Going for the gold
By LEE PROCIDA
The Cherry Hill Sun
5/3/2008

West grad Mark Neiman gears up to face the rigorous challenge of swimming at the U.S. Olympic Trials

While international tensions increase surrounding this summer’s Olympics and the world’s leaders debate whether to attend, one Cherry Hill West graduate will be focusing everything he has to show he deserves to be there some day.

Mark Neiman, a former All-American high school swimmer here, and now a sophomore at Ohio State University, will be competing at the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb., at the end of June. He isn’t expecting to make the cut that will be on a flight to China, but he hopes to make a strong showing and set himself up for future opportunities.

“I just want to use this meet as a stepping stone,” Neiman said before he had to go to practice last week. “I would like to make some kind of international team before my college career is done, and I would like to represent the country in some way.”

Neiman estimates he started swimming when he was 6 years old at Kingston Estates Swim Club. He played a lot of sports when he was young, but as the years went on, he whittled down his favorites to baseball and swimming. When he was around 12 years old, he joined the Jersey Wahoos, a swim club in Mount Laurel, and that’s where his career took off. He dropped baseball to dedicate his time to swimming.

“(My Wahoo Coach John Carroll) exposed me to world of swimming,” he said. “I just went from being a summer club swimmer to being able to compete nationally.”

Carroll said that progression was natural for Neiman, because once he saw there, was a “bigger pond” than just having fun swimming with his friends he moved in that direction.

“He was a very diligent and hard worker and that’s why he was able to be so successful,” he said. “For him, it was a first one in the pool last one to leave type of thing.”

In high school, Neiman was nothing short of a phenomenon. He broke four individual records and one relay record at West, received All-South Jersey honors every year he swam, was named MVP his last three years on the team, and his senior year, he was named South Jersey Swimmer of the Year.

During the 2006 season, he had the fastest times in the state for the 200- and 500-meter freestyle events, and, as captain his senior year, he led his team to the state finals. But Neiman wouldn’t tell you any of this. For that information, you would have to turn to his coaches, or his proud mother.

“That’s just what Mark’s like,” Mary Beth Neiman, his mom, said. “He’ll get out of the pool and you won’t know if he won or lost.”

The safe bet is he won. As a freshman at Ohio State, he broke school records in the 500, 1,000 and 1,650-meter freestyle events. Last summer, he broke the OSU record for the 1,500-meter freestyle.

“Mark is one of our hardest workers that we’ve ever had at Ohio State,” said Bill Wadley, Neiman’s head coach at OSU. “We think dearly of him. He’s preparing very well for the U.S. Olympic Trials and has high hopes of performing his best, and doing some special things and hopefully breaking some Ohio State school records along the way.”

Neiman qualified last August for the 400- and 1,500-meter freestyle events, and he’ll be competing against hundreds of other swimmers, many several years out of college. He says his goal is to finish in the top 16 and make a good showing.

He is mainly looking forward to competing at the U.S. Open in August and representing the Wahoos. He’ll also be coming home to swim at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology Spring Fling in the middle of May. Carroll said he hopes to see Neiman be more of a player in the 2012 Olympic Trials as well.

“He’s got a lot of potential,” Carroll said, “and he still hasn’t hit his potential yet. I think you’re going to see that in the next few years.”

Mary Beth Neiman said she thinks swimming has made Mark learn how to be strong and determined. He lost his father when he was young, and she credits sports with helping him learn how to deal with his ups and downs.

“I think that’s what sports teach you,” she said, “how to pick yourself up when you’re down.”

Right now, Neiman said times are up. With big events coming up soon and a bright future as an honors student at OSU, he said he also has time to have fun when he’s not practicing twice a day or in class.

“It’s pretty tough with the amount of time we spend practicing,” he said, “but it’s awesome.”