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Swimming and diving are too sexy

Pioneers make a splash at the annual alumni meet with a wet and wild walk-off

by Abby Rapoport

A lone figure steps onto a three-meter diving board at Obermiller Pool, concentrating on the few seconds of action just ahead. Hours of weekly training would soon culminate in one fleeting moment of athletic free-fall. Suddenly, speakers switch on below and “I’m Too Sexy” begins to bounce off the walls of the pool.

Showtime. Without hesitation, the diver sashays down the catwalk and flips gracefully into the water.

Bryan Boyce / The Scarlet & Black (web.grinnell.edu/sandb) Reid Wyatt '06 competes in the Scarlet and Black Duel on Friday, Nov. 11. The Pioneers blew off some steam the next day at the Alumni Meet.

Thus began the annual Swimming and Diving Alumni Meet. Alums from as far back as the class of ’72 returned to compete in the water and on the diving board at Obermiller Pool on Nov. 12.

It was a much lighter mood compared to the previous day. On Friday, the team competed in a more formal meet to set individual starting points for the rest of the year.

“The improvement we made in one week was really encouraging,” said Head Coach Eric Hurley, noting that she had felt last week’s times to be somewhat disappointing.

The enormous improvement since the time trials last week gave everyone on the team a boost of confidence.

Spring Knapp ’07 came within two-tenths of a second of reaching her season goal for the 100-meter breaststroke, 1:23.5, in the very first meet of the year.

“That kind of time drop this early in the season is mind blowing, especially for someone as old as I am,” said Knapp. She felt confident in the team’s ability to clinch its eighth consecutive conference title after Friday’s performance. “We had a lot of really talented seniors leave but we’ve had a lot of really talented first years come in.”

Sophomore Sean Warlick was also pleased with his Nov. 10 performance. “Swimming well this early in the season is a really good indicator,” he said.

Warlick swam the freestyle leg of the 200-meter medley relay in 22.7 seconds, one of his fastest times.

Last Saturday’s alumni meet kept the positive momentum going with an exciting and entertaining array of short relays. The swimmers divided themselves into odd and even graduation years, allowing first years of ’09 to team up with alums from ’83.

In some relays, recent graduates also had the opportunity to compete against the current swim team.

Although the current women’s team beat their alumni competition, the men’s team split the races against the alumni, winning one and losing another.

“They just managed to squeak a win out,” said co-captain James Taggart ’06.

The most entertaining theme of the alumni meet centered around alum Eric “Country” Blevins ’05, a former diving captain who went to nationals his senior year.

After graduating, Blevins left the water in favor of the runway. Blevins now works as a professional male model. He has posed in the August issue of Maxim, in an ad that Taggart said “the team routinely laughs at.”

Taggart found the weekend encouraging for both swimming and diving. “I think [both teams] will be really strong this year,” he said.

Although diver Garnet Smith ’08 will miss six weeks of the season due to a ruptured spleen, Taggart is confident that Smith will return strong and help lead the diving team to a strong season finish.

Warlick ended the weekend feeling confident about the team’s prospects. “We should win conference again. We don’t want to make any predictions, but it’s a very real goal.”

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