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Q:
Coach Welsh, tell us about this year’s team.
A:
Well, we had a pretty eventful year. We started out the season with 11
swimmers and ended the year with 11, which is good. We were coming
along in pretty good shape up until Christmas time. When we went to
break, the Lincoln College pool broke down, so we were off for three
weeks right in the middle of the season. That really hurt us in the
area of conditioning. I thought the kids performed really well for
having that happen to them.
Q:
Was it almost like starting all over again?
A:
True. The hardest part about coming back was the mental part. They
were finally starting to get to the point where mentally they were
coming to the pool and really working. The other thing was that the
three weeks that we were down we were going to be able to come in
right after school or during vacation. That was going to keep us away
from those 7:30 at night practices. I think we could have gotten a
whole lot more accomplished coming in right after school.
Q:
So, you ended up having a majority of your practices readying for the
postseason at 7:30 at night?
A:
Yes, we did. The main reason we were forced into it is that there is
only one indoor pool in Lincoln. Lincoln College’s swim team had the
pool until 6 every night. The Lincoln Gators swim club was going to
come in two to three nights a week at 6, meaning we’d go at 7:30 and
then we would switch every other night. I just felt that it would be
better for us to stay at one time, and the same with them, rather than
changing every other night. I think that is hard on kids.
Q:
Tell us the difference between the Gators and the Railer swimmers.
A:
Probably three out of our 11 swimmers had previous experience with the
Lincoln youth Gators club. The rest of the team’s experience was
limited to the Rec pool or the Elks pool during the summer. Most of
our athletes just enjoy swimming.
Q:
So, it’s somewhat of a feeder program, but not a total feeder
program then, right?
A:
Yeah. A lot of time there’s too big a gap…you might swim through
fifth and sixth grades, but then once you get to junior high and
participate in sports, swimming is not one of the options. So, if you
come back to swimming at the high school level, you’ve been away
from the sport for two years. That probably needs to change if
swimming is to become more prominent.
Q:
What is the age group for the Gators?
A:
They do have a 6-and-under group, and it will go all the way to 16,
but so many kids are participating in other sports in junior high that
by the time they get to seventh grade the numbers really start
dropping off.
Q:
Tell us about your 11-man squad.
A:
Mainly we had six seniors. Out of those six seniors, five of them are
actually what you would classify as beginning swimmers. We had all the
way from one young man who was a foreign exchange student from Brazil
to three guys who just decided that they wanted to try swimming. The
guys that we did have with experience on the varsity level were, of
course, Ben Sloot…and we also had Craig Shattuck. Those two have
lettered here all four years. Three other letterman that made
contributions were Bill Barmes,
Chad
Kerns and Omar Obaisi. Those guys have all swum at the high school
level. Omar swam for the Gators for a while but not really all that
long. The rest of the team was comprised of new and beginning
swimmers. They included Tom Gallagher,
Rafael
Mancini, Ted Michaelson, Chris Phillips, Jamie Cabit and Dustin
Knollenburg. Managers for this year’s team were Mikki Caskey and Dea
Welch.
Q:
Does every CS-8 school have a swimming program?
A:
No. Jacksonville, Southeast and Springfield do have full teams. Sacred
Heart-Griffin started the year with a full squad but ended it with
just a couple of participants. And Glenwood sent a couple of swimmers
for the conference meet.
[to top of second column in
this article]
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Q:
John, what would you say were a couple of the highlights for this
year’s swimmers.
A:
I would think Ben Sloot getting second place at sectionals and
finally crashing the one-minute barrier in the 100-meter butterfly.
Probably one of the highlights of the whole season, to me, is not
one of those things that showed up in the papers or anything…just
the attitude of the kids right before the pool broke down. They were
really starting to come to the pool working to get better and
realizing that they could get better. Mentally they were really
thinking pretty well. That was definitely one of the highlights to
me.
Q:
Will you be back as coach next season?
A:
Probably not. This program needs somebody to come in that’s going
to be around for a few years to give it the continuity that it needs…just
like any other sport or program needs. Whoever that person is needs
to work with both Lincoln College as a feeder system to go to them
with the top swimmers…down to the Gators developing the young
swimmers and getting them ready for high school competition. Someone
has to stay for a few years so that they can become involved with
the whole process. Lincoln College has one of the best swimming
programs in the junior college ranks, so if you could take a
6-year-old and take him all the way through the program, that would
be the way to go. Obviously, that would really help the whole
program.
Q:
Did Lincoln compete in dual meets or what?
A:
We competed in four invitationals, one quad meet, two tri-meets and
some dual meets.
Q:
Any other swimmers that you want to highlight?
A:
Ben Sloot had another great year. He works hard and is deserving of
the success that comes his way. Omar Obaisi came to the pool every
day ready to get better. I think Chad Kerns was pretty good at
coming and working and trying to get better. Those three guys went
to the sectionals.
Q:
Tell us about how tough it is to qualify for the state meet.
A:
Out of all the events at the sectional, I think that there were only
three events where someone other than the winner of the event was
quick enough to make a qualifying time. That is because there is
only one class for swimming in the state of Illinois, and there are
250 schools. It’s probably the second- or third-toughest standards
in the United States.
Q:
Did anyone help you coach or help out with the team this year?
A:
We had a little help from a couple of the Gator coaches. George
Sloot helped us with turns and starts and with some of our stroke
work.
Q:
What about parental involvement, booster clubs and things like that?
