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MAY 2022 • VOL 63 • NO 05 FEATURES
038 NUTRITION: COLLAGEN— MORE THAN JUST SKIN
012 WORLD RECORD FLASHBACK: DAVID WILKIE—ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL
by Dawn Weatherwax
by John Lohn “World Record Flashback” travels back nearly 50 years to the 1976 Olympic Games. It was in Montreal where the United States unveiled the greatest men’s team in history, a squad that won 12 of the 13 events contested. In the event not captured by Team USA, Great Britain’s David Wilkie put on a spectacular show.
014 WOMEN’S NCAAs:
= VICTORY!
by Dan D’Addona, Matthew De George, David Rieder and Ashleigh Shay Last year, the University of Virginia won its first-ever NCAA women’s swimming and diving championship not only for the school, but for the ACC conference. A year later, the Cavaliers are now back-to-back champions. •
IT WOULDN’T BE BACKSTROKE WITHOUT A BERKOFF TEXAS SURGE DIFFERENT PATHS WITH SIMILAR DESTINATIONS
• •
019 WOMEN’S & MEN’S NCAA DIVISION I PHOTO GALLERY photos by Peter H. Bick
022 MEN’S NCAAs: NEVER GIVE UP! by Matthew De George, John Lohn and David Rieder After trailing for most of the meet and still behind after the final day’s first event, Cal outscored Texas 167 to 108.5 in the final six events to upset last year’s champions by 51 points, 487.5 to 436.5. • •
FRENCHMAN FRESHMAN SENSATION GATORS KEEP CHOMPING AT THE HEELS OF CAL AND TEXAS A SPLASH OF PURPLE
•
027 3 SWEEPS, 1 NEAR MISS by Dan D’Addona and David Rieder The women’s and men’s teams from Queens (NCAA II), Keiser (NAIA) and Indian River (NJCAA) swept their respective national championships. Emory’s men won NCAA III, but their women came up seven points short of catching Kenyon College.
032 ISHOF FEATURE: A BRIEF HISTORY OF DIVING IN THE USA (Part 2) by Bruce Wigo “The City of Fort Lauderdale and the Future of Diving”—After 30 years of declining numbers and ratings, the sport of diving has a bright future ahead of it.
Collagen has become a very popular topic for skin health, but most athletes and active people do not realize its extreme importance on other parts of the body!
COACHING 036 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: NEWTON’S LAWS OF MOTION by Rod Havriluk There are three laws developed by Sir Isaac Newton that are fundamental to human movement. The laws describe the motion of an object and the forces that act on it. All three laws apply to different aspects of swimming and help explain performance concepts to swimmers.
040 SPECIAL SETS: KATE DOUGLASS—BUILDING ON BASICS by Michael J. Stott Oftentimes, the best gift a coach can give an athlete is the skills to succeed later on. And when the athlete builds on those basics through a work ethic of application, grit, talent and determination, the results can be affirming—for coach and athlete—and even life changing, as is the case with Coach Carle Fierro and swimmer Kate Douglass.
043 Q&A WITH COACH CARLE FIERRO, WESTCHESTER AQUATIC CLUB by Michael J. Stott
044 HOW THEY TRAIN CLAIRE WEINSTEIN by Michael J. Stott Claire Weinstein used her physical attributes, mental strength and swimming technique to vault to the top of the table in the 13-14 age group, and now the just-turned-15-year-old is continuing her swimming journey from Westchester Aquatic Club in New York to the Sandpipers in Las Vegas.
022 ON THE COVER
At every single men’s NCAA Championships since 2010, the California Golden Bears have finished either first place or second place. After placing second to Texas by 27 points at the 2021 edition of the meet, Cal stormed back in 2022 to capture the national title, the team’s fifth since head coach Dave Durden took over in advance of the 2007-08 season and seventh in program history. (See feature, pages 22-26, and related stories on pages 14-18 and 19-21.) [ Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick ]
JUNIOR SWIMMER 046 UP & COMERS: MAKAYLA HILL by Shoshanna Rutemiller
COLUMNS 008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT 011 DID YOU KNOW: ABOUT THE ROUGHEST GAME IN THE WORLD? 042 THE OFFICIAL WORD 047 GUTTERTALK 048 MAKING WAVES (Best of Social Media) 049 PARTING SHOT
TRAINING 035 DRYSIDE TRAINING: THE DUMBBELL WORKOUT by J.R. Rosania If you had limited resources and were looking for just one piece of exercise equipment to perform strengthening movements, you should choose the dumbbell. With a pair of dumbbells at a few different weights, you can perform several strengthening-specific exercises.
014 6
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SWIMMING WORLD MAGAZINE (ISSN 0039-7431). Note: permission to reprint articles or excerpts from contents is prohibited without permission from the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for errors in advertisements. Microfilm copies: available from University Microfilms, 313 N. First St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103. Swimming World Magazine is listed in the Physical Education Index. Printed in the U.S.A. © Sports Publications International May 2022.
MAKE WAVES with the Voice of Swimming Olympian Rowdy Gaines knows a
thing or two about swimming, which is why he’s passionate about leading PHTA’s Step Into Swim initiative to create more swimmers. This industry initiative provides children with the education and learn-to-swim programming they need to be safer in the water and empowers them to be confident individuals. Together, we’re making waves in support of drowning prevention.
Get involved. Be a wave maker.
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in his mission to create more swimmers one splash at a time.
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VOICE FOR THE SPORT
USA SWIMMING HAS CHOSEN WISELY BY JOHN LOHN
W
e’re going to Indianapolis, and while we have been to the Midwest city on numerous occasions, the next visit will be far different. In a football stadium. With potentially more than 30,000 fans. Boasting an atmosphere that our sport—almost surely—has never seen before in this country. In late March, USA Swimming officially announced that the 2024 Olympic Trials will return—for the first time in 24 years—to Indianapolis. The event will mark Indy’s seventh opportunity to host Trials, the famed IU Natatorium handling the task four times. But in a little more than two years, the competition will be held inside Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts. It’s a great call for the premier event in the United States. Before we look at the meet’s return to Indianapolis, which won a four-city battle for hosting duties, it would be inappropriate to not tip the cap to Omaha, which served as host for the past four editions of Trials: 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2021. The Nebraska city was superb in its role, as the Olympic Trials moved into an arena setting for the first time, and the athletes were given the red-carpet treatment to display their talents. Meanwhile, the people were welcoming, embracing the sport with open arms. Change, however, is inevitable, and USA Swimming—to its credit—has envisioned greater growth for its marquee competition. How does that happen? Well, moving the meet into a massive stadium featuring significantly larger crowds does the job, and it happens that Indianapolis offered those options. While Omaha’s CHI Health Center could accommodate nearly 15,000 fans for a Trials session, Indy may seat a crowd twice that size. Not only would that kind of attendance help promote the sport on a grander scale, it would go down as one of the most-watched, in-person competitions in history. The athletes deserve such fanfare. “From Day One, I truly believed that there was no bigger, more exciting, everythingon-the-line Olympic event in this country than the Swimming Trials and envisioned the heights that we could take it to,” said Tim Hinchey, USA Swimming’s President and CEO. “Given their track record, we are incredibly confident and excited in Indianapolis’ ability to conduct a technically flawless competition and to stage a world-class event.” When the topic of great swimming states is raised, California and Florida are offered immediately—and for good reason. Indiana, though, deserves lofty billing, too. The Hoosier State routinely produces Olympic-caliber stars, and its high school championships can be argued as some of the best—perhaps No. 1—in the U.S. So, given the tradition of the sport in Indiana, it makes sense to bring Trials back. As part of the agreement to bring Trials to Indy, USA Swimming and the Indiana Sports Corp will commit a total of $400,000 to Legacy Projects to guarantee enhanced access to water for children in underserved areas of the Indianapolis area. The groups will work with programs and facilities in need of assistance, with the goals of promoting the sport of swimming and the lifesaving skills of water safety. Additionally, there is an historical connection to hosting the 2024 Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. In 1924, the event was held in Indy, with qualifying athletes—including the legendary Johnny Weissmuller—advancing to the Olympic Games in Paris. One hundred years later, the athletes who qualify will chase Olympic hardware in...Paris. Call it perfect symmetry. Through the years, Indianapolis has staged a variety of high-profile meets, including the 2004 World Short Course Championships, U.S. nationals, the World Junior Championships and the Duel in the Pool. Now, the United States’ headliner competition is heading back to a city that is a perfect fit. Indy and swimming. Swimming and Indy. They go together. The 2024 Trials in the city? It just seems right. v John Lohn Editor-in-Chief Swimming World Magazine 8
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INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
DID YOU
KNOW ABOUT THE ROUGHEST GAME IN THE WORLD? BY BRUCE WIGO PHOTO COURTESY INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
I
n the first half of the 20th century, the sports sections of virtually every American newspaper, of any size, prominently featured cartoons with heroes of sport. These amusing and informative caricatures of prominent sportsmen and women of the day were created by artistically adept sportswriters. Their works were reflective of an era when the sports section was all about fun and games. And before he branched off into other areas of amusement, one of these legendary cartoonists was Robert Ripley (believe it or not!). Due to the early death of his father, Ripley dropped out of school at the age of 16 and began working as a cartoonist for a newspaper in California. In 1913, he moved to New York City, where he landed a job with the New York Globe. It is also when he joined the New York Athletic Club and met Joe Ruddy—widely regarded as the greatest water polo player of the era. Ruddy was also a four-wall-handball champion, and it was on the court where the two became fast friends. Ripley featured Ruddy in a number of cartoons, and after witnessing some games, he came to the conclusion that water polo was the “Roughest Game in the World.” But it wasn’t the game of water polo we know today—Ripley was referring to “softball water polo,” which was played like a combination of football and wrestling in the water with a semi-inflated rubber ball. All sorts of wrestling holds were used in softball water polo, and many jiu-jitsu twists, too, with much of the action occurring under water. In fact, there was no limit to the rough stuff indulged by the players. It was a submarine free-for-all— anything went, and no quarter
was asked. The only thing barred was punching, and one national championship game in Pittsburgh was halted when a full-scale brawl broke out in the water and spilled over into the stands. That resulted in the Amateur Athletic Union banning the “softball” version of the game and adopting the slightly more civilized game of “soccer”— or international water polo—which is played on the surface of the water. “Just imagine yourself on the bottom of the tank with some husky holding you down with a back strangle and body scissors,” read the text of the article accompanying Ripley’s illustrations. “Such holds are bad enough on land, but in 10 or 15 feet of water, they are terrible. There is only one way to escape such a hold, and that is to outlast your opponent. The one who runs out of ‘gas’ first loses, and if you can’t stay under water at least two minutes, you are lost.” Ruddy was once held underwater in a game for more than three minutes, and after exhausting all of his opponents, surfaced to score the winning goal in a game versus the Chicago AA. Joe Ruddy was pretty good at the international game, too, and led the NYAC to several national championships in the 1920s.v Bruce Wigo, historian and consultant at the International Swimming Hall of Fame, served as president/CEO of ISHOF from 2005-17.
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[ Photo Courtesy: Tony Duffy ]
DAVID WILKIE
ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL One of Swimming World’s new series, “World Record Flashback,” travels back nearly 50 years to the 1976 Olympic Games. It was in Montreal where the United States unveiled the greatest men’s team in history, a squad that won 12 of the 13 events contested. In the event not captured by Team USA, Great Britain’s David Wilkie put on a spectacular show. BY JOHN LOHN
C
all him the forgotten man. Overlooked. Underappreciated. Lost amid an iconic week by the globe’s premier power. Truthfully, it’s an unfortunate circumstance, although not difficult to understand. With the United States overpowering the men’s competition at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, David Wilkie became an afterthought who deserved much more recognition. To gain a full perspective of why Wilkie hasn’t received his proper due through the years, we must first examine what the United States pulled off in Montreal. Not only did the Americans win all but one event, they also registered nine gold-silver showings and swept the podium in four events! Because we are in an age of greater representation, we’ll never see anything close. But for as special and dominant as that team was, Wilkie made sure the Stars and Stripes would not go a perfect 13-for-13 in the gold-medal count. More, the British star produced a performance that was nothing short of breathtaking. It came in the 200 meter breaststroke, and it enabled Wilkie to get even with his longtime rival, American John Hencken. A RESPECTFUL RIVALRY In the years preceding the Montreal Games, Wilkie and 12
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Hencken developed a stellar rivalry. They both set world records. They both claimed NCAA titles. They each collected world championships. It can be argued that their matchups constituted the best rivalry of the era, and one of the finest in the history of the sport. But in Montreal, it was Hencken who landed the first punch, as the American set a world record of 1:03.11 en route to the gold medal in the 100 breaststroke. While Wilkie earned the silver medal in 1:03.43, which was under the previous global mark, the second step of the podium is not where Wilkie envisioned himself. It would be a stretch to label the rivalry between Wilkie and Hencken as icy, since the men respected one another’s abilities. But Wilkie and Hencken never had much to say to each other, opting instead to stay focused on their individual tasks. “It’s not exactly a clash of personalities,” Wilkie said of the distance with his foe. “In fact, maybe it’s because our personalities are too much alike that we don’t speak with one another. He’s quiet and so am I. We’re friendly rivals, but there’s not much communication between us. We say one or two words after the race, but I don’t think we’ve ever had a conversation that exceeded 10 words. It’s not because we hate each other.
It’s because we respect each other, and we’re rivals.”
