this year- the first practice to be exact- a guy got out after 720
yards and said he was going to go to the bathroom. He never came
back. Today I saw him come out of the locker room prompting me to
wonder...has he been there all along?
GE
Swimming's Tough
I'm reminded of how challenging swimming can be sometimes. EArlier
this year- the first practice to be exact- a guy got out after 720
yards and said he was going to go to the bathroom. He never came
back. Today I saw him come out of the locker room prompting me to
wonder...has he been there all along?
this year- the first practice to be exact- a guy got out after 720
yards and said he was going to go to the bathroom. He never came
back. Today I saw him come out of the locker room prompting me to
wonder...has he been there all along?
CCIW Championships - NCAA Cuts
Time will tell what shakes out and who makes Minneapolis, but here's a rundown of who got cuts:
- Blake Bendix - 200 & 400 Free Relays
- Jon Bond - 100 Back, 200 Med Relay
- Kyle Drake - 100 & 200 Back, 400 IM, 400 Med Relay, 800 Free Relay
- Mitchell Jackson - 800 Free Relay
- Dan Jones - 200 Free Relay
- Mike Moravek - 200 Medley Relay
- Ryan Ortmann - 200 & 400 Free Relays
- Bob Pellican - 100 Back, 400 Free Relay
- Nathan Ripley - 50, 100, 200 Free - 400 Medley, 200, 400, 800 Free Relays
- Isaac Rothenbaum - 200 Free Relay
- Doug Schranck - 100 & 200 Fly, 200 & 400 Medley Relays
- Alex Van Huis - 400 Medley Relay
- Chris Varner - 100 Back
CCIW Championships - Winners
A list of winners from this past weekend:
- CCIW MVP - Nathan Ripley
- CCIW Most Outstanding Participant - Kyle Drake (Should have been)
- CCIW MVP - Amanda Croix
- CCIW Most Outstanding Participant - Michelle Pelka
- CCIW Women's Coach-of-the-Year - Beth DeLaRosby
- 200 Free Relay (Ripley, Ortmann, Bendix, Rothenbaum)
- 500 Freestyle - Kyle Drake
- 200 IM - Doug Scrhanck
- 50 Free - Nathan Ripley
- 400 Medley Relay (Bond, Alex VanHuis, Schranck, Ripley)
- 400 IM - Alex VanHuis
- 200 Free - Nathan Ripley
- 800 Free Relay - (Drake, Ripley, Bendix, Jackson)
- 200 Backstroke - Kyle Drake
- 400 Free Relay (Pellican, Bendix, Ortmann, Ripley)
CCIW Championships - Day One
It's late, I'm tired but a quick rundown here as I watch Olympic hockey.- Very workmanlike morning - 15 swims - 15 guys back at night with ten up five down
- Best times in 29 of 30 races this morning - with at least 16 lifetime bests
- Wins in 200 Free Relay, 50 Free, 500 Free, 200 IM and 400 Medley Relay
- 200 Free Relay - #8 in the country right now with - 1:23.44 ties for second-fastest in school history and just 0.06 off of pool record - need to take that down tomorrow
- 500 Free Relay - FIVE, count 'em FIVE guys back in the top eight - Kyle beats defending champion in 4:39.60 - Alex nearly made it 1-2 but ran out of time; Eric, Adam and Steve round out scoring
- 200 IM - Some morning miscues cost us more guys in the top eight, but much better at night - five of six guys go faster. Doug gets his first individual title - a 200 IM that should have been in the Schranck family a year ago. Jon goes big-time lifetime best and Bob wins consols. In the AM Kyle goes fastest time of the meet and Pat gets lifetime best.
- 50 Free - Rip FINALLY gets under 21.0 to lead a 1-2-3 sweep with Ryan (21.30) and Blake (21.65). Dan Jones goes under 22.0 for the first time
- 400 Medley Relay - Most exciting relay at CCIW's since 800 free relay in 2004 when Denby split 47-57 to out-touch James Beaman - we put four backstrokers at 53.0 or better - add sub-1:00 splits from Mike and Alex, and 49.7 and 52.2 fly splits from Doug and Ryan. IWU was out to a big, a huge, a commanding lead but Rip ran him down - Wheaton finished 3rd.
