Coach Dee's Swim Site

Freestyle Friday #1 Consistency a Key to Success-Friday, August 7, 2009

2009-08-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

Consistency: 1. Steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.: There is consistency in his pattern of behavior. 2. Reliability or uniformity of successive results or events: pitched with remarkable consistency throughout the season.

For this first Freestyle Friday articles I have chosen to address a key element in anything we do-Consistency. Consistency is something which everyone needs to foster if we are to be successful in our efforts to achieve our goals-whether daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Both short and long range goals can only be achieved IF we are consistent in our behavior to accomplish the things that we set out to do. Read both the definitions above. Consistency is a pattern of behavior that when repeated leads to reliability, or uniform results. I want to address consistency and how it applies in the class room and in the swimming pool.

For the student consistency means that you must go to class, study your subjects, do your homework and turn it in, IF you want to be successful in getting the level of grade you want, or in preparing for the SAT or ACT. Your efforts to do these things must be "steadfast", "reliable", and "uniform". You must study each night, do your homework and turn it in if you want to get the grades you must have to get into college, or get a college acceptable score on the ACT or SAT. Nobody can be consistent for you-the individual must be consistent in their own behavior in order to be successful.

In the pool consistency means that the swimmer must be on time, attend practices, do the dryland and stretching, get the proper rest and nutrition to sustain growth and activity. A swimmer who fosters consistency has disciplined him/herself to get up in the morning when they don't feel like it because they have their goals in front of them and they have a deep abiding commitment to achieve their goals. The swimmer who is consistent has disciplined him/herself to use proper mechanics and techniques at ALL times-whether in practice or in a meet. Remember that an athlete who wants to swim great in a big meet must first swim great in practice. You have all heard me say that if you swim lazy in practice, when it comes to a big event or meet you will swim lazy in that big meet. The swimmer must streamline off every wall in practice and meets. He/She must take care of the "hidden" aspects of training. This means that the individual must eat right, get the appropriate amounts of rest, drink the water necessary to sustain growth and activity. The successful swimmer must have a steadfast, reliable and uniform focus on their efforts and goals, and not let anyone or thing stand in their way as they work to achieve their goals. The consistant swimmer will constantly look at and evaluate their progress towards their goals, and then work to achieve their goals.

Having coached nearly 31 years now, I have seen many swimmers who are consistent and many who are not. Those swimmers who have not cultivated consistency usually do not achieve their goals at those 'big meets" at the end of the season. They may swim great periodically, but always fall just a little short in doing those things that would bring them greater rewards. When it is time to peak the less consistent swimmer may be competitive, but not as fast as other competitors. The Age Group, Senior or Masters swimmer who only attends once in awhile will never quite get in shape or lose the weight they may want. Inconsistency leads to frustration, and less achievement. It can also lead to just being "good enough" but never becoming great and achieving at a high level.

For the consistent swimmer it means being fully prepared to swim great at the big meets. Consistency through a season, or career leads to dropped times when it counts. It means more competitive ability in meets during heavy training. Consistency for the Age Group and Senior swimmer means that they will be better prepared and more competitive in the swimming meets throughout the season, but more importantly at the end of the season in the big meets like State Sectionals, Zones and Nationals. For the Masters swimmer consistency means they will be in better shape, and capable of completing all three legs of a triathlon or competing in a swimming meet at a higher level. Consistency leads to shorter time periods of muscle soreness and better mechanics because of all the aerobic and anaerobic and stroke work the well attended swimmer gets.

I am reminded of a response that Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame 3rd baseman Harmon Killebrew once gave. Harmon Killibrew had one of the batting and slugging averages among 3rd basemen. He also hit over 500 homeruns during his career. Mr Killibrew was asked if he had ever been fined for being late to a practice or pre-game batting practice. His response was no, and when asked why he responded the he was never fined because he is always the first one to arrive and be on teh field in the batting cage before the other Twins showed up to the game. I am also reminded of Evan Martinec who for every day of his career he worked on back and fly mechanics,, including his underwater kicking. By his Senior season in high school Evan went 49.00 in the 100 Fly and 48.39 in the 100 back. He also went 21.+ in the 50 back on the Medley Relay and 45.+ on the 400 Free Relay. Evan went on the finish a very fine education and competitive career at LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisanna. Evan scored all four years at the NCAA Championships finishing 4th in his Senior year. During that Senior year in the 100 Back Evan was competing against Aaron Piersol, David Lim and Randal Bal. Consistecny paid off for Evan and Harmon Kilibrew.

Whether you are tyring to get a high grade in a class, a high score on the ACT or SAT; get in shape for life or a triathlon, or go State, Sectionals, Olympic Trials you MUST have consistency of commitment, effort, focus on your goals and desired results.

Epilogue

I received word that Dani Vaughn won the 100 Fly at Zones. Dani has dropped from a 1:12.84 on Thursday, July 30 at the State meet to a 1:08.95 in Prelims at Zones to a 1:06.78 in finals at Zones. She has also qualified for next years Sectional meets both Short and Long Course. looking at her attendance record and her recorded performances she has done this based on her CONSISTENCY. This is a great lesson for all of us to learn.

Next week's topic: Freestyle technique
Thanks for reading.

2009 Sectionals

2009-08-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

I had promised to post these results from Sectionals nearly one week ago. I hope that you all will understand that it has been a long couple of weeks and I have been busy trying to get everyone prepared for the State meet. I will post those results as soon as they are up. Well here are the results from prelims and finals at Sectionals Friday, July 24 (Pioneer Day in Utah)

Prelims Finals
100 Back 100 Back

Kim Welch 33.36-36.35-1:09.71
Candice Smith 32.69-33.65-1:06.31 32.31-32.79-1:05.10
Matt Okelberry 32.18-33.65-1:05.83
McKay King 29.35-31.85-1:01.30 29.39-31.06-1:00.45

400 Free
Alina Fong Matt Okelberry
1:07.75 1:02.94
1:12.83 1:10.12
1:12.74 1:11.13
1:11.29 1:05.50
4:44.61 4:29.67

100 Breaststroke

Taryn Toolson 36.99-43.93-1:20.92
Jamie Nebeker 36.95-45.32-1:22.27

100 Fly Finals

Kim Welch 29.56-33.50-1:03.06 29.42-34.08-1:03.5
TJ Murphy 28.00-32.01-1:00.01
McKay King 27.12-30.81-57.93 26.93-31.03-57.96

800 Free Relay
Taryn Toolson 2:18.32
Alina Fong 2:18.32
Kim Welch 2:18.86
Candice Smith 2:14.38
Total Time: 9:10.50

Saturday, July 25, 2009 Results (all from Prelims)

200 IM

Kim Welch 30.68-39.58-47.10-34.47-2:31.83
Jamie Nebeker 32.60-38.24-46.91-33.16-2:30.99

50 Free

Candice Smith 27.92
Taryn Toolson 27.94
McKay King 25.92

400 Medley Relay

Back: Candice Smith 1:06.29
Brst: Taryn Toolson 1:21.08
Fly: Kim Welch 1:05.03
Free: Jamie Nebeker 1:01.29

1500 Free

Alina Fong
1:09.00
1:14.15
1:13.95
1:13.58
1:13.94 6:04.42
1:14.64
1:15.44
1:15.17
1:14.68
1:14.69 6:14.82
1:14.72
1:15.00
1:15.77
1:15.11
1:13.24 6:13.80

Total Time: 18:33.04

The girls finished in 20th and the boys (McKay our only finalest we finished in 35th). This was one of our more, and perhaps our most successful Sectionals. Congratulations to the HAST Sectional team. I should have the 15 and up results from the Utah State Long Course Meet later this week.

2009 Utah Zones Team Compeitition site

2009-08-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

To all of you who read this blog I thought that I would post here a picture that Coach Diane just sent me. This is the pool that our HAST team members are competing in this week in Hawaii. Alyssa Nielson, Dani Vaughn, Brittani Finlayson, Catherine Woolston are representing HAST and Utah as part of Utah's Zone Team. What a beautiful pool and I hope the competition will be great with our HAST swimmers doing their veyr best. Good luck to one and all in Hawaii.

2009 Utah State Long Course Championships

2009-08-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 2 August 2009

It has not been 24 hours since the end of the 2009 Utah State Long Course Championships and I am still very tired. Tomorrow I will be posting the results of the meet and wanted to let everyone know that the HAST swimmers, older and younger had a terrific meet. On the 14 and under side of things our Age groupers finished in second place, while the 15 and older kids took first place. As for the combined team title we were second. All the kids swam very well with many life time and seasonal bests by all the team members. There were many exciting races, especially on the last day. The 15 and up girl's 400 Free Relay team of Taryn Toolson, Kim Welch, Jamie Nebeker and Candice Smith started the night out for the older kids by "scorching" the field in a team record time of 4:04. All the young ladies averaged 1:01's. It was a great relay and we were significantly faster than we were one week ago at Sectionals. The entire 15 and up team rallied from behind Cottonwood Heights to win the meet by 4.5 points. Congratulations once again to all the swimmers for their heart and competitive spirit. Now its' on to the 2010 Short Course Season. The results tomorrow.

Official Announcement

2009-07-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

To all my blog readers (not that there are many of you, but perhaps for my own educational growth) I am going to be following my wife's example and post weekly training trips. I will do it every Friday beginning next week, Friday, August 7, 2009. Fridays tips will be known as Freestyle Fridays. Freestyle Fridays will cover a variety of topics, not just the freestyle stroke. I have chosen Freestyle as the name because it implies that any topic is fair game. Look for the first post to appear next Friday. Thanks for reading.

Utah State Long Course Championships-Wednesday, July 29 through Saturday, August 1 at the Kearns Fitness Center. We are prepared and should swim well. I would like to blog the results but I don't think I will have enough time nightly to get it done, so I will most likely summarize the results. I want to wish all my HAST swimmers good luck and fast swimming.

Unscientific Poll

2009-07-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

To all my former swimmers who have been following this blog I would like you to tell me your most favorite set and your least favorite set. The set can be the hardest one you ever did or it can be one that you found helpful, fun or otherwise. I have been coaching for 30 years now and I am very interested in your feedback. Besides maybe there is someone who would like to contribute to my swimmers today and/or something out there I've forgotten and can re-new its use. Thanks for your help.

2009 Sectionals

2009-07-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25, 2009

Yesterday Friday, July 24 the HAST swimmers celebrated the 24th in grand style. McKay made consol finals in the 100 back and a bonus final in the 100 fly. Candice made the consol finals in the 100 Back and Kim Welch made the big finals in the 100 fly. All swimmers swam really well. McKay has scored more points for the men's team then in recent past. Last check the boys (McKay) was tied for 33rd. The girls were holding steady in a three way tie for 17th.

On Saturday our events were the 200 IM, 50 Free, 1500 Free and 400 Medley Relay. All swimmers swam really well, just not well enough to get a second swim. The highlight of the day wasa Alina Fong's 1500 Free. Alina lowered the HAST team record by 49 seconds going 18:33.04. She also lowered her best time. In the end the girls finished in 20th position and the boys finished in 36th. The boys have finished in the twenty before, but the girls have never done this. Congratulations to all of our HAST swimmers for a great 2009 Sectionals. When I return home tomorrow I will put the results up from the last two days as well as some pictures from our trip to the Falls. Thanks to everyone for following this week's action. Look for the final HAST meet results tomorrow and Monday.

Kim's 100 m Fly Award

2009-07-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

Kim receives her 100 m Fly award ceremony. Congratulations Kim. The girls are currently in 17th place and hopefully will stay in the top 20.

