Tufts/Wheaton Recap

Tufts turned out to be, well, tough.

My guess is the Bowdoin/Colby back to back rivalry weekends, combined with our last week of hard work, and the fact that we were competing in a 6 lane pool with 5 1/2 foot wide lanes - well all of it led to a team that was not mentally "on."

That's OK... I would actually be a little puzzled if every weekend went our way, and was successful. It's tough writing that, but true. An off weekend for a program is OK - never enjoyable to be part of, or to look back at - but nonetheless, part of the process toward success.

The good news is that we had several impressive performances throughout the 8 hour extravaganza. Just enough to help me realize that all is OK, and we are still headed in the right direction.

Confirmation of the "anything is possible if you put your mind to it" philosophy came from the following.

1) Abigail Hanson's 1000 free come-from-behind season best and touch-out. We couldn't have asked for a better start to the meet!

2) Kara Leasure came off a tough 1000 free loss to take the 500 free (with a touchout!), and the 400 IM. Impressive as always.

3) Drake and Green seem to be unstoppable when it comes to their best events. I can't remember the last time I was worried about getting a win when they are up on the blocks. They hate to lose and always find a way.

4) Tara Dugan, after fretting all week about doing the 500 instead of the 100 fly, goes out and swims a great 500 free and then tells me she wants to swim the 100 fly too (the NEXT event). She jumps in an outside lane last minute and pops off her fastest 100 fly of the season and our top performance in the event. The girl is in amazing shape.

5) Leah Burke pops a great 400 IM in her first attempt this year... yeah new NESCAC event!

6) Our women's 200 medley and 200 free relay both leave with the victory. Impressive in that Wheaton had a relay top 12 in the country last year, and Tufts is ALWAYS deep.

7) Tom Boniface swims what may be his smartest 200 free of the year... not his fastest, but definitely the best put together... and he goes a very good time too (imagine that).

8) Nick Karlson completed a 1000, learned a lot about how to swim the race, then jumped in the next event and swam one of his best 200 free's of the year. That is impressive.

9) Pat Carroll has been on all year. He is training well. He is lifting well. He is racing well. And we saw it again Saturday - in less than ideal situations.

10) Buehler?.... Buehler?.... Buehler?.... Oh there he is, popping his best 400 IM of the year after 7 hours of sitting, eating, sitting, racing, sitting and racing again. Well done Buehler.

11) Last, but not least by any means, Annaliese Rudis pops her 2nd NCAA Cut!!! And Travis hits his best 3meter score of the year. Our divers are getting real good - right at the best time of the year. It has been very fun to watch.

That's it for now... got to figure out tapering, meet line ups, and all that other jazz.

Go Bobcats

This picture of Greenberg reminds me of how many on the team looked Saturday at Tufts!

(and the picture up top... well, many believe a cold dip can truly get you going on a rather dreary day)

Underwater Dolphin Video

Very good points on dolphin kicking... also, notice how deep Nick needs to get when kicking off a wall.

Alumni Update! Kris Gray and Tasha Rosener '08

Hey Pete,

I didn't know if you knew this, but Tasha got married a little while ago! Sorry I am just sending you this now, the wedding was a couple months ago, but I have been busy with law school. I thought you would like a picture of the Batsies at the wedding and some pictures to show the team of how gorgeous Tasha looked on her wedding day. It was a wonderful wedding and Matt, her husband, is a lucky man! Thought you would like these pics!

Hope you're doing well and that the team is looking forward to NESCACS.

As always, GO BATES!

Kris Gray '08

Colby Recap!

In what turned out to be a surprisingly comfortable win over Colby (175-105), the men’s team swam well early with 1-2 finishes, depth in each event, and 18 unanswered points on the diving board. It was the men’s first dual meet win over Colby since 2004 when Todd Bretl and Nate Curll captained the team to an 8 point victory. You could sense that the men’s team knew they had an opportunity to win, and they came out focused and hungry. Too many in-season bests to report right now, but what I can’t ignore is that they stay focused the entire meet, and put an exclamation point on their performance with two great 400 freestyle relays. In fact a new pool record was set - breaking the old mark by nearly two and half seconds. The quartet of sophomore boys split 49.2 (Aupi), 48.7 (Depew), 48.8 (Boniface), and 47.9 (Scott) finishing with a time of 3:14.7!

