The Blogstroke

The Western Athletic Conference announced Thursday it will be adding men’s swimming and diving for the upcoming 2013-14 season.

The WAC already has three schools that have the sport — Seattle University, California State University-Bakersfield and Grand Canyon. Joining them will be affiliate members Air Force, UNLV, North Dakota and Wyoming. That will give the conference seven teams for the new season. North Dakota already has a women’s program.

“We are excited about the reinstatement of men’s swimming and diving to the Western Athletic Conference,” said Jeff Hurd, WAC interim commissioner. “We look forward to one of our original sports returning to the WAC and watching these teams work toward winning a conference championship.”

The WAC championship meet will be Feb. 26-March 1 at Palo Alto College Aquatic Center in San Antonio and it will be combined with the women’s programs.

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Bainbridge Aquatic Masters club swimmer Jane Lindley has completed her events at the U.S. Masters Spring National Championships in Indianapolis this weekend.

Lindley, who is competing in the 50-54 age division, finished 12th in the 50-meter backstroke in 35.55 seconds; 13th in the 50 butterfly in 35.04; and 14th in the 100 freestyle in one minute, 5.32 seconds.

She placed 11th in Sunday’s 50 freestyle in 29.48.

Bainbridge native and Olympic silver medalist Emily Silver is also at the nationals, but she’s not competing. Silver is there with swimoutlet.com and has been on hand to present gold medals, along with Olympic champion Jason Lezak, and working with USMS on video recaps of the meet. Emily is doing a good job and becoming quite a talented sideline reporter.

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First off, I’m sorry I have posted in a while, but as the high school playoffs heat up around here my time becomes very limited. I’ll do my best to be more diligent.

That said, I wanted to take a moment to write about a local masters swimmer who will be heading to the United States Masters Spring National Championships, Friday-Sunday at Indianapolis’ Natatorium — which looks a LOT like KCAC in Federal Way.

Jane Lindley

Bainbridge Aquatic Masters swimmer Jane Lindley will be competing in her second national championships.

I’ll have a story on her, her training/diet and what she hopes to accomplish at nationals in Friday’s edition, but also wanted to post her schedule here.

Lindley, who has a swim blog of her own at see-jane-swim.com, will swim in the 50-meter backstroke on Friday at 7:45 a.m. Pacific. She will compete in the 100 freestyle Saturday at 7:50 a.m. and the 50 butterfly at 8:50 a.m. and finish her individual events in the 50 free on Sunday at 11:10 a.m.

She is joined by 35 other Puget Sound masters swimmers and will swim in relays as well.

The usms.org website will be livestreaming the meet, so you can watch Lindley at the times listed above.

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Emily Silver, who recently began working for SwimOutlet.com in marketing communications, traveled to Beverly, Mass., Saturday as part of the company’s Fitter & Faster tour.

Silver, a Bainbridge Island native who won a silver medal in the 4×100 free relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was joined by Peter Vanderkaay, a three-time Olympian and four-time Olympic medalist.

You can find out more about the Fitter & Faster tour here, and to register for a clinic.

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Olympic Aquatic Club’s Kelsey Crane won two titles at the sixth Dick LaFave Long Course Kickoff meet Saturday in Federal Way.

Crane won the 200-meter butterfly after she touched the wall in two minutes, 29.70 seconds — well ahead of second place’s Jenny Huo of Pacific Dragons Swim Team in 2:36.35 — in the 15 & Over category.

Crane also won the 200 individual medley in 2:31.38, nearly three seconds ahead of Mighty Marlins Swim Club’s Melody Coleman (2:34.20). She was second in the 200 free in 2:15.86.

OAC’s Zane Guyt finished second in the 200 breaststroke in the boys 11-12 category. He had a time of 3:15.99.

Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team’s Brianna Hoffman placed second in the 10&Under 100 freestyle in 1:18.36. Teammate Eleanor Beers finished second in the 11-12 200 butterfly and third in the 50 free.

PPST finished 10th in the team standings with 118 points while OAC was 18th (48).

Dick LaVave Invite 

(Top 20 locals)

Girls

10U

50 back—17, Brianna Hoffman (PPST) 44.23. 50 free—7, Hoffman (PPST) 35.65. 200 free—10, Elizabeth Helmer (OAC) 3:18.31. 200 IM—6, Hoffman (PPST) 3:19.00. 20, Bev Hofer (OAC) 3:51.80. 100 free—2, Hoffman (PPST) 1:18.36. 100 fly—5, Hoffman (PPST) 1:36.10.

