There have been some interesting stories in USA Swimming over the past week. Here are some of the most intriguing ones worth checking out.
Ryan Lochte visited Cary, NC this past week to deliver an inspiring message to a crowd of 1,000. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Matt Grevers and Katie Hoff, both Olympians, took home top point trophies after the Southern California Grand Prix. In one of the biggest events so far in 2010, several Olympians took part in the Long Beach, Calif. meet. Records were broken on the final night of competition by Jessica Hardy (100 yard breaststroke), Ariana Kukors (200 yard individual medley) and Kosuke Kitajima (100 yard breaststroke).
Perhaps most impressive was Hardy’s victory in the 100 breaststroke—she out-touched former Olympian Rebecca Soni by one one-hundreth of a second. Hardy finished at 58.99 while Soni finished at 59.00.
The next Grand Prix event will be held in Columbia, Mo. on February 12-15.
Auburn recruit Zane Grothe competes against Michael Phelps in the Southern California Grand Prix. Zane Grothe, a high school senior at Boulder City High School near Las Vegas, competed against Michael Phelps this past week and documented his experiences with the Las Vegas Sun. While he did not win the 500 meter freestyle, Grothe seemed pleased just getting an opportunity to compete against Phelps.
Two things that stand out about Grothe: he will be swimming for Auburn University — one of the premier collegiate swimming programs in the country — next year, and Grothe’s prospects for the 2012 Olympic Team have already arisen. Despite Grothe not pulling the upset on Phelps in this event, he is undoubtedly worth tracking as he begins his collegiate career.
Grothe is currently rated as the No. 40 recruit on CollegeSwimming.com’s list of top male recruits.
Duquesne announces a cut of their Men’s Swimming program. Duquesne University is planning to cut four varsity sports and men’s swimming is among them. According to the Duquesne website, about 70 student athletes will be affected. The university has assured the athletes that if they decide to remain at the school, they will continue to receive their academic scholarships equivalent to their remaining NCAA eligibility.
Questions arose earlier in the month regarding the future of California State University-Bakersfield ‘s men’s and women’s wwimming teams, so as collegiate budgets continue to shift around the country, expect to see more collegiate programs in danger and potentially cut.
Illinois swimmer raises more than $8,500 for earthquake victims. Raegan Koebler, an 8-year-old girl from Springfield, IL, raised more than $8,500 for a Haitian orphanage. The story, found in The State Journal Register, says that the girl took less than an hour and a half to complete all of the laps and raise the funds.
Koebler’s classmates from Vachel Lindsay Elementary School, parents, older brother and swim coach all supported her in her efforts. USA Swimming agreed to pass along a letter from Raegan to Michael Phelps—an exciting opportunity for the young girl.
Ryan Lochte draws crowd of around 1,000 for inspirational discussion and autograph signing. Lochte, an Olympic gold medalist, world record holder and former Florida Gator, addressed about 1,000 parents and swimmers at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, NC. According to the article from the Cary Citizen, Lochte encouraged swimmers to listen to their coaches, set goals and to push themselves to achieve.
If anyone has pushed themselves beyond their limits, most people can’t count Lochte out. The article notes that Lochte swims five to six hours a day, six days a week.
Tags: Matt Grevers, Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte
This started as a good idea but lately you are just taking stories I could read on Swim network, college swimming.com and swimming world…their are some good stories to be told, local and national and you are missing the boat… This is the Washington Post..you can do better.
why not have an article about the national catholic championships this weekend? some of the top swimmers in the area, such as jack conger, sarah haase, katie rogers, kaitlin mills, and jonathan ekstrom will be there.
Wishing the best of luck to the poolsville team especially the diving team member Alex Contreras
Wishing the best of luck to the poolsville team especially the diving team member Alex Contreras.
Ask Amy Shipley, she appears to be the only swimming reporter who researches anything on here.
At the Longhorn meet 2 weeks ago, Missy Franklin broke her own 200 Back in prelims and reset it again in Finals. She was in an old Speedo Pro.
i agree with connor, if you’re writing pre-meet articles about meets such as districts, you definitely should write an article about an actual major meet like the recent catholic national championships. the kids from this area did GREAT at catholic nationals this weekend. freshman jack conger won both of his individual events convincingly, and sarah haase, jonathan ekstrom, anna kolanowski, katie rogers, and others had a fantastic meet as well.