Swimming and Diving Newsletter :: AUGUST 2010

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Francis Newman
5 years ago
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The Strategy I made a circle around a map of Clemson and would have every college coach within that circle contact the Clemson search committee.

I finally called Don Gibb the head coach at USC Hey Don has anyone from Clemson called you back for my reference? Don just laughed, Chris they are never going to call me. I didn t understand.

1 Swimming and Diving Newsletter :: AUGUST 2010 Introduction to the Rivalry Eight years ago I received a phone call from an old friend from up north: Hey Chris did you see that the Clemson job is open? I never thought of leaving Indian River but always felt that the ACC s mission for the development of great studentathletes intriguing. The Strategy I made a circle around a map of Clemson and would have every college coach within that circle contact the Clemson search committee. Auburn, Georgia, G-Tech, Duke, UNC, NC State, all my friends check in with positive feedback from their talks with committee members. But my ace in the hole hadn t called me back! I finally called Don Gibb the head coach at USC Hey Don has anyone from Clemson called you back for my reference? Don just laughed, Chris they are never going to call me. I didn t understand. The Clemson Experience I arrived to Clemson in August, and the fall season was a blur. Especially the morning when I thought I saw a chicken walking on the pool deck during practice. Our team was different that week, as we prepared for USC. The bus ride was buzzing - as usual - as we watched another cheesy bus movie, but at about 10 minutes outside of Columbia the team became eerily quiet. Don Gibb met me on deck with a colder than usual hello, and our team warm-up was uneventful. All the athletes just seemed to be dialed in, and I liked it. At 5:00PM sharp some kid wearing a white tank top, tight pegged jeans, and a black mullet hairdo walked out on deck with an electric guitar. The lights dimed, and suddenly he started wailing out the national anthem ala Jimmy Hendrix, and then some crazy rooster calls came over the speakers and out came the USC team dressed in full fastskin suits!! I turn to the team What the hell is this? Three men stood up and slapped their triceps, Coach, it s the Gamecocks, and it s TIME to RACE!! The Clemson Count cheer rang louder than I have ever heard it; swimmers showed me sides of their competitive spirit that I never saw before. Southern Belles turned to Tigers, Skinny boys raced like men and my vision truly turned to ORANGE. The hair on the back of my neck never lay down during that dual meet, and my distaste for the colors black and maroon was etched into my soul. For the past eight years our teams have pushed each other to some epic dual meets. No better that our 2009 meet that came down to the final relays for both teams, ending with two SOLID ORANGE victories! The End of a Tradition We only have one more shot at the Gamecocks. On Friday, October 29, 2010 the Clemson bus will be directed towards Columbia for the final time. At 5:00PM sharp, our Tigers will be ready! Pump it Up it s time to Bring on the RUCKUS!!

New Tigers In 2010 Mark Schindler Transferring from UNO Mark has the potential to score in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events and will challenge school records in his event.

