A Coaching Memory 

As submitted to the Meadville Tribune

~ PC ~

One of my favorite coaching memories is from February 2, 2005. That's two-two-oh-five for those of us who lived it. The boys made a gang sign afterwards to represent the date: the peace symbol pounded twice on the chest ("two-two"), then the OK sign ("oh"), and finally a high "five." In decades to come, on the anniversary of that date, I imagine they'll assemble, ever more slowly as the years pass, and raise a glass of Gatorade to commemorate the day. They'll talk of those absent and say, "Ah yes, he was with us when we beat McDowell." Yes, they'll remember that day for a long, long time:

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot/ but he’ll remember with advantages/ what feats he did that day. (Henry V, 4.3.49-51)

It all started ten weeks before when Peter Zimmer showed up at the pool. The team had been training for three weeks, and this was the first we'd seen of him. He had his parka and duffle bag in hand; OK, the bag is nothing unusual, but nobody brings a parka to practice - that's just for meets. I knew the signs too well - he was quitting.

"Hey Coach."

"Hi Peter - so, you thinking about swimming this year?"

Well that was stupid! I don't know why I said it; it was obvious he'd come to turn in his equipment.

"Ah, yeah Coach, actually I am."

I don't think either of us can explain what happened in those few seconds, I don't think anybody can, but the rest, as they say, is Meadville Swimming History.

A couple of weeks later, we had our first match-up with McDowell. It went about the way it always went. We had some good swimmers, took some firsts, but they had good swimmers too, and they had us on depth; they beat us 108-77. One thing I remember though, is that with only a couple of weeks of practice, Peter wasn't at his best.

Seven weeks later:

"Hi Dad."

"Hey Cam."

"Have you started the McDowell lineup?"

Our rematch was in two weeks; I usually started the lineup a couple of days out. Camden was a sophomore on the team, his brother Pierce a senior.

"Not yet Son."

"I think we can beat them."

And so began one of the greatest feats of strategic planning in the history of sport, at least when I get to tell it.

It starts with the enemy's roster. Search out best times for their swimmers: past meet results, newspaper articles, anything you can get your hands on. Even back then the internet was making the job a lot easier.

Next you do the same for yours; look at the roster, put down best times. Then try to think like the other coach. What would he do with the same information? A chess game.

Then the real work begins: Retreat to separate corners, work out a plan that gives us a shot, then reconnoiter to compare lineups. No matter how we looked at it - at least on paper - they had us by twenty points, let's say 103-83. Then came the what-ifs; we called them asterisks. 

Asterisks were close matchups where they had us on paper, but we had an outside shot at reversing the result. Take for example the 50 Free. As in all events, each team gets three entries. On paper our third swimmer takes sixth for zero points and their guy gets fifth for one. What if we turn that around and our man takes fifth? That makes one for us and zero for them - now the score is 102-84. How about the 100 Fly? Going in we take second to McDowell's first, we get four, they get six. Can we reverse that? If we do, that's six for us and four for them, the score is 100-86; and so it goes back and forth.

And back and forth it did go, for two weeks, one iteration after another. Finally, we had a dream scenario with Meadville winning 94-92. But we needed to beat the odds on eight match-ups - eight asterisks.

Two weeks later the day arrives. School's finally out; the team files in. It's our Senior Night; that helps break the tension for some of our boys, but it's a distraction for others. Then McDowell arrives; they're in high spirits, nothing to worry about in Meadville, they've got this like always.

National Anthem. The meet begins. 200 Medley Relay - four swimmers, two lengths each, first swimmer Backstroke, second Breaststroke, third Butterfly, the Freestyler is the anchor. Going in it's McDowell's race, but we lead coming out of the last turn. Half a pool to go . . . out-touched by 0.11 seconds; close, but no asterisk.

Next up - 200 Free. Camden takes it, but we called that going in. Our second swimmer is fifth; we needed fourth. A few minutes later - the 200 Individual Medley. Our top two swimmers almost tie, taking third and fourth; we needed second. Three events down, oh for three on the asterisk count; McDowell up 26-20.

50 Free - our Tim Whitbeck wins impressively, but we already had that on paper. No surprise - high school record holder, returning state silver medalist, future national champion for Grove City College. Needing third, our second swimmer is fourth - the asterisk drought continues. Score: 34-28 McDowell.

Diving - our Jason Erdeljac is stellar - future school and district meet record holder, fourth place medalist at states, Big East qualifier for Pitt, but another one we knew going in. Our second diver, Cameron Eddy, takes fifth for one point. We only have two divers so that was automatic; we were counting on it. Five events down, seven to go, the dry spell continues, hopes begin to wither.