2009 Sectionals

2009-07-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

The boys show their team spirit by having an exclamation mark at the end-McKay is a nice streamlined exclamation mark!!!!!!!! Way to go McKay.

2009 Sectionals

2009-07-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

TJ, Calvin and Matt all show their team spirit supporting Kim in her 100 m Fly final. Kim's first final at a summer Sectionals.

2009 Sectionals

2009-07-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

Today, July 24, 2009 Sectionals

The morning prelims was terrific. This was the best long course prelims that HAST has had. Here are the final results: (All bolded names and times were lifetime bests)

100 Back
Kim Welch 33.26-36.35-1:09.71
Candice Smith 32.69-33.62-1:06.31 (9th after prelims)
Matt Okelberry 32.18-33.65-1:05.83
McKay King 29.35-31.95-1:01.30 (11th after prelims)

400 Free
Alina Fong (*New HAST Team Record-her second of the meet)
1:07.75
1:12.83
1:12.74
1:11.29
4:44.61

Matt Okelberry
1:02.92
1:10.12
1:11.13
1:05.50
4:29.67

Special Guest Calvin Clark
1:01.44
1:07.98
1:06.6
1:04.22
4:19.22

100 Breast
Taryn Toolson 39.99-43.93-1:20.92
Jamie Nebeker 36.95-45.32-1:22.27

100 Fly
Kim Welch 29.56-33.5-1:03.06 (tied for 3rd after prelims-see video below)
TJ Murphy 28.00-32.01-1:00.01
McKay King 27.12-30.71-57.93 (23rd after prelims)

800 Free Relay
Taryn Toolson 2:18.94
Alina Fong 2:18.32
Kim Welch 2:18.86
Candice Smith 2:14.38
9:10.50

Now it is on to finals!!!! Go HAST!

2009 Sectionals-Kim Welch's 100 Fly

2009-07-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

2009 Sectionals

2009-07-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 23 Sectionals

This morning was the coldest and the most challenging of the three days here in Gresham, Oregon. Although the morning marine layer of clouds and fog put a lid on the temperatures-it was a little over 60 degrees with cool moist air, the kids came prepared to swim and did so very well. The opening event for us was the 200 Free. The results were as follows:

Alina Fong 32.19-34.69-36.14-35.33 (1:06.88/1:11.47) 2:18.35
Kim Welch 30.59-34.58-34.99-35.57 (1:05.17/1:10.56) 2:15.73
Candice Smith 31.48-34.37-33.74-33.67 (1:05.85/1:07.41) 2:13.26
McKay King 27.42-30.63-30.73-32.04 (58.05/1:02.77) 2:00.82
Matt Okelberry 29.18-32.84-32.53-30.82 (1:02.02/1:03.35) 2:05.37

Our lone swimmer in the 400 IM was Miss Jamie Nebeker who went a life time best in her 400 IM with a final time of 5:22.92. Her splits were:

Fly: 1:13.62
Back: 1:25.18
Breast: 1:32.06
Free: 1:12.06

HAST Guest swimmer, Calvin Clark went well in the 400 IM and his splits were:

Fly: 1:07.77
Back: 1:19.68
Breast: 1:27.39
Free: 1:05.67

The last event of the morning was the Women's 400 Freestyle Relay. Our four girls were Taryn Toolson, Jamie Nebeker, Kim Welch and Candice Smith. They really swam a great relay in Heat 3 of the Relays. The final two heats go tonight at finals and the girls are sitting in 5 place as of this morning session. The girls splt out as follows:

Taryn 1:02.17
Jamie 1:01.80
Kim 1:02.04
Candice 1:01.38

Our events for tomorrow are the 100 Back, 400 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Fly and the Women's 800 m Free Relay. Tomorrow should be a very very strong day of the HAST swimmers. (*All bolded times are personal best times).

2009 Sectionals

2009-07-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

Finals went well for us tonight. We had two swims in finals and both swimmers got faster. McKay started us off in his 100 m Free A-Bonus Final. McKay went out in a 26.1 and returned in a 27.52 for a 53.62. Candice made it into the big finals of her 200 Back and went the following splits:

33.82
35.88
36.19
34.51
Final time 2:20.40

Tomorrow on Day 3 of Sectionals we have the 200 Free, 400 IM and the Women's 400 Free Relay.

McKay's 100 m Free Final 53.62

2009-07-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

2009 Sectionals

2009-07-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

Morning Prelims went very well for us. We had several really great times. McKay King went 53.74 in his 100 m Free prelim (see video below) and made it back in the A-Bonus Final. There are a lot of college kids here and he is going to swimming against a very good field of swimmers later this afternoon/evening. Candice Smith is going in seeded 7th in the 200 m Back against a strong field of swimmers. Candice went a very fine 2:20.57. Other great swims were Taryn Toolson in the 200 Breast at 2:57.80 (LTB), Jamie Nebeker went a 2:56.03 (SB) in her 200 Breast. Matt Okelberry went a (LTB) in his 200 m Back at 2:20.26. Matt also picked up the long course cut for next years meet. In the 200 fly we had three really great swims. Kim went 2:27.21 (LTB) after going out in a 30.87/1:07.03 at the 50 and 100, TJ went 2:19.76 also picking up the long course cut in the 200 m fly after dropping nearly 6 seconds, our special guest Calvin Clark went a very fine 2:15.53 in his 200 m Fly and is sitting at 33rd right now (It is also Calvin's birthday today-HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALVIN!!!!!). Finally the women's 200 m Medley Realy team of Candice, Jamie, Kim and Taryn won their prelim heat with a great time of 2:05.48. Their splits were as follows:

Candice 32.07 Back
Jamie 36.83 50 Breast
Kim 29.49 50 Fly
Taryn 27.07 50 Free

Now it is on to finals. Lets go HAST!!!!!

2009 Sectionals

2009-07-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

2009 Sectionals

2009-07-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

The HAST Women's 200 Free Relay Team in their TYR Tracer Lights. From left to right: Taryn, Jamie, Kim, Candice. They were great and swam fast, Fast, FAst, FASt, FAST!!!

2009 Sectionals-Coach Loose's dream come true

2009-07-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

2009 Sectionals-Coach Loose's dream come true

2009-07-21T22:51:00.000-07:00

Sectionals Results Day 1 Tuesday, July 21

2009-07-21T22:27:00.000-07:00

Today was a super hot start-both in the weather and in the water. The weather here in Gresham, Oregon was hotter than I remember experiencing here in a long time. It was 93 degrees today and about 70-80% humidity. In the water the kids swam really great. First off Alina Fong the HAST team record in the 800 m Free going 9:37.47. Her time was a life time best. Here are her splits:

100s
1:08.11
1:12.02
1:12.57
1:12.78
1:13.38
1:13.65
1:13.49
1:11.27
200s
2:20.13
2:25.35
2:27.23
2:24.97
400s
4:45.48
4:51.97

Our team's special guest, UV-Rays Calvin Clark dropped a ton of time and went a fantastic 8:58.29 in his 800 m Free. Calvin looked great and swam a very fine race, looking a great deal like his older brother Kenny, closing on the field and passing several swimmers in the last 50. Calvin's splits were:

100s
1:03.38
1:08.78
1:07.63
1:07.51
1:07.98
1:08.5
1:08.61
1:06.00
200s
2:12.16
2:16.14
2:17.38
2:12.61
400s
4:28.30
4:29.99

The first day concluded with the Women's 200 Free Relay (see the video below this post). The relay was led off by Taryn Toolsen who went 27.84 or .6 at least off her life time best, Kim Welch a very fine and fast 27.86, Jamie Nebeker who was challenged to go sub 28.4 and given the opportunity to earn a bank of 10 "C-words" if she did went a really fine 28.98. Candice Smith, HAST's and American Forks Olympic Trial Qualifier went a really fast 26.62. Our relay's final time was 1:50.41 which was good enough for 14th. We moved up from 18th. Over all it was a really outstanding way to begin this meet. We have four more days to swim great, and if today is any indication we are going to have one of the best Sectionals we have ever had.

Side Bar Comments

1. Jamie from the time she finished her super time she said two C-words and is now down to 8 C-words.
2. Several swimmers went to the local chocolate factory. Check out the posted pictures of the chocolate factory's HUGE chocolate fountain. This would be my dream fountain at family reunions and other functions where a chocolate fountain is called for.
3. Tomorrow's events 100 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Back, 200 Fly and 200 Medley Relay.

Taryn, Kim, Jamie, Candice 200 Free Relay Team

2009-07-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

2009-07-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

From left to right: Alina Fong, Jamie Nebeker, special guest Calvin Clark, Mathew "Carl" Okelberry, TJ Murphy, Kim Welch, Taryn Toolson, Candice Smith

2009-07-20T22:37:00.001-07:00

2009-07-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 20, 2009

We left American Fork this morning at 8:40 and arrived this evening in Gresham, Oregon at 8:50 Pacific Daylight Time. Everyone is well and we are all looking forward to competing tomorrow.

Short Course Season 2008-2009

2008-11-16T19:21:00.000-08:00

I took this picture at Olympic Trials in Omaha this last summer. I have made it the lead picture on my blog because it is representative of every thing that I believe is possible-ANYTHING!!! I want all of my swimmers, and their parents to know that we should never say or think that something is impossible to be done. When we came home from Olympic Trials I was very eager to get started on the designing and organizing of the next four years and started with the coming short course season. The theme of this four year period is FOUR MORE IN FOUR! Can we see four more swimmers from HAST make it to the 2012 Olympic Trials? The answer lies deep within each of the swimmers, but I believe that the answer is yes if you think you can. Like this little poster on the wall at the Olympic Trials' warm-up/cool down pool states: I know you CAN!!! Lets go HAST!!!!

Short Course Season 2008-2009

2008-11-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

For all of you out there who have been looking at my blog for updates that day has finally dawned. Beginning this week look for updated pictures, stories and reports from this Short Course season. I have been reluctant to take down anything associated with this past Olympics, but I guess that I must move on and get on with the new season. Periodically I will bring back some previous pictures from this last summer's exciting times, in the mean time onward and upward to achieve our team goal of "FOUR MORE IN FOUR"

Olympic Excitement hits HAST

2008-08-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

I hope that all you HAST swimmers were able to watch history last night. This finish was absolutely the best and most exciting finish that I have ever witnessed in my coaching career. I also hope that everyone had a chance to see the three way interview between Bob Costos, Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz. It was a really great interview. The only two athletes in Olympic history to win seven gold medals in a single Olympic Games. During the interview there were some significant things said. First off Mark Spitz was asked how Phelps had done what he has done. He went on to tell Michael Phelps that he was able to do the things he did because Phelps had experienced "...the mystery, magic, the wonder and the innocence of never having done it before. These are the seeds of creativity and success." Costos then asked Michael Phelps how he had did what he did and Phelps responded that he "...got here through a lot of hard work, but that its been fun. Phelps added that "My imagination came into play, thinking that I could equal Mark Spitz's record." I loved this interchange as both Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps dared to believe that they could do something that no one thought possible. They pushed the envelop of human achievement and did something that will long be remembered. Congratulations.

Michael Phelps captures his tenth gold medal at Bejing Olympic Games

2008-08-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps receives one of his four gold medals from the Bejing Olympics. He is truly one of those special athletes who is so focused and intent on doing everything possible to achieve excellence. According to his coach he loosen downs at least 8300 m every day and gets at least 8 hours of sleep every night during competition. He is dedicated to a cause and swimming with a purpose-EXCELLENCE!!! Four down and four to go. Perhaps number five awaits him in little later tonight. GO USA!!!!

