I didn’t get a chance to post this last night, but here’s the press conference with Nathan Adrian after the finals of the 50-meter freestyle Thursday at the U.S. Winter Nationals at KCAC in Federal Way.
He’s off today, but is in the pool now for a workout.
Nathan Adrian of Bremerton won his sixth 50-meter freestyle national title on Thursday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
On the first night of the U.S. Winter Nationals, Adrian was just one of several Olympic champions who competed. Michael Phelps, Allison Schmitt, Conor Dwyer and Maya DiRado all pocketed gold medals.
You can check out what Phelps had to say about his race from the press conference here. He and coach Bob Bowman ate every lunch and dinner at Mitzel’s Restaurant in Kent when they were here 15 years ago.
“Bob and I pretty much had the same meal everyday,” he said. “It was meatloaf, green beans, carrots, mashed potatoes, gravy and a bowl of clam chowder. Had the same thing yesterday (Wednesday). It’s still just the same, it’s just as good.
“I was talking to some of the waitresses there and they were saying that it’s the last one. They expanded and came down to their last one and they went back to their roots of real, genuine home-cooking. That’s what I remembered most from going there and it was literally exactly the same meal that I had 15 years ago. It was very, very good. And then desserts are amazing.”
The pool holds a special place in Phelps’ heart as this is where his life changed when he broke 2 minutes in the 200 fly and his legacy as the greatest swimmer of all time was sealed. Six months after that, he made his first Olympic team.
“Bob and I relived some memories by going to Mitzel’s,” he said. “It was kind of here where it started. That’s when everything kind of took off … I’ve enjoyed this pool.”
USA Swimming and AT&T are sponsoring a swim clinic on Saturday at KCAC. The clinic is designed to educate parents, children and communities about the importance of learning to swim and being safe around the water. USA Swimming said in a news release that they will provide bathing suits, kickboards, goggles and towels for the swimmers.
The release also said about 10 people drown every day in the U.S. while more than one in five drowning victims are children younger than 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control. USA Swimming also stated that 75 percent African-American and 60 percent of Hispanic/Latino children cannot swim. That’s according to a national research study by the USA Swimming Foundation and the University of Memphis.
Olympian Maritza Correia McClendon will lead an out-of-water safety talk for a group of 50 children. McClendon is the first African-American woman to make the U.S. National team and win an Olympic medal, earning silver in the women’s 4×100-meter relay in 2004. Olympian Anthony Ervin will be leading the in-water activities. Also, local instructors will participate in in-water activities.
After waiting around for the other events in the first morning session of the U.S. Winter Nationals, Nathan Adrian won his heat of the 50-meter freestyle rather convincingly Thursday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
Adrian touched the wall in 22.29 seconds, second overall and tied with Brad Tandy. The finals will include Josh Schneider, Anthony Ervin, Paul Powers, Geoff Cheah, Matt Grevers, Cullen Jones and Santo Condorelli.
The finals are at 6 p.m. If you’re unable to attend the nationals you can watch the lifestream via usaswimmin.org here.
There are some local swimmers I wanted to mention who swim for Tacoma Swim Club that competed at the Pacific Northwest Swimming Short Course Championships Dec. 18-21 at KCAC in Federal Way.
Tyler Stewart of Silverdale, 10, qualified for every event offers for his age and out of the six individual events, Stewart medaled in all of them — fourth in the 50 free, third in the 500 free, fifth in the 50 breast, sixth in the 100 breast, third in the 100 IM, and third in the 200 IM. He also swam in two relays, in which the team earned ribbons, and has earned six regional times.
Stewart’s brother, Curtis, 9, also earned two individual ribbons and two relay ribbons.
Here’s the link to check out how all our local swimmers fared. The season is somewhat quiet with a handful of January challenge meets before the 39th Washington Open Jan. 15. The Washington State YMCA Championships are slated for Jan. 31. The schedule heats up again in the spring with the Speedo Championship Series March 15, NWAG Regionals March 22, and the Spring Divisional Championships March 29.
I checked out the first couple days of the USA Swimming Junior Nationals online and so far haven’t seen any local swimmers competing.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check out the meet if you have the chance. It continues through Saturday. Some of the top young talent will be in the pool and those kids are good at dropping times right and left. I wouldn’t be surprised if a national age-group record is set.
With the majority of our swimmers participating in the Pacific Northwest Division 4 meet at Olympic Aquatic Club last weekend, it would take me much too long to mention everyone. So, I’m going to hit on a few highlights and then tell you you can find the results at the pns.org website.
