ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               01-05-09

 

ELITE FREIGHT TRAIN SUPPLIES VOLUMINOUS CARGO OF BEST (AND QUALIFYING) TIMES AT WINTERFEST;

GALEA, LI, MARTIN, SEBASTIAN (2), K. STEARNS, STRAND WIN 7 EVENTS;

AHLMEYER, BIGHAM, CHO (2), CRITCHLEY (4), DONG, A. DUREN, FELSEN (2), E. GORHAM, J. GORHAM, A. GUACELLI, KATZ (3), LEVIN, MCGRATH, MELCHOIR, K. MILLER-RADEST (2), D. MURO, C. PICK, SEBASTIAN, A. SHEPARD (2), M. TORTORELLA & WEINBROM (2) ADD 34 JO CUTS;  

 

The Elite swimmers continued their dream season as they delivered a freight train full of impressive swims this past weekend at Winterfest. Held at Rutgers, the competition produced 20 different Elite swimmers posting 34 new Junior Olympic qualifying times while 6 different Elite swimmers won 7 different events.

 

            The results are particularly impressive as the meet entry format for Elite was split: 1) swimmers who participated in last month’s Holiday Classic competed in non-Holiday Classic events at Winterfest while swimmers who qualified only for Winterfest (but not Holiday Classic) competed in their best events. Thus, some Elite swimmers were actually competing in their 6th, 10th, even their 15th best event!!

 

As a result of this weekend, Elite’s JO team now consists of 43 swimmers with 267 swims. This means that as of early January, Elite is virtually at last year’s JO squad (which consisted of 45 individual qualifiers and 284 individual swims) and the season still has 2 full months in the season to go!!! Equally important, literally dozens of Elite swimmers dropped significant time in their silver events to put themselves in position to qualify for JOs later this season (so, the party in not yet fully subscribed!!!)!!!

 

12 year old Ryan Sebastian led Elite by winning two events on day 1. Ryan topped his competition in both the 200 back (2.13.68) and the 50 fly (27.78). Along the way, Ryan also posted his 16th JO qualifying time (in the 100 free: 59.46).

 

Swimming a limited schedule due to a banged up shoulder, 16 year old Michael Strand still won the grueling “Open” 1000 freestyle event by posting a 10.14.58 time.  

 

10 year old Kaitlin Stearns was razor sharp as she won the 100 freestyle with a 1.01.92 time, placed 2nd in the 100 IM (1.12.98), placed 5th in the 50 fly (33.73) and dropped 7 seconds in the 200 back: 2.33.72.

 

16 year old Ricky Martin just missed a Sectional qualifying time (by .4) in winning the 200 butterfly. Martin placed no lower than 4th in his 6 swims; placing 2nd in the 100 fly (55.03), 3rd in both the 100 back (55.75-only .7 off a Sectional cut) and the 50 free (22.50) and 4th in both the 100 (50.27) and 200 (1.50.70) free events.  

 

10 year old Andrea Galea out paced the competition in the 200 free (2.21.98) and placed 2nd in the 200 IM (2.36.94). Andrea also placed 4th in the 100 breast (1.23.76).

 

14 year old Michael Li, fresh off the Senior training trip (see below), won the 400 IM with a 4.41.82 time. Michael also placed 3rd in the 200 breast (2.27.09) and 4th in the 200 IM (2.14.52).

 

