Jackson Oren Reeder - Class of 2029

Reports out of Northern Indiana are that the third member of Carthage's Class of 2029 has arrived. Jackson Oren Reeder, son of Justin ('07) and Dalila Reeder ('07?) checked in early this afternoon.

Regrettably, Jackson was subjected to the viewing of a Notre Dame game, but is an otherwise healthy 7.13 lbs and 21 inches. Reeder is one the greatest Red Men to never win an individual CCIW title. He came close a couple of times, but today it's clear he's got a winner.

Most Successful Grads

So our sports information director recently sent out an e-mail asking for a list of successful graduates for a series of articles he's working on. A couple of coaches hit "reply all" with some decent names, but in just a couple of minutes here's what I came up with:

• Alex Van Huis - admitted to four of the top fourteen biomedical engineering programs in the country (he didn't apply to the other ten) and is currently pursuing his PhD.
• Bryan Pelka - studying medicine at the armed services medical school in Bethesda (i.e. he's earning a salary instead of paying $100k/year in med school tuition).
• Ivan Manolov - recruited by Yahoo! out of school, quit that to make six-figures for a hot start-up in the valley (Honestly.com), though he's quitting that to work for another start-up (CollegeSwimming.com)
• Dr. Brad Wipfli - after studying neuroscience, Dr. Brad got his PhD from Arizona State. After this, he was awarded the 2009 dissertation of the year award from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education and is now a researcher at the Oregon Health & Science University.
• Nathan Fisher - just graduated from the National University of Health Sciences and is now a Chiropractor.
  
• Chris Trella - Getting Masters in Kinesiology from University of Johannesburg (South Africa) after teaching in Alaskan village and in China.
  
• Henry Somers & Nathaniel Chapman - rapidly rising up the corporate ladder for Oracle and Cummins up in the Twin Cities.
• Stacey Kiefer - Swimwear/Apparel Purchasing Manager with Adolph Kiefer & Associates. She's also a part-time model for Jockey International (photo right).
  
• Steve Szymanski - recruited straight out of Carthage to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the Big Five accounting firms.
• James Beaman & Charlie Staniger - James works at Corporate for Walgreens while Charlie is on the managerial fast-track and running the store at 18th street;
• Justin Reeder - Deputy Sheriff, Porter County Indiana; and
  
• Teachers & Coaches: Almost too many to mention and many I'm sure I've forgotten but they include Andy Bax & Tracey Keckler - both teachers here in KUSD; Tricia Biedron and Kristen Martin (Suburbs), Nick Parry (West Chicago), Jessica Bogie (Delta Aquatics), Delilah Center (Chesterton, Indiana) Amanda Croix (west point), really too many to mention
• 
  

I'm sure I've forgotten some, but not a bad list.

Reeder + Dalilah Tie the Knot

Another marriage between a former Red Men and Lady Red.  Yesterday it was Justin Reeder and Dalila Center tying the knot in a ceremony overseen by yet another Lady Red - Jean Woods.  I think it was the first such union since Andy & Kelli Kleprod and last until Casey Griffiths and Betzy Drzal next month.

A good turnout of alums made the drip including the aforementioned Andy, Kelli and Jean.  Also saw Henry Somers, Nathaniel Chapman, James Beaman (and their wives) along with Ivan Manolov, Nathan Fisher, Tim Dodson, Geno Halpin, Chris Illing, and Charlie Lorenz - a living who's-who of my first four years at Carthage.  Also saw Tricia Beidron, Kirby Oren, Karen Beaman (sorry, I've already your maiden name) and probably a couple others I can't remember.

All-in-all a great day, the only downside was that I found myself wearing shoes and long pants (two things I abhor) amid everyone else wearing shorts and sandals at the informal affair.

Kansas Takes it

What a game last night - OT - Kansas over Memphis. Unfortunately I was counting on a typical Kansas swoon and UNC going all the way so this year's winner of the Red Men Tournament Bracket is Justin Reeder '07. While I didn't win, at least we can all take satisfaction in knowing that $6 billion CBS television contract underwrites our NCAA Swimming Championships.

But hey that wasn't the only good news coming from the Sunflower State. We also received a commitment from a Kansas State Finalist.

Vegas 911! Reeder Gets Tased

New Year's Eve - 8:00 so what am I doing? Watching the Chick-Fil-A Bowl of course! Had a chance to catch-up with Justin Reeder '07 backstroker and captain who is in the police academy in Nevada. Apparently it is nothing like the movies make it out to be. Part of the training is sure to make Andy Steenrod envious - getting tased. Here's Reeder's update:

Looks like the season is starting out great. How are the guys doing in practice? Are Freshman adapting well to the hard work ethic in practice? Things out here in Vegas are going great, the weather is perfect. The academy however is the hardest thing I've ever done. Average age is 28. I'm the baby of the group but I'm one of the leaders. I am a platoon seargent leading nine other grown adults. If you were to tell me last year, that most of the lessons from that leadership class was to resurface again later in life I'd say yeah right! It's all about leading with class and getting everyone to rely on each other. I'm glad I had the experience of leading prior to this because it definitely makes life a lot easier.


I pretty much relate this whole academy experience to being an athlete back in college but with a lot harsher coaches. The staff place a huge amount of stress on us everyday for the fact that they want us to be able to think on our feet and not react to the stressors in front of us. There are nights that I get only a few hours of sleep due to writing "positive reinforcement" reports or studying for the next day's activities. Our physical training everyday is some of the hardest exercise I've experienced. We do some things that place so much pain in my muscles that the only thing that gets me through it is knowing I have left far more blood and sweat in that pool in Kenosha than I will ever leave here on the PT Field. I've gained 7.5 lbs since the academy started, due to the large amount of push ups done every week. You want the guys to stay in shape for the off season just tell them to do a boot camp for the summer.

This past Friday was pepper spray day. It sucked, I'm convinced that pepper spray is actually the devil's spit. My eyes did not feel better until a day later. After I got sprayed it didn't set in until I was half way through beating a pad with my baton. We had to go through an obstacle course which comprised of staff coming at us with pads and we were SUPPOSED to fight them off, as well as do some thinking stations where we answered various law questions. But of course the feeling that your eyes are melting makes it a lot harder than it sounds. I did well minus the whole burn thing, I actually unknowingly did some martial arts that I have not thought about in since dryland about six years ago. Its amazing what happens when put in a "fecal matter on a rotating fan" situation. Your body just goes into auto pilot and you think about what you do and say later.

Well its time to get back to the books. Tell the guys to keep working hard and swimming fast. I'll be cheering for them out here in the desert.

Take care,

Reeder

To quote freshman Bob Pellican "Child's Play". (Bob said that after just about every set on training trip.

Happy New Year. Hopefully I'll be watching the Huskers around this time next year.