Secret Santa and a surprise!

I arrive at the Schwartz building, thinking that Court, Kelsey and myself are going to go over some "captain" details for next year. Next thing I know, we arrive at Carolyn's (assist. coach) house and everyone is there saying, "Surprise"! Because not only did we plan the Secret Santa but they also had planned a baby shower for me.

Carolyn and her husband made breakfast food and we all opened presents. It was a great day!
Below is a picture of one of the things that the team bought for me...

Updates

I'm Back! Well, I haven't really left. The month of November just flew by and I didn't get a chance to update this blog. Here are some of the highlights...

November 4th - William Smith Away Swim Meet
- Sophmore, Jackie had a personal best and took 1st place in the 200 Fly. She also earned the 7th spot on the top ten times.
- Freshman, Drew broke the 200 IM college record - This was the first time he has swum this race in a very long time and he remembered why after the race when he proceeded to lye on the cold, wet deck to catch his breath.

November 12 - Utica - Home
- We did not win this meet but we have improved so much since last year. There was ONLY a 10 point difference on the women's side. Also, on the men's side last year the men had a hard time getting points and this year they earned 29 points!
- Drew broke is own personal record and earned the Wells record in the 200 Free and place 1st at the meet.
- Women's 200 Freestyle Relay finished 1st with Alli (SR), Ashley (SO), Idie (FR) and Jackie (SO)
- Men's 200 Freestyle Relay won by only .09 seconds! Court (JR), Chris (FR), Anthony (FR), and Drew (FR)

November 15th - Cazenovia - Home
- The Men's team WON!!! 62-12
- Alli (SR) took over 4 seconds off her life-time best in the 200 freestyle
- At EVERY meet Kris takes off time in his 100 BR and he continued this success by taking off another 2 seconds, placing 1st at the meet and inching closer and closer to the Wells Record! He also proceeded to get the 200 BR Wells Record by 5 seconds!
- Anthony became the first male EVER to swim the 200 Butterfly. It was also his first time too and he placed 1st!
- Idie earned the 7th spot on the all Wells top ten list for 200 BA

November 20th - SUNY Cobleskill - Home
- Women's Team WON!!! 55-24
- Colleen (JR) earned a 1st place in both her events - 500/1000 free
- More 1st place winners: Drew (50/500 FR), Jackie (50 FR/100 FLY), Idie (200IM/100 BA) and Court (100 FR).
- Lydia also earned a 1st place in the 100 BR with a personal best time; dropped 3 seconds.

December 6th - Kings - Home
- Final meet for Kelsey (JR-Captain) because she will be studying abroad next semester. She finished off her season very well. Taking off almost a minute in her 1650 since States last year and took off 4 more seconds in her 500 FR. It was bitter sweet because Kelsey was striving to under 7 minutes. We will miss you Kelsey!
- Drew (FR) had a personal best time in the 100 Fly by 2 seconds!

Happy Halloween

Going over all the best times and time drops from the Brockport meet!

Water

Disco Girl and the Swim Princess loving life!

All dressed up for 1985 Prom but no dates!

Here we are!!!!

Happy Halloween

Coaches Warm-Up

Every once in a while I like to change up practice and in this case warm-up.

Here is the set...

2x (1x200; log rolls; 1x200; forward rolls)

All the "rolls" were done on the deck on the red matts.

Hartwick Relays!

The Wells College Swim Team swam their first meet of the season at the Hartwick Relays. We had 8 swimmers whom it was their first meet EVER and 5 swimmers who made their appearance at their first college swim meet.

Overall, the team did very well. The Men's team are already changing the record board! Anthony, a freshman from Macedon, NY was able to get place 3 times on the top ten times (100 fly, 50 free adn 200 free relay). The women's team held their own as well by earning times that are only 2-3 seconds off of their lifetime best times. Beverly a Junior from Rochester was able to earn a LTB in the 200 IM where she dropped almost 10 seconds!

This Saturday (25th) we will have our Red and White meet.

Pictures of the Hartwick Relay Meet are coming soon.

The Wall!

