Tuesday, October 1 9, 201 1

 

TechNem

GRAEME PORT sports@technewsn

 

11

Scuba lessons, certification offered at Keating

By Graeme Port
SPORTS EDITOR

Have you ever watched the classic Iames
Bond movie Thunderball and wished you
could scuba dive like Sean Connery or Dome
ino Derval? Well, now IIT is giving students,
faculty, and alumni the opportunity to do just
that, with the school scheduling a number of
scuba diving classes throughout February and
March at Keating Sports Center’s Echo Pool.

The Office of Intramurals and Recreations
has lined up two introductory Discover Scuba
classes for Sunday, February 27, where stur
dents will learn the fundamental basics of scur
ba diving over a tworhour class (the first will
run from 2 pm. , 4 pm, and the second from
4 pm. , 6 pm).

Over the following weekend , Sate
urday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6 , a full
scuba course will be offered. During the class,
students will complete the five required pool
dives, a first step in the process before a diver
can advance to the five open water dives that
will earn them a full PADI (Professional Asso
ciation of Diving Instructors) certification.

Dive instructor, Robert Huff, who will be
teaching the scheduled classes, feels that po
tential divers should be excited about the pose
sibilities that attaining a PADI license can give

them.

“The oceans and lakes
offer the last frontier
on this planet" Huff enr
thusiastically explained.
“Scuba offers you a
glimpse into that world.
The colors range from
dull to brilliant. The per
sonalities range from disr
interested, to engaging.
to curious, to downright
aggressive. The oceans
support plants and anir
mals , and even a close
hybrid of the two (core
als). She has swallowed
up ships, bridges, and
other structures that are
fun to visit and observe. I
won’t suggest that the oceans will offer
you the secret of life as a recreational
diver, but Iwill tell you that in a single
dive you may see more life than you ever have
before."

Graduate student Scott Mochinski, a certir
fied scuba diver who has been instrumental in
bringing scuba classes to HT, mirrors Huff’s
beliefs. “About 70% of the earth’s surface is
covered by water, yet we know more about the
surface of the moon than we do about what lies

 

Photo courtesy Graeme Port

underwater on our own planet," he explained.
“Scuba diving is a very social, very relaxing.
and very fascinating endeavor."

The full scuba course will see divers come
plete online course work in advance of each of
the five required dives. The online work will
see students read five chapters in total (one for
each class), complete quizzes (one before every
class), and take a cumulative exam at the end

of the course.

The pool session itselfwill be broken down
into three sections: a pre dive phase, where stur
dents will be able to ask questions about the
online coursework, and where the instructor
will go over the upcoming dive; the dive, the
main chunk of the lesson where students will
perform the necessary dive exercises in the
pool; and a post dive phase, where the instrucr
tor will go over the dive with students after
they have exited the pool.

“There are so many different paths to take
in the scuba world, from teaching. to phor
tography, to studying. to technical diving."
explained Huff. “There are so many ways to
expand your diving experience once you have
jumped in and gotten wet. I love it, most peo
ple do, it’s addictive. Odds are that you will get
hooked too!"

Students will be expected to provide their
own masks, fins, and snorkels, all ofwhich can
be purchased either online, or from any good
sports store for no more than $15.

If scuba diving is something you’ve always
wanted to try, then why not stop by Keating
Sports Center in February and March and
learn how?

To sign up for the free introductory Discovr
er Scuba class on Sunday, February 27, or for
the full scuba course on March 4 and 5, contact
Scott Mochinski at smochins@iit.edu.

 

Swimming, diving headed to nationals for victory

By Melanie Koto
STAFF WRITER

This weekend, the Scarlet Hawks Swimr
ming and Diving team travelled to Coe College
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to compete in the 2011
Liberal Arts Championship Swimming and
Diving meet. The team brought 7 female swimr
mers, 17 male swimmers and 2 male divers to
compete in the meet, which ran from Thursday
to Saturday. On Saturday night the team left
with the men’s team in second place out of 9
teams, and the women’s team in sixth place out
of 11. Diving coach Ryan Nelson also left with
the Male Diving Coach of the Meet award.