Several swimmers pulled down multiple wins. For girls, Kira Crane of Olympic Aquatic Club won the 50 backstroke, 50 butterfly, 100 Individual Medley in the 13 and over category. Jaine Macias of Port Angeles Swim Club won the 100 back, 200 fly and 200 IM while Carter Juskevich of PASC picked up wins in the 50 breast and 200 breast.
In the 11-12 category, Kira Ashmore of OAC won the 200 back and 100 fly.
For boys, Ian Stefanski of Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team earned wins in the 9-year-old 50 back and 50 breast. Bainbridge Island Swim Club’s Collin Bushey was first in the 50 fly and 50 back in the 10-year-old category. In the 11-12, PPST’s Jesse Johnston won the 200 back and 100 back. And ross Burchell of OAC won the 50 breast and 100 IM in the 13 and over category.
Kitsap swimmers were well represented on the Pacific Northwest
Swimming team that finished in second place overall at the Western
Zone Age Group Championships last week at King County Aquatic
Center in Federal Way.
PNS finished behind Colorado Swimming Zone Team with 3,283 points
to PNS 3,056. Local swimmers who competed were Amanda Ashmore and
Andrew Renninger of Olympic Aquatic Club; Eleanor Beers and Alex
Stefanski of Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team; and Ian Lipton, Andrew
Markow, Jude Wenker and Parker Bushey of Bainbridge Island Swim
Club.
Lipton was the highest finisher among locals individually, placing
second in the 10U 100-meter backstroke in 1 minute, 14.01 seconds
and the 50 backstroke in 35.26 seconds. Lipton was the top seed
heading into the final. He was also third in the 200 individual
medley in 2:46.18, fifth in the 200 freestyle in 2:26.08, the 100
freestyle in 1:08.41 and the 50 free in 31.60. Lipton was part of
the PNS championship 400 medley relay in 5:11.52 and helped the 200
free relay to second place in 2:07.80.
Ashmore helped PNS place second in the 10-U 200 medley relay in
2:23.31, third in the 400 free relay in 4:43.84, third in the 200
free relay in 2:07.93, and sixth in the 400 medley relay in
5:11.11. Individually, Ashmore was fifth in the 50 freestyle in
31.62, 10th in the 50 butterfly in 34.77 and 13th in the 100
freestyle in 1:11.64.
Renninger placed 15th in the 10U 200 freestyle in 2:37.29 and the
200 individual medley in 2:55.52, and 19th in the 50 backstroke in
39.05. He also helped PNS finish eighth in the 400 free relay in
4:57.47, 10th in the 200 free relay in 2:15.47, and 10th in the 400
medley relay in 5:39.57.
Beers finished eighth in the 11-12 division in the 100 free in
1:03.90, and 13th in the 50 fly in 31.63. In the 400 medley relay,
Beers helped PNS place second in 400 medley relay in 4:40.15, third
in the 200 medley relay in 2:07.28, fourth in the 200 free relay in
1:56.52, and fifth in the 400 free relay in 4:17.74.
Stefanski placed 13th in the 11-12 100 breaststroke in 1:20.55 and
the 200 breast in 2:57.62.
Markow placed fourth in the 11-12 50 breast in 34.40, 13th in the
50 back in 33.54, and 14th in the 100 breast in 1:20.72.
Markow also helped the 200 free relay to eighth place in 1:56.73,
and the 400 free relay to a ninth-place finish in 4:22.13.
Wenker placed third in the 11-12 200 free in 2:12.09, fourth in the
50 free in 27.68 sixth in the 50 breast in 35.88, sixth in the 100
free in 1:01.64, seventh in the 200 breast in 2:51.83, and ninth in
the 100 breast in 1:18.32. He was also part of the three winning
relay teams, the 400 free relay that finished in 4:02.94 the 200
free relay in 1:50.41, and the 400 medley relay in 4:29.37. The 200
medley relay placed third in 2:07.36.
Bushey helped the 13-14 400 free relay to a first-place finish in
3:44.36 as well as the 200 free realy in 1:41.42. He finished 14th
in the 13-14 100 free in 56.99.
The Olympic peninsula was well represented on the medal podium last weekend at the Dick LaFave long-course kickoff meet at KCAC in Federal Way.
Clubs from our neck of the woods included Olympic Aquatic Club, Bainbridge Island Swim Club, Port Angeles Swim Club and Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team as well as several swimmers not attached to a club. BISC finished third in the girls team standings with 173 points. The Piranhas were sixth (106.5), PASC was 16th (24 points) and OAC was 20th (12).
On the boys side, Bainbridge was third (272), Olympic sixth (88), Poulsbo tied with Valley Aquatics for seventh (78), while unattached/OAC swimmers were 14th (25) and PASC finished 16th (nine).