record. Not three-hundredths. Not three-tenths. Three full seconds! A RACE AGAINST It’s not like Hencken failed THE CLOCK to produce his best, either, as Following his silver medal his silver-medal performance in the 100 breaststroke, Wilkie of 2:17.26 was nearly a second had several days to regroup quicker than the existing world for his rematch with Hencken record. The American simply in the 200 breaststroke. Of the two races, the longer ran into a buzzsaw that wasn’t event was certainly Wilkie’s going to be beaten. With his win, best chance at gold, as his Wilkie finally had the Olympic stroke and endurance were gold he long chased, and he was better served to the 200-meter able to celebrate with Haller and distance. The question: Could his University of Miami coach, he start with a clean slate? Charlie Hodgson. The answer arrived in “I stopped even being aware emphatic fashion. During the prelims of of (Hencken), for our contest the 200 breaststroke, Wilkie was over, and it just became a unleashed an effort that race against the clock and getting clearly established him as as good a time as possible,” the gold-medal favorite. Wilkie said. “I knew I had won Covering his prelim outing in an Olympic-record time >> Great Britain’s David Wilkie took his time to check the scoreboard to see easily, so I took my time before of 2:18.29, Wilkie was just how fast he had swum to win the 200 breast at the 1976 Olympics in I turned around to see what nearly three seconds faster Montreal: “I wanted to capture the whole glory of the moment. When I did time I had done. It felt like 10 than Hencken. As important, look around and saw 2:15.11 on the scoreboard, I couldn’t believe it. When seconds. I wanted to capture the Wilkie knew he hadn’t you have broken the world record and your own best by more than three whole glory of the moment, and expended much energy— seconds, it’s a great feeling.” finding out my time was going and a considerably faster to be the icing on the cake. And performance was on tap for when I did look around and saw 2:15.11 the final. on the scoreboard, I couldn’t believe it. Wilkie and his coach used the prelim When you have broken the world record swim as an opportunity to play some mind and your own best by more than three games with the American contingent. seconds, it’s a great feeling.” “After the heats, (Wilkie’s coach) David Haller and I walked past the American coach, Don Gambril, and David A PERFORMANCE AHEAD shouted in a voice that couldn’t fail to be OF ITS TIME heard: ‘Well, David, a 2:15 tonight, then.’ How powerful was Wilkie’s It was a laugh, but we weren’t joking. swim? It wasn’t until the 1982 World We were serious. I was very confident. Championships that the Brit’s record was (Hencken) was three seconds behind me wiped from the books, taken down by in qualifying, and I knew for him to beat Canada’s Victor Davis in 2:14.77. More, me that night, he would have to drop six seconds on his time because I fully Wilkie’s performance would have won intended to swim another three seconds gold at the 1980 Games, taken silver at quicker. Logically, I knew after the heats the 1984 Olympics and claimed bronze at that there was no way he or anybody else the 1988 Games. could win.” Obviously, the performance was Indeed, Wilkie was brilliant during ahead of its time. the final. Although Hencken stayed with “He was absolutely phenomenal,” him through the first half of the final, Haller said of Wilkie. “His swim in 1976 Wilkie had too much over the back half and pulled away over the last two laps. is still probably the greatest individual With every stroke, he lengthened his lead performance I have witnessed. The most and treated the fans in attendance to a beautiful, fluid technique, powered by legendary performance. When Wilkie the strongest legs in swimming. It was touched the wall, the scoreboard flashed like watching a periscope cut through the a time of 2:15.11, a mark more than three water when he charged up the third or seconds quicker than the previous world fourth lap of a 200.” v MAY 2022
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=Victory Last year, the University of Virginia won its first-ever NCAA women’s swimming and diving championship not only for the school, but for the ACC conference. A year later, the Cavaliers are now back-to-back champions. STORIES BY DAN D’ADDONA, DAVID RIEDER AND ASHLEIGH SHAY PHOTOS BY PETER H. BICK 14
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>> Virginia, 2022 women’s NCAA Division I champions
The Top 10 1. VIRGINIA..........................................................551.5 2. TEXAS...............................................................406.0 3. STANFORD.....................................................399.5 4. ALABAMA.....................................................288.0 5. NC STATE........................................................279.0 6. LOUISVILLE...................................................196.5 7. MICHIGAN......................................................184.5 8. CALIFORNIA.................................................180.0 9. OHIO STATE..................................................165.0 10. TENNESSEE..................................................127.0
he Virginia women’s swimming and diving team came into this season ready to defend its title. The Cavaliers returned most of their point scorers from a year ago, and while they lost Olympian Paige Madden to graduation, they picked up two of the biggest young stars in the sport in Emma Weyant and Gretchen Walsh. The result was another dominating performance by Virginia, although this one was dominating in a different way. Last year, the Cavaliers were head-andshoulders above the field and dominated with points. This year, they continued to dominate with points, but the difference was in how they were winning. Coach Todd DeSorbo’s women captured 11 of the 18 events and finished with 551.5 points, nearly 150 more than runner-up Texas (406), which stunningly held off a resurgent Stanford (399.5). Alabama moved up a spot from last year’s fifth-place showing to fourth (288), while NC State dropped from second to fifth (279). Those 11 wins included four of the five relays, three individual wins from Kate Douglass, three from Alex Walsh and one from younger sister, Gretchen Walsh, who also finished runner-up in her two other events. Douglass won the 50 yard freestyle (20.84), 100 butterfly (49.04) and 200 breaststroke (2:02.19), all in American record times—with the 50 free and 200 breast also breaking the NCAA, U.S. Open and meet records. Alex Walsh set an American/NCAA/U.S. Open/meet record in the 200 IM (1:50.08) before adding wins in the 400 IM (3:57.25) and 200 butterfly (1:50.79). Gretchen Walsh won the 100 freestyle (46.05) and was second in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke (although she was under the previous American record in the event as well). That means that Virginia placed among the top two finishers in all but three swimming events! The Cavaliers’ team of Gretchen Walsh, Alexis Wenger, Alex Walsh and Douglass tied their own American/NCAA/U.S. Open/ meet record in the 400 medley relay, and then the quartet of Douglass, Alex Walsh, Reilly Tiltmann and Gretchen Walsh ended the meet by swimming the fastest time in history in the 400 freestyle relay (3:06.91). “I think it’s pretty historic,” Alex Walsh said. “Four years ago, the Virginia women got ninth. The trend has just been exponential, and I don’t think any other team can say that they had the success that we have had.” It adds up to stunning domination. No swimmer in the history of the sport has set American records to win three different strokes in three different distances CONTINUED ON 16 >>
READ THIS ISSUE ONLINE TO VIEW DAY-TO-DAY COVERAGE FROM NCAAs.
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WOMEN'S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS / Continued from 15
ACC Championships, I didn’t necessarily know if they could exceed what they did there. Certainly, they were significantly better here. They just blow my mind. They are great athletes and a great group of people. They create a bubble and don’t worry about what’s going on outside of it. They make this easy. They make my job really fun. And they’re why I’m sitting here. They’re the ones putting in the hard work.” *** In addition to Virginia’s dominance, the other main storyline was Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender who swam for three years on the men’s team before going through a year of hormone therapy. The >> Of the nine records set at this year’s NCAAs, seven were set by Virginia swimmers. Leading the way fifth-year swimmer won the 500 freestyle was Kate Douglass, who was a part of six of those marks: four that bettered the American/NCAA/U.S. Open/meet standards (50 free, 200 breast, 400 medley relay, 400 free relay), one that was an American (4:33.24), ahead of Virginia’s Weyant, who record (100 fly) plus one more that bettered the meet record (200 medley relay). also placed third in the 400 IM. Thomas also made the finals in the 100 free and 200 free, while a group of protesters in the same meet, but Douglass did just that, cementing her legacy gathered outside McAuley Aquatic Center as one of the top college swimmers of all time—and her career isn’t at Georgia Tech to lobby for an even playing field for women. There over yet. was also a counter protest on the first full day of the meet with the Walsh was nearly as dominant with three individual wins and message of protecting transgender athletes. an American/NCAA/U.S. Open/meet record...and...three relay Other winners included Stanford’s Taylor Ruck in the 200 wins, two of which also set the same records. In the third relay (200 freestyle (1:41.12) and Regan Smith in the 200 backstroke (1:47.76). freestyle), Walsh teamed with Douglass, Lexi Cuomo and Gretchen The duo also teamed with Torri Huske and Brooke Forde to win the Walsh, to win in 1:24.96. Virginia’s other relay win came in the 800 freestyle relay (6:48.30). 200 medley with a team of Gretchen Walsh, Wenger, Cuomo and USC’s Kaitlyn Dobler won the 100 breaststroke (56.93) in Douglass setting a meet record of 1:32.16. the meet’s closest finish—just 4-hundredths of a second ahead of Joining the Virginia party of record setters was NC State’s Virginia’s Wenger and 8-hundredths over last year’s 100 breast Katharine Berkoff, who clocked 48.74 in the 100 back for an champion, Sophie Hansson of NC State. And Wisconsin’s Paige American/NCAA/U.S. Open/meet record. That brought the total McKenna, a freshman, was involved in the largest margin of victory number of records broken (swimming and diving) to nine (seven by in an individual event, taking the 1650 by 5.10 seconds with a the Cavaliers): six American/NCAA/U.S. Open/meet, one American 15:40.84. and two meet. Minnesota diver Sarah Bacon claimed her fifth career NCAA “All week long, we’ve talked about moments and trying to create title by winning the 3-meter board (409.25), while Miami’s Mia fantastic moments for the team and create a great environment for Vallee won the 1-meter diving (365.75, a meet record) and Indiana’s the team,” DeSorbo said. “They just shocked me. Coming off the Tarrin Gilliland repeated on the platform (372.95). — D.D.v
IT WOULDN’T BE BACKSTROKE WITHOUT A
K
>> Katharine Berkoff, who repeated as the 100 backstroke champion at NCAAs, became the first woman to break the 49-second barrier with her 48.74. The North Carolina State junior is among only three women who have gone sub-50: Natalie Coughlin (49.97), Ally Howe (49.69) and now Berkoff.
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Berkoff
atharine Berkoff has made her mark. The repeat champion in the 100 yard backstroke will go down in history as the first woman to break the 49-second barrier in the event after she won this year in 48.74 seconds. How fast is she? Only three women have gone sub-50: The other two are Natalie Coughlin (49.97), who held the record from 2002-17, and Ally Howe (49.69), who bettered Coughlin’s standard 15 years later. “It’s pretty crazy,” Berkoff said of becoming the first woman under 49. “My whole life, I’ve always wanted to do something like this. I’ve envisioned it, and to do it is so awesome.” The junior swimmer from North Carolina State must have chlorine in her veins and the backstroke in her DNA. Her father, David Berkoff,
is a two-time Olympian and four-time Olympic medalist. And like his daughter, David was a two-time NCAA champion in the 100 back, swimming for Harvard and winning in 1987 and 1989. It goes without saying that the younger Berkoff had quite the impressive foundation to build upon. “I think it is pretty fun. I think the reason I have always had such high goals in swimming is because of my dad,” Berkoff said. “I always knew I wanted to do what he did. It has been more motivating than anything.” Berkoff made headlines at the 2019 University Games in the, you guessed it, 100 backstroke. Her time of 59.57 won her gold and a World University Games record in Napoli. Due to COVID-19, these Games were the last major event until the 2021 women’s NCAAs in which Berkoff was able to compete. This is where Berkoff’s story starts to come full-circle. Competing in her first college championships as a sophomore, Berkoff once again claimed a title in the 100 backstroke. Her time of 49.74 garnered her first NCAA title and first time going sub-50.
That solidified her spot among the top-five fastest backstrokers of all time. Flash-forward a year later, and she successfully defended her NCAA title while making backstroke history. This was also the first time a member of the NC State women’s swimming team broke an American record. With another year of eligibility, this won’t be the last we see of Berkoff, especially on the college circuit. While she missed out on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after placing fourth at Trials, Paris 2024 is not that far away. “I was really nervous going into it,” Berkoff said about her Trials performance—“I think a little too nervous, and in my finals race, I took it out a little too fast, and my last 15 meters were pretty vertical.” After her historic performance at NCAAs, World Championships are coming up this summer. The Missoula, Montana native will chase a spot on the Team USA roster. — A.S. v
TEXAS
Surge T
he University of Texas brought only seven individual swimmers to this year’s NCAA Women’s Championships. They did not win any individual titles, and until the last day of competition, they did not earn any second-place finishes, either. Their highest relay finish was fourth place. But when the dust settled, Texas finished the meet as the runner-up team to Virginia, the highest finish for the Longhorns since 1994, well before head coach Carol Capitani arrived in Austin at the start of the 2012-13 season. Texas had finished third at the 2021 meet, the first time one of Capitani’s teams >> The all-around most valuable swimmer for Texas was junior Kelly Pash, who placed third in the 200 freestyle and fifth in both the 200 IM and 200 butterfly and also swam the critical leg on four relays. had earned a team trophy (given to the top four teams) at the national championships. “Their goal was to go for a trophy again,” the person who Kelly is. She is one of the strongest leaders of our Capitani said. “I think some people thought last year, this COVID team, not just because of her versatility, but because of her attitude,” year doesn’t really count. But our team felt that it counted, and we Capitani said. “I think the reason she is so good at so many events is swam pretty well last year. I thought this year, if we swim well, we she does not like to get bored.” should be able to earn a trophy, and if we swim out of our minds, it Another huge performer for this year’s Longhorns group would be great to be top-three.” was sophomore breaststroker Anna Elendt, a native of Dreieich, That’s exactly what happened. Germany, who was coming off a pair of B-final appearances at the Based on swimming competition only, the Longhorns were 2021 NCAA Championships and an appearance in the semifinal of seeded to finish sixth at this year’s championships, but huge time the 100 meter breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympics. Elendt took a drops helped Texas outscore its projections by 85 points, while step forward during her second year with Texas, finishing fifth in the Longhorn divers chipped in another 90 huge points. Both of those 100 breast (after swimming the quickest time of the meet in prelims) totals were higher than any other team. That allowed Texas to finish and then second in the 200 breast. the meet with 406 points, barely edging out Stanford’s third-place “She’s just really grown into her confidence this year. I think she total of 399.5. really embraced the sport and kind of became a student of the sport,” The all-around most valuable swimmer for Texas was junior Capitani said. “She worked really hard last year, and I think it was Kelly Pash, who placed third in the 200 freestyle and fifth in both a lot on her plate: English, new school, new country, new life...and the 200 IM and 200 butterfly and also swam the critical leg on four she really just saw herself as a ‘sprint breaststroker.’ I think she saw relays. “I think we’re pretty fortunate when you have someone like herself as a 50 breaststroker who could swim the 100, and I think CONTINUED ON 18 >> MAY 2022
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WOMEN'S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS / Continued from 17
she’s really learned how to be a 100 breaststroker who can move up to a 200 and down to a 50.” Heading into the final day of the meet, Texas looked ticketed for a third-place finish before a trio of events broke in the Longhorns’ favor. First, Pash and teammates Emma Sticklen and Olivia Bray all qualified for the 200 fly A-final, and then Jordan Skilken, Janie Boyle and Paola Pineda all qualified for the championship final in platform diving. Finally, two Texas swimmers posted remarkable performances in the final afternoon heat of the 1650 freestyle: Erica Sullivan, the Olympic silver medalist in the 1500 meter free, and fifth-year senior
Evie Pfeifer. Sullivan, who Capitani called “bright light and a big star with equally as big heart,” was racing the clock to try to post a time that would be competitive with the top-seeded swimmers racing at night, while Pfeifer was swimming her last race. Both swimmers recorded impressive efforts, with Sullivan finishing second overall and Pfeifer fourth. After they finished, Texas swimmers crowded behind the blocks to embrace their teammates. “To have that 1-2 in the afternoon heat and get our night started, that was very special,” Capitani said. Just a few hours later, the coach and her team would have much more to celebrate as Texas received a well-earned second-place trophy. — D.R. v
DIFFERENT PATHS WITH SIMILAR
Destinations
T
