The sea of orange, team fun & team success

What a night! Capturing the intensity of finals in collegiate swimming is tough with just words and pictures. Lost is the deafening excitement and the hair-raising adrenaline. All this was in effect Saturday night at the Northwest Invite as our swimmers moved up places on nearly all their swims. Lee and Matt moved from 4th and 6th seeds in their consol final to finish 1-2. No more than fifteen minutes later Catherine and Kaitlin went 1-2 in their consol before watching Annie take second in the 100 Backstroke final.

The sea of orange was in action again on the pool deck as our kids cheered, danced, and hollered their teammates through big swim after big swim. Lindsay completed her sweep of the Medleys with her strong victory in the 400 IM. Watching our team cheering during races at the end of the pool, surrounding the block and spilling out behind other lanes took me back to my own college swimming days and the way a team can get you through the big races.

Catherine offered to get us home quickly by driving the tour bus. Her offer was declined, but she still got this nifty photo.

Finals tonight and a return trip to Portland

We've refueled after prelims and the team is veging out until we head back to the pool. Our 200 Medley Relays will set the evening in motion and the fun won’t stop until after the 400 Free Relay several hours later. We have loads of finals swims ahead of us and many great races already behind. Our swimmers have opportunities to move up and the chance to make small adjustments after our morning swims.

More than anything I’m impressed with how well our men and women are racing. We’re attacking swims without fear or misgivings. It is far better to give everything to a race in the face of possible discomfort and pain than to wait around hoping things will go smoothly and easily. This difference is the hard thing to teach and it is a blast to see our team lay everything on the line for great swims!

Road Trip!

The Pioneers took to the road this weekend for the Northwest Invitational in eastern Washington. Two-day meet with prelims and finals each day. In this format we cover the entire Conference Championship slate of events in only two days. The swim coach in (which pretty much takes over this time of year) loves the challenge of so many races packed tightly together. If our kids have the grit and gumption to succeed here, the big meet will prove restful and spread out by comparison.

In true Pioneer Swimming fashion we got out of the gates fast and put up great morning swims, logging seven big-final berths and many more consol and bonus consol slots. At lunch we hit the sandwich shop and returned to the hotel for quick R&R before boarding the bus for the pool. Finals were big, loud, exciting and fast. A sea of orange lined the pool for our team races and the women swam an impassioned 400 Medley Relay to finish second overall.

At the halfway point I go to sleep with a happy heart and a stomach full of pasta, salad, and garlic bread.

Albany Quad: Friday morning on campus

I walked to the Dovecote with Michael so he could get his morning hot chocolate. I've used the word "glorious" to describe the last two days on campus far too many times already. This probably won't stop me using it again.

Glorious.

Tuesday from the pool's front steps

The OTHER important election: Our own Matt Yelin wins coveted costume award

In what's been a real nail-biter, a sophomore swimmer wins the campus-wide Halloween costume contest. Check it out! http://www.lclark.edu/~infotech/HALLOWEEN/

Sprint Pentathlon, Relay Meet, and..... is that Michael Phelps on our team bus?

Friday night we competed in the annual Sprint Pentathlon. 50s of each stroke and a 100IM. You probably realize not all swimmers are suited to these events, but I told our team beforehand I believe everyone has something to gain by attacking these races, supporting their teammates, and having some fun. We did just that. There were solid swims and our returning swimmers crushed many of their times from last season.

Our women won the team competition with Lindsay Nixon taking first overall for the five-event combined time. We had 5 women in the top 13 places. Our men swam fast, the returners making great drops, and our freshmen showed us great range in their stroke events.

More to follow on our Halloween workout, but it's important to note that sophomore Matt Yelin was Michael Phelps for a day. All day!

Saturday we hosted the annual Northwest Conference Relay Meet in Zehntbauer. It's great to welcome so many teams to our home pool and the meet ran fast and smooth.