I expect to read about the issues surrounding high-tech suits in Sports Illustrated, Swimming World Magazine and of course on the USA Swimming Web site and other popular swim forums. I’m not even that surprised when The New York Times weighs in on the issue. They do, after all, have at least one former collegiate swimmer on staff who devoted plenty of ink to swimming last year leading up to and through the Beijing Olympics.
But imagine my surprise when yesterday my inbox held a story about high-tech suits from, of all places, that bastion of business and finance news, The Wall Street Journal. Reporter Matthew Futterman on page D8 detailed the controversy rocking the sport as it applies to collegiate swimming.
In the article, Futterman writes that collegiate swimming was “turned upside down” this season when the NCAA decided not to rule on high tech suits. That left programs scrambling to not only find the super suits but had them dishing out thousands of dollars to outfit their rosters, all to the dismay of many collegiate coaches.
"It's like having one pole-vaulter using a fiberglass pole and another using a wooden pole," Phil Whitten, executive director of the College Swim Coaches Association, was quoted. "It's an absolute mess."
Just goes to show a level playing field is of concern no matter the level, whether on the age-group, high-school or even collegiate scene.
NCAA Men's Meet
The article makes a nice run up to the NCAA Division I Men's Championship, which kicks off tomorrow at College Station, Texas, where the women competed last week.
I’ll be keeping my eye on a few former Colorado swimmers. Heritage High School graduate Mark Dylla, now in his second year at the University of Georgia, is ranked first in the 200Y Butterfly, an event he took second in last year at the championships as a freshman.
Agustin Magruder, formerly of the Greenwood Tiger Sharks, swims for the Longhorns and goes into the meet most highly ranked in the 200Y Breaststroke where he is seated sixth. Finally, there’s Steamboat swimmer Blake Worsley, a senior at the University of Denver, who is ranked sixth in the 500Y Free and seeded eighth in the 200Y Free.
Much like the women’s meet, I’m expecting super fast times, and who wouldn’t with the suits and all.