aylor Ruck, a junior, was coming off of two Olympic redshirt years. Regan Smith, a freshman, deferred her enrollment until after the COVID-19 shutdown and Olympic postponement. But they both arrived on Stanford’s campus with big >> (From left) Torri Huske, Brooke Forde, Taylor Ruck and Regan Smith played a large part in goals. helping Stanford jump from ninth place a year ago to third place this year, just 6-1/2 points Smith was looking to continue her teenage success out of second. Not only did they win the 800 freestyle relay, but Ruck (200 free) and Smith in the water while Ruck was aiming to return to the (200 back) added two individual event victories. potential seen in her teenage years. Both Ruck and Smith started this year’s NCAA 200 free as the top seed. But this race was much closer on paper, Championships with an all-Olympian 800 free which showed Thomas, Cal’s Isabel Ivey and Ruck all in the hunt. relay win (6:48.30 with Torri Huske and Brooke Forde), then they Once the finals started, though, the race belonged to Ruck. captured their first NCAA individual championships this season The Stanford junior led from start to finish and held off the rest (Ruck 200 free, Smith 200 back), helping lead Stanford to a thirdof the field to earn a convincing victory in 1:41.12, a half-second place finish—just 6-1/2 points outside of second. ahead of Ivey. Thomas finished in a tie for fifth, 2.28 seconds off Smith was somewhat expected to win one of her individual the pace. events, though doing a 200 backstroke-200 butterfly double is risky “Honestly, I just came into this meet wanting to focus on my own in that regard. But Smith used spectacular turns to win the 200 performances. I know there was a bit of chatter about Lia being here. back in 1:47.76 and hold off fellow Olympian Phoebe Bacon, the But usually I just try to zone everything out and focus on what I can defending NCAA champion. do to be the best I can be on that very day,” Ruck said. “Coming into Smith said the hardest part for her was trying not to listen to today, I was just thinking competition is competition. I was excited expectations. to be able to race some people who were so fast.” “It’s definitely hard sometimes, and something I have been For Ruck, this was more than just a first NCAA victory, it was a struggling with,” Smith said of the pressure she faces. “But I’m signal to herself and the world that she is back to elite form. thankful to have a great team behind me that has my back. I just She had struggled with an eating disorder that has kept her from go out there and do what I know how to do. People told me that the potential she had after being a teen in the Olympics and beating (NCAAs) is just different, and I didn’t know what that meant until I Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus head-to-head at the Pan Pacific got here. This meet has been different than any meet I’ve ever been Championships in 2018. to, but it’s been so much fun.” Now, Ruck is back and happy to share her story to help others After the 200 backstroke, Smith returned for the 200 butterfly who might be struggling. Winning a title proved to herself that and came back from a huge deficit to tie defending champion Olivia anything is possible. That is something she wants everyone to see Carter for second place behind Virginia’s Alex Walsh. It was a in themselves. stunning double to end Smith’s first NCAA Championships on a “It certainly has been a journey since Pan Pacs. Lots of downs, high note. more than the ups. I think the past few years have just been very *** hard for everyone,” Ruck said. “Everyone has had their own path Meanwhile, Ruck came into the NCAA meet with a different and journey through it, and mine happens to be through an eating vibe. She wasn’t expected to win anything. Stanford relays would disorder. need her, and she performed extremely well in all of them. “I’m happy to say I’m more on the other side of that struggle, But Ruck put together a dominating performance in the 200 and I’m open to talking about it with anybody. If anybody is going freestyle to earn her first individual victory. through the same things, it does get better.” Nobody really knew what to expect from that event. After Penn And with Ruck possibly coming back for another year and Smith transgender swimmer Lia Thomas won the 500, she came into the just starting, it is going to get better for the Cardinal, too. — D.D.v
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WOMEN’S AND MEN’S NCAA
Photo Gallery PHOTOS BY PETER H. BICK
>> Alex Walsh-VIRGINIA (200 Fly, 200 IM, 400 IM, 400 MR, 200 FR, 400 FR)
>> Drew Kibler-TEXAS (200 Free, 400 FR, 800 FR)
>> (From left) Alexis Wenger, Alex Walsh, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh-VIRGINIA (400 Medley Relay)
>> Bobby Finke-FLORIDA (1650 Free)
>> Kurtis Mathews-TEXAS A&M (1M/3M Diving) CONTINUED ON 20 >> MAY 2022
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NCAA PHOTO GALLERY / Continued from 19
>> Matt Sates-GEORGIA (500 Free)
>> Brendan Burns-INDIANA (200 Fly)
>> Gretchen Walsh-VIRGINIA (100 Free, 200 MR, 400 MR, 200 FR, 400 FR)
>> Andrei Minkanov-STANFORD (100 Fly)
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>> Kaitlyn Dobler-USC (100 Breast)
>> Destin Lasco-CAL (200 Back, 400 MR)
>> Lia Thomas-PENN (500 Free)
>> Hugo Gonzalez-CAL (400 IM)
>> Max McHugh-MINNESOTA (100 Breast)
>> Kacper Stokowski-NC STATE (100 Back)
>> Tarrin Gilliland-INDIANA (10M Diving)
>> Paige McKenna-WISCONSIN (1650 Free)
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Never Give Up! After trailing for most of the meet and still behind after the final day’s first event, Cal outscored Texas 167 to 108.5 in the final six events to upset last year’s champions by 51 points, 487.5 to 436.5. STORIES BY MATTHEW DE GEORGE, JOHN LOHN AND DAVID RIEDER PHOTOS BY PETER H. BICK
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SPONSORED BY
A
>> University of California, 2022 men’s NCAA Division I champions
The Top 10 1. CALIFORNIA..................................................487.5 2. TEXAS...............................................................436.5 3. FLORIDA.........................................................374.0 4. NC STATE........................................................291.0 5. INDIANA.........................................................265.0 6. ARIZONA STATE.........................................236.0 7. STANFORD......................................................231.0 8. GEORGIA.........................................................194.0 9. OHIO STATE..................................................165.0 10. VIRGINIA.......................................................154.5
t every single NCAA Men’s Championships since 2010, the California Golden Bears have finished either first place or second place. After placing second to Texas by 27 points at the 2021 edition of the meet, Cal stormed back in 2022 to capture the national title, the team’s fifth since head coach Dave Durden took over in advance of the 2007-08 season and seventh in program history. Cal trailed Texas in the team competition through the first 11 events until the 100 back. While NC State’s Kacper Stokowski won the event in 44.04, the Longhorns scored 33.5 points (4-8-12T-14) to take a 4.5-point advantage over Texas. Texas regained the lead after 3-meter diving by 2.5 points, but in the final event of Day 3, the 400 medley relay, the team of Destin Lasco, Reece Whitley, Trenton Julian and Bjorn Seeliger scored an upset win in the 400 medley relay (3:00.36), despite not racing in the fastest heat as the 10th-seeded team. After that win, Cal was up by 7.5 points, and during the last day of prelims, Cal swimmers qualified for seven A-final swims and five B-finals, setting up the Bears to pull away on the final night. “It’s the best meet in the world to see young men go after a goal and do it for each other,” Durden said. “We knew how the path of this meet was going to go, knowing that the last day is our best day. I don’t like it that way. I would like to get to a spot where it’s more comfortable, but that’s a testament to the programs that we’re swimming. “This meet is getting faster and faster. That’s probably our fastest NCAA meet that we’ve ever had. It’s super competitive. Our conference meet was tough. Moving the three-and-a-half days at our conference meet really put us in a spot where we could handle the situation at this meet. Have it be close when we get to Saturday, and we can get after this thing.” The top performance of the meet by a Cal swimmer came from senior Hugo Gonzalez, who recorded the fastest time in history in the 400 yard IM, his time of 3:32.88 good enough to lower Chase Kalisz’s American/NCAA/U.S. Open/meet records of 3:33.42 from 2017 and to win the title by more than a second. Gonzalez had recorded the fastest time of the meet in the 400 IM at the 2021 NCAA Championships, but he swam in the B-final. This time, he left no doubt in prelims, allowing himself an opportunity to shine at night. But despite his record-breaking swim, this race was about team points, not time. “It’s a close meet, so I’m just thinking, ‘Score more points than Texas,’” Gonzalez said. That’s why as he walked out for the final, Gonzalez stepped out of line to CONTINUED ON 24 >>
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MEN'S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS / Continued from 23
The top performance of the meet by a Cal swimmer came from senior Hugo Gonzalez, who recorded the fastest time in history in the 400 yard IM( 3:32.88). But despite his record-breaking swim, this race was about team points, not time. “It’s a close meet, so I’m just thinking, ‘Score more points than Texas,’” Gonzalez said.
hug Cal junior Jason Louser, who had missed the A-final after a disappointing morning swim, but rebounded to win the B-final. “I wanted J-Lo to know that he was a great swimmer. I had that experience last year,” Gonzalez said. “I wanted to let him know that he can prove himself by winning the B-final. That’s just going to fire the boys up, fire me and Sean (Grieshop) up. I wanted to make sure that he knew that, and that’s why, when I was walking behind the blocks, I took a moment to hug him.” On the final day, Cal got a second individual win as Lasco placed first in the 200 back in 1:37.71—6-hundredths ahead of Texas’ Carson Foster. Lasco also placed second in the 200 IM, while sophomore Bjorn Seeliger took second in both the 50 and 100 freestyle and junior Liam Bell earned a third-place finish in the 100 breaststroke, won in 49.90 by Minnesota senior Max McHugh (one of only two swimmers to repeat in individual events, the other being Florida’s Bobby Finke in the 1650). Seeliger also delivered the quickest 50 backstroke leg (20.08) ever while leading off Cal’s 200 medley relay to open the meet. But the biggest difference makers for Cal were a quartet of swimmers who decided to return for a fifth year of NCAA swimming, allowed under a waiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those fifth-years included Julian, Daniel Carr, Sean Grieshop and Bryce Mefford. Carr grabbed third in the 200 back, while Julian was a three-time individual A-finalist, finishing as high as fourth in the 200 fly—only 29-hundredths behind Indiana’s Brendan Burns, who won one of the closest races of the meet in 1:38.71. Placing seventh in the 200 back was Mefford, who returned to the team at midseason after he qualified for his first Olympic Games and finished fourth in the 200 meter backstroke during the summer of 2021. Finally, Grieshop had his top moment when he finished eighth in the 400 IM. The most meaningful part of the meet, the fifth-year swimmers
FRENCHMAN FRESHMAN
Sensation T
he potential of Leon Marchand has never been questioned. First emerging as an international medalist at the junior level, Marchand wasted little time developing into a standout on the senior circuit. Count his sixth-place finish in the 400 meter individual medley at the Tokyo Olympic Games as evidence. Now, we can identify the Frenchman as a collegiate sensation. As Arizona State finished sixth in the team standings at the NCAA Championships, Marchand was nothing short of spectacular for the Sun Devils. Having clearly benefited from training under Coach Bob Bowman, Marchand claimed titles in the 200 individual medley and 24
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said, was getting the opportunity to return to Cal and conclude their college careers together and to do so on a high note after coming up just short the year before. “I think one reason why I came back this year was to be with the guys. How close I am with them was literally the reason, every practice. What I hold with these three guys I’ll take with me for the rest of my life,” Carr said. Mefford added, “I’m here for these guys. We wanted each other to come back and fix some stuff we didn’t do last year.” Cal ended up finishing with 487.5 points, while Texas finished second with 436.5 points. The Longhorns were disappointed not being able to defend their championship after legendary coach Eddie Reese canceled his retirement plans after last year’s meet to chase a 16th title. Still, Texas strung together some impressive performances, including Drew Kibler’s win in the 200 freestyle (1:30.28) and triumphs in the 400 and 800 free relays. The Texas team of Kibler, Cameron Auchinachie, Caspar Corbeau and Danny Krueger won the 400 free relay in 2:46.03, while Kibler, Coby Carrozza, Luke Hobson and Carson Foster set American/NCAA/U.S. Open/meet records in the 800 free relay on the first night of the meet (6:03.89). In addition to Gonzalez’s 400 IM, two other individual swims produced all-time bests. Arizona State freshman Leon Marchand became the first man ever to break 1:38 in the 200 IM with his remarkable 1:37.69, and Georgia sophomore Luca Urlando broke Ryan Murphy’s 100 back record of 43.49 when he led off the Bulldogs’ 400 medley relay in 43.35. Urlando also took second in the 100 fly. Another all-time best was turned in by Florida in the 200 medley relay on the first day of the meet, when Adam Chaney, Dillon Hillis, Eric Friese and Will Davis clocked 1:21.13 for an NCAA/U.S. Open/meet record. And Georgia’s Matthew States set a meet record in the 500 free with his 4:06.61, beating last year’s champ and teammate—and previous meet record holder—Jake Magahey. *** Eight of the teams that finished in the Top 10 last year did so again in 2022. The two teams that missed this year were Louisville (12th), which finished No. 5 for the last two championships and No. 9 in 2018, plus Texas A&M (19th), 10th last year. Aggie diver Kurtis Mathews won both springboard events, scoring 438.20 points for the 1-meter and 466.85 for the 3-meter. Purdue’s Tyler Downs took the platform with 447.20 points. Besides ASU (No. 6 with 236 points), which redshirted last season, the other team to jump into this year’s Top 10 was Stanford—from 14th with 99 points to seventh with 231. The Cardinal’s top performer was Andrei Minakov, who won the 100 fly (43.71). — D.R. v 200 breaststroke and added a runner-up showing in the 400 IM. For good measure, he was a go-to guy in relay action, delivering some of the best splits of the competition. Coming off a three-title haul at the Pac-12 Conference Championships, Marchand was accompanied by major expectations when he arrived in Atlanta for his first NCAA Champs. While the intensity of the meet can be overwhelming for some, Marchand had no trouble balancing the exhausting physical and mental demands he faced. In his first individual event, the 19-year-old shredded the NCAA/ U.S. Open/meet record in the 200 IM, posting a time of 1:37.69. Not only did Marchand become the first man to crack the 1:38 barrier, he took down the 1:38.13 record previously held by some guy named Caeleb Dressel. Simply, the ASU freshman generated momentum that would not be stopped.
>> Having clearly benefited from training under Coach Bob Bowman, Leon Marchand claimed titles in the 200 individual medley and 200 breaststroke and added a runner-up showing in the 400 IM. He was one of the big reasons why Arizona State finished sixth in the team standings—its first Top 10 showing since the program was ninth in 1996.
Marchand followed his breakthrough swim with a runner-up showing in the 400 individual medley, his mark of 3:34.08 good for the No. 4 performance in history. He then capped the meet with a championship in the 200 breaststroke, where Marchand clocked 1:48.20 for the No. 2 mark of all-time. Additionally, he helped a quartet of relays to top-eight finishes, highlighted by second place in the 400 freestyle relay. “This is amazing,” Marchand said. “A few years ago, I was
watching this record (200 IM), and I was like, ‘This is insane.’ And now I’m beating it, so this is crazy. It is very cool. NCAAs is like an international championships. I didn’t know that before coming here. This is so fast. This is like the Olympics for me. The atmosphere is so great.” Obviously, Marchand’s move to the United States has paid dividends. In Bowman, Marchand is working with one of the greatest coaches in history, the man who drafted the blueprint for Michael Phelps’ vast success. Marchand, too, is surrounded by quality talent at ASU, with the Sun Devils rapidly rising into a national power. Arizona State’s sixth-place finish in the team battle marked its first Top 10 showing since the program was ninth in 1996. This summer, we’ll see how Marchand’s new training base has boosted his long course endeavors, with the French youngster expected to contend for the podium in several events at the World Championships in Budapest. If nothing else, Marchand is enjoying his time in Arizona and feeling good about what his career might produce. “I think I’m having a lot more fun here than in France,” Marchand said. “I’m doing a lot more relays here. It’s more like a team, and we are very nice to each other, so that’s cool. I love to swim for the team, too, to try to bring the most points that I can for ASU. Another thing is that the training is different here. The intensity is different, and I improved a lot on underwater kicking and backstroke.”— J.L.v
GATORS KEEP
Chomping AT THE HEELS OF CAL AND TEXAS
T
he men’s NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships have been ruled by a duopoly since 2010. With one exception—notably, Michigan’s 2013 title—no teams other than the University of Texas and the University of California have occupied the top two spots at NCAAs. For most of that decade-plus of dominance, Florida has knocked loudest on the door. The Gators’ performance at the 2022 championships wasn’t the long-awaited interloping on the TexasCal hegemony. But it marks the height of an era worth celebrating. Florida finished third at NCAAs in 2022—for the fifth time in eight editions. The meet was a farewell to two of the biggest figures in Florida’s sustained control of that spot. But the way in which Kieran Smith and Bobby Finke have guided their resurgence, and the role that Coach Anthony Nesty has played in making Gainesville one of the nation’s top training destinations, means the future is plenty bright. Florida has been here before. The 10-time reigning SEC champion finished third in three of four installments of NCAAs between 2014 and 2017. If there was a sense of them being on the precipice then, it went unrequited: By 2019, they slipped to sixth. The point totals show progress, however. The Gators scored 374 points in Atlanta, their most since 2014 (387). And the gap has been closing: The Gators’ 367 points in 2021 left them 201 points adrift of second-place Cal; this year, they were within 63 points of the runner-up Longhorns and 113 shy of Cal’s winning total. The relays illustrate how close the Gators are. They finished no worse than seventh, with victories in the 200 medley—for the first time in program history—and the 200 free. The medley foursome set an NCAA/U.S. Open/meet record of 1:21.13 via Adam Chaney, Dillon Hillis, Eric Friese and Will Davis. (It would’ve rewritten the American record by 75-hundredths of a second, but for Friese being
>> (From left) Florida’s Adam Chaney, Eric Friese, Dillon Hillis and Will Davis won the 200 medley relay—for the first time in program history—by setting an NCAA/U.S. Open/meet record of 1:21.13. Chaney, Friese and Davis then joined Kieran Smith for a 1:14.11 victory in the 200 free relay, marking the first time since 1983 that the Gator men won two relays at the same NCAAs.
