In what was by far our most impressive dual meet of the year, we ended up on the short side of the team score against a very impressive University of Indianapolis swimming team. They are good, ranked Top 10 in Division II, and I have to admit, I love swimming teams that force us to swim our best at this point in the season. With that in mind, I did see signs of improvement, and now know that our dedication to hard work and training is paying off... I saw it in each of my swimmers races, and I continue to see it on the boards too.

A few highlights...

Kyle Weaver is starting to hit on all cylinders (pictured to the right). Popping a 22.6 for his 50 fly split, going 21.9 in the 50 (21.1 anchoring the relay) and wrapping up the day with a 53.4 in the 100 fly was a great way to end up the dual meet season!

Blaine Cooper-Surma continues to improve his in-season times with new bests in the 50 free (both flat start and relay) and his 100 free.

Clayton Craig returned from a minor injury on his foot to win the 1 Meter competition and finish 2nd on 3 Meter (pictured below)

Finally, a whole host of guys like Tim Deal, Zach Manker, Max Rubesch, John Kasey, and Brent Graham, although not winning their events, swam considerably better - and are winning us valuable depth points while showing they will have an amazing Conference Meet.

All in all, we continue to improve and show that this year is going to wrap up with an extremely exciting championship meet come February 8th!

Stay Tuned,

- PHC

Saturday was our Senior Recognition Day. Pictured above is Wells, Manker, Kinkead, and Bly - all with family.

Posted by Peter Casares at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It amazes me that we are only fourteen days away from our conference meet. Two weeks from today the team will be diving in completely rested and ready to go! Wow... I'm guessing being a first year father had something to do with this... but man!, I can't believe it.

This season has been an interesting one, full of hard work, dedication, and tons of great memories. The guys are coming to practice now happy and excited. The atmosphere is completely different than just one week ago. I'll tell you what, coaching takes on whole new approach. No longer do coaches need to encourage swimmers to do more and do it better.. now it's time to just sit back and watch the team take over.

I sold them the Ferrari, and now they are learning how to drive it. You know?

Well I know, and the team knows, and they know that I know, so we are going to be OK.

Saturday marks our last home swim meet of the year, and it will be a very special one forour three seniors. Not only will this be their final dual meet with the team, but it signifies the beginning of the final stage of their swimming career. Further, this is the first class to make it through all four years with me, so they are an extremely special group. When they look back on their career Saturday, I know they will feel proud of what they have accomplished, how much they improved, and of all the great times. For me though, I'll be lost in gratitude for the legacy they leave this team, and for what they have done for this program. Which reminds me of an Albert Pike quote...

"What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for other remains, and is, immortal."

Manker, Bly, and Wells... Thank you, and remember, you have the power to be immortal.

- Coach

Posted by Peter Casares at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Were we victorious?

Nope.

Did we win?

I think so.

Let me put this way. Out of the 50 swims last night 35 of them were in-season best times.

Yes, it kills me to lose to DePauw... and the team saw a coach last night that just refused to enjoy all those great swims. However, I can smile this morning knowing that I have not compromised our season plan - and that we continue to show signs that we are on track for a tremendous conference meet, full of lifetime bests.

What signs? Well let me think...

1) Our Medley Relay is now 19 seconds faster than in our first dual meet. We have had to be patient as we have switched some swimmers to different legs, but that patience is paying off with a relay that will have a chance to be All-Conference again this year.

2) Our distance guys came in last night and all four of them took between 30 and 45 seconds off their previous best. That is amazing - and shows how hard they have worked, and more importantly, that it is paying off.

3) We went to Florida over break and had an great training trip. I have never been around a group of swimmers that trained harder, or stayed more focused than our team did this year.

4) After our Wabash Invite last semester we walked into our December Invites and broke a school record, had a national qualifying time, and had over 20 lifetime bests.

5) We just walked out of our DePauw Dual Meet with 35 swims that were faster than what we did at the Wabash Invite!... and about 5 more that were less than a tenth off those times. Also, our freshman diver, Rob Fenoglio, finished the meet with lifetime best scores on both boards! Now that has to get you excited about where we will end up. (Fenoglio, Schiltz, and Craig getting ready to dive)

So, last night 7 out of every 10 swims were in-season lifetime bests - I always want to be coaching a team that is swimming that well. Also when looking at the time drops from Wash U to DePauw, you can see just how fast we are improving - and how good we are going to be.

We may have lost the meet, but as I said earlier... we're sticking to our plan and it will be there for us by conferences.