Women down by 21 to Wheaton - about 50 points better than predicted - Croix is fastest woman in the country - 23.03
Take Nothing for Granted
This weekend also revealed a new wrinkle for Wheaton - check it out here.
PS - Take a look at the "OFFICIAL" CCIW Championship Logo - I like how the 'C' is in the center of the circle - making it reminiscent of Carthage's old (now illegal) C and Feathers logo.
Taper Time
I've been neglect in blog postings - many, many apologies. But did want to give you an update because the countdown has begun - just 360 Hours until the CCIW Championships. That doesn't seem like much tiem when you think about it, but we've been counting down since about the 1,000 hour mark. When you think of things from that perspective, it helps focus the mind on what needs to be done. If something is a few weeks off, well there's time to procrastinate. If there's only a few HOURS left, well its time to get going.
Really though - there's nothing to procrastinate about at this time of the year. The work is largely done and if we've done the work the results will be there. Really, when you think of it, have you ever seen a truly lazy swimmer taper well? What lies ahead now is rest and mental preparation. The best teams I've worked with or seen have always been those who have done the work and then been ready to seize the moment. As I wrote to the team on Sunday:
- "Our results won’t be because of luck. Our sport is simply too demanding for luck to be a determining factor. The results won’t be because of talent. We are, (and have traditionally been) a team of hard-working overachievers. And it won’t be because of a magical taper. Taper results from the work that has already been done.
- No, our success will come from us meeting at the intersection of preparation and opportunity. If you’ve DONE THE WORK, if you’ve LEARNED HOW TO COMPETE, and if you’re MENTALLY PREPARED for the opportunity that lies ahead.
Final Tune-Up: Wisconsin Private College Meet
The impressive-sounding, but not all that impressive Wisconsin Private College Championships are in the books, and with it, our final races prior to the CCIW and NCAA Championships. It's funny to think about it now, but nobody on our team can remember a time when we didn't win this meet or every relay as a part of it. Only Rip and Alex are even able to remember this meet being held anyplace but Carthage and nobody wants to remember just how long the meet used to take. That's a far cry from when I got here and the upperclassmen explained that one of their goals was to win back the "Championship".
Today its a meet where we let the guys choose their own events. and let them take a stab at moving up the all-time lists. As coaches, we use it as an evaluation tool - who should be in what event at CCIW's. Who will (and won't) make the conference team?
Some things that stood out this weekend:
- Our medley relays may have some life after all! We split them up and the top two weren't far off our season best. If we pick the right four, I think we can make a run at Wheaton's top-ten ranked medleys.
- Ryan Ortmann is beginning to show why he should be one of the nation's premiere sprinters. He went a lifetime best and broke Edgar Vargas' meet record with a slow start and bad breakout. He's also probably off the hook for the 200 freestyle at conference following his is 54.7 fly.
- 200 IM - We don't have a "true" 200 IM'er, but a lot of pretty good ones. We'll be looking for someone to break through here.
- Nathan Ripley - wins his 4th straight 100 free title with a new meet record. He's emerged from our heaviest training and starting to show flashes of what we know he can do.
- Breaststrokes - We've got a logjam in the 1:02-1:04 range. We need a 58.5 and watching these guys improve every week gives us optimism.
- 200 Free Relay - Carroll breaks a seven-year string of relay wins, BUT check out that 22.32 anchor split out of a miler - Eric Ross?
- 100 Butterfly - Everyone loves swimming the 100 fly at this meet. I'm never really sure why, but we learned that we do have some more potential here.
It's an interesting set of questions, and we'll need to get most of them right to defend last year's conference title.
Say Goodbye to Seideman
more. Today it began it's transformation into the new Carthage
student center. When finished, it will be Carthage's 10th major
project in ten years! And people are taking notice. We just received
word that we're on track to surpass 6,500 applicants for the 700-odd
spots in next year's freshman class.
Here's a final look at what remained of Seideman this morning...
We Stumbled on the Side of Three Misty Mountains
Mountain Photos
Yeah, I'm back...get over it.
