ELITE NEWS BULLETIN 1-07-08
SWIMMERS POUR IT ON; THE MONSOON OF GREAT TIMES CONTINUES!!!:
DART ADDS SECTIONAL CUT;
DART (5) & KATZ (2) WIN 7 EVENTS;
C.BALBO, BUCKHAM, DONG, DORNEO, P. DUVVURI, FISCH, GALEA, GORMAN,
KATZ, KOLOGY, LEVIN, M. LI, B. MILLER-RADEST, I. MORREALE, K. SHEPARD, L.
STEARNS, STRAND, YU ADD 34 JO CUTS!!!
Like a stalled monsoon, the Elite swimmers continued their dream season as they poured down great swim after great swim at Winterfest this past weekend. 18 Elite swimmers posted 34 JO qualifying times-enough said.
Held at Rutgers University, the meet format for Elite was split: 1) swimmers who participated in last month’s Holiday Classic swam “off” events while swimmers who qualified for Winterfest but not Holiday Classic swam their best events. Regardless of how they were placed in their events, Elite swimmers continued to perform at a fabulous level.
As a result of this weekend, Elite’s JO team now consists of 34 swimmers with 183 swims. This means as of early January, Elite has already surpassed last year’s JO squad which consisted of 32 swimmers and 178 swims!!!
Leading the way for Elite was Senior Chris Dart, who won 5 of his 6 events (2nd place in the 6th event). Especially impressive for Chris was his 10-second drop in the 500 free, where he clocked in at an amazing 4.39.57 despite winning by a full lap! This swim was Chris’s 11th Sectional cut time (out of a possible 14 events).
Following Chris’s lead was 10 year old Zachie Katz, who won two events: 1) the 50 free (28.58) and 2) the 50 fly (31.63). Katz also placed 2nd in 100 breast (1.21.06) and 3rd in the 100 fly (1.13.87). Despite aging up later this month, Zachie has already qualified for 7 JO swims in the 11-12 age group (the 50 free and the 100 fly were new JO swims).
Poised to take Zachie’s position of leader of the 10 & U boys is Aaron Levin, who placed 2nd in the 50 back (34.98) and added his 12th JO swim with his 10 second drop in the 100 fly (1.24.41). Levin performed 5 best times this weekend.
Coming off his magnificent Holiday Classic performance, 15 year old Michael Strand began his career in the 15 & Older age group by showing everyone he is not intimidated by his elders. Michael placed 2nd in the 200 back (1.58.33) and 3rd in both the 100 back (53.79) and the 500 free (4.59.51-a 10 second drop & new JO cut)! In his new age group, Michael already has 11 JO cuts.
14 year old Priya Duvvuri churned to a 2nd place finish in the 100 back (1.03.25) and added an 11th JO swim in the 100 breast (1.13.80).
Three swimmers added their first JO swims: 1) 13 year old Brendan Miller-Radest captured JO swims in both the 500 Free (5.32.10) & 400 IM (5.02.59) 2) 12 year old Isabella Morreale swam gold in both the 50 breast (36.69) and the 200 breast (2.54.10) for her 1st JO cuts ever and 3) newcomer 9 year old Andrea Galea, who joined the team last week, posted 5 JO cuts (100 IM-1.21.72, 50 back-36.54, 50 free-31.46, 100 free-1.11.31 & 100 back-1.18.67).
11 year old Regan Kology continues to amaze as she tackled the 1000 & 1650 frees this weekend, turning in head-turning times: she dropped 25 seconds in the 1000 with a 11.29.43 time and swimming the 1650 for the 1st time, cruised to a 19.06.55 time. Both times are 13-14 JO cuts!!! Regan also went JO in both fly events (50-31.60 & 100-1.12.60) putting her total JO cuts at 14 (as an 11 year old)!
Also posting 3 new JO cuts was 12 year old Ryan Buckham, who returned to winter swimming this September after taking a year off. Ryan added his 5th, 6th & 7th times in the 100 fly-1.13.72, the 50 free-28.60 & the 100 breast-1.22.35.
Three 11 year old and one 12 year old added 7 JO times between them: 1) Andrea Shepard posted gold in both the 200 free-2.15.14 & the 200 back-2.36.41 2)12 year old Katie Gorman added two breaststroke swims (100-1.20.68 & 200-2.54.41 to her total of 13 swims 3) Lindsay Stearns went gold in the 200 free-2.16.11 and the 100 IM-1.11.22 and 4) Alli Dorneo in the 50 back-33.20.
11 year old Jeffrey Dong brought his JO totals to 5 as he added both the 50 breast-36.66 and the 100 IM-1.12.15. 12 year old Richard Yu also added two JO swims-50 breast-37.57 and 100 breast-1.20.40.
Three boys added 1 JO swim to their resumes: 1) 9 year old Chris Balbo churned in the 50 fly-38.00 2) 14 year old Spencer Fisch added his 4th swim with a gold 200 back-2.19.91 and 13 year old Michael Li dropped 10 seconds in the 400 IM to post his 3rd JO cut in his new age group.
