Gators jump in and swim
almost year-round

[JULY 26, 2000]  On a humid summer morning, the Lincoln Gator Swim Club courageously jumps into the chilled waters of the Lincoln Elks' pool. The Elks' pool is used for practice and for meets during the summer. Lincoln College Natatorium pool is used during the winter months. The Gators energetically swim 10 months out of the year, only resting during August and March.

 As far as practice goes, they do enough of it. These dedicated swimmers practice zealously from 7 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday during the summer. Not easing up a bit, the Gators also practice from 6 to 7:30 p.m. during the winter.

A typical day for the Gators includes a zealous but relaxed workout. The workout usually incorporates approximately 3,000 yards for the more experienced swimmers and 1,500 yards for the young but potentially talented swimmers.

The Lincoln Swim Club got off the ground in 1972 and changed its name to The Lincoln Gator Swim Club in 1975. According to the first coach of the swim club, Sam Redding, the Gators took their name as sort of a mascot.

Today, the Gators are coached by Heidi Heidbreder of Lincoln.

Simple yet significant, the goals of the Gators are to "promote sportsmanship, teamwork and basic swimming skills," Heidbreder said. "An essential portion of the Gators is the basic swimming skills. Without the basics, swimmers cannot obtain their full capacity of the swimming techniques."

 

 

Heidbreder directed attention to a few exceptional talents. Of the older Gators, Heidbreder mentioned that four swimmers come to mind, including 17-year-old Angie Couch. "Angie is genuinely talented and has already broken several records swimming for Lincoln Community High School. Angie is gifted in all areas of swimming, but she excels in the freestyle and the butterfly strokes."

Another up-and-coming talent is 13-year-old Sean Weaver. "Sean has swum with the Gators for four or five years. He also shines in the freestyle and the butterfly."

Mindy Malerich, a four-year participant with the Gators, does remarkably well at each stroke, but her most powerful event is the breast stroke, according to Heidbreder.

Heidbreder also mentioned Malory Hinton, whose freestyle is her best stroke.

As for the younger group, 7-year-old Alberta Danley is exceedingly talented in every stroke. Heidbreder stated excitedly that Alberta swam the 200 I.M. at a meet (200 I.M. consists of a certain yardage of each stroke in one race).

Sam Wood, 8, achieves great success in the backstroke, but like the others performs well at the other strokes.

Last but not least is 6-year-old Brennan Elsas, whose most outstanding stroke is the freestyle.

 

 

(To top of second column)

 

"I feel like every swimmer does well at all the different strokes." However, the few mentioned stand out in Heidbreder's mind.

Heidbreder believes the Gator swimmers perform all strokes well because from the beginning they are taught the fundamentals of swimming. As time goes by, the swimmers keep practicing all the strokes, not just one certain stroke. Therefore, eventually all the strokes are improved.

According to Heidbreder, another attraction of participating with the Gators is that swimmers can obtain friendships from swimming. It's "as easy as one, two, three" for the swimmers to acquire many friendships when the Gators swim together almost all year-round. "Amazingly, the group gets along well, which makes them fun to be around," Heidbreder said.

If you would like to find out about how to get involved with the Gators, pay attention, because they don't advertise much. Most advertising is usually done by word of mouth.

The Gators consist of various age groups. These groups include age 8 and under, 9-10, 11-12 and 13-14. Finally, there is the seniors group which includes kids aged 15-18.

 

 

For people interested in attending a swim meet, Heidbreder explained that the Gators usually compete in one meet per week during the winter and two meets per month in the summer season. During the summer there may be large meets which last more than one day. These meets usually occur Friday through Sunday. Most other meets are one-day events, which also occur on weekends.

The Gators participate in USS meets, which can have as many as 15 to 20 teams per meet and 100 swimmers per age group. Each member is required to pay a fee in order to swim with the team. There is a $25 per month fee and a $36 USS yearly fee to participate in the Gators.

"Kids aren't the only ones who have to be dedicated," Heidbreder said. Parents are responsible for taking kids to and from meets and for buying swimming supplies such as goggles and swimsuits.

According to Heidi, the best part about coaching the Gators is "definitely the kids. They are so fun to be around and they are a great group of kids."

You can contact Coach Heidi Heidbreder at 735-3421 or Jayne Weaver at 732-7073 for further information.

 

[Cassie Hewitt]

 

Click here to see pictures of the Gator swim team and their supporters.

 


"Illinois native Brian Cook looks to bang with
the big boys at the junior worlds"

Brian Cook started and finished with 11 points in Team USA's loss to Argentina in the gold medal game. Cook went three-for-five from the floor, was one-for-one on 3s and hit all four of his free throw attempts. He pulled down one rebound and played 17 minutes. Team USA was awarded a silver medal.