The women lost another heartbreaker by 10 points (exactly the same margin against Bowdoin last weekend). Stellar performances by Emily Tato, Katelyn Drake, Sarah Reingold, Annaliese Rudis, and Charlotte Green weren’t enough to overcome the slightly deeper Colby team. What you may not realize when looking at these last two meets is that 10 points is exactly the difference between first and second, and in each meet the Lady ‘Cats lost a first place or two by one tenth of a second. That truly shows you how close these meets were. I hate to lose, but I know that with 4 smart weeks of training and race prep ahead of us, those moments could go our way at NESCACs. I am hopeful that keeps our women both focused and positive as we head into taper.

Check out the meet results here - and if you are in the Boston area come watch take on Tufts next weekend!

Races, Not Records - Swimnetwork.com

Races, Not Records - Swimnetwork.com

Having a vision, sticking with it...

Michael Phelps, Why He Wins, His Pro Team

Michael Phelps swam to a 3:38 win in the 400 yard individual medley at the Southern, California Grand Prix, barely a fingernail slower than his swim back in 2008, back when he wore a full body-suit, 100% polyurethane, so pure and slippery. Last night in Long Beach, Phelps wore a jammer made of fabric. His hairy limbs and chest were exposed to the water. For the uninitiated, that's like racing in a sweater. By my calculations, Phelps should be swimming five to six seconds slower.

When FINA (swimming's international governing body) announced their ban on the hi-tech body-suits, August of 2009, Phelps immediately and "emotionally" shifted to the jammer-suit. He was already mapping out his use of the "old school technology" over his 12 to 36 month training regiment.

Other swimmers, many other swimmers, still raced in the hi-tech body-suits last fall. Many tried to snag world records, shooting for times that could stand for the historic long haul. Meanwhile, Phelps slogged through the late autumn, wearing a jammer, testing his speed at the World Cup. In some swims he didn't even make it into the final heats. He lost by a long-shot.

Phelps' 3:38 win in the 400 yard individual medley marks his true and simple genius; prepare, prepare, prepare, and prepare early, long before your rivalries.

It appears Phelps has almost over-prepared for the technology-shift in suits. His 3:38 time heralds a huge base of training that is frighteningly dangerous.

PHELPS' PRO TEAM: BOB BOWMAN & PETER CARLISLE

Bob Bowman, Phelps' life-long coach, is the man behind swimming's icon. Bob has been like a father to Phelps, protecting him during hard times. Phelps never waivers when the media critiques his career, in or out of the pool. Bob is largely the reason. His quiet confidence has empowered Phelps to always maintain his cool.

Peter Carlisle, Bates Alum ('91), and Phelps' sports manager, is another pillar of unspoken power. Peter's not your normal sports manager. He's slow to react, thoughtful...even kind. Talking to him you get the real sense that he's not after a pile of money. He's more concerned with developing stability for his athlete-clients.

Watch Peter in this video and judge for yourself.

Bowdoin Recap

I have a couple of sayings I truly believe in. First, you never want to your team to be at their best in a dual meet in January. And second, trust your training - and let your swimming and diving do the talking.

Watching last weekend's meet from a coach's perspective leads me to believe that the team is on their way to a very good championship meet. Watching it as a fan of Bobcat Swimming and Diving hurt a bit. On the women's side, the team didn't build a big enough lead going into the last two events where Bowdoin was stacked. It was tough watching a 10 point lead dwindle into a 10 point loss after just two races. However, come from behind victories, and tough swimming was the norm for the Lady 'Cats - not the exception - and I am happy about that. On the men's side we lost nearly every touch-out. Can you imagine that? It was rough. The silver lining is that they charged back on the last leg of nearly all those races, and made what could have been a eight tenth loss into an .08 loss. Again, we came up on the wrong side, but it just might have made a us a little more hungry.... which isn't a bad thing at all.

Their were lots of positives to take away... Smart swims, gutsy finishes, two wins on the diving boards, and even a few breakthroughs. Check out the write up and results here.

Finally, Kara Leasure was named Bobcat of the Week! A well deserved accolade!