I

By Jason Marsteller

HONOLULU, Hawaii, June 7. DIPPING into some Red Hot Chili Peppers lyrics for the title of my latest entry in the National Club Swimming Association’s All-American meet journal. The lyric comes from Love Rollercoaster, and for some reason it felt like a rollercoaster the entire day when the Fearsome Foursome from the West team entered our van today.

Yes, that’s right. We had our new charges starting this morning. Curt Carlson, Dan Forsythe, Blake Lewkowitz and James Ridgeway had Erin and I laughing so much today that it felt like a serious ab workout. Especially Ridgeway either singing to the radio so much we are calling him “American Idol”, or complaining about his 18-degree sunburn. Very cool guys. Should be an interesting rest of the week toting them around everywhere.

Here are some more thoughts from the action-packed day:

* The teams elected team captains last night. For the West, Cory Chitwood and Adam Klein earned the nod from the men, while Dana Christ and Cindy Tran picked up the helm for the women. Meanwhile, Nicole Roddenbery and Melanie Roberts were named captains for the East women, while Josh Hafkin and Bill Cregar took the men’s captainships. Congrats to all.

* For the workout fiends out there, here’s yesterday’s distance freestyle morning:
800 free/back mix
400 IM 50K/25d/25bup
4×50 choice desc 1-4

30×50/50 ideal mile pace (work on tempo and rhythm)
1500 pull desc 500’s 1-3 (moderate to strong)
(mental rehearsal swim thinking about ideal swim)
15×50/50 ideal mile pace (work on tempo and rhythm)
Broken 1500:
500 straight fast! (timed)
1-minute break
2×250 :30 seconds between
Add up 500 + 2×250 + 5×100’s and equal ideal mile time.

If anything about that looks wrong, blame me for not being able to read someone’s handwriting.

* During the afternoon workouts, I spoke with each coach for another pair of Swimming World Radio pieces that will be posted soon. They had the chance to talk about the meet, some of their swimmers, who has stood out so far in training and what the coaches’ home clubs have to offer.

Some of the names most mentioned by the coaches when it came to who stood out were: Cory Chitwood, Abbie Fish and Matt McLean. Listen to the pieces when they are available to hear more from the meet’s stellar coaching staff.

* The teams all received their team shirts, and then took group pictures. We have a copy of the complete group image to the right.

* Today had a much more serious feel around the group as it was the day before the meet started. The swimmers really started to get their game faces on, as they began to get mentally ready for a top-flight competition.

* A lot was at stake today in practice, as coaches started to finalize their meet lineups and discuss who would be called on for relay duties. It should be interesting to see what they come up with. We’re working on getting a heat sheet posted prior to the meet tomorrow night.

* Southern Crescent Aquatics coach Jamey Myers and I have been having some Southeastern Conference fun this week. Myers and his wife are from Alabama, while I graduated with my Masters from Tennessee. I almost got him to agree to sing Rocky Top for me during our coach interview, but I think he likes being married to his wife – who just happens to be a REALLY hard core Crimson Tide fan. I can’t wait to meet his wife sometime to talk some SEC trash. Maybe we can have another overtime thriller in football just for fun.

* Overall, I have been nothing but impressed by the respect the athletes have shown us throughout our time here. I pointed out Matt McLean and Abbie Fish in separate posts, but I also have to shine the spotlight on Megan Waters and Maggie Meyer. They both have made a point of greeting me whenever they have run into me – even after really intense practices. Their parents should be really proud.

* About to start producing the radio pieces from the coach interviews before feeling a pillow on the side of my sun-burnt face en route to Dream Street. Hope you all are enjoying the coverage so far, because business will pick up tomorrow when competition begins for real.

* Odd note of the day: It sometimes feels like I am at NCAAs around here. All of the signed kids (and some of the unsigned swimmers who are obviously demonstrating their intentions early) wear gear from the schools they will be attending after the summer. I wish them nothing but the best of luck as they prepare to enter the next step towards adulthood as a collegiate athlete.

If you have anything specific you’d like me to focus and report on, please click here to drop me a note. I will do my best to respond to reader requests.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

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

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x