Amid the flurry of fabulous swims were five notable “Ironman” performances: 1) 10 year old Chris Balbo sprinted a 50 free (30.12) to place 4th, then literally ran to the other racing pool, jumped into the water in the next heat and then dropped 5 full seconds in the 200 back (2.31.08) to place 9th in a 12 & Under event 2) 11 year old Caroline Nash sprinted a 50 butterfly (32.64) and then had 5 minutes of recovery time prior to competing in the grueling 200 butterfly where she dropped almost 3 seconds from her previous best (2.56.12)  3) Katie McGrath sprinted to a personal best in the 50 breast (39.44) then had 5 minutes recovery time prior to competing in the grueling 200 breaststroke where she dropped 5.6 seconds (2.57.20) to score her 6th JO cut time!!! 4) 12 year old Regan Kology manhandled (womanhandled?) the older girls by placing 4th in both the Open 1000 free (11.03.67) and the 1650 free (18.22.41-a 29 second drop). Kology also placed 3rd in the 200 breast (2.44.81) and 4th in the 200 fly (2.24.81). All totaled, Kology raced 3350 yards this weekend!!! And 5) 14 year old Brendan Miller-Radest placed 3rd in the 500 free (5.10.04) and 6th in both the Open 1000 free (10.34.64) and the 1650 free (17.46.65). Miller-Radest also placed 12th in the 400 IM and raced a total of 3700 yards this weekend!!!

 

10 year old Matthew Critchley posted the most new Junior Olympic qualifying times by an Elite swimmer this weekend (he now has a total of 11). Matthew’s new JO swims were in the 200 free (2.41.32), 100 fly (1.24.92), 100 free (1.10.05) and the 100 back (1.20.29).

 

11 year old Zach Katz added 3 JO cuts to his chart (he now has 14) by placing 7th in the 200 fly (2.41.46), 15th in the 200 free (2.11.46) and 16th in the 500 free (6.08.36). Zach also placed 2nd in both the 100 fly (1.05.80) and the 50 breast (32.25). The 50 breast swim is of particular interest as this is the event where Zach was nationally ranked as of November; since that ranking Zach has improved his time 1.5 seconds. This was Zach’s last swim prior to aging up to 12 (thus his last swim as a 11 year old for the national ranking system; rankings will stay open until August 1, 2009).

 

16 year old Adam Weinbrom posted his first two Junior Olympic times as an Elite club member (Adam joined Elite last spring). Adam’s 100 back (57.76) placed 6th and his 200 back (2.06.31) placed 8th. Adam also placed 7th in the 100 free (and is well within range of a JO swim in the 100 as well as the 50 free).

 

Three 12 year olds girls Juliet Felsen, Kara Miller-Radest and Andrea Shepard expanded their Junior Olympic weekend by two events: Felsen slip under both the 200 free (2.15.81) and the 500 free (6.06.13) while Miller-Radest added the 100 IM (1.10.17) and in her first attempt at the event and the 200 back (2.36.05). Miller-Radest also placed 7th in the 100 fly (1.08.63-a 4.5 second drop) and 8th in the 200 fly (2.36.99-a 6.6 second drop)! Shepard pushed her JO swim total to 16 by crushing her 100 back (1.09.60) and the 50 fly (31.49-7th place). Shepard also dropped 74 seconds to finish 16th in the Open 1650 race (impressive 19.45.42 time!!!).

 

13 year old Brannon Cho also added two Junior Olympic qualifying times (doubling his total) by placing 9th in the 400 IM (4.57.30-first attempt ever) and 13th in the 100 back (1.03.80). Brannon also placed 8th in the 200 back (2.15.51).

 

In addition to Weinbrom, Elite had 5 other Junior Olympic “newbies”: 1) 9 year old Abbie Bigham (dropped over 5 seconds) in the 100 fly (1.24.63)  2) 9 year old Emily Gorham in the 50 free (31.49)  3) 13 year old Matthew Ahlmeyer in the 200 back (2.19.44) 4) 11 year old Andre Guacelli in the 50 breast (37.73) and 5) 13 year old Daniel Muro in the 200 back (2.17.80). Interestingly, all 5 age up prior to JO’s so despite being young at the moment, this is their “older” year in the age group! Of particular note, Ahlmeyer missed 3 other JO cuts by a cumulative total of 1.3 seconds!!!

 

12 year old Jeffrey Dong added a 13th JO swim to his resume with his 2.28.57 time in the 200 IM. Dong also placed 6th in the 200 breast. 10 year old Amy Duren posted her 3rd JO qualifying time (her first non-butterfly event) by dropping 8 seconds in her 200 IM (3.00.11). 11 year old Karl Melchoir overcame his nerves to post a JO qualifying time (his 2nd) in the 100 back (1.11.91).

