CARE Recruits

06/08/2018

Local high school student Joshua Freund is excited to make his dreams come true, joining the Ivy League as part of the Harvard swim team this fall.

05/09/2017

Support Dynamo Swim Club Family

All of us will miss Jason and the impact he had on our lives, but the ones who will miss him most are Heidi, Jack, Olivia, Kaela, and, of course, Cassie the dog.  Jason adored his family and they were his priority.  He also touched so many lives and unselfishly gave himself to Dynamo, his athlete...

01/18/2017

09/20/2016

CARE Alum: Jordan Ross, Madison Horton, Mary Kate Leary, Henry Parker

09/02/2016

MTHFR first came to my attention when I read an article written by two of my most beloved Emory recruits (Thomas Roos and Andrew Roos upon their graduation from Stanford Medical school - following post) They were using this gene to try to predict injuries in athletes (see article below). When I saw that Calcium was a "player" in the process it connected the dots on a few things:
1) I was tested for MTHFR when getting ready to have babies. It's standard to check for critical genetic mutations like CF. They told me I had 1 "bad" or "not the normal wild type" copy of MTHFR c677 and I should just take a vitamin/supplement that ad folate in it (rather than folic acid which must be broken down to create folate). Vitamins taken, babies arrived. All was right with the world.
2) C677 is considered a "marker" for heart disease. While I had not yet had any heart issues but know to be mindful of health and exercise, my father had already had a massive quadruple bypass, that no one saw coming, and his health was now deteriorating from peripheral arterial sclerosis (like in his legs). No amount of diet, exercise, weight loss, medicine, could help - calcium seemed to be killing him. "I guess it's just bad genetics" was the only answer he was given.
3) I went back to my doctor to get the exact mutations I carried - c677T AND a1298C - the second by it's self is not yet prove to be life threatening but it amplifies the affects of the c677T when present. It turns out my father ALSO has these same mutations.

I called Thomas Roos to get a better understanding if this was the same MTHFR he wrote about in his article, and it was. He said it will still be quite a long time before they can do testing/prediction on how MTHFR affects ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE. Many of the effects of MTHFR really hit you harder as you age, but I am SURE from living in my own body as a swimmer for 20 years there are effects on athletes that can have a negative impact on performance (maybe a good side-effect here or there too...)

Even though we are years away from knowing how it affects athletic performance, it would make sense for a child or young adult who has MTHFR variants (even if they are not yet showing symptoms) to seek treatment on balancing their systems ... in other words why wait for someone to prove that it can hinder sports performance to do something about it.

It's proven to have major medical impacts later in life - it's a double bonus to 1) make adjustments and learn about it when you are young and 2) it being healthier will always make you swim faster - and possibly avoid the pitfalls we have yet to find.

Given the prevalence of the MTHFR polymorphism, it only makes sense that the general population is also very susceptible to histamine intolerance.

08/28/2016

Did you know that when Au Pairs come to the US from South Africa they need to be given the heads-up NOT to offer cash to a police officer if they are pulled over? In SA you end up in jail if you DON'T give the officer cash ... quite the opposite here (I'm sure a few Au Pairs found this out the hard way.) So is it really so far fetched that there might be an unscrupulous officer or two in Brazil? If this is true do you think we would get an apology from Brazil?

A Rio judge does not discard the possibility that the guards' actions could be rightly interpreted as a robbery.

07/26/2016

OLIVIA WANASEK is from Burlington High School in Burlington, Wis. She competes in the freestyle and backstroke events. Wanasek has career bests of 10:38.55 in the 1000-yard freestyle and 17:50.41 in the 1650-yard freestyle. She also turned in times of 59.17 in the 100-yard backstroke and 2:09.46 in the 200-yard backstroke. Using her prep times, Wanasek would rank fifth all-time in the 200-yard backstroke, sixth in the 1000-yard freestyle, seventh in the 1650-yard freestyle and eighth in the 100-yard backstroke at SLU.

Coach Halliburton on Wanasek:

“Olivia will split her time between the distance freestyle and backstroke events. Her sisters (Sara at Cincinnati and Serena at Iowa) both improved a lot during their college careers and we think that Olivia has the potential to do the same.”

Alex Borchers (Hamilton, Ohio/Fairfield), Tyler Guist(Oswego, Ill./Oswego), Matt Loniewski (Brighton, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central), Benjamin Martinez(Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech), Keegan Paulson (Groveland, Ill./Peoria Notre Dame) and Scott Street(Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay) will join the men’s team.

07/26/2016

DEAN FARRIS is the key difference-maker. In his senior season, the Atlanta-bred swimmer turned from a solid freestyle/backstroke combo recruit into a top-15 recruit with an eye-popping four-month stretch. Between Winter Juniors, the Georgia High School State Championships, and NCSA Spring Juniors, he clocked best times of 20.0/43.8/1:36.0 in the 50/100/200 free, 47.4/1:43.0 backstrokes, 21.8/47.7 butteflies, and a 1:47.8 200 IM. All of those are top 10 at the Ivy League championships, with the 100 free, 200 free, and 200 back times all inside the top 4.

Tennessee fans have plenty to be excited about with their incoming men's class

03/12/2016

William Jewell Coach Mark Gole - A man of his word and not afraid to make a big bet - that he would LOVE to lose!

Deanna Meredith writes: "Coach Gole is a man of his word! He bet Paige if she made the finals he would shave his head!! (Sorry Emily). You rock Coach!!"

02/01/2016

Congratulations Coach Neil Yost - this was a battle fought well for a long time!

Next fall, the Mount St. Mary's University men's swimming and diving program will take on its inaugural season.

02/01/2016

Breaststroker Zack Warner discusses his decision to transfer from Auburn to NC State.

12/30/2015

Savannah Swim Team's Jacqueline Hendrix (Pitt) and John Mataxas (Cincinnati) have each announced their commitments to swim in college next year.