Olympic Excitement hits HAST

2008-08-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Michael Phelps as he goes four for four to win Gold medal number 10 in his signature event the 200 m Fly in World Record time. Four down and four to go.

Olympic Excitement hits HAST after Men's 400 Free Relay Last Night

2008-08-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

President and Mrs Bush at the Water Cube in Bejing for the swimming events. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissneger sitting right below President and Mrs Bush. Congratulations
to all of our US Swimmers. Tonights events should add more excitement and thrills to spectators.

Olympic Excitement hits HAST after Men's 400 Free Relay Last Night

2008-08-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

After the relay Michael Phelps congratulates Alain Bernard on his swim. This is the true spirit of the Olympic Games. Prehaps Bernard should not have spoken out about what his team was going to do before the event was competed.

Olympic Excitement hits HAST after Men's 400 Free Relay Last Night

2008-08-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

Olympic Excitement hits HAST after Men's 400 Free Relay Last Night

2008-08-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

Coach's Note

2008-08-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 10, 2008

To all of our HAST swimmers. I hope that you have been reading the HAST Zone Team Journal and noticing how well our athletes,and your teammates have been doing. When they get back take the time to congratulate each of them. In the mean time let me be one of the first to say GREAT JOB one and all! It was very fun and exciting to follow your progress. This is another step in our collective team goal of "FOUR MORE IN FOUR". Great meet HAST Zone Team members we are all pleased and proud of your progress.

Coach Dee

PS I hope you are all getting a chance to watch the Olympics. There have already been some great performances. Phelps' World Record in the 400 IM and Rice's World Record in the Women's 400 IM were historic in that they both did something that no one thought could be done. USA-USA-USA.

HAST Zone Team Journal

2008-08-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 8 and Saturday, August 9, 2008

Hi All!!! Sorry about missing Friday....it was a long day and we were not back until late. So...here's a recap of the last two days!! Friday's events consisted of 200 Fly, 100 Breast, 400 free and 200 Medley Relays. Many HAST swimmers had this day off; however, Kim made a great showing in the 200 fly. Her morning swim was a 231.54, with a finals time of 228.01. She was very tough and swam a great race. She had great appreciation for the turn and wall work we spent time in practice. Other mentionables for this day were Ethan P's 36.55, Chris N's 33.57 and McKay's 30.14 50 backstrokes in the medley relay.

Saturday proved to be the most exciting day of all for HAST swimmers.....specifically McKay! (more on that in a minute) Prelims posted many personal best's for HAST swimmers. It was great to watch the time drops for each swimmer. 100 back produced personal bests for Chris (115.38), Dani (120.16), Kelsey (119.37), and a close to personal best for Matt of (109.06). Next were the 100 freestyle events. McKenna swam a new best of 116.43, Chris a 101.96, Dani a 106.55, Kelsey a 110.69 and McKay a 55.04 (but wait, it gets better). Matt, Christie and Kim all swam the 100 free with times close to their lifetime bests....McKay and an incredible 200 IM with a time of 218.89 in the morning. Last, but not least, Christie shaved off 6 seconds from her 800 time to post a time of 1010.49. Now, the finals session is really where things got exciting.....McKay's morning swims placed him first in the 100 free, 200 IM and third in the 100 back. Remember that at Zones, there are only "A" finals, so the night session goes by very quickly. McKay's first event was the 100 back where he swam a 102.83, claiming first. Exactly 20 minutes later, was the 100 free, which he won handily by posting a personal best time of 54.34. Then, only a short 18 minutes later, McKay stepped up to swim the 200 IM posting a personal best of 217.92, and he turned a few heads doing it. McKay's experience proved what taking care of his body can allow him to do. He was very deliberate about swimming down between each race, drinking and eating the right things. It was great to watch and we are all very proud of him.

What a great way to end the Zones meet. It has been a fantastic experience, and it was awesome to watch the younger HAST swimmers compete well at this meet. We will be on a plane Sunday morning! See you next week!!

Coach Diane

Utah's Zone Team and our great HAST Swimmers

2008-08-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

HAST Zone Team Journal

2008-08-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Hello HAST!! Oregon is beautiful! It's everything Dee has said it is....and I really love it here. The pool is awesome...the people are great, and it has been a great atmosphere for our swimmers to compete in.

Today was the second full day of events. Hilltop swimmers made a great showing again. Most swam lifetime best times...here are today's results:

Dani, Christie, Kim and Chris N.all swam in the 100 fly. Chris's time was a 112.95, very close to what he swam in state last week and Dani and Christie swam lifetime bests of 117.22 and 114.79. Kim's swim earned a second swim and she finished 2nd overall with a time of 104.50. She is loving her TYR suit!!

McKay's 100 fly morning swim sent him into finals as 4th seed, but he came back with a time of 59.11 to win the event later that night. 20 minutes later, he swam the 200 free in finals with a time of 202.48. Way to be tough McKay!!

The 200 free results are as follows: Kelsey's lifetime best of 233.80, Dani's best of 232.40 and Christie's time of 217.24 were among other Hilltop highlights. Matt O also swam the 200 with a finish of 211.13, which was close to last week's performance at state.

We are looking forward to tomorrow's events here at Zones, as well as the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. We will keep you posted to HAST Swimmers' achievements!!!

Coach Diane

HAST Zone Team Journal

2008-08-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Wow! What a beautiful day in Gresham! It was cloudy and overcast for most of the day and it was much better weather for fast swimming. Not only were the kids far more comfortable, but so were the coaches and everybody else. There were some great swims for day two of Western Zones. Here is the breakdown for HAST swimmers:

Ethan P. swam 100 back today, with a second lifetime best of 118.88. He was all smiles and felt great about his swim.

Matt O. swam what I believe to be a lifetime best in the 200 back today of 228.78. I did not get his splits; however, his walls and underwaters were fantastic. He did a great job....

Kelsey swam a season's best 200 back of 253.12. She swam the 1-4-3-2 plan by 50's....Dee would be proud.

The last event of the day was the 50 free.....

Ethan P. swam a lifetime best of 31.61, Chris N. a best time of 28.37 and McKay swam a 25.18 in the morning and finaled to swim a 24.99 later that night. McKay's finish was 3rd place. Good Job McKay!!

HAST was well represented in the medley relays tonight. McKenna went a lifetime best of 43.34 for 50 breast, while Chris N. swam a lifetime best 100 back of 112.40. McKay's backstroke leg of the medley relay was a fast 103.72 (just missing his lifetime best by .10)with a great build to the finish. Kim W. left not doubt with her 100 fly leg of 104.77.

Overall, it has been a good day for HAST swimmers. I'm proud of each of them!!

Have a great week!!

Coach Diane

HAST Zone Team Journal

2008-08-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 MT Hood Community College, Gresham, OR

What a great first day of the Zones meet!!! Team Utah posted dramatic drops in every 1500 that was swum....the least amount of time dropped being 12 seconds. The 400 relays were fantastic as well. Both events really set the tone for the rest of the week. A quick update of HAST swimmers:

Ethan Pollock and Chris Nielson posted personal best times in their legs of the 4 x 100 relay: Ethan 107.95 and Chris 100.63. Kim, Dani and Christie swam three of the four legs for the 15-16 year-old relay. Kim's 102.63 and Dani's 104.31 reprented their personal bests, while Christie swam a near best of 104. It was great to watch Dani's 3.5 second time drop on her 100 because she figured out that she does have legs....and they DO kick!!! Kelsey also swam a personal best on her leg of the 4 x 100 relay of 109.06.

Matt and McKay's relay placed 5th overall with Matt's split of 59.30 and McKay's typical bring-it-home-fast 54.14.

Today was a warm and humid 90 degrees. Heat has not been an issue yet, but everyone is very aware of the heat and is making great efforts to stay hydrated. The kids that swam for Utah really set the tone for the rest of the meet and we are looking forward to more fast swimming during the rest of the week.

Coach Diane

HAST Zone Team Journal

2008-08-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

Monday, August 5, 2008

Greetings from Oregon!!!! We arrived in Gresham without incident and ready to swim. All of the HAST swimmers (Christie Bunnel, McKay King, McKenna King, Chris Nielson, Matt Okelberry, Ethan Pollock, Dani Vaughn, Kelsey Vaughn, Kim Welsh) had a great recovery day day in the pool today. Gratefully our HAST swimmers were feeling very good in the pool and everyone is excited and ready to swim...even after a long week at State. Tuesday's events include the 400 Free Relay and the 1500 Free. Stay tuned for more details. We are looking forward to some great swims!!!

Coach Diane

GO HAST!!!!! Fast-FAst-FASt-FAST!!!!!

2008-07-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

HAST MISSION STATEMENT

"To develop the character traits, technical skills and intense desire necessary for maximum realization of each individual's potential."

HAST LC Utah State Championships

2008-07-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tonight was the opening day of the Utah Long Course State Championships. Tonight we had two events the 400 IM for the 11-12 year olds and the 1500 Free for those 13 and up. In the 400 IM tonight we had Ethan Pollock. Ethan had a great swim dropping roughly 15 seconds. He placed 4th over all. In the 1500 our first two swimmers were Christie Bunnel and Miriam Walther. Christie went a life time best 19:37.77 and finished with her "trade mark" Bunnel Build. If you are going to do the Bunnel Build you have to finish fastr than you start and she did going out in a 1:13.95 and her last 100 wasa 1:13.45. Miriam, who just started training about five to six weeks ago did a great job without much backgroup. Miriam showed her typical toughness and really tried to do well. I was very impressed with how well Miriam did under the circumstances. Chad was our next swimmer and did great dropping another 7 seconds off his Cottonwood Heights Invite time. Chad went 19:04 and look really good. Overall I think it was a great day of swimming for our HAST swimmers. I am looking forward to the next three days.

HAST Sectional Team Journal

2008-07-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 19, 2008 Prelims

It was another great day! The morning started early as the time of warm-ups began one hour early. We had to be at the pool at 6:30 am. The weather here the last three days has been very cool-high in the high 70s. This morning it was the coolest summer morning I have seen at a summer Sectionals-50 degrees. To make matters more challenging we had a "marine layer" of clouds that kept the sun from warming the pool and pool deck. So McKay, Jaime and Taryn had to stay warm after their warm ups in order for them to swim fast. Everyone was struggling to stay warm,, especially for all the swimmers swimming the 50. Here is an event by event run down of how we performed today.

200 IM

McKay was terrific! He swam the event 4 seconds faster than he went at Red-White and Blue as he went 2:18.69 with splits of 28.8-35.27-41.72-32.9. He nearly won his heat and made the long course cut for next years Sectional meet.

Jaime did a great job. She really looked good and competed in typical "Jaime tough" style. Jaime went 2:32.91 with splits of 32.28-40.18-43.8-36.05. She swam in an outside lane and did great and really worked her race.

50 Free

This was a tough event as everyone in the race was slower than they normally would have been in warmer weather. Even the "big guns" were struggling to sprint in the wet 50 degree weather. On the girls side of the event usually we see one or two 26s and 27s in the early heats. Most of the times in the early heats were in the 28 to 29 range. It wasn't until the later heats that there were low 28s and 27s. As for 26s there were very few until the seeded heats. Even of the boys side of things we didn't see 24s until later heats. 25s held up until the event was deep in tot he last four or five heats. Taryn went 28.85 and McKay went a very fast 25.67.

