The Meet Can’t Start Without Our Swimming Officials

By Allie Clark and Wilson Josephson, Swimming World College Interns

The final regular season meets of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) have wrapped up, and athletes have about a week to prepare for conference championships, which will begin on February 19.

But the meet can’t start without our swimming officials – the ones pacing the side of the pool, watching turns and relay exchanges, and starting each race. Despite the fact that we see them at each meet, it can sometimes be tough to get to know officials.

At most meets, swimmers are single-mindedly focused on their races. On top of that, the officials are authority figures with the power to DQ swimmers, which can seem like power over life and death.

In order to help you get to know some of your MIAC officials before conference championships, we spoke with Brad Ness, Bob Johnson, Michael Bougie, and Doug Magnus. We asked them an array of questions, some serious, others silly.

The takeaway? Officials are people, too!

Introductions

Brad Ness began officiating swim meets in 1976, during his junior year at St. Olaf College. He got his start working at Northfield High School meets when the usual officials pursued job opportunities in Saudi Arabia. After he he graduated in 1978, he found the transition into officiating at collegiate meets natural.

Bob Johnson started officiating MIAC meets in the mid-1970s. He had been coaching at the high school level for six years at that point, and felt that becoming an official was a good way to stay involved with and provide an important service for the local swim community.

Doug Magnus began officiating when his daughters joined a USA Swimming program. Inspired by their passion for the sport, he decided to get involved, and though they stopped swimming many years ago he continues to officiate. He has been working in the MIAC for 18 years.

Similarly, Michael Bougie started officiating when his sons joined a swim team. To quote Michael, “I found that stands and I were not good friends. There had to be something better.” He has been officiating for the MIAC for 10 years.

Racing

Officials working at big meets like the MIAC championships have to work well together to be sure the meet goes smoothly. In this way, they’re like a team – albeit one that doesn’t compete.

But what if they did? We decided to ask each official which event they’d compete in at conference championships if they were to form a team.

“I am a non-swimmer,” admits Magnus. “So if officials competed as a team I would have to be the coach. I could put others in events!”

“I was a swimmer in high school and college,” Ness says. “But I pretty much only swam breaststroke.” He’d probably enter the 100 breaststroke, though a medley relay might be more fun.

Like Magnus, Bougie says he isn’t a swimmer. But he would be willing to jump in for a 50 freestyle, insisting that he is “more or less drown-proof.”

Johnson has similar intentions. He has spent too much time watching swimmers battle through painful races to succumb to their allure, and so he would “request the shortest possibility available. Or, better yet, maybe take a declared false start!”

Photo Courtesy: Peter Bick

Dual Meets vs. Championships

Every swimmer knows that there’s something different in the air at championships – something missing from most regular season dual meets. There are nail-biting races and high-strung emotions.

But what is it like for officials?

It turns out that all the officials we spoke with prefer larger meets with higher stakes.

Johnson says that “championships are without a doubt in a class by themselves, because of what is at stake.” It can be awesome to watch swimmers achieve their goals – and sometimes exceed them, “doing what they weren’t sure they could do.”

Ness assured us that he enjoyed meets at all levels, but he has especially fond memories of his stint as the starter at the Division III National Championships. Ness worked as a starter for nationals from 1999 to 2009, and was always thrilled by the intense level of competition and the high level of sportsmanship.

Magnus prefers championship meets and large invitationals too, but for a very different reason.

“Working invites allows me to see and visit with coaches and swimmers I have known for a number of years.”

The degree to which the swim community is tight-knit and long-lasting really comes to light at big meets.

“I saw some of these swimmers when they were in junior high!”

Time Machine

Our final question for the MIAC officials before letting them go had to do with a hypothetical trip in a time machine.

Where would they go? When would they go? Their answers were largely straightforward.

Magnus told us he’d like to go back to the 1950s, so that he could apply his current wisdom to his college years – and maybe do a little bit better.

Similarly, Johnson picked the 1960s, so he could re-live his early years as a coach.

Bougie would like to see what things were like in 1947, which was the year he was born.

Of the four, Ness was definitely the odd man out. He chose September 7, 1876, so that he could bear witness to the James/Younger Gang’s thwarted robbery of the First National Bank in Northfield, MN (an event which Ness and many other Northfielders reenact each year).

Hopefully this has given you a better sense of what the officials in our conference are like. If you see them on deck, say hello! They’re friendly, wise, and more than a little goofy.

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Jessica Obrecht

9 years ago

Megan Obrecht

John McCormack

9 years ago

Braden McCormack Matthew McCormack Morgan McCormack love this…