Victorious again

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NEGAUNEE - The Marquette Senior High School swim team won both the girls and boys Upper Peninsula swimming/diving titles in 2009, led by Brad Cowan's four first place finishes on the boys side and Rhonda Rossway's three firsts for the girls.

Saturday in Negaunee at the Teal Lake Swim for Diabetes, Rossway and Cowan added another first place finish to their respective resumes: Cowan finished the 2.25-mile swim across the lake in 52 minutes, 19 seconds for first overall, while Rossway was the first female to reach the Al Quaal beach, with a time of 58:41.

Matt Williams, former MSHS coach and current Northern Michigan University swim camp instructor for a handful of Marquette swimmers - including Rossway, Cowan, second-place women's finisher Annie Bengry and men's third-place winner Wes Vear - said the results of the Teal Lake Swim were about what he expected.

"I expected it because these kids just train like animals," Williams said of the Marquette swimmers. "That's the real reason. They put in the time. This is just the result of the time they put in."

Williams has the Marquette swimmers currently swimming up to 12 hours per week, along with strength training and conditioning, as part of the NMU summer swim camp he's running.

Included in the training recently was open-water swimming in Teal Lake.

"With open-water swimming, it's just gaining a little experience of what the lake looks like," Williams said. "For some people, it's a little freaky not having lanes on the bottom of the pool to follow."

One competitor freaked out by the open water was Rossway, who oddly enough, holds the all-time record for the Teal Lake Swim, finishing in 49:13 last year.

Rossway said she doesn't really understand the correlation between being afraid of the open water and swimming well in it herself. But having her dad as a safety net does help.

"I don't know how it works," she said. "Mentally, it's a challenge. I do have my dad kayaking next to me, every time I swim it."

But Rossway might not have been in the race if not for the motivation of this year's special guest, nine-time Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz.

"(Friday night), after we had dinner with Mark Spitz, he gave this motivational thing about, 'no one's won yet, no one's finished yet,'" Rossway said. "It really inspired me.

"I'm like, 'you know what? I'm going to do it,'" she added. "Plus, they (her MSHS teammates) singled me out, and told me I had to."

Spitz was at the finish line to greet all the competitors when they finished Saturday.

One spectator commented to Spitz that Cowan, the first out of the water, looked tired when he made it to the beach.

"But he feels great," Spitz responded. "You know why he feels great? Because he's done."

For Cowan, seeing Spitz there when he rose from the water made the win that much more memorable.

"It was a great feeling," Cowan said, "meeting one of the greatest Olympians of all time and having him shake your hand."

Rossway was also impressed with Spitz.

"You'd expect someone like that to just be all arrogant and, (say) 'U.P.? Bunch of hicks,'" she said. "But he's wonderful. Just great."

For Williams, who watched as Spitz captured his then-record-breaking seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, the experience of meeting the legendary swimmer was a bit different.

"I had the poster of Mark Spitz on my wall when I was growing up. The famous seven gold medal poster," Williams said. "So, he was my childhood hero.

"It was very cool to have him here in the U.P. and I think it's inspirational, at least to some of us who are a little bit older and remember his heyday."

The event was held to raise awareness about childhood diabetes and money for Upper Peninsula children with diabetes to attend summer camp.