There were literally dozens of other impressive swims, where swimmers positioned themselves to fight for JO cuts in the coming two months. Possibly most impressive (and please excuse the obvious bias by the writer), was the 125 second drop (2 minute and 5 seconds!!!) in one year by 16 year old Tad Deatly, who muscled to a 18.10.43 time in the 1650 free-just 10 seconds over the JO qualifying time.
Swimmers
who participated in the Winterfest were (# in parathesis is number of best
Elite SCY best times): Matt Ahlmeyer (3), Michael Alelov (1), Lindsay Anderson (3), Chris Balbo (4), Ryan
Buckham (5), Jonhn Burns (4), Taylor Campolattaro (1), Victoria D’Altrui (1),
Chris Dart (2), Tad Deatly (4), Jeffrey Dong (5), Alli Dorneo (5), Amy Duren
(1), Sam Duren (3), Avinash Duvvuri (2), Krishna Duvvuri (3), Priya Duvvuri
(5), Venkatesh Duvvuri (5), Cassandra
Farnow (4), Juliet Felson (6), Spencer Fisch (5), Breana Fitzpatrick (4),
Andrea Galea (6), Katie Gorman (3), Amanda Grywalski (3), Duncan Hall, Alyssa
Hartigan (3), Matt Hong (4), Brent Jones (4), Zachie Katz (5), Eamonn Keenan,
Greg Keiser (4), Victoria Keiser, Kirsten Kellstrom, Brandon King (1), Regan
Kology (6), Emmie Lai, Isabel LaRaia (5), Aaron Levin (5), Michael Li (5),
Robert Maloney (2), Danielle Martinez, Ricky Martin, Sarah McGrath (2),
Angelika Miles, Brendan Miller-Radest (6), Kara Miller-Radest (2), Ali
Morreale, Isabella Morreale (3), Dan Muro (6), Julia Muro (3), Kendall Murray,
Caroline Nash (3), Maggie Nelson (4), Silas Newcomb (6), Dara O’Gorman (1),
Sarah Peay (5), Christina Pick (4), Gabrielle Pick (6), Michelle Pick (5), Katie
Ragan, Brittany Ross, Taylor Savarese, Amanda Scherb (1), Andrea Shepard (5),
Kaitlin Stearns (3), Lindsay Stearns (5), Michael Strand (1), Rachel Tortorella
(3), Michael Wang (3), Sarah Weinbrom (1), Maggie Woodruff (6), Ryan Wyer (5)
& Richard Yu (5).
ATTENDANCE STATS ARE STILL AMAZING; ALL TRAINING
GROUPS AVERAGING OVER 75%, WAVE TEALS LEAD WAY WITH 90.9%!!! ATHLETES
RECOGNIZED:
Practice attendance is a foundation of improvement (as once again, proven by this weekend’s results). Good attendance (and thus, great work habits and a great aerobic base) is the way to faster swimming. As we head into the 2nd half of the training season, Elite Swimmers have showed their diligent work ethic by attending practice at an astonishing rate of over 80% as team!!! The Wavebuster Teal training group leads the outstanding Elite attendance race by averaging, as a training group, 90.9% attendance!!! The Wave Teals are followed by the Wave Blacks (84.9%), the Wave Golds (82.6%) the Seniors (81.5%), Marlin Teals (79.8%), the Marlin Blacks (77.7%), the Senior Preps (75.6%).
At the end of the Season Awards Dinner, Elite swimmers with 85% attendance (or greater) will be presented with the Attendance Award. This award, plus attendance requirements for swimmers who want to be promoted, have positively motivated Elite Swimmers to come to practice.
Thru Friday January 4, swimmers currently on track to win the award (who have an 85% or higher attendance record) are (* designates perfect attendance!):
Marlin Teals: Erika Fresen, Katherine Friday, Jessica Kraus, Brandon Li, Colin Miller-Radest & Michael Tortorella
Marlin Blacks: Megan Balbo, Brielle Barba, Abbie Bigham, Mac Charvala, Rachel Keselman & Sarah Lowe
Wavebuster Teals: Chris Balbo*, Lindsay Behar, Nicole Blum, Drew D’Andrea, Avinash Duvvuri, Andrea Ferrell*, Emily Goad, Alyssa Hartigan*, Patrick Hong*, Sarah Kleppe, Clark LaRaia, Isabel LaRaia, Katie McGrath, Julia Muro, Caroline Nash, Mikala Quinn & Jessica Solodkin
Wavebuster Blacks: Ryan Buckham, Krishna Duvvuri, Matt Hong, Aaron Levin, Jessie Lowe, Kara Miller-Radest*, Nick Pachiolo, Christina Pick, Gabrielle Pick, Michelle Pick, Kaitlin Stearns*, Rachel Tortorella & Richard Yu
Wavebuster Golds: Matt