11-12

50 breast—19, Claudia Velie (PPST) 49.93. 50 free—3, Eleanor Beers (PPST) 30.05. 7, Isabelle Hendryx (PPST) 31.86. 8, Danielle Snyder (OAC) 31.87. 16, Velie (PPST) 33.67. 200 free—13, Tatiana Tubberville (OAC) 2:34.04. 15, Snyder (OAC) 2:35.76. 17, Beers (PPST) 2:36.86. 200 IM—11, Nicole Moran (PPST) 2:53.44. 20, Beers (PPST) 2:58.31. 100 back—6, Snyder (OAC) 1:23.02. 9, Hendryx (PPST) 1:23.69. 11, Tubberville (OAC) 1:24.52. 200 breast—11, Velie (PPST) 3:30.63. 20, Kira Ashmore (OAC) 3:46.12. 100 free—10, Beers (PPST) 1:09.57. 11, Moran (PPST) 1:09.62. 12, Snyder (OAC) 1:09.68. 16, Tubberville (OAC) 1:11.92. 19, Hendryx (PPST) 1:12.46. 200 fly—2, Beers (PPST) 3:28.43. 200 back—3, Nicole Moran (PPST) 2:50.75. 9, Snyder (OAC) 3:00.75. 12, Tubberville (OAC) 3:03.35. 14, Hendryx (PPST) 3:03.53. 100 fly—16, Ashmore (OAC) 1:30.24.

13-14

100 back—13T, Kira Crane (OAC), Emily Schahrer (IST) 1:18.26. 200 breast—9, Mya King (PPST) 3:13.74. 10, Samantha Sinopole (PPST) 3:13.75. 100 free—10, Crane (OAC) 1:06.82. 12, King (PPST) 1:07.39. 14, Serita Solis (PPST) 1:07.80. 18, Sinopole (PPST) 1:08.75. 200 IM—13, Sinopole (PPST) 2:51.17. 50 free—10, Crane (OAC) 30.50. 12, Solis (PPST) 30.59. 20, Sinopole (PPST) 31.48. 100 fly—11, Solis (PPST) 1:17.74. 100 breast—5, King (PPST) 1:28.57. 7, Sinopole (PPST) 1:29.85. 15, Crane (OAC) 1:33.57. 17, Solis (PPST) 1:33.57. 200 free—17, King (PPST) 2:32.74.

15&Over

200 fly—1, Kelsey Crane (OAC) 2:29.70. 10, Alice Healy (PPST) 3:12.28. 11, Juliana Guyt (OAC) 3:14.26. 100 back—15, Katherine Anderson (PPST) 1:18.18. 100 free—14, Andersen (PPST) 1:06.65. 200 IM—1, Crane (OAC) 2:31.38. 13, Andersen (PPST) 2:47.93. 50 free—13, Andersen (PPST) 31.14. 15, Guyt OAC) 31.30. 100 fly—1, Crane (OAC) 1:07.29. 14, Guyt (OAC) 1:17.20. 17, Healy (PPST) 1:19.33. 100 breast—9, Andersen (PPST) 1:25.35. 12, Ellie Gallagher (PPST) 1:26.50. 200 free—2, Crane (OAC) 2:15.86.

Boys

10U

50 breast—8, Adrian King (PPST) 49.43. 50 free—3, King (PPST) 34.79. 15, Isaac Beers (PPST) 39.05. 100 back—4, King (PPST) 1:29.44. 100 free—8, King (PPST) 1:21.79. 20, Beers (PPST) 1:25.33. 100 breast—3, King (PPST) 1:45.79. 20, Rocco Velie (PPST) 1:57.95. 100 fly—4, Beers (PPST) 1:34.88.

11-12

50 breast—7, Tim Gallagher (PPST) 40.23. 12, Zane Guyt (OAC) 41.67. 15, Ross Burchell (OAC) 42.91. 50 free—11, Ethan Fox (PPST) 31.20. 200 free—6, Gallagher (PPST) 2:27.90. 9, Fox (PPST) 2:30.52. 19, Mason Heaman (OAC) 2:39.23. 200 IM—5, Gallagher (PPST) 2:47.44. 18, Nathan Ramey (PPST) 3:03.49. 100 back—8, Burchell (OAC) 1:21.95. 10, Fox (PPST) 1:22.25. 200 breast—2, Zane Guyt (OAC) 3:15.99. 4, Ramey (PPST) 3:19.33. 100 free—10, Gallagher (PPST) 1:06.60. 14, Fox (PPST) 1:09.27. 100 breast—7, Guyt (OAC) 1:32.73. 10, Gallagher (PPST) 1:34.27. 11, Burchell (OAC) 1:35.22. 13, Ramey (PPST) 1:36.26. 100 fly—5, Gallagher (PPST) 1:14.24. 16, Burchell (OAC) 1:24.04.

