Streamlined News: Headlines from College Swimming, Japan and Cycling

PHOENIX, Arizona, September 12. THE deadline to help keep a college swimming and diving program alive is fast approaching. The University of Wisconsin at River Falls will lose its swimming and diving programs if a replacement coach cannot be found in the coming days. Ryan Hawke, who had been the head coach there for three seasons, resigned his post to take over at River Falls rival Hamline a month ago. It appears the swimming community is not going to let a swim team die because of a lack of a coach. According to our sources, eight applications have been sent to the River Falls athletic department, and more could come in before the Monday deadline. The team’s first meet of the season is September 19, one week from today, against Oshkosh. The University of Wisconsin at River Falls is an NCAA Division III school in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

While we sleep tonight, swimming at the Japanese National Sports Festival begins in Tokyo. The meet had not featured any amazing swims historically until last year, when Akihiro Yamaguchi broke the world record in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:07.01. Yamaguchi hasn’t swum up to standards this year, but possibly something great could come out of the meet this year, and we’ll be covering it on swimmingworld.com.

And though this last bit of news concerns cycling, we’re mentioning it today on Streamlined News because Lance Armstrong’s troubles after his admission of using steroids spilled into the Masters swimming community. Armstrong sent a Tweet today with a picture of the bronze medal he won in the time trial cycling event at the 2000 Olympics, saying it was back in the hands of the US Olympic Committee and was on its way to the International Olympic Committee. We’re not sure what will happen to the medal. It could stay in the IOC vault, or, as it was in the case of Marion Jones, be awarded to the person who finished below him, which would be Abraham Olano. This is likely the last bit of controversy for Armstrong in this year of dealing with the fallout from his admission. Remember that he had intended to swim in a Masters meet last April before FINA and USMS stepped in and barred him from ever racing in a pool.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use