German.) With their 1:14.11, the 200 free squad of Chaney, Friese, Davis and Smith came within 3-hundredths of a second of downing Auburn’s super-suited NCAA mark from 2009. It’s the first time since 1983 that the Gator men won two relays at the same NCAAs. “We came in, we wanted to win,” Finke said after repeating as champion in the mile. “Right now, Cal’s just running away with it. But it didn’t stop us from trying to race and trying to get all the points on the board we wanted to. I’m super proud of the guys and how they race and how this year’s gone. They’ve put in so much work. I’m just glad I got to have my last year with them.” The Gators will incur heavy losses to graduation. Davis and Hillis are valuable cogs. Finke and Smith have been at the forefront CONTINUED ON 26 >> MAY 2022
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MEN'S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS / Continued from 25
not just of Florida’s resurgence, but a rebirth of American distance swimming. Finke is an 11-time All-American and three-time NCAA champ, defending his title in the 1650 freestyle in 14:22.28. He did the mile/400 IM double as a junior in 2021. He etched his name indelibly into history by winning gold in the 800 and 1500 free at the Tokyo Olympics in the sensational come-from-behind style that has become his trademark. Smith is a 28-time All-American, the maximum. The Olympic bronze medalist in the 400 free, he won the 200 free at NCAAs
in 2021 and holds the NCAA record in the 500 free, 4:06.32 from February 2020. His 2022 program was impressively eclectic—fourth in the 500, fifth in the 200 free, fourth in the 200 back, anchoring the 200 free relay and leading off the 800 free relay with a time (1:30.66) that would’ve been second in the event. Smith is the archetype for the swimmer Nesty often produces, an all-around contributor for the college meet. Underclassmen standouts in waiting—sophomore Chaney finishing third in the 100 back and ninth in the 50 free; Trey Freeman making B-finals in three freestyle distances—show the promise that lies ahead for the Gators. — M.D.v
A SPLASH OF
Purple I
t can seem sometimes at the NCAA Championships like the same few schools trade titles, the elite club of powerhouse programs brandishing such depth that any new colors on the top step of the podium are cause for celebration. Enter the splash of purple enrobing the gawky smile of Brooks Curry at the men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. As special as a sprinter sweeping the 50 free and 100 free titles would be for any swimmer, Curry’s accomplishment is even starker, given the >> Brooks Curry, LSU’s first American Olympic swimmer and swimming gold medalist, became only paucity of history for his LSU program. the third men’s swimmer from his school to win a swimming title at NCAAs when he proved himself as In the process, the LSU junior has helped the meet’s sprint king, winning both the 50 and 100 freestyle. The Tigers’ previous two men’s swimming haul the Tigers back onto the American titles—Todd Torres in the 100 breaststroke and Mark Andrews in the 50 freestyle—came in the 1980s. swimming map. In its history, LSU had produced six 2021, finishing sixth in the 200 free and seventh in the 100. NCAA champions before the men’s meet That outing may not have tipped the sensational summer began March 23. Four were female divers, the last in 2000. The to come, but his taste of Olympic glory has only deepened his two men’s swimming titles—Todd Torres in the 100 breaststroke, commitment to improving. He won the 100 free crown at SECs Mark Andrews in the 50 freestyle—dated to the 1980s. (For this year to go with runner-up results in the 50 and 200 free. comparison, the California men won five titles at the 2021 meet At NCAAs, Curry was the rare elite sprinter with no relay alone.) responsibilities, channeling all his speed into his individual In three days, Curry nabbed two crowns, advancing the LSU events. In the 50 free, he finished first in 18.56 seconds—3program by decades. hundredths ahead of Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger—shaving a tenth off “I’ve been looking forward to this meet for a really long time,” his time at SECs. After finishing sixth in the 200 free, he clipped Curry said. “Super stoked that the team is all behind me and they’re 15-hundredths off his SEC Championships record to win the 100 watching. It’s a huge deal for me to finally get a title. Last year was free in 40.84. hard. I worked really hard this year. I had some awesome training Brace yourself for more “since” caveats: In addition to the partners this year, and I’m super excited that I made it happen.” first NCAA title for LSU since 1988, he also helped the Tigers tie “It’s an amazing day for LSU,” Coach Rick Bishop said, “and for 15th in the team standings, the highest finish since 1997. The it’s an amazing day for Brooks Curry.” 53 points Curry scored alone would’ve placed 19th in the team Curry’s history with the Tigers is dripping with firsts. When standings, nestled between Tennessee and Minnesota. he qualified for the men’s 400 free relay at the Tokyo Olympics, For a swimmer on a dream-like run the last year-plus, Curry’s he was the first LSU Olympic swimmer since 2008 and LSU’s win in his hometown in his specialty event was the cherry on top first-ever American Olympic swimmer. He became the first LSU of an outstanding season. swimming gold medalist from his Tokyo prelims swim. “I’ve been dreaming about this race in particular for a long It’s not often that such a program-changing recruit not only finds time, especially to be in this pool, coming back home,” Curry said his way to a place like Baton Rouge, but sticks around and delivers after the 100 free. “It’s the greatest feeling to come back here in on the promise. But Curry has done just that, tirelessly improving such a high-stakes meet, such a fast field, and to be able to win that at every step. The Atlanta native was the 2020 Freshman of the Meet at SEC Championships. He made two A-finals at NCAAs in race. It’s awesome.” — M.D.v
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3 SWEEPS, 1 NEAR MISS The women’s and men’s teams from Queens (NCAA II), Keiser (NAIA) and Indian River (NJCAA) swept their respective national championships. Emory’s men won NCAA III, but their women came up seven points short of catching Kenyon College. NCAA DIVISION II
March 9-12, Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, N.C. Women’s and Men’s Team Champions: Queens University of Charlotte BY DAVID RIEDER
Q
ueens University of Charlotte captured their seventh straight national title for both women and men. Both winning streaks date back to 2015, and the run would undoubtedly be eight years if COVID-19 did not force the cancellation of the 2020 meet after just one day. This year, the Queens women finished with 536.5 points to win by more than 100, while Indy (423) took second and Nova Southeastern (368.5) placed third. On the men’s side, Queens finished with 607.5 points, ahead of Drury’s 522 and Indy’s 413. The standout swimmer for the Queens women was junior Danielle Melilli, who put up a D-II national record of 22.15 to win the 50 yard freestyle before also placing first in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.11) and 100 freestyle (48.91). Queens’ Sophie Lange was the winner in the 1000 free (9:53.05) and 1650 free (16:32.44), while Monica Gumina won the 200 free (1:46.76).
Queens also won a pair of relays, with Gumina, Melilli, Anna DeBoer and Kayla Tennant combining for the 400 free relay title and the team of Gumina, Tova Andersson, Giulia Grasso and Caroline Lawrence winning the 800 free relay. The runner-up team, Indy, was led by fifth-year swimmer Marizel Van Jaarsveld, who took national titles in the 200 IM (1:58.91) and 400 IM (4:14.06), while Indy also dominated the 200 free relay with Johanna Buys, Leticia Vaselli, Andrea Paaske and Krystal Caylor. Nova Southeastern, on its way to a third-place showing, picked up wins from Cassie Wright in the 100 butterfly (52.48) and Celina Marquez in the 200 backstroke (1:55.79), and the group of Marquez, Savanna Best, Aleksandra Maslova and Wright finished first in both medley relays. The other female to set an individual record in Greensboro was West Chester senior Ann Carozza, who set a national record of 52.06 in the 100 fly prelims (before ending up second in the final). The next day, she broke another record on her way to winning the 200 fly (1:55.79). *** The men’s competition saw Queens win only three individual events, but the Royals still almost tripled their winning margin from 2021! Senior Alex Kunert stood out by winning the 200 IM (1:43.95) and 200 fly (1:42.44). The win was Kunert’s third in the 200 fly after he set a national record in the event as a freshman and won it again as a junior (and he was favored to win in 2020 prior to the meet’s cancellation). Matej Dusa set a national record with his 18.88 in the 50 free, and Queens won relay titles in the 200 freestyle relay, 400 medley relay, 800 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay, with Dusa, Kunert, Skyler Cook-Weeks, Finn Howard and Balazs Berecz each contributing to at least two winning quartets. Drury had four individual wins on the meet, two of them from
>> PICTURED TOP: Keiser University, which won its fourth consecutive NAIA men’s national championship, was led by Alberto Garcia. CONTINUED ON 28 >> MAY 2022
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[ Photo Courtesy: Keiser University ]
COLLEGE ROUNDUP
COLLEGE ROUNDUP / Continued from 27
[ Photo Courtesy: Carlos Morales, Queens Athletics ]
Karol Ostrowski in the 200 free (1:33.68) and 100 free (41.91). Domink Karacic (100 fly, 46.30) and Mikita Tsmyh (200 back, 1:41.36) were also Drury winners, and it was the team of Tsmyh, Dawid Nowodworski, Karacic and Alex Bowen who captured the victory in the 200 medley relay. The third double winner on the men’s side was Rollins’ Ward Lockhart in the 1000 free (9:00.93) and 500 free (4:20.44). Aside from Dusa’s performance in the 50 free, the only other national record to be broken at the D-II meet was Simon Fraser’s Collyn Gagne, who swam a time of 3:42.49 in the 400 IM. Gagne dominated the field by almost six seconds and beat the previous national record by more than a second. v
NCAA DIVISION III
March 16-19, IUPUI’s IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, Ind. Women’s Team Champions: Kenyon College Men’s Team Champions: Emory University BY DAVID RIEDER
A
>> Danielle Melilli, Queens, set a national record in the 50 free at the women’s NCAA Division II Championships. She also added wins in the 100 free and 100 breast, and swam a leg on the Royals’ winning 400 free relay.
women’s championships, but that streak ended in 2022. However, Emory did finish first on the men’s side with 427.5 points, while Johns Hopkins edged out Denison for second by just a half-point (340 to 339.5). Senior Crile Hart was the star for the Kenyon women as she won three individual titles in the 200 IM (1:57.76), 100 butterfly (53.21) and 200 backstroke (1:56.54). She set an individual D-III
[ Photo Courtesy: AJ Mast ]
fter two seasons when the NCAA Division III Championships were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the meet returned this year and featured an incredible three-team race on the women’s side that came down to the final few events. In the end, it was Kenyon that captured the title by seven points over Emory (446 to 439), while Denison (411.5) took third. Before the two-year hiatus, Emory had won 10 consecutive
>> Senior Crile Hart was the star for the Kenyon women with six first-place finishes: 200 back, 100 fly, 200 IM plus three winning relays. She set an individual D-III national record in the 200 IM (1:57.76), breaking her previous mark from 2020.
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On the men’s side, Emory cruised to its second-ever team title after an earlier win in 2017. The Eagles did not win an individual event until the very last swimming race when Jason Hamilton captured the 200 breaststroke (1:55.83), but Emory did score a pair of relay wins. Ryan Soh, Jake Meyer, Hwamin Sim and Colin Lafave took first in the 200 medley relay (1:27.08), and the team of Pat Pema, Logan D’Amore, Hamilton and Nicholas Goudie set an NCAA Division III record of 6:28.69 in the 800 free relay. A trio of individual national records were broken. Claremont Mudd Scripps’ Frank Applebaum unleashed a 1:44.01 in the 200 butterfly to knock a half-second off the previous mark, while the very next event saw Ithaca’s Jack Wadsworth swim a time of 46.45 for a Division III record in the 100 back. Whitman’s Tanner Filion took second to Wadsworth in that event, but on the final day, he clobbered the existing record in the 200 back by almost two seconds as he swam a time of 1:41.49. The men’s competition featured a surprising team race, as Kenyon, the top-ranked team for most of the season, fell to fifth place overall. Kenyon’s Bryan Fitzgerald won the 500 free (4:21.58) and 400 IM (3:47.62), and teammate Israel Zavaleta won 3-meter (561.80) and 1-meter diving (576.40). However, Kenyon struggled badly in relays, with two disqualifications and only one top-eight performance. Chicago’s Jesse Ssengonzi (100 fly, 46.77) and Williams’ Jamie Lovette (200 free, 1:36.00) also set meet records. v
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(47.51) to earn Co-NAIA Men’s Swimmer of the Meet honors with Savannah College of Art and Design’s Joel Thatcher, who swept the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyle (1:36.09, 4:21.68, 15:27.79). Receiving the NAIA Diver of the Year award was Bethel’s (Ind.) Nick Bohm, who won the 1-meter competition with 222.20 points. SCAD placed second in the men’s team standings with 427 points, getting winning performances not only from Thatcher, but from its 400 freestyle relay (3:01.17) and from Nicholas Kredich, who won the 200 fly (1:58.96). Taking third was Cumberlands (335) with the team’s highest finish in program history. Competing in its first-ever NAIA championship meet, St. Thomas (Fla.)—led by Inigo Marina, who won the 200 breast in 1:58.32—placed fourth (316.5). Milligan (Tenn.) rounded out the top five team scoring (289), with Stephen Gilbert breaking the lone NAIA record of the meet—by nearly a second!—with a 3:51.08 in the 400 IM. But this year’s men’s competition belonged to Keiser, which won seven individual events and four of the five relays (200-400 medley, 1:27.42-3:13.83; 200-800 freestyle, 1:20.87-6:34.99). Right behind senior Garcia’s three individual wins was freshman Fynn Kurze, who doubled in the 200 back (1:46.79) and 200 IM (1:47.73). Also contributing victories were Gergo Zachar (100 back, 48.82) and Emerson Zaplatar (100 breast, 53.38—just 32-hundredths off the 2009 meet record). Keiser’s Fynn Kunze won the 200 backstroke in 1:48.79 and the 200 IM in 1:47.73. Teammate Emerson Zaplater won the 100 breaststroke in 53.38. And it was no surprise that Keiser’s Adam Epstein was voted NAIA Coach of the Year. Bethel (Ind.) diver Nick Bohm earned NAIA Diver of the Year.
Th
national record in the 200 IM, breaking her previous record from 2020 (before the meet was cancelled). Kenyon’s Emmie Mirus got the win in the 100 freestyle (49.90), and Kenyon had three relay victories, all setting NCAA Division III records. Olivia Smith, Jennah Fadely, Hart and Mirus won the 200 medley relay in 1:39.59, crushing the existing national record by more than a half-second, and that same foursome broke the record in the 400 medley relay by 1.5 seconds with their time of 3:38.05. Alexandra Wright, Sydney Geboy, Hart and Mirus set another national mark in the 200 free relay (1:30.39). For runner-up Emory, Taylor Leone won the 50 freestyle in 22.72, and the team of Leone, Cailen Chinn, Zoe Walker and Caroline Maki captured first place in the 400 free relay in 3:20.86. Third-place Denison got its only individual win from Taryn Wisner in the 500 freestyle (4:48.55). In the final individual event of the meet, St. Kate’s Jordyn Wentzel beat her own national record from one month earlier in the 200 breaststroke, as she posted a time of 2:10.06. Earlier in the meet, Wentzel had swum faster than the existing national record in the 200 IM, as she ran down Hart on the back half of the race, but she ended up finishing second by just 6-hundredths (1:57.82). Wentzel was also second in the 100 breast. Meanwhile, the top freshman performer was Johns Hopkins’ Kristin Cornish, who won the 1650 freestyle (16:33.24) and placed second in the 500 free.
- BE SEEN - BE SAFE -
NAIA
March 2-5, Columbus Aquatic Center (Columbus, Ga.) Women’s and Men’s Team Champions: Keiser University BY DAN D’ADDONA
T
he Keiser men’s swimming and diving team won its fourth consecutive NAIA national championship. If that wasn’t enough, the Keiser women won the national title for the first time in school history, giving the program an historic sweep in 2022. The Seahawk men scored 742 points, led by Alberto Garcia, who won the 50 and 100 freestyle (20.03, 43.93) plus the 100 butterfly
WWW.SAFERSWIMMER.COM or HALLOFFAMESWIMSHOP.COM
954.462.6536 CONTINUED ON 30 >> MAY 2022
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[ Photo Courtesy: Brandon Hensley, University of the Cumberlands ]
COLLEGE ROUNDUP / Continued from 29
>> (From left) Joel Thatcher of Savannah College of Art and Design shared Co-NAIA Men’s Swimmer of the Year honors with Keiser University’s Alberto Garcia. Thatcher swept the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyle, while Garcia won the 50 and 100 freestyle plus the 100 butterfly.
In the women’s meet, Keiser also dominated the competition with the same number of wins as its men—seven individual and four relays—on the way to scoring 785 points. They won both medley relays (1:44.65, 3:49.21) and the 800 freestyle relay (7:32.49). French freshman Marine Lecomte claimed NAIA Women’s Swimmer of the Meet honors with her wins in the 200 backstroke (1:58.87) and 400 IM (4:27.07) and her runner-up finish in the 500 freestyle behind Cumberlands’ Alexandra Pecore (5:00.77 to 5:00.86). Also capturing double wins for Keiser was Nikoline Biltoft-Jensen (100-200 breast, 1:02.92-2:17.00) and Camryn Hudson (200 fly, 2:03.86; 200 IM, 2:05.52), with Stefania Sofouli claiming Keiser’s other individual victory by clocking 17:29.67 in the 1650. Finishing second in the women’s team race with 469 points was Savannah College of Art and Design, which had won the three previous national team titles (201820). Seniors Sloan Sizemore and Spencer Sheridan led the way with their sprint freestyle strength. Sizemore-Sheridan went 1-2 in the 100 free (51.16-51.59), with Sizemore also claiming the 50 (23.12) and Sheridan taking the 200 (1:52.91). The duo also combined with Anna McGinty and Isabella Song to win the 200 freestyle relay (1:34.75). Other individual champions included Lindsey Wilson College’s Maaike Broersma in the 100 back (54.80) and Sterling College’s Sydney Schmidt in the 100 fly (55.00). Repeating as NAIA Diver of the Year was Andrea Adam of Saint Ambrose, who won the 3-meter (226.35) and placed second in the 1-meter behind Lincoln’s Carla Gutierrez Anaya (224.50). Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) totaled 410.5 points to earn a third-place finish in the women’s team standings, while Cumberlands, Ky. (324) and Milligan, Tenn. (262) rounded out the top five. v
NJCAA
March 2-5, Indian River State College (Fort Pierce, Fla.) Women’s and Men’s Team Champions: Indian River State College [ Photo Courtesy: NJCAA ]
BY DAN D’ADDONA
F >> Indian River’s men’s and women’s (pictured) teams extended their NJCAA team championship winning streaks to 48 and 40.