Epilogue

This year's Sectional meet was very interesting as it was fast and exciting. Amanda, Jaime, Taryn, McKay and TJ all did exceptionally well. There were many great teams here. The old Northwest teams, those from Oregon, Washington and so on were dominated by the teams from the mountains. The meet was won by the University of Denver Hilltoppers. In fact six of the top ten teams were from Colorado and Arizona with most of the teams coming from Colorado. Congratulations to the Colorado Clubs and LSC I think this is a great thing for all of us in the mountain west. I hope that at some near future Sectionals Utah will be able to put two clubs in the top ten. Lets go HAST!

HAST Sectional Team Journal

2008-07-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 18, 2008 Prelims

Today was a GREAT day! The events at today's prelims and finals were the 100 Back, 100 Breast, 400 Free and 100 Fly. McKay led off the day in the 100 Back by going a life time best 1:03.62 with splits of 30.31-33.31. He had a great start and finish and was nearly a heat winner as he finished in second place within his heat. The next event was Jaime and she went 1:18.97 in the 100 Breast with splits of 36.03-42.94. She had a really fine race and was out very fast. This really close to her personal best. She looked great and was very competitive in her race. The final race of the day was the 100 Fly. TJ was the first HAST flier and he was terrific as he led off the event by going a life time best of 1:01.62 with splits of 28.57-33.05. Next up was McKay who went a life time best 59.56 with splits of 27.72-31.84. Amanda was our last flier and she went a very fine 1:07.67 with splits of 32.04-35.63. Overall our swimmers performed at a high level today. We had three LTBs out of five swims. Tomorrow will be another great day as we have several swimmers in the 200 IM-Jaime and McKay, 50 Free-Taryn and McKay. They should all swim very well.

Epilogue

As we wind down this meet I want everyone back at HAST to know that this Sectional meet has been a very fast one. Tonight in the Men's 400 Free finals the top two competitors were under 4:00. The top finisher went 3:57.86 and the second place finisher went 3:58.40. Every event throughout the meet has been very fast. In fact listening to several coaches talk on deck they are saying that this meet is as fast or faster than the Junior Nationals meet. Having watched every event possible I believe that this is highly possible. What I have also observed is that 6 of the top 10 teams in this meet are from the mountain west region. The top team team in total points right now is University of Denver Hilltoppers. The closest team to the Hilltoppers is King County Aquatics. I am very excited for our old section as the teams from Colorado and Arizona are really doing great. I think it is time for those of us from Utah to really step up and get into the top 15. To all the HAST swimmers I hope you are up for the challenge. I want to see our HAST swimmers making it into the top 24 then top 16 and top 8. Can we do it? Yes we can especially if we are willing to work toward FOUR MORE IN FOUR. Lets go HAST!

A final announcement about LC State. I hope that all of you that have qualified for the State meet have entered or will at least have your entries ready to turn in Monday, June 21. Remember that all entries are due on this day at the latest. I need to remind EVERYONE on HAST that if you are qualified to compete at State you are expected to enter the meet. The coaching staff has spent a great deal of time helping you have a great experience and improve your swimming skills. A major way in which we judge how well we are doing is by seeing you compete. Everyone competing helps us learn how to better help you and by your competing it helps the team.

Also special congratulations to Matt, aka Carl for making a Zone Q-time in the 200 Back at Park City and to Maddie King for a new state cut in the 200 IM. Way to go guys!

2008-07-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

2008-07-17T18:08:00.002-07:00

HAST Sectional Team Journal

2008-07-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 17, 2008 Prelims

Today was the longest day of the meet with 36 heats of the Men''s and Women's 200 Free followed by 25 heats of the Men's and Women's 400 IM, followed by the timed final heats of the 400 Free Relay. For our team it was a very fine day in spite of the length of the meet. Amanda led the day off going a very good 2:19.18 with splits of 1:08.12-1:11.06. Amanda was really strong and very tough at the end of her race. She made up several places and really worked her legs at the end. Everyone was very excited to see Amanda and she set the tone for this days events. GREAT JOB AMANDA!!!!!! The next swimmer was McKay and he followed Amanda with another great HAST type performance going 3+seconds faster than his previous best when he went 2:01.86 with splits of 27.62-31.61-31.12-31.51 with 100 splits of 59.23-1:02.63. McKay's swim was very exciting because he really worked the underwaters,, especially on his last turn. He looked a little like Michael Phelps on his last turns. Way to go McKay. Our next swimmer was Jamie in the 400 IM. She was just terrific as she dropped 3 seconds from her altitude adjusted time by going 523.12 with splits of 1:12.76-1:16.95-1:30.17-1:13.83. she was really very strong. In our time trials today Taryn performed in the 50 Free and went a solid 28.93 with a reaction time of .67. TJ also time trialled the 50 Free and went a life best going 27.35. This was a very good day I feel very good and excited about all that occurred today. It really sets to the tone for tomorrow's meet where once again everyone is swimming.

Epilogue

I have been talking with a lot of coaches on deck today and this week. I have learned a great deal about what we need to do next to get more of our kids to the National and Olympic Trial level. I believe that we are headed in the right direction but must raise the bar so to speak. By way of example there is a group of 12 year old girls here from a Colorado team that broke a National record for the 11-12 year old age group in the 200 Free Relay. Their time was 1:50. something. They broke the National record by over 3 seconds. Many of the times in the finals have been fast enough that they would have qualified for the Olympic Trials. It has been another exciting meet.

Just to let everyone know. Next March the Spring Sectional meet is at Federal Way, WA, March 11-15, 2009. Summer Sectionals is at Mt Hood once again, starting Tuesday, July 21 through Saturday, July 25. In 2010 Spring Sectionals are going to be March 10-14 in Federal Way, WA with Summer Sectionals taking place Tuesday, July 20 through Saturday, July 24. Sectionals is a very important meet because it is a stepping stone to the next two levels of swimming. Everyone in the Age Group program at HAST needs to set their sights on making Senior Sectionals by their high school years.

At the Sectional Coach's Meeting today we discussed some changes coming to the meet. The first change is that at the spring meet a four final heat will be added. This heat will probably evolve into a heat for those swimmers under 18 years of age. I think this is going to be a good change, especially for the younger swimmers at the summer meet. Another change is going to be the swimming of add heats from one side of the pool and the even heats at the other side. A Sectional Ad-Hoc Committee was formed to look into the possibility of holding two Sectional meets at the same time to give more swimmers a chance to compete. I have volunteered to be on this committee in order to protect our interests and that of the LSCs.

It is my hope and desires that all of you back at HAST will begin to really look forward to doing great things in the water. I fully understand that everyone has a place on HAST and in swimming. If you want to go beyond the local and state level then we as a coaching staff are going to provide everyone that opportunity. Remember the HAST mission statement. The order of progression in US Swimming is local qualifying meets-state meets-regional and sectional meets-Junior Nationals-Nationals-Olympic Trials the Olympics and other International competitions. Wherever you decide to go in swimming there is a place for you and it is my hope that you will go as far as you want to go. An oft quoted phrase that is considered trite is "go for the gold". The meaning of this phrase is that in whatever you choose to do, you should go for the gold! Remember:

FOUR MORE IN FOUR and Lets go HAST!!!!!!!!!

HAST Sectional Team Journal

2008-07-16T14:59:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Prelims

It was a good morning at the Sectional Prelims this morning. Everyone swam and had good times. TJ did a lifetime best (LTB) in the 200 Fly going 2:24.72 with splits of 30.38 (out a little fast)-36.99-37.69-39.66, his 100 splits were 1:07.37-1:17.35. In Amanda's heat of the 200 Fly she went 2:30.33, she looked really good even though she was a little off her best from last year. Amanda's splits were 33.46-38.11-38.87-39.49 with 100 splits being 1:11.57-1:19.36. Jaime competed in her 200 Breast by swimming a seasonal best time of 2:49.96. Her splits and stroke counts were 2:49.96, splits of 36.95-43.31-43.6-46.10 and stroke counts of 21-21-22-25. Taryn competed in the 100 Free and did very well as she went 1:04.41 after going out in a 30.31-34.10. Taryn had the fastest reaction time of anyone in her heat. McKay swam an LTB in the 100 free going 55.41 with splits of 25.71-29.62. I was very pleased with everyone's performance today as we have been staying in a hotel that wasn't exactly conducive to getting a good night's sleep. We have moved hotels and are now resting comfortably in a better situation. I learned a valuable lesson in asking if the hotel you want to stay at allows for cats and dogs-ours did and I think that had an affect on all of our sleep patterns.

Epilogue

At the meet this morning we were able to watch two world rank swimmers from South Africa compete in the Men's 100 Free. They were Lyndon Ferns who went a very fast 50.23 after going out in a low 23 at the 50. Lyndon was in the second to last heat and then his fellow countryman, Roland Schoeman stepped up and went 50.20, also after going out in a low 23. Both of these guys went really fast and then just shut down with huge leads. I think that both of these guys can and will go under 50 tonight. If they do they will break the meet record held by Nathan Adrian from last year's meet. If should be a fast final. The men' and women's 200 fly was fast this morning, and the 200 Breast was impressive as well. I am looking forward to seeing what happens tonight.

One last word this afternoon. At the meet I counted how many "high tech" suits people had on. The most used high tech suit was the Blue 70 which is made in New Zealand. It is normally an open water suit and the company got special permission to sell it to competitive swimmers. There is one whole team that is using them here at that is David Douglas Swim Team. I also saw several Speedo Lasers and at least seven or eight TYR Tracer Rises and Lights. The suit that I saw the most of was the Nike "high tech" suit. I am not sure how they all acquired these suits but the swimmers had them. I worry about the suits and who can buy them and how they gained access to them. My hope is that these suits do not filter down to the state and local levels. If they do it will become a situation where the rich and bigger clubs get them and the smaller developing ones do not. I hope that US Swimming and FINA know and UNDERSTAND what they are doing by approving these suits. More later.

HAST Sectional Team Journal

2008-07-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Sectionals

Today was the day of the 800 Freestyles and we didn't have anyone in this event so it was a workout day for everyone. We went to the pool and had a nice workout then we went shopping for lunch type things to keep in our refrigerators at the hotel. This saves on money and it enables us to get a little more rest. So the day was a day of rest and we did a little bit of sight seeing. Tomorrow everyone swims. Taryn and McKay will swim first in the 100 Free followed by Jaime in the 200 Breast and then Amanda and TJ in the 200 Fly. Everyone feels pretty good and we swam really well. After lunch and a short mid afternoon rest we drove about 15 minutes east to Multnomth Falls. It is really beautiful and we got out and walked around a bit. I hope to post a few pictures of this wonderful water fall. More tomorrow.

HAST Sectional Team Journal

2008-07-14T21:54:00.001-07:00

Monday, July 14, 2008

Today we began our trip to Gresham, Oregon, right next to Portland, Oregon. We left American Fork at 8:15 am and had a nice leisurely trip through northern Utah and southern Idaho through Boise to Portland. It was a good trip and everyone did very well. We had a great time listening to music-mostly my stuff: Beach Boys, Eagles, CCR and yes some Barry Manilow. Taryn had to listen to it as she was paying up for a workout incident. We listened to Barry until even I was unable to tolerate it. We also listened to some of Taryn and McKay's music-some Disney movie music including rounds of Lion King, Mary Poppins and Pocahantas. Everyone sounded pretty good. We arrived in Gresham at about 7:15 pm pacific daily savings time and checked into the hotel (Quality Inn and Suites) and went to dinner. Tomorrow we will head for the pool and get in a pre-meet workout and get ready to swim fast on Wednesday. I am very excited to see everyone swim and hope that we will be great.

