Saying Goodbye

The last night of the meet was bitter-sweet as the entire conference said "good-bye" to our men's team. It was very emotional and inspirational for all involved. The outpouring of support from the other teams and their parents made the ending a little more bearable.

I want to send out a special thanks to Sean/Seth (St. Bonaventure), Matt/Jamie (Lasalle), Russ/Bob (UMass), Brent (Xavier), Jim (St. Louis), Steve (Fordham), Dan (GW), Matt (Richmond), Mik (URI). All of your support over the weekend helped Dave and I get through it.

Dave

Out with a bang!!!

What a Saturday!!! The men lit the night up with several great swims and put an exclamation point on their meet, winning the 400 free relay in record setting fashion. Not only did they win, they set a new team and conference record and also made an NCAA "B" cut time.

All-in-all it was a fantastic meet! The women finished fourth; I was very proud of that because there were no champions from individuals or relays.......it was a combined team effort. The men finished third and as far as I am concerned were the most dominant team at the meet, winning three relays, three individual titles and recording 6 NCAA "B" cut times.

One statement I do want to put to rest though regarding our teams....the teams that finished ahead of us did not do so because of diving or our lack of a diving facility, they beat us because of better support (scholarship) from their respective universities.

See you around the pool,
Dave

Great first night!

Well, we wrapped up the first night of the conference championships in a great position. The women are tied for 3rd with 56 points on the strength of a 5th place 200 medley relay (Tara VanNatta, Caitie Zajko, Kirstie Shumaker and Meghann McGoldrick) with a time of 1:45.53, only .11 from third place. The 800 free relay of Kristi McGee, Annie Hayles, Angela Majkut and Amanda McClleland put together a strong showing finishing 4th place with a time of 7:36.03. On the men's side we are also in 3rd place, 13 points behind St. Bonaventure with one diving event down. The third place was on the strength of a school record setting 200 medley relay as Mitch Smith, Ian Walsh, Jim O'Hara, and Brendan Schilling finished second with a time of 1:31.64. The climax of the evening came in the night's last event, the men's 800 free relay, as the team of Jim O'Hara, Chris Kobela, Roman Becicka and Ed LeBlanc recorded a first place time, school record and NCAA Division I "B" standard of 6:40.84. Ed LeBlanc secured the victory in the final leg with a 1:35.96!

Tomorrow morning's prelims kick off at 10:30 AM with the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free.

See you around the pool, Dave

Here we GO!!

It is now less then 5 hours until the first splash of the 2010 A-10 Championships! This evening's session kicks off at 6:30 PM and will be composed of three events: 200 Medley Relay, men's diving and the 800 free relay. The Duquesne Swimming family is ready to go and prepared to make a statment to the rest of the conference. I will do the best I can to give my take on how the meet is going with reports on both prelims and finals. You can find all of the Live Results at: http://www.atlantic10.com//index-main.html

See you around the pool,
Dave

Ready for A 10s

With less then a week until the first race at A 10s, both teams are starting to look great and are getting ready to race! This is always one of the highlights of the year for me as the volumes start to decrease and the energy levels increase. Although not quite there yet, I am confident that when the beeper sounds on Wednesday for the first event, Duquesne Swimming will let everyone know we are in Buffalo ready to swim fast.

I encourage all former Duquesne Swimming and Diving Alumns to make the drive to Buffalo to support all of these fine ladies and gentlemen. I am certain you will walk out of ECC proud to be a Duquesne Swimming and Diving Alumnus.

See you in the stands,
Dave

Gofor5

In an effort to bring notice to dilemma going on at Duquesne and within collegiate men's swimming across the country, the Duquesne University Alumni and parent group is launching the "Gofor5" campaign. It is with great hopes that we can not only save Duquesne Swimming but also establish a base to work with other programs around the country that may be at risk. What continued at Duquesne on January 25, 2010 could end at any other program across the country.

I urge you to consider "going for 5" and help all of us "save one program at a time."
www.gofor5.org

Jim O'Hara speaks to the Morning Swim Show

Junior Jim O'Hara had an opportunity on Tuesday to speak with Peter Busch of Swimming World Magazine regarding the dropping of the men's team, how the program is preparing for A-10s and some of the plans for trying to save the program.

You can see the interview here:

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/MorningSwimShow/default.asp