Just like old times

MARION - Linn-Mar senior swimmer Calvin Greve didn't know if he'd ever see the old times again.

Faced with a life-changing medical setback, it was a question of whether he had the determination.

As a sophomore, Greve transitioned from home school into the Linn-Mar Community School District. Having experienced some recent hearing difficulty, he wasn't surprised when he failed a standard hearing test. The shock arrived when further examination revealed the source of the hearing loss - a 40-millimeter acoustic neuroma tumor on the main nerve that extends from his left inner ear to his brain.

Greve was in surgery within 48 hours.

'I really didn't have much time to cope with, ‘Oh, I have a tumor,'” he said.

While the immediacy of the procedure left little time to digest any big-picture ramifications, an exchange with his mother, Paula, shed some light on Greve's increasingly unflappable demeanor.

'We asked him the night before the surgery if he was worried,” Paula said. 'And his answer was, ‘What do I have to be worried about? I'm not doing the surgery.' He's not a worrier. He's a very scientific kind of guy.”

The non-cancerous tumor was large for his age and had grown around the auditory nerve, the balance nerve and the facial nerve. While the seven-hour operation failed to preserve any hearing in his left ear or sense of taste on the left side of his mouth, doctors were able to completely maintain the function of the facial nerve, which could have altered his appearance.

There was, however, a significant loss of balance.

'I think the recovery aspect, initially, was pretty bad,” Greve said. 'I was out for like more than a month, month-and-a-half or so and it really brought me way down in terms of how well I could swim.”

Greve returned to his Cedar Rapids Aquatic Association team the summer before his junior year and worked diligently with coaches Brian Ruffles and Bobby Kelley.

'All of a sudden I couldn't do those things again,” Greve said. 'It really frustrated me not being able to hit the sets, the times.”

Ruffles and Kelley instituted a challenging long-course training regime that measured distance in meters instead of the customary yards. New methods meant no prior expectations to generate frustration. Buoyed by the encouragement of club teammates and focusing on the small victories of day-to-day improvement provided the impetus for some thrilling post-practice news after four long months of twice-a-day sessions.

'I remember the excitement on Bobby and Brian's faces,” Paula Greve said. 'We came in and they said, ‘He's finally back to where he was right before he had the surgery. We feel he's caught back up to where he was and now we're moving forward.'”

Greve did move forward, enjoying a successful junior season that culminated in a seventh-place finish - one spot short of the podium - at the state meet in the 100-yard backstroke. He still, however, had to make adjustments for his loss of balance.

'When they say, ‘Take your marks,' you're supposed to be a little off-balance when you start,” Greve said. 'But if the official wants us to stand up because somebody didn't come down, I can't get back up from that spot. So I actually have to sit down and sit back up.”

This scenario nearly resulted in disqualification during last year's conference meet. Since, the Iowa High School Athletic Association has agreed Greve may adjust his balance side-to-side as opposed to the customary front-to-back.

'It's forced him to reassess what he does,” Linn-Mar Coach Tom Belin said. 'The state has been really good, too. It's a testament to him that he doesn't allow it to become a crutch.”

Following the state meet, Greve began another club season at CRAA, this time under the direction of new coach Joe Plane. Plane saw collegiate potential and worked Greve through a sophisticated strength-training program utilizing parachutes and a self-built 'power tower” to add bulk to Greve's 5-foot-10, 133-pound frame.

'You can get stronger lifting weights, but that doesn't necessarily always apply directly into the water,” Plane said. 'What's more important is to do strength-training exercises that directly apply to swimming.”

When an old friend of Plane - University of Minnesota assistant men's swimming coach Ryan Purdy - dropped by a CRAA practice, he noticed Greve. Once NCAA guidelines allowed official contact, a meeting was set up and eventually a campus visit. Purdy and Minnesota head coach Kelly Kremer, who Plane swam for at John Brown University in Arkansas, felt the reserved, humble Greve was a perfect fit at Minnesota.

'I liked the pool, I liked the team and apparently the team liked me, as well,” Greve said. 'That's good to know. And I liked the atmosphere at the school.”

Greve signed with the Gophers Nov. 12 and plans to study computer science. In the meantime, the senior has his sights set on the 21-year-old Linn-Mar backstroke school record (51.22), as well as a hopeful top three finish at the state meet.

Greve entered the winter break with the state's second-best backstroke time (53.37), and is fourth in the 500-yard freestyle.

Given the hurdles he already has overcome, it's hard not to envision him taking that elusive next step in Marshalltown in February.

'When you face adversity like that, it really reveals your character,” Calvin's father, David, said. 'And you kind of never know how that's going to turn out. We were really proud of the determination that this whole experience uncovered in him.”

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com