But a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to walk quickly in, and take one last picture of the old pool, and officially turn my gaze from memories of the old place to planning for the new pool.

I thought I'd share this montage of pictures, from 1940, 2005, and two weeks ago.

How can you ever truly say goodbye to that?

The second pic is of the beautiful limestone facing brick that is going to be the exterior of the south wall. These windows look out over the Quad, toward Aquinas Hall and the Arches. Just imagine the view in mid-winter, when the magnificent pines are covered with lights...or the view from the Quad, looking in on that beautiful expanse of water.
Exciting times ahead for Tommie Swimming and Diving.

But first, we have some business to attend to in the water...including two big invitationals either side of Thanksgiving, and then a fun weekend where we swim the last-ever meet in O'Shaughnessy Natatorium on December 11, at 6:00, against Gustavus. That meet will feature events from 1941, when the pool hosted its first meet (including the 150 Medley Relay, 220 Freestyle, 50 Yd. Dash, 150 Backstroke, 440 Freestyle, 200 Breast Stroke, and 400 Freestyle Relay.
So mark your calendars, and alumni, look for a postcard in the mail soon.

These 26 new swimmers and divers represent the strongest and deepest recruiting class we've ever had, and they join a very strong group of returnees...a group that posted the highest MIAC and NCAA finish since 1993.

What will 2010 bring, besides a fabulous new pool? Well, time and hard work will tell. But with this group, it's hard not to want to set our goals very, very high.

The swimmers and divers have good reason to be optimistic. We have the strongest incoming class of swimmers and divers (especially divers) that we've had in 20 years, and this fine group of new men and women join a group of returning athletes that posted our best MIAC finish in 18 years. This all means more strength, more depth, and a situation where our swimmers and divers will be challenging each other, and lifting each other.

All this adds up to a ton of optimism. We're going to have a lot of men and women scoring at the MIAC Championships. Can we win a title? That will be answered as the season goes along...but if our swimmers and divers improve like they did last season, no one will question why we set that as one of our team's goals.

St. Thomas sophomore distance swimmer Sam Simon completed a crossing of the English Channel last week.

The crossing took 13+ hours, and she set out in relatively good weather, which turned into very rough seas about five hours into the swim (her parents were estimating 25-foot waves). Sam's captain aboard the safety boat, who was in charge of the crossing, was going to nominate her for "toughest swimmer" of the year...whether this is an honorary or real distinction has yet to be determined, but no one on the Tommie swim team has any doubts.

Congratulations, Sam, on this remarkable feat! You're in inspiration to us all!

For an outstanding TommieMedia report by Matt Linden, follow this link and find the story among those listed:
http://www.tommiemedia.com/

The Clancy Trophy
The women's Most Team Spirit Award is named for the Clancy sisters, Kathy and Colleen. Between them, in the 1980s, they either won or shared this trophy seven times during their careers at UST.The 2009 winner was first-year swimmer Samantha Simon. A hard-working Fly, IM, and distance swimmer in her own right, she was as vocal as anyone on the team, and was totally unselfish in her willingness to be there for others. Unless she was getting ready to swim, Sam was at the end of the pool, keeping someone inspired.Sam will be staying in great shape this summer, as she prepares for a swim across the English Channel in August.

The Corbett-Walton Trophy
This trophy was taken over by the Corbett family between 1986 and 1990, when Tim won or shared it for three straight years, and then younger brother Charlie won it in for the next two. Kirk Walton did almost as well by himself, winning or sharing the trophy four times between 1995 and 1999.
In 2009, the overwhelming winner was Junior Tyler Chase. Tyler was always at the center of any cheer, supporting people at the end of the pool, firing people up in practice, and he carried on the traditional "Happy to be Here" shout right before we'd "power up" after the National Anthem.

The men's captains for 2008-09 were Jeremy Anderson, Tony Linn, and Seth Warren, and the women's team captains were Krista Horejsi and Jill Otterson.