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or the record, the numbers now are 48 and 40. That would be FORTY-EIGHT straight men’s team titles for Indian River State College (Fort Pierce, Fla.) at the NJCAA Championships—the longest unbroken U.S. championship winning streak in any sport at the collegiate level... and FORTY straight for IRSC’s women!
Swimming in front of their home crowd at the Indian River State Complex, Coach Sion Brinn’s women’s team scored 1,413.5 points to win the title from a field of 10 teams. Southwestern Oregon (651) finished second, followed by Iowa Central (558), Barton (543.5) and Jamestown (258). Indian River’s Gina Miller was named the 2022 NJCAA Female Swimmer of the Meet after winning the 200, 500 and 1000 yard freestyles (1:50.19, 4:53.38, 9:56.27) and contributing legs on three of the five winning relays (200-400-800 freestyle, 1:36.01-3:27.297:35.60). Madison Price was named the Female Diver of the Meet by sweeping 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events (260.15, 265.55). Of the 30 women’s events (18 individual swimming, five relays and two diving), Indian River won all but ONE! Crashing the party was Iowa Central’s Lily Wright, who won the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.86, just 35-hundredths ahead of IRSC’s Masha Prima, the 50 breaststroke (29.01) and 100 IM (57.68) champion. In addition to Miller, Price and Prima, the Pioneers added three more multiple winners in individual events: Olivia Ciancimino (50-100 free, 23.55-51.90), Esther Rydbeck (1650 free-400 IM, 17:07.22-4:26.24) and Ella Gates, who put together four individual wins (50-100 back, 26.44-56.47, and 50100 fly, 24.89, 55.32). Taking home individual titles for IRSC in single events were Kaylin de Almeida (200 back, 2:03.06), Cornelia Almqvist (200 breast, 2:19.09) and Molli Barron (200 fly, 2:05.12).
events. Metzler’s teammates, Canek Bracho (100 free, 44.96) and Emile Dost (50 fly, 22.01), stood atop the podium, as did Barton’s Johan Cue Carrillo (50 breast, 24.60). Still, it was predominantly a Pioneer party. Michael Deans was the only other IRSC multiple-event winner besides William Beckstead-Holman, taking the 100-200 breast (53.64-1:57.65), while six more teammates won single events: Luke Altmann (50 free, 20.32), Caleb Brandon (200 free, 1:36.78), Peyton Ming (100 fly, 49.07), Aramis Rivera (200 IM, 1:48.30), William Turnbull (1-meter diving, 319.25) and Sam Hlavachek, the 2022 NJCAA Male Diver of the Meet (3-meter diving, 362.10). v
*** Although Indian River’s men did not win as many events as the women’s team (23 to 29), their total points were basically even: 1,413.5 for the women and 1,406 for the men. The top four men’s teams were the same as the women’s except that Barton (third, 591.5) and Iowa Central (fourth, 549) switched places, while Southwestern Oregon (coached by Sandra Bullock, who was selected NJCAA Coach of the Year) finished second (772.5) in both the women’s and men’s competitions. Iowa Lakes’ men (228) rounded out the top five. The 2022 NJCAA Male Swimmer of the Meet award actually went to two swimmers instead of one, with Alex Metzler of Southwestern Oregon and William Beckstead-Holman of Indian River both winning four individual events. For Metzler, it was the 500-1000-1650 free (4:20.42-9:02.52-15:02.71) and 400 IM (3:50.62), while Beckstead-Holman won all three backstrokes (22.13-48.86-1:47.27) and the 100 IM (49.50). If an award were given for the best “brother combo” of the meet, then Beckstead-Holman would have shared the honor with his brother, Marcus, who won the 200 fly (1:49.44). With Metzler winning four events alone, there were many more races going to nonIRSC swimmers compared to the women’s MAY 2022
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INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
A BRIEF HISTORY OF DIVING IN THE USA PART 2
diving boards,” Gompf recalled in his recently published Author’s Note: As I’ve documented in my book, “The memoir, A Life Aloft (available on Amazon). “I had Golden Age of Swimming” (available at blurb.com), BY BRUCE WIGO watched my older brothers perform cannonballs and other when the USA ruled the Olympic airways from the tricks—mostly simple dives, but very stylish in my young 1920s though the 1960s, America was swimming-andimpressionable mind. Of course, I wanted to be like them. swimming-pool-crazy. And the most popular attraction at the pool “So one day—left to my own devices as I often was—I wandered was the diving board. Literally, millions of kids went off boards to the deep end of the pool and stood in front of the 1-meter diving every summer, and those who loved the experience most, naturally board and sized it up. On close inspection, it didn’t seem so bad. gravitated toward competitive diving, which provided a broad base I figured there’s probably not too much danger in bouncing off a for our collegiate and Olympic programs. 1-meter-high springboard—even for a little kid...and especially one motivated by trying to keep up with his big brothers.” ne of those kids was Tom Gompf. Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, Gompf would spend four or five hours every day For any spectator, Tom’s first leap from a diving board was both of the summer playing tag in the sunshine, swimming and diving unremarkable and an experience common to millions of mostly with friends at the Oakday Pool in Dayton, Ohio. white children in the first half of the 20th century. But for Tom, “I was probably 5 or 6 years old when I first approached the “That first jump was earth-shattering.” As he describes it in his memoir, it was his first taste of something that would define the rest of his life as a champion diver, Air Force officer in the Vietnam War, commercial airline pilot, coach, mentor, husband, father, friend and one of the most influential figures in the world of Olympic diving. Standing next to the low board at the Oakday Pool were other boards that were 10, 15 and 20 feet high. While Tom had seen other kids and even some adults land flat on their back or stomach from those heights—and climb out of the pool with big and obviously painful red blotches on their skin—the higher boards beckoned him. Tom is now 83 years old, but he remembers what it was like looking up the ladders to those higher boards that seemed so far away, as if it were yesterday. “After what felt like hours, I made it up the ladder to the board in the sky. That was an achievement in itself, as I’d concentrated hard during the climb to prevent slipping on the wet steps. I arrived at the board almost startled to find there was another greater challenge to overcome just in front of me. I suddenly realized I’d have to come back down one way or another. “I had gone up, and indeed, now I must come down. Just like that ‘Boy on the High Dive’ painting by Norman Rockwell that appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post in 1947, I found myself peering over the edge of the board, the sunchased water sparkling miles below me. But I’d come too far and couldn’t concede just yet. Besides, my brothers were watching!”
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>> Norman Rockwell’s “Boy on the High Dive” (cover of The Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 16, 1947)
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DECLINE OF COMMUNITY POOL AND AMERICAN DIVING The community pool gave millions of
people, young and old alike, a shared experience of diving, testing courage and bravery for all. It also gave them an experiential appreciation for the skill and artistry required for the sport of diving—and led thousands of kids into diving programs. Unfortunately, neither the community pool nor diving board experience are common to most Americans today, and the numbers of kids in diving programs is a fraction of what it once was. In this author’s opinion, there are two primary reasons for the decline of the community pool and American diving: •
•
The first reason can be traced to the legal fight to end segregation. The noble intent was to enable non-whites (Asian, Hispanic, African and Jewish Americans)—who had been systematically excluded from these pools—to participate and share in what was a quintessentially a (white) American experience. The unintended consequence was that many political leaders, particularly in the South, chose to close the pools to everyone rather than integrate them. Other pools were privatized that for many years continued policies of exclusion. In more forwardthinking communities, racial tensions, perceived or real—coinciding with the affordability of home pools—led to diminished use that would eventually justify closures for economic reasons.
>> Diving tower at Oakton Pool in Park Ridge, Ill., site of the 1972 Olympic Trials, where the tower was open to anyone brave enough to jump or dive off of into the pool
A second reason can be traced to a series of highly publicized lawsuits involving “diving accidents” beginning in the 1940s. Earlier in the century, drowning had become one of the nation’s leading causes of accidental death. As a result, learning to swim became a national obsession, with sea and lakeside resorts becoming immensely popular. By the 1930s, there wasn’t a small town in America that did not provide “an aquatic place of amusement”—swimming pool or bathing beach—where citizens could learn to swim and dive and enjoy better health. But these good intentions also had unforeseen and unintended consequences. For while national drowning rates dropped dramatically from 13/100,000 in 1914 to approximately 1/100,000 today, an aquatic environment will always be potentially dangerous, even for expert swimmers.
ATTITUDES, INJURIES AND LAWSUITS Recognizing that bathing beaches, pools and >> Newspaper headlines about spinal cord injuries as the result of diving accidents playgrounds were created “in the interest of the public bathing or swimming resort or pool “to be an ensurer of the safety health,” many legislatures passed laws that released of his patrons,” there was a duty “to keep the premises and all owners and municipalities from liability for negligence in operation appliances in a reasonably safe condition not only to the ordinary of these facilities. It was an era when posting warning signs about use for which they were intended but also to the customary use made the “obvious” dangers of monkey bars, teeter-totters and diving of them by the patrons with the knowledge of the proprietor.” Thus, boards would be (as one court noted) “as ludicrous as requiring a the owner of a property where children and adults were known to sign on the top of an office building reading: ‘Don’t jump off here.’” dive into a sand pit off a dock or from a sea wall were found liable It also was a time when many Americans were not as litigious for “diving injuries.” as today and accepted accidental injuries as “the will of God.” But Most pools built between 1900 and the 1950s were similar to after a number of catastrophic spinal cord injuries caused by diving the Borough of Nazareth Pool in Pennsylvania. It measured 200 head first into shallow water—or divers diving onto swimmers— feet by 100 feet, ranging in depth from nine feet deep in the center, the attitudes of victims, courts and legislators regarding negligence decreasing to three feet toward the more shallow areas. One day began to change. in 1963, when the level of the water was about six inches below While the courts did not require the owners or proprietors of a CONTINUED ON 34 >> MAY 2022
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF DIVING PART 2 / Continued from 33
>> “The Joy of Diving”: Goofy from the 1942 Disney short, How to Swim [ Photo Courtesy: Walt Disney - screen shot ]
been replaced by springier aluminum boards. This was the case of a Sheraton Hotel pool in Washington, D.C., where a boy scout attending a convention was paralyzed after hitting his head on the slope. These cases resulted in some pool closures or removal of diving boards in others. In the 1980s, there also were a number of spinal cord injuries related to swimmers “diving” off starting blocks into shallow pools. With insurance rates skyrocketing, USA Swimming became selfinsured by forming the United States Sports Insurance Company (USSIC). But it wasn’t until 1993, when teenager Shawn Meneely was paralyzed from the neck down after a head-first dive into a neighbor’s pool, that the “ban-the-board” movement gained full steam. That lawsuit, resolved after years of litigation, finally settled for $11 million and bankrupted the National Swimming Pool Institute, the trade association of pool builders and equipment manufactures. In 1999, CBS-TV aired a two-part investigative report on the dangers of backyard diving boards on its highly-rated evening news program, “60 Minutes II,” anchored by Dan Rather. THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ Over the past three decades, hundreds, if not thousands, of older pools that once had diving boards have closed. When they’ve been replaced, it is with water parks, spray parks or lap pools without diving boards. Of the new facilities that have been built with diving boards or towers, many are at schools, and use is restricted to competitive divers and are rarely open to the public for recreation. If they are open for recreation, it is under the close supervision of lifeguards. And because of exorbitant insurance premiums, the diving board at a home pool has become virtually non-existent. According to the The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, the sports activities that have the highest risk of catastrophic spinal injuries are “diving,” followed by football, ice hockey, wrestling, gymnastics, skiing, rugby and cheerleading. Unfortunately, the “competitive sport of diving” has paid the price for the catastrophic spinal cord injuries resulting from “recreational diving” off docks, bridges and cliffs, into waves at the beach and from “diving” into three-feet-deep shallow ends of pools from the deck or off starting blocks. In fact, while it has historically been extremely rare for spinal cord injuries to occur in “competitive diving,” it has not kept the insurance rates for competitive diving programs (USA Diving) from skyrocketing.
>> Image of the Fort Lauderdale diving pool and tower—opening in June of 2022
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its normal depth, a 16-year-old boy sprang off to the side. He had made “hundreds of dives” off that board previously, but this time he hit his head on the bottom of the pool in seven feet of water, and he suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury. In awarding a record $435,000 in damages, the court labeled the pool (as constructed) a “dangerous instrumentality, even though dedicated to health, exercise and entertainment”—despite the fact that millions of patrons had used the pool and had dived off the pool’s boards for decades without injury. Many injuries were settled and went under the radar, but many of those that went to court were high-profile. In 1972, a young medical student dove so far that he struck his head on the transition slope from the deep to shallow end. It was the pool architects and builders who were held responsible. The student’s name was Charles Krauthammer, and he would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for writing. Since many pools had been built, old wooden diving boards had
The demise of the community pool, lawsuits, insurance rates and the perception that diving is a dangerous sport have all conspired to have a negative effect on USA Diving and America’s diving fortunes. However, there are many within the diving community who believe that a resurgence is possible—and that the most exciting thing to happen to USA diving since Greg Louganis is the new facility soon to open in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. If it lives up to expectations, it will be an attraction for national and international athletes, a tourist attraction that will generate a greater interest for diving with the public and media; and an inspiration for youngsters, locally and nationally, to become interested in the sport of diving. Let’s hope it does it all. v
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Bruce Wigo, historian and consultant at the International Swimming Hall of Fame, served as president/CEO of ISHOF from 2005-17.
TRAINING
DRYSIDE TRAINING
THE DUMBBELL WORKOUT BY J.R. ROSANIA
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DEMONSTRATED BY NORIKO INADA • PHOTOS BY EMMI BRYTOWSKI
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f you had limited resources and were looking for just one piece of exercise equipment to perform strengthening movements, I would choose the dumbbell. With a pair of dumbbells at a few different weights, you can perform several strengthening-specific exercises. Dumbbell training allows you the unique opportunity to train your extremities individually with a set resistance. Dumbbell training also enables you to enhance an imbalance you might have. For this program, complete the exercises two to three days per week. Perform eight to 10 repetitions. Start with a perceived resistance to 50%, and increase 10% each week. Always be able to complete the repetitions. Discontinue the program seven to 10 days before a major competition. Enjoy your dumbbell strength program. v
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1) ALTERNATING DUMBBELL BENCH PRESS ON A STABILITY BALL With your back and shoulders on a stability ball, perform an alternating-arm bench press. 2) ALTERNATING DUMBBELL BENT-OVER ROW With your upper body facing downward and parallel with the floor, perform an alternating roll with a dumbbell. 3) SQUAT WITH A DUMBBELL OVERHEAD PRESS With the dumbbells at your shoulders, start squatting and then perform an overhead press on the upward movement.
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4) BENT-OVER FLY While holding dumbbells, bend your upper body so that it is parallel with the floor and perform a lateral butterfly movement. 5) SEATED TWIST ON A STABILITY BALL While holding a dumbbell, sit on the front edge of a stability ball and perform a twisting motion.
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MEET THE TRAINER J.R. Rosania, B.S., exercise science, is one of the nation’s top performance enhancement coaches. He is the owner and CEO of Healthplex, LLC, in Phoenix. Check out Rosania’s website at www.jrhealthplex.net. MEET THE ATHLETE Noriko Inada, 43, swam for Japan at the 1992, 2000 and 2004 Olympics. She now swims Masters for Phoenix Swim Club, and owns Masters world records in the women’s 25-29, 3034, 35-39 and 40-44 age groups.
NOTICE All swimming and dryland training and instruction should be performed under the supervision of a qualified coach or instructor, and in circumstances that ensure the safety of participants. MAY 2022
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COACHING
SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS BY ROD HAVRILUK , Ph.D.