 

10 year old Christina Pick now has 12 JO swims by reason of her 6th place finish & 11 second drop in the 200 free (2.30.45). 12 year old Jess Gorham upped her JO total to 8 events with her 200 free performance of 2.15.94 while 9 year old Michael Tortorella sculled to his 2nd career JO qualifying time with his 43.76 performance in the 50 breast. 11 year old Aaron Levin churned to his 7th JO qualifying time, this time in the 200 back (2.34.63).

 

Other notable performances:

 

1)                          following Dr. Jim Reardon’s instructions, 14 year old Ryan Wyer ignored a perfectly horrible 1st swim (adding 6 seconds to his 200 free) to follow up and produce two 2nd place finishes: 200 fly (2.13.57) and 100 fly (58.24) and 3 third place finishes: 50 free (23.95), 100 free (52.23) and 200 IM (2.13.67) ALL IN BEST TIMES!!!

2)                          10 year old Jimmy Coyne dropped almost 5 seconds to place 6th in the 100 breast (1.28.49). Coyne also placed 8th in the 50 breast (41.72) with a personal best

3)                          12 year old DeYoung Don scored his first JO time (he ages up prior to JOs) with a 28.48 swim in the 50 free

4)                          16 year old Venkatesh Duvvuri placed 3rd in the 200 fly (2.07.69)

5)                          In dropping 9 seconds in the 200 fly (2.33.45), 12 year old Matthew Hong placed 3rd. Matthew also placed 5th in the 200 back (2.25.03).

6)                          26 year old swimmer/coach Matt King placed 2nd in the Open 500 free (5.01.01)

7)                          17 year old Brittany Ross placed 4th with a personal best of 2.13.64 in the 200 fly. Brit is just 2 seconds from a Sectional qualifying time! She also placed 9th in her 100 fly (1.01.91-also a personal best)

 

Swimmers who participated (# in parathesis is number of best Elite SCY best times):  Matt Ahlmeyer (6), Chelsea Allocco (3), Jenni Allocco (5), Lindsay Anderson, Chris Balbo (6), Jeffrey Beamer (4), Abbie Bigham (5), Emily Buckman (3), John Burns, Brannon Cho (5), Morgan Conley (5), Jimmy Coyne (2), Matthew Critchley (6), Victoria D’Altrui (2), Tad Deatly (1), Anthony Don (1), DeYoung Don (3), Jeffrey Dong (3), Ali Dorneo (3), Amy Duren (6), Sam Duren (2), Krishna Duvvuri (5), Priya Duvvuri, Venka Duvvuri (1), Cassandra Farnow, Madeleine Faust, Juliet Felsen (5), Spencer Fisch (1), Breana Fitzpatrick (1), Katherine Friday (1), Andrea Galea (4), Emily Goad (6), Emily Gorham (2), Jess Gorham (4), Kevin Greener (5), Amanda Grywalski (1), Andre Guacelli (2), Duncan Hall (2), Alyssa Hartigan (4), Matthew Hong (5), Patrick Hong (5), Andrew Huang (5), Brent Jones (5), Zach Katz (5), Greg Keiser (4), Victoria Keiser (1), Rachel Keselman (2), Brandon King, Matt King, Regan Kology (6), Jared Kovacs (4), Emmie Lai (3), Isabel LaRaia (2), Aaron Levin (4), Brandon Li (1), Michael Li (2), Sarah Lowe (3), Ricky Martin (2), Dani Martinez, Katie McGrath (5), Sarah McGrath (2), Karl Melchior (5), Brendan Miller-Radest (4), Kara Miller-Radest (6), Ali Morreale, Isabella Morreale (1), Daniel Muro (5), Caroline Nash (4), Maggie Nelson (1), Rebecca Niccolai (1), Eric Ocheretyaner (1), Dara O’Gorman (4), Nick Pachiolo (3), Christina Pick (4), Gabrielle Pick (6), Michelle Pick (3), Katie Ragan, Brittany Ross (2), Monica Samtani (2), Daniel Scherb (3), Ryan Sebastian (4), Andrea Shepard (4), Abigail Shvorin (1), Kaitlin Stearns (4), Lindsay Stearns (3), Michael Strand (1), Erica Takahashi, Lexi Tedesco, Michael Tortorella (4), Rachael Tortorella (2), Caroline Watt (6), Adam Weinbrom (5), Sarah Weimbrom (1), Ryan Wyer (5) & Richard Yu (5).

