Dara Torres

In the article "A quest to prove she's clean," Dara Torres talks about the impossible situation in which she finds herself. At 40 years old, after having a baby, after being in the Olympics four times (and sitting out one), she remains one of the best swimmers in the world.

Then came last summer's breakthrough meet in Monte Carlo, then the USA Swimming National Championships in Indiana, where she broke the U.S. mark in the 50 free, blazing the pool in 24.53 seconds, nearly a second-and-a-half faster than the first time she set the U.S. record back in 1983.

After the broken record, Torres and Lohberg agreed to meet head-on the inevitable steroid questions that would follow. She met with Travis Tygart, the CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

"I don't know what programs you have or what you do, but I want to be an open book," Torres recalled telling him. "You can DNA-test me, blood-test me, urine-test me, whatever you want to do. I'm here, you can do it."

She reminds me a bit of Lance Armstrong -- a truly extraordinary athlete hiding in plain sight among the dopers.

Korrey Short wins Sectional Diving Championship

Congratulations to Norwell's Korrey Short for winning the State one-meter springboard diving championship. He'll move on to the Regionals tomorrow night and, hopefully, the State finals on Saturday.

Norwell takes 18th

The Norwell Girls Swimming Team took 18th place at State today, scoring 24 points -- not quite overshadowing Carmel's 387 points and 22 State Championship in a row. The only area teams which scored better than Norwell, were Homestead which took third place and Snider which took eighth.

Most of Carmel's winners seemed to be underclassmen, so they look to stand a good chance of setting the all time high school State-Championships-in-a-row record next year. 22 in a row -- man, that's a generation!

Brink takes 5th

Norwell's Paige Brink took 5th place in the 200 Yard Freestyle with a 1:53:97 at the state finals on Saturday.

Brink also placed 10th in the 100 Yard Freestyle with a 52:85.

The Norwell 400 Yard Freestyle relay team 16th with a time of 3:42:61.

An excellent showing. Well done!

Update: Center Grove's Micelle McKeehan set the US high school record in the 200 Yard Individual Medley at the Indiana State Finals with a swim of 1:56:87.

Correction: I've corrected the record above to read "US high school record" -- not the same as "US record."

Swim Finals

It appears that Norwell Senior Paige Brink swam 52.85 in the 100 Yard Freestyle, fast enough to make it to the finals tomorrow on the "B" heat. The fastest time was 50.74.

Brink swam 1:54:15 in the 200 Yard Freestyle, which is good enough for the "A" heat in the finals. The fastest time was 1:50:43.

The Norwell 400 Yard Freestyle Relay team also swam well enough tonight to make the finals, on the "B" heat with 3:42:61. The best time was 3:32:86.

I believe that all those Norwell times may be personal bests, if I'm reading the Psych Sheets correctly.

Carmel is going for their 22nd State Swim Meet win in a row, which would tie the record set by a High School in Hawaii... and they look well capable of winning tomorrow.

More from the Bluffton News-Banner

Paige Brink Leads Norwell

A nice article on the Norwell Girls' Swim Team, which will be headed to the State meet this weekend at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis

Brink has made it to state four times. As a junior in 2007, she placed ninth in the 200 yard freestyle in 1:55.44. However, as a sophomore in 2006, she was clocked at 1:54.71 in the prelims.

"The biggest thing is knowing that when you go down there that it's just another swimming pool. You swim and you practice every day of the season and when you go down there your body knows what to do. You can't just freak yourself out, because it's just another pool. It's just another swim meet. The girls just have to go down there and soak it all up," she said.

Preliminaries for all swimming events will be held Friday, Feb. 8, at 6 p.m.

Diving preliminaries and semifinals begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, followed by the consolations and finals for all events at 1 p.m.

Admission is $8 per session or $12 for both days.

A webcast of Saturday's championship and consolation finals will be aired at http://www.ihsaasports.org

Good luck, girls.

More on Girls Swim Title

Seven firsts lead Knights

Girls Win Swim Title

The Norwell Girls Swim Team won the Jay County Sectional

Paige and Logan Brink combined to win four individual events and swim on two winning relays at Jay County, fueling the Knights’ 105-point victory in the Jay County girls swimming sectional.

Norwell swimmers won seven events.

Congratulations, Girls!