SSTY Gets a Shout Out From the JS!
Sports Etc.
Wisconsin swimmers compete alongside the big fish at U.S. Olympic team trials
Chris Wilson
State qualifiers (from left) Alex Meyers, 16, Carl Newenhouse, 19, Steve Cebertowicz, 22, and Adam Mania, 28, practiced at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer on Friday.
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The world will get a preview of what promises to be a riveting Olympic duel in the pool - Michael Phelps vs. Ryan Lochte - at the U.S. Olympic team trials for swimming this week.
Some of the sport's biggest stars also will be fighting for spots on the U.S. team, including "Golden Girl" Natalie Coughlin, 45-year-old Dara Torres and Janet Evans, the swimming icon who is attempting a comeback 16 years after she last competed in the Olympics.
The eight-day competition begins Monday in Omaha, Neb.
Wisconsin will be well-represented, with more than 50 qualifiers. At the top of the list is Garrett Weber-Gale, a Fox Point native who won two gold medals at the 2008 Olympics.
Weber-Gale was part of one of the all-time great relay swims in Beijing, teaming with Phelps, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak to smash the 400-meter freestyle relay world record by a stunning 3.99 seconds.
Weber-Gale, a Nicolet High School graduate, is seeded fourth at the trials in both the 50 and 100 freestyle.
Other top state swimmers include UW-Milwaukee standout Emily McClellan of Delavan (10th in the 100 breaststroke); Adam Mania of Milwaukee, who swam for Poland at the 2004 Olympics (13th in the 100 backstroke); Mitchell Friedemann, an Arrowhead High School graduate and University of Arizona star (19th in the 100 backstroke), and Steve Cebertowicz, a graduate of Nicolet and the University of North Carolina (22nd in the 100 freestyle).
All could reach the semifinals in their respective races, though they would be considered long shots to make the Olympic team.
Mania's best race is the 50 backstroke, which is not an Olympic event. He has great top-end speed but has problems sustaining it for 100 meters. In '08 he tried to conserve energy for the final 50 meters but didn't perform well, so he has changed his strategy.
"I have a shot to get in that top eight," said Mania, a former UW swimmer who trains at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer. "Once you're in that final, anything can happen."
If he reaches the final, Mania said, "You should plan to see me out on world record pace at the turn. And then just hold on, baby, because it's going to be painful."
Cebertowicz, 22, another Schroeder swimmer, was a 12-time All-American at North Carolina and set nine school records, including relays. He is qualified in the 50 and 100 freestyle but his focus is on the 100.
"I'm kind of in an interesting spot," he said. "In the 100 free the top six go to the Olympics. I'm seeded 22nd, but there are some people who are ahead of me that I know aren't going to be swimming in the finals of the 100 free, like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. They're entered but they won't swim.
"So I'm at the point where if I drop some time, I'm in striking range. I'm just going to go and hope for the best and see what happens."
Carl Newenhouse, 19, of Cedarburg, just finished his freshman year at the University of Minnesota and is ranked 60th in the 200 backstroke.
His qualifying time of 2:03.7 was his personal best, but he is hoping to break 2:01 at the trials.
"It's probably going to take 2 minutes to qualify for the top 16," Newenhouse said. "I think I have a shot at going under 2:01. I'd definitely be happy with that because the Minnesota team record is 2:01.0. So if I go 2-minutes-anything I break the Minnesota team record.
"I would definitely not complain if I went 2 minutes and didn't advance."
Other Wisconsin swimmers who have qualified for the trials have little or no chance to reach the semifinals but could be factors down the road.
Alex Meyers, 16, a student at University School of Milwaukee, is one such example. She is ranked 102nd in the 100 freestyle.
"I'm going there for the experience," said Meyers, who trains under Dave Anderson at the Schroeder. "I just want to learn what it's like and hopefully in four years I'll go back and I'll have learned something from this experience.
"I'll probably be very nervous, but it's exciting, too."
Also in the long-shot category are recent UWM graduate Jordan Diel and 18-year-old Kate Criter of Plymouth, who is headed to UW in the fall.
Diel, 22, is seeded 73rd in the 100 butterfly. He said he probably wouldn't swim competitively beyond this summer and might even call it a career at the trials.
"The level of athletes like Phelps and Lochte is so much higher than where I am; just being able to go there and swim well is a good thing, even though you may be 40 or 50 spots away from making the team," Diel said. "As long as you go there and perform up to the standards you have, it's a success."
Criter is seeded 91st in the 100 breaststroke.
"Just in my event alone, the world record-holder and the American record-holder are the top two," she said. "To be able to see the caliber of swimming going on around me will motivate me to try to do my best."
And then there's Criter's coach at the Menomonee Falls Swim Club, 30-year-old Scott Mueller. The Homestead and Texas A&M grad qualified for the trials in the 50 freestyle just last week.
Mueller competed at the 2004 Olympic trials but wasn't training in '08. He got back into the pool just three months ago and in his last chance to qualify swam the 50 in 23.38, beating the qualifying standard of 23.49.
"I surprised myself a little bit," he said. "I knew I could do it, but everything had to go right."
At the U.S. Olympic swim trials, the seeding times don't lie. There are no Cinderella stories. But that doesn't mean there won't be good stories from the swimmers who toil in the outer lanes and never sniff the semis.
"I'd be happy with a personal best," Mueller said. "To be top five (among) guys 30 years or older, I'd be really happy with that."