 

TIRED, FAST SENIORS RETURN FROM ARIZONA:

Fifteen Elite Seniors (plus one swimming coach) traveled cross-country last week for the opportunity to train 11 times within a six-day span on Elite’s 8th annual Senior training trip. Practicing at the outdoor pools on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, the swimmers were more than equal to the difficult task presented by the demanding workouts.  

Elite swimmers survived 11 practices in 6 days (including starting the trip with 3 two-hour practices within a space of 24 hours!!!). Elite trained both long course (50 meters) and short course (25 yards) on a daily basis and swum approximately 12,000 yards each day (over 6 miles) during four hours in the pool and 1 hour of drylands. This is approximately twice the normal daily workload for the swimmers. The Seniors saved their best for last, as they completed a “practice from hell” workout consisting of 100 times 100 meters (long course) in just over 3 hours-approximately 6 miles of swimming on New Years Day!!

Despite being tired, the Seniors were putting up impressive practice times that will translate into great racing times. In a timed 1650 (after 4 days of doubles), Michael Strand posted a Junior Olympic qualifying time 17.41.00 while Ricky Martin was just over one. Cassandra Farnow and Michael Li also posted impressive 1650 times. The training trip was a 1st for five of the 15 swimmers.

In addition to the two a day workouts, the Seniors survived the chilly Arizona weather (in the mornings, the temperature was never higher than 44 degrees for their 6 am workout. On day 2, the temperature was actually 33 degrees when the swimmers hit the heated waters! For the first 3 days of the trip, the temperature was actually warmer in NJ than in Arizona. But the weather pattern corrected itself and swimmers actually tanned themselves in between practices later in the week!). 

Out of the pool, the swimmers rallied to attend the Insight Bowl and the Tempe’s New Year’s Eve Block Party-both on the same night. Swimmers also nightly explored downtown Tempe (boosting Cold Stone’s December profits!) and several jumps from ASU’s 7 meter diving tower. The Elite girls also entertained other hotel guests with their in-room dancing and singing parties.

The Seniors would like to thank Laila Farnow, Rich Farnow and David Strand for chaperoning the trip (getting those power bars and waters for practice). The Seniors would also like to thank ESCPO for sponsoring the Pasta Party held at Uno’s!!!

The swimmers who conquered the workouts and elements were: Lindsay Anderson, Victoria D’Altrui, Tad Deatly, Priya Duvvuri, Venka Duvvuri, Cassandra Farnow, Breana Fitzpatrick, Amanda Grywalski, Michael Li, Ricky Martin, Dani Martinez, Ali Morreale, Maggie Nelson, Brittany Ross & Michael Strand. Coach Matt King, who has been training with the Seniors this winter, also braved the weather and workouts.

 

TEAM ADDS NEW COACH: MEREDITH CONSTANT;

WILL WORK WITH MARLINS INITIALLY;

 

Always looking for good coaches to help our youngsters, Head Coach Bill Deatly announces the addition of new coach Meredith Constant starting immediately. Meredith will initially work with Marlins, specifically working with small groups on stroke technique such as breast kick, butterfly, backstroke turns and starts. 

 

Town & County League members (summer league) know Meredith as the head coach of the Clearwater Dolphin Swim Team for the past several summers. Clearwater won their league this summer in an undefeated season plus and won the season ending championship meet. Meredith competed locally for the Madison Y, Summit High School and Clearwater.