The 100 Fly follows the post-diving warmup. McDowell's Justin Slick is in Lane 4, Pierce in Lane 3. Both off to a good start, Slick's reaction a little quicker. Neither yields; they match up at each turn with synchronous touches. It's down to the finish . . . Coppelli by 0.02, a margin invisible to the untrained eye - electronic timing confirms the result. Our first asterisk of the meet. Finally - that's one. Needing strong performances from our Max Lang and Kyle Balombini we get them; it's a two-point meet, McDowell up 48-46. A sea change comes over the pool. For the rest of the meet no one sits; you're racing or on your feet cheering for your teammates.

100 Free - Whitbeck's first as expected, but Zimmer steals third tying the score for the first time at 55 apiece. Another asterisk - that’s two.

500 Free - We predicted they'd score big on this one, and they do 11-5, but we only need to beat what we have on paper. We do, with Mike Kilburn (third) and Matt Mason (fourth) each moving up one place for five points instead of three. McDowell leads again, 66-60, but we've earned two more asterisks - that’s four.

200 Free Relay - With Whitbeck leading off, we're counting on the win, and we get it. But our second relay moves up from fourth to third for two points with Vinnie LaRochelle, Mason, Kilburn, and Mike Wellmon. Another asterisk - that’s five. Score tied for the second time, 70 apiece.

100 Back - John Bailey takes first, not even close; we were counting on that too. Future school record holder in that event, eventual stand-out for Columbia University, it was a sign of things to come. But a sub-minute swim by Zimmer gives us second, and that's four points instead of three. Another asterisk - that makes six; Meadville is up again, 80-76.

100 Breaststroke - Second at the final turn, Camden takes it by 0.23. We'd planned on that, but two more asterisks come from LaRochelle (third) and Kilburn (fourth), each up a place to make the score 90-82 Meadville. That's eight - eight was the number we needed. Now it's down to the last event - the 400 Free Relay.

Usually, your fastest four go in your first relay, next four in the second. McDowell knows they can't win that way, our first relay will beat their second and they'll lose 94-92. They need to split their relay as evenly as possible, hoping to go one-two and making it 94-92 them. For the first time in eighteen years Meadville's boys have a shot at beating McDowell. No one saw it coming, except Meadville's boys.

Whitbeck is done; he's swum all the events he's allowed. For our top relay we send Pierce, Bailey, Zimmer, and then anchor with Camden coming out of the Breaststroke. He's tired, but anchoring buys him three extra minutes of rest. Pierce leads off, then Bailey, with Zimmer third. They know Cam needs a big lead. Even if he was rested, he's no match for the McDowell anchors this early in his career.

I dart over to their block for a quick word - "OK Cam, keep it comin', everything you have!" - and then back to poolside. The starter gives the command, "Take your mark." . . . lead-off swimmers come down and hold . . . they're off. Pierce and Bailey swim like men possessed, Zimmer will give no ground, and yes, the boys have delivered Cam a big lead, but is it big enough? Three seconds later, with the game already afoot, McDowell lets slip their dogs of war. Relays split to perfection, they leave almost simultaneously. The chase is on; can they run us down, or will we break up the one-two? That's all we need for the win. Going into the last turn, it's clear their Lane 4 has it. Cam comes off the wall with a slight advantage over McDowell's Lane 2, but their man is closing hard; it's down to this. (Cue Eminem, Lose Yourself, " . . . this opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo . . . ")

The crowd thunders; the dome-covered Rec Complex reverberates in reply. Everyone's up, shouting, arms in the air. I've become a spectator; the cards shuffled, the hands dealt, now they're playing out, a game of high-stakes poker. They say poker players have a tell - some hint in body language that tips their hand. Mine is a tell-tale heart - a hand on the chest would detect it. Instead, a hand touches the wall; 0.43 seconds later another hand touches the wall. The meet is over. Final score, Meadville 94 - McDowell 92.

Peter Zimmer scored nine points for us that day. He won the meet the day he decided not to quit. Balombini won the meet too, and so did Kilburn, Lang, and Mason. Each scored four and a half points. Without the combined points of D.J. DeVore, Eddy, and Mike Wellmon, it would have been a tie. They all won the meet for us. A two-point victory doesn't belong to one swimmer; it belongs to all of them, and it will for a long, long time.

A good friend sent an email shortly afterwards - it meant a lot to me: "David finally beat Goliath," he wrote, "and he sent his sons into battle to do it." Everybody should have a Goliath, an adversary like McDowell. This story is a testimony to the McDowell swimmers as much as Meadville's. Their perennial high level of performance has made them the standard, the high-water mark, the rising tide that lifts all boats.

It's been many years since that victory, one we've yet to top. Every anniversary some of us stop and remember. When my sons mention one of the boys who swam for us that night, my immdiate refrain is, "Ah yes, he was with us when we beat McDowell!"

One final memory to share; the team is warming down after the meet and Bailey pulls up to the wall, shaking his head. He'd wanted that victory more than anyone.

"Coach - I can't believe we won!"

"Well John, you swam your asterisks off."