When University of Hawaii sophomore Nick Folker curled his toes around the edge of the starting block a couple of Saturdays ago, he listened for the starter's pistol and focused his mind on one thing: Beating the guy in the next lane.
For Folker, the race was a lot like other UH swim meets -- crowds cheered, coaches urged him on, and when he came up for air, he heard the muffled sounds of an announcer's voice. But with one important difference: No swimmer splashed in the next lane.
That's because the opposing team was 6,000 miles away.
On 30 January, Hawaii hosted the first e-meet in college swimming history, possibly in the history of collegiate sports. The mastermind of the event is Sam Freas, head of swimming programs at the University of Hawaii, author of nine books, and president of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
He's also a coach with a history of turning struggling swim teams into Olympic material. In his first year at UH, the men's team (1-7 last season) and women's team (previously 0-8 ) are 12-0 this season. Finding competition has been Freas' biggest challenge. Getting teams to and from UH -- about 3,000 miles from the mainland -- is expensive.
So Freas pitched the idea of holding an online meet between their teams to his colleague and longtime friend, North Carolina State's Scott Hammond.
"I originally planned to hook up cameras, do a simulcast across the Web," Freas said in a phone interview. "But I couldn't get any technical help.... So we decided to use email."
Hammond's team, competing against Clemson, booted up the poolside computer and emailed NC State's scores to Hawaii. Because of the time difference, Hawaii swam later.
NC State sent 11 emails to Hawaii, one for each event. When the scores reached Freas' inbox at the UH pool, the referee opened and read the email, printed it out, then handed the scores to an announcer.
Here's where it starts to get surreal. Since NC State included the line-up in its emails, Hawaii's announcer introduced the NC State swimmers as if they were there in person. The progress of each swimmer was called out, as though the teams were competing simultaneously.
UH assistant coach Scott Hardman said every other lane was left open to simulate a standard dual meet.
"We called them ghost lanes, Casper-the-ghost lanes," explained Freas. Maybe they're eating too many coconuts out there in the Pacific. Some athletes had worried about the logistics beforehand. But, at the end of the day, both teams said the meet was a success.
"The whole team loved it," Freas said. Undoubtedly, their enthusiasm was due in part to Hawaii's 122-33 victory over NC State.
Despite the lopsided score, Hammond said he and his team had a lot of fun. "It's also just great for Sam's team. They don't have anyone to race over there, and it's sure cheaper than flying."
Freas is more gung-ho than ever to bring his sport into the digital age. "Next year I want to have a cyberspace championship. My vision is to have Harvard, Northwestern, Washington, Arizona State, all competing simultaneously, all the meets visually available to everyone, every team sharing information."
He may never get that chance.
National Collegiate Athletic Association guidelines for swimming competition stipulate that a swim meet is not a swim meet unless it's open to the public and unless two or more teams are competing at the same time at the same site.
"Saturday's e-meet does not meet the standards included in our rules for a bona fide competition. So basically, the meet doesn't actually count," said Kimberly Dickson, public information coordinator for the NCAA.
NC State's Hammond was completely unprepared for the NCAA's decision.
"Swimming is an individual sport, and it's a concrete sport. I mean, 23 seconds here and 23 seconds there are the same thing."
Freas, on the other hand, expected the backlash.
"The NCAA is mostly reactionary. They're not a very forward-thinking organization," he said. "But any new thing in sports -- like the 3-point shot [in basketball] -- is met by some kind of opposition at first. Once the technology is proven to work, then they'll probably consider it."
What if one team's computer crashed during a meet? With streaming media in the blueprints for next year, the NCAA is sure to raise the question of whether a technological snafu could corrupt an event.
"Technology is like anything else," said Freas. "There's a problem when there's lightning on the football field. There are always clock problems in hockey games ... it's how we cope with the problems that really matters."
Freas says his interest in technology was born of a desire to advance his sport.
"It's really the interest of my sport that got me going on this," he said. "I'm one of those old guys that rebelled and then got captured by how neat technology is. I'm just like everyone else now ... ordering a faster modem, trying to get everything current and up to speed."
Hardman, the assistant coach, has watched Freas' enthusiasm grow. "He's already thinking three steps ahead for next year ... where all this could go in the future. He's exploring all the possible offshoots."
"Sam loves doing this kind of stuff," said UH swimmer Folker. "I wouldn't want to do it all the time though. I mean, I like traveling. I enjoy the emotion of [meeting in person]."
But Freas is on a mission.
"If we can put a man on the moon, we can get a swim meet on the Web."