Thursday

The meet started off with the 200 yard free
style relay. The Women’s team of freshman
Abby Maze, Aimee Dewante, Iillian Hamada
and junior Melanie Koto took 6th with a final
time of 1:45.13, while the Men’s team of fresh
man Yoni Pruzansky and sophomore Michael
Keane, Eric Grunden and Max Ramminger
took 2nd with a final time of 1:27.16. In the
500 yard freestyle, Maze finished 15th for the
Women’s team with a final time of 5:42.53,
while junior Keiji Halloway took 11th for the
Men’s team with a final time of 5:13.29, and
Pruzansky finished 4th for the Men’s team
with a time of 4:51.96, a ten second drop from
his prelim swim time, and a national qualifyr
ing time by six seconds. Iunior Morgan Curr
ran placed 9th for the Women’s team in the
200 yard IM with a national qualifying time
of 2:16.39, and Dewante took 5th, also with
a qualifying time of 2:13.42. For the Men’s

team, freshman Arya Mohaimani took 15th
(2:03.53), while freshman Michael Bodzay
took 14th (2:03.44), Grunden took 10th
(2:02.47), and freshman Felipe Bergh placed
6th, making the national qualifying time by
a second (2:00.45). In the Women’s 50 yard
freestyle, Hamada took 16th with a 26.32, and
Koto took 13th with a qualifying time of 25.96,
while on the Men’s side Ramminger placed 1st
with a 20.76. Iunior Ieff Reilly took 6th over
all for the Men’s 1 meter diving with a score
of 278.70, and sophomore Ian McNair placed
1st with a final score of 474.20, breaking the
6 dive IIT record score and resetting the Coe
College pool record for 11 dives. The last event
of the evening. the 400 yard medley relay saw
the Women’s team ofjuniors Andrea Zuniga
and Iulia Duarte, Dewante and Hamada take
5th place with a final time of 4:14.10, while the
Men’s team of Bodzay, Grunden, Halloway and
Ramminger took 2nd with a time of 3:34.43.

Friday

The second day of the meet began with the
200 yard medley relay, with the Women’s team
(Hamada, Duarte, Curran and Koto) taking
5th with a time of 1:57.99 and the Men’s team
of sophomore Matthew Rosenfeld, Grunden,
Halloway and Ramminger blazing to 1stplace
by less than two tenths to beat Lindenwood’s
relay (1:35.23), with a final time of1:35.04, and
just two seconds offthe IIT team record. In the
400 yard 1M, Curran finished 6th overall with
a time of4:51.15 for the Women’s team. On the
Men’s side, Bodzay took 1st (4:09.73), Muchna
took 4th (4:21.98), Bergh took 5th (4:24.38),
and Mohaimani took 8th (4:37.23), all way

under the National qualifying time. Hamada
finished 11th in the 100 yard butterfly, with a
1:03.31, while Dewante took 5th with a qualir
fying time of 1:00.50. Senior Mark Callan took
10th for the Men’s team with a qualifying time
of 54.47, while Halloway took 4th with a 51.46.
Maze took 9th in the Women’s 200 yard free
style (2:04.50), whilejunior Tomasz Chojnacki
took 12th in the Men’s (1:53.48), and Pruzanr
sky took 3rd (1:42.79):just a second off the IIT
school record. In the 100 yard breaststroke,
Duarte took 7th with a 1: 12.79 for the Women’s
team, while sophomore Ieff Grindel took 11th
(1:04.71), Keane took 6th (1:01.42), Grunden
took 4th (59.72), and Ramminger took 1st
(58.24). In the Women’s 100 yard backstroke,
Koto and Zuniga took 4th and 5th, finishing
apart by only four hundredths, with national
qualifying times of 1:03.73 and 1:03.77 respecr
tively. For the Men, freshman Ioe Lakner fine
ished 11th with a56.97 and Rosenfeld took 9th
with a 55.64. In the Men’s 3 meter diving. Reilly
took 5th with a score of 248.64, and McNair
placed 2nd with a score of 477.32. In the last
relay of the evening. the 800 freestyle relay, the
Women’s team of Maze, Curran, Dewante and
Koto took 3rd with an 8:17.72, and the Men’s
team of Keane, Muchna, Bergh and Pruzansky
took 4th with a time of 7:17.56.

