Lanelines: Florida Training Camp

Day 4 – John Kasey ‘08

Happy New Year!

So far I have spent two New Year’s Eve’s with the Wabash College Swim Team, neither of which has been very eventful... until this year. For the past two years I have celebrated my New Year’s Eve in Florida by staying up until the wee hour of 10 PM answering phone calls from friends who can’t understand why I am not partying hard like every other kid my age. I then hurry to bed in hopes that my pain and fatigue from training hard all week will somehow magically vanish overnight before I wake up and start what is traditionally one of the most difficult workouts of the trip at 7:30 AM the next morning. This year was a little different. This year the entire Wabash Swim Team managed to secure the Saint Mary’s Women’s Swim Team for a lively dinner at Buca di Beppo’s Italian Restaurant. This rendezvous was made possible through the extreme generosity of St. Mary’s Swim Coach Ryan Dombkowski ‘00 - who remembered his roots as a swimmer and not only provided this tired team with much appreciated female company, but also bought us all dinner! … a true Wabash Gentleman. We are very grateful to Coach Dombowski and St. Mary’s for providing us with New Year’s entertainment and food. Of course I would like to think that with our combined good looks and winning personalities the Wabash Swim Team could have accomplished this feat on our own, but for some reason we have fallen a little short of feeding an army and providing them with New Year’s dates in the past…. Overall it was a very enjoyable New Year’s celebration which lasted well past 10pm. The New Year’s Day workout turned out to be just as challenging as ever, if not more. After 10,000 tough yards in practice Coach gave us the afternoon off. As I write this, Jim Leuck is sprawled on a bed behind me and has reached what I am sure are record decibel levels in his snoring. We may be resting this afternoon, but the respite is short lived. Tomorrow will be another day to see what we are really capable of doing in the water. This team is already experiencing exciting breakthroughs in training and I can’t wait to see the results in February. The Wabash Team is going to continue this New Year just like we ended the last. We are going to work hard, play hard, and embrace the pain and discipline that must come before accomplishing great things. (Top Right: John Kasey and Blaine Cooper-Surma running home from another tough workout. Inset: Both St. Mary and Wabash swimmers enjoying a meal together)