An update on Brian Cook is featured this week in CNN's SportsIllustrated.com. You can read all about it by clicking on the following link:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/college/features/2000/spotlight/
brian_cook/
  


Junior high baseball tryouts scheduled

[JULY 26, 2000]  Baseball tryouts for boys at Lincoln Junior High School will be Monday, July 31, through Wednesday, Aug. 2, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. each day. In order to try out, boys must have an updated physical (within one year) and a signed insurance waiver. Forms can be picked up at LJHS.

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Commentary by Jeff Mayfield
Tiger is simply "the
best that’s ever been"

[JULY 25, 2000]  All of the sports writers today come close to saying it, but they won’t spit it out. They’re probably waiting to see if Tiger Woods can consistently win major golf tournaments year after year the way Jack Nicklaus did in his prime. The LDN is not going to wait. Years from now our grandchildren are going to ask us if we ever saw Tiger Woods in his prime. Not only did we see him; he overwhelmed us. He doesn’t just win golf tournaments, he obliterates the field. In the movie "The Natural," starring Robert Redford as the old rookie Roy Hobbs who finally makes it to the major leagues, there is a scene where Hobbs is busted up, lying in a hospital bed. A friend asks him what he wants from the game and his reply is a classic one: "I want people who are walking down the street to say, ‘Hobbs was the best that’s ever been.’" This week the LDN makes that claim regarding Tiger Woods!

Tiger Woods is to golf what Michael Jordan is to basketball, what Ruth and Mays are to baseball, and what Gretsky is to hockey. In this day and age when every periodical and every radio and television outlet name their top 50 or 100 athletes…STOP THE PRESSES! There’s a new sheriff in town. You might as well tear up all of those lists because Tiger is moving up the list so fast that even Jaws on an empty stomach at Amityville beach couldn’t have eaten up more people than the Tiger has!

Woods has left the PGA tour players in his wake. He’s left the place a vast wasteland. Some expert commentators say the rest of the field is playing for second place…I disagree. I think they are playing for pride. They have to get within single digits of him. For five hundred years people have heard and told the tales of golf, but this is a new story. I fear that when we tell our kids and our grandkids how dominating that Tiger was that they will look at us as if we’re telling them a fish story or one of our own golf tales that get better with age.

 

 

I don’t know if our recounts of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach or the British Open at St. Andrews will do the true story justice. I mean, how do you describe the complete annihilation of the greatest golfers in the world on two of the legendary courses? Tiger has made a mockery of the game. If he wants to win, he will. At 2-1 odds he blew away the field!

He can even win the way he wants to. If he wants to play it straight, he can win that way. If he wants to punch the ball under or through the wind, he can win that way. Or, if he wants to putt the ball any time he is within 65 yards of the pin, he can win that way. He was never in a bunker this week on a course that is famous for eating golf balls. I haven’t seen a stat on this, but I can’t think of a time when a winner wasn’t in at least one sand trap in route to the winner’s circle.

 

 

He didn’t even play all that well in his final round. I know he shot a 3-under-par round. But, if you studied him, he was not happy with his round most of the day. His approach shots were flying the pins, and his putts were coming up short most of the day.

 

(To top of second column in this section)

And in spite of what he felt was a lackluster performance, he blitzed his fellow competitors by eight shots, which was still the largest margin of victory in 87 years of golf’s oldest major championship. He became just the third player in Open history to win with four rounds in the 60s. His 19-under 269 will reign as the lowest score in relation to par EVER in a major championship and of course, the lowest score ever recorded at St. Andrews. It seems fitting that as St. Andrews has long been recognized as the home of golf, those people got to see the coronation of the new king!

When Woods tees off at Valhalla in August, he will chase Ben Hogan as the only other golfer to win three majors in one year…and this LDN observer will not be betting against him! Tiger has now entered elite company. He joins Gene Sarazen in 1935, Ben Hogan in 1953, Gary Player in 1965 and Jack Nicklaus in 1966 as the only players in history to win the Grand Slam (for those who may not know…the Grand Slam of golf is achieved by winning the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA championships) of golf.

Oh, and by the way, that makes Tiger, at 24, the youngest player ever to do it. He also did it in his 93rd event, while it took Nicklaus 125 to accomplish the feat.

I agree with what five-time British Open champion, Tom Watson said about Tiger, "He is something supernatural. He has raised the bar to a level that only he can jump."

A few years ago, Lincoln resident Brad Neal and former Lincolnites Curt Swan and Brad Bumgardner and I got to follow the then-amateur Woods as he played a practice round with Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. I got right next to the rope and walked alongside Tiger to make the ensuing picture appear as if I were in the foursome. But, I won’t do that the next time that I encounter Woods. The next time I see him, I’m gonna say, "There goes the best that’s ever been."

 

[Jeff Mayfield]

 

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