More Better,

-PHC

Posted by Peter Casares at 07:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Little Giant Tankers traveled west to St. Louis this morning to face the 5th ranked Washington University Bears... and as I sit on the bus right now typing a "meet recap" I know I am mostly hoping to put an end to this annoying replaying of the meet in my mind, over and over again. I guess I am hoping for some type of closure once I am done typing. Yeah, we were that bad today. There is small part of me that thinks a practice would have done us better than this meet - and honestly, we probably would have swam faster in practice than we did today... but as I type I am not at all finding it impossible to see that this was an important experience for the team.

There is no hiding the fact that we are young. Thirteen freshman on a team of 27. As you might guess, we are all learning how to deal with new challenges weekly... we seem to face some sort of adversity at every turn. And you know what? We stink at adversity. Really really stink. When things are going good, oh man, watch out! We can be amazing. But when we are off, we are way off - and there seems to be no turning back.

I'm fine with it.

Tony Dungy was interviewed by ESPN The Magazine last month and talked about not needing to yell and scream when his team failed because he believed in his preparation, he believed in his plan. I like that. The Colts just seem to go right back to work the next week - and trust their leader and their program. Hey, even a guy born and raised in New England can see that the Colts aren't bad... and more importantly, anybody can see that over the entire Dungy era they have continually improved from year to year. Similarly, I know what we do at Wabash is right. I know the college, the student athletes, and this team's philosophy are right... in the truest sense of the word.

"It won't be easy but it will be worth it," I like that too.

I know that we will remember this time in our program's history. Yes, we will surely learn from it, but more importantly when we are amazing the success we experience will be even sweeter than we expected. My heart knows that is true. And, funny as it sounds, swimming is a sport that only rewards those whose heart is in it.

At this point I won't hesitate in telling everyone that I love this team. They have trained well, they have worked hard, and they have come together as a team. It has been an awesome ride so far. No, it hasn't been easy... and it really hasn't been all that fun at times, but the strides we have taken in just one short year have made me proud. And although we haven't looked adversity straight in the eye and kicked its butt... I have a feeling we are closer than we ever have been.

Today we had a couple of guys triumph over adversity. Freshman diver Rob Fenoglio won the 3 meter diving competition. Sophomore Michael Belanger came in 2nd in the 1650 by touching out his opponent by .02 tenths of second! And Sophomore Aaron Spolarich was just 2 seconds off his lifetime best in the 200 Breaststroke. All of those were outstanding performances - and proof that we will be OK.

Wednesday we travel to Greencastle to take on DePauw. If we swim like we did today we will get pummeled, but guess what?... I like our chances.

More Better,

-PHC

This little guy makes me smile too... (AJC - 10 Months Old)

Posted by Peter Casares at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

We arrived back in Crawfordsville early Saturday morning the 7th of January - after nine days of great training and weather in Florida. Fortunately for the guys a cold front was hitting as we got on the bus... the last 8:00 AM practice was done in 50∫ weather with a wind chill in the upper 30's! All in all, we had nothing to complain about seeing that we experienced 78∫ and sunny every other day we were down there. It was fantastic.

This was by far one of the most productive training trips since I have been here. The amount of work the team did, the attitude of the team, and the performances that we saw were tremendous. The team has†set itself up well for a great second half.

Classes start today and we are back to our normal routine. Now we settle in for a fun four weeks of tapering and swimming fast. The rebuilding process is about to begin! Enjoy the pics below and remember...

More Better,

- PHC

Best two Assistant Coaches in the country, Ben Hewitt '05 and Fernando Rodriguez.

The Coaching Staff hard at work (Hewitt, Casares, Rodriguez).

Freshman having fun at the beach! (Molby, Blackwell, Deal, BCS).

Blackwell and his "now famous" bubble ring (at least in his mind).

Scary Rutz in his scary hole (nice chops).

Team Photo the last morning!

Posted by Peter Casares at 09:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

January 1st 2006...

Our First Afternoon Practice Off! Six practices down and eight left.

New Year Day's practice has traditionally been the hardest practice of the trip and today was no exception. I think each and every swimmer left the pool this morning with a sense of accomplishment - and a feeling that they just completed something they never thought possible.

We've been enjoying tremendous weather (79º and sunny everyday!), the beach has been packed, the brand new pool has been perfect, and the shuffleboard matches have been intense. All in all, I can't complain.

Happy New Year to all and enjoy the pictures!

More Better,

-PHC

Vest and Weaver getting ready for their '06 x 1000 Main Set!

Team photo at the hotel with our # 1 Fan and Guest Coach, Abby†Rokosch!

Michael Hewitt ('07) attempting to score his first points of the day.

Captain Zach Manker ('06) celebrating Michael's inability to score!

Posted by Peter Casares at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)