Swimming

[wh]

Valpo mayor sees more big projects doing for city

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/valparaiso/valpo-mayor-sees-more-big-projects-coming-for-city/article_91697aed-e8d6-5cb5-ad55-9db734e3dac4.html

Costas said he hasn't ruled out another term. If he does run next year, one issue could be whether to build a community pool. He said he hears a lot of comments about building a pool, possibly in cooperation with Valparaiso University and Valparaiso schools, both of which have pools that are inadequate for major competitions.

"Some people have said they could work together to come up with a natatorium that all could use, and they could build something nicer and more cost effective," he said. "That's intriguing to me. It's an idea with some interest, and it would fit the city well."

This article confirms something I heard from a non-university source a few weeks ago.  On the surface it sounds like a wonderful idea.  "School" pools are typically very underutilized.  By combining resources the 3 entities could build a 1st class shared facility that individually they would have great difficulty justifying.   

[valpotx]

That is a fantastic idea, and I hope that it happens.  I don't believe that there would be any plans for a competitive pool area in the field house, so this makes sense for VU.  Much like with Tennis having an indoor court option nearby that has helped recruiting, I believe that this would be a great boost to our poor performing S&D programs.

[VULB#62]

From a VU standpoint (mainly recruiting and just plain association) it would be best if such a facility be located within a reasonable walk of the main campus -- if not right on its land.  The  combined resources of community and university could produce a first rate facility that neither could afford themselves.  The utilization rates  would be consistently high  (e.g., VU meets, HS meets, USASwimming meets, HL conference championships [part of a HL rotation?], HS league championships, Indiana regional/state meets, USASwimming championships, community swimming)  and the exposure immense.  This is also a great way to address something that has been  mentioned in other strings -- the separation/disaasociation of VU and the Valparaiso community.  If I were VU I'd jump at this opportunity.

[okinawatyphoon]

I agree that a combined effort for a new pool is desirable. I would think that the recently acquired Porter County Hospital land would be a perfect spot because it's close to downtown and campus (although far from the high school).

[valpotx]

The hospital spot is where the field house will be

[VULB#62]

There is also a spot next to the field house designated for a soccer stadium, but if you look at the plan closely there is a ton of space behind Brown Field, especially once they re-route Laporte Ave which is also part of the plan.  That plan has a bunch of softball fields sketched in there.  Before the new track construction was announced, I was lobbying MLB to move the Brown Field visitor grand stands in toward the playing surface and building the track outside Brown field in that spot.

[VULB#62]

With the announcement of Belmont joining the HL in MSO and doing scheduling partnerships in WSO, M&WBB, Baseball and Softball and connecting the recent discussion that the city of Valparaiso and the University "might" collaborate on an aquatics center to benefit both the university and the community, I thought it relevant to show how Belmont and the city of Nashville accomplished something akin.

E.S. ROSE PARK
Belmont University has partnered with Nashville's Metro Board of Parks and Recreation to provide $8 million worth of enhancements to nearby E.S. Rose Park which would also allow the University to lease space for athletics. Rose Park opened for play in April 2011.

With a majestic view of the downtown Nashville skyline, the enhancements at Rose Park provide new resources for the Edgehill community and Belmont student-athletes including accessible walking trails and softball, baseball, track and soccer fields.

In fact, in just its fourth-ever game at Rose Park, Belmont Baseball set an NCAA record with 19 runs in the first inning against UT-Martin. Rose Park also sparked the Bruins' historic run to the Atlantic Sun Championship and a regional finalist showing in the 2011 NCAA Baseball Championships.

The Metro Parks Board will maintain the exclusive authority to schedule the use of the park and will remain the sole owner of the park and its improvements. Utilizing the new sports fields and their accompanying concessions will be neighbors from the Edgehill community, athletic teams from nearby public schools, the youth and adult recreational programs of Metro Parks, neighborhood churches, community groups, nonprofit sports organizations and Belmont University.

The university also agreed to award eight full Belmont scholarships and two partial ones to students in the Edgehill community and help sponsor neighborhood little league baseball and softball teams.

Here's the link to the Belmont facilities page:

http://belmont.prestosports.com/information/facilities/rosepark

[78crusader]

I don't think this is a good idea overall.  Such a facility would not be built anywhere close to VU, for starters.  It would probably get built along the Highway 49 bypass or some other location remote from the VU campus.  The old hospital property was mentioned but that is going to be used for the fieldhouse.  Even if the fieldhouse wasn't going to go in that spot, there isn't enough parking to make it work.  It is a congested area and I think the city would want it somewhere in a more open area. 

