Welcome!

Hello to all the USC families in the USC Nation! To those returning for another season, welcome back and to those new families joining us, welcome, we are glad to have you! I have been itching to get back ever since champs ended. I spent a week in Seattle (beautiful out there by the way!) at the US Open with Tommy Inwood (now a sophomore at the University of Virginia) and at Junior Nationals with Chris Corbett (now a freshman at Williams) and watching those meets got me very excited for this season. We had some great success and huge improvements over the course of the past year, and I am ready to build on all of that! We have swimmers that are on the cusp of breaking into that next level, whether that is making a Silver cut, a Gold cut, a Zone cut, a Sectional cut, or even a Junior National cut and I have been planning out the season to try and help everyone make it to that next level.

As most of you already know, Stephanie will not be with us this season :( . She has found a job in Indiana and is moving (or may have already moved) there. This is a big hit to our coaching staff. Steph was an amazing asset to our team and she will be dearly missed!

However, I do have a new helper! Actually she isn't brand new, she coached with me a little bit in the spring before returning to Columbus for the summer. I would like to welcome Lindsay Pickut back to the pool deck at the TFC. For those who have not yet met her, Lindsay is a Junior at John Carroll University and swims backstroke and freestyle for the swim team. She will be with us pretty much every day until the end of September when her swim season starts, and then she will be coming 3 days a week at least through December. I am very happy to have her coaching along side me on deck.

I am still looking for another assistant to fill in Stephanie's spot. Charlie and I have talked about possible options and we are searching for an apporpriate candidate as we speak.

I feel like I have so much to say, but this has been a rather long welcome message so I will cut it off here. I will post again later with more that I have to say. I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow!

Coach Matt

A "brief" look back to the future

Hello from Federal Way, WA! The US Open just finished up last night and Junior Nationals starts tomorrow morning. Tommy Inwood had best times in everything he swam and he made the C Final of the 200IM last night, so he got to swim twice. It was a very, very fast meet! Jessica Hardy broke 3 world records, the 50 breast twice (both times taking out a 100!) and the 100 breast. Amazing to watch! Perhaps the best thing, though, was watching the A Final of the men's 200IM. With all the controversy about the new tech suits that will be illegal very soon, there has been much said about the swims done in them. The 8 finalists paraded out in their warm-ups ready to swim, and when they got behind the blocks and took their warm-ups off, they were all wearing briefs! The entire aquatic center stood and clapped and cheered for each of them as the introductions were read. To me, this symbolized the start of a new era (actually an old one) in swimming. With the new rules to take effect January 1, 2010, this was one of the last meets where the tech suits could be worn. The 8 guys in the heat took us back to the future showing the past and future of the sport.

I hope everyone is having a great August and I will see you soon!

Long Course Champs

Congrats to everyone who swam this weekend! As a team we swam awesome. Lots of best times all around. Amber Kovach achieved two new AAA cuts in the 400 Free and 200 Back. She also lowered her own team records in the 50 Fly, 50 Back, and 100 Back, while also setting new team records in the 200 Back and 50 Free! Her 50 Free time of 28.81 was 0.02 seconds away from a USA Sectional time, which is very impressive for a 12 year old!

Michael and Matthew Flinchbaugh (the Flinchstones collectively) also had a great meet, having many best times each. Jackie Carman deck entered both days and swam very well for this being her first long course meet ever! Others who swam in their first long course meet this weekend were Elizabeth Schafer and Anthony Gasper, both of whom swam extremely well.

Amanda Knapp came off her trip to USA Sectionals in July to post best times in the 200 IM and the 50 Free, almost breaking the team record in the 200 IM! Amanda Marlow swam the 200 Fly for the first time (my choice, not hers) and did very well! I think we have found a new event for her to train for ;) . Kate Amicone also had best times in most everything she swam. Rachel Czerny and Rebekah Watson also had good meets, having near best times in most events!

I am putting together some suggested "off-season" training for anyone looking to stay active during the month of August. I would suggest that everyone keep doing something, whether it be running, biking, or some sort of strength training (for the older swimmers) and I will post some more thoughts and suggestions about this hopefully later tonight.

This marks the end of our summer season for most of us. Amber swims at Zones next weekend in Indiana, but other than that we are done until September 1 at Twinsburg. Thanks to everyone for making the first year of USC swimming at Twinsburg a success! I can't wait to get back and build on what we have accomplished so far! Have a great August. I'll see you in September!