HAST Sectional Team Journal

2008-07-11T20:27:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 11, 2008

I just wanted to take a few lines and let everyone know of the next big meet. Beginning next Tuesday, July 15 HAST will be sending McKay King, TJ Murphy, Amanda Heninger, Taryn Toolson and Jaime Nebeker to Gresham, Oregon to compete in the Western Blue Zone Sectional Championships. The meet runs from Tuesday, July 15 through Saturday, July 19. The meet is going to be held at Mt Hood Community College. It is a great pool and very fast water. It should be a great meet for the HAST swimmers as they have been training very hard and looking forward to competing against the best in the west. During the week I will be once again up dating this blog on a daily basis, however I will not be staying up late to write detailed accounts of the events of each of the days that we will be competing. I will report the results of our swimmers and post pictures. I am looking forward to these wonderful young men and young ladies competing and doing well. It will be a great trip. This is another step in our team's progress towards "FOUR MORE IN FOUR".

2008-07-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 7, 2008

Since returning to American Fork from our Olympic Trials experience I want to say that I am eager and excited to get back to the meet with more of our athletes qualified to compete in 2012. As soon as I stepped into the Omaha Airport, checked in with my boarding pass and then cleared through TSA security I went right to the gate where my plane was departing for home. I then found a place to sit and began to plan.

I had previously to coming to Omaha had printed off US Swimming's four year calendar. After taking this calendar out of my brief case I began to plan and look forward to what things we can do to prepare four more athletes to be at Omaha. Remember from a previous post I called on all of the HAST swimmers to have as their "rallying" cry "FOUR MORE IN FOUR". At the Omaha airport I began to organize practice session progressions for the next four years. I have also began to look at who might be in this group that would be ready and willing to make the commitment to work four years to compete at Olympic Trials. All of you HAST swimmers are certainly capable of making it to the meet IF you are willing to pay the price. Making an Olympic Trials cut requires the highest level of commitment. Any individual who wants to make this time standard MUST be willing to commit themselves in several areas.

Areas of commitment for Olympic Trials

1. First you must be willing to train. As I had the opportunity to speak with and observe the other coaches at Olympic Trials I learn a great many things. Some of these things I already new but had to remember them. In order for any athlete to be ready to compete at this level you will need an endurance base with a broad training regimen. This means that even if you perceive yourself to be a "sprinter" you need an endurance background. Racing meters is a completely different animal that yards. You probably also have a lot of IM experience. If we look at 15 year old Elizabeth Beisel she qualified to be on the team in the 400 IM and 200 Back, yet she was entered in at least three other events including the 200 Breast, 200 Free and 200 IM. Katie Hoff also has a similar background. The male athletes like Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Eric Vendt, Peter Vanderkaay all have this same type of background. I find it interesting how Michael Phelps with his background is still one of the fastest men in the world in the 100 m Free at 47.92 and he has a distance background. Incidentally his semifinal time in the 100 Free would have tied for first in the final of the Men's 100 Free.

2. You must be willing to pay attention to detail. This means that in every practice session when we drill you need to do things the right way. Then when we go to a main set, no matter how hard it is you must FOCUS you attention on your stroke and turn mechanics and do things the right way in order to be successful. The athletes at Olympic Trials who were hitting it big were racing using finely tuned mechanics. A great example of paying attention to detail from the Olympic Trials is Dara Torres. In her prelims and semifinal heats she and her coach recognized that she was the last one off the blocks, a deadly sin for a sprinter. If you saw her interviewed she stated how that the next morning she and her coach came to the pool and worked on her starts. The end results that night were that she lowered the Meet and American record to 24.25 as she was one of the first off the blocks.

3. You must be willing to take care of your body at all times. This means many different things. You must be willing to go to bed at night, eat right, stretch and do the dryland to gain endurance and strength. When you catch a cold, or get sick you stay out of the water and get better. Don't come to practice and share you misfortune with your team mates. It also means you must be willing to bring your OWN water bottle to practice and drink form others.

4. You MUST ATTEND PRACTICE. It does not matter what level you want to be at in swimming, however what does matter is that your desires match your practice attendance. If you desire to be a good swimmer in Utah attending four to five sessions each week is probably going to be okay. However, if you desire to be a State Champion, Sectional Qualifier, Sectional Finalists, Junior National Qualifier, Junior National Finalist, Senior National Qualifier and/or Finalist, Olympic Trials Qualifier and/or finalist, member of the 2012 US Olympic Swimming Team them your practice attendance must be equivalent to your desires. I know of no one who can come to five practice sessions a week and place high at the Sectional or National level. These people are few and far between. Those that are hitting it big are at every practice session in order to get better and gain the edge that they need.

5. You must be organized. During the school year you must organize your time and plan accordingly. You may have to make some tough decisions and narrow your list of school activities that you participate in, or on. There is an old saying that goes like this, "Jack of all trades, Master of none". Your choices are yours, but be aware that if YOU want to do something great than you must be prepared to achieve and committed to your goals in every way. On HAST there is no requirement to attend. No one will discriminate against you because you are in the school play. There is a place for everyone on HAST. Your progress is based on your desires and goals, not the coaches, but we will coach everyone with love and to the highest level possible. See the HAST Mission statement. It does not matter whether it is music-orchestra or band, art, athletics, math, science, politics if you are going to be great at something then you need to make choices and some hard decisions.

I just want to share these few ideas with everyone. Many of these things were refreshed in my mind at Olympic Trials. I have already tried a few sets that I picked up at the meet and hope to gradually add more and different sets to out training routines. This fall there will be some additions that I hope we will build on each year to help get "FOUR MORE IN FOUR".

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

Finals/Semifinals Saturday, July 5, 2008

Well it was a great night!! This will be my last blog entry from the "amature sports capital of the world", Omaha, Nebraska. The events for tonight were the finals of the Women's 200 Back, Men's 100 Fly, Women's 800 Free, Men's 50 Free and the Semifinals of the Women's 50 Free. Tomorrow I will fly home and rejoin my family that I have been away from for eight days. I am anxious to be with them once again, but I will miss this great venue and the people of Omaha. I wish that I had the right words to convey to everyone how wonderful and accepting,a nd supportive the people of Omaha were. Well here is my final run down of this last night of Olympic Trials for me in person (I'll watch the finals of the Women's 50 free and Men's 1500 Free on NBC tomorrow night).

Finals-Women's 200 Back

This was really two lady race. It should have been a race between Hayley McGregory and Margaret Hoelzer. However a littel 15 year old girl by teh name fo Elizabeth Beisel had other plans. Hayley was out like a shot but as in the 100 Back she gave way to Margaret and Elizabeth. In the end Margaret Hoelzer took the gold and Elizabeth Beisel the silver. Margaret also set an Meet, US Open, American and World Record with a time of 2:06.09 her splits being 30.57-31.6-31.85-32.07. Elizabeth Beisel's time was a close second at 2:06.92 with her splits being 30.8-32.02-32.33-31.77. Look out Bejing this 15 year is just going to get better over the next five weeks and really turn some heads. I could see her re-setting the World and American record in this event.

Finals-Men's 100 Fly

All I really need to say is Michael Phelps v Ian Crocker. This was the showdown that 13,717 people came to Qwest Arena to see. They did not disappoint although Michael Phelps ran away with this race in the end. Phelps went a very fast 50.89, followed by Crocker in 52.62, then Gil Stoval at 52.28 and Tyler McGill at 52.31. Phelps was incredible off the walls and really built his lead off his underwater. Bejing should be another great showdown this time for Olympic gold and a world record.

Finals-Women's 800 Free

The Kate Zeigler v Katie Hoff face off was a great battle with Hoff leading almost the entire way from start to finish. This was Katie Hoffs last event, she is qualified to swim in five individual events at the Olympic Games (same number as Michael Phelps). Katie Hoff own this race in a new Meet record time of 8:20.81, followed by Kate Zeigler in 8:25.38. I am looking forward to seeing these two go against the rest of teh world in Bejing. I think this race will get faster and maybe a new world record.

Finals-Men's 50 Free

Entering tonight's final everyone had high hopes that Cullen Jones would win this race. I know I was cheering for him to do it. However is this very fast field it was going to be close for who ever was going to take the first place spot. At the end of this race the top two spots went to Garrett Weber-Gale 21.65 and the Ben Wildman-Tobriner at 21.65. Cullen Jones was third at 21.81 with the very colorful Gary Hall Jr who came out in his brightly colored boxing robes and completed the race at 21.91. I think that Hall makes this event fun and teaches everyone to relax and not take ourselves too seriously. I may not agree with him and his training philosophy but I admit that he sure makes the 50 Free event look fun with his showmanship. It was fun to watch.

Semifinals-Womens 50 Free

Well the final on Sunday, July 6 should be a real fast race. In the first semifinal Jessica Hardy broke the American and Meet record when she finished first at 24.48. Then in the second semifinal heat the "age defying one", Dara Torres re-broke the one heat old American and Meet record by winning he second heat in 24.38. She really looks good in the water. For me the most profound part of Dara Torres' heat was that she was last off the blocks and still broke the record and finished first. Every time I watch the 41 year old Torres it gives me hope that I too can swim great, in a manner of speaking. She is very impressive to watch and learn from as she takes care of herself and prepares to swim fast every race. I hope that all of you HAST swimmers will learn from Dara and take care of yourselves. You will swim faster as you take care of your body.

Epilogue

Well tomorrow I hear for home. As I look back on the last eight days I leave Omaha with a re-newed excitement for swimming. I have learned many valuable lessons that I hope to communicate to all of you at HAST. When I speak of my desires and goals to have "four more in four" I really mean it. I believe that our little team can put four in the Trials in four years,and maybe one on the team. Is it possible? Well going into this meet did anyone really give Dara Torres a chance to beat younger girls form the likes of Cal, Auburn, University of Georgia and so? I doubt anyone will tell you that they thought she was going to come away with a top eight finish, most probably believed that she was doomed to finish well out of the funning at her advanced age according the traditional of swimmers. Well I am look forward to getting back and getting the athletes ready for Sectionals. Thank you to everyone for reading my posts. Take care and have fun, be excellent and always do great things for your fellow man/women.

2008-07-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

Prelims, Saturday, July 5, 2008

Here is Omaha we awoke to cloudy skies and cooler temperatures. However at the Qwest Center a crowd of 7,000+ people saw two new meet records and one American Record. The first Meet record came in heat 10 of the Women's 50 Free by Jessica Hardy with a time of 24.69. It was a great swim. Then the new Meet record was broken in heat 12 by Lara Jackson in a time of 24.50. Lara's time was also an American record. She was in the same heat as the ageless one Dara Torres who went 24.72. I have been asked by several people back home how does Dara do it. Well like I wrote last night in this blog she takes care of herself. She loosens down a lot after a race and she also stretches and gets a rub down. Here at Olympic Trials the athletes have available to them numerous massage therapists, athletic trainers, nutritionists and teams of doctors. They also have hot tubs for the athletes to stretch in and ease sore tired muscles. This is how Dara does it she just takes care of herself. The other event that was raced this morning was the 1500 Free. It was very fast. The top seed Erik Vendt was absolutely great. When he finished his swim he went 14:50.24 in a new Meet record. He averaged 29+ by 50 the whole race, it was pretty incredible to watch the constant stroke count which never varied as he was building his race. His splits, by 500 were 4:54.55-9:52.25-14:50.24. Larsen Jensen went 15:11.99, Peter Vanderkaay was 15:06.24 and Chad La Tourette with a time of 15:02.78. It was a great event and tomorrow's final heat will be a real barn burner between the top four athletes.

