Senior swimmer Shannon McCarthy is in her second season with the Cincinnati swimming and diving program. A native of California, Shannon will keep Bearcats fans up to date on the UC Swimming and Diving programs throughout the 2007-08 season. Fans can email Shannon here! Be sure to include your name and hometown.

December 14 - Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Staying to train in Cincinnati in December is tough. Luckily, we don't have to. We're on a two-week training trip to Naples, Florida. After the 20-hour bus ride down here (which, if you have a less than stellar back like myself, is just fabulous), we immediately began enjoying the change of climate. The bikinis were on, the sunscreen was lathered, and the pasty bodies were exposed to the sunlight. Training has been hard, but it's been productive. We've been swimming two and a half hours in the morning, and an hour and a half at night. Of course there's been some tanning and napping between practices, but that hasn't been the main focus.

Yesterday, we got to go spend the day at the beach. While not on the beach like last year, our hotel is definitely a step up. Though some of us probably shouldn't have been in the sun, we spent the afternoon playing, relaxing, and soaking up the rays.

On another note, I'd like to say thanks to Mike Waddell for coming to see us off from Cincinnati on Saturday. It really meant a lot to know the Athletic Department supports us in our endeavors.

Go Bearcats!

Shannon

November 19- Invitationals and my favorite complicated relationship

Well, we survived our first long invitational of the season. There's something about invitationals in Indiana that I really like, whether they're at IU or IUPUI. The competition is fast and the pools are faster. I was thrilled to find out Cal was going to be there this year. I knew there would be some incredible swims out of those girls. Best of all, I got to see an old friend (Hi Rach!). Having old friends on deck always puts me in a good mood. Your teammates are one thing, but having those who knew you way back in the day give you a whole other feeling of accomplishment.

I will say that is was a very, very long weekend. We left Wednesday night and came back Saturday night. In between there, we had three days of prelim/final racing, plus relays. Add in the stress of school, missing school, getting ready for finals, getting ready for Thanksgiving and it rolled into a stressful few days. We had two girls with fairly major shoulder and knee injuries that were acting up, along with a whole bunch of sick kids. All things considered, we did well as a team. We got people back to finals all three nights and picked up more events for Big East. By night three though, we were all ready to go home. Traffic, however, hindered that ability. As we were leaving IU, we got stuck in the IU-Purdue football traffic. By the time we got through that and got back to UC, we ended up battling the UC-WVU fans that were leaving the UC campus. By the way, thanks to the UC fans that graciously helped me get my travel bag into my car. Fans dressed in blue and yellow were not as helpful (and frankly, should probably work on their "classy" winning attitude.)

The 200 backstroke and I have a special relationship. It has always been a strong event for me, but I have a tendency to panic and forget how to swim it. When I'm feeling good and not being an idiot about my swimming, I love it. However, there are days when I absolutely can't stand the event. I take it out to fast and my legs die (which, if you've ever swum a bad 200 backstroke, you know can be killer) or I take it out too slowly and have way too much left at the end, or my personal favorite: having a 10 second fade between the first 100 and the second. Basically, when its good, the relationship is great. When it's bad, I want to swim headfirst into a wall...repeatedly. How does this relate to Indiana, you might ask. I FINALLY figured out how to swim the 200 backstroke. In prelims, I swam smart, not taking it out too quickly and maintaining a decent pace through the last three 50s. While it wasn't a personal best, I swam fast enough to get a second swim at night. I kept my wits about me, kept the same strategy at night, and swam even faster. Again, not a personal best, but one of my best in season swims in a long time. Even better, I swam it right. Now, I just have to keep the training up and the right attitude.

On a side note, the collegiate football season is sadly coming to a close, but I have a feeling that there we're still in for a few more interesting moments.

Go Bearcats!

Shannon

Being paralyzed is not something that most NCAA Division 1 athletes have on their resumes. Well, I am not your typical athlete. 15 years ago today, I was admitted to Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, Calif. with a frightening diagnosis. My doctor's had found that I had Guillain-Barre Syndrome. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks the nervous system. This can result in anything from tingling in the hands and feet to complete paralysis. I was not one of the lucky ones. Over the course of a week, I slowly lost my coordination, my appetite, and eventually, my ability to walk. My parents took me to see my doctor, who immediately sent me to the hospital to see a neurologist. After a slew of tests, including a spinal tap (which is about as unpleasant as you can imagine), they had their diagnosis. I was admitted and my parents got to see things deteriorate over the next few days. At my worst, I was down to 40 pounds (at the age of 6, that is not a lot), in intensive care, and couldn't even lift my own head off of the pillow. Doctors say that if I had been any worse, a ventilator would have been necessary to help me breathe and keep me alive. After spending three months in the hospital, going through treatments to regenerate my myelin (what allows your body to transmit nerve impulses) and intense physical and occupational therapy, I got to go home and start getting back to life.

