I had another dentist appoint today. You know what that meant, right? Yup. More swim chat with my hygienist.
We talked about NCAAs and how the OSU women put together a Top 15 finish with only diving points. Then we talked about how the women’s head coach had been let go. No NCAA swimming points from a program like Ohio State was unacceptable.
After I returned home, I went to the Ohio State athletic website to see if there were any updates on the coaching search and sure enough there was. The new OSU women’s swim coach is Bill Dorenkott, who has coached the Penn State Nittany Lion women for 10 years and the men for 7.
Departing coach Jeanne Fleck, who was at the helm of the program for 9 years, has taken the head coaching job at Fresno State.
Here’s to hoping the new hire ushers in an era of change for the lady Buckeyes. Lord knows they could use it!
Continuing our role of being the Austin Staab Fan Club, we are pleased to report that Austin has just been named the “Pac-10 Swimming Newcomer of the Year”. Congrats to him!
Austin Staab, Fr., Stanford
Staab, from Westerville, Ohio, is a six-Time All-American in his freshman season and Pac-10 Champion in the 100 fly. Staab finished third at the NCAA Championships in the 100 fly (45.61). He was a member of the school-record 400 medley relay team (3:05.43) that finished third at the NCAA Championships. He also was a member of the 200 free relay (1:17.47) team that finished 4th. Staab was a member of the 200 medley relay (1:24.95) that finished 4th at the NCAA Championships and a member of the 400 free relay (2:51.46) that finished 4th at the NCAA Championships. Staab finished 15th in the 50 free (19.59) at the NCAA Championships and 20th in the 100 free (43.33) in the prelims of the NCAA Championships. Staab also tied Ben Wildman-Tobriner’s school record in the 100 fly (45.36).
I saw Austin’s former club team at the Ohio State Grand Prix last weekend. I thought about how cool it would have been if her were here competing too. But he was likely recovering from his awesome showing at NCAAs the previous weekend.
Ok, maybe I’m annoyed because it’s my hometown and the first big USA Swimming National meet that it’s hosted. Maybe it’s because I’m still tired from the alteration of my sleeping schedule.
This meet’s official title was Toyota Grand Prix at the Ohio State University. To many locals it was simply the Ohio State Grand Prix.
But nowhere has or was this meet ever named the “Columbus Grand Prix”, so stop calling it that! This reminds me of last summer’s Japan International Meet that so many mistakenly referred to as the Japan Open. That truly puzzled me.
The Ohio State University is located in Columbus, OH. We’re glad people know that.
No one was calling the Stanford Grand Prix the “Palo Alto Grand Prix” were they? No.
I don’t think it really gets any better than this.
Usually, we bitch and moan about how expensive swim trips are for us and how we can never afford them. Not the case, this weekend. Well, at least for me! A crapload of the National Team will be in my hometown for the Toyota Grand Prix at the Ohio State University. Perfect!
Not only do I have no travel expenses, but also not lodging issues either. Because of my media credentials I don’t have to pay for tickets. And the cherry on top, is that my dad works at the Ohio State hospital and I’m ganking his parking pass for the weekend, so I won’t have to pay for that, either!
The only negative for this meet — yes, I was able to find one — was that my Swim Aids posse will not be with me. I’m on my own this weekend. I will take my alone time and roam the deck. I will try to harass as many of my faves as possible. I will stop by the SPA area and catch-up with Megan “Too-Ghetto-For-You” Romano, as well as NBAC crew, led by our fave coach. And if they’re lucky, I’ll shout-out my CW peeps. I miss those kids.
If you want the goods, I’m going to try and post as much as possible on Swim Stars Live. It’s going to be harder than usual with no help from my girls.
If I have funny stories/pictures/etc., that’ll probably end up here; unless it’s CW-related. All CW anecdotes will be shared on MGoSwim.
Remember back in 2005, at the World Champs in Montreal, where we heard all about (and saw) the US diver that smacked her head on the board while attempting a dive?
Remember how they showed its replay over and over again?
Well, I remember that my dad showed me a full paged picture of the diver. He also said that she was from Columbus. I completely forgot that last tidbit until I watched the late local news on NBC4 last night. (They’ve been showing a lot of love to swimming recently!)
Turns out that the diver was none other than the recently crowned 2008 3m NCAA diving champion, Chelsea Davis, of Ohio State!
See, you really do learn a new thing every day!
P.S. If you were living under a rock and missed the original story, click here.
From time to time, I like to check up on Mr. Austin Staab and see how he’s been doing out there in Stanford. After a very good showing at his first Pac-10 Championships last month, I had hoped he’d also swim well at NCAAs.
He is. He was the only freshman to make the finals field in the 50 Free tonight. And with the opportunity to score for Stanford, he posted a 5th place finish in the ‘B’ final with a 19.68 swim.
Awesome job, Austin. Way to represent!
ETA: On the second night of NCAAs, Austin finaled in the 100 Fly and finished 3rd with a 45.61 swim. Only freshman in the ‘A’ final. Keep it up, Austin!
So, since the Women’s NCAA Championships are being hosted here in the magnificent McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion — and Buckeye Basketball is in the tank — it pretty much commanded the attention; or at least that’s what I’m going to tell myself.
The University of Kentucky women’s swim team has not 1, but 2 Columbus area natives on its roster. Those 2 outstanding athletes are twins Heather and Jenny Bradford. So NBC4 was kind enough to do a nice little fluff piece on the pair. Naturally it had to air after the obligatory Terrelle Pryor story.
I had another dentist appoint today. You know what that meant, right? Yup. More swim chat with my hygienist.
Continuing our role of being the 
Updated March 29, 2008