With so many kids swimming, I’m only going to mention the top three finishers from each age group and event in this post. You can find full results from the meet on the pns.org website.
Girls
400 IM (11-12 year old)—2, Shannon Campbell (BISC).
400 IM (13-14)—1, Lia Campbell (BISC)
400 free (10-Under)—2, Briann Hoffman (PPST)
400 free (13-14)—2, Hannah Tonsmann (BISC).
50 fly (10-Under)—2, Margaret Hayes (BISC). 3, Ava Harris (PPST).
50 fly (11-12)—3, Eleanor Beers (PPST) 31.44 (meet record).
50 free (1o-Under)—3, Hayes (BISC).
50 free (11-12)—1, Beers (BISC).
200 free (11-12)—2, Beers (BISC). 3, S. Campbell (BISC).
200 fly (13-14)–1, L. Campbell (BISC).
100 back (13-14)—1, L. Campbell (BISC). 3, Carina Laukitis (BISC).
200 breast (13-14)—3, Tonsmann (BISC).
200 IM (13-14)—1, L. Campbell (BISC).
200 fly (11-12)—3, Kira Ashmore (OAC).
1oo back (10-Under)—3, Harris (PPST).
100 back (11-12)—2, Eldon-Everts (BISC). 3, Beers (BISC).
100 free (10-Under)—2, Hoffman (PPST).
100 free (11-12)—1, Beers (PPST).
100 fly (10-Under)—1, Harris (PPST).
50 free (13-14)—1, L. Campbell (BISC) 28.19 (meet record).
100 fly (13-14)—1, Sam Caro (unatt./Bain)
200 back (13-14)—1, L. Campbell (BISC).
200 back (15-Over)—2, McKenzie Bell (BISC).
100 breast (13-14)—2, Caro (unatt./Bain).
Boys
400 IM (11-12)—3, Kevin Houseman (BISC)
400 free (10-Under)—1, Ian Lipton (BISC). 2, Andrew Renninger (OAC).
50 fly (10-Under)—2, Lipton (BISC).
50 back (11-12)—1, Tim Gallagher (PPST) 32.67 (meet record). 2, Aaron Markow (BISC).
50 breast (11-12)—1, Houseman (BISC) 33.64 (meet record).
50 free (10-Under)—1, Lipton (BISC) 32.22 (meet record).
200 free (10-Under)—2, Renninger (OAC).
200 free (11-12)—1, Jude Wenker (BISC). 3, Gallagher (PPST).
200 fly (13-14)—1, Makai Ingalls (BISC). 2, Nathan Rubie (OAC).
100 back (13-14)—2, Ingalls (BISC).
200 breast (13-14)—2, Zane Guyt (OAC). 3, Carter Hall (BISC).
100 free (13-14)—2, Parker Bushey (BISC).
200 IM (13-14)—3, Bushey (BISC).
200 fly (11-12)—2, Gallagher (PPST).
100 back (10-Under)—1, Lipton (BISC).
100 back (11-12)—3, Markow (BISC).
200 breast (11-12)—1, Houseman (BISC).
100 free (10-Under)—3, Collin Bushey (BISC).
200 IM (10-Under)—1, Lipton (BISC) 2:51.90 (meet record). 3, Renninger (OAC).
200 IM (11-12)—2, Gallagher (PPST).
100 breast (11-12)—1, Houseman (BISC) 1:13.11 (meet record).
200 back (11-12)—2, Gallagher (PPST) 2:34.18 (meet record).
100 fly (10-Under)—1, Lipton (BISC). 3, Renninger (OAC).
50 free (13-14)—2, P. Bushey (BISC). 3, Ingalls (BISC).
100 fly (13-14)—1, Ingalls (BISC). 2, P. Bushey (BISC). 3, Rubie (OAC).
100 breast (13-14)—2, Carter Hall (BISC). 3, Ingalls (BISC).
200 free (13-14)—3, P. Bushey (BISC).
The seventh Dick LaFave Long Course Kickoff meet at the King County Aquatic Center is Friday-Sunday in Federal Way.
The long-course meet includes five sessions. Friday’s first session begins at 4 p.m., Saturday’s second session is at 8:30 a.m. with the third session beginning an hour after warm-ups (which begin immediately after the second session). Sunday’s fourth session starts at 8:30 a.m, followed by the final session an hour after warm-ups.
LaFave, if you don’t know, was a longtime official. He officiated for 30 years in the Edmonds School District, 40 years for the South Snohomish County Dolphins (who are the hosts of the meet) and was inducted into the PNW Hall of Fame in 2005. LaFave also officiated Pac-10 (now Pac-12) Championships, Special Olympics and the 1990 Goodwill Games. He died in April 2008.