"What does this have to do with swimming?" you may be asking. The one thing that saved me was swimming. I used it as a physical therapy, mainly because balance was never a concern in the water. It was an even playing field and one that I had always been comfortable in. While still in the rehabilitation wing of the hospital, I was put in the hydro tank to try to relearn to walk. My muscles could handle the stress because there was so little in the water and I could do things that I hadn't been able to do in months--stand, swim, walk, even jump. By the end of the January, the only thing I wasn't doing in the tank was flip turns.

To this day, swimming is still a huge part of my therapy- although its sometimes more emotional than physical. I still get incredibly frustrated when I have problems with coordination when having to try to balance or do things involving hand-eye coordination. My teammates will attest that I have the slowest reflexes of anyone they know (although, compared to what they used to be, they've greatly improved in recent years). The pool is the place that I'm always comfortable. Its also one of the few places that I can tune everything out and just be. I don't have to worry about school, family, boys, or really anything else. I can just be me, whoever that may be.

In my short 21 years, I've been through a lot. However, everything has led me to this point. I don't need to be scared of a race because I've been through things that are a 100 times worse than any 400 IM could ever be. Being sick made me a stronger, more tenacious person and I'm glad for that. Someone once told me that when a bone breaks, it heals stronger in the break. I don't know if that's actually true, but I like to think that I'm a fairly resilient human being. I went from not knowing if I could ever walk again to a Division 1 collegiate athlete. If I can do that, I can do anything.

If you'd like more info of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, check out WebMD's info on it. It has a simple overview that can help you understand what I went through. Click here for more info.

GO BEARCATS!!

Shannon

Nov. 9, 2007

Let's get it started....

Well, dual season is officially underway. We had our first set of meets over the weekend. We left early Friday morning for West Virginia. I slept most of the drive, waking only when we stopped for food. After lunch and a quick stop off at the hotel, we headed over to the pool to race. I think a lot of the freshmen were a little shocked about warm up. As a team, we're used to spreading out across the pool and only having 2-3 people in a lane for practice. For dual meets, we get 4 lanes. For the entire team. Men and women. Let's just say, it was our contribution to the chaos theory. On the bright side, we got out of there without too many injuries. For it being our first meet, people swam fairly well. We got a handful of men and women qualified for Big East (including yours truly). Best of all, three of our female divers qualified so that will be a huge help come February. We didn't win the meet, but we had some great races out of people and it was a lot of fun to watch.

On a special note, I was really excited because my dad flew out from Los Angeles to see me and my fellow Bearcats swim. Even though I'm 21 and I pretend to be an adult, I still love it when my dad comes out to see me swim.

Morning and leaving for Pittsburgh came far too early on Saturday. Again, I slept almost the entire way from Morgantown to Pittsburgh, which was needed. Pitt has a great pool...mainly due to the fact that we got to spread out to more than 4 lanes. While we could have done a little better against Pitt, we still had some strong swims out of people. After the meet was dinner at Olive Garden. If you've never witnessed a team of swimmers eat, it's a sight to be seen. I think the wait staff was a little terrified at the rate we went through salad, breadsticks, and still managed to polish off the majority of the pasta dishes. Eating with our team is always an experience.

We've got our first official home meet this Saturday against the University of Washington Huskies at 10am. I know we'd love to see a great crowd there! There are a lot of other athletic games on campus that day, so stop by the pool if you get a chance!

Go Bearcats!

Shannon

Oct. 24, 2007

Fall is here and California is Burning

Well, fall is officially here. The weather has gotten chilly, the rain is starting to fall, and I'm itching to start racing. We've got our Alumni/intrasquad meet this Saturday, which I'm stoked about. I would encourage all of the alumni to make it out because it's looking like a fun Saturday! I'm thrilled to be able to go into my first meet this year knowing what's going to happen. I'm just excited to get to step up and race. The team is looking good (minus the injuries and illness that seem to be plaguing us) and it'll be great to see the freshmen get up for their first college meets.