2 New Tigers In 2010 Mark Schindler Transferring from UNO Mark has the potential to score in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events and will challenge school records in his event. Shayne Buckley Upstate New Yorker is a hard working distance/400im er, hope to see some of the Rick Aronberg/ Neil Brophy attitude develop in the D lane. Steven Gasparini This Pennsylvania swimmer has all the strokes with US Open/Senior Nat cuts. Look for him to develop a great 200IM. Lucas Gerotto A Brazilian LC miler/400im, Lucas will score in all his events at ACC s. He can also go a great 200fly. Lucas will be leading the D group this year! Walker Layne A top South Carolina swimmer, Walker will bring strength to our 100BK and sprint corp. He understands the Clemson/USC rivalry. Anderson Sloan A North Carolina (MAC) swimmer with major potential in the breaststroke events. Anderson has the body type that we can build quickly. John Gedney A Colorado 400/200IM er accepted into the Calhoun honors College. John has crazy potential and will be fun to watch this season. Bryce Mendes We lost this solid distance swimmer. He was released to UNC with the phase-out of our program. Hannah Collins Top South Carolina swimmer, she will give us strength in the 100 and 100 breaststroke events. Hannah will also be competing in the 200IM. Fallon Kelly A North Carolina student-athlete that loves to race in the 200fr, 100fr, and 50fr. We hope to develop Fallon s short axis strokes. Stephanie Kinsey A power house swimmer from PA, she can swim all events. When I asked her what leg she likes on relays Stephanie said Anchor - we had to get her! Ali Polhill Another upstate New Yorker. Ali is a flyer who can also pop off a solid 200IM or 100bk and should raise some eyes at ACC s. Rocky Raybon A Florida swimmer with Olympic trial cuts in the 200fly. She will help the Tigirls in the distance and fly events. If she commits her passion to swimming she will develop quickly. Alisha Cervone The younger sister of Tori. Alisha comes in as another sibling combination to Clemson. We are truly family in Clemson. Alisha is versatile and will see action in the 200 back, fly, and IMs. Melissa Cooper Calhoun Honor College, state champion breaststroker/ sprint freestyler from Florida. We released her to Texas A&M with the phase-out of our program SEASON OUTLOOK Our Men s program will be solid this year with a 99% commitment to the program, only incoming freshman Bryce Mendes being released to UNC. I feel that our men s team was willing to stay committed as a Band of Brothers for one more year to see how far we can go. We are well balanced and have solid depth in all events. Clemson s top 25 recruiting class has matured and will lead this team forward this season. On our women s side, it will be a challenging year. We will need the help of our alumni to keep the Tigirls focused and up-beat. I feel that our women needed more security and solid direction, therefore many decided to transfer quickly. The leadership from our top 25 recruiting class and key incoming freshmen are gone. This will truly impact the depth and top end of our program. We have lost the following swimmers as transfers to other programs: Kelli Kyle: Two year NCAA qualifier, 100/200 Back (ASU) Sarah Andrew: Olympic trial qualifier backstroker (Indiana) Cara Lennon: ACC scoring backstroker (U of Cincinnati) Heather Savage: ACC scorer, school record holder 100 Fly (V-Tech) Kellyn Angell: A solid backstoker/im er Kellyn was extremely versatile (OSU) Melissa Cooper: Incoming freshman breaststroker, sprint freestyler, state champion (Texas A&M) Our goal as coaches this season is to showcase all of our swimmers, opening up as many doors as possible for our student-athletes to transfers. We will stay committed to developing the best Tigers possible.

3 TRICIA HARM JOINS THE TIGER FAMILY I am proud to announce the hiring of Tricia Harm to our staff. She brings the competitive fire to Clemson as: a member of the 2005 UGA NCAA Champion team, an NCAA individual champion, an America Record holder, and an Academic All American. Straight from the heart of Pennsylvania she brings the blue collar work ethic that I love. She is a no nonsense coach that will demand the best out of our swimmers. Tricia has ACC experience as she has two season of assistant coaching experience at the University of Miami. Her academic background is an undergraduate degree from UGA in education/ sport studies; and a master s degree in sports and exercise management from OSU where she also coached with the women s team. Tricia will partner with Derek Perkins and work with our Black & White groups geared towards our 200, 100, and 50 swimmers. Respect is the first part of trusting a coach. When I told the team that we hired Tricia Harm, one swimmer, Meg Anderson, grinned ear to ear Tricia was my first swim counselor at camp, she s awesome. That gained her instant respect and acceptance from the team. Swimming is a lifetime sport and our lives are woven tightly together. Summer swimming The coaching staff has been proud of the commitment of our swimmers this summer. They have stayed true to our goals for the summer, as 13 Tigers will be heading down to UGA for Sectionals July 16th. This will be a prep for 5 swimmers who will continue onto Senior Nationals in August at Irvine, CA, and one swimmer will travel across the pond to compete at the Commonwealth trials. In the classroom our Swimmers averaged a 3.2 GPA during the Summer I term. All students are ahead of schedule to graduate but took courses to be able to train in Tigertown this summer. We have honed our skills by traveling 30 minutes away to Pelzer for some 50 meter outdoor long course training on Mondays and Wednesdays. The pool has no turning crosses nor lane markers but it is long enough and the multiple frog mascots keep the women moving! Our swimmers are dedicated to do their part to represent the program and are grateful to the alumni support on the outside. Point of interest: The Westside 50 meter facility, home of Team Greenville just closed, leaving the Spartanburg YMCA and the USC facility as the only 50 meter indoor pools in the state of SC.

MEMORIES OF A TIGER Seems like it was yesterday. I showed up late at night on campus in my old station wagon, having set out from Connecticut some 17 hours earlier.

