Introducing Abigail Goodrich - August 25, 2008

Coach Goodrich and his wife, Jamee, want to inform the team about the birth of their daughter, Abigail Laynn Goodrich, at 5:05 p.m. on Wednesday, August 20. Abi weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long. We're all very happy that she looks like her mom.

The birth itself went very smoothly, but we actually had a bit of a scare for Jamee late Wednesday night. Jamee had a hematoma which burst; it caused a lot of swelling and blood loss which required emergency surgery. She did a great job and was much braver than Kyle, who had to spend much of that night away from his daughter and wife. But the Lord was with us, and Jamee is doing much better now. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

You can see some of Abi's photos here. And since I've already had a lot of questions, I should mention that even though I'm a Beatles fan, Abi's name is not an homage to the Fab Four; rather, we've always loved the name Abigail, and her middle name is third generation. Besides, the recording studio/album was Abbey Road, and the song was Penny Lane.   ;-)

On another note, I'll update the site soon with several team pictures from the Grubbs family.  They captured a lot of wonderful memories from our record-breaking summer season!
                                                                                                                                                                   - Coach Goodrich

Americans "Smash" 400 Free Relay World Record - August 11, 2008

As if the Olympics needed any more excitement, the foursome of Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak bested France and the rest of the world last night in arguably the most exciting Olympic race in history. Their time of 3:08.24 eclipsed the previous world record (set by the Americans one day prior) by almost four seconds. It was a thrilling relay and a great example of how inspirational our sport can be.

I used the word "arguably" because I think it's important to remember some of our other outstanding American swimming accomplishments in past Olympic games. We all remember Klete Keller's gutsy performance as he held off Ian Thorpe in the anchor leg of the 4x200 free relay at the 2004 Olympics. You can view that race here.

But for you old-timers, guess what I found? I came across a recap and video footage of the 1984 men's 4x200 free relay from USA Swimming - the US v. West Germany, Bruce Hayes v. Michael "The Albatross" Gross. If you have a few minutes, take the time to read the article, then watch the video clip and enjoy one of the greatest races in history.

You can stay updated on all of the Olympic swimming events at NBCOlympics.com.

Congrats to Ashley! - Ashley Specht, our lone representative at the 2008 Junior National Championships in Minneapolis, swam well and placed top 16 in the 100 breaststroke. You can find complete meet results here. (And from the looks of things, the US will be well represented in a few years if these performances are any indication.)

Championship Meet Updates - July 24, 2008

Congrats to all of our Polar Bears who participated at the Junior Olympics at Miami University and at the Speedo Championship Series - Central Zone at Bloomington, IN.

Junior Olympics - Our younger Polar Bears represented the team extremely well at JOs, crowning Morgan McCafferty and Patrick Kelly as individual state champions in the 10 & under 100 back and 13-14 400 IM, respectively. In addition, the 13-14 boys quartet of William Rosler, Ronnie Bolden, Zach Poltor, and Patrick Kelly claimed state championships in the 200 free and 400 free relays. We reset 15 team records and finished 10th in the combined team score! You can view complete meet results here.

USA Swimming Sectionals - Several of our older swimmers competed at Indiana University, and held their own against some of the best swimmers in the country. You can see "Sectional" results here.

Senior Championships - Many of our swimmers will participate in the 2008 Long Course Senior Championships this weekend (July 24-27). You can find all of the meet results here.

Polar Bears Having Fun - Coach Nye was away at Sectionals, so the assistant coaches and swimmers took a few minutes at the end of practice to goof around. Enjoy the show (and remember to scroll to the bottom of this page and pause the music so it doesn't play over the video).

Click here to see all of our team videos.

First, check out the hilarity that ensues as our team transitions from running sprints to belly smackers. Parents, rest assured that your children don't spend the majority of their practice time working on smacking into the water; after all, we have to continue perfecting our redonkulous team cheers (see below). We figured we had better document the event ourselves since Garrett McCaffrey and FloSwimming weren't present.

Let's Get Ready for a Great Creekside Meet! - June 20, 2008

Check out our knuckleheads having some fun at practice before the Creekside meet. I have a few more videos which I'll upload here. Go Polar Bears!

Also, not that this cheer isn't Olympic caliber, but you'll probably want to scroll to the bottom of this page and pause the Olympic music prior to listening to "Go Bananas."

GCSTO Claims Five Olympic Trial Qualifiers! - April 27, 2008

If you think GCSTO is only concerned with crowning Ohio state champions, think again! Although we crowned seven high school champions and eight club champions this season alone, our club is still dedicated to producing talent at national and international levels.