We've been training hard (as evidenced by my growing need to take daily naps), school is getting tougher (okay, maybe it just has to do with the fact that midterms are here), and I'm starting to look forward to spending a few days in California for Thanksgiving (assuming it isn't burned down between now and then). I can't believe that the quarter is already halfway over. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun (or just really, really busy).

After recently speaking with my dad, a photojournalist in Southern California for more decades than he cares to admit, I've come to the conclusion that this is the worst fire season in recent memory. Hundreds of homes and buildings have already been destroyed and the majority of the fires are nowhere near contained. I wish I could be out there to help my friends that are affected by the fires, but as of right now, my life is in Cincinnati. On a personal note on the fires in Southern California, I just want to mention the incredible philanthropist Lily Lawrence, owner of what was Castle Kashan. Her home burned down over the weekend and she is at the top of my list for people I am keeping in my thoughts and prayers. I would never wish for someone's home to burn down, but Lily is such an incredibly generous person that it is that much more heartbreaking to know what she is going through.

Sorry to end on a "Debbie downer" note, but this weather is not making me a happy camper. Things should start looking up later this week though!

Go Bearcats!

Back to School...And The Doctor, Since I'm Allergic To Ohio

Well another week has gone by and as a team, we're in the swim of things! That was really corny, but I had to throw it in there. Two-a-day practices, along with class have started, so the freshmen are going full force into their first year in college. Being a fourth year, I'm used to it, but I still have my lazy moments. I enjoy taking my Sundays off from everything (practice, school, being social) and just lying around and relaxing all day. There's nothing better than to recharge your batteries with a few episodes of the West Wing and some light and healthy snacks. Okay, who am I kidding, light and healthy? I'm much more a root beer and chocolate kind of gal than lean cuisine and sugar-free drinks. I do try to eat healthy the rest of the week though. I'm still in the process of trying to readjust myself to the climate of Cincinnati. I am NOT enjoying the humidity...or the fact that its still in the 80s and 90s (I came to college in the Midwest so I would not still have summer at the end of September, but that's apparently neither here nor there)...or the pollen and ragweed. I'm not really sure how people out here handle what I like to call "nature", or as everyone else calls it, plants. I'm hoping my allergies and rampant hay fever will dissipate within the next few days. If not, curling up in my bed with a large box of tissues and allergy medicine may be the only cure.

I'm now going through the first full week of school and everything seems to be going well. I like all my classes so far (unlike last quarter when a certain class made me want to count down the hours until summer). I've got great professors, a decent schedule time-wise (I'd be happier if I had breaks more conducive to my favorite college pastime of napping, but that's life), interesting course topics, and fairly mellow classmates. Some of my papers seem really stimulating and for the first time, I'm actually looking forward to writing a 15-page paper. Worry not, I am fully aware that I am quite the nerd, which is well illustrated by my membership and leadership position in not one, but two honors societies. More to come on that at a later date though.

On another note, the Associated Press ranks the Bearcat football team in the Top 25 for the first time in over 30 years. Way to go, guys! I can't tell you how happy I was waking to that news. Two of my other favorite teams are also in the Top 25, but since this is for the University of Cincinnati, I won't talk about them.

Anyway, best of luck this quarter to my fellow Bearcats, both athletes and non alike. Have fun with your classes and don't forget to enjoy college, you'll only live like this once!

Shannon

So It Begins...

I've finally made it back to Cincinnati, after spending the summer at home in Los Angeles, interning at Jimmy Kimmel Live! It was great being at home, working, and training on my own. Practices have started (although I think this week is still considered optional, as only about half the team is back in town). We've been doing a lot of technique work, which is great. Early season is the best time for it, since your stroke is still very pliable. Monty is doing a top-notch job with working on the basics and getting the foundation right before we start tearing up the water with 7000 yard practices, twice a day.

You're probably wondering how a girl from California ended up in Cincinnati. I'm a Southern California girl, born and raised. I spent my first two years of college at the University of Missouri (before you even ask why, they have a great journalism program). As much as I love my friends there, it just wasn't the right school for me. After having swum my freshman year, I chose to take my sophomore year off. I began to miss the sport and the competition so I began a search for a new school. I found Cincinnati and fell in love with it. The rest, they say, is history. I'm a fourth year communications major, with a penchant for buying more shoes than I could ever hope to wear in a normal week, a love of road trips, and of course, all things girlie. I'm really looking forward to another great year as a Bearcat and I hope you all enjoy keeping up to date with my fellow swimmers and I! Go Cats!

Shannon