Oct. 13, 2006
By Matias Saari, Sports Reporter, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Published October 13, 2006
Posted in Sports, College
Alaska Nanooks coach Scott Lemley pulled up his right pant leg, revealing a walking polar bear stretched across his lower leg.
"I told the girls if anybody finished in the top eight, that I would get a tattoo," said Lemley referring to the 2005-06 Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships. "And that (tattoo) is because of Sam (Zinsli)."
Zinsli, then a freshman, placed eighth last February in Long Beach, Calif., in the 1,650-yard freestyle, setting one of her nine team records in the process.
This season, Lemley has further challenged his team, and with four top recruits and several other swimmers capable of qualifying for the NCAA Division II National Championships, the tattoo artist may be pressed into additional service.
"(Eventually) we're gonna have four walking bears that walk around my leg," said Lemley.
For that to happen, a Nanook swimmer will have to qualify for nationals, place in the top eight there, then win a national championship.
"That's the plan. It could all happen this year, in which case my leg is going to be really sore," said Lemley. "But I don't think so."
But Lemley does believe that a Nanook could be crowned national champion in the next three or four years, optimism that was hardly realistic a year ago when Lemley held tryouts to help field a team and had just 1.6 scholarships to work with (this year he's awarded 5.5 scholarships).
The current Nanooks, beginning last season, are the third swimming incarnation at Alaska Fairbanks, following programs from 1968-73 (Lemley was on the team three of those years) and 1982-87 (when Lemley coached).
Though both previous programs were disbanded, Lemley believes the current program -- it placed 11th of 15 teams at the ultra-competitive Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships in February -- is not in jeopardy of a similar fate. He cited the university's need for gender equity (women's swimming goes a long way toward evening the ratio of female-to-male athletes), the stellar high school swimming programs in the area, and the strong community support.
"I think we're on very solid footing," said Lemley.
The 2006-07 Nanooks are already making waves, as freshman Jacqueline van Driessche from Seward recorded what would have been three school records last Saturday at the intrasquad Blue-Gold meet had they occurred in an official race. Van Driessche, who chose Alaska over DI University of Washington, will get another chance at 5 tonight and 11 a.m. Saturday as the Nanooks host Seattle University at the Patty Center.
Seattle placed ninth at the PCSC last season and 15th at the 2005-06 DII National Championships.
Admission for all swim meets this season is $2 for students and alumni and $4 for all others.
Van Driessche, whose only coach until this season had been her mother, Janet, is adjusting well to a new coaching perspective and her first forays into weight training and two-a-day workouts.
The Nanooks train 20 hours a week, starting shortly after 5 a.m. six days a week. Currently, they swim 40,000 yards per week and will peak at 65,000 yards later this season (that's 650 football fields in seven days).
"Coming up here having two intense practices, you have to go to bed earlier and get rest," said van Driessche, who swims relays, freestyle sprints and breaststroke.
"I really would like to have a relay go to nationals because I've never swam on a team that was big enough to have a relay," she added.
Van Driessche's roommate is Zinsli, a sophomore from Kennewick, Wash., who shares the relay ambitions. While Zinsli's strongest races are the 1,650-yard and 1,000-yard freestyle, where she is within striking distance to qualify for nationals, she's betting van Driessche will be the first to send Lemley to the tattoo parlor.
Zinsli is benefiting not only from the addition of van Driessche, but from a trio of other highly touted incoming freshmen.
"Last year Sam basically swam against the clock for competition since no one else could keep up with her at practice," Lemley said on the Nanooks' Web site. "This year we've recruited an outstanding group of freestylers which I believe will really help Sam make new breakthroughs."
Zinsli concurred.
"I think it will help a lot," she said. "When someone's up with me it pushes me more."
The newcomers include Lathrop High School graduate Jamie Bratten, (backstroke and long sprint freestyle), a six-time Region VI prep champion; Kelly Becker (distance freestyle and butterfly) of Tualatin, Ore.; and Kathryn Niemi (butterfly and backstroke) of Mukilteo, Wash.
The group was to include former Lathrop standout and high school All-American Felina Rosadiuk, but she decided last week to focus on academics instead (fire science).
Experience-wise, the core of the squad is Zinsli, senior co-captain Hilary Carlisle (Tigard, Ore.) and senior Karin Wagner of North Pole, who spent much of last season rehabilitating from shoulder surgery.
Carlisle set five school records last season and won two events last week at the intrasquad meet. She also influenced Becker to attend UAF.
Senior co-captain Rebecca George (Mukilteo, Wash.), the first swimmer in Nanooks history to be flown to Fairbanks for an official visit, had a similar recruiting effect on Niemi.
The 14-member Nanooks' squad is comprised of eight swimmers from Alaska, three from Washington, two from Oregon and one from Montana. There are five seniors, two juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen.
The coaching staff includes new assistant Heather King, who will resign from leading Lathrop's swim team after this prep season, assistant Courtney Walinski and volunteer assistant Tracey Lammer.
While Lemley is thrilled about the current batch of swimmers, he's keeping his enthusiasm in perspective.
"I emphasized to the girls that my primary goal as a coach is to build a program, meaning this team and every team that follows," said Lemley. "I'm always looking two or three years down the line."
