In the final meters of a swim race, Christine McClafferty says there’s no time to breathe, feel tired or do anything besides give maximal effort.

That’s because in her decades of swimming, the 52-year-old Camas resident has seen races and records decided by the smallest of margins.

That’s what happened July 24, when McClafferty set a Masters world record in the 100-meter butterfly by just one-hundredth of a second.

The record swim came in a qualifying heat of the 2025 Oregon Swimming Long Course State Championships at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore. McClafferty touched the wall in 1 minute, 7.79 seconds to beat the 50-54 age group record held since 2011 by Jill Hernandez of Chico, Calif.

McClafferty went on to place eighth the following day in the finals, where no other qua

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