Swim Team Information

From The Olympic Trials
The American Storm continues day by day here in Omaha. Can you imagine breaking the American record and NOT making the US Olympic Team as an individual in that event? Can you imagine breaking the WORLD record and NOT making the US Olympic Team in that event? It's all happening here at the trials. We have some of our best American swimmers walking out on deck for their preliminary heats and looking up at the scoreboard to see if they need to take a record back from someone who might have just eclipsed it in the heat before. It seems that strategies are changing for some right there on deck simply as a matter of pride. Others look up and seem to be carefully picking their battles weighing in the moment with what lies ahead for the remainder of the week. Regardless... you cannot turn your head for a moment here or an opportunity will slip by you in the blink of an eye and for some, will be gone forever. It's a passionate battle of will that does incredible justice to our sport and to sport in general.

It doesn't matter how someone looks at this point in time or how they feel. It goes much, much deeper than that. Athletes are looking deep into the mirror of their souls and and simply having to do whatever it takes regardless of how the look or how they feel. It is a battle of wills and is an amazing battle to witness. Gracie will join this game tomorrow. Tim will step onto the block the next day. Like every athlete who will step on the blocks with them... they will have a job to do. How they feel and how they look will be of little circumstance. It will be time!

- Coach Nye

Swim Team Updates - June 25, 2008

First, check out the hilarity that ensues as our team transitions from running sprints to belly smackers. Parents, rest assured that your children don't spend the majority of their practice time working on smacking into the water; after all, we have to continue perfecting our redonkulous team cheers (see below). We figured we had better document the event ourselves since Garrett McCaffrey and FloSwimming weren't present.

Creekside Results Are In! - Thanks to all of the swimmers, parents and volunteers who made the 2008 Creekside meet such a success! You can find complete meet results here or to your right.

Stay Tuned to our Olympic Trials Swimmers - You can see the Olympic Trials television schedule here. And click here for the USA Swimming Olympic Trials homepage. It has everything you need to know about the Trials, and it has some nice interviews with Adam Ritter.

Check out the awesome Columbus Dispatch article about Tim Collins and Gracie Finnegan! We all want to wish Tim, Gracie, and Coach Nye well as they leave for Omaha this weekend. We'll also be glued to our televisions for GCSTO alums Adam Ritter, Jen Bradford and Heather Bradford.

Let's Get Ready for a Great Creekside Meet! - June 20, 2008

Check out our knuckleheads having some fun at practice before the Creekside meet. I have a few more videos which I'll upload here. Go Polar Bears!

Also, not that this cheer isn't Olympic caliber, but you'll probably want to scroll to the bottom of this page and pause the Olympic music prior to listening to "Go Bananas."

GCSTO Claims Five Olympic Trial Qualifiers! - April 27, 2008

If you think GCSTO is only concerned with crowning Ohio state champions, think again! Although we crowned seven high school champions and eight club champions this season alone, our club is still dedicated to producing talent at national and international levels.

Your Polar Bears, home of 2000 Olympian Amanda Adkins, have claimed five 2008 Olympic Trial qualifiers:

Tim Collins -
New Albany High School

Career Highlights:

Olympic Trial Event: 100 butterfly

2007 National Select Camp member at the Olympic Training Center

2008 Ohio State Champion in the 100 butterfly

11-time High School All-American

15-time High School All-Ohio

2003 Ohio Age Group Male Swimmer of the Year

Arkansas Age Group Champion

Gracie Finnegan -
Bishop Watterson High School

Career Highlights:

Olympic Trial Event: 100 free

2008 Ohio State Champion in 100 & 50 free

3-time All-American

8-time All-Ohio

2-time Watterson MVP

Holds 7 school records

Adam Ritter -
University of Arizona/
Tucson Aquatics

Career Highlights:

Olympic Trial Events: 200 free, 100 free, 200 IM

2007 World University Games - Bangkok, Thailand -

3 Gold Medals, 2 Silver Medals

2007 NCAA 200 IM and 800 Free Relay Champion

2007 Pac-10 200 IM and 800 Free Relay Champion

2006-07 Co-Captain

2006 & 2007 All-Academic Pac-10 Team

5-time NCAA Champion

17-time NCAA All-American

6 University of Arizona Team Records

2007 Sapphire Award - Top Male Student-Athlete - Univ. of Arizona

2007 Pac-10 Conference Medal Winner Outstanding Senior Student-Athlete–Arizona

2006 Univeristy of Arizona Homecoming King

2003 Ohio State Champion in 200 free

2003 Central District Champion in 200 & 500 free

2003 St. Charles Ken Flaherty Award (MVP)

Heather Bradford -
University of Kentucky

Career Highlights:

Olympic Trial Events: 50 free & 100 butterfly
3-time All-American
8-time All-American Honorable Mention
2007 All-SEC First Team
2006 & 2008 All-SEC Second Team
2008 UK Team Co-Captain
2007 SEC Champ in 200 free relay
2008 SEC Runner-up in 200 free relay
2008 5th-place NCAA finish in 200 free relay
2007 SEC Runner-up in 100 butterfly
2007 7th-place NCAA finish in 100 butterfly
UK Record-holder in 4 relays & 100 butterfly
2004 Ohio State Champion in 100 butterfly

Jen Bradford -
University of Kentucky

Career Highlights:

Olympic Trial Events: 50 free & 100 butterfly
Multiple All-American
All-SEC First Team
2008 UK Team Co-Captain
2008 SEC Swimmer of the Week
2008 NCAA Swimmer of the Week
2006-08 SEC Runner-up in 50 free
2008 5th-place NCAA finish in 50 free
2008 7th-place NCAA finish in 100 free
2007 SEC Champ in 200 free relay
2008 SEC Runner-up in 200 free relay
2008 5th-place NCAA finish in 200 free relay
UK Record-holder in 4 relays, 100 free & 50 free
2006-08 UK MVP
2004 Ohio State Champion in 100 & 50 free
Ohio high school record-holder in 50 free

Due to GCSTO's recent success on the national scale, we were honored by having Ed Spencer visit our club last week through the USA Swimming Master Coach Consultant program. Ed - former head coach of Reno Aquatics and Dynamo Swim Club - met with many of the GCSTO coaches over a three-day span and provided invaluable feedback and insight into how our program can continue to excel on the national level. We want to thank Ed for the time and energy that he gave to both our swimmers and coaches.

In addition to the above information, you can also find pertinent Olympics info at the following links:

USA Swimming Amazing Awaits Beijing Olympics
(Scroll down to the bottom of this page and pause the music if you play the "Amazing Awaits" video)

Polar Bears Honored by USA Swimming! - GCSTO has once again been named one of the top 100 swim clubs in America by USA Swimming! Out of over 7,000 swim clubs, GCSTO earned 157,104 points in the Toyota Virtual Club Championships to qualify as one of the best swim clubs in the nation. GCSTO is the only club from central Ohio in the top 100. The only other clubs from Ohio in the top 100 include the Cincinnati Marlins, Dayton Raiders, and Mason Manta Rays. This is not an optional program - all club teams are automatically entered into this program by USA Swimming and then awarded points based on the USA Swimming power point system.

2008 Senior Championship Summary - April 22, 2008

Our seniors finished their season at the Toyota Grand Prix Meet held at OSU. The week prior we were at IUPUI for the Speedo Sectional Championships.

At Sectionals we had 3 new team records established (Tim Collins 100 fly, Gracie Finnegan’s 100 free & Lindsay Lash, Gracie, Jenna Lindner & Jana Kahrig’s 4 X 100 free relay), 5 new US Open standards established (Gracie’s 50 free, 100 free, 100 back & 200 back & Alex Schaffer’s 100 fly) and 1 Olympic Trial standard established (Tim Collins’ 100 fly). Tim became our first age group swimmer in this quadrennium to make that meet. Emily Boone, Gracie Finnegan, Jana Kahrig, Jenna Lindner, Alex Schaffer & Carl Svagerko all swam to lifetime bests in each event that they swam. We did not swim finals of Sunday evening so that we could get home earlier in the day to prepare for our bigger challenge in the Grand Prix Meet.

