Ingalls chose the right sport. Now with 29 years of swimming under his belt, he is joining hundreds of other athletes who have found a way to postpone aging, if not defy it.

Ingalls, a 15-year Sunnyvale resident, was one of more than 1,200 athletes to compete in the California Senior Games State Championships August 2­11.

The games took place in 16 greater San Jose venues and included 22 sports--everything from rugby to bowling to power lifting to Ingalls' bailiwick: swimming.

"I enjoy these competitions as much for the socializing as for the swimming," said Ingalls, who is a manager of system engineering at Lockheed Martin. "The games usually involve sitting around, talking and waiting to swim. Then we jump in the pool, jump out and talk some more. You would be surprised. There are some very fit people here. I'm always amazed to talk to them and hear their stories."

There's the story of the blind swimmer who competed into his 90s. His daughter and granddaughter positioned themselves at the ends of the pool to shout out directions so he wouldn't crash into the walls or ropes.

There's the 84-year-old woman who was delayed by a pacemaker but has not stopped in her pursuit to keep swimming into her nonagenarian years.

And then there's the story of Ingalls himself.

It has been three years since Ingalls has swum competitively. He is coming off a series of rotator cuff surgeries on both arms, the last of which kept him out of the pool for one year.

His doctor won't allow him to do the butterfly stroke anymore because it puts the most strain on the rotator cuffs. But he can still compete in his favorite stroke, the freestyle. And Ingalls is more than willing to try.

At the senior games, he competed in the 50-, 100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyle races. He also competed in the 50-yard breast stroke and backstroke races.

Sounds like a bit much for a 64-year-old. But Ingalls' first love is long-distance cold-water racing, so a swim across the pool is for him, just a walk in a very wet park.

He has swum the treacherous stretch from Alcatraz Island to the mainland. He has also swum the length of the Golden Gate Bridge and around the half-mile fishing pier in Santa Cruz. His longest swim was a 2.4-mile tear at a U.S. Master's race.

Ingalls enjoys longer races more because they involve strategizing. It is important to establish long strides for the longer races, Ingalls said.

Swimmers want to have a fast arm turnover, he added, but this often produces short, choppy strokes that beat the water rather than pull it.

He has raced on the master's level since 1989. He hopes to compete at the World Senior Games in St. George, Utah, in
the fall.

He thinks his shoulders will hold up.

"Injuries were a surprise to me," he said. "You think you're invincible, but then you crash."