First day of the New Year. The decade began for the Red Men with an 8:00 a.m. practice followed by a two hour drive North to Sedona, Arizona. Outside of Sedona we parked at the foot of a group of mountains and set off to climb. After nearly ten minutes, we reached the top of the supposedly rugged peak. After a lot of boasting, a lot of feats of manliness, and a team photo, we realized that we were on the wrong mountain. What we thought was Bear Mountain, turned out to actually be the much smaller, Doe Mountain (easy mistake). After coming down from Doe Mountain, we trekked across the road to the real Bear Mountain.
Bear Mountain is more than twice the size of Doe Mountain (2.4 miles vs. .7) and a much higher difficulty rating: so needless to say, the team galloped up the mountain with much vigor. Led by Blake Bendix's Alpha Squad, the competition was fierce. Unfortunately, the time we wasted on Doe mountain prevented us from going any farther than about two-thirds of the way up before the sun went down. Coming in First were Adam Van Huis and Bob Pellican in 20 minutes (child's play) followed closely by the rest of Alpha Squad: Ben Coder, Blake Bendix, Ryan Ortmann, and Myself in 25 minutes. We took some photos and challenged each other to more feats of manliness. Nearly everyone made it to the top (*cough* Isaac *cough*), even Greg.
Bear Mountain was easily the highest thing I've ever climbed, and to be totally honest: It was an INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE, and I would take it over the beach any day. The view from that mountain was simply breathtaking, an almost spiritual experience.
Just a few more days remain in the Arizona experiment. Room 213 is hanging out watching the Twilight Zone Marathon on Syfy (don't judge)....Starting off 2010 the right way. Shout out to the #4 ranked Purdue Boilermakers Basketball team (13-0) and the 6-0 Harrison High School boys swimming team.
The Carthage Red Men have climbed three mountains in three days. Three (3) mountains in Three (3) days. We climbed Bear Mountain, we can do anything. 2010 is going to be the year of the Red Men
Happy New Year!
-E. Ross
No Sleep 'Till Tempe
Yeah, I'm back...get over it.
First day of the New Year. The decade began for the Red Men with an 8:00 a.m. practice followed by a two hour drive North to Sedona, Arizona. Outside of Sedona we parked at the foot of a group of mountains and set off to climb. After nearly ten minutes, we reached the top of the supposedly rugged peak. After a lot of boasting, a lot of feats of manliness, and a team photo, we realized that we were on the wrong mountain. What we thought was Bear Mountain, turned out to actually be the much smaller, Doe Mountain (easy mistake). After coming down from Doe Mountain, we trekked across the road to the real Bear Mountain.
Bear Mountain is more than twice the size of Doe Mountain (2.4 miles vs. .7) and a much higher difficulty rating: so needless to say, the team galloped up the mountain with much vigor. Led by Blake Bendix's Alpha Squad, the competition was fierce. Unfortunately, the time we wasted on Doe mountain prevented us from going any farther than about two-thirds of the way up before the sun went down. Coming in First were Adam Van Huis and Bob Pellican in 20 minutes (child's play) followed closely by the rest of Alpha Squad: Ben Coder, Blake Bendix, Ryan Ortmann, and Myself in 25 minutes. We took some photos and challenged each other to more feats of manliness. Nearly everyone made it to the top (*cough* Isaac *cough*), even Greg.
Bear Mountain was easily the highest thing I've ever climbed, and to be totally honest: It was an INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE, and I would take it over the beach any day. The view from that mountain was simply breathtaking, an almost spiritual experience.
Just a few more days remain in the Arizona experiment. Room 213 is hanging out watching the Twilight Zone Marathon on Syfy (don't judge)....Starting off 2010 the right way. Shout out to the #4 ranked Purdue Boilermakers Basketball team (13-0) and the 6-0 Harrison High School boys swimming team.
The Carthage Red Men have climbed three mountains in three days. Three (3) mountains in Three (3) days. We climbed Bear Mountain, we can do anything. 2010 is going to be the year of the Red Men
Happy New Year!
-E. Ross
No Sleep 'Till Tempe
Wrong Turn
Pretty much a perfect day. Great workout this afternoon capped by a 200 in 14 breaths (right in front of the Sun Devils). Then a day trip that I confess I was a little skeptical about. I'd planned on a team hike and could have easily seen a lesser group not buy into the challenge of climbing up Bear Mountain.