2008-07-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

Opening Ceremony at Qwest Arena July 4, 2008

2008-07-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-05T06:08:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

Semifinals and Finals Friday, July 4, 2008

In our country's Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson wrote that "all men are created equal". After tonight I am not sure that this is a true statement where Michael Phelps and Dara Torres are concerned. It was a great July 4th as Qwest Arena was all decked out in Red-White and Blue. As we entered the arena tonight the staff had placed a red, white or blue T-shirt on every seat in the 15,000 seat arena. As each fan filed into the arena they were asked to put on the corresponding t-shirt and were given an American flag. We were told that NBC would be taking a picture of the Arena and using in their broadcast tonight. It was an amazing sight when everyone was out fitted in the shirts. The National Anthem took on an extra special meaning tonight. It really enjoyed the opening and the meet. Here is the re-cap of today's performances.

Semifinal-Men's 50 Free

Cullen Jones is simply fantastic (see video clip to be convinced)! The top seeds in tomorrow's final will be Ben Wildman-Tobriner 21.65, Cullen Jones at 21.74 (in prelims he set a new American Record at 21.59), Gary Hall Jr 2194, Nick Brunelli 21.99, Jason Lezak 22.01, Nathan Adrian 22.03, Matt Grevers 22.35, Jeff Barnett 22.41. Tomorrow's finals will most likely bring a new world record. I hope it will be Cullen Jones. He is just a great swimmer who can sustain a big kick.

Finals-Women's 200 Breast

Right from the start of this race it was the Rebecca Soni show. As soon as the starting signal sounded she was off the blocks and into the water and went out very fast. Rebecca Soni swims for Coach David Salo at USC and has really trained and prepared well. She was out fast and finished fast. Her splits were 32.85-35.66-36.62-37.47. She looked good and strong throughout the entire race and was always in control. Amanda Beard finished second to make another Olympic Team and will most likely swim very fast at Bejing.

Finals-Men's 200 Back

This was a two man race right from the start with Ryan Lochte and Aaron Peirsol. These two went right at each other. Lochte holds the current World record in a time of 1:54.32. At the end of this final Aaron Peirsol tied Lochte's record. Aaron went exactly 1:54.32 with splits of 27.36-28.69-29.19-29.08. Everyone went wild when Peirsol tied Lochte's world record and Lochte really demonstrated great sportsmanship by giving Peirsol a hand shake and pat on the back. At Bejing we could gold and silver. Don't be surprised if Lochte takes Olympic gold and Peirsol the silver.

Semifinals-Women's 200 Back

This event was dominated by youth. There was a 13 year old girl in this event. Here name is Madison White and she completed the event by going 2:13.33. It was a great swim. There was also a 14 year old and a 15 year old. The 15 year old is already on the Olympic Team in the 400 IM. Elizabeth Beisel will be the top seed in tomorrow's final after finishing the semifinals in 2:07.78 with splits of 30.76-32.60-32.61-31.81. I have a feeling that tomorrow we may see a world record in this event and it could be a 15 year that does it but then it might be Hayley McGregory or Margaret Hoelzer. Whatever tomorrow brings it will be a very fast event.

Finals-Men's 200 IM

All I really need to say here is Michael Phelps. Michael was up to the challenge of swimming fast for the crowd which was large and very rowdy. I have learned that the athletes really do feed off the crowds energy. Phelps responded. He set another World record going 1:54.8 with splits of 25.16-28.81-33.6-27.23. YES his breaststroke was really 33.6 and I did the math right even though it is late here in Omaha. Phelps's underwaters were textbook and extremely efficient and I believe he actually beats people underwater who are swimming on top. This race was a precursor of things to come in Bejing. Phelps' time was also an American, US Open and Meet record. He holds them all in one swim.

Final-Women's 100 Free

This was a night for the ages in this event. Literally, as 41 year old Dara Torres took the gold in 53.78 out touching 25 year old Natalie Coughlin who went 53.78. To all you HAST swimmers Dara is a prime example of someone who takes care of her body. Before and after every race she is stretching, warming up and loosening down. She is really in great shape and will be a valuable asset to our Olympic Team come Bejing. This will be Dara Torres' 5th Olympic Team. It was a beautiful race and I have down loaded the clip on this blog. I love to watch how she holds off Natalie Coughlin and others to become the oldest women to ever make our Olympic Swimming Team. I hope she gets to carry out the flag in Bejing. It was fun to watch the awards ceremony as she came out she carried her little daughter who was waving to the crowd. It was cute.

Semifinals-Men's 100 Fly

Tomorrow's final will come down to another Michael Phelps v Ian Crocker duel in the pool. Phelps competed in this semifinal after only 20 minutes of warm down time after setting a new world record in the 200 IM. Phelps' final time in the semis was 51.10, which is the second fastest time in the world this year. Ian Crocker went 51.52 and looked really strong. Others to watch are Gil Stovall of the University of Georgia and Tyler McGill from the University of Texas.

Epilogue

I have learned a great deal this week. I would like all you HAST swimmers to know that if you are taking care of yourself and attending practice you can do anything if you have the heart. To see a 41 year old make her 5th team against a great field of younger ladies. Then to see a world record set and 20 minutes later see that same person come back and perform a time that is the second fastest in the world this year is just amazing. I hope that you will all realize that there is nothing stopping you from being successful if you will just put your heart and mind into it, and commit yourself to being successful. I believe you can do anything if you are willing to pay the price.

I also hope you saw, maybe on this blog or on the internet Candice's swim in her 200 back. It was a terrific swim and she represented the team, the City of American Fork, herself and family extremely well. Her final time was 2:16.73 with splits of 32.34-35.27-35.14-33.99. Candice started Olympic Trials seeded at 85th and moved up to 50th. I watched the entire event and recorded most of the times from the heats after hers and can tell you that she is finishing off her race as fast or faster than even those who were seeded ahead of her. Candice had a great meet under a lot of pressure. I wish that I had the words to describe the noise and energy levels in the arena. When she competed there were nearly 10,000 loud people in Qwest Arena. As I have watched Candice and many other great athletes I have come up with some great new sets that I think you Senior swimmers will really enjoy, or at least I will enjoy them because of the results that I believe they will produce. I hope you are all doing well at Red-White and Blue and looking forward to the Sectionals, State and B-C Championships and the Bejing Games. I also want you to know that I have already started my four year plan. The 2012 Summer Games are in London and I hope that we will see four HAST swimmers at the next Olympic Trials and perhaps one makes the team. Will it happen? YES I believe it can IF we all work together to make it a reality. So over the next four years I want our rallying cry to be "FOUR MORE IN FOUR". Ask yourself could it be me? I will answer yes it could if you are willing to make it happen. Lets go HAST!

2008-07-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

2008-07-04T21:01:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

Prelims-Friday, July 4, 2008

What a 4th of July this has started off to be. I don't have much time as I am getting ready to head back to Semifinals and Finals. Tonight should be fantastic as there are 3 finals and 3 semifinals. Cullen Jones was absolutely dominate this morning in the 50 Free going 21.5 something. The morning finished up by watching Candice go 2:16.73 in the 200 Back going a perfect 1-4-3-2 on her splits and her finish time was slightly slower than some of the bigger names in the seeded heats. Candice was out fast did a great job-she had the fastest reaction time of anyone in her heat and finished faster than anyone in her heat. Tonight look for the Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin show down. It should be great. More later tonight.

Candice prepares for the biggest start of her swimming career.

2008-07-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

2008-07-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

2008-07-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

Semifinals/Finals Thursday, July 3, 2008

Well there were fireworks in downtown Omaha tonight. Literally there were fireworks, in the air and at the Qwest Center pool. Here is a brief run down as I am very tired and it is late here in this formerly frontier town.

Finals-Mens 200 Breast

The heavy favorite was Brendan Hansen as the event started. In this field was Scott Usher, Eric Shanteau and Scott Spann, Giordan Pogioli. This seemingly was a wash with Hansen taking the automatic nberth. However the field of swimmers had other things in mind. When the waves of the pool settled after the race the results were: Scott Spann earning the automatic spot with a time of 2:09.97, Eric Shanteau at 2:10.36, Scott Usher at 2:11.00 and Brendan Hansen at 2:11.37. Spann and Shanteau had great great back halfs and really pulled by and then away from Brendan Hansen. It was a great race and very exciting for two young men who have competed against, and trained with the former world record holder.

Semifinals-Women's 100 Free

This was a race for the ages as it pitted the "Matron" of Women's swimming, 41 year old Dara Torres against a field of much younger ladies. The race was very fast with 9 of the 16 competitors going under 55.00. The top seed in the final tomorrow will be Natalie Coughlin at 53.66, the Dara Torres at 53.76, then Lacey Nymeyer at 54.07. Everyone in Qwest Arena was cheering loud for Dara and it was electrifying as she almost out touched Natalie. When the race was over there 14,000+ screaming fans standing and cheering their appreciation.

Semifinals-Men's 200 Back

Tomorrow should be a great show down between Aaron Peirsol and Ryan Lochte. These two young men were in opposite heats. Ryan Lochte won semifinal heat one in a time of 1:56.52 and literally blew everyone away because of his underwaters off EVERY wall. Then in semifinal heat 2, and not to be out done underwater Aaron Peirsol took off and scorched the pool at 1:55.78. I expect that a world record will be set tomorrow by one of these two competitors. It will be a great night!

Finals-Women's 100 Fly

Right after John Nabor interviewed "Madame Butterfly" Mary T, this race started. The favorite of many in the crowd was Kim Vandenberg, however Elaine Breeden and Kathleen Hersey had other things in mind. Elaine Breeden was not going tobe left off the Olympic Team and led from start to finish in a new meet record time of 2:06.75 with splits of 28.4-31.78-32.59-33.98. Coming in a close second was Kathleen Hersey in a time of 2:07.33. The swimmer that I really wanted to see make the team was Mary Descenza and Kim Vandenberg, however they came in fourth and third respectively at 2:09.23 and 2:08.48. It was a great race adn nice to see the ladies fly records get attacked.

Final-Men's 100 Free

This was a fast star studded field that made history. The history was made when the first African-American place third to make the team on a relay-Cullen Jones. The winner of the top and automatic spot was Garrett Weber-Gale at 47.92, followed by 32 year old Jason Lezak at 48.05, Cullen Jones at 48.35 (who probably has the biggest kick in the field and splits out better on the back half than anyone I've seen), then Bremerton, Washington native son Nathan Adrian at 48.46. This race should set the stage for a great 50 race on Saturday and Sunday. Zac I am sorry that your good friend Nick didn't make it in to the top four, I cheered for him but he just didn't quite make.

Semifinals-Women's 200 Breast and Men's 200 IM were also contested tonight but there were some in our party who were leaving tomorrow and we wanted to have a group dinner before these friends left for home. I am sure these events were exciting as there are a number of big names in these events. I would like to tell everyone that watching athletes like Michael Phelps, Katie Hoff, Dara Torres they make it look so easy. However when you talk with their coaches you learn that it takes a great deal of sacrifice and commitment to do what they have done. I love watching Michael Phelps swim as he makes the men in his events look like boys because of all the preparation he puts in before his races. Can anyone do this? Yes they can if they are willing to pay the price. I am not sure that everyone can be a Phelps, but I do believe that anyone can be great and make things look easy if you are willing to work. More tomorrow.

