GENEVA, Ohio — Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Coordinator of Officials Ed Reed closed out the 2021 U.S. Masters Long Course National Championship hosted at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, by claiming the 75-79 age group National Championship in the 200-Meter Individual Medley (3:20.05) after placing Fourth in the 50-Meter Breaststroke (43.31).
Starting the day in the 50-Meter Breaststroke, the Springfield College graduate, former Brown University water polo coach, former University of Alabama Aquatics Director and CWPA Hall of Fame member beat his seed time of 43.34 to touch the wall in 43.31. The time earned him Fourth Place as Kurt Olzmann (42.29), Robert List (42.42) and Steve Peterson (42.75) edged him out by under a second to finish first-second-third.
The approaching octogenarian added to his medal count in the 200-Meter Individual Medley by outpacing Peterson (3:21.88) for 1.83 seconds to claim the event National Championship in a time of 3:20.05 – over 23 seconds faster compared to his seed time of 3:43.55. Olzmann was a distant third (3:36.63), while Eliot Winokur came in fourth in a time of 3:49.61.
Overall, the finishes mark Reed’s seventh and eighth Top Four marks in eight events at the National Championship. On Saturday, October 9, he touched the wall in 6:11.21 to finish second in the 400-Meter Freestyle after taking third in the 200-Meter Breaststroke in a time of 3:47.47. In the evening, he helped the Shark “A” 200-Meter Medley Relay to a runner-up finish in the 280-319 age group with a time of 2:24.40.
Part of the Shark “A” team which claimed a runner-up finish in the 280-319 age group 200-Meter Freestyle Relay in a time of 2:03.91 at the end of the day on Friday, October 8, Reed opened the championship by claiming the 75-79 age group National Championship in the 400-Meter Individual Medley (7:18.38) prior to notching a Third Place mark in the 75-79 100-Meter Breaststroke (1:38.60) during Day 1 competition on October 8.
About Ed Reed: A 2003 inductee to the CWPA Hall of Fame, Ed Reed began his coaching tenure at Brown University in 1971 when he was named head coach of the men’s varsity swim team and club water polo team. In 1974, the men’s water polo team achieved varsity status as he built the program into an East Coast powerhouse.
Reed never experienced a losing season at Brown, compiling a career record of 420-159-5 in 20 years at the helm. In fact, during a nearly five-year span in the 1980’s his Brown squad did not lose a game against an eastern collegiate opponent. He led the Bears to 17-consecutive New England Championships and four Eastern Championships, including three straight from 1983-85, and a record ten Eastern Championship final appearances. Under Reed, the team made eleven NCAA tournament appearances, finishing sixth in 1983, 1984 and 1985.
Under Reed, Brown accomplished a pair of eastern collegiate water polo firsts. The 1984 squad finished the season with a #6 ranking in the American Water Polo Coaches’ Association poll, the best ever for a school from the east. The Bears’ 1986 home victory over then No 4-ranked Pepperdine University constituted the first time an east coast school defeated a top five nationally ranked team.
Seventeen student-athletes earned All-America honors while playing for Reed at Brown. He received Eastern Water Polo League Coach of the Year honors in 1987 and 1989. He was inducted into the Rhode Island Aquatic Hall of Fame in 1986, the Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996 and the United States Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1999.
He also contributed to the sport on the national level, serving on the coaching staff of the United States Men’s National Water Polo Team from 1993-96. He worked with the 1995 U.S. squad that won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Argentina and was an assistant coach for the seventh-place U.S. team at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta. He was also elected President of the American Water Polo Coaches Association and served on several committees for United States Water Polo.
Reed was a two-time All-America as a swimmer at Springfield College, winning the 1965 New England Intercollegiate Championship in the 200 meter individual medley. He started his coaching career at Tufts University in 1966.
He retired in the spring of 2008 as the Aquatic Center Manager for the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., but continues to give back to the sport of water polo as a referee evaluator as part of the CWPA Technical Committee and as the league’s Coordinator of Officials.
He and his wife Andy reside in Tuscaloosa and have two children, Scott and Kerrie. Scott is the head coach of the Macalester College women’s water polo team, carrying on the family water polo tradition, after serving as the head coach of the men’s and women’s programs at George Washington University.