The past 2 weekends the team didn't do much swimming but instead worked on developing a cohesive team. The first weekend, the weather did not work for us but this past weekend we were able to go to the "Outdoor Adventure Course". Most students didn't even know it existed right on the Wells campus.

Here the team worked on problem solving with the Lava walk, supported eachother on the low ropes course. And finally, the team had to work together and support one another on the wall. Everyone was able to participate whether they helped lifted someone up the wall, climbed the wall or gave extra support on top of the wall.

Here are some more pictures and I think we have a new mascot named Roscoe :-)

Kids' Night Out!

Friday, September 3rd the swim team hosted their first KNO of the season. It is a fundraiser for when we go to Florida for training in January 2010.

We raised over $300 and plan on having our next KNO Oct. 23rd.

Dara Torres' new career

I went to a Yankee's game down in NYC Tuesday night. Even though I grew up less than an hour away from Yankee stadium I never went to go to see a game. Now that this is the last season, I figured it would be a good idea.



It was a great night as well. The Yankees did not win BUT I got to see Dara Torres pitch the opening pitch. As you can see the picture below, we were not very close. We were on the upper-level about 5 rows up from the foul pole. I also got to see Derek Jeter pass Lou Gehrig's record of the most hits as a Yankee.



Overall a great time!



Swim Season begins on Monday!!!

Phelps' New Gig!

Michael Phelps is not just a swimmer, apparently now he is also a TV host. Phelps will be the host of Saturday Night Live on Saturday, September 13th.

Who knows maybe Phelps will become the next Brad Pitt of Hollywood!

Pool is Open!

Finally, the pool opens up and everyone is taking full advantage! I happen to take a quick peak into the pool and saw many swimmers preparing for the upcoming season!

Less than 2 weeks to go before our very first swim team practice on Monday, September 22nd!

The countdown begins!

Wells is Alive, again!

All the students are back on campus and classes start tomorrow!

I have met most of the returning swimmers and met all of the new comers to the swim team. It is looking like we are going to have great season with many highlights. During season I will make sure to keep you all updated with comments about each meet, pictures and hopefully some video clips from the current team members.

I am looking at 14 women and 10 men on the team this year! With a total of 24 this will be one of the largest teams we have had in a very long time. Not only is this team bigger but we have better ability and a stronger desire to win.

I am very much looking forward to the upcoming season. Our first practice will be Monday, September 22nd and our first meet is the Hartwick Relay meet on Saturday, Ocotber 18th!

GO WELLS!!!

Day 7 & 8 - Recap

Women's 200m Backstroke - Margaret Hoelzer earned the silver while her team-mate, Elizabeth Beisel earned the 5th spot.

Men's 100m Butterfly - You wouldn't believe this race even if you saw it. At the finish, I was amazed that Phelps somehow took an extra quick stroke and touched the wall .01 seconds faster than Milorad Cavic from Siberia.


Women's 4x100 Medley Relay - The American team earned the silver medal with Coughlin (BA), Soni (BR), Magnuson (FLY) and Torres (FR).

Men's 4x100 Medley Relay - The American team earned the gold medal with Piersol (BA), Hansen (BR), Phelps (FLY) and Lezak (FR). Does the huddle below look familiar?


Women's 50m Freestyle - Dara Torres earn the Silver in this event and only missed the gold by .01! Another close race.

Great Swims USA!!!

Medal Tally - 12 Gold, 9 Silver and 9 Bronze

Day 6 - Recap

American Rebecca Soni started the Finals with a dissapointing upset for the Austrailian Leisel Jones in the 200m breaststroke. Soni stayed right next to Jones the whole race and then the last 50m, it was all about who wanted it more and Soni had the drive and came in to win her first gold medal (2:20.22) and a WR.

"I can't believe what just happened," Soni said. "It just kind of flowed. I just tried to stay relaxed."

The USA went 1 - 2 in the men's 200m backstroke. Ryan Lockte is an elite swimmer but many times gets over shadowed by Aaron Piersol and Michael Phelps but in this event Lockte was the person smiling with the gold medal. Piersol was not able to defend his title from 4 years ago. "I'm very proud of what I have done," Peirsol said. "Ryan swam well today, he earned it. A race is a race. You can get beat, no one owns anything."



