Tuesday, February 15, 2011 I TechNews GRAEME PORT sports@technewsiit.com Swimming and diving team prepare for championship meet By Melanie Koto STAFF WRITER This weekend the Scarlet Hawks Swimming and Diving team will travel to Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the Liberal Arts Cham— pionship swimming and diving meet. This meet is the last meet the team will compete in prior to the National Championship meet spanning March 2nd—5th, and thus is the last chance for many of the swimmers and divers to qualify for the National meet. Qualifying for the National meet means that the swimmer, or diver, performs to a certain level— for the swimmers, each event has a ‘cut time”, which is a standard time that the swimmer must swim faster than to qualify. For divers, it’s similar, but there is a certain score that they have to beat in order to qualify. Currently going into the Conference meet, the team already has 4 women and 11 men qualified from the team. Both teams also have 5 relays (the maximum number of relays in the meet) qualified. However, there are still more events and more swimmers that can be added to the Nationals roster, and many will be striv— ing to make the cuts this weekend. On February 1st, the NAIA released its fourth round of top times. The list consists of the top 25 times for every event for both the men and women. IIT had several athletes ranked on this list. Sophomore Max Ram— minger was one of them, currently holding the 2nd place spot in the 100 yard freestyle, the 4th place spot in the 50 yard freestyle, and 13th in the 100 yard breaststroke. Sophomore Ian McNair currently stands as the 2nd spot diver for both the men’s 1 meter and 3 meter 11 dive ranking, while senior Jeff Reilly is in 5th and freshman Jefferson West is in 5th on the 1 meter board as well. Freshman Michael Bodzay is currently ranked 21st in the men’s 400 yard IM and junior Keiji Halloway is tied for 20th in the men’s 100 yard butterfly, and is in the 15th place spot for the 200 yard butterfly. Junior Andrea Zuniga just made it into the list— ing in the women’s 200 yard backstroke with the 25th ranking, and in the men’s 200 yard breast sophomore Eric Grunden holds down 20th, while freshman Felipe Bergh is right be— hind him in 21st. In addition, all five Women’s relays hold top 20 spots, while all five Men’s re— lays hold top 10 spots. Photos by Melanie Koto Intro to Strength classes gaining stamina By Ashlie Ingold STAFF WRITER There is a new intramural class being of— fered at Keating Sports Center. “Intro to Strength” started yesterday, and will continue through May 6th. The class is led by Jason A. Neal, our Director of Intramurals & Recre— ation, who is also an ACE—Certified Personal Trainer. Held at Keating Sports Center Mon— day through Thursday at 8pm, and on Friday at 1pm, this class was developed specifically to address the strength needs of the individual participants. Last week, a few members of the Varsity Women’s Soccer team were given the opportunity to try this class, and it was well— received. “Intro to Strength” will teach the founda— tions of functional strength by showing a par— ticipant how to use one’s own body as the pri— mary tool in their strength toolbox. A lot of the exercises are simple, like push—ups, lunges, and squats, but they are very effective. The class will also utilize body bars, kettle weights, medicine balls, barbells and dumb—bells to help people meet their strength goals. Coach Neal, a former track & field and strength athlete, who previously served as the weights and throws coach at Elmhurst College, has been filling that role here at IIT since he started in 2009. In fact, as the Track and Field program steadily moves toward varsity status, he hopes to continue working with the throw— Photos courtesy Graeme Port ers to make the program even more successful and sustainable. “Lifting weights plays a pretty big role in making that happen” he says. Another of Coach Neal’s goals is to build a strength club that will focus on powerlifting, Olympic weight lifting, and bodybuilding. He believes this class will help to identify potential strength athletes, and also help strengthen our varsity athletics program by giving athletes an— other way to improve their fitness levels so that they will be more competitive in their given sports. Coach Neal is already working with several students to host a strength event at Keating Sports Center in April. “IIT’s Strongest Man and Woman” will be held on April 30th. The winners will be determined by a 5—rep maxi— mum lift, with three attempts allowed by each competitor in the traditional powerlifting events: the Bench Press, the Squat, and the Deadlift. The cumulative weight total will then be divided by the participant’s body weight for the final score. As with all programs offered by the Office of Intramurals & Recreation, the class and the competition are open to students, staff, faculty, and alumni of Illinois Institute of Technology, Shimer, and Vandercook. Track and Field is a club sport during Indoor season, but Outdoor Track and Field will be a varsity sport this year for the first time. Email intramurals@iit.edu for more infor— mation.