Nicely done, ESPN. Nicely done.

Shameless Plug: Visit Dara’s official website here.

ESPN’s weekly primetime newsmagazine, E:60, is already promoting its next show, which will air on Tuesday at 7:00 PM (ET).

Dara Torres and her quest to make her 5th Olympic team is the subject of one of their stories.

I’ve watched this show a few times and, in my opinion, it’s one of the more enjoyable programs that ESPN airs. It’s not full of ex-players and coaches giving opinions and color commentary (read: arguing and talking over each other), but rather focuses on the real sports storytelling and the behind-the-scenes stories that you won’t see on SportsCenter.

Speaking of SportsCenter…when the heck is Phelps‘ SC commercial going to start airing? He filmed it ages ago!

Anyway, be sure to tune in to to E:60, but if you can’t, video will probably be available here.

ETA: It airs at 7, not 7:30. My bad. Now there is a short preview available:

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!

Maritza has been swimming and training through a great deal of pain. That stretch goes back to the Athens games, but really intensified in the past year and a half. I can’t imagine going through the rigorous training that swimming requires for that long with intense pain.

As a result, Maritza has stepped away from competitive swimming for good. Don’t fret, though! She still plans to be involved with the sport she loves in a number of different ways.

She continues to make appearances for her sponsor NIKE, and speaks to young children about her swimming career. Just a few weeks back she attended the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Billie Awards in Los Angeles.

The St. Petersburg Times details more of what Maritza is up to and how she handled her retirement.

A triathlete, who was training off the coast in San Diego County, was killed by a shark this afternoon. Authorities believe the swimmer was attacked by a great white shark.

This is very sad news and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and those affected

Read more here

TYR’s answer to the Speedo LZR Racer gets its debut!

Greeeeeverrrrsss

There’s a lot of press and buzz for TYR’s 2008 racing suit, the Tracer Rise. It will be interesting to see how its athletes perform. We’re big Matt Grevers fans around here. But we’d already noted that he was setting the pool ablaze this racing season; shattering his personal bests at ridiculously fast rate. That was before this suit came out. We’ll be watching to see how much faster he goes, leading up to Trials, now that he has the Tracer Rise.

Mary Descenza broke her first American Record in the suit at the Short Course World Champs in Manchester. To date, only 1 World Record has been set in the suit, on a relay.

With all the competition between the top suit companies, I’m sure it will be well documented when more global/American marks are set and which suit was worn.

• Nick D’Arcy dismissed from Aussie Olympic Squad. Can’t talk to friends either
• Amanda Beard and Tara Kirk featured in Oceana PSA’s
• Olympic Torch Runner Libby Trickett hopes any and all torch protests will be violence-free
• Laure Manaudou is dramatic, and waiting for Arena’s new suit. Won’t swim 200 Free in Beijing
• Janet Evans to take turn on reality TV
• Jessica Hardy wrote a new blog post