The past couple of days have been very eventful for Wabash Swimming and Diving since we arrived back on campus on Sunday to resume training. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday Morning were relatively uneventful with Sunday and Monday bringing two practices and Tuesday morning another practice (I was actually sidelined with some kind of virus, so those two days were even less eventful for me on room quarantine). Those days aside, I was able to return to practice with the team Tuesday night, and that’s when life started getting more interesting. We practiced from 4-6, and about midway through practice, St. Mary’s College swim team (all ladies) arrived from South Bend to train at the ‘Bash until New Year’s Day! I think it’s worth noting that they arrived in a short bus and some vans, so if we’re getting technical here, girls do come to Wabash in busloads (Ignoring the fact they came to train, and I’m just saying…)! Having another team on campus, especially an all girls team, definitely helped raise spirits, even if we only saw them from the diving well and left while they were practicing. That concluded Tuesday, and I would like to add one more thing, Brent Graham did an excellent job cooking for us while we were on campus (no food-caused sickness and good meals), so I wanted to acknowledge and thank him for that.  

With the arrival of Wednesday, I’m pretty confident that everyone, including myself, was bracing for a tough practice. After warm-up, one of our juniors, Mr. Rob Fozkos, mentioned the idea of a hero swim, and to my surprise Coach took him up! Unfortunately, his valiant effort was unsuccessful, but more people started making offers and attempting hero swims! Evan Rhinesmith and Eric Vaughn attempted swims in the 100 Breast and Fly, and while they had awesome swims (1:03 low and 53.7!!), they came up just short. After their efforts, Steve Zajac stepped up and went under the time given by Coach in the 100 Back, so we had a warm down, and then we were done!

That brought us to Wednesday night, where we practiced at the same time as St. Mary’s and then had a fun joint relay meet. Coach Weitz and St. Mary’s Coach/Wabash Alum Ryan Dombkowski traded teams for the first part, and Ryan gave us a warm-up and a couple of short spring sets. Afterwards, both St. Mary’s and we split into two teams, the Red (the superior) and the Blue. Before the “meet,” we had a cheer off, and the Red team   dominated (an omen for the rest of the meet). Each team then fielded 4 teams with two girls and two guys and swam the six relays that the captains from both teams had decided upon. The relays were highly competitive, and I think everyone had a great time. The meet between the red and blue teams came down to the last relay with the red team prevailing, and overall the meet was a lot of fun! That over, we finished 2008 by hanging out at Lambda Chi, and I think everyone had a great conclusion to 2008; I definitely did!

Well, cruising at 30,000 feet somewhere over Florida, the Pilot just put on the fasten seat belt sign, and the flight attendants asked us to stow our belongings, so it appears that I’m going to have to bring this to a conclusion… The on campus portion of training trip is done, and it went well, but BRING ON WARM WEATHER, HARD PRACTICES, and FLORIDA BEACHES!! The real training trip is about to begin!! 

- David Birrer '11