Seeking more competitive waters, four Sedona-area masters swimmers formed their own club in January: Sedona Coyotes Aquatics.

The team has competed in three meets since, taking away a handful of medals to show for the hard work its members — Tim Robinson, Lauren Robinson, Jeff Feerer and Kegn Moorcroft — have put in. They practice five to six days a week in the water, and between two and four days doing dryland work.

Masters swimming is not just about competition, though.

“It’s just the camaraderie of being in the water. We had a coach that told us one time, ‘This is the only sport that you can do from birth till death,’” Lauren Robinson said.

While the Coyotes officially formed just months ago, the four swimmers said they had already been getting together for
5:30 a.m. workouts for about a year. They were a part of the Sedona masters swimming team, but found more flexible training hours and better facilities at the Sedona Athletic Club at the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock. Being the only ones interested in finding competition, they branched off.

“The best thing is the spa after a workout,” Tim Robinson joked.

Tim and Lauren Robinson and Feerer are retired, allowing them to train in the middle of the morning, while Moorcroft, 32, works a full-time job and can only train in the morning or afternoon.

Two of the team’s better showings were at the 28th Polar Bear Classic in Tucson on Jan. 28, as well as the Arizona Masters Short Course State Championships from April 6 to 8. They prefer to race only during the short course yards season, which is in the fall.

Moorcroft, a freestyler and backstroker, was top 3 in 12 of 13 events between the two meets, including three first places. Feerer, who started swimming four years ago, took third in the 100-yard breaststroke in Tucson.

Lauren Robinson, who is also an assistant coach with the Verde Valley High Performance team, raced to first place in four of five events at the Polar Bear Classic. Tim, who took up competitive swimming just five years ago and has lost over 50 pounds along the way, was fourth in his two events at the same meet.

“That’s one thing about swimming masters, is not only is it fun to be involved, but it’s inspirational to watch other people,” Tim Robinson said. “We were up at nationals and there’s 85, 90-year-olds that are breaking masters records.

They’re jumping off blocks, doing the 200 [yard] butterfly, and I’m like in tears watching these people. It’s amazing.”

The Coyotes coach one another on technique, and Lauren Robinson usually writes the workouts. Once she learned the ultra short race pace training method that the VVHP team uses, they have pretty much stuck with it.

“It’s intense, but the beauty of it is you don’t have to do as many yards, and you don’t have to spend as much time in the pool,” Lauren Robinson said. “You get the workout, you get the speed, you get the stroke with the speed and you have time for other things in the day.”

Other than staying in shape, masters swimming offers the opportunity to be around great swimmers and visit famous pools. Lauren Robinson talked about being at meets where former Olympians like Nathan Adrian compete, or at the Indiana University Natatorium, where 11 United States Olympic swimming trials have been held.

“You get to see all of these different pools that big-name swimmers have swum in,” Lauren Robinson said. “Indianapolis is where Mark Spitz went to college, you know, he swam in that pool. To look at his picture on the wall and see the people that have come before that have set the tone in swimming and made history, it’s kind of cool to be in that environment.”

While there is competition going in, it does not have the intensity akin to age group, high school, collegiate or professional meets. The competition is mostly intrinsic, and swimmers who are well into their 80s draw some of the largest cheers from the crowd.

“I think the coolest part about masters is people are nice,” Moorcroft said. “If you go behind the blocks they’re not just staring down at their feet like you’d see with Michael Phelps in the waiting room totally zoned out with music and a hood. Everyone is talking and friendly and high-fiving.”

Anyone interested in joining can go online to usms.org/club-resources/clubs/sedona-coyote-aquatics?Old_id=573.