2008-07-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

2008-07-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

2008-07-02T20:32:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

Semifinals/Finals Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Boy WHAT A NIGHT!!!!!!!!!! There were no world records, but there were new American and Meet records set in nearly each event. I am not sure that I will be able to sleep tonight as I am so very excited about the events of this day.

Meet re-cap

Semifinals-Men's 100 Free

The two oldest competitors were Jason Lezak and Neil Walker at age 32. They were great on the out leg, but one failed to get faster and move into the finals and have a shot at the Olympic Team. Jason Lezak set a new American Record going 47.58 with splits of 22.83-24.75. He was fast out of the blocks and fast on the return. Ryan Lochte, Nick Brunelli, Matt Grevers, Cullen Jones and Garrett Weber-Gale also had great swims. I am sure that tomorrow's final will see an hew World Record as Lezak only missed it tonight by .08. Look out Bejing here comes the US 400 Free Relay team to regain Olympic gold.

Finals-Women's 200 Free

What more can I say than Katie Hoff. She is just amazing, amazing-AMAZING!!!! She went out quick and returned even quicker finishing in 1:55.88. She set a new Meet, US Open and American Record. Katie just missed the World record by .36. I am sure come Bejing she will be well under the World Record.

Finals-Men's 200 Fly

This was a great race, although it was dominated by Michael Phelps, as usual. The real story here was Gil Stoval of the University of Georgia. He finished in a flurry and came in second to win a spot of the US Team. Phelps west 1:52.2(a US Open and Meet record and just off the World Record by .19). His splits were 25.47-28.28-29.29-29.16. Gil Stoval's time was 1:53.86 with splits of 26.28-28.53-29.19-29.86. Once again it was Michael Phelp's effiency off the walls that proved the biggest difference in this race.

Semifinals-Women's 200 Fly

This race will be tightly contested in finals tomorrow night. The top swimmmers will be Kathleen Hersey at 2:08.03, Elaine Breeden at 2:07.33, Kim Vandenberg at 2:08.86 and Mary Descenza at 208.82. I am looking forward to seeing this finals event as I am really pulling for Descenza and Vandenberg. They are also the favorites of many of the fans here in Omaha.

Semifinals-Men's 200 Breast

Another "What more can I say" moment-Brendan Hansen, or as many young ladies at HAST like to call him Brendan Hansome. Brendan went out of the blocks fast and simply left the rest of the field behind going a scorching 2:09.60 with splits of 29.21-32.56-33.2-34.64. He was the class of this event and will most likely break the World Record tomorrow.

Finals-Women's 200 IM

This was the one event that had Qwest Arena really going. The entire Arena was doing the wave and literally sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the Katie Hoff v Natalie Coughlin show down. When this event was announced as the last event the noise level in the Qwest Arena sounded louder than a monster truck rally, or so I am told. It was electrifying and really helped Katie Hoff I am sure. Remember she had just won the 200 Free in American Record time less than one hour before this HUGE final. When the athletes paraded out and were announced they went to the blocks, took their marks and immediately Natalie was out and down the pool under world record pace after the fly in a extremely fast 27.22 with Katie at 28.30 and another competitor Arianna Kukors in 28,77. The back is Natalie's best stroke and she blazed through the back in a split time of 32,58 with Katie at 33.11, Arianna at 32.77. The back side of this event is usually Katie's best half but with Natalie so far ahead and well under world record pace everyone was thinking that Natalie is going to smash the world record even though her breaststroke is not as good as Katie's or Arianna's. After the breast leg Arianna touched first with a split of 37.67, Katie 37.82 and Natalie at 39.91. All the ladies were under World record place and the noise in the Arena was now completely deafening-IT WAS CRAZY!!!!! The free leg was literally an all out sprint between two seasoned Olympians and one hopeful. In this case the final leg was won by Katie off with a split of 30.48, Natalie with a split of 30.63 and Arianna with a split of 31.19. Katie Hoff's winning time was 2:09.71 and was an American, Meet and US Open Record. Natalie went 2:10.34 and Arianna was third at 2:10.4. It was a great race that most likely will go down in Olympic Trials history as one the best races of all time.

Epilogue

Although there were no world records set tonight, remember I thought that at least one would be set, it was so very exciting and more than ever I want to see more of our HAST athletes have the opportunity to return and compete in this meet. I know that there are only two from each event that will ever make an Olympic Games Team. The reason for working hard and competing in and attending this meet is that it is a part of our Nation's commitment to physical fitness, excellence and international competitiveness. Besides there is always an opportunity to rub shoulders and make friends with the greatest swimmers in the world. Candice and Nick have met and are friends many of the world's greatest swimmers. Nick knows Brenden Hansen, Erik Vendt, Margaret Hoelzer. Gregor is friends with Aaron Peirsol, Ian Crocker and many others. I am looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

Just a note about the city of Omaha. As I have been in this town now since Sunday I can tell you where ever you go people see my credentials and want to know how things are going at the Qwest Center. Earlier today I went into a business and the receptionists, and several others who worked in the business saw my credentials and asked how my team was dong and told me how excited they were that we were here in Omaha. One mother even told me that she was taking her daughter to watch one night. I have been stopped by police officers, store clerks, business men, one here at the hotel and asked how they can get tickets and they always know what the daily results are. They know who Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin are. Before we returned to the hotel for the night I went to a local grocery store and was welcomed to Omaha by at least two people who saw my credentials. I have grown and really learned a lot about sports, hospitality and genuine interest in the sport that I love-SWIMMING. More tomorrow.

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

Prelims, Wednesday, July 2, 2008

It has been a super morning and mid-day. The Men's 100 Free Prelims was extremely fast, nearly a World Record and not by Michael Phelps. He will get a chance to race it again tonight. The Women's 200 Fly and Men's 200 Breast were contested this morning and it was a lot of fun. I am pressed for time as the morning session went a little long with Time Trials. Nick's 200 Breast was his seasonal best and he swam a really smart race going 2:24+. Candice time trialed the 100 Back and went a life time best at 1:05.02. She even split the race and felt very relaxed at the end. Bot of our HAST swimmers did really well today. After Candice's time trial I am looking forward to her 200 Back on the 4th of July, hopefully there will be some fireworks from a young lade from American Fork-GO HAST.

PS Thank you to all of you who have posted comments. It was especially good to hear from guys like Kenric and my daughter Sarah in Italy. To all the HAST swimmers thank you for your comments and I hope that my accounts and re-caps help you. I know that I am more motivated than ever to live the OLYMPIC DREAM. After all I DO believe that dreams can and do come true. More tonight-watch for at least one, maybe two new World Records.

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

Semifinals/Finals Tuesday, July 1, 2008

On this the third day Candice, Nick and I all witnessed two new World Records, two new American Records and four new Meet Records. Needless to say it was a great meet today once again. A few other firsts also happened. On the way home from the meet tonight we saw fireflies along the route to the hotel, which is really cool. They are indeed cute little bugs. Well here is a brief re-cap of today's meet as it is late here in Omaha and I am tired and very excited, almost like it is Christmas Eve.

Semifinal-Women's 200 Free

Katie Hoff was incredible!!!! I wish I had another word that I could describe just how good she was tonight. She will be the top seed tomorrow in the final lowering the meet record to 1:57.10. Her splits were 28.11-29.49-29.95-29.56.

Final-Men's 200 Free

This was a "star studded" event. In the last heat you had Eric Vendt, Klete Keller, Michael Phelps, Peter Vanderkaay, Larsen Jensen, Ricky Berens and two others who are not second rate swimmers. Michael Phelps won the 200 Free going a meet record of 1:44.10. Once again his turns were out of this world and blew everyone away with his underwater kicking splitting out 24.88-26.12-26.81-26.29. Berens, Vanderkaay and Keller were terrific and all looked very good. Our 800 Free Relay will be very difficult to beat this August in Bejing.

Finals-Women's 100 Back

All I need to say is Natalie Coughlin. Earlier today I told everyone that I thought we would see two World records tonight. Well here is the first one! Natalie was super human. She went a scorching 58.97, with splits of 28.45-30.42. She looked smooth and just flowed over the course of the pool. It was an awesome sight. A young 15 year old girl by the name of Elizabeth Beisel went 1:01.4. Look for her to be the next Natalie or Katie in 2012. However in the mean time look for her in the 400 IM in Bejing and possibly in the 200 IM.

Finals-Men's 100 Back

Another "star studded" event. The leadergoing into the finals was Randal Bal who has been third or fourth in the last two Olympic years (2000 and 2004). He was swimming with a lot of confidence. However in this heat you had the current World Record holder, Aaron Perisol,, Ryan Lochte, and Matt Grevers. I know Aaron Perisol's competitive attitude as his coach has shared it withme and he is a big meet swimmer. Aaron was not to be denied. Aaron went out fast and finished even faster going a new World Record time of 52.89, splitting out 25.6-27.29. Matt Grevers was second splitting out 25.72-27.47, Ryan Lochte was in at 53.37, splitting out 25.91-27.46, and Randal Bal was fourth again going 53.34, splitting a 25.58-27.87. You have to feel for Randal Bal. However making an US Olympic swimming team is more difficult than making an NBA team.

Finals-Women's 100 Breast

This event had all the makings of another great race and it did not disappoint the nearly 15,000 fans. I this final there was Amanda Beard, Tara Kirk, Megan Jendrick, Annie Chandler, Jessica Hardy, Rebecca Soni, Lindsay Payne and Elizabeth Tinnon. The two ladies who won this event were Jessica Hardy with a time of 1:06.87 with splits of 30.53 (well under world record pace)-36.34 and earning a trip to Bejing Megan Jendrick in second with a time of 1:07.5 with splits of 31.67-35.97 and a stroke count of 20 and 23. Incidently Megan beat out another "Northwesterner", Tara Kirk by .01. It is amazing to me how someone would lose out on a trip to the Olympics by 1/100th of a second. What a race. Amanda Beard finished in 6th.

Semifinals-Men's 200 Fly

I want all of you HAST swimmers to understand that you can swim fast in back to back events and do so at a high level. Michael Phelps proved this tonight once again by going a meet record 1:54.02, with splits of 25.95-28.99-29.17-29.91. Once again his underwaters were a key factor in him going fast against some very tough competition. Look for another World record from Michael Phelps tomorrow night in the finals.

Semifinals-Women's 200 IM

Tomorrow night's final in the 200 IM should prove to be very exciting as Natalie Coughlin and Katie Hoff will face off in the finals. Both of these ladies had previously swam tough races tonight-Coughlin a world record and Hoff a meet record. Coughlin went 2:11.72 with splits of 27.65-34.01-39.64-30.41, Katie Hoff set the meet record with a time of 2:09.94 and splits of 28.34-32.89-35.83-30.88. These ladies will just be terrific tomorrow night. The 15 year old, Elizabeth Beisel went 2:13.75. I hope I can get to sleep tonight as I am looking forward already to the finals in this event.

