Junior Olympic Short Course - EAST - Swimming Campionships, Syracuse, New York

Went to the McDonald's / USS National J.O.'s Swimming Championships, east, short corse, in Syracuse, New York, from April 9 to 13, 1985.

PAWW swam a girls 400-free relay in the meet.

Meet was hosted by the Syracuse Chargers in a high school swim pool.

Went there via Peoples Airways from Peoria to NJ to Syracuse.

Junior Nationals, four PAWW swimmers compete in relay

SWIMMING

Young Wizards ahead of time

By DAVE REYNOLDS of the Journal Star

Even if the Peoria Area Water Wizards (PAWW) girls 400-meter freestyle relay team finishes last at the National Junior Olympics next month in Syracuse, N.Y., it might set a record anyway.

The four girls - Kate Durbin. 13. of Peoria Heights: Erica Wisniewski. 12, of Morton; Jenny Bauernfeind, 15,of Pekin and Beth Veerman, 13, of Pekin – may be the youngest group to compete in the meet, which has no age group classification. Swimmers 18 and under are eligible to qualify for the meet, which will be held April 9-13.

The PAWW foursome qualified by swimming a 3:40.34 at the Illinois Senior Championships in Rockford earlier this month, finishing second to the Deerfeld High School state championship team. To put the PAWW girls accomplishment in perspective, their time would have placed them eighth in this year's state high school meet, a remarkable achievement considering all but Bauernfeind, a freshman, are in grade school.

"All season I've talked about Junior Nationals as a point of reference to give the kids something to shoot for in the next year or two," said PAWW coach Mark Rauterkus. "I try to set standards high, but getting there wasn't really a goal, it was more like a dream."

But at least one of the girls thought it was a possible dream.

"I was adding up our best splits before the race," said Bauernfeind, "and I knew we had a chance at getting the qualifying) time."

But it took best efforts by all four to do it. Bauernfeind had the biggest drop, from:56.3 to :53.5. Veerman went from :54.9 to :54.7, Durbin from :56.5 to 55.8 and Wisniewski from :58.5 to  :57.0.

Because of their age difference, it was the first time the four had swum together. "We should do better at nationals because we've been practicing our starts and working together," said Veerman.

But first the three youngest girls are competing in the Illinois Junior Olympics this weekend at Evanston along with 28 other PAWW teammates aged 14 and under.

"That is still our biggest meet of the year," said Rauterkus. "Nationals is just one race. We finished 10th in the state last year and our goal this year is to finish in the top five."

Extra Note:

The PAWW team would go on to finish in 2nd place in the Illinois JOs and eventually get 2nd place as a team at the Illinois State Senior Championships too.

The following season, the girls had both the medley relay and free relays in the meet. A year after that, with Coach Mike Smithers at the coach, PAWW had both A and B girl relays at the National Junior Olympic Meet.

Rauterkus named All Star Coach for Illinois Swimming

Newspaper clipping. Meet was in the short course season at IUPUI. 

Rejection letter from Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Spring, professional football -- Pittsburgh Maulers

The Pittsburgh Maulers were a one hit wonder in the USFL only playing for the inaugural '84 season. The team had a number of well known players including first pick and Heisman running back Mike Rozier. Their home opener saw a sold-out crowd at Three Rivers Stadium, and although the team was competitive in on-field play, they only managed to win 3 games throughout the season. The following year when the league decided to switch to a fall schedule, league management knew that they would not be able to compete for fans with the Steelers and did not return for the '85 season.

Photo of Mark

Date, unsure. 

Team jumped to capacity with word of mouth buzz, by September 22 -- upon arrival at the end of August

The prior year, the PAWW team had less than 30 swimmers. In summers, none swam with PAWW. We had a fun "Meet the Coach Night" and things zoomed forward. 

Joining the Peoria Area Water Wizards was the talk of the town. Coaches were hired. Expansion was through the roof. We had to pump the brakes. 

Letter of reference for Mark Rauterkus from City of Waco, Texas

College Courses - Summary -- Undergrad and Graduate Levels

Classified Ad -- seeking employment placed in Swimming World

Cal Davis - no go

Florida State Swimming - Coach Bill Shults

I didn't know Coach Shults, but FSU was a powerhouse back in the day. And, I hear he was a top coach.

Baylor University HPERD letter from Norm Gilchrest

Pat Hogan, Dynamo Swim Club

Some serious irony here as Pat's hiring judgement would come under fire later.

https://www.espn.com/olympics/swimming/news/story?id=5319202

Hogan’s resignation letter, like Woessner’s, is published — see https://cdn.swimswam.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/dadacfa4-5f68-4bd1-bd0d-2a45b904144f-resignation-statement.pdf. But unlike Woessner, Hogan offers few words and not even a parsed explanation.

There are figures in swimming who are accused of abuse and there are those who are accused of cover-up of same. Pat Hogan was a dual threat.

Washington Huskies, rejection letter from Earl Ellis

Peoria Park District rejection -- first time

This is an interesting letter from June 7, 1983 from PPD. They advertised in Swimming World magazine and I applied. They hired a guy from Indiana. But, he didn't even show up for the job. Then some weeks later they went back to the applications and did an additional round of interviews. That second wave is when I was hired. 

Here is the rejection letter.

Creative Conditioning - offered in Waco, Texas

Saturdays for 2-hours for 10-weeks. Program I launched in Waco, Texas. 

Waco Parks and Recreation at Lions Pool

8 to 10:00 am on Saturdays

Creative Conditioning

Aqua Athletes

*An Ultra-Strenuous, 2 hour workout for athletes of high-school age and older meeting each Saturday morning for 10 weeks this summer!

A perfect summer conditioner for any athlete stressing cardiovascular system, muscle endurance, flexibility, power, speed & agility.

