After transfer, Windham man reaches Olympic trials

Salem Editor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Two years ago, Steve Miller didn’t have a team to swim for. Now, with a strong performance in Omaha, Neb., the Windham resident could find himself with a spot on the most elite team there is.

Miller takes part in the Olympic trials for the United States swim team June 29 through July 6, with an outside chance at finding a spot on the team in the 50-meter and 100- meter freestyle events.

Two years ago, however, the outlook wasn’t as good for Miller, a scholarship student at Rutgers. The school announced it was cutting the men’s swim team, and Miller had to decide whether he should finish his education there – without the water work.

Instead, he transferred to the University of Minnesota, where he quickly became a contributor.

“It would be so hard to walk away from something I put so much time into,” said Miller, who turns 21 June 30. “I think going through an experience like that makes you stronger. That can translate to work in the pool.”

That work in the pool translated to times of 23.34 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle and 51.29 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle, making him eligible to try out for the United States team.

According to Dennis Dale, Minnesota’s head swimming coach, those times indicated Miller’s marked progress.

“He has improved so much over the last year. It’s very impressive,” said Dale of the 2005 New Hampshire state swimmer of the year. “He’s gone from a swimmer who didn’t have times that would score at the Big Ten Championships, and now he’s at the Olympic trials. He has a great work ethic, and obviously talent to go with it.”

Dale said landing Miller from Rutgers was key for his team.

“We were happy when he made the decision to transfer, and even happier when we got to know him better,” said Dale. “He seems to have found a home in Minnesota, and it was a big boost for our program. It was a good pick up for us.”

Recently, Miller and other competitors were in Omaha for a test run of the pool, set up in an arena that holds 12,000 people.

“In other sports at the top end, it’s a little more common to have larger crowds. You’re in the spotlight a little more,” Miller said. “Once every four years we get our time. I’ve obviously never been to a meet of this caliber, so it’ll be amazing and special to be a part of.”

In most qualifying events, the top two finishers earn a spot on the Olympic team, but in the 100 free, the top six earn a roster spot.

Miller knows he faces a difficult challenge, and is trying to remain realistic.

“I’d say my chances are kind of low, but I am really excited to go and do my personal best. I’ve been having a great summer of training and competing,” he said. “I have some time and placement goals I’d like to reach, not really thinking about making the Olympic team per se, just doing my best and getting caught up in that atmosphere.”

Dale has 21 members of his team traveling to Omaha, and he wants to see Golden Gopher swimmers reach the event finals.

“For any of them, it would be a jump to make (the Olympic team), but we have kids who should make the finals,” said the coach. “There’s always people who do things no one ever expected them to do.”

One of Miller’s goals is to simply be able to recall the trials.

“I hope I remember it. Sometimes in such an amazing experience like that, it happens so quickly you don’t have a chance to take it all in,” said Miller, who’ll soon be a senior. “It’s going to be pretty amazing. I can’t imagine – when NBC is there and the house is packed – what it’ll be like.”

Even if he doesn’t have a chance to earn a gold medal with the United States swim team this summer, he knows he still has a team to swim with next year.

“It’s amazing,” said Miller, a Salem High alumnus. “I think when I was back at Rutgers, if you told me I’d be at this level, being there and competing, it’s pretty much just a dream come true to be able to be out there with the big boys.”

Life goes swimmingly – 90-year-old continues birthday pond-crossing tradition in Windham

Salem Editor — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 19:11:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

Millie Saunderson swam across Cobbetts Pond and back – one day before her 90th birthday.

“I’m just hoping I’m going to make it today,” she joked minutes before stepping into the water at her daughter’s summer home at the Windham pond. “I’m not sure.”

Around her birthday for the last 10 years, Millie has joined her family in a swim across the pond and back.

“It’s just across the lake (and back) but she feels it’s an accomplishment,” said her granddaughter, Ann Noyes of Bedford.

Millie lived on the pond for about 35 years before she and her husband, Jason, moved to a one-level house in Londonderry in 2005.

After donning her swimming cap and fastening a homemade flotation device around herself, Millie joined family members, including several great-granddaughters, for the 750-yard trip. Two kayakers paddled along.

When Millie reached the other side of the pond, the kids raised their arms and cheered.

“That lady is amazing,” said Diane Kalwiener, a family friend from Belchertown, Mass., as she watched from a dock. “You would never know that lady is 90, would you?”

When Millie finished, Kalwiener congratulated her, and several members of Millie’s family applauded.

“The water is so warm, it’s wonderful,” said Millie, as she walked back to shore. “It’s the air that’s cold.”

Born Aug. 16, 1917, Saunderson has three children, five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, with two more great-grandchildren on the way. She spent 17 years teaching music at St. Joseph’s School in Salem before retiring.

She walked 3 miles a day for 15 years, climbed Mount Willard in the White Mountains when she was 75 and exercises regularly.

“I swear the exercises keeps you going,” Millie said.

When she turned 80, someone suggested a swim across the pond, and a family tradition was born.

“I think it’s wonderful that she’s healthy she can do it,” said Millie’s daughter, Chris Haswell.

Noyes, Haswell’s daughter, said it’s a rite of passage for the great-granddaughters to join Millie on her swim.

“She works really hard to take care of herself,” Noyes said of Millie, who had back surgery last March. “She exercises and gets healthy, goes out and does things. She’s really remarkable.”

The device that Millie used was a piece of a flotation “noodle” that someone added a strap to. Millie called it cheating.

Noyes said it was “a little bit of help.”

Windham News : swimming

After transfer, Windham man reaches Olympic trials

Life goes swimmingly – 90-year-old continues birthday pond-crossing tradition in Windham