If it involves water – fresh or salt, chlorinated or cold – Jim McConica is at the top of his game.

As the swimming community collectively nodded its head in agreement, Swimming World Magazine announced the 62-year-old McConica as one of its Top 12 World Masters Swimmers of the Year.

A world-class swimmer for over 40 years, McConica has set his share of world records from short course meters to channel swims.

Swimming on both his stomach and back between December 2011 and August 2012, he set world records in the 200m backstroke (2:33.94), 400m freestyle (4:40.00), 800m freestyle (9:35.50 for long course and 9:31.23 for short course), and the 12.4-mile (19.9 km) Anacapa Channel (4 hours 38 minutes) off the coast of California.

A member of the Ventura Deep Six, McConica has surrounded himself with the ultimate pod – a group of like-minded, hard-working, adventurous group of pool and open water swimmers who push themselves as much as they laugh together.

Instead of a guy’s night out, they have a guy’s morning set where McConica regularly proposes a challenge and the rest of the pod explore the boundaries of what is possible.

Note: The Ventura Deep Six include workout partners from the Ventura County Masters Swim Club (Tom Ball, Kurtis Baron, John Chung, Jim McConica, Jim Neitz and Mike Shaffer shown above) who set the longest non-stop ocean relay record when they swam 202 miles (325 km) from Ventura to San Diego along the California coast in 2010.

Their collective effort took 4 days 5 hours 39.53 minutes and garnered them the 2010 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.

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