Turned out our swimming pool was in the bottom of the old Y. Our new pool at Fike was not ready, and not only that, it would not be ready for another year.

4 MEMORIES OF A TIGER Seems like it was yesterday. I showed up late at night on campus in my old station wagon, having set out from Connecticut some 17 hours earlier. It was mid-august in 1974, and I was going to Clemson University to swim, and hopefully, get a degree. I was not sure what was in store for me, but was very excited to get started. Turned out our swimming pool was in the bottom of the old Y. Our new pool at Fike was not ready, and not only that, it would not be ready for another year. Okay, so we had a four-lane, 20 yard pool that was about 100 years old, it was doable. Within 24 hours of my arrival at Clemson, a tall, darkhaired guy strolled into my room in Johnstone Hall. He said his name was Bill Burton, that he was on the swimming team, and that I should take a ride with him. Sounded good to me, so I went. We ended up in a place called Sliding Rock, several miles west of the Town of Liberty - and slide we did. It was great!. That was my introduction to Bill Burton. Bill was one of our co-captains and he was determined to make us into a cohesive unit. And he did. As a team, we spent a lot of time together, both in and out of the pool. Bill taught us the ropes - what it meant to be part of Clemson Swimming. To be sure, we were not that good - we were sort of a rag-tag team, but we persevered. Our home meets were at Furman and so were a lot our practices as the Y pool was frequently out of commission. Bill was always there, always positive, always motivated. Bill was not an Olympic swimmer (he had a pretty good backstroke), but he had an Olympian spirit, and he loved Clemson. What he lacked in swimming skill was more than made up for with his grit and determination. He was fearless and we all looked up to him (literally). Bill made that whole experience an adventure, one which I will never forget. Our coach was the legendary Carl McHugh, a man who we all loved and cared deeply for. School always came first with Coach McHugh - that was the rule. A gentle man and a great coach, he was there for us 24/7. I can still see him with that tobacco pipe of his which was always in his hand. What could have been a disastrous freshman year experience for me (we didn t have much of a pool) turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. Over the years, I have kept up with Clemson Swimming and the changes that I have seen have been amazing. What you see in these young swimmers today is a far cry from the swimmers of my day. However, we have a common bond - we all swam for Clemson University. Go Tigers! Stewart Tedford (Class of 1978)

TIGER NATION ALUMNI UNITE FOR TRIATHLON IN FL On June 10th, four former Clemson Swimmers competed in the Montoya Beach Fine Arts Sprint Triathlon Race in Jacksonville Beach, FL.

Sarah Cefalu says, It was so much fun getting a group of Clemson alum together to do the tri, we should do it more often!

of 1:19:40 Lauren finished 3 in Female 20-24 with a time of 1:32:10 Sarah finished 6 in Female 25-29 with at time of 1:19:00 Above from Left to Right: Brett MacLennan (Charleston,

5 TIGER NATION ALUMNI UNITE FOR TRIATHLON IN FL On June 10th, four former Clemson Swimmers competed in the Montoya Beach Fine Arts Sprint Triathlon Race in Jacksonville Beach, FL. The triathlon consisted of a 1/4 mile swim, 13.6 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run. Sarah Cefalu says, It was so much fun getting a group of Clemson alum together to do the tri, we should do it more often! From Top Left to Bottom Left: Jordan finished 9th in Male with a time of 1:09:26 Brett finished 12 in Male with a time of 1:14:10 Andy finished 22 in Male with a time of 1:19:40 Lauren finished 3 in Female with a time of 1:32:10 Sarah finished 6 in Female with at time of 1:19:00 Above from Left to Right: Brett MacLennan (Charleston, 2007), Lauren Sindall (Charleston, 2009), Andrew Bergren (Jacksonville, 2008), Sarah Cefalu (Tampa, 2007), Jordan Raynovich (Clearwater, 2006) A Clemson Wedding Clemson '09 Swimming Alum Ashley Clay married TJ Sullivan on July 26th in Clemson at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens. Many teammates and members of the Tiger Family were in attendance for the ceremony.

Swimming and Diving Newsletter :: JUNE 2011

Swimming and Diving Newsletter :: JUNE 2011 Clemson Swimming & Diving Concludes Season with Awards Banquet The Swimming & Diving Team held its Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 9th. The Tigers were