Now posting results!

After, in all honesty, procastinating on this for a while, I've now posted results from several meets in blog links. The following blog posts now have full results posted near the end of the post (either right-click on the results to zoom in to read, or click on the underlined "results" link to see the results).

Here are blog posts with results now posted, including this weekend's Madison Invite:

http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/01/turning-black-into-gold-waukesha-scm.html

http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/12/arrowhead-captures-second-big-win.html

http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/12/barracuda-invite-arrowhead-tops-mad.html

http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/12/spartans-look-sharp.html

As always, I'm appreciative of those who submit results; we'll keep working to post them. Keep the results coming via the email address on the main page of the blog. Thanks for supporting the high school swim blog!

An update on Garrett Weber-Gale

Here's a good story by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Gary D'Amato on Garrett Weber-Gale, arguably the most notable swimmer to come out of Wisconsin's high schools.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/etc/80120667.html

Weber-Gale swam for Nicolet High School, and still holds state Div. 1 records in the 100 free (43.49) and back (49.73). He went on to swim at the University of Texas following his high school career. He swam a leg on the United States' famous winning 400-meter free relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics that featured Michael Phelps; the photo of Weber-Gale and Phelps celebrating the come-from-behind victory is one of the more famous swimming photos of recent history.

Note to all aspiring swimmers out there -- Weber-Gale swam on "C" relays while a freshman at Nicolet.

Submitting results

I'm keenly interested in seeing results from around the state, submitted by coaches, meet organizers, or anyone else for that matter. A couple of commentators said they were having trouble getting through my email address. Here it is:

wimcdade@tds.net

I hope it works; it's worked for others who have seen the blog and contacted me. And thanks for sending any and all results -- it's really appreciated!

(Original post now corrected; thanks for the help!)

http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/12/boys-season-gets-underway.html

Some sad news to pass along

Word comes from a friend that former Janesville Craig swim coach and longtime swim official Wes Mayer passed away in Janesville Tuesday morning. Mayer, 77, was both a high school and collegiate swim official for more than 50 years, and was a charter member of the Southern Wisconsin Swimming Officials Association. A highly respected and well-liked official, he was also a mentor to many swim officials throughout the state.

His full obituary is here:

http://gazettextra.com/obits/2009/nov/19/wesley-mayer/

It's always been my sense, in watching swim meets over the years, that swim officials prefer to stay in the background; they only really come to the forefront at a meet when they have to make an (oftentimes difficult) disqualification or ensure the rules of swimming are enforced. But without officials, there would be no swim meets -- and I have yet to meet a swim official who didn't truly love the sport of swimming. So next time you're at a meet, and have a minute, thank the officials.

New high school swim blog

Today marks the debut of a blog devoted to following high school swimming in Wisconsin. The goal is to provide information to fans of swimming, and to highlight the accomplishments of these hard-working high school athletes. I'm a parent of two swimmers, active in the Monona Swim and Dive Club, and a supporter of high school swimming generally. Although I'm closely associated with Monona Grove swimming (my son swims for the high school team, and friends of our family swim for the girls team), I hope to keep the contents of the blog objective, fair and balanced. Comments are welcome, although I hope the tone and content of the comments -- like my goal for the blog -- is supportive and informative.