 

            This spring, Meredith is taking a leave of absence from her current college to redirect her major and take general education requirements at Union County College in order to transfer schools for the fall of 09. This will allow Meredith to coach with Elite thru the spring and possibly into the summer.

 

            Please introduce yourself to Meredith at your first opportunity!

 

ALL 4 ELITE RELAYS ACCEPTED INTO RUTGERS “COLLEGE CONFERENCE CARNIVAL” ON JAN 16-17; ENTERTAIN FOR ALL; ELITE WILL ATTEMPT TO ENTER A 5TH RELAY THIS WEEK:

 

            Trying to build on the swimming phenomena generated from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Rutgers University Women’s Team will host a “College Conference Carnival” at Rutgers University on Friday, January 16 & Saturday, January 17, 2009. Committed to competing are Rutgers, University of Florida, University of North Carolina and University of Richmond. All of these teams either won or placed 2nd in their respective conferences.

 

            As part of the festivities, Rutgers will coordinate 4 events that will now directly impact Elite Swimming: in the middle of the meet: Rutgers has scheduled relay races for the top 8 teams in New Jersey (including southern NJ which is part of the Mid-Atlantic LSC) in both the 9-10 and 11-12 Age Groups. All four Elite relays submitted for entry have been invited to participate. Relays are posted on the team website.

 

            As currently scheduled, the 11-12 Boys and Girls Relays will participate at approximately 7 pm Friday night and the 9-10’s will participate at approximately 7:45 pm on Saturday night.

 

            Since there was less than 8 relay teams submitted into the Boys 11-12 event, Elite will attempt to enter a “B” team this week.

 

            Rutgers will also be planning other entertain activities at the meet such as Synchro Diving & Big Man Cannonball Contests, Masters World Record 3-Meter Diving Contest and Clown Diving. Tickets for the event are know being offered at: http://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetGroupList?groupCode=RF&linkID=rutgers&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=.

 

            Elite parents of swimmer participating: if you are a NJ Swimming Official, please contact Jim O’Neil to officiate (these events only!). This will get you into the door for free and will help enable any record setting relay to be recognized as such!!!

 

BEST PART OF TAPER? HANGING OUT WITH OLYMPIAN MARK GANGLOFF!!

 

            Every swimmer knows the best part of “taper” season is resting. Well, this year, Elite swimmers will taper by resting and hanging out with 2008 Olympian Mark Gangloff!!

 

            Organized and coordinated by the Elite Swim Club Parents Organization, Elite will hold a 1 day seminar on Sunday February 22, 2009 with eight place finisher Beijing Olympian Mark Gangloff. As with past Olympian Seminars, Mark will discuss his career, give swimming tips and instruct swimmers in the water. If we are lucky, he will race one or two of his new friends.

 

            Information regarding the event is now on the Elite website under Mark Gangloff. Register today by sending your check to ESCPO Sandi Niccolai 4 Redman Farm Road Mendham, NJ  (please note the correct zip is: 07945).

 

BAC WINTER LONG COURSE (NOW CE REVE INVITATIONAL) REVISED:

 

            Based upon the recent excellent performances, Elite has revised its entries into the prestigious Berkeley Winter Long Course Meet (name changed to CeraVe Inviational) to be held January 9 thru 11, 2009. The meet host allowed only 12 & Under additional entries. Elite’s entries have expanded by 21 new entries.

 

            Since Elite rarely uses “conversion” times, entries were added if the converted times were well under the qualifying times. Where this occurred, Bill revised the converted times to times just under the qualifying time, since the swimmer has not yet achieved the converted long course time. 

 

            Swimmers should double check the entries as there are several new swimmers in addition to new events added to swimmers already attending this meet.           

 

ELITE TOP 10 ALL TIME SWIMS UPDATED:

 

The Top 10 All-Time Swims list has been updated thru Winterfest. Check out all the new times added to the list from this year’s spectacular swims!!!      