Saturday

The last day of the meet began with the
longest event the mile, in which Maze placed
13th for the Women’s team with a final time
of 19:51.11, and Mohaimani took 16th with a
19:12.93, while junior Ryan Tapak took 14th
with a time of 19:01.52. Zuniga took 4th in the

 

Aquatics training classes starting in March

By Ashlie Ingold
STAFF WRITER

You know that pool at Keating Sports Cen
ter, the one that people occasionally swim in?
It’s called Echo Pool, and classes are starting
there soon! By request of students, the Amerir
can Red Cross will be using Echo Pool to host
training courses. These courses include:

Lifeguarding Challeng

March 26, 8 am. , 6 pm; $95

~ Rercertification testing for current life
guards, who can pass the prercourse exam,
swim test, timed event, and demonstrate all
Lifeguarding skills, including CPRO, AED,
and First Aid.

Water Safety Instructor

March 26 , 27, April 2 , 3, 8 am. , 6 pm;
$280

~ If you’re at least 16 years old, you can be
come an American Red Cross Water Safety in
structor and teach children and adults to swim.

Lifeguard Instructor

March 26 , 27, April 2 , 3, 8 am. , 6 pm;
$320

~ If you’re at least 17 years old and have a
basicrlevel Lifeguarding certificate, you can
become an American Red Cross Lifeguarding
Instructor and teach others to become lifer
guards.

Lifeguarding

April 15 and 29, 6 pm. , 10 pm; and April
16,17, and 30, 8 am. . 6 p.m.; $200

~ If you are 15 years or older and a profir
cient swimmer, you can become trained as a

professional lifeguard.

Safety Training for Swim Coaches

April 17, 8 am. . 6 p.m.; $75

~ Developed in collaboration with USA
Swimming. this course teaches swim coaches
and other aquatic professionals how to prevent
and respond to emergencies while on the pool
deck.

Although IIT is the host the Greater Chir
cago Chapter of the American Red Cross is the
sponsor for these classes. Registration of all
participants will be done online at wwwchicar
goredcross.org or through the Customer Serr
Vice line at 1, 80033772338 (or 31272976132
if calling from outside Illinois).

Women’s 200 yard backstroke with a final time
of 2:16.99, and for the men’s team sophomore
Peter Lao took 15th (2:15.36), Lakner took
14th (2:11.06), Rosenfeld took 10th (2:04.13),
and Bodzay took 2nd (1:56.27), only a second
away from the longest standing IIT record (set
ten years ago in 2001). In the Women’s 100
yard freestyle, Koto took 10th with a qualifying
time of 56.13, while in the Men’s junior Dylan
Maus took 16th with a 51.31, Pruzansky took
9th with a qualifying time of 48.40, and Ramr
minger took 1st with a 45.77. Duarte took 16th
for the Women’s team in the 200 yard breastr
stroke with a 2:49.83, while Dewante took 7th
with a qualifying time of 2:35.50, and Keane
took 10th for the Men’s team with a 2:23.78,
Grindel took 7th with a 2:23.84, Bergh took
4th with a 2:16.29, and Grunden outrtouched
Lindenwood’s Ryan Chaney by five hundredths
for 2nd, finishing with a 2:14.03. In the Womr
en’s 200 yard butterfly, Curran took 3rd with a
national qualifying time of 2:19.85, while Hale
loway took 6th in the men’s with a 2:01.84, and
Muchna took 4th with a 1:59.12, both qualiny
ing times as well. In the last event of the meet,
the 400 yard freestyle relay, the Women’s team
of Maze, Zuniga, Dewante and Koto took 4th
with a final time of 3:45.16, while the Men’s
team of Grunden, Pruzansky, Keane and Ramr
minger took 2nd with a 3:09.22.

The team now has a week in which those
swimmers that qualified for nationals can train
and get ready for the biggest meet of the year,
which will be held March 275 by Lindenwood
University in St. Petersburg. MO.

 

Intramurals Schedule

[introduction to Strength

MTWRF @ 8pm with Iason Neal in
Keating

Yoga

T @ 1 & 7:30pm with Helen Lee, Katrina
Ryan, & Natasha Holber in Keating

R @ 5:30pm with Katrina Ryan in Keating
Tai Chi

W @ 1pm with Paul Channic in Keating
Pilates

W @ 5:30pm with Mandy Wok in Keatr
ing

Caraio Kickboxing

R @ 12:50pm with Suzanne Ko
Argentine Tango Dancing

R @ 7:30pm with Karen & Eric Ma
Salsa Dancing

F @ 6pm with El Caobo in the Hub,
Lounge Room 105