NEWTON’S LAWS OF MOTION
T
here are three laws developed by Sir Isaac Newton that are fundamental to human movement. The laws describe the motion of an object and the forces that act on it. All three laws apply to different aspects of swimming and help explain performance concepts to swimmers. NEWTON’S FIRST LAW: THE LAW OF INERTIA Newton’s First Law states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by a net (unbalanced) force. The tendency for a body to stay at rest or stay in motion is called inertia. Consequently, Newton’s First Law is often called the Law of Inertia. Once a swimming race begins, the goal is for a swimmer’s body to stay in motion. Unfortunately, there is always a net, unbalanced force—such as water resistance—that acts on a swimmer’s body to keep it from staying in motion. In one study, a swimmer pushed off from the wall and streamlined without generating any force after the feet left the wall (Craig, Termin, & Pendergast, 2006). The net force of water resistance prevented the swimmer from staying in motion. The graph in Fig. 1 shows that the body velocity decreased from more than three meters per second to less than two meters per second in less than one-half second. The effects of Newton’s First Law are a reminder that a swimmer can only glide for a very short time before generating propulsion to counter the resistance.
In another study of eight elite male swimmers, body velocity and distance from the wall was measured after a grab start (Elipot, et al., 2009). As in the push-off study, the protocol was to maintain a streamline position without generating any force. The net force of water resistance substantially decreased the swimmers’ body velocity while gliding for only two meters (see Fig. 2). Similar to the push-off example, a body does not stay in motion when acted on by the unbalanced force of water resistance. NEWTON’S SECOND LAW: THE LAW OF ACCELERATION Newton’s Second Law states that a mass will accelerate proportional to the net (unbalanced) force acting on it. The formula for the Law of Acceleration is F = ma, where F = force, m = mass, and a = acceleration. If the force and mass are known, the acceleration can be calculated. In both the examples for Newton’s First Law, a net force (muscular effort) acted on a mass (a swimmer’s body) to cause the mass to accelerate. Before the start or push-off, the swimmer’s body velocity was zero. When the swimmer left the starting block or pool wall, the body velocity was greater than three meters per second. Therefore, the net force increased the swimmer’s velocity (i.e., accelerated the mass), according to Newton’s Second Law. In the standard form for the Second Law equation (F = ma), an instantaneous force allows calculation of the acceleration of a mass. However, during a start, a turn or a stroke, a swimmer exerts a varying amount of muscular force over several tenths of a second or more that produces a change in body velocity. Conveniently, the Second Law equation can derive a more appropriate formula that equates a force that varies over time (i.e., an impulse) with a change in velocity of a mass (i.e., momentum). DERIVATION OF THE IMPULSE-MOMENTUM EQUATION FROM NEWTON’S SECOND LAW F = force m = mass a = acceleration
FIG. 1 > The graph shows the body velocity of a swimmer after a push-off from the wall. The swimmer glided without generating any additional force after the feet left the wall.
v = velocity
dv = change in velocity
t = time
dt = change in time
a = dv/dt F = ma
Newton’s Second Law
Fdt = impulse mdv = momentum
FIG. 2 > The graph shows the body velocity of swimmers after a grab start. The swimmers glided without generating any force.
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F = ma
Substitute dv/dt for a
F = m(dv/dt)
Multiply each side by dt
Fdt = mdv
Impulse-Momentum Equation
The impulse-momentum equation shows that the impulse (Fdt) is equal to the momentum (mdv). The equation makes it possible to calculate the change in velocity (dv) of the mass when force is applied for a specified time (Fdt). For example, a female swimmer
FIG. 3 > The graph shows that as a horizontal force is applied to a starting block, the swimmer’s horizontal body velocity increases (accelerates).
applied a horizontal force to a starting block for 9-tenths of a second (Vitor, et al., 2016). When her feet left the block, her horizontal body velocity had increased to more than four meters per second, as shown in Fig. 3. The swimmer’s mass was 62 kg. Her average force was 230 Newtons. She applied force against the starting block for .9 sec. Applying the impulse-momentum equation (Fdt = mdv), the calculated takeoff velocity was 3.9 m/sec. The measured takeoff velocity was 4.1 m/sec. (The calculated and measured takeoff velocity values are relatively close, but not identical due to experimental error. One source of error is that the force was measured on both feet, but only one hand.) The impulsemomentum equation allows calculation of the takeoff velocity if direct measurement is not available. Swimmers also generate an impulse with a swimming arm motion, as shown in Fig. 4 (Schleihauf, 1982). The impulse data allows calculation of a change in velocity if there is no other propulsion. However, there is typically propulsion from the kick, which makes calculations more complicated. NEWTON’S THIRD LAW: THE LAW OF ACTION-REACTION Newton’s Third Law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The Third Law is also called the Law of Action-Reaction. For example, when a swimmer pushes a hand against the water (the action), there is an equal and opposite forward force against the hand (the reaction). The Third Law emphasizes the importance of the direction of an action. If a hand pushes backward, the reaction is forward and propulsive (see Fig. 5). If a hand pushes downward, the reaction will be upward and non-propulsive (see Fig. 6). v
SUMMARY FIG. 4 > The graph shows the variation in force during a freestyle arm motion.
FIG. 5 > The model’s hand pushes back on the water (blue arrow, action), and the water pushes forward on the model’s hand (green arrow, reaction).
FIG. 6 > The model’s hand pushes downward on the water (blue arrow, action), and the water pushes upward on the model’s hand (green arrow, reaction).
Newton’s Laws describe the motion of an object and the forces acting on it. All three laws are needed to explain how a swimmer moves through the water as fast and efficiently as possible.
Dr. Rod Havriluk is a sport scientist and consultant who specializes in swimming technique instruction and analysis. His newest ebooks in the “Approaching Perfect Swimming” series are “Optimal Stroke Technique” and “Swimming Without Pain,” and are available at swimmingtechnology. com. Contact Rod through info@swimmingtechnology.com. All scientific documentation relating to this article, including scientific principles, studies and research papers, can be provided upon demand.
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NUTRITION
COLLAGEN:
MORE THAN JUST SKIN Collagen has become a very popular topic for skin health, but most athletes and active people do not realize its extreme importance on other parts of the body! BY DAWN WEATHERWAX, RD, CSSD, LD, ATC, CSCS
WHAT IS COLLAGEN? Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body. Its main role is to make connective tissues for skin, facia (surrounds blood vessels, bones, muscles and nerves), muscle tissue, tendons, ligaments, joint cartilage and bones. This allows a person to do all the movements and stretching needed throughout the day without falling apart! There are 28 different types of collagen currently identified in the body, but only three have significant importance. All three make up over ~90% of the collagen in the body: Type I—Found in bones, ligaments, skin and tendons; Type II—Found in cartilage; Type III—Found in muscles and skin. BREAKDOWN OF COLLAGEN IN THE BODY AND IMPACT Skin: ~75% collagen; impacts dryness, wounds and wrinkles. Facia: ~70%; fasciitis, myofascial pain. Muscle tissue: ~6%; tightness, pulls, strains, tears. Tendons (connects a muscle to a bone): ~85%; pulls and strains. Ligaments (connects two bones together): ~70%; tears, sprains. Joint cartilage: ~70%; tears, overuse injuries. Bone: ~90%; hot spots, stress reactions, fractures, breaks, osteoarthritis, low bone mineral density. At different ages: Before adulthood: Impacts growing, bone mass, staying healthy and healing. Aging: Starts to produce less collagen naturally. After menopause: Collagen production decreases significantly. After age 60: Collagen synthesis declines even more. Nutritional sources: Collagen is nutrient-rich in two amino acids called arginine and glycine. Both amino acids can be made in the body, but it is important to consume through foods as well. Foods that are high in L-arginine include: all meats, fish and sea foods, nuts and seeds, legumes (soybeans, edamame, chickpeas), whole grains and dairy products. Foods high in glycine are: gelatin (~5g per 1oz pkt), bone broth, all meats, fish and seafoods, eggs, dairy and whole grains. NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT For good collagen support, it is important to: 1. Consume a diet rich in manganese, magnesium, copper, calcium, zinc, iron, B’s, Omega-3s, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin D, selenium and nitric oxide. 2. Keep added sugars below 20-30g a day (not including around activity) 3. Keep solid fats (saturated fats) below 10% a day 4. Consume 20-40g of fiber a day, depending on age 5. Eat 2-4 whole fruits a day 6. Eat 3-7 non-starchy vegetables a day 7. Consume a minimum of 600-1,000mg of EPA and DHA a day depending on age (these are Omega-3s and coming mainly from fish oils if you want to be most effective) 8. Optimize whole foods whenever possible 9. Avoid GMOs in soy and corn 10. Keep protein levels ideal and spread throughout the day 38
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For more detail on amounts and foods containing all these nutrients, go to www.myfooddata.cocm. You can also track all of them for free on the Cronometer app. SUPPLEMENTS When looking at collagen in supplement form, it is ideal if it: 1. Contains all three types of collagen 2. Is in hydroslate bovine form 3. Contains vitamin C, which is needed to absorb collagen 4. Comes in peptide form, which helps it mix well and not clump up 5. Comes in powdered form (it would take over 10-20 capsules to get the amount needed to be beneficial) 6. Is NSF Certified for Sport, which ensures what is on the label is in the product and that there are no illegal products in it FYI: There is no vegan form of collagen. WHEN TO CONSIDER SUPPLEMENTING 1. Post-recovery workouts/competitions that are lifting in nature, intense, long duration or multiple days of hard training: • Consider 15-20g collagen (hydroslyate bovine) within 3045 minutes 2.
Post-recovery snacks in dairy form (not eggs): • If doing a dairy product (whey, casein, chocolate milk) within 30-45 minutes for post-recovery, add 15-20g of collagen with it. It has been found that dairy is high in methothione, which blunts glycine function. • Post-menopause or past 60 years of age
3.
Recovering from an injury, anything bone related, overuse syndrome, joint pain and possibly during a fast growth spurt: • This area is more medical, so please seek out medical advice before supplementing. ***
Here is a sample menu that incorporates collagen and supportive nutrients throughout. Remember: This article is educational only and should not be used in place of medical advice. 3,000 to 3,500 HIGH IN COLLAGEN AND SUPPORTING NUTRIENTS CALORIE TRAINING MENU Pre-Swim Practice (4:30-5:15 a.m.) Strawberry Overnight Oats 1/2 cup Raw reg oatmeal/quinoa 1/4-1/3 cup Slivered almonds or nuts/seeds of choice 8 oz Greek yogurt 1-2 cups Chopped strawberries and blackberries 1-2 tsp Vanilla extract 16 oz Water Training (5:30-6:45 a.m.) 4-16 oz Water an hour (amount depends on sweat rate) Breakfast (6-7:30 a.m.) MUST HAVE WITHIN 30-45 minutes after training 1 Dave’s Killer English Muffin 1 T Olive oil 3 Organic eggs or organic Amy’s burger Spinach raw or cooked in eggs or any other
veggies/red pepper 1-2 slices 1-2 16 oz
Optional: Multivitamin and mineral tablet Fish oil capsule (very high in EPA/DHA) Vitamin D3 Probiotics Lunch (11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.) 1-2 oz Wrap/gluten-free optional 3-4 oz Salmon (can add yogurt, lemon, dill) 2-3 T Olive oil and/or sunflower seeds 1-2 cups Mixed greens and more veggies you desire/ roasted veggies/carrots 1-2 cups Fresh fruit 16 oz
Post-recovery within 30-45 min: NoCow or Garden of Life bar or a DIY that fits 20g protein and 30-60g carbs
25 cal per slice turkey bacon Oranges Water/soy milk/organic grass-fed milk/nut milk/ oat milk
Water with 1-2 NUUN electrolyte tablets (optional)
Afternoon Snack (2-4:30 p.m.) 1-2 cups Almond milk/soy milk/Fairlife Core Power 1-2 cups Muesli (can add more seeds and dried fruit) 4-16 oz Water (one NUUN electrolyte tablet/optional) Add additional protein if needed Training (3:30-5:30 p.m.) 4-16 oz Water an hour (amount depends on sweat rate)
Optional post-recovery: 15-20g or Klean Athlete or Resync Collagen or Jello with gelatin and fruit added with a protein source of choice (If you can have dinner within that time, then this snack is optional) Evening Meal (6-8:30 p.m.) 4-6 oz Chicken 1-2 cups
Zucchinii and tomatoes, any spices, salt, pepper
1-2 cups
Beans/rice/corn
1
Avocado or 1 T olive oil
16 oz
Water
Optional: Multivitamin and mineral tablet 1
Omega-3 capsule high in DHA and EPA
Evening Snack—OPTIONAL (8-10 p.m.) 1/3-2/3 cup Cooked brown rice 1 cup 2-3 T
Fairlife white milk/milk/soy milk/Orgain Organic 26g protein vanilla RTD/Garden Pecans
1/2-1 cup
Mango v
TOTAL ACCESS MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT COLLAGEN, INCLUDING SOME VALUABLE LEARNING RESOURCES.