With many Olympians and world-ranked swimmers at the Grand Prix, our athletes showed no signs of intimidation. All 4 of our relays placed in the top 10 with the highest finish being gained by our women in their 4^th place 4 X 100 medley relay performance. Tim Collins (100 fly), Ashley Specht (100 & 200 breast) & Gracie Finnegan (50 & 100 free) also returned at night in their specialty events - something that was not easy to do with the quality of competition found at this meet. Gracie swam to 15-16 girls’ team records in the 50 & 100 frees again and shattered the team Open records, as well. While placing higher in the 50 free (7^th) than the 100 free (9^th) it was her 100 free that blazed as she became our second swimmer (with Tim Collins being the first) to qualify for the US Olympic Trials being held in June. These athletes will join GCSTO alums Heather Bradford, Jennifer Bradford & Adam Ritter at this meet. Grand Prix photos can be seen here.

Between the tremendous overall team successes at the age group level this season and at the senior level this season we are incredibly excited about what the future holds for the team!

- Coach Nye

Greater Columbus Sets Pool on Fire at Age Group Champs! - March 18, 2008

Age Group Champs photos can be viewed here.

Your Polar Bears had a very impressive weekend in Cincinnati, claiming sixth place in the team scores with 1,266 points. We were the second highest placing team from central Ohio, behind Upper Arlington in fifth. More impressive than the team scores, however, are the remarkable individual accomplishments. We had 48 individual swims in finals, and 31 individual swims in consols. The Cincinnati Marlins have the final results and all other meet information available at their official meet homepage (results are also available on this site in the column to your right).

We crowned three state championship relays and one individual state champ. The 10 and under girls team of Morgan McCafferty, Lily Green, Rachel Politi and Anya Kone won the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Zach Poltor, William Rosler, Orion Swanson and Patrick Kelly won both the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay. Individually, Morgan McCafferty swam to a state championship in the 100 butterfly.

In the high point standings, Maddie Martin placed second in the 11-12 girls division. Morgan McCafferty and Lily Green tied for sixth place in the 10 and under girls division. And Patrick Kelly placed sixth in the 13-14 boys division. Also note that Orion Swanson was unable to swim in the Sunday finals and one of our fastest sprinters, Ronnie Bolden, missed the entire meet due to a broken wrist; both of these swimmers would have been competing for high point honors as well.

Given all of this success, we obviously broke a lot of team records in the process. We'll have the new team records updated soon! Congrats to all of the swimmers and coaches on a great performance and a very unified weekend. We did many things outside of the pool which will set the standard for future teams to follow. Thanks to Coach Susan for putting so much time and effort into planning our schedule each day.

Way to Go, Polar Bears! - March 13, 2008

GCSTO has just been recognized by the USA Swimming National Club Excellence Program as a Bronze Medal Club! Click on the icon to see the rankings.

You can learn more about the USA Swimming Club Recognition Program and Club Excellence Program here.

GCSTO Swimmers Ready for Junior Olympic Champs! - March 12, 2008

We're sending a lot of talented swimmers down to Cincinnati this weekend to participate in the Short Course Junior Olympic Championships. You can view our team entry report here and our warm-up assignments here.

Remember to check the Cincinnati Marlins official meet homepage throughout the weekend to see how we're doing. This homepage contains all of the meet info you'll need, including a psych sheet, time line and live meet results.

Despite Absences, Polar Bears Swim Well at Senior Meet - March 10, 2008

Although many of our top swimmers did not swim at the Senior Meet because they are preparing for the Speedo Sectional Championships at IUPUI and the Toyota Grand Prix at OSU, we still had many good swims and a sixth-place team finish. You can view meet results here.

We had several swimmers qualify for the Sectional Championships, including Kate Marschner, Andrew Birnbrich, Kyle Jennings, Neil O'Kelly, Mike Shelby, Justin Shotwell, Carl Svagerko, and Sandy Whitaker. We also want to congratulate 12-year-old Maddie Martin for her top 16 performance in the 100 butterfly (59.48).

Barbara Kay Mini Meet - While our older swimmers were competing at Miami University, many of our younger swimmers were competing at the Barbara Kay Mini Meet at Worthington. We placed fifth in the final team standings. Meet results are here.

Regional Results - Congrats to all of our swimmers who competed at the Regional Championships last weekend. We had several swimmers achieve their JO "cuts" at the Regional Championships and Time Trials.

Check out the fantastic photos from Regionals here!

