This thing is alllllll over the news here in C-BUS.

The Upper Arlington High School Boys swimming coach has just been arrested and charged with rape of a 15 year old female student back in 1996 and 1997.

Police aren’t sure why the victim waited until now to come forward, but suspect there may be more victims. This isn’t exactly the kind of story I like reading with regards to those within the swimming community, but I do tend to write about swim-related goings-on in my area. Gotta take the good with the bad.

A little background on UA: Upper Arlington is located slighty northwest of Columbus and just minutes from my house. I cut through UA in order to get to McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion at Ohio State. It’s one of the more affluent area suburbs, and the girls high school team, coached by Dan Peterkoski just won the Div. 1 State Championship for the 4th straight year.

At the Women’s Big Ten Champs tonight, I wasn’t expecting to see the wonderful Peter Bick. So imagine my surprise to see him — knee pads and all — strolling around the pool deck of the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion! I’ll have to flag him down tomorrow or Saturday to catch up!

P.S. I think this means that we may see Mr. Bick covering the men’s meet next week at his alma mater. *crosses fingers*

So USA Swimming announced a new points system for the Grand Prix circuit.

I read over it. Sounds good. So what do I want to discuss? I thought you’d never ask!

This is the line that got me thinking:

The standings will integrate male and female participants, and will recognize the swimmer with the highest cumulative point total.

What exacty does “recognize” mean? Does the overall points winner get a pat on the back? A handshake? Perhaps their very own write-up in Splash Magazine?

I think the prize money pool that drives the Mare Nostrum and World Cup tours is a really good thing. Especially in a sport like swimming. So is there a monetary incentive for participants? I know there are going to be swimmers who technically cannot accept prize money. So maybe scholarship money or a training stipend? Something?

Don’t get me wrong, I think the points system is a good idea! Seeing more swimmers — especially the National teamers — compete in Grand Prix meets is something I’m glad USA Swimming is focusing on; especially if they all decide to go to the Ohio State stop…*cough*.

I’m just looking for a little more clarification on how this points system is going to lead to more grand prix participation. Inquiring minds would like to know.

We’ve noticed that Hayley Peirsol has been quite M.I.A. in the swim world in recent months.

First, we noticed that she skipped Nationals. No biggie, right? But the only people who passed on Nationals were the ones competing at WUGs, the Paris Open, or a select few who competed at Pan Ams. Hayley wasn’t on any of those squads.

Then we noticed that her name/bio has now been removed from her primary sponsor’s (TYR) website.

Are we missing something? What’s the 411?

Via USA Swimming

Four-time Olympian and American-record holder Dara Torres will be featured on ABC’s World News Tonight as the “Person of the Week” this evening at 6:30 p.m. EST.

The segment will contain footage of Torres training in Florida, as well as clips of her gold-medal performances in the 50m and 100m freestyle at the 2007 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming Nationals earlier this month in Indianapolis.

At the age of 40, Torres recently reaffirmed her position as one of the top freestylers in the world when she eclipsed her own American record in the 50m freestyle after a seven-year hiatus from the sport. Torres’ time in the 50 free currently ranks fourth in the world, while her time in the 100 free ranks eighth.

If Torres qualifies for her fifth Olympic team in 2008, she will be the oldest swimmer ever to make an Olympic Team.

And for those who don’t see this in time, or won’t be home, I will capture the video and post it right here afterwards, so don’t fret!

Dara provided us with the most touching awards podium experience of the 2007 National Champs in Indy when she brought her daughter, Tessa, up on the podium with her. All of us who were on deck as photographers could hardly snap shots fast enough! Veteran photog Peter Bick even remarked that he had never seen anything like that before. It was great!

Below is one of our shots, but trust me when I say there is a LOT more where that came from! We have a lot of pictures that we don’t use/post on SwimStars.org, so we’re going to open an additional gallery to showcase those. Not sure where that will be though. Could be here! We’ll let you know!

So what if I feel like bitching about this every week! Deal with it!

Speedo has a large stable of elite athletes; all amazing in their own right. However, within that team of swimmers, they only have so many WORLD RECORD HOLDERS. The way they continue to omit 2 of them infuriates me. And many probably don’t think it’s a big deal, but around here, we do. Speedo continuing to overlook Pete and Klete in Speedo promotional photoshoots and catalog inclusions is inexcusable. In a sense, it seems to devalue their work and accomplishments in the pool. I liken it to a slap in the face.

So at first, I just thought it was an oversight. Then I moved on to thinking about how awkward and uncomfortable Pete looks in staged/posed pictures, and assumed he declined their invitation to the photoshoot. But after my brief convo with PVK yesterday, I really am at a loss for words!

When I asked him why he isn’t in the catalog he said:

I don’t know…

I also offered to write a strongly-worded letter on his behalf, but the ever-modest PVK didn’t think that was necessary. I, however, do!

Seriously, I don’t know what’s going on over at the Speedo USA Headquarters, but they need to get it together! This is unacceptable. Pete just became the 4th fastest 200m Free performer in history at Nationals! I think he is more than deserving of a spot in that catalog. This isn’t about vanity, or the fact that PVK is my dawg. It’s about respect.

Audra from Speedo uploaded the following video to YouTube that gives a small glimpse behind-the-scenes of the 2008 Speedo Racing Catalog Shoot. Having seen the catalog, I would like to say that while it was great to see new faces like T-DUB!! and Kim V. in it (after we bitched a few months back), I am still extremely disappointed to not see 2 of the Team Speedo World Record Holders — Klete and Pete — included in the catalog. Shame on you, Speedo! Way to drop the ball!