Swimmer's Daily

  • Gold medal swimmer Missy Franklin made a young woman’s holiday wish come true on Tuesday.

    Franklin visited a cancer patient at Rocky Mountain Hospital For Children.

    Rebecca Carcaterra was in the middle of her sophomore year of college when a tumor was found in her shoulder this October. She was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive bone cancer.

    Carcaterra has been a competitive swimmer since she was 6 years old and has always looked up to Franklin. So when Carcaterra’s father sent a letter asking Franklin to visit, she was happy to say yes.

    See CBS Denver

  • Hempfield Area High School’s swim team lost its captain Tuesday, a senior described as an accomplished and popular athlete and scholar.

    Judson Shiffler, 18, of West Hempfield died Tuesday morning in UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh from injuries suffered when his car crashed into a hillside Monday, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

    High school Principal Kathy Charlton called Shiffler a “solid, really great young man.”

    Read TribLive and see WTAE

  • A young man who died trying to jump from a light pole into a Gisborne swimming pool had spent the afternoon playing football and enjoying a few drinks with friends.

    The 20-year-old had been at his friend’s family home in Lytton West when he attempted the fatal jump from a tennis court light pole.

    “My wife and I were here until just before the incident actually happened,” the property owner, who did not want to be identified, said.

    “There were about 20 of them just having a few pre-drinks before going to Rhythm & Vines. They were my son’s friends.

    Read The New Zealand Herald

  • camren-mitzel

    A former Ashland High School volunteer swim coach convicted last year of having a sexual relationship with an underage team member is headed to prison after reconnecting with her over the Internet and trying to lure her to Georgia.

    Camren Mitzel, 26, pleaded guilty Monday in Jackson County Circuit Court to second-degree online sexual corruption of a child and violating his probation. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison and three years’ post-prison supervision, according to Deputy District Attorney Terry Smith-Norton.

    An original charge of first-degree online sexual corruption of a child was dismissed, court records show.

    Read Mail Tribune

  • Since 1920, every New Year’s Day Vancouverites have taken a cool dip in English Bay in one of the world’s most popular Polar Bear Swim events.

    There were just a handful of people taking that chilly plunge back in 1920, but they were doing so at the behest (and in the company of) Peter Pantages. Pantages was the nephew of the vaudeville theatre circuit giant Andrew Pantages, and he had moved to Vancouver from Greece to make the city his home.

    See vancitybuzz

  • Children at Dursley swimming pool got the chance to design their ideal swimming teacher over the festive season.

    Young swimmers entered the competition to win free family swim sessions.

    Councillor Chris Brine, Chair of Stroud District Council’s Community Services Committee, said: “We were delighted with the huge number of entries we had and will be putting them on display in the pool area in the New Year, after the Christmas break.”

    An ideal swimming teacher from the year six category
    An ideal swimming teacher from the year six category

    Read Stroud News & Journal and see photo on Gazette

  • Erin McNulty has been swimming six days a week since she moved to Humboldt County when she was 11.

    In high school, McNulty was the fastest swimmer at the Humboldt Swim Club.

    Now age 20, she swims the fastest 100-yard butterfly on the Division I collegiate swim team at University of Hawaii — without being able to kick.

    McNulty was an aspiring collegiate swimmer when she began to get excruciating pain in her ankles when she swam.

    The pain came from an extra bone spur in her ankle and a hole in her anklebone — an osteochondral defect or OCD, most likely caused by swimming or running — that filled with cartilage and caused swelling.

    Read Times-Standard

  • What does the average John Doe have in common with 18-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps? From a legal standpoint, the answer might be more than you’d expect—they’re both: a.) human, and hence predisposed to momentary lapses in judgment; b.) subject to the same laws and equal treatment before the justice system; and c.) oblivious or uninformed regarding the intricacies of the legal system. The takeaway? Unfortunately, DUI arrests can happen to anyone, and when they do choosing the right DUI/DWI defense attorney is critical for any defendant—regardless of superstar status. A closer look at Phelps’ most recent arrest provides an excellent case study on effectively managing a DUI charge from start to finish.

    Read Eye on Annapolis

    Image courtesy of Marco Paköeningrat, CC BY-SA 2.0

  • No boats this year, but plenty of pallets

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