For the 203 swimmers and divers on the Metuchen Municipal Pool (MMP) swim team, they received a surprise visit and experience for their efforts in raising money for cancer.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF GLORIA O’CONNELL Former U.S. Olympic swimmers Janel Jorgensen (l-r), Craig Beardsley and Tim McKee spoke to the 203 swimmers and divers of the Metuchen Municipal Pool (MMP) swim team at the Metuchen pool on July 24. The former Olympians visited the team for a swim clinic as part of the Swim Across America pool program. Former U.S. Olympic swimmers Craig Beardsley, Janel Jorgensen and Tim McKee traveled to Metuchen on July 24 to lend some professional advice to the young swimmers, ranging in age from 5 to 18, as part of the Swim Across America Pool Program.
The swim team participated in the program for the second year and raised approximately $5,293 for the program, which is dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through swimming-related events.
The swimmers held their largest fundraiser event on June 21, called the MMP Swim & Dive, Masters & Dads Swim for Cancer Cure. Local Boy and Girl Scout groups were on hand to cheer on the swimmers.
Above: Some of the swimmers and divers of the Metuchen Municipal Pool (MMP) swim team with former U.S. Olympic swimmers Tim McKee and Janel Jorgensen during the Olympians’ visit. Right: Maggie O’Connell, 11, holds one of the gold medals that Craig Beardsley won in the Pan American Games. “It was raining that day, so it set us back a little,” said Melissa Karlovitch, president of the parent group.
Top fundraisers included Sara Karlovitch, 11, Maggie O’Connell, 11, and Mary Morrison, 12, who raised over $1,000.
On the rainy day, 35 swimmers participated, swimming a total of 55 miles. Sara Karlovitch swam the farthest with 4.6 miles.
The first year, the team raised approximately $9,800 and swam 123 miles altogether. Craig Beardsley is nine-time U.S. national champion. Between 1980 and 1983, he held both the world and the American records in the 200-meter butterfly, and he won gold at the Pan American Games in both 1979 and 1983.
Janel Jorgensen rose to national prominence while still in high school when she won two gold medals at the Pan American Games. At 17 years old, she won a silver medal in the women’s 500- yard medley relay and finished fifth overall in the 100 butterfly at the U.S. Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988. Now she is the executive director of Swim Across America.
Tim McKee won the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley (IM) at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, missing the gold medal by two one-thousands of a second. In the Montreal Summer Olympic Games in 1976, he won silver in the 400-meter IM. He at one time coached Craig Beardsley.
The former Olympians fielded dozens of questions, including “Do you know Michael Phelps?” “If you weren’t swimming, what would you be doing?” “Before a swim meet, what would be your warm-up?” “What is your diet during swim season?” and, “Did you ever feel like quitting?”
All three said they know Michael Phelps, who in the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing, China, won eight gold medals, beating out Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven gold medals.
Beardsley said if he weren’t swimming, he would have been a musician concentrating in the cello.
“I had been accepted into the Manhattan School of Music, and the decision was either music or sports,” he said. “I was thinking, could always be a musician, but there was a window if I wanted to do swimming. The sport of swimming picked me. I was lucky to have had some success.”
As for a warm-up, Jorgensen said that since she did sprints, she would do some sprints for speed work and a couple of dives.
“I just needed to do enough to become loose,” she said.
All three said it is important to eat a healthful breakfast and not load on the carbohydrates.
Jorgensen said the idea of quitting is always there.
“With the level of training we did, yes, some days were tough,” she said. “But it is always important to think about why you are doing the sport in the first place. I was doing it because I loved the sport and I loved being with my friends and teammates. It’s important to keep long-term goals in mind.”
All three said it is important to work on everything, from coming off the blocks to any nervous anxiety during practice.
“You want to visualize everything so when race day comes, it comes natural,” said Beardsley. “Yes, it is natural to be nervous before a race, but all that needs to be thought about during practice.”
After fielding questions, the three Olympians jumped into the pool with the swimmers and gave their advice on technique on the four strokes — backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle — to the swimmers for about 40 minutes, and then they signed autographs.
Maggie O’Connell, who has been swimming since she was 5 years old, said the swim clinic was a lot of fun.
“It’s not just about swimming, it’s to help a good cause,” she said. “Also [Craig Beardsley] said my butterfly looked good.”
Kerstin Wilcox, 12, who has been swimming since she was 7 years old, said she swam for her grandmother, who was diagnosed with cancer.
“This was a lot of fun for a good cause,” she said.
Regina Wilcox, 7, who has been swimming for two years, said her goal was to swim two miles during the fundraiser.
“It was really cold that day, and my legs got cramped up,” she said. “My teammates carried me the rest of the way.”
Rebecca Hawkins, 11, who has been swimming since she was 4 years old, said it was cool that the Olympians took time to talk to them.
For more information about Swim Across America Inc., visit www.swimacrossamerica.org.