吀栀攀 伀刀䤀䜀䤀一䄀䰀 刀攀猀椀猀琀愀渀挀攀 匀圀䤀䴀 吀刀䄀䤀一䤀一䜀 䜀䔀䄀刀 唀猀攀搀 戀礀 䄀琀栀氀攀琀攀猀 圀漀爀氀搀眀椀搀攀
刀攀猀椀猀琀愀渀挀攀 吀爀愀椀渀椀渀最 吀漀漀氀猀 䐀攀猀椀最渀攀搀 琀漀 䤀洀瀀爀漀瘀攀 匀琀愀洀椀渀愀Ⰰ 倀漀眀攀爀Ⰰ 䘀漀爀洀Ⰰ 匀琀爀漀欀攀 愀渀搀 䤀渀搀椀瘀椀搀甀愀氀 䴀攀搀氀攀礀 吀椀洀攀猀
一娀䌀漀爀搀稀⸀挀漀洀 㠀 ⸀㠀㠀㘀⸀㘀㘀㈀ MAY 2022
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SPECIAL SETS
KATE DOUGLASS:
BUILDING ON BASICS [ Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick ]
Oftentimes, the best gift a coach can give an athlete is the skills to succeed later on. And when the athlete builds on those basics through a work ethic of application, grit, talent and determination, the results can be affirming—for coach and athlete— and even life changing, as is the case with Coach Carle Fierro and swimmer Kate Douglass. BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
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arle Fierro, owner and head coach at Westchester Aquatic Club (New Rochelle, N.Y.), coached Kate Douglass from age 7 to 15. In March, Kate, a University of Virginia junior, boosted her two-year CSCAA All-America recognitions to 14 by being a part of four winning national championship relays and capturing three individual titles—all in different disciplines—at the women’s NCAA Division I Championships. In the process, she set American, NCAA and U.S. Open records in the 50 yard free (20.84) and 200 breast (2:02.19) and an American record in the 100 fly (49.04). Virginia’s 400 medley and 400 freestyle relays also set American, NCAA and U.S. open standards, while the Cavaliers’ 200 medley relay set a meet record. Prior to that, the U.S. national team member earned an Olympic bronze last summer in the 200 meter IM and won five more medals at FINA Worlds (SCM) in December. In high school, Douglass served notice she had some swimming chops. She broke Olympian Dara Torres’ 34-year-old 13-14 national age group record of 22.44 in the 50 yard free by going 22.32. A month later, at the 2016 U.S. Winter Juniors, she tied Simone Manuel’s 15-16 NAG mark, registering a 22.04, a time that helped elevate her USA Swimming national junior team status. As a harbinger, at age 13, Douglass attained two Olympic Trials cuts: 50 meter free (25.80) and 200 breast (2:31.37). A year later, she raised the total to four: 50 free (25.60), 100 breast (1:10.43), 200 breast (2:30.40) and 200 IM (2:18.57). For grins, she clocked the second fastest SCY time (2:10.89) for 13-14 girls in a local age group meet in an FS2 suit. LESS IS MORE Sprinting ability aside, what distinguishes Douglass’ aquatic prowess is her versatility. “My philosophy,” says her early teacher, Fierro, “is less is more when developing younger swimmers (ages 6-12). I believe in multi-levels for swimmer progress. All groups do stroke drills every day. “At 12, Kate swam about four to five practices per week, then five to six practices when she turned 13. I believe proper technique and teaching swimmers to train well is more important than yardage for 12 and unders. I don’t believe in early stroke specialization.” That philosophy and subsequent training allowed Douglass to compile 30 WAC and 15 Chelsea Piers team records in each competitive stroke. “Sometimes it is still hard to get my swimmers to buy into how effective distance per stroke can be in performance. After Kate set the American record (in the 200 yard breast) at 2022 NCAAs, I showed my senior team the video of Kate at the 2016 junior nationals when she swam a 2:10.59 in the 200 breaststroke at age 40
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15. I had them count her strokes per lap. Then, I showed them her 200 breaststroke American record swim. “At 15, Kate’s stroke count was first lap 4, 2nd lap 6, then 7 and last lap 8. Her American record swim was first lap 4, then 6 until last lap 7. Visually showing swimmers the connection to DPS and swimming fast really gets the point across. I was thrilled to hear Kate say she loved to compete and train for the 200 breaststroke and 50 free, the first two events in which she made Olympic Trials at age 13. FAST SWIMMING VIA GREAT TECHNIQUE “I began working with Kate, an early multi-sport athlete, in 2009 until late January 2017. She was part of my first-generation Westchester team who was really critical in supporting my foundation of fast swimming via great technique. “When you work an athlete for so many years, your methodology develops with the athlete over time. This was the case with Kate, who was great fun to coach as an age grouper. She was extremely focused on perfecting her technique and bought into swimming and training correctly as directly proportional to fast swimming. She would train next to the boys, challenge them and never back down. She simply did remarkable repeats in practice and kept me on my toes to keep her challenged,” says Fierro. “Kate had the ability to turn her speed on whenever it was needed. She would ALWAYS begin practices with picture-perfect technique during her drills. She excelled at Lo-go and Hi-go sets, where she could really work her ability to control her speed, a trait that made her really special. When she started growing in her teens, she experienced some soreness, and I adjusted her training to focus more on technique and kicking. Kate liked setting goals even in practice. I continued to raise the bar, and she never failed to impress.” SAMPLE SETS Workout 1 (A SCY set done in October 2016) • 100 @ 1:30 free • 100 @ 2:00 back • 2 x 50 @ 1:00 (breast pull DPP no snorkel) (DPP = distance per pull) • 3 x 50 @ 1:00 (breast kick with snorkel) • 3 x 50 @ 1:00 (breast drill) • 4 x 25 @ :30 (fly pull DPP)
• • • • • • • • • • • •
3 x 50 @ 1:00 (fly kick with snorkel) 6 x 25 @ :30 (fly drill) 3 x 50 @ :50 (back pull) 4 x 50 @ 1:00 (back kick) 3 x 50 @ 1:00 (back drill) 100 @ 1:30 (free pull) 3 x 50 @ 1:00 (free kick with snorkel) 100 @ 1:45 (50 drill - 50 perfect) 2 x 100 @ 1:30 (free pull) 4 x 50 @ 1:00 (free kick with snorkel) 100 @ 1:45 (50 drill - 50 perfect) 3:00 stretch
Free Set (Kate would hold 12-14 strokes per lap) • 3 x 100 @ 1:20 DPS 12 strokes per lap • 4 x 25 @ :30 kick with wall buster working turns • 6 x 100 @ 1:15 (descend 1:03 from 1:07 - 3 pace under 1:05 - 14-16 strokes per lap) • 4 x 25 @ :30 kick with wall buster working turns • 6 x 100 @ 1:10 (pace sub-1:03 - 14-16 strokes per lap - Kate held 1:01-1:02-last one :58) • 4 x 25 @ :30 kick wall buster working turns • 3 x 100 @ 1:05 (just make them - 14-16 strokes per lap - Kate 1st one 1:00, 2nd one 1:01, 3rd one :59) • 50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect • T100 (all-out 1:00 - 14-16 strokes per lap - Kate :55) • 100 double-arm back 3x • 100 long back DPS with fins @ 1:30 • 2 x 50 fast back @ :45 - under :30 with fins - Kate :27 • 200 breast drill 1:00 rest • 3 x 100 @ 1:40 breast (descend 1-3 - 6-8 SPL - Kate 6 SPL 1:15-1:12-1:08) 1:00 rest • 200 breast drill with 30-sec. rest 1:00 rest • 6 x 50 @ :60-:55-:50-:45-:40-sprint (under :36 - 6-8 SPL Kate :32-:33-:34-:34-:34-:32) • 4 x 100 @ 1:30 IM working transitions
work tempo & breathing @ :55) • 150 (back 50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect) 1:00 rest • 8 x 75 back (25 build - 50 fast back) 3 @ 1:10 descend 2 @ 1:05 pace 3 @ :60 fast • 150 (breast 50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect) 1:00 rest • 6 x 100 breast 2 @ 1:50 (6-8 strokes per lap) 2 @ 1:40 (6-8 strokes per lap) 2 @ 1:30 under 1:15 (6-8 strokes per lap) • 200 IM kick on back • 8 x 25 fly 2 @ :30 3 descend @ :25 3 fast @ :20 15-sec. rest • 3 x 50 back (descend 1-3 @ :40) 15-sec. rest • 4 x 50 breast @ :45 (1 perfect - one build - 2 pace) 15-sec. rest • 5 x 50 free @ :35 (extra rest last one) • 5:00 swim-down v
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Welcome TO A WATER WONDERLAND
IM Challenge • 50 @ :40 fly - Kate :28 • 50 @ :45 back - Kate :32 • 50 @ :50 breast - Kate :33 • 50 under :30 free - Kate :27 • 5:00 swim-down 2 hours, about 7,400 Workout 2 (2-1/2 hours, 8,500 yards) 45 minutes drills • 6 x 50 (descend 1-3 @ :50 - 3 pace on :40) • 2x 200 (free 50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect - 50 double-arm) 1:00 rest 2 x 150 on 2:00 sub 1:50 2 x 150 on 1:50 sub 1:40 1 x 150 on 1:40 sub 1:30 • 200 swim-down • Fly Fin Set 20 x 50 fly from dive @ :60 (8 kicks off walls
From top aquatic facilities to miles of warm beaches and waterways, Greater Fort Lauderdale is the ideal spot for your next event. Dive in at VisitLauderdale.com/Sports.
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UANA BECOMES PANAM AQUATICS BY JAY THOMAS
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n November 2021, Union American de Natacion (UANA) completed a rebranding effort that created the PanAm Aquatics (PAQ) organization. PanAm Aquatics is the continental organization that oversees aquatic sports in the Americas. It consists of 43 national federations (NFs) and is divided into four zones: • Zone 1: CONSANAT (Confederation of South American Aquatics Nations) •
Zone 2: CCCAN (Confederation of Central American and Caribbean Aquatics Nations)
•
Zone 3: USAS (United States Aquatics Sports)
•
Zone 4: AFA (Aquatics Canada Aquatiques)
The executive leadership of PanAm Aquatics rotates among the zones in a four-year cycle. The current president is from Zone 2 and has two years left in her term. The next president will be from Zone 4. Committee assignments are determined by the president. However, leadership positions on the committees are divided approximately equally across the zones. The PanAm Aquatics Technical Swimming Committee (TSC) has 13 members as follows (the names in bold are also members of the FINA TSC): NAME Jay Thomas Sonia O’Neal
POSITION
COUNTRY
Chairman
USA
Vice Chairman
BAR
Raul Araya
Co-Secretary
ARG
Louise Le Blanc
Co-Secretary
CAN
Van Donkersgoed
Liaison
USA
Carlos Tabini
Member
PER
Mancer Roberts
Member
BAH BOL
Pedro Cervantes
Member
Andrea Pineda
Member
ESA
Cecil Gordon
Member
USA
Jose Ismael Gonzalez
Member
GUA
Jim Fleury
Member
CAN
Athletes Rep
JAM
Alia Atkinson
Each PanAm Aquatics swimming officials list has a four-year term and consists of a maximum of three referees and two starters per national federation. These lists of technical officials serve as the primary source of officials selected for PanAm Aquatics major events. The current list has 59 referees representing 26 NFs and 38 starters representing 23 NFs. The current list is effective Jan. 1, 2020 through Dec. 31, 2023. The next list will be effective Jan. 1, 2024 through Dec. 31, 2027. Current USA Swimming PanAm aquatics list members include: • Referees: Edgar Caraballo, Rich McMillen, Mike Urbanowicz •
Wisconsin Swimming’s Michael Harbert is one of the few officials who came to officiating because he wanted to help the sport. He doesn’t have any children, so unlike many officials, children’s ambitions were not a factor for him. Michael is not only a USA Swimming certified official, but also a YMCA official and trainer, as well as a high school official. He is located in the northern part of Wisconsin, where few officials cover a very large geographic area, which means that you will find him at a swim meet at least once a week. His service plays an integral role in providing swimmers with opportunities outside of the population centers. Michael is very skilled on the dry and the wet side of officiating, and is a great resource for teaching HyTek tips and tricks. He also served two terms as Wisconsin Officials chair. One of his “missions” during this time was to successfully turn the state’s 13-and-over championship meet into an Officials Qualifying Meet, which has enticed a number of Wisconsin officials to pursue national-level certifications. His current project is working with coaches in developing a template for future state championship meets and allowing for more consistency at state meets. Michael is a great people person, and aside from teaching officials classes, he is an avid mentor and has served in leadership roles at many LSC-level championship meets. v
PROUD SPONSOR OF THE HASTY EXCELLENCE AWARD
XIX Pan American Games: Oct. 21-25, 2023 in Santiago, Chile.
For more information about PanAm Aquatics, please visit https://panamaquatics.com v JayThomas is the chairman of the PanAm TSC.
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MICHAEL HARBERT
Starters: Loma Anaya, Traci Johnson
2021 PanAm Aquatics swimming events included the Tokyo LCM Qualifier, which was held April 29-May 2 in Clermont, Fla. The Abu Dhabi SCM Qualifier, scheduled for Oct. 14-17 in Charlotte, N.C., was canceled due to COVID. However, the inaugural Junior Pan American Games was held successfully Nov. 26-30 in Cali, Colombia. Mickey Smythe (control room supervisor) and Dave Olack (starter, turn judge, chief inspector of turns) both represented the USA very well as last-minute additions to the team. PanAm Aquatics 2022-23 events include the following: • PanAm Aquatics Age Group Cup: June 2022 in Trinidad and Tobago •
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COACHING
CARLE
FIERRO
Q&A
A lifelong New Yorker, Westchester Aquatic Club owner and head coach Carle Fierro has taught future Olympians and is one of the country’s most respected age group coaches. BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
Q. SWIMMING WORLD: Swimming runs in your family. How did you get started as a swimmer and then a coach? A: COACH CARLE FIERRO: My mother loved swimming, and both my parents were extremely athletic, had exceptional grit and work ethics. We had limited resources as a family, but John, Ruth and Jack Collins accepted me and my three brothers at Badger Swim Club. In college, I swam at the University of South Florida and then Iona College. I began coaching at Rye High School and served there from 1984-2010. I also coached age groupers—Olympian Cristina Teuscher was in my first pre-team group— with my brother, Kip, at New Rochelle Aquatic Club. John Collins asked Kip to merge his team with Badger, and I went along. I owned and operated the 10-and-under programs, Kip the 11-14 group, and then sent his kids to John. We were three different entities competing under the Badger name, a system that enjoyed success for decades. SW: What kept you in it as a career? CF: My passion for the sport and the flexibility to spend time with my children. SW: Any particular influences or mentors along the way? CF: Too many to count. Kip was the most influential, and my father had a huge impact. When I started my own team, I reached out to Coach Lou Manganiello at South Florida Aquatic Club. I also connected with Josh Davis. His BREAKOUT! Swim Clinics with numerous Olympians (Ian Crocker, Kristy Kowal, Kim Vandenberg, et al.) were crucial to my program’s development. Rachel Stratton-Mills and Kara Lynn Joyce showed me the ropes of attending the bigger meets and designing senior practices. Mitch Dalton, the national junior team director, also provided invaluable insight to help me develop as a coach. Dave and Jennifer Gibson at Swim Fort Lauderdale gave me a folder of resources that I turn to weekly when writing my workouts and dealing
with team issues. Locally, Don Wagner, Michael Gavrilchin, Zac Hojnacki, Rob Ortof, Nick Cavataro and Sue Byrne have been instrumental in helping me create my team’s culture, where swimmers get support, encouragement and find a fun and safe place to be. SW: What was your experience like with Russell Mark at the Olympic Training Center? CF: I am a very visual and detail-oriented person when it comes to technique. Mark increased my understanding of how to get swimmers to move most efficiently. The conversations at OTC coaches’ clinic are priceless. At the National Select Camp, Ian Crocker told me about the FEATS philosophy with his swimmers: F - Focus, E - Effort, A - Attitude, T - Technique, S - Strategy for the race. USA Swimming offered me terrific educational opportunities to grow as a coach. SW: Have you ever received an on-deck tidbit that was a coaching epiphany? CF: YES ! I was in the elevator with Kate Douglass, and Bruce Gemmell got in. He looked at us and said, “It’s only another meet, girls; it’s only another meet.” About bad swims, Bobby Hackett told me, “You can be disappointed, but you cannot be disrespectful!” If I see a coach with swimmers who excel in an area, I ask them about what’s helped them develop that stroke or event.
Carleanne Fierro Owner/Head Coach Westchester Aquatic Club New Rochelle, New York
• Iona College, B.S., computer science, 1983 • Owner/head coach, Westchester Aquatic Club, 2010-present • Head coach, Rye High School, 19842010; 7x coach of the year • Age group coach, Badger Swim Club, 1987-2010 • Age group coach, New Rochelle Aquatic Club, 1984-87 • Age group swimmer ranked in world’s top 100 (2016, 2017, 2020) • Named 2008-09, 2013-14, 2015-16 Metropolitan Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year • ASCA National Age Group Coach of the Year finalist (2010, 2016, 2020) • One of 13 in U.S. invited to the USA Swimming Women’s Leadership and National Team Coaches Summit • ASCA Level 5 coach
SW: Having been instrumental in the age group development of swimmers such as Kate Douglass and Claire Weinstein, you still focus on age groupers. Why? CF: Basically, I have had more opportunities to coach age groupers. Currently, I have an exciting senior team with whom to work, and I look forward to continuing their development. Local senior programs send the message via parent relationships that I am good with age groupers, but swimmers need to go to a large senior team to develop fur-
Fierro has coached her swimmers to seven NAG records and 110 Metropolitan Swimming age group records. Her kids have also set 100+ NAG rankings, including 16 No. 1 performances from 2015-20.
