Everyday he's hustlin. . .

Heeeeeyyyyy! Remember us?

We’re slowly getting back into the swing of things. That means we’re bound to be slow on general swim news for a while. We tend to peak during the summer when we’re up to our armpits is lots of swim news and swim trips. We hope this summer is no exception.

But for now, we thought we should say a little something as founders of the Austin Staab Fan Club. The latest news is that he has taken a leave of absence from Stanford.

“In other news, defending NCAA 100-yard butterfly champion, Austin Staab, has taken a leave of absence from Stanford University for a private and personal matter and will return to Stanford at a later date. Staab (Westerville, Ohio), a junior and 13-time All-American for the No. 2-ranked Cardinal, informed the team of his decision this week. Stanford asks for privacy in regards to this matter, both to the Staab Family and the Stanford Swim Program”

We’re not going to pry, not that we’d know how to even if we wanted to. We wish Austin well, but are a little bummed given that the Men’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championship are right here in his hometown (Columbus, OH) and you know he would have received a ton of support as he defended his 100y Fly title.

That’s life, though. Best wishes, Austin! But in his absence, the Fan Club will carry on!

It’s only been a short while since we revived the Austin Staab Fan Club and here comes news that Austin has claimed the NCAA record — and his first individual title — in addition to bettering his own brand new American Record set at the recent Pac-10 Championships. The new record stands at 44.18.

It’s been an eventful month for Austin, and it’s nice to see him continue to excel! The Fan Club is impressed.

Thanks to my local newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch, I finally have learned that Austin was M.I.A. last Spring/Summer due to shoulder surgery. Yay for the internet research!

See, what had happened was…

#1. He completely fell off our radar last Spring/Summer after NCAAs. And, to our knowledge, did not compete at the Olympic Trials.

#2. Our West Coast Correspondent left the Bay Area, in favor of SoCal, and no longer can make a short 20 minute trip to Stanford to check in on young Austin.

I’m from his hometown, but it’s not like he competes for WAC anymore. So, our bad!

Anyway….this post is to congratulate Austin on that bad ass 100y Fly he swam Friday at the Pac-10 Championships. He turned in a 44.69 to establish not only a new Pac-10 and Stanford Record, but also American Record that previously belonged to teh Crockah. You may now refer to Sir Staab as ‘American Record Holder Austin Staab’. Bad. Ass.

It does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

I was checking out the competition for this weekend’s Long Beach Grand Prix, which is rockin’ a new main sponsor in Vintage Design Incorporated (instead of Toyota).

Everything seemed normal, including the Lochtenator taking on fiftyeleven events. You know how he do!

Anyway, I noticed an entry by the name of “Miracle Man J Ritter” from Tuscon Ford Aquatics. Miracle Man J is better known as Columbus area native (represent!) Adam Ritter.

I’d love to know the story behind that! But he gets some major keepin’ it real points for entering a meet in this manner. Bad ass, Adam. Bad. Ass.

Check out the proof below the cut…

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!

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.

Check out some pics from NCAAs at TheSwimPictures.com.

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.

Stop the madness, I say!

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 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!