Alan Karickhoff - (Author)

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern Among the forested hills and valleys, the farms covering the flatlands, and the rivers flowing into Lake Erie, 10 suburban cities compete in the Northeast Ohio Suburban Swim League. The competition spans eight weeks of the short Northern Ohio summers...

By Alan Karickhoff, College Swimming Intern “Where should I park?” I asked a volunteer who stood at the entrance to the Manry Park parking lot entrance at the end of Arnold Avenue. The lot fitting approximately 200 vehicles was nearly full, when I pulled up around 11:30 a.m. Cars filled Manry Park’s...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern While watching the U.S. Olympic Trials, there is a focus on the 50 meter splits and their proximity to the world record pace. This attention might distract many from the reality of U.S. swimming progression through the years. Often times, world recor...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern Night four, the final night of the Speedo Sectional Championship in Greensboro, was the night of scratches. Numerous top eight swimmers from multiple events in the preliminaries skipped out on the chance to swim again at night. Because of the early d...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern The final individual event of the night, the boys 100 breast, held one of the most exciting events of the night as lane one showed its power. After barely making the A final in the boys 100 breast, Austin Rednour of the Gaston Gators sailed to the to...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern Another fast night of swimming at the Greensboro Speedo Sectionals with races that only the touchpads could determine the winners. Brooke Forde, from Lakeside, twice more placed in the top three in Friday night’s finals. After Thursday night’s win in...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern Speedo Sectional Series action continued in Greensboro tonight. A number of swimmers were racing again, less than two weeks after Olympic Trials. Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace highlighted the evening's action, less than a month out from the Rio Olympics...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern Every year I'm surprised by the number of teens, barely old enough to drive, placing in the finals of their respective events at the U.S. Olympic Trials.  I’m also amazed to see Olympians that I watched in their first Olympic Games, when I was 10, st...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern The 2016 Speedo Sectional Series continues this Thursday, July 14, in Greensboro, North Carolina at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The STAR Aquatics host eight sessions in four days. The swimmer counts for warm-ups range from 154 to 302 swimmers indi...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern “Ugh, lane eight again. I was in lane eight yesterday for the 200 free,” a boy with bleach-blonde hair says, glancing at the meet program. Upon walking onto the pool deck for the next big meet, swimmers scan the walls of the auditorium for the 8.5” x...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern With rising temperatures and students answering the last questions on their final exams, thousands of U.S. swimmers transition to their summer schedule, a schedule that includes staring down a 50-meter pool. It is a transition from the conventional w...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern Meeting at my house on Cherry Street sporting the Dickinson Red, we prepared for our second intramural soccer game at 7:45 p.m. It was April 26, a cool Tuesday evening following our swim season. Myself and seven other swimmers made the five-minute wa...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern On the wall in the Dickinson College pool area, a sign is posted of the Red Devils training habits: Dickinson Swimming Red Devils Training Habits Practice habits lead to meet performances, either good or bad. As a member of the Dickinson College Swim...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern Before I committed to Dickinson College, I visited the school and had an interview with Coach. I asked a couple of questions about the program at the end of the interview: “How much do you guys swim a week?” I asked. “About five days a week. From 4 t...

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern “Practice makes permanent” – Coach Two-hundred and thirty hours in the pool. Fifty-seven hours in the weight room. Three-thousand eight-hundred and sixty four hours in my head-- the hours that make up one official season for a Division III swimmer. T...