There was less than 30 minutes from when Lockte won gold in the 200m backstroke and when he had to step up on the blocks to swim the 200m IM with team-mate Michael Phelps in the next lane. Phelps took gold (1:54.23) and broke his own WR while Lockte was not too far behind earning a bronze (1:56.53).


"I knew that was a hard double for Ryan," Phelps said, speaking from firsthand experience. "I knew, in the first half if I got a big enough lead I could hang on. That's all I wanted to do."

The final event was the women's 100m freestyle where American Natalie Couglin earned a bronze. Coughlin swam well but much of the focus was on the World Record holder Lisbeth Trickett from Australia in lane 8 who only made the finals because Jiaying Pang from China disqualified her self by moving on the block too early. Trickett earned the silver and Britta Steffen from Germany earned the gold but did not break Trickett's WR.

GO USA!!!

Medal Tally - 10 Gold, 6 Silver and 9 Bronze

Day 5 - Recap

To begin the evening the first event was the men's 200m breaststroke final. In most people's discussions about this event Brendan Hansen and Kosuke Kitajima from Japan were the favorites. Unfortunately, Hansen didn't even make it into the Finals. Instead Kitajima earned gold and for the Americans, making his Olympic daybeau is Scott Spann who came in 6th place.

Another upsetting event for the Americans was the women's 200m butterfly where Elaine Breedan and Kathleen Hersey who earned 7th and 8th place respectively. But in China this will be the "talk of the town" for awhile with Zige Liu and Liuyang Jiao taken 1st and 2nd place respectively. Liu earn a WR (2:04.18) breaking Jessicah Shipper's record. Shipper placed 3rd.

There was a bit of tension between Alain Bernard from France and our very own Jason Lezak. And if you remember Lezak took the Gold away from Bernard by a fingertip in the 4x100 free relay. Bernard earned his title back by earning gold in the men's 100m finals. Lezak was not too far behind and earned his first medal in an individual event.

The Final event was the women's 4x200 free relay. The Stephanie Rice from Australia made the lead for her team and her team-mates followed. The race for 2nd and 3rd place was between China and USA. In the end China out touched the American team by .4 seconds. On a personal note, this is one of my favorite races because you never know what is going to happen. China and the US sure kept me on my toes as I watched this event at the edge of my couch!

Go USA!!

Medal Tally - 7 Gold, 5 Silver and 8 Bronze

Day 4 - Recap

What was difficult to do at the last Olympics is becoming "easy" this Olympics. What has changed? Of course technology comes into play but is that all. The one thing that hasn't changed is that everyone of these athletes are in the water everyday practicing to reach their goals at Beijing.



The women started the events with the 200m freestyle where Federica Pellegrini from Italy defended her title and broke the WR (1:54.82). Sara Isakovi from Slovenia and Jiayng Pang from China took silver and bronze respectively. Katie Hoff was also in this event, she was seated 5th but managed to move up a spot to 4th place (1:55.78), no medal but to be 4th at the Olympics isn't half bad.

Michael Phelps was in the next event, 200m Butterfly, his specialty. He broke is own WR (1:52.03) and now has a collection of 10 gold medals! He is the first individual to receive this many Golds!

Natalie Coughlin and Katie Hoff battled on the finish of the 200m IM. Coughlin finished 3rd (2:10.34) while Hoff was a close 4th (2:10.68).



The final event for the evening was the 4x200m relay with Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay. Phelps lead the relay with a lead and everyone that followed made that lead even bigger. This relay was not only ahead of 2nd place by 5 seconds but they also broke the WR by 5 seconds (6:58.56). Even though this team was so far ahead and it was a guarantee to get the gold, you can still see the enthusiasm in there faces when Vanderkaay finished!

GO USA

Medal Tally - 7 Gold, 5 Silver and 6 Bronze

Day 3 - Recap

The USA dominated the Finals events last night by winning Gold in all 4 finals!