This year's winner is Tony Linn, whose entire career at St. Thomas has been characterized by remarkable improvment. Tony came to St. Thomas with about two years of club swimming as a 9-10 year old. But wanting to be a part of the Tommie swimming family that his brother Dave enjoyed so much, Tony joined up, and learned to swim all over again. This year, he posted sprint freestyle times of 22.90 50.79, and 1:53.90 (the 200 was a 10-second taper), his PRs by a bunch, and like Greg Fitzpatrick, the result of a lot of hard work. And, like Greg, Tony won this award as a Freshman, and while he didn't win last year, he received multiple votes. If we're judged by the company we keep, Tony is doing very well to have his career parallel a wonderful guy like "Fitty."

Our women's Most Improved is not yet named for an individual, but some wonderful people are represented on that trophy dating back to 1980, the third year of women's swimming at St. Thomas. The 2009 winner is Kristie Dameron of Chandler, AZ. Kristie improved throughout the year, getting a little faster every meet, until she dropped her sprint free times right off the edge of the table at the Minnesota Challenge. Every swim was a joy, not only for Kristie, but for those who shared the wonders of a new personal record almost every weekend.

Kristen Murray (Right, class of '02) was named MIAC Academic All-conference each of her years as a St. Thomas athlete. In 2001, she was named Co-Sida Verizon District Academic All-American, one of 20 women honored in the college division that spring., and in 2002, she was named Co-Sida Verizon At-Large National Academic All-American. Kristen was an Aquinas Scholar, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.95 G.P.A. She graduated from the University of Iowa Dental School, and is practicing dentristry with her father in Dubuque, IA.

Dave Linn (right) was twice named to the Co-Sida Verizon At-Large Natioanal Academic All-American team, and four times to the MIAC Academic All-Conference team. A pre-med major, who carried a 4.00 G.P.A through the fall of his junior year, Linn graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2005, and a month later, was named to the ESPN The Magazine's At-Large College Division Academic All-American Team.
Linn is returning to medical school after a two-year sabbatical in the seminary, including a year at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, where he studied philosophy.

This year's winner of the Dave Linn Trophy is Pat Hangge. Pat is a pre-med student, and the son of Monica and Tom Hangge, a St. Thomas basketball player in his day. Pat carries at 3.96 G.P.A. at present.

The women's team enjoyed an embarras de richesses of superb scholar-athletes, with no fewer than five women all tied (give or take a couple of hundredths) for the Murray Trophy. They are:

Anna Kramer, a junior from Madison WI., double-majoring in Journalism (Advertising and Mass Comm) and Business Admin (Marketing and Marketing Management).

Monica Beggs, sophomore, from Houston, TX, majoring in Legal Studies in Business Ethics and Business Law.

Becca Ney, Sophomore, of Plymouth, MN, double-majoring in Education and Communication Arts.

Sydney Kuramoto, Junior, of Rochester, MN, majoring in Biology (Pre-Med).

Sara Wappes, Junior, of Cloquet, MN, majoring in Biology (Pre-Med).

Jena won the 100 Back at the MIAC Championships, breaking her own All-time MIAC record set at last year's nationals. Her time of 56.66 would seed her fourth in the national championships. Then, in the prelims of the 100 Back, she would swim an incredible 55.89, which would stand as the second fastest time in all of Division III this year. Jena also swam the lead-off leg on all our relays, and even held the school record in the 50 Free for a few minutes, until Becca took it back two prelim heats later. But Jena's phenomenal 100 Back stands as one of the most remarkable swims in the 32-year history of women's swimming at St. Thomas.

Becca won the 100 Free at the MIAC Championships for the second consecutive year, and qualified for both the 50 Free and 100 Free in the NCAA Championships. At Nationals, she finished as she was seeded in the 100, (14th) but hit a terrific 50 Free, moving from the 23rd seed to a 14th-place finish. While it is hard to single out one special moment, Becca's anchor legs of our relays at the conference meet were a highlight...especially her anchor of the 200 Free Relay, where she hit the water in fourth place, and overcame more than a body-length deficit to touch the wall one one-hundredth of a second ahead of Gustavus. Her split of 23.26, which she nearly repeated on the end of the 200 Medley) was a half-a-second faster than any other 50 free split posted by any swimmer in the meet.