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always planted another to give them something to think about and train for.” SOME SAMPLE DISTANCE DIVA SETS May 2021 (LC) • 500 loosen up • 4 x (100 pull on 1:30 - 100 kick 1:50 - 50 drill/50 smooth - 1:40) Stretch
HOW THEY TRAIN
CLAIRE WEINSTEIN
BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
O
lympic and hall of fame coach Dave Salo once remarked that a coach’s job was to develop a swimmer and hand them off to the next coach. Carle Fierro, head coach of Westchester Aquatic Club, has done that with her latest prodigy, Claire Weinstein. Standing 6 feet tall, Weinstein has used her physical attributes, mental strength and swimming technique to vault to the top of the table in the 13-14 age group. Consider this: Before turning 15 on March 1, she was the topranked LC female freestyler in the 100-200-400-800 and SCY 100(tie)-200-500-1000-1650, with power point numbers in the 9001000+ range. Last June, she was the youngest Wave II Olympic Trials swimmer in the 200-400-800 free. And she holds two NAG records: 1650 yard free (15:52.84) and 200 meter free LC (1:58.53). The latter time tied eventual world record holder Sippy Woodhead’s 1978 age group standard. In September, Weinstein moved to Las Vegas to train with Ron Aitkin and his Sandpiper distance group. Prior to that, her aquatic training had been with the Fierro family at Westchester Aquatic Club. “Claire joined the Wolverines at age 6,” says Fierro. “Her older brother, Michael, wanted to train with a group of talented boys I had, and Claire came along. My son, Chris, recognized her great feel for the water and ability to focus. At 8, she began training with me. “Claire was extremely easy to coach and was really good at communicating how she felt in the water. That helped me create the best workouts for her. In addition, she displayed a great singlemindedness in attaining goals. She was diligent about doing workouts and motivating team members to do their best as well. At 9, she wanted to do the mile. I told her to just keep her stroke long and try to do three dolphin kicks off each wall. I was blown away at that point and knew I had someone very special. “In 2019, I was able to get substantially more pool time. I had a group of girls who really liked distance, so I created the ‘Distance Diva Group.’ The members ranged from 6-12 girls who wanted to train distance on the weekends. That training opportunity really elevated Claire to the next level. “A real key to the success that both Claire and Kate Douglass had with me is that they really focused on doing drills correctly. Their ability to move a lot of water while controlling their speed was truly remarkable,” says Fierro. “They had a clear understanding of the connection of swimming efficiently, controlling their speed, training well and how it reflected in their performances. “In addition, their competitive focus was not on beating other swimmers, but achieving times. When close to achieving a goal, I 44
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• 6 x 50 desc 1-3 on :50 - 3 pace on :45 • 200 (50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect with snorkel - 50 double arm back) • 4 x 100 @1:40 (max heart rate 25 strokes per lap or less - under 1:10 - Claire held 1:09) • 200 (50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect with snorkel - 50 double arm back) • 4 x 150 on 3:10 (1 perfect - 1 build - 2 cruise) • 200 (50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect with snorkel - 50 double arm back) • 8 x 100 @1:40 (max heart rate 25 strokes per lap or less - under 1:09 - Claire held 1:07-1:08) • 200 (50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect with snorkel - 50 double arm back) 2 mins rest • 400 for time (fast on under 4:30 - 25 strokes per lap or less Claire went 4:24) • 200 (50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect - 50 double arm back) • 8 x 50 @ 1:00 from dive - 200 free pace - Claire held :30-:31 • 200 IM kick • 200 fly (50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect - 50 double arm back) • 4 x 50 fly on :60 - desc 1-3 sprint 4, no fins • 200 back (50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect - 50 double arm back) • 4 x 50 back on :50 - desc 1-3 sprint 4 • 200 breast (50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect - 50 double arm back) • 4 x 50 breast on :60 - desc 1-3 sprint 4 • 200 free (50 kick - 50 drill - 50 perfect - 50 double arm back) • 4 x 50 fast free on :50 - holding :31-:32) 5:00 swim-down *** On Weinstein’s move to Sandpipers, Fierro says, “I honestly couldn’t offer Claire the resources she needed to take her to the next level. Ron Aitken at Sandpipers could. Claire has come back and visited her friends and the team, and she is happy. “I am thrilled to have been a part of her swimming development. My job is to provide them with the best skills for success, but it’s their journey. I am only a small part of their success. I really believe that family, coaching, friends and opportunity are ingredients needed for success at this level.” Dave Salo would agree.v
TOTAL ACCESS MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO SEE CLAIRE WEINSTEIN’S PROGRESSION OF TIMES. NOT A TOTAL ACCESS MEMBER? YOU’RE JUST A CLICK AWAY: SWIMMINGWORLD.COM/VAULT
Q&A / Continued from 43
ther. Some local teams offer performancebased scholarships that lure swimmers away. Some coaches take swimmers. I am proud to say that I make swimmers—and will continue to do so. While I met Kate Douglass’ coaching needs, our team did not meet her social needs. She yearned to be on a team with more swimmers her level and age. While disappointed at first, I wanted Kate to be happy and continue to swim. Jamie Barone at Chelsea Piers is a good friend and excellent coach, and I knew she would be in good hands with him. Todd DeSorbo at UVA has done an incredible job with Kate—she’s swimming fast, and she’s so happy. SW: One foundation of your teaching is helping kids find their center of gravity. Why so? CF: Every person has different buoyancy in the water, so teaching swimmers to kick and swim with a snorkel assists them in developing their individual floating ability. I counsel them to let the water do the work and support their bodies. SW: How does your visual approach to life help you as a coach? CF: I try to teach the swimmers about life’s daily challenges. How they choose to approach and deal with them will determine their level of success and happiness. As swimmers get older, it’s harder to do a best time in every meet. Parents and swimmers have expectations. They see best time=good, not best time=bad. I work on performance improvement and encourage swimmers to develop strategies to deal with the everyday disappointments, performance and otherwise, and be proud of themselves when they overcome them. One can achieve happiness and have accomplishments, but when overcoming life challenges, success should not be tied to only best swimming personal performances. SW: You say anxiety and stress are great inhibitors. How do you enable your swimmers to overcome those emotions? CF: Parents, while well meaning, create a tremendous amount of stress for the swimmers. I try to get my swimmers to find a calm place to be while at meets. Unknowingly, swimmers and parents can create stress among themselves. Sometimes children just want to vent, and they need their parents to just listen and not react, allowing them to just talk. When they are done venting, parents should ask their child, “What can I do to help?” This allows for a more
cooperative interaction, presenting learning opportunities and paths to problem solving. I also try to teach my swimmers to be prepared to do the swim correctly. I have them write down their goal times and goal splits on an index card or on their phones. I remind them to focus on achieving those splits while training. Connecting the training with their goal splits helps them to piece together the swim they want. SW: You note there are always good parts to bad swims. How do you incorporate those positive elements into everyday practice? CF: A swim is like a multi-section test. Swimmers can swim the race correctly, but be off on pacing. Connecting the split times and training sometimes helps them understand piecing together the swim they want. SW: Teaching swimmers to be comfortable being uncomfortable can be dicey. How do you do that? CF: I use Jon Urbanchek’s color system. Sometimes swimmers think they are working hard. Then they check their heart rate and realize maybe there’s more in the tank. I do creative and challenging sets, then give them about a minute rest and have them do a 50 or 100 for time. Most times they go pretty fast. Then I explain that they have to work hard while they are tired...not until they are tired. SW: Your emphases seem to be on technique, DPS, heart rate and short rest. How does each figure into your daily workouts? CF: Warm-up is aerobically based, isolating the different muscle groups. For a two-hour practice, I do a 45-minute drill-based aerobic warm-up. If the practice is two-and-ahalf hours, I like to do a one-hour drill-based warm-up. I also use coaching headsets, which have been a game changer for me. Being able to communicate to the swimmers while they swim has been extremely helpful. I try to write sets and intervals that replicate how they should swim a race. Then I educate the swimmers on the connection of training well and how it will relate to their performance in meets. SW: What place does Bob Steele’s “Games Gimmicks and Challenges” have in your practices? CF: This is a resource I refer to often. My favorite sections are the Olympic training sets—which I modify to my style of coaching—and the quotes.
SW: In 2010, you started your coachowned team, Westchester Aquatic Club. What occasioned that? How has the growth of the Wolverine program been to date? CF: Without getting into too much detail, the culture and structure of Badger was changing. My son, Billy, who was on the senior team, was injured and miserable. The three-tier structure that worked successfully for years was going to be replaced by the Collins family having full control over the team. I am grateful for the almost four decades of opportunities the Collins family offered ours. However, to grow as a coach, it was time to go on my own. I believe swimmers can swim fast and not get injured by focusing more on technique and less on volume. In addition, I want them to have fun. It wasn’t easy, and there were a lot of obstacles. My father supported me financially to get my team off the ground. I received a lot of support from my daughter, Tricia, who founded the swim school; my son, Chris, who initiated the stroke development programs; his friend, Eric Wiltse, who did strength training; and coaching associates Chris Driwinga, Jonah Montgomery, Sue Byrne, Kris Sweetman and Nicole and Cristian Torres. My philosophy is “less is more” when developing younger swimmers (ages 6-12). My team these days has multi-levels for swimmer progress. All groups do stroke drills every day. Kate Douglass at 12 swam about four to five practices per week, then five to six practices when she turned 13. I believe proper technique and teaching swimmers to train well is more important than yardage for 12-and-unders. I don’t believe in early stroke specialization. Our club is continuing to develop swimmers. Currently, we have 261 swimmers: seven 14-16s have Futures cuts, a 15-year-old is an open water juniors qualifier, and a 14-year-old is a winter and summer juniors qualifier. Three of my recent swimmers have continued their academic and athletic careers at West Point.v Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach, golf and swimming writer. His critically acclaimed coming-ofage golf novel, “Too Much Loft,” was published in June 2021, and is available from store.Bookbaby.com, Amazon, B&N and book distributors worldwide. TOTAL ACCESS MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO READ MORE Q&A WITH COACH CARLE FIERRO.
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JUNIOR SWIMMER
UP & COMERS AGE GROUP SWIMMER OF THE MONTH BY SHOSHANNA RUTEMILLER
T
en-year-old Makayla Hill of SwimEnergy Aquatics (North Fort Myers, Fla.) was unstoppable at the March Florida Age Group State Championships (FLAGS). Hill completed a perfect meet, taking home six gold medals in her six individual events. She improved her times in every event, starting with her 100 yard breaststroke (1:17.77) and continuing with the 100 IM (1:09.84), 50 free (27.61), 100 fly (1:08.39), 50 breaststroke (35.53) and 200 IM (2:26.95). “Makayla is very humble and outward-reaching, which exemplifies the teachings of our team’s culture lessons,” says SwimEnergy Head Coach Mike Verwest. “Her practice attendance is nearly perfect. She works hard under the watchful eye of Coach Juan Picon, practicing at race speed nearly every day. Both in practice and meets, Makayla loves to race and thrives on it!” Hill’s giving nature was showcased when, after winning six pumpkins at her club’s Fall Festival meet, she gave five of her pumpkins away to other swimmers on the team who didn’t win one. Outside of the pool, she loves school and enjoys making up math problems in her free time. She is also the youngest sibling of two older brothers, so she’s able to hang with the boys! WHAT IS THE BEST THING YOU DO IN SWIMMING? The best thing I do is compete! My favorite stroke is butterfly, and my favorite events are the 200 IM and 100 fly. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE TOUGHEST WORKOUTS/ SETS YOU’VE DONE? IM Wednesdays are the hardest, but they helped me drop so much time in my 200 IM. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT SWIMMING? I love to be around my friends. I love meet days when I get to hang out with my friends and race. I also like talking to other swimmers on different teams behind the blocks or when I’m swimming down after my race.
WHO IS SOMEONE YOU LOOK UP TO IN SWIMMING...AND WHY? I like Michael Phelps because he is so versatile. You don’t see many women Olympians who are so versatile—most are specialists. I’d like to be the Michael Phelps of the women’s world. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES? I like eating chips and watching Netflix. I also love art and collecting art supplies. 46
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[ Photo Courtesy: Justin Hill ]
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS YEAR? I am looking forward to the long course season and to do meets I haven’t done since COVID. I am also looking forward to heading into eighth grade in the fall.
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GUTTERTALK
BY DAVID RIEDER | PHOTOS BY PETER H. BICK
TOP QUOTES FROM THE NCAA DIVISION I CHAMPIONSHIPS PAIGE McKENNA Wisconsin ...on winning the NCAA title in the 1650 freestyle with two torn labrums During quarantine, about two years ago, when all the pools went down, I decided to take up running. After the first time I ran, my hips started to hurt, and I was like, ‘This is weird.’ And I didn’t really go see anyone about it, and then for two years, they started gradually becoming more painful, and I would just push through it. I came to Wisconsin, and I was like, ‘Maybe I should get this checked out.’ I found out I have a torn labrum in my left hip, and last month, my right hip started to hurt a little bit, and I went to the doctors again, and I have a torn labrum in my right hip, too. I have two torn labrums, so it hasn’t really been that fun. KATE DOUGLASS Virginia ...on winning the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 breaststroke at the NCAA Championships, all in American-record time I definitely think I owe a lot to (Coach) Todd (DeSorbo) to train me for all these different events. At the beginning of the season, I said that my goal was going to get the American record in the 50 free and 200 breast. I knew that was going to be difficult because those are two very different races, but I love training for the 50 free and the 200 breast. Being able to do a lot of different practices throughout the year has been great. I never really expected that I was going to break three American records at this meet! DAVE DURDEN Cal men’s head coach (left) ...on having David Marsh (right) join the team as interim assistant coach For the last seven weeks, he made these guys better for these three-and-a-half days. It’s really cool to get back to a spot where I can share the pool deck with my mentor. There’s just a level of trust. I can say, ‘David, go take these three guys,’ and I come back 30 minutes later, and they’re floating upside down and kind of doing different things, but helping them be better for this moment in time. The guy has won so many national ti-
tles. He knows how to navigate this meet. We were joking, ‘David, it’s been 15 years since you’ve done this job at this meet.’ He’s like, ‘Gah, has it been that long?’ It was really cool for our athletes, but it was even more special to me. It was phenomenal. He has perspective. You earn perspective through all the experiences that he’s had, and it was just great to experience that the past seven weeks. CASPAR CORBEAU Texas ...on winning the 400 freestyle relay to conclude the men’s meet despite Cal having clinched the team title It being only my second NCAAs, we always knew that the battle between us and Cal was going to be a tough one. It’s never going to be easy. (Texas head coach) Eddie (Reese) and (associate head coach) Wyatt (Collins) have said, ‘How do you want to be remembered?’ Seeing how in 2019 we were in the same situation, Cal was winning, but we stepped up and gave it our all. I think that was something that helped us leave it in the pool tonight and throw everything we possibly can at this last relay.
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SWIM MART
䐀刀夀 䰀䄀一䐀 刀䔀匀䤀匀吀䄀一䌀䔀 吀刀䄀䤀一䤀一䜀 䜀䔀䄀刀 䤀洀瀀爀漀瘀攀 䘀漀爀洀 ☀ 䤀䴀 琀椀洀攀 簀 䔀渀栀愀渀挀攀 攀渀搀甀爀愀渀挀攀 簀 吀爀愀椀渀 愀渀礀眀栀攀爀攀
一娀䌀漀爀搀稀⸀挀漀洀 簀 㠀
⸀㠀㠀㘀⸀㘀㘀㈀
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Making Waves BY ASHLEIGH SHAY
M
uch like the rest of the world, Swimming World hopped on the TikTok trend in 2020. The inaugural SW TikTok video was posted July 5 and focused on tagging teammates who have your back. Since then, our channel has had more than 7,000 followers and over a half-million likes. We have featured Paralympic swimmers, Olympic gold medalists and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. The majority of SW’s TikTok videos are created by our social media interns, who have taken the initiative by hopping on trends, relating to #swimmerproblems and more. They are tasked with creating and posting a TikTok video one to two times per week, depending on the schedule. “(Working on the TikTok channel was) one of the best experiences I’ve had in the workplace,” said Swimming World intern, Allison Cho, a senior at Pepperdine University (Calif.). “Even though we are working remotely, (the Swimming World internship) allowed me to work on social media in a professional setting, and the culture is very positive and welcoming. Everyone on the team is encouraging, and they are always trying to help you succeed.” While the Swimming World TikToks have covered a variety of topics, a select few garnered the most engagement, including: •
Teammates pulling on your leg
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Having a lot of suits
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Tech suits
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Non-swimmers vs. swimmers
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Focusing on how swimming is harder than anyone else thinks it is
AN IMPRESSIVE MILESTONE In February, high school senior Mia Nagle created our highest-viewed TikTok to date. Racking up over 1.3 million views, the quick clip features a swim meet, a swim dad and NFL Selection Sunday. Combined with the views from Instagram, that video has been viewed more than 1.4 million times! “When creating a TikTok, it’s important to have fun and be current while connecting to your audience,” said Nagle. “For my viral video, I used a trending event—NFL Sunday—and related it to a swim meet and a common dreaded event, the 500 free. “This strategy allowed me to obtain a wide audience from football fans and swim fans, which helped drive up the views on the video as a result. This blended strategy is what I credit to my success.” A NEW AVENUE PROVIDED FOR ADVERTISERS In conjunction with FINIS, the Swimming World marketing team created a video for FINIS’ Smart Goggles, powered by
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Ciye. The video has had nearly 100 hours of watch time, reached over 12,000 accounts, and has been viewed nearly 14,000 times. The video saw increased success on the Swimming World Instagram account as well. *** Compared to other social media platforms, such as Facebook, TikTok is in its infancy at Swimming World. Its growth, however, continues to rise month after month. The video views range from 400,000 to more than a million per month, and the audience continues to grow as well. Looking ahead, much like during the Olympics, the World Championships in June provide another opportunity around which to center content.
THE CAL MEN (TOP) AND THE VIRGINIA WOMEN (BOTTOM) CELEBRATE AFTER WINNING THEIR RESPECTIVE 2022 NCAA DI CHAMPIONSHIPS. [ PHOTOS BY PETER H. BICK ] MAY 2022
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