Second, this would be a "community" pool with the emphasis on community, not VU. It's gonna get used by kids in the summer, lap swimmers during noon, water aerobics for older folks in the morning, kids' meets and open swimming after school and on weekends, and the Valpo High teams.  VU swimmers will be an afterthought on the schedule.  We will get whatever is left over.

Third, we are getting started on correcting the (terrible) idea hatched in the early 1970s of moving VU sports to off-campus locales.  Why move another sport off-site? 

Paul

[VULB#62]

Paul, you make some good points based on certain assumptions.  But I think it would be good for VU under the right circumstances (some of which were mentioned earlier):

In town and very near or on campus.  The Porter Hostpital land can more than accommodate the field house, new soccer stadium, as well as a large aquatics center --- and there is a parking structure already in place that can be augmented by more parking on the plot. 

A facility large enough to accommodate concurrent events , i.e., at least a 10 lane [eight competition lanes] 50 meter swimming pool with a movable bulkhead and a separate diving tank.

VU has preferential scheduling from September through the first week in March.  While many of the community uses you list should be part of a VU/Valpo Community center, many will not interfere with any university athletic competition and VU should go into any such arrangement with a mutual understanding with the city that VU's swimming teams have first dibs.  The offseason and summer schedule would shift to fuller community utilization when the university has little or no need. Basically, the community gets 100% of the  usage from the 2nd week in March to the beginning of September and a lesser percentage September to March.  What we are talking about really is securing a topflight facility for roughly 4 hours per day practice time in season for VU swimmers (plus additional time for meets) in exchange for off hours and off-season community usage.

But, if these three circumstances are not in place, I would have think twice about what you said.

[valpo tundra]

Valparaiso Community Schools will build a new pool on the existing High School site as part of a full renovation of the High School.  VCS does not want to bus any swimmers and divers off campus.  The city remains interested in the old 3D site just north of campus on Lincolnway as a partnership possibility with VU for a new pool.  The problem is, VU got burned big time by a partnership with city heavyweights at the Promenade East complex across from campus.  Insider deals, lawsuits, and bad PR that surrounded that development may make VU think long and hard about a partnership on a pool, arena or other facility any time soon.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Valparaiso Community Schools will build a new pool on the existing High School site as part of a full renovation of the High School.

Maybe.  Let's hope the referendum passes and they build a new HS instead.

[wh]

Valparaiso Community Schools will build a new pool on the existing High School site as part of a full renovation of the High School.  VCS does not want to bus any swimmers and divers off campus.  The city remains interested in the old 3D site just north of campus on Lincolnway as a partnership possibility with VU for a new pool.  The problem is, VU got burned big time by a partnership with city heavyweights at the Promenade East complex across from campus.  Insider deals, lawsuits, and bad PR that surrounded that development may make VU think long and hard about a partnership on a pool, arena or other facility any time soon.

In all due respect I think your comments are unfair and misleading.   VU has not been "burned" by anybody.  There is an investigation being conducted into the development of Promenade East, primarily regarding the bid process by private developers.  It has nothing to do with the university. Your term "insider deals" is completely misleading.  No wrong doing of any kind has been proven by anyone.  What is true is that this is part of a countywide effort (City of Valpo, City of Portage, P.C. Government) by unscrupulous operatives from the political party presently on the outside looking in to regain the power they once had in Porter County.  Porter County has never seen this this level of dirty politics in its history.  It's Chicago style politics at its worst - dark and destructive.  If there's any truth to it, we will know soon enough.  If not, the accusers will be held to account by the citizenry.     

[covufan]

Congrats to the swim team!

------------


Four More Records Set on Final Day at Calvin Invitational

Saturday, December 06, 2014


The Valparaiso swimming and diving teams concluded action today at the Calvin Winter Invitational in Grand Rapids, Mich, setting four more school records at the Venema Aquatic Center.

Max Penn (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) set the school record in the 200 yard backstroke "B" finals, touching the wall in 1:53.56. In the "A" finals, Matt King (Clinton, Ill./Clinton) finished in sixth place in 1:54.62, good for second best all time. The senior improved his personal best by over a second – which was the second fastest time at Valpo – and besting the previous record by .29.

Makenna Cannon (Delafield, Wis./Kettle Moraine) set the school record in the women's 200 yard breaststroke, finishing in 2:22.68 during the prelims, almost three seconds faster than the previous record. In the "A" finals she finished in sixth just .02 behind Emily Trimpe (New Palestine, Ind./New Palestine). Trimpe touched the wall in 53.65 in the women's 100 yard freestyle "B" finals, good for sixth-best all-time at Valpo.