A:
They don’t have a booster club, and that does hurt…probably
because there has been no continuity in the coaching situation. The
parents were very willing to help out where they could.
2001 Lincoln High School boys swimming
awards
Most
Valuable Player
Ben
Sloot
All-Conference
All-Academic Team
Bill
Barmes
Ben
Sloot
Omar
Obaisi
On
behalf of the LDN we salute this year’s swimming team for a job
well done despite the obstacles that stood in their wake!
[Jeff
Mayfield]
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First,
some basic information about the venues for the tourney:
- East and West regionals
play the first weekend on March 15 and 17 and the second weekend
on March 22 and 24.
- The Midwest and South
regionals play the first weekend on March 16 and 18, the second
weekend on March 23 and 25.
- Midwest sites for weekend
one: Dayton, Ohio, and Kansas City, Mo.
- South sites for weekend
one: Memphis, Tenn., and New Orleans, La.
- East sites for weekend
one: Long Island, N.Y., and Greensboro, N.C.
- West sites for weekend
one: Boise, Idaho, and San Diego, Calif.
-
Regional
sites:
Second,
let's examine the eight first-round sites. Five are much more than 400
miles from Champaign-Urbana (New Orleans, Long Island, Greensboro,
Boise and San Diego). Dayton is the closest, approximately 250 miles
from home, while both KC and Memphis are around 400 miles. All three
sites listed above would be within driving distance. Memphis, and the
south region would be a great fit for several reasons:
[to top of second column in
this article]
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Third,
a look at the four regional sites shows a significant travel distance from
the twin cities to all four sites. However, the closest of the four is
Atlanta and the south regional. San Antonio is almost in Mexico, Anaheim
brings the distractions of Disneyland, and Philadelphia (and the east
region) is a lock for the winner of the ACC. By the way, do you remember
who just moved to Atlanta? That's right — former coach Lon Kruger and
staff, who I am sure would be glad to extend some serious Southern
hospitality to his former team.
One
final tidbit of info about Atlanta: Seriously easy and affordable air
travel is available from nearby Bloomington-Normal to Atlanta, with daily
nonstop flights on AirTran airlines for around $200 round trip (I won't
mention to you that AirTran was formerly known as ValuJet).
OK,
enough speculation. Here is what we know:
- If Illinois wins out
(including the Big Ten tourney), they will get a No. 1 seed in the
upcoming NCAA tourney.
- Illinois will get no lower
than a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tourney.
- Illinois has the best depth of
any top 10 team.
- Illinois is playing their best
basketball of the season.
- Illinois will win at least a
share of the Big Ten title with a win Sunday.
- Illinois will get the No. 1
seed in the Big Ten tourney with a win Sunday.
-
Illinois'
players and staff will become serious Wisconsin Badger fans Tuesday
night when the Cheeseheads take on Michigan State in Madison. (On
Wisconsin!)
March is
upon us — let the madness begin. And GO ILLINOIS!
[Greg
Taylor]
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Led
by the sometimes-spectacular play of Cory Bradford and stellar
performances off the bench by Lucas Johnson and Damir Krupalia, the
Illini crushed Iowa 89-63 in one of the most thrilling Senior Days
this reporter can ever remember. Illinois seniors also finished their
home careers on a high note as Marcus Griffin led all Illini scorers
with 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Sergio McClain chipped in nine
points and five rebounds for the cause. And even seldom-used seniors
Nate Mast and Joe Cross saw more playing time than they had seen all
season…yet another reason to believe that Coach Bill Self wasn’t
just the best available young coach on the market…there is something
special about him, and he and the players seem to be getting closer
and closer! If you believe in chemistry, that probably is a very good
thing. What better time of the year to be clicking on all eight
cylinders than just before the postseason playoffs?
Coach
Self responded to the LDN’s notice of that very fact by responding
like this: " I think our guys have matured. They have grown into
their roles. Our bench is ego-less. They know who starts, and they
agree that those guys should get the majority of the minutes. But when
they need a rest or are not performing well, they are ready and able
to get the job done." The LDN couldn’t agree with the coach
more than we do even if we were his assistant coaches (good work if
you can get it!).
[Jeff
Mayfield]
[to top of second column in
this article]
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Speaking
of the bench, how about these numbers: Damir Krupalia, 13 points and nine
rebounds, and Lucas Johnson, 16 points and eight rebounds. And get these
totals: Illini bench, 37 points and 21 rebounds; Iowa bench, 14 points and
11 rebounds!
Cory
Bradford and Brian Cook had some of the most spectacular plays of the day.
Bradford finished with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and sounded like
Arnold after the game when he uttered, "I’m baack!" Cook
finished the day with seven points and four rebounds and, incredibly, once
again missed only one shot. His emergence has not gone unnoticed locally
or nationally. In this week’s ESPN (the magazine), they point out how
much he continues to improve and the force that he has become.
It
now all comes down to the showdown in the Gopher Dome. If we continue to
play unselfishly…and if we continue to get on the boards and on the
floor for loose balls…and if we can heal up and try to stay healthy from
here on out…we could quite possibly have a good Big Ten tournament and a
deep NCAA playoff run in store for us.
But
first…the matter at hand. Let’s go up and take care of business at
Minnesota!
To the
seniors, the LDN says thank you, and we salute your efforts on the court,
in the classroom and beyond. May you always wave the orange and blue
banner wherever you end up!
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