Your Polar Bears, home of 2000 Olympian Amanda Adkins, have claimed five 2008 Olympic Trial qualifiers:

Tim Collins -
New Albany High School

Career Highlights:

Olympic Trial Event: 100 butterfly

2007 National Select Camp member at the Olympic Training Center

2008 Ohio State Champion in the 100 butterfly

11-time High School All-American

15-time High School All-Ohio

2003 Ohio Age Group Male Swimmer of the Year

Arkansas Age Group Champion

Gracie Finnegan -
Bishop Watterson High School

Career Highlights:

Olympic Trial Event: 100 free

2008 Ohio State Champion in 100 & 50 free

3-time All-American

8-time All-Ohio

2-time Watterson MVP

Holds 7 school records

Adam Ritter -
University of Arizona/
Tucson Aquatics

Career Highlights:

Olympic Trial Events: 200 free, 100 free, 200 IM

2007 World University Games - Bangkok, Thailand -

3 Gold Medals, 2 Silver Medals

2007 NCAA 200 IM and 800 Free Relay Champion

2007 Pac-10 200 IM and 800 Free Relay Champion

2006-07 Co-Captain

2006 & 2007 All-Academic Pac-10 Team

5-time NCAA Champion

17-time NCAA All-American

6 University of Arizona Team Records

2007 Sapphire Award - Top Male Student-Athlete - Univ. of Arizona

2007 Pac-10 Conference Medal Winner Outstanding Senior Student-Athlete–Arizona

2006 Univeristy of Arizona Homecoming King

2003 Ohio State Champion in 200 free

2003 Central District Champion in 200 & 500 free

2003 St. Charles Ken Flaherty Award (MVP)

Heather Bradford -
University of Kentucky

Career Highlights:

Olympic Trial Events: 50 free & 100 butterfly
3-time All-American
8-time All-American Honorable Mention
2007 All-SEC First Team
2006 & 2008 All-SEC Second Team
2008 UK Team Co-Captain
2007 SEC Champ in 200 free relay
2008 SEC Runner-up in 200 free relay
2008 5th-place NCAA finish in 200 free relay
2007 SEC Runner-up in 100 butterfly
2007 7th-place NCAA finish in 100 butterfly
UK Record-holder in 4 relays & 100 butterfly
2004 Ohio State Champion in 100 butterfly

Jen Bradford -
University of Kentucky

Career Highlights:

Olympic Trial Events: 50 free & 100 butterfly
Multiple All-American
All-SEC First Team
2008 UK Team Co-Captain
2008 SEC Swimmer of the Week
2008 NCAA Swimmer of the Week
2006-08 SEC Runner-up in 50 free
2008 5th-place NCAA finish in 50 free
2008 7th-place NCAA finish in 100 free
2007 SEC Champ in 200 free relay
2008 SEC Runner-up in 200 free relay
2008 5th-place NCAA finish in 200 free relay
UK Record-holder in 4 relays, 100 free & 50 free
2006-08 UK MVP
2004 Ohio State Champion in 100 & 50 free
Ohio high school record-holder in 50 free

Due to GCSTO's recent success on the national scale, we were honored by having Ed Spencer visit our club last week through the USA Swimming Master Coach Consultant program. Ed - former head coach of Reno Aquatics and Dynamo Swim Club - met with many of the GCSTO coaches over a three-day span and provided invaluable feedback and insight into how our program can continue to excel on the national level. We want to thank Ed for the time and energy that he gave to both our swimmers and coaches.

In addition to the above information, you can also find pertinent Olympics info at the following links:

USA Swimming Amazing Awaits Beijing Olympics
(Scroll down to the bottom of this page and pause the music if you play the "Amazing Awaits" video)

Polar Bears Honored by USA Swimming! - GCSTO has once again been named one of the top 100 swim clubs in America by USA Swimming! Out of over 7,000 swim clubs, GCSTO earned 157,104 points in the Toyota Virtual Club Championships to qualify as one of the best swim clubs in the nation. GCSTO is the only club from central Ohio in the top 100. The only other clubs from Ohio in the top 100 include the Cincinnati Marlins, Dayton Raiders, and Mason Manta Rays. This is not an optional program - all club teams are automatically entered into this program by USA Swimming and then awarded points based on the USA Swimming power point system.

Way to Go, Polar Bears! - March 13, 2008

GCSTO has just been recognized by the USA Swimming National Club Excellence Program as a Bronze Medal Club! Click on the icon to see the rankings.

You can learn more about the USA Swimming Club Recognition Program and Club Excellence Program here.

Greater Columbus Dominates High School State Championships - February 25, 2008

Congrats to our THIRTY Polar Bear swimmers who represented their respective high schools so well this past weekend at the OHSAA State Championships. GCSTO swimmers had 66 total individual and relay swims over the weekend. You can see complete scores and meet results at www.SwimMeet.com. We also had a special treat this year thanks to all of the hard work from our friend, Garrett McCaffrey, you can view every single event from States at FloSwimming. (Remember to scroll to the bottom of this page and pause the music so that the races and music don't overlap each other.)

We want to make a special acknowledgement of our seven state champion swimmers and our state champion coaching staff from St. Charles:

(Click on the event below each swimmer's name to watch his or her championship race)

Gracie Finnegan
(50 Free, 100 Free)

Tim Collins
(100 Butterfly)

Lindsay Lash
(100 Back)

Ashley Specht
(100 Breast)

Andrew Birnbrich

(200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay)

Alex Schaffer

(200 Free Relay)

Neil O'Kelly
(200 Free Relay)

St. Charles State Champ Coaching Staff
(from left: Kyle Goodrich - GCSTO Level 4 Elite & NST Coach, Geoff Gear - GCSTO Elite Distance Coach, Josh Pintar - GCSTO Strength & Conditioning Coach, Brian Church - GCSTO Select Sprint Team Coach, not pictured: Tommy Seay - GCSTO Level 4 Coach)