Your Wabash College Little Giant swimmers went to Houston and swam six events, came home with four Lifetime Bests, two All-American Certificates (Honorable Mention), and countless congratulations from other swimmers and coaches from around the country. Simply put, people took notice. People were impressed.

Coach Steen from Kenyon (while winning his 28th Title and watching his own swim team put together the most impressive meet of his career) stopped our boys to tell them that, "Swimming your best, against the best, is simply the ultimate in this sport." His respect for the program and the athletes representing Wabash was both obvious and sincere.

Ultimately, I felt lucky to be coaching two such great athletes. They came to a meet with the right attitude and vision. They believed in themselves. And they scored more points than they were supposed to on paper. That improvement over seed-time placed them in the top 30% of teams that competed. The norm at the national meet is to end up swimming slower times than you did at the†conference meet. Not these two though... they wanted more than the "norm."

Congrats to Adam and Tony - and the entire Wabash Swimming and Diving Family. Without a doubt, the entire team was on their mind - the entire weekend. More than once they mentioned to me that their teammates could compete at this level - and need to compete at this level. More than once they wanted to be celebrating with their boys. And more than once they wanted their teammates there belting the school fight song louder - and with even more passion.

I'll see you on the pool deck,

Coach

(Pictured above Top Right - Adam and Tony on deck at the meet. Bottom Left - Tony, Coach Casares, Larry Knauff '62, and Petro)

Family was a big part of the weekend. Adam poses here with his Mom and his boss(!), Diane. Tony is surrounded by Mom, Dad, and his sister Michelle.

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Day 3

Saturday Prelim - The Perfect Session

    • 2 Swims

    • 2 Lifetime Bests

    • 1 All American

Tony started the day off in the first heat of the first event - as the last seed in the 200 backstroke... yes, he was seeded dead last. Well, he jumped in and went a lifetime best - and ended passing a few swimmers to move up in place. Would you expect anything less?

Next, Adam finally had a chance to swim his best event - the event that got him invited to the meet. That was the good news. The bad news was it took place on the last day of the meet... and it was the last event of the day... and he was in the last heat of the event. Talk about a lot of "lasts". Most would find this situation less than ideal, and some may have let it get to them. Adam had other plans. He jumped in lane 7 and swam his first 100 yards smooth watching the whole field go out faster than him. Then he made his move and started to gain on people - swimming the event like an expert. When all was said and done, he moved up from the 17th seed to 13th place. He dropped 9 tenths of second, and went 1:52.78 (just .02 off the school record!).

It was a phenomenal morning. We are looking forward to putting some more points on the board tonight!

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Day 2

Today Wabash Swimming experienced impressive victories at every turn!

To start the meet out, Freshman Adam Petro jumped in the 100 Fly prelims and put together the best 100 of his life - 51.17! He went out smooth and powerful, and brought it home fast. In fact, all four tempos checks were the same (50, 50, 50, 50!). You just can't watch a smarter swim. It was very cool to watch him swim both controlled and fast - and not buckle under the pressure of the meet as a freshman!

Tony Caldwell defined what the meet is really all about. Many guys come here and become paralyzed by going certain times. Their success or failure simply revolves around what times pops up on the board. Don't get me wrong, a good time is awesome, and a great sign of good things, but what it really comes down to when you are at the national meet is racing, and beating people. We all know Tony's best event is the 100 back, and the pressure to swim your best event - at the biggest meet of your life - is simply not easy. (Now throw in that this could be the last 100 back of your life!) For many that is just simply too much.

But Tony is different. He likes to race... and race people he did.

He did what it took to qualify 15th in the morning, guaranteeing a night swim and All-American Certificate! Then at night he jumped in lane one and after 75 yards he was in the perfect position to race the field to the wall. He flies home, kicking it up one last gear, and touches 5th in his heat, 13th overall! One thing we have always known about Tony is that he loves to race, and he knows how to improve. And he did it again, on the biggest stage of his life.

Saturday will be fun... I'll be sure to write between prelims and finals today!

Posted by Peter Casares at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Day 1

As many of you know, we have the luxury of working into the meet this year. Adam Petro's first two events come tomorrow (100 Fly and Back) and Tony Caldwell swims the 50 Free today (his 3rd event) and then gets ready for his bread and butter Friday and Saturday (100 and 200 Back). It's a great way to start off for two first-timers... and they both started out perfectly today!

Tony jumped in with a seed time of 22.18 and popped off a 21.85! His first time under 22, needless to say fists were pumping! (Meet Results here)

Also, in an attempt to get Adam going today and excited for tomorrow, we had him push off the wall in the warm down pool and swim a 150 for time. From a push he went out in 24.2, flipped at the 100 in 50.3, and touched the wall at 1:17.2. That is fast (it's about 1:43/1:44 pace for a 200 from a push)!

We watched what many are calling the best 1st day of the meet ever. No records broken, but from top to bottom it has never been faster (20.80 was 16th!). Leading the way is Kenyon - a team that has overcome adversity and naysayers all year long. Every single swim for them this morning was a lifetime best - and not just a small drop, but a huge breakthrough. They are simply on fire and amazing to watch. With the meet being so fast and fun to watch, I can't get the goofy smiles off Petro and Caldwell right now (which is a good thing). They are totally engaged and embracing the entire experience. They are learning from the best, and ready to compete with the best. I feel confident they will be turning heads tomorrow. Stay tuned for more updates! (Pictures below!)

Sanders, Zajac, Vest, Molby, Blaine, Towne, Wilson, Kasey and White showed up to send Petro and Caldwell off to Houston!

Posted by Peter Casares at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to the Official Psych Sheet for the National Meet, Tony is currently ranked 11th in the 100 Back and Adam is 17th in the 200 fly. Both spots assure those two guys a free trip to Houston to compete against the best in Division III. Check out the article posted by Brent Harris to get more info! Headed to Houston.

WABASH SWIMMING AND DIVING - “ 2007 BY THE NUMBERS!”

• 6 and 1 Dual Meet Record

• Wabash Invite Champs

• 3.25 Team GPA - Academic All-American Team - "Excellent" Status

• 44 All Time Top 15 Performances this season!

• 40 Plus Individual Lifetime Bests (not including relay splits)

• 27 out of 30 athletes achieved a Lifetime Best (21 last year)

• 15 TOP 8 Performances at NCAC (10 last year)

• 11 out of 13 Events had at least one Wabash Swimmer in the TOP 8 at NCAC

• 6 Athletes with B-Cuts (1 last year)

• 4th Place Ranking in the National Dual Meet Rankings (collegeswimming.com)

• 3 Swimmers broke Varsity Records!

• 2 Swimmers heading to Houston, TX for the National Meet!

• 1 Fantastic Year!

Posted by Peter Casares at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)