Greater Columbus Dominates High School State Championships - February 25, 2008

Congrats to our THIRTY Polar Bear swimmers who represented their respective high schools so well this past weekend at the OHSAA State Championships. GCSTO swimmers had 66 total individual and relay swims over the weekend. You can see complete scores and meet results at www.SwimMeet.com. We also have a special treat this year: thanks to all of the hard work from our friend, Garrett McCaffrey, you can view every single event from States at FloSwimming. (Remember to scroll to the bottom of this page and pause the music so that the races and music don't overlap each other.)

You want to pay special attention to all of the events with GCSTO swimmers:

200 Medley Relay:
Girls DI - Liberty (Ashley Specht, Rachel Chickerella); Watterson (Maddy Bentley, Mary Whittington, Emily Boone, Gracie Finnegan)
Girls D2 - Bexley (Sam Mossman, Kate Marschner, Ranen Jones); Hartley (Taisha Ferguson, Taylor Shotwell)
Boys - St. Charles (Alex Schaffer, Neil O'Kelly*); New Albany (Tim Collins); Columbus Academy (William Rosler); Gahanna (Ian Schmitt)

200 Free:
Girls D1 - Jenna Lindner (Westerville South)
Girls D2 - Tiffany Aeling (Hartley); Suzanne Sliwowski* (New Albany)
Boys - Andrew Talle (Dublin Coffman)

200 IM:
Girls D1 - Emily Boone (Watterson)
Girls D2 - Taylor Shotwell (Hartley); Sam Mossman (Bexley)

50 Free:
Girls D1 - Gracie Finnegan (Watterson)
Boys - Neil O'Kelly* (St. Charles)

100 Fly:
Girls D1 - Lindsay Lash (Westerville North); Emily Boone (Watterson)
Girls D2 - Caroline Schaffer (CSG); Jana Kahrig (Bloom Carroll)
Boys - Alex Schaffer (St. Charles); Carl Svagerko (DeSales); Tim Collins (New Albany)

100 Free:
Girls D1 - Gracie Finnegan (Watterson)
Girls D2 - Jana Kahrig (Bloom Carroll)
Boys - Neil O'Kelly* (St. Charles)

500 Free:
Girls D2 - Suzanne Sliwowski* (New Albany); Tiffany Aeling (Hartley)

200 Free Relay:
Girls D1 - Westerville North (Lindsay Lash); Liberty (Rachel Chickerella, Ashley Specht)
Boys - St. Charles (Alex Schaffer, Andrew Birnbrich*, Neil O'Kelly*); Gahanna (Ian Schmitt); New Albany (Stuart Sliwowski*)

100 Back:
Girls D1 - Lindsay Lash (Westerville North)
Girls D2 - Sam Mossman (Bexley); Taylor Shotwell (Hartley)
Boys - Sandy Whitaker* (St. Charles); Kyle Jennings* (St. Charles); Andrew Talle (Dublin Coffman); Tim Collins (New Albany)

100 Breast:
Girls D1 - Ashley Specht (Liberty)
Girls D2 - Kate Marschner (Bexley)
Boys - Alex Schaffer (St. Charles); Corey Taylor (St. Charles)

400 Free Relay:
Girls D1 - Watterson (Emily Boone, Gracie Finnegan, Catherine Clark, Maddy Bentley)
Girls D2 - New Albany (Suzanne Sliwowski*); Hartley (Taisha Ferguson, Sierra Swanson*, Tiffany Aeling)
Boys - St. Charles (Andrew Birnbrich*); New Albany (Tim Collins)

* Indicates swimmers who practiced with GCSTO during the summer, fall, or both, before practicing solely with their high school teams during the high school season.

We want to make a special acknowledgement of our seven state champion swimmers and our state champion coaching staff from St. Charles:

(Click on the event below each swimmer's name to watch his or her championship race)

Gracie Finnegan
(50 Free, 100 Free)

Tim Collins
(100 Butterfly)

Lindsay Lash
(100 Back)

Ashley Specht
(100 Breast)

Andrew Birnbrich

(200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay)

Alex Schaffer

(200 Free Relay

Neil O'Kelly
(200 Free Relay)

St. Charles State Champ Coaching Staff
(from left: Kyle Goodrich - GCSTO Level 4 Elite & NST Coach, Geoff Gear - GCSTO Elite Distance Coach, Josh Pintar - GCSTO Strength & Conditioning Coach, Brian Church - GCSTO Select Sprint Team Coach, not pictured: Tommy Seay - GCSTO Level 4 Coach)