FITNESS PARTICIPATION WITH AN EDUCATION INCLUDES:

physiological testing guest speakers informative notebook relaxation/mental imagery cooperation and competition new games video taped performance nutrition, drug and aging insights stroke techniques variety professional staff

COST:

$20 for 10 Saturdays starting June 4 ending August 6

REQUIREMENTS:

physician's permission, liability waver, and enough water courage to dunk yourself. *Manditory physical exam and blood testing if over age 35. Otherwise, both are strongly encouraged.

REGISTRATION:

at Lions Pool on Saturday morning June 4 or later Saturdays or at morning swimming lessons

For questions and more information call for Mark Rauterkus at Department of Parks and Recreation, 753-0223, or home phone, 757-1576.

Creative Conditioning

Deb Johnson, testing coordinator, has furnished this initial list of some possible physiological tests which we might be interested in doing. The details will be forthcoming.

Cardio Vascular Fitness

Physical Work Capacity 170, fitness level 

Astrand-Ryhming Bicycle Test, fitness level. 

Harvard Step Test, recovery rate 

Field test, 12 min. run or 1.5 mile run

Muscle Strength and Endurance

Isometric strength 

Isotonic Strength 

Margaria Muscle Power Test 

Agility tests 

Coordination Tests 

many other basic strength and Endurance tests

Flexibility Tests

Sit and Reach 

Back and Stomach 

Shoulder rotation 

Mark's Flex Test with tape measure 

Mark's Flex Test with a partner and body parts

Body Composition

Skinfold Determination 

Anthropometric Measurements

Posture Evaluation

Back weakness tests 

Grid Evaluation

Others

Blood Testing 

Height, weight 

ECG (modified) 

Blood lactate 

Blood sugar level

Creative conditioning in vogue

By DAVID PINTO

Tribune-Heràld Sports Writer

Aerobic dancing and Jazzerise have made quite a hit with fitness buffs recently. The idea is to keep physically fit and enjoy it with a musical beat.

However, for those less musically inclined (or perhaps more athletic in nature), Mark Rauterkus has developed a way to make fitness fun and games.

Rauterkus, a Baylor graduate student with an assistantship in physical education, is director of a local "creative conditioning" program. The program is for anyone of high school age and over.

"We're striving to make this program attractive to adults of any age,” says Rauterkus. “While it is open to high school students, it is also geared for the adult who wants to improve himself physically."

Rauterkus, 24, a native of Pittsburgh, Pa., graduated from Ohio University in 1982. lle has a strong background in swimming instruction and has taught a variety of aquatic sports, diving, softball and weight training.

"We have an excellent facility at the Lions Pool." Rauterkus says. “We've found that using the water in summer has some natural advantages. You can exercise easily in a cool environment. The buoyancy of the water supports the body, and you can exercise a particular part of the body, strengthening it significantly, without undue stress or injury. This type training has been used extensively on the West Coast, and they've done some pretty interesting things in aquatic training."

The program, now entering its third week, has weekly meetings each Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m. 

Counting this Saturday, there are eight meetings remaining in the original 10-week schedule.

“We try for a variety of things,” says Rauterkus. "We strive for a new theme each week." Because of that, Rauterkus has lined up several specialists in their fields as weekly instructors.

"David Scott, who works with Baylor's intramural program, finished third in the Big 10 in wrestling,” Rauterkus points out. "We will have him for one session. And Dr. Norman Gilchrest of Baylor's Department of Physical Education is a scuba diver and mountain climber. He's climbed something like the 50 tallest mountains in North America and plans to climb Mount Everest later this summer.

Other projected guest instructors include:

• Patrick Yates, who was named the outstanding water polo prospect at last year's Sports Festival; 
• Dr. M. Mahan, Dallas chiropractor and consultant to Olympic teams; 
• Bob Fix, Baylor's strength coach; 
• Larry Newell, Baylor physical education professor whose specialty is golf; and 
• Shirley Early, yoga instructor.

“But we can't schedule any of these outstanding people,” Rauterkus says frankly, "until we build up our classes to ensure a proper forum."

For Rauterkus, sessions with the experts are vitally important to creative conditioning, which he terms "fitness participation with some understanding of why you're doing it" or "working out for a reason.

People don't like to work out with pain for no gain," he says simply. “This gives us a chance to be educated as we are doing the exercises."

The weekly two-hour sessions consist of a one-hour group workout, a half-hour of optional activity (tennis, golf, weights, swimming), and a half-hour group discussion or instruction by a specialist in a particular field.

“At Lions Park," Rauterkus says, "we have the use of the swimming pool and tennis courts adjacent to it. There is ample area for jogging on the Heart O’ Texas Coliseum grounds or at Paul Tyson Field or we can go in convoy to the Baylor track.

“But we're not limited to just those activities. For example, if someone can improve a part of his fitness by taking up golf, we can arrange for that. We may turn someone onto golf that never played golf before.

“Essentially, this is a cross-training program, one that stresses variety," Rauterkus says. "We urge our clientele to adapt a game to suit a conditioning need. If that happens to be swimming, we can have more swimming at Lions Pool. It's up to the clientele, as well as the individual."

Originally, the 10-week program was projected to cost $20 for each participant. But that price will be adjusted for those taking part just the last eight weeks only.

"That (the price of the sessions) is not that important,” says Rauterkus, “we can adjust it with the individual. The main thing is to let him know he can improve himself physically and enjoy it and learn something about what he's doing at the same time."

UCLA Bruins - Ron Ballatore

I loved what Coach Ballatore was delivering. I wish I had known him better. 

Sadly, UCLA would close its men's swim program some years later. 

From Dr. Jan Prins - Hawaii Rainbows

Letter from Skip Kenney at Stanford