 

PARENTS RESPONSIBILITY AT 9-10S, 13 & OLDER CHAMPIONSHIPS:

 

            Parents are reminded that although we ran a spectacular Distance Derby meet two weeks ago at Newark Academy, Elite will be running two more meets this season: 9-10 Silver/Bronze Championships and 13 & Older Silver/Bronze Championships (co-hosted with Morris County Swim Club).

 

            With regards to the 9-10 Silver/Bronze Championships, all parents of swimmers 10 & younger (yes, including 8 & Under parents!) will be expected to work that weekend.

 

            With regards to the 13 & Older Silver/Bronze Championships, all parents of swimmers 13 & Older (with exceptions being parents of swimmers attending Sectionals in Boston, Massachusetts) l be expected to work that weekend.

 

WITH WINTER COMES WEATHER,

CHECK WEBSITE/EMAIL FOR PRACTICE CANCELLATIONS:

 

Weather will have an affect on practice schedules and meet starting times. When in doubt, check the Elite website and your email for information regarding time changes due to weather.

 

Be advised that both Newark Academy and Morristown Beard tend to close down at the forecast of bad weather. In addition, safety is extremely important. Thus, weather is likely to interrupt practice and even if it does not, parents should make decisions based upon their comfort level regarding travel to and from practice.

 

SICK? COULD BE YOUR LACK OF “AT HOME” SWIMMING DETAILS!!!

 

Are you sick? Got the flu, strep or a bad head cold?  Your sickness is probably caused by your own lack of swimming details!!!

 

Since we are heading towards our heaviest training (December & January), swimmers are “broken down” or tired based upon the heavy swimming workload. To stay healthy, each swimmer needs to practice their “at home” swimming details: drinking lots of fluids, eating properly and often, getting enough sleep and dressing properly for winter.

 

There are literally dozens of swimmers that ignore these vital “at home” swimming details, and most of these swimmers end up missing significant training and/or actually missing their meets because they do not live their “at home” swimming details. These swimmers literally shorten their training seasons due to their sickness!!!

 

One new swimmer phenomena that is just plain crazy is the “sandal/no sock look” in zero degree weather. Swimmers who dress like this are literally begging to get sick. One Elite swimmer actually got frostbite 3 years ago due to not dressing properly on the way home from swimming on a particularly cold night. Ever tried swimming with frostbite? Be a winner: do your swimming details at home and at school, in addition to at the pool!!!

 

PROMOTION REQUIREMENTS:

ATTENDENCE, LEVEL OF TRAINING AND STROKE TECHNIQUE:

CORRECTION: 80% NEEDED FOR WAVE GOLDS TO BE PROMOTED:

 

            As we hit the mid-point of our training season, swimmers and parents are reminded that swimmers EARN their promotions by accomplishing 3 criteria thru the season. Coaches will make their recommendations for promotions to Bill starting in mid January and the promotion letters will be mailed in early February. No swimmer will be considered for promotion unless they comply with the following 3 criteria (and swimmers are reminded that they control this process, not the coaches);

 

1)      great attendance as defined as follows:

a.       over 70% for Marlin Teals, Marlin Blacks, Wave Teals & Wave Blacks.

b.      over 80% for Wave Golds (changed from last year due to removal of practice make-ups)

c.       over 85% for Senior Preps

     

2)      Training within the top lanes in one’s training group. Each training group has 2 to 6 different levels of training within the training group. A swimmer must be training within the top 2 training levels to be considered.

 

3)  Great stroke technique. While swimmers are training in the top level of their training group, they need to hold their stroke technique. Each swimmer

                   is aware of those things they need to work on.

 

            Each swimmer is encouraged to talk to their coach regarding their current status and things they need to do during the 2nd half of the season to earn a promotion.

 

WHEN IN DOUBT, CHECK THE WEBSITE:

 

            If you have questions about Elite, your first source of information is Elite’s website located at eliteswimclub.org.  When in doubt, first check the website!!!