Journal Star State Coverage

Journal Star Sectional Coverage

Jake Moves Up

Jake set a new school record and did something that no other boy from Notre Dame has ever done at the state swim meet -- he dropped time. Jake won his heat with a 4:52.02 and moved up to 28th place. He achieved his goal of placing in the top 30.

A few Thoughts from Luke Adams (prior to Senior Day)

List your accomplishments in school andcommunity:
Student Body President, National Honors Society, CadetDeputy Commander in Civil Air Patrol, Boy's StateOration Contest winner, puppet-wrangler

List your swimming accomplishments:
Four-year swimmer, varsity letters earned. Inventedthe Tornado.

What are you most proud of:
My wonderful swim coaches who have always driven me tosucceed. Especially Derek Amerman, whose pool-sideantics have provided me with comedy material for the2006 Friar's Club Roast of Derek Amerman.

What do you want to share with all future PNDswimmers:
It's never going to be easy, and sometimes it may seemimpossible, but if you keep a positive attitude and asmile on your face you can get through anything.

What will take with you from your experience as aPND swimmer / diver?
A strong work ethic, a sense of humor, and a belief inmyself.

What would you like me to say to your parents onyour behalf at Senior Night?
Anything that comes to mind. Unless you read from thisas a script, in which case you probably shouldn't say"anything that comes to mind." But if you did readfrom this as a script, you'd say all that other stufftoo, in fact you'd be reading this and- well,whatever. Just tell my dad I like his haircut.

Jake Shaves Down for State

Here's a few quick pictures of AJ shaving Jake's head for the State Swim Meet.

Picture Links from this Season

Sectional Pictures
http://www.pixagogo.com/8007285186

Conference Pictures
http://www.pixagogo.com/4008435199

Shave-Down Pictures
http://www.pixagogo.com/1009465651

Swimmer of the Meet - Sectionals

Four athletes were awarded "swimmer" of the meet. The first two were our divers T.J. Wukitsch and David Myers. I haven't seen our divers that sharp in a long time, and they accomplished something that has never been done in the history on Notre Dame boys swimming & diving. They put the team in first place. After diving, we were leading the meet.

On the swimming side, Frank Gray stepped up to swim 4 lifetime bests despite a tough day for the Irish. Frank kept his eyes on the goal and never lost sight of what he planned to accomplish. Jake Querciagrossa was also focused on his mission as he cruised to a school record of 4:53.08 in the 500 freestyle, and he punched his ticket to the State meet.

Interesting to say, I just pulled Jake's goal card off the pool wall before we left for state. His goal time was 4:52.77. The incredible power of writing down a goal never ceases to amaze me.

Swimmer of the Meet - Conference

This is a late publish, but I still wanted to share the Conference Swimmers of the meet with everyone. On the JV side, Sam Clark and Alex Boen tore it up. Sam claimed the JV Conference Title in the 50 free with a lifetime best of 24.37 while Alex claimed the JV Conference title in the 200 Free with a lifetime best of 2:03.01.

On the Varsity Side, Jake Querciagrossa showed everyone that he is a man to be reckoned with. He claimed the 200 IM Conference title with a lifetime best and school record performance of 2:03.17 over top-seeded Pekin senior Corey Allen who was the two-time defending champion. As if that wasn't enough, he took the title in the 500 freestyle, and led off our 400 freestyle relay with a lifetime best in the 100 free.

Ibrahim Hambazaza also accomplished what has only been done two other times by a Notre Dame boy swimmer. He was a four-time winner. He took the title in the 50 free with a school record, the 100 backstroke, and swam a leg on both of the Championship freestyle relays .

The only other athletes to accomplish this feat were Trent Jackson in 1999, and Peter Myers in 2003.

A quick Picture from State

Here is Jake, Brian Coates (from Washington), and Frank taking it in on the deck of Evanston's pool.

If You Want to Watch Jake at State

If you are interested in watching Jake swim at the State Swim Meet, here are some of the details. Drive up on Friday morning, and plan to arrive in Evanston around 11:30am. Eat lunch and stop by the hotel to wish Jake luck. We are staying at the Best Western University Plaza in Evanston.
The preliminary session begins at 4pm on Friday, but you will want to arrive at Evanston Township High School around 2pm to start looking for a ticket. Tickets are very hard to get, but anyone who tries hard will typically be successful. You have to ask everyone for a ticket. Jake’s actual swim time will probably be between 5:30-6:30pm. The preliminary session will probably end around 7:30pm. Ticket cost is $10 per session.

Swimming and Diving Finals are on Saturday at 1PM.

Here are the addresses:
Best Western University Plaza
1501 Sherman Avenue
Evanston, IL

Evanston Township H.S.
1600 Dodge Avenue
Evanston, IL

Sectional Results

Take a look at the sectional results.

WHOI news coverage

Check out the WHOI news coverage. Watch the video.

Our practice of awarding pool water for swimmer of the meet got a little attention. We won the Jim Dandy award. I didn't quite get all of that footage on tape. I thought that the story was over, so let me know if you taped it.

From Egypt

Journal Star Honor Roll Times 2-7-06

WHOI-TV will air Story on PND Swimming

WHOI-TV came to our practice yesterday evening and interviewed a few of our athletes. The story will air on Wednesday evening during the 6PM news.

Definitely Over-Celebrating

This photos and all of the Conference Championship photos are online at ChingPhoto.com. This photo was provided by Ching Zedric.

The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat

This photos and all of the Conference Championship photos are online at ChingPhoto.com. This photo was provided by Ching Zedric.

The Relay Stats

It seems fitting that the Journal Star choose to highlight our relays as the saviour of the day. The record that I was thinking about the most before the meet began was our relay record. Over the last four years, we have now won 9 of 12 relays. We have won the 200 freestyle relay four years in a row. This dominance is no small accomplishment when you consider that none of our relay swimmers were on the varsity relays last year. This was the first year that these four had swam together as a relay.

I have always said that we swim the fastest on the relays. There is a reason for it -- the relays are the truest expression of a teamwork in the sport of swimming.

Conference Results

Take a look at the meet results on the internet.

http://thinkboxathletics.com/2006-conference.html

Irish Win!