Updates & Best Posts
Archive for June, 2009
Summer Leagues: Not Just for Swimmers
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009Summer swimming is becoming a popular way for high school athletes to stay in shape for fall, winter and spring sports. The low-impact total-body exercise, they say, provides a more enjoyable and thorough workout than running in the blistering summer heat.
Monday Pool
Monday, June 29th, 2009Meets across the Washington metro area Saturday were marked by fast times and close final scores. Nine meets were decided by fewer than 12 points. Upper County of MCSL and Belair Swim and Racquet of PMSL were among the teams to eke out close victories.
A week after meets across the region were canceled, halted or just plain miserable during a tremendous thunder storm, weather was not a factor for meets on Saturday.
Here’s how some local teams fared when they were only competing against each other, and not Mother Nature.
Tragedy Puts Swimming on Hold For CCRA
Saturday, June 27th, 2009Update: Md. Mom, Girl Killed by Tree Limb Recalled for Friendliness Swimming was pushed aside Saturday for the Chevy Chase Recreation Association Stringrays. The team and community were dealt a blow Friday night when 7-year-old team member Sloane Murray and her mother Kelly were killed at approximately 7:20 p.m. after a large tree limb fell [...]
After Olympic Struggles, Ziegler Is Back in the Pool
Friday, June 26th, 2009At 17, Kate Ziegler broke two of Janet Evans’s records. Three years later, in the Beijing Olympics, she finished 10th and 14th in two of her best events. Now 21, with the U.S. Championships approaching, “I don’t know what the future holds for me,” she says. “As I grow older, it’s a different dynamic. ….. I’m taking it more one year at a time — one month at a time.”
Teach Your Children Well
Friday, June 26th, 2009Local summer swim leagues rely on their teenage team members to help train the next wave of talent. Joanna Ladas and Julie Pinero, from Strathmore Bel Pre of the PMSL, are two who came up through the team’s developmental program and are now giving back to it.
Swimming Through Troubled Waters
Thursday, June 25th, 2009Olympian Eric Shanteau, 26, is certain he is bigger, stronger and faster than he’s ever been. And, most important, this summer, unlike last, he is cancer-free.
USA Swimming Seeks Support For Swimsuit Ban
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009USA Swimming will attempt to rally international support for an immediate ban on full-body, high-tech suits unless FINA in the next two weeks produces a solid plan for reining in the technology, USA Swimming President Jim Wood said Wednesday night.
20 Questions: Kaitlin Pawlowicz
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Curl-Burke Swim Club standout Kaitlin Pawlowicz, 16, didn’t get a chance to represent her country last summer; she missed the cut for the Olympic trials. But in May she was able to swim for the United States at the Mel Zajac Jr. invitational in Vancouver, B.C. In the first of what will be a weekly feature with a figure in the local-swimming community, Pawlowicz discusses that meet as well as missing out on last year’s Olympic trials.
Weekend Roundup
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009Rain affected almost all of the meets in the region this weekend. Though many were canceled, some teams were able to get their swims in or partially in before the storms set in. Here’s a look at some of the action from Saturday.
“I Guarantee It Will Not Be A Level Playing Field”
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009Michael Phelps’s longtime coach Bob Bowman says the decision not to restrict high-tech swimsuits at the world championships will put Phelps and other athletes at a “disadvantage” against “people who just put on a polyurethane suit and call it progress.” Bowman said Phelps might alter his plans to swim the 100-meter free because of the decision.
FINA Backs Off Suits; Controversy Looms
Monday, June 22nd, 2009The debate over when acceptable technological advancement crosses the line into inappropriate performance-enhancement grew fierce Monday when FINA, the world governing body of swimming, ruled that competitors at this summer’s world championships will face virtually no restrictions on controversial high-tech suits. Many blame the suits for an explosion of world records over the last 18 months and say they are nothing short of technological doping. FINA seems to agree, but the organization said the short time frame for studying the suits made it impossible to take action.
North Baltimore Swimming In Imports
Monday, June 22nd, 2009The North Baltimore Aquatic Club, the home club of Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff, has in recent years been luring young swim stars from across the country who believe they can best launch their careers by leaving their home pools—and even their families. “It’s just nuts,” said coach Paul Yetter, who grew up swimming at NBAC alongside Olympians Anita Nall and Whitney Metzler. “Kids from out of town visit and they want to move. ….. I’m not sure we do anything special other than believe we can be high-level athletes.”
Ziegler Falls Short In First Races Since Olympics
Sunday, June 21st, 2009Great Falls’ Kate Ziegler, 20, lost four times to a former training partner in four races at the Mission Viejo Tyr Swim Meet of Champions this weekend. In her first competition since Beijing, Ziegler swam significantly slower than her personal bests in the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyle, finishing second in every one to Chloe Sutton, 17.
Montgomery County Coach Has Influenced Generations of Swimmers
Friday, June 19th, 2009Joe Flaherty has been coaching teams in the Montgomery County Swim League for 34 years. He’s taught countless swimmers in that time, always challenging them to “Have an impossible dream, dare greatly to achieve it and don’t quit until you do.” Those students have now become coaches, parents and board members in MCSL, sprinkling Coach Joe’s lessons throughout the league.
Welcome to reachforthewall.com
Thursday, June 18th, 2009With Monday’s official launch of reachforthewall.com, a team of Washington Post journalists and editors will bring you local, national and international swim coverage daily.
You want results? We will have results. On your editable team pages (see Top Submissions, left) will be this season’s schedule and the latest results.
You want times? We will give you times. Every Monday you’ll find an updated list of the top 100 times in every event from across the area when you click on the “Results/Statistics” link at the top of the homepage.
You want coverage of summer leagues, club swimming, high school meets? We will do that, too. So check us out Monday and send us your suggestions, comments and criticism to info@reachforthewall.com.
USA Swimming Disappointed in FINA
Monday, June 15th, 2009USA Swimming President Jim Wood expressed disappointment in FINA’s decision to approve an additional 198 swimsuits Monday, bringing the total of allowable suits for the summer world championships in Rome to 400. USA Swimming, however, adopted FINA’s list. Wood’s statement is attached. USA Swimming stands firm in its desire to preserve the integrity of the [...]