Epilogue

Well it was another great day!!! Tomorrow Nick will be in the 200 Breast and will swim somewhere around 12:00 noon. BYU swimmer Gregor Greiner will compete in the 100 Free at 11:00 am. Candice will do her 100 Back time trial after the morning session. Each day that I observed these great swimmers I believe that we can put more of our HAST swimmers at this meet in 2012. Two things that I believe we must do at HAST is teach-teach and learn-learn the strokes and train, and then compete at a higher level. I am looking forward to getting back and going over my thoughts and impressions with the coaches and athletes. Four HAST swimmers at Olympic Trials in 2012. Here are two quotes from members of our National Team: "Having specific goals in a race helps me manage the stress of competition" Natalie Coughlin. I would add that having specific goals will also help you swimmers manage the challenges you all face at practice sessions. Katie Ziegler, World Record holder in the 1,500 m Free said in relation to what she thinks about at practice and in meets is that she just wants to "go out and do her very best". I hope you all have a great day tomorrow at day one fothe Red-White and Blue. Take care and good luck, Dee

2008-07-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-07-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

Prelims, Tuesday, July 1, 2008

This has been another great morning. Today's preliminary events were the Women's 200 Free and 200 IM and the Men's 200 Fly. No world records but a lot of great swimming. Katie Hoff led the way as she set one meet record and tied another. Candice and Nick had good warm-ups this morning and look forward to competing tomorrow. Nick will swim the 200 Breast tomorrow and Candice will time trial the 100 back. Nick 's pace work and stroke count was very good today at 17 strokes in 34.82 and 18 strokes in 35.02. Candice's pace work was very good at two 33's, with an additional day of rest and easy swims both should be able to do well tomorrow. Here is a rundown of how things went this morning.

Women's 200 Free

Katie Hoff 27.83-57.81-1:27.43-1:57.72 Her subtracted splits were 27.83-29.88-29.62-30.29. She would have gone 1-4-3-2 but she had the prelims well in hand an had another prelim later in the morning. However she still set a Meet record with backing off at the end. To get in the semifinals you had to be at least under 1:59.5.

Men's 200 Fly

I was really impressed with three 16 year olds. Their names were: Kyle Whitaker, Tom Shields and Dakota Hodgson. Kyle Whitaker's splits were 26.25-57.86-1:29.33-2:01.93 (subtracted to be 26.25-31.61-31.47-32.6). Dakota Hodgson went 28.24-59.77-1:31.79-2:01.93 (I'll let you guys subtract the splits). Tom Shields went 27.35-58.57-1:30.73-2:04.78 (again you subtract). I was really impressed with how they stepped up and competed against all the college level athletes. These young men really went after the older athletes. Michael Phelps (you can see his race on the blog IF I can get it to down load swam very east through prelims as he has another semifinal swim and a final swim.

Women's 200 IM

Once again Katie Hoff really looked good. However it will be a great race tonight in the semifinals with a show down between Natalie Coughlin, Ariana Kukors and Katie Hoff. In their last heat performance this morning Natalie and Ariana were underworld record pace until the free leg and then they both backed off to just get into another swim tonight. It was pretty awesome. Here are the splits: Katie Hoff 28.65-33.52-38.57-31.28-2:12.02 (tied a meet record). Natalie Coughlin 27.20-33.25-39.28-32.48-2:12.21. Ariana Kukors 28.58-33.59-37.30-32.91-2:12.38.

Epilogue

Semifinals and Finals tonight should be fast and perhaps there will be several new World Records tonight. I am very excited about the events tonight as they will be very fast. Finals for Women tonight are the 100 Back and 100 Breast, for Men the 200 Free and 100 Back. I hope all you HAST swimmers can DVR or record the meet tonight and really pay attention to the way these athletes build their races. In the IM you must be out strong-have a great breast leg and finish faster, in the back you need a lot of legs, the 200 free you must be smart and build your race so that you are really strong at the end, in the breast you must be fast but highly efficient, in the fly you have got to use under waters wisely and effectively. Best of luck in the meet tomorrow and SWIM GREAT AND FAST!!!!!

PS To all you young ladies Candice and I met and spoke with Brendan Hansen. He is very nice. I also spoke with Megan Quann-Jendrick.

2008-06-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-06-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

Semifinals/Finals, Monday, June 30, 2008. What a great night of swimming. We witnessed some pretty incredible things tonight. First off the events were: Semifinals for the Women in the 100 Back and 100 Breast, and for the Men Semifinals in the 200 Free and 100 Back. Finals were contested in the Women's 100 Fly and 400 Free. Men's Finals in the 100 Breast. The Qwest Arena was jam packed,, it looked like there were over 13,000 people. It was loud and rowdy and very fun to see all the fast swimming.

Semifinals-Women's 100 Back

Tomorrow's finals will be a great race between Natalie Coughlin and Hayley McGregory. Both to these ladies broke the World record in the prelims and one of them will most likely break it tomorrow night. It should be fun. A quick story about a young lady by the name of Presley Bard who after the prelims was tied for 16th. She won the swim off by going faster than she had in prelims and was able to swim in tonight's semis. In the semis she dropped almost two seconds and she will now swim for a spot on the Olympic Team. She went from a 1:03.something to a 1:02.35 and then in finals she went 1:00.98. A 15 year old made the semis going 1:01.08 and I believe she also made the finals. Another interesting story is Erica Meissner who was in heat three or four of about 16 heats and made it into the top 16. Great story and great things happen to people who are willing to pay the price.

Semifinals-Men's 200 Free

Michael Phelps was phenomenal!!! He once again proved that if your want Olympic gold in any event you have to beat him off the walls. Going into the last wall Phelps was nearly tied for the lead and then the turn and the underwater (a full 15 m off the wall) and Phelps casually pulled away into tomorrow's final. The field is just loaded with talent as most of the top 12 in the world are in this event. Look for our 800 Free Relay to do great things come Bejing.

Finals-Women's 100 Fly and Men's 100 Breast

Christine Magnuson won the 100 Fly with a time of 58.11, knocking off the emotionally favorite, 31 year old Rachel Komisarz. In the Men's 100 Breast Brendan Hansen once again proved he is the man to beat as he won his Olympic Team spot by going 59.93. Interesting enough Candice met and spoke with Brendan Hansen.

Semifinals-Women's 100 Breast

Megan (Quann) Jendrick will be one of the top seeds tomorrow night, but the real story here is that her stroke count was 20-24 going 1:07.17. Another side bar story was that after semifinals there was a tie for 8th by two girls who swam next to each other in the semis. They did their swim-off at the end of tonight's meet and went 1:09.10 and 1:09.12. These young ladies were very tough and I am sure tired tonight but one of them, Lindsey Payne will swim for a spot on the Olympic Team.

Semifinals-Men's 100 Back

Aaron Peirsol swam great tonight going a blistering 53.25 and then in the final heat Randall Bal went 53.09. It was great around the Qwest Arena as Bal was out in a very fast 25.7. Everyone thought he was going to get the World Record as he was well under the pace required. Bal's stroke rates were an amazing 55-55-53.5-50.5 compared to Peirsol's 47.8-48. Tomorrow's finals should be amazing as Peirsol hates to lose and then they also have to contend with Ryan Lochte and Matt Grevers.

Finals-Women's 400 Free

Katie Hoff is the most amazing woman's swimmer!!! She re-set the Meet Record narrowly missing the World Record by .8. Katie Hoff's time was 4:02.32 with splits of 59.33-1:02.27-1:01.11-59.61 (Hint to all you HAST swimmers she went 1-4-3-2 and won the spot on the Olympic Team) compared to Katie Zeigler who went 4:03.92 with splits of 59.39-1:02.00-1:02.28-1:00.25 (Hint 1-3-4-2 which split pattern should you work on?). This was a great race and look for Katie Hoff to swim out of her mind come Bejing.

Epilogue

This has been a great start to this meet. Four world records in two days, numerous meet and American records. It should be very fun tomorrow through Saturday. Tomorrow Candice will most likely time trial the 100 back. I look forward to seeing the kids go great and do well in their final events-Nick in the 200 Breast and Candice in the 200 Back. GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE HAST SWIMMERS AT THE RED-WHITE AND BLUE MEET.

2008-06-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-06-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 30, 2008

What FANTASTIC prelims!!!!!!! The day started off with the Women's 100 Back and two World Records back to back. In heat 15 Hayley McGregory of the University of Texas goes 59.15 tobreak Natalie Coughlin's World record of 59.21. Then in the very next heat, heat 16 Natalie Coughlin steps up and goes 59.05. What a great day! Two world records within two minutes of each other. I am very excited to witness swimming history being made. I do feel for Hayley McGregory though. Imagine breaking a record that you think is yours only to see it broken 60 seconds later. Then the Men's 200 Free was a great prelims with Michael Phelps leading the field. Phelp's time from prelims was 1:46.63 with splits of 25.84-27.31-27.10-26.38 (1-4-3-2). To me the most impressive part of Phelp's time was his stroke count by each 50: 28, 30, 28, 28. The final event of the prelim session was the Women's 400 Free and a great swim by Katie Hoff in the last heat going a US Olympic Trials Meet Record of 4:05.61. Her splits were 1:00.24-1:02.53-1:02.15-1:00.69 (1-4-3-2). I am looking forward to the semifinals tonight and perhaps a couple more World Records. Candice arrived safe and is very excited to swim-see her pictures. More later tonight after the meet.

2008-06-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

2008-06-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

2008-06-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

2008-06-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Omaha

2008-06-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-06-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today, Day 1 US Olympic Trials. What a great day!!!!! Nick competed in the 100 breast and did a seasonal best 1:07+. In the evening at the finals for the Men's 400 IM and 400 Free, Women's 400 IM, and semifinals of the Women's 100 Fly and Men's 100 Breast we saw some pretty amazing things. Two World Record-Michael Phelps 4:05.25 (nearly one second off his previous world record, and he was hardly breathing hard) and Ryan Lochte at 4:06.08 also under the world record. Next up was Kaite Hoff in the 400 IM with a new world record at 4:31.12 followed by 15 year old sensation Elizabeth Beisel at 4:32.87. We saw an American Record in the 400 Free by Larsen Jensen at 4:43.53 and then saw Christine Magnuson go 57.5 in the 100 Fly and a near miss of a world record int he Men's 100 breast by Brandon Hansen in a time of 59.24 (world record is 59.13). Tomorrow's finals in these events should be very fun and fast. I learned a lot about what it takes to be great in the 400 IM and Free by watching these athletes. I took stroke rates and stroke counts on the IM and Breast, Fly events and watched how the 400 Freestylers are splitting out their races to be competitive at this level. I hope all of you at HAST are EXCITED because my little head is just swimming with ideas of how we are going to bring four to this meet in four years-four in four. Get excited and get ready, I hope to dream of great sets tonight!!!!!

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-06-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 28 was travel day for me. I am very excited to see Omaha and even more excited to see Nick and Candice compete in what is probably the third most elite meet in the world! I arrive in Omaha to find a very green and very beautiful city. It is very warm and welcoming to the visitors. The pool at the Qwest Center is absolutely great! Two indoor fifty meter pools. The main competition pool is in the basketball arena and is surrounded by 15,000+ seats. The warm down pool is a 10 land 50 meter pool with an "L" shaped want another 25 meter pool connected. The facility and people of Omaha have been great. Signs, banners and posters everywhere. Even the school children of Omaha have colored and drawn posters to welcome the athletes. It is going to be a great week.

2008-06-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

HAST Olympic Trials Journal Entry 2

2008-06-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

Three days until Nick competes in the 100 m Breastroke, and Candice is eight days from her 200 back. We are all very excited and looking forward to the trip to Omaha. The Qwest Center in Omaha is all decked out with two 50 pools and the arena is ready to receive an estimated 170,000 spectators over the next week. Training for this event has gone very well and Nick and Candice are swimming great. Today's workout went well and I am looking forward to the trip.

HAST Olympic Trials Journal

2008-06-24T14:39:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Nick and Candice are in the final days of their preparation for Olympic Trials. They are in the process of focusing on the three "Rs" of the Peak Performace phase of our season-rest, rehearse and relax. We all leave for Olympic Trials this weekend and look forward to seeing Omaha, Nebraska and competing against the best swimmers in the world.