The world record. The gold medal. The underdog who overcame the odds. We are suckers for dramatic stories about swimming. It’s the “Big Wins” that captivate us. After all, they come charging through our screens like a drunk moose: “He turned his life around, committed himself to showing up to practice, and after a few months was on top of the podium!” “She was injured, sick, and had no chance of qualifying for the Olympic team. She didn’t let anything stand in her way and now she’s Olympic champion!” “I...

What if eating your vegetables could help your performance? Were mom and dad right all along? Beets – specifically beetroot juice – is a vegetable that contains a high concentration of dietary nitrate. The nitrate found in these veggies gets converted in the body to nitric oxide, which controls a lot of functions related to exercise performance, such as regulating blood vessel tone and blood flow. Research on nitrates and beetroots showed using beetroot juice for three days improved exercise economy or efficiency by 3 to 5%. Put another way,...

The Pack opened the last day of competition with a win in the girls 200 medley relay which featured the foursome of Briana Mingmuang, Brooke Whitt Franchesca Sanchez and Isabella Chow. Whitt went on to win her first individual state title later that evening winning the girls 50 breaststroke. Chow picked up her fourth state title of the meet with a win in the 100 girls freestyle along with a third place finish in the 50 breaststroke. The Pack then closed out the meet with a pair of wins in...

USA Swimming has released its “motivational times” for the upcoming 2024-2028 quad. The time standards sets varying marks for swimmers aged 18 and under based on relative speed within the corresponding age group. The standards range from B to AAAA to give swimmers benchmarks for goal-setting and track improvement. Some local club meets will also set qualifying standards based on these times. This document from the 2012 quad explains how the motivational times are determined. As a rough overview, they are built around a base “seed time”, determined by the...

Congrats to the following CWAC swimmers that qualified for the IHSA State Championships Maya Arroyo - Saint Ignatius Kaya Duran - Taft Jasmine Morgan - Saint Ignatius Taylor Otey - Whitney Young Renee Tan - Whitney Young Julieta Tracy - Saint Ignatius Brooke Whitt - Whitney Young

Starting on Thursday, September 22 you will notice a change to the CWAC website. The address will be the same and it will have much of the same functionality, but is an upgrade to the Team Unify platform. Click here for a resource guide to help you navigate the site. We will continue to make some upgrades to the site to help improve the look. If you have any feedback please feel free to pass it on. Go Wolfpack! Coach Dave

Congratulations to Marysol Arce, Billy Barth, Charlotte Rosenberg and Anthony Tremmel for making the 2013-2014 Scholastic All-American Team! This is a national award given by USA Swimming to honor swimmers who excel in both the classroom and the pool. Student-athletes need to have a 3.5 grade point average or higher and have achieved the required time standard for each event. Marysol and Billy attend St. Ignatius College Prep, Anthony attends Whitney Young High School and Charlotte attends the Latin School of Chicago. This was the second selection for Marysol, Billy...

For most swimmers it is officially summer. And by summer I mean a couple weeks of almost guilt-free respite where we are able to catch up with friends, sleep in, and slowly peel off the smell of chlorine from our hair and body. While for some athletes the break will be short and sweet before hopping in the pool again next month, for others it will be a long, drawn-out break extending many months. Here are 5 tips for getting back into the water after a long break out of...

Beyond Limit: A Friend And Competitor Tries To Make Sense Of The Loss Of A Swimming Star Tuesday, April 19 2011 9:41 PM Written by: Ian Prichard Coaches loved Fran Crippen for quite a number of reasons. He was always on time, almost always in a good mood. He was vocal, he was motivating, he was enthusiastic. He was attentive and responded exceptionally well to a challenge. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about Fran was not just his willingness to suffer but an actual desire to do so. He...