13-14

50 free—7, Adriel Moran (PPST) 28.55. 200 back—6, Moran (PPST) 2:37.83. 15, Quincy Walker (PPST) 2:54.49. 200 free—17, Moran (PPST) 2:25.87.

15&Over

100 free—20, Kevin Fox (PPST) 1:01.34. 50 free—11, Karl Otheim (OAC) 27.34. 13, Kevin Fox (OAC) 27.34. 200 back—20, Roo Jenkins (PPST) 3:10.55. 200 free—18, Fox (OAC) 2:18.97.

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Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team’s Brianna Hoffman finished second in the 400-meter freestyle at the sixth Dick LaFave Long Course Kickoff Friday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Hoffman finished in six minutes, 8.23 seconds in the girls 10 & Under category, behind Issaquah Swim Team’s Abby Roth in 5:50.10.

PPST’s Samantha Sinopole was eighth in the 13 & Over 400 individual medley in 6:08.69, while Nathan Ramsey was ninth in the 11-12 year old 400 IM in 6:25.20. Also, Serita Solis placed 17th in the 13-14 400 free and Roo Jenkins was 20th in the boys 400 free in 5:19.84.

Olympic Aquatic Club’s Zane Guyt finished 10th in the 11-12 400 IM in 6:25.42 and Tatiana Tubberville placed ninth in the 11-12 400 free in 5:24.52.

The meet continues today with the first session at 8:30 a.m.

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Several area swimmers will be participating in the sixth Dick LaFave Long Course Kickoff meet Friday-Sunday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Olympic Aquatic Club and the Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team will be on hand. The meet starts at 4 p.m. Friday and continues at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Medals are award for first-third place with ribbons going to fourth-eighth place.

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April Cheadle

The nomination didn’t come as a surprise for Bainbridge Aquatic Masters swimming coach April Cheadle, but the award did.

Cheadle, who is in her third season heading the masters program for adults 18 and over on the island, won the Pacific Northwest Association of Masters Swimming PNA Coach of the Year. It’s a first for Cheadle and likely a first for BAM, which has been in existence for at least two decades.

“It really is an honor to my team because they’re the ones that took the time and effort and committed to be part of the team,” Cheadle said of the award, adding her team is an “inspiration for me as a coach. I feel like it’s a recognition for them as well.”

The PNW Masters covers all of western Washington with close to 60 teams — which range from two to 140 members.

Cheadle is not new to the coaching/teaching field. She is an elementary education teacher, but is currently not in a classroom. Cheadle graduated from Eastmont High in Wenatchee — she swam distance free and individual medley — and swam for the University of Washington.

BAM has doubled in size since Cheadle’s arrival — going from 70 to about 140 members.

BAM member Eileen McSherry wrote in the nomination form about Cheadle:

“When I returned to BAM after cancer surgery, a bit scared and lacking confidence in my body, she knew just the right words to let me know that she believed in me and my ability to heal, at my own pace and with the support of the team.

“She treated me like I was going to be normal again. I am sure that she was part of the miracle that led to my remission.”

Cheadle said the admiration is mutual.

When she joined BAM, she found a group of adults open to change and ready to be challenged, Cheadle said.

“That’s the thing that inspires me,” she said. “(To) work with adult athletes of all abilities, willing to trust you and try something new. I give them all my creativity and knowledge. I just love that combination.”

Cheadle, who is also an assistant coach with the Bainbridge Island Swim Club, said she especially enjoys the masters program because it’s not limited by time, like coaching club or high school in-season only.

“I appreciate that these are lifelong learners,” she said. “I have all the time in the world as long as they put in the effort.”

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While I didn’t watch Ryan Lochte’s new reality show, I’m not surprised it’s being panned by critics and adored by his fans.

What Would Ryan Lochte Do? premiered Sunday night on E! and was trending on Twitter.

The show is what it is folks. Reality TV. You can’t take it seriously. Good or bad, it puts swimming back in the American pop culture spotlight leading up to the world championships in Barcelona.

What did you think of the show?

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Touch the Wall, a documentary film about Missy Franklin and Kara Lynn Joyce and their journey to the Olympics, reached it’s post-production goal via Kickstarter.com and will be produced.

The campaign surpassed it’s goal of $110,000 on Saturday with $110,335 pledged. You can still donate to the campaign.

Here’s a link to the website. I wrote about it earlier on this blog, which you can find here.

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