(East Meadow, NY) - Had some trouble getting on the internet. Our SMSC athletes have been doing well. Our typical day at Nationals involves waking around 6:00AM to head for breakfast, getting to the pool by 7:15, warming up. The meet starts at 9:00AM and we swim all morning until the time trial meet starts, usually around 12:30PM. By the time that's over, its often around 2:00PM. That gives us about 2.5 hours for lunch and a quick nap at the hotel before heading back to finals at 4:30PM.....competition starting...

(East Meadow, NY) - Today has been a day 8.5 years in the making. As coaches we sometimes want things to happen 'right now.' I have been waiting for today for about 4 years! We are finally swimming at Nationals, making finals AND acting like we belong there. Its literally the first time since I've arrived in Santa Maria that I have had a group of athletes show up at Nationals and handle it like any other swim meet. Our day started at 6:20AM with breakfast at the Mario Brother's diner. It's...

(East Meadow, NY) - We had another fun evening. Most of the athletes here are going very fast. Meghan Zimmer managed a 16th place finish in the 200 Backstroke with a 2:21, just a little off from her morning swim.  Rachael Wahl finished 24th in the 200 Fly with a 2:21. Its been a long day and we are back at the hotel at 9:30PM. Fast swimming to all. The meet continues through Saturday.

(East Meadow, NY) - We had another easy day today. We had the athletes up at 6:45AM and off to the pool for a short warm-up and to continue adjusting to the pool. The athletes look great and the excitement is building. After warm-up, we met with our NIKE rep, Roque and he gave all of the athletes brand new NIKE dome caps and racing suits. These suits can only be worn if you make Nationals, so the kids all put them on and look like would-be superheroes. After getting...

(East Meadow, NY) - The athletes at Nationals and I have decided to do a different type of daily update from the 2007 USA Swimming Spring Nationals....so we have presented more of a travel journal so that some of you can get a good idea of what being at Nationals can be like. Sunday, March 25 was a rather long day for the SMSC National team. First, we had a loosn up swim from 8:00-9:30 in Santa Maria. By 11:00AM, we were on the road for our road trip to...

(Orlando, FL) - Lora Lougee and Maddie Mastrup continued to shine in the last meet of the short course season at the NCSA Junior Nationals in Orlando. Both athletes added a few seconds to their first swims of the meet, the 1000 Freestyle. Lougee finished 70th while Mastrup finished 82nd in the 1300+ swimmer competition. On Day 2, Lougee managed a lifetime best swim in the 200 Backstroke of 2:08.24, good for 93rd. On Day 3, both athletes competed in Time Trials. Lora Lougee dropped 4 seconds off her best...

(Bakersfield, CA) - Despite being largely outnumbered with A & B relays from other teams, SMSC managed a 5th place finish with some high level individual performances at the 2007 CCS Junior Olympics, Sunday. Josh Prenot won the Boy's 13-14 500 Freestyle in 4:58, while Rebekah Corbin and Karen Hendrick provided the 1-2 punch for the girl's 500 Freestyle. Final team scores were as follows: (1) Bakersfield-2670; (2) Clovis-2543.5; (3) Canyons-1523.5; (4) Santa Barbara-1513.5; (5) Santa Maria-1347.5; (6) CCAT-1174; (7) Fresno Dolphins-703; (8) RipTide Aquatics-621. The 13-14 Girl's 400 Free...

(Bakersfield, CA) - The second day of competition came to a close Saturday eveing with SMSC falling to 5th place. Despite a valient effort from the entire SMSC squad, Santa Barbara and Canyons fielded too many relays for SMSC to contend. However, the 13-14 Girl's 200 Freestyle Relay managed to break an SMSC team record in the event, while the rest of the team performed off the charts in more Championship Finals than the team has ever had before at CCS JO's. The meet continues through Sunday.

(Bakersfield, CA) - The 2007 Central California Junior Olympics jumped off to a great start for the Santa Maria Swim Club on Friday morning at the CSU-Bakersfield Aquatic Center. Out of 30 swims in the morning preliminary session, SMSC managed to turn in 28 lifetime best performances en route to placing many swimmers in this evening's finals. Colter Knight (10) set a new SMSC 10-under Boy's 100 Freestyle record of 1:03.13. The old record was held by Troy Cichowlaz from 1992. Also making the evening finals were Rebekah Corbin, Jordan...

(Bakersfield, CA) - The Santa Maria Swim Club continued a season of dominating and exciting swims, jumping into 3rd place at the end of the first evening's finals at the 2007 Central California Junior Olympics. Team scores were as follows: (1) Bakersfield Swim Club; (2) Clovis Swim Club; (3) Santa Maria Swim Club; (4) Santa Barbara Swim Club; (5) Canyons Swim Club. In individual action, Jeremy Grden and Joey Romero finished 6th and 8th in the 11-12 500 Freestyle. Rebekah Corbin and Karen Hendrick finished 4th and 5th in the...