4 a.m. wake-up call or needing a pep talk 8 miles into a training swim, Amanda has been there to pick me up and keep me motivated. Amanda has done this not just for me, but for so many on the Seacoast, around New England, the country, and even the world. She will go out of her way traveling in a foreign country to find an open water swimming meetup group and form friendships there. And, she inspires swimmers everywhere she goes. She’s a cheerleader at every level, whether it’s a swim practice or a national level event.”

Smith Dakowicz played water polo at Cornell University and coaches the Portsmouth High School swim team.