Starting with Michael Phelps in the 200m Freestyle. 4 years ago he "only" earned the bronze medal and this year came in to prove that he is the best! He started the race with a lead and made the distance between himself and 2nd place grow. Phelps earned a WR, breaking his own record by almost 2 seconds (1:42.96). Now Phelps is tied with the greats such as Mark Spitz with the number of gold's won. If he gets gold in one more event he will be in a league of his own!

"To be tied for the most Olympic golds of all time, with those names," Phelps said. "The Olympics have been around for so many years. That's a pretty incredible accomplishment."

Next event was the men's 100m breaststroke where Peter Vanderkaay swam his first Olympics and earned the bronze medal. "It was an awesome effort with my swim," said Vanderkaay. "I was pretty sure I was in medal contention. It means a lot to win my first individual medal on a stage like this. It is awesome."

Next, Natalie Coughlin successfully defended her title in the 100m backstroke. Coughlin, with that win, became the first woman to not only win back to back titles in Olympic history in the 100m backstroke, but also became the first woman to win gold more than once in the event. Her team-mate, Margaret Hoelzer was also on the medal podium received her bronze medal.


The next event hit everyone with the "1-2 punch" as Aaron Piersol (52.54) and Matt Grevers (53.11) placed first and second in the 100m backstroke. Peirsol's victory made him the first back to back winner of the 100m backstroke since Roland Matthes in 1968 and 1972.

The final event for the evening was the women's 100m breaststroke where Rebecca Soni earned a silver medal (1:06.73).

GO USA!!!

Medal Tally - 5 Gold, 5 Silver, and 5 Bronze

GO USA!!!

Day 2 - Recap

Another exciting day for USA in Beijing!

The first Final's event was the women's 100m Butterfly. Christine Magnuson in her first Olympic appearance earned a Silver with a time of 57.10.

Next Final's event was the men's 100m Breaststroke where Kosuke Kitajima is the first person to swim under 59 seconds with a time of 58.91 earning himself a Gold Medal! The former record holder and world champion, Brendan Hansen just missed the bronze and placed fourth (59.57).

Katie Hoff, another one of USA's "favorite" earned the silver in the 400m Freestyle. "I gave it everything I possibly had, but they got me in the end," Hoff said. "I felt like I was a good racer, but I feel like I should gotten my hand on the wall first."



The finale of last night was the match up between the French and USA in the 400m Freestyle relay. The French were very confident of their ability and even said, “The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came for.” Unfortunately for the French, Phelps’ leadoff swim was an American record at 47.51 and Lezak anchored with the fastest split ever by over a second (46.06). USA finished .08 ahead of the French and claimed the Gold!

Medal Tally - 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze

Day 1 - Recap

The USA Olympic swim team took the rumors and made them reality with the first day of the Olympic games.

Michael Phelps started the games by shattering his own WR in 400IM (4:03.84) and getting gold. Finishing with with a WR and a gold, are the rumors true? Was this Phelps last 400 IM? His team-mate Ryan Lockte (4:08.09) was not too far behind Phelps and earned a bronze medal.

Larsen Jensen earned a bronze medal in the men’s 400m freestyle and a WR (3:42.78).

Katie Hoff also earned a bronze medal in the women’s 400m IM. Austrailia's Stephanie Rice is the first female in the world to swim under a 4:30 in the 400 IM (4:29.45) earning the Gold!

The American women’s 400m free relay (Natalie Coughlin, Lacey Nymeyer, Kara Lynn Joyce and Dara Torres) capped finals with a silver medal and an American record in that event with a time of 3:34.33.

A great first day for USA - 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze

Make sure to watch tonight's events!!

GO USA!!!

2008 Olympic Swim Schedule

Click HERE for the schedule of all the swim events!

Coming Soon...

It all starts this Saturday (9th) night!

All the Olympians are getting ready and practicing in the "Water Cube"
Who do you think this is?

Make sure you post a comment so we can all see your guesses!

Ready Room

Did you ever wonder what the Olympians are doing before they enter the pool deck and proceed to their lane?

Thanks to Erica sending me this article, now we know.

For Olympians, Head Games Before First Splash

Another swim team birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEVERLY!!!