Gonzalo Castro Diaz (Mexico City, Mexico) set the fastest time in Crusader history in the men's 100 yard butterfly, touching the wall in 50.78 and finishing sixth in the men's 100 yard butterfly "A" finals. He also moved up a spot on the 200 yard IM board, finishing the "A" finals in 1:55.22.

Dani Gomez Barrientos (Mexico City, Mexico/Grandview Prep [Fla.]) set the fastest Crusader time all-time in the 200 yard IM with a 2:08.85 in the "A" finals. She also moved up to the third spot in the Valpo record books, touching the wall in 5:07.04 in the women's 500 freestyle "A" finals as she finished third. She improved her personal best by over two seconds from earlier in the season.

The men's 400 yard freestyle relay team of Castro Diaz, Fred Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany), King and Kyle Braun (McHenry, Ill./West) set the third fastest time in Valpo history with their 3:09.26, claiming fourth place.

The women's 200 yard medley relay team of Flavia Segatto (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Charles W. Flanagan), Cannon, Barrientos and Erin McBride (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) tied the fifth fastest time in school history with their 1:50.57 to finish in seventh place.

The men's relay team of Penn, Jenny, Castro Diaz and Braun set the second fastest time in school history as they touched the wall in 1:34.62 and finished in fourth place.

Segatto would finish just behind Gomez Barrientos in the 500 yard freestyle in fourth place with a time of 5:08.10.

Braun would set the seventh fastest time in Valpo history in the 100 butterfly with his time of 53.12 in the prelims. Later in the 100 yard freestyle prelims, Braun would swim a 46.97 and set the third fastest time in Crusader history. He would finish eighth in the "A" finals with a 48.10.

Jenny moved into fourth place at Valpo in the men's 200 yard breaststroke, as the junior swam a 2:09.86 in the "B" finals.

The men remained in fifth place and finished with 385 points, while the women stayed in sixth place and finished with 332 points.

This marks the last event for Valpo before the new year. The Crusaders return to the pool on Saturday, Jan. 10 when they host Rose-Hulman at the ARC pool. Start time is set for 1:00 pm CT.

[vu72]

Congrats to the swim team!

------------


Four More Records Set on Final Day at Calvin Invitational

Saturday, December 06, 2014


The Valparaiso swimming and diving teams concluded action today at the Calvin Winter Invitational in Grand Rapids, Mich, setting four more school records at the Venema Aquatic Center.

Max Penn (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) set the school record in the 200 yard backstroke "B" finals, touching the wall in 1:53.56. In the "A" finals, Matt King (Clinton, Ill./Clinton) finished in sixth place in 1:54.62, good for second best all time. The senior improved his personal best by over a second – which was the second fastest time at Valpo – and besting the previous record by .29.

Makenna Cannon (Delafield, Wis./Kettle Moraine) set the school record in the women's 200 yard breaststroke, finishing in 2:22.68 during the prelims, almost three seconds faster than the previous record. In the "A" finals she finished in sixth just .02 behind Emily Trimpe (New Palestine, Ind./New Palestine). Trimpe touched the wall in 53.65 in the women's 100 yard freestyle "B" finals, good for sixth-best all-time at Valpo.

Gonzalo Castro Diaz (Mexico City, Mexico) set the fastest time in Crusader history in the men's 100 yard butterfly, touching the wall in 50.78 and finishing sixth in the men's 100 yard butterfly "A" finals. He also moved up a spot on the 200 yard IM board, finishing the "A" finals in 1:55.22.

Dani Gomez Barrientos (Mexico City, Mexico/Grandview Prep [Fla.]) set the fastest Crusader time all-time in the 200 yard IM with a 2:08.85 in the "A" finals. She also moved up to the third spot in the Valpo record books, touching the wall in 5:07.04 in the women's 500 freestyle "A" finals as she finished third. She improved her personal best by over two seconds from earlier in the season.

The men's 400 yard freestyle relay team of Castro Diaz, Fred Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany), King and Kyle Braun (McHenry, Ill./West) set the third fastest time in Valpo history with their 3:09.26, claiming fourth place.

The women's 200 yard medley relay team of Flavia Segatto (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Charles W. Flanagan), Cannon, Barrientos and Erin McBride (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) tied the fifth fastest time in school history with their 1:50.57 to finish in seventh place.

The men's relay team of Penn, Jenny, Castro Diaz and Braun set the second fastest time in school history as they touched the wall in 1:34.62 and finished in fourth place.

Segatto would finish just behind Gomez Barrientos in the 500 yard freestyle in fourth place with a time of 5:08.10.

Braun would set the seventh fastest time in Valpo history in the 100 butterfly with his time of 53.12 in the prelims. Later in the 100 yard freestyle prelims, Braun would swim a 46.97 and set the third fastest time in Crusader history. He would finish eighth in the "A" finals with a 48.10.

Jenny moved into fourth place at Valpo in the men's 200 yard breaststroke, as the junior swam a 2:09.86 in the "B" finals.

The men remained in fifth place and finished with 385 points, while the women stayed in sixth place and finished with 332 points.

This marks the last event for Valpo before the new year. The Crusaders return to the pool on Saturday, Jan. 10 when they host Rose-Hulman at the ARC pool. Start time is set for 1:00 pm CT.

Individually, absolute congratulations.  From our University record standpoint, not so good.  We were the ONLY D1 program in the field.  Max's SCHOOL RECORD was good for a 5Th place finish.

Makenna Cannon's Record was also good for 6Th.

etc, etc., etc., Certainly not demeaning the individual accomplishments.  Heck, I'd drown in the first 25 meters.  My point is that if we ever hope to be competitive in the Horizon we are going to need swimmers of a different caliber.  Swimming is by far our least competitive sport.

[covufan]

Individually, absolute congratulations.  From our University record standpoint, not so good.  We were the ONLY D1 program in the field.  Max's SCHOOL RECORD was good for a 5Th place finish.Makenna Cannon's Record was also good for 6Th.etc, etc., etc., Certainly not demeaning the individual accomplishments.  Heck, I'd drown in the first 25 meters.  My point is that if we ever hope to be competitive in the Horizon we are going to need swimmers of a different caliber.  Swimming is by far our least competitive sport.

Yes, I kind of got that message as well.  I think that VU swimming is on the rise with their talent, as reflected in the setting of 'school' records, possibly from many years ago.  Hopefully, we'll get the swimming program into HL Division I competition mode in the next few years.

[valpotx]

The good thing is that we are getting swimmers that are capable of breaking VU records first.  If we get some type of setup in the future similar to Tennis where we can have a shared site close by, it will increase our recruiting substantially.  I have always said that M&W Tennis, T&F/CC, Golf, and W Bowling should be solid programs at a school like Valpo.  These athletes are usually more concerned with a quality education if they don't have top talent to go pro, so it puts us at the top of the HL if we have comparable facilities. 

[Vinny]

How many scholarships do the teams hand out?

[mvandersee]

How many scholarships do the teams hand out?

I remember reading a couple of years ago (please correct me if I'm wrong) that NCAA Men's Swimming teams can give out the equivalent* of 10 scholarships and Women's teams can give out the equivalent* of 14.


*The equivalent part meaning that they can be split up, so you could theoretically have 20 guys with half scholarships instead of 10 guys on full rides and the rest paying full tuition

[VUSWIM08-12]

I've enjoyed reading through all these comments albeit 2 years later. At least there has been some interest in the swim program over the years. Having swam from 08-12 I would agree with most of these comments. We beat one Division I team in my 4 years, the facility is absolutely atrocious, we only have 1 scholarship on each side, and The Head Coach: Howard Hunte makes nothing but VU has sponsored his visa since his hiring in 2008. I have been coaching at the DIII level since 2013 and still have yet to see a pool worse than Valpo's. There have talks for years about a new pool from the town etc, but unless its run extremely efficiently( hosting events every weekend)  it will lose money each year.  The last I heard the site was going to be behind Trails Liquor near the large white abandoned building. Anyway its been a cat and mouse game between VU and the City and nothing has happened. The coach has done well with the resources he has been given. It's just sad really, no one cares enough to make anything happen. I encouraged my sister to go to Valpo and she has done fairly well, and should break a couple school records in 16'-17', her senior year. Like someone said those records will probably only get her 10th or 12th place at Horizon League's.

Look at Oakland, there AD was a former swimmer and they have one of the nicest facilities in the nation. I went there for the first time  this past February to watch my sister swim at HL's. She  had the highest finish for Valpo on the women's side, 13th I believe. The sport is extremely grueling, and takes a mental toll especially when you have trained so hard during the season to just get dominated at HL's. The addition  of Oakland made the HL much more competitive, but also hurt Valpo in terms of placing people in finals which is the whole point of the meet. LeBarbera, and the Valpo Community have to come together to get a new pool in the works. Its obviously all about money, if someone donates 10+ million(more like 20) then it will be built, otherwise no one cares enough.

Also, there is a local club team(Mako Swim Club) with kids from around the community that train at the VU pool. One of them Anya Goeders is a nationally ranked swimmer and most recently finished 9th at the Olympic Swim Trials. She is an unbelievable talent, and baring injury will go to swim at one of the top 5 swim universities in the nation( class of 2018 I believe from Lowell). She will be one of the best athletes to come out NWI in a long time( her times in practice are faster than VU records and her meet times would win horizon league's no problem, she is 15 or 16) and if Valpo had scholarship and facilities they may be able to land her(The brother of the VU swim coach is her coach) The club team also has several other swimmers who could swim at Valpo , but will probably choose somewhere else.

The current Asst. Coach did a solid job recruiting this past year but even so competing at HL's will be a tall order for the upcoming season, but as always I'll be there to support them. I haven't missed a HL championship meet since coming to Valpo in 2008, The ones I haven't swam at I have been there to support the team and my sister. Looking forward to seeing results from this season!!

[valpotx]

Just like Tennis, Golf, and T&F/CC, Valpo would be able to attract top mid-major talent if we had a decent swimming/diving facility.  These sports usually attract smart kids, so we would have a chance at solid recruits with our academic reputation.

[VULB#62]

 

..... the facility is absolutely atrocious, we only have 1 scholarship on each side, and The Head Coach: Howard Hunte makes nothing but VU has sponsored his visa since his hiring in 2008. I have been coaching at the DIII level since 2013 and still have yet to see a pool worse than Valpo's.

Actually, despite the poor facility, a 25 yard pool is a 25 yard pool.  It's a harder sell, of course, than a glamorous 25 meter facility with a movable barrier that creates a separate diving tank, etc..  But, short of building a multi-million $ Aquatics Center, the university could just invest in (1) a bigger recruiting/support budget for swimming and (2) more D-I athletic scholarships that could compensate, to a degree, for the facility handicap.  As pointed out below, swimmers are a unique bunch. They spend hours looking at a black line at the bottom of a pool most of their young lives.  They are usually above average in intelligence and internally highly motivated in both the classroom and the pool and will take a win whether it's in a palatial pool or a simple one like Valpo's.  Granted when given a choice, a facility and obvious program $upport will attract over the lack of same -- but getting a full or partial ride can offset some of that.  In the short run Valpo could build a very competitive swimming program with out first building a new aquatics center.  In the long run, a few years of competitive success might generate sufficient backing to get to the next level with the addition of a new pool. 

BTW, a year or so ago we chatted here about a VU/Community joint initiative to build such a facility. In that discussion I recall a point made by someone about some dropped balls when it came to the university and the community finding more ways to cooperate. This type of initiative -- an aquatics center located on the VU campus within a walk of downtown could be a great bridge between town and gown and with reasonable scheduling could accommodate VU, the Valparaiso Schools, a locally-based swim club, and the Valpo community as a whole.

[VUSWIM08-12]

Yes the pool is 25 yards and it does serve its purpose, however, there are several things wrong with it. For one the air quality is terrible, the filters were built in the walls and now there is no way to replace them without major renovations. Each year, come January and February, several of our team members would develop a cough that would only get worse with each consecutive practice. It doesn't happen after being there a few days, but after months of training it was 100% noticeable. Two: the blocks are very slick and aren't stable. Three: the lanes are too narrow, very hard to train butterfly with multiple people in the lane. Four:  The diving boards are unsafe; we haven't had a diving portion of the team since 08-09 which takes away from point totals at HL's. For Rec purposes the pool is fine, but to house a D I team not even close!

Yes, more scholarships would help obviously.  The school did buy new touchpads and display board  for 25k+ which helped,  and the parents of a 2016 alum(who are  alums themselves) helped pay for locker room renovations, but  too really see a change a new pool has to be built.   I chose Valpo because I wanted to swim and, at the time, I also wanted to study meteorology. I ended up paying my deposit without even visiting campus which in hindsight was a foolish decision, but I would not have it any other way. Hoping to make it back for homecoming this year, and support VU in any way I can!

[VULB#62]

Thanks for the elaboration on the other conditions of which I was unaware .  I find the ventilation system deficiency to be the most problematic -- that's a health and safety issue.   I also suspect that the gutter system is less than up to current speed standards.  But some of those things, like the diving boards and blocks and even perhaps the HVAC system, still might be correctable with an infusion of maintenance funds -- not millions for a new pool (at this point).  I guess my argument comes down to: first upgrade and provide positive support for what we have, build on it, and expand athletic scholarships to bring us up to a higher competitive standard, then go for the bigger step.  Regardless, both of us want to see greater investment by the university in this program.

[FWalum]

Any possibility that a new pool could be part of the Fieldhouse facility when it is built?

[VULB#62]

Good question.  The graphics that were released didn't seem to suggest that type of footprint but maybe....  that's the problem with the theoretical -- not enough detail.  I don't recall a statement like a field house with an adjoining (or including) aquatic center or some such.