Swimmers of the Meet - SHG Veritas Milestone Invite

We had some outstanding peformances today, and it was tough to choose the swimmers of the meet.

Jake Pearl wowed us with a 27.08 50 freestyle to earn swimmer of the meet honors. Colin Seidel laid it all on the line to go a lifetime best 1:10.79 in the 100 butterfly. Alex Boen won the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle with lifetime best performances of 25.03 and 55.76.

We had a great meet from start to finish.

Swimmers (Divers) of the Meet - Dunlap Dual

Congratulations to Frank Gray and Tom Myers for Swimmer / Diver of the meet honors. Frank swam an impressive 5:19 in the 500 free, and Tom dove a 154 with an incredible twister.

Even though I didn't officially award any honorable mentions, I feel as though I should mention a few other performances. Kevin Gorman swam a lifetime best in the 100 fly. Jake Querciagrossa swam a 1:48 in the 200 free which places him as the 2nd fastest 200 freestyler in PND history. Danny Slevin also had some season best swims in the 100 backstroke and the 200 IM.

Loss of Hair

Three Assignments

The boys have 3 assignments due at the beginning of tomorrow's practice.

1) How will they lead the team.
2) How committed are they to their goals.
3) Post their goal on the goal wall at the pool.

Not Swimming is News

Jake expressed concern that his injury was a topic for a newspaper article. When you are a top caliber athlete, everything you do is a topic for public debate. This is true for all areas of life. This isn't just true in high school. It is true everywhere. Politicians are responsible for their personal lives, and athletes are responsible for conducting themselves with honor and decency on and off the competition field (pool).

Shawn's Birthday Celebration

This is a little past my Dec. 4th birthday, but I thought everyone would enjoy seeing the cake that Helen and Chuck Boen brought in for my birthday. Notice the little swimmers bobbing in the water. Thank you to the Boens for a great surprise. The boys also celebrated my birthday with a set of 32x100s.

Our Competition

Check out our competition in Bloomington-Normal at the Pantagraph

Swimmer of the Meet - Pekin Dual

We a great showing at the Pekin dual meet with 4 athletes earning swimmer of the meet honors.

Matt Pierz debuted as a full-time swimmer with 35 second drop in the 500 free. Lee Schatsiek swam his first 100 breaststroke with an impressive time of 1:15.54. Tom Myers and Nick Redshaw shared the last award for stepping up to fill two spots in the Medley relay. Their swims allowed the rest of the guys to swim the relays. Now that is teamwork!

Bradley Pool Update

I checked on the pool yesterday at 5pm and again at 10pm. As of 5pm, it was about 10 inches from the top and by 10pm it was about 2 inches from the top. I haven't talked with Bradley yet, but I assuming that they are almost done. The good news is that the pool was fairly warm. I will update you with more information later.

A Picture Share!

Swimmers of the Meet - Midwest Invitational

Congratulations to Kevin Gorman, Alex Boen, and Jared Martin for Swimmer of the Meet honors.

Kevin Gorman tied his lifetime best in the 100 butterfly.

Alex Boen dropped 6 seconds in the 500 freestyle to set a lifetime best.

Jared Martin swam his first 100 backstroke with a solide time.

Nick's Dartfish Analysis

Many of you haven't seen the Dartfish Video analysis tool that Derek and I have been using. Here is a quick analysis of Nick's takeoff position during a dive. Watch the video.

Swimmer of the Meet Awards

After the meet, with three bottles of pool water in my hands. This could only be the Swimmer of the meet award.

Midwest Invitational - Team Huddle

Practice Schedule Revision (Dec. 18-23)

As all of you may have heard, we are rescheduling some practices next week so that Bradley can add new water to the pool. Here is the current schedule.

Monday, 6-7am at Central (open swim) for 400 free relay
Monday, 8-10pm at Manual for Everyone
Tuesday, 8-10pm at Manual for Everyone
Wednesday, 4pm Dual meet with Pekin
Wednesday, 8-10pm at Manual
Thursday, 6-7am at Bradley for Varsity only
Thursday, 4-6pm at Bradley for Everyone
Friday, 6-7am at Bradley for Varsity only
Friday, 4-6pm at Bradley for Everyone
Saturday, 8-10am at Bradley

VOTE for Jake!

Jake Querciagrossa was nominated by WHOI for athlete of the week. Please go to http://www.whoitv.com/ to vote for him. The voting form is at the bottom of the page on the left hand side.

WHOI coverage of Irish Invite

For those of you who fell asleep before 10:30 on Saturday night, here is WHOI's coverage of the Irish Invite.

http://www.thinkboxathletics.com/video/whoi-irish-invite-web2.wmv

Irish Invite Coverage

Till-Pickle Between the Pipes

New School Records - 2 in 2

Jake Querciagrossa has set two new school records in two days. On Friday night, he blazed to a 56.31 100 backstroke time, and this afternoon, he paced out a strong 4:51.79 in the 500 freestyle to better his own school record. Jake now owns three school records.

Irish Invite - Swimmer of the meet

There were three swimmer of the meet awards this afternoon. I broke with tradition a little bit and did not award based on a school record performance.

Dan Stoughton split a strong 24.62 in the 200 freestyle relay to earn the honors. Robin Basu set a lifetime best and impressive season start with a 1:08.31 in the 100 breaststroke. Tony Webber rounded out the award winners with a first-time 500 freestyle appearance.

Richwoods Dual - Swimmers of the Meet

Swimmer of the meet honors went to Brian Tillis and Jake Querciagrossa tonight. Brian broke the 5:00 mark for the first time with a 4:58.95. Jake set a new school record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.31. The old mark was set at 57.71 by Trent Jackson in 1998.

Bequeathing the Pace Clock

We started a new tradition this year with our pace clocks. Each week a different swimmer is responsible for taking the pace clocks with them. The upside is that they get to choose the next swimmer. Here is Robin bequeathing the pace clock to Jake.

Dinner at the Tillis Household

We're Number One

Swimmer of the Year...page two

Journal Star Swimmer of the Year

For the second time, Katie Childs was named the Journal Star swimmer of the year. Congratulations to her for this great honor!

Our Water Wonder!

Pekin is Re-scheduled

The Pekin dual meet has been rescheduled for December 20th @ 4pm. It will be held at Bradley University.

Monday practice is ON!

I am suffering from a severe swimming deficit so Monday afternoon's practice is still on. If you can make it there, we will swim.

Pekin is Cancelled

The Pekin Dual meet scheduled for tonight (Dec. 1) is cancelled. I will call the boys on the Macomb Invite lineup to let you know about tomorrow.