Monthly Archives: January 2013

Nathan Adrian wins male athlete of year at Seattle Sports banquet

Bremerton’s Nathan Adrian won the male athlete of the year award at the 78th Seattle Sports Star of the Year banquet Friday at Benaroya Hall.

Adrian was nominated in the professional athlete category. He won two gold medals and a silver at the London Olympics last summer.

Adrian is training in Berkeley, Calif., and his parents, Jim and Cecilia accepted on his behalf from presenters Lawyer Milloy and Drew Bledsoe.

Also, here’s a video by video-bloggers (vloggers) and swim fans extraordinaire, @EveandCandace. They were able to interview Nathan during the Austin Grand Prix last week.

 

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KCAC to host men’s, women’s Pac-12 championships

King County Aquatics Center will host the men’s and women’s Pac-12 swimming championships concurrently starting in late February.

The women’s meet was already slated for KCAC, Feb. 28-March 2. The men’s meet was supposed to take place at the Belmont Plaza Olympic pool in Long Beach, Calif. But the pool was found to be structurally unstable and will close for four months for repairs.

That facilitated the need for the men’s championships to find a new venue. The meet will take place March 3-6.

Here’s the full story from SwimmingWorldMagazine.com

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Adrian crushes field to win 50 free at Austin GP

Nathan Adrian won the 50-meter freestyle by .73 seconds over second-place finishers Anthony Ervin and Jimmy Feigen at the Austin Grand Prix Saturday.

When the margin of victory can be as little as .01 seconds, Adrian’s win in the event known as the splash-and-dash was an eternity.

Adrian, who was seeded third heading into the finals, touched the wall in a blistering 21.70 seconds at the University of Texas. Feigen and Ervin tied for second in 22.43.

Adrian is coming off his win in the 100 free Friday, his first long-course event since winning the gold medal at the London Olympics last summer. He broke former Olympic champion and fellow California alum Matt Biondi’s pool record in that event. Here’s a video of Nathan talking about the record.

Adrian said in a post-race online interview he didn’t feel as sharp as he did during prelims.

Yet he won easily.

“I’m happy with it,” he said. “Just showing some of the fall training is paying off.”

Adrian will continue his training in Berkeley, where he resides, and prepare for the FINA World Championships in Barcelona this summer.

Interesting sidenote, Nathan has posted the fastest time of the year so far in the 100 free and 50 free. A few hours after Australia’s James Magnussen swam a 48.38 on the anchor leg of the 400 free relay at the Australian Super Series Friday (Saturday Down Under), Nathan posted his time of 48.32 in the 100.

Nathan bettered Australia’s Matt Targett’s time of 22.00, also set at the Super Series, a few hours later. Nathan’s personal best time in the 50 is 22.46, set at the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome.

Feel free to take that bit of info any way you like.

Frankly, despite all the attention and the time Nathan has spent away from the pool since becoming an Olympic champion, don’t believe for one minute he’s not focused on Barcelona.

He’ll have a target on his back and he knows it.

But, he’ll be ready. Nathan is very methodical in his thinking and he knows what needs to be done and when.

I haven’t heard which meet he’ll enter next, but my guess would be the Santa Clara  Invite, another Arena Grand Prix Series event, May 30-June 2. I expect that meet to be a big primer for all the top guns getting ready for Worlds.

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Nathan Adrian third in 50 free prelims

Bremerton’s Nathan Adrian finished third in Saturday mornings prelims of the 50-yard freestyle at the Austin Grand Prix at the University of Texas.
Adrian finished in 22.83 seconds, behind top seed Jimmy Feigen (22.30) and Matt Grevers (22.79).
The finals are at 4 p.m. Pacific time.
I think this is one race that Nathan really wants to win based solely on the fact he didn’t get to swim it in London. I know he was disappointed in that and so any chance now to go out and win the 50 is something that pumps him up.
But, like the 100, it’s so unpredictable and is anybody’s race.

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Nathan Adrian wins in Austin, sets pool record in 100 free

Olympic champion Nathan Adrian swam a pool record in the 100-meter freestyle at the Austin Grand Prix Friday at the University of Texas.

Adrian blew away the rest of the field, to finish in 48.32 seconds. He broke Matt Biondi’s pool record, set at the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, of 48.42.

Ricky Berens finished second in 49.35 and Jimmy Feigen, the top seed from the morning preliminaries, was third in 50.01. It’s Adrian’s first 100 free since winning the gold medal in London last summer, ending a 24-year drought for American sprinters. Biondi was the last U.S. swimmer to win the gold in 1988.

Adrian earned $500 with the win. The meet is part of the Arena Grand Prix Series which includes $150,000 in prize money.

Adrian will swim in the 50 free Saturday.

 

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Six cities bidding on U.S. Swim Trials

From the Associated Press:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Former hosts Omaha and Indianapolis are among six cities bidding to host the 2016 U.S. Olympic swimming trials.

The other contenders announced Monday are Greensboro, N.C., Jacksonville, Fla., St. Louis and San Antonio, Texas. The winning city will be announced in late April.

An evaluation team from USA Swimming, along with an outside member of the governing body’s board, will visit each location and select finalists from the group. A recommendation then will be forwarded to the group’s executive director, Chuck Wielgus, the board of directors and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Omaha hosted the 2008 and 2012 trials, where more than 164,000 fans attended the eight-day meet that was broadcast live on NBC. Both times temporary pools were built inside the downtown CenturyLink Center.

Indianapolis has played host five times, including 1952 when only the women’s team was chosen in the Indiana capital. It also was the site in 1984, 1992, 1996 and 2000.

Long Beach, Calif., was the site in 2004, the first time the trials were held outdoors using temporary pools. Attendance has soared since then while USA Swimming has expanded its Aqua Zone, where sponsors market their products to fans.

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Nathan Adrian at Golden Globes, Austin GP up next

Bremerton’s Nathan Adrian attended the Golden Globes Sunday in Hollywood, mixing with fellow gold medal-winning swimmers like Rebecca Soni, Ricky Berens and Eric Shanteau.

Adrian also attended a Gold Meets Golden (Globes) pre-party that also included Natalie Coughlin and Missy Franklin, who will swim at California next year. Both Adrian and Coughlin are Cal alums. Here’s a nice set of pics from Nathan Adrain Online, a fan page.

Here’s a couple pictures of Nathan (albeit blurry) from the Golden Globes. And from an after-party in Beverly Hills with friend Natalie Coughlin.

OK, enough of that.

While it looks like Nathan is having a grand time partying it up, he’s ever the competitor and I know he’ll be ready to race this weekend.

Nathan will be swimming in the Austin Grand Prix in Texas, the first long-course event for the 24-year-old since he won two golds and a silver at the London Olympics last summer.

His first event is the 100-meter freestyle (the same event he won his first individual gold) which is Friday. Prelims are 7 a.m. (Pacific Time) with the finals at 4 p.m. Nathan is the top seed with a time of 47.52 and will be up against Garrett Weber-Gale, Jimmy Feigen, Matt Grevers (his roommate in London), Berens, Ryan Lochte and Anthony Ervin (his training partner at Cal).

Saturday is the 50 free. Ervin is the top seed in that event (21.60), while Nathan is seeded second (21.68).

Here’s a link to the psych sheet. Universal Sports is broadcasting the meet, so check local listings for time and coverage. Also, USA Swimming is webcasting as well.

It should be a fun meet as it’s always interesting to see where swimmers are in their training post-Olympics.

I’ll post more updates this week so be sure to check back.

 

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BISC’s Campbell second at All-Star Meet

Bainbridge Island Swim Club’s Lia Campbell finished in second place in the 50-yard freestyle at the Pacific Coast All-Star Meet this week in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Campbell, who traveled with the Pacific Northwest Swimming All-Star team, finished the 50 in 24.78 seconds in the 13-14 age division. She was also third in the 100 free (54.02) and helped the PNS 200 free, 400 free and 200 medley relays to third place finishes.

Bremerton YMCA’s Isaiah Snow also competed at the meet for PNS. Snow finished 14th in the 11-12 year old 50 free; 14th in the 200 free; 14th in the 500 free; 11th in the 50 back; 14th in the 100 breast; 13th in the 100 individual medley. He also helped the 200 free relay, 400 free relay and 200 medley relay to sixth-place finishes.

Here’s a link to the full results

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Welcome back to the Blogstroke

And I’m back. Say hello to The Blogstroke.

After a hiatus (ok, really I posted anything swimming related to either the Wide World of Kitsap blog or the Prep Beat) during the last several years, but with the new year comes changes.

This blog will be dedicated to all things swimming. From Bremerton’s only Olympic champion and heartthrob to thousands of young ladies Nathan Adrian, to local club swimming and the occasional hat tip to the national and international swimming scene.

During the coming weeks we will transition previous posts from the Wide World blog to this blog, so keep checking back.

FYI, this re-introduction post is going to be a bit of a hodge-podge.

First up, your favorite golden boy and ours, Nathan.

Nathan did a question and answer with TeamUSA.org last Friday. You can find the full Q & A by going to this link.

Here’s a sample to whet your appetite:

@dsc1811 on Twitter asks: Can you describe what altitude training feels like?

Nathan: Death (laughs). When you’re swimming it feels like you have a pile of rocks on your chest, not only making it hard to breathe but making you sink in the water because your muscles aren’t getting enough oxygen to really pull you through the water. That’s only the first couple days; after that you get adjusted and it starts to feel good. You just can’t recover as quickly when you’re between efforts; be it in the weight room or in the pool you just have to take a little more time to really get your breath.

Nathan will be swimming Jan. 18-20 at the Austin Grand Prix in Texas. USA Swimming announced new details Monday for the 2012-2013 Arena Grand Prix Series. The Austin meet is one of six held throughout the season.

The big announcement is the $150,000 in prize money. The money will be awarded to placers in Olympic-events; $500 for first place, $300 for second and $100 for third.

In past years, the overall winner of the series took home the $20,000 purse.

“Since it’s inception, the Grand Prix Series was designed to showcase the best swimming talent in the country,” said Frank Busch, USA Swimming’s National Team Director in a press release. “We’ve always envisioned having this type of prize money to strengthen the level of competition at these meets, and with Arena’s support, it’s become a reality and will help take swimming in the U.S. to the next level.”

Also, the Austin GP will be broadcast on Universal Sports Network live Jan. 19 and 20 from 4-5:30 p.m. (Pacific Time). Check your local listings in your area.

I’ll post results from the prelims and finals here, and you can also follow me on Twitter @AnnetteKSSports

The local club scene is huge here and I’m hoping this blog will showcase some up-and-coming talent. Don’t forget, Kitsap county has produced four Olympic swimmers, Nathan, Tara Kirk Sell and her sister Dana and Emily Silver. Nathan, Tara and Emily have all won Olympic medals. That’s pretty dang impressive.

Here’s a link to a story I wrote not along ago on Bainbridge Island Swim Club’s Lia Campbell. Also, Central Kitsap junior Sam Lingenbrink, who swims for the Bremerton YMCA Swim Team, will be headed to the YMCA Nationals in April.

If you have any story ideas, suggestions for this blog, or other information you’d like to share regarding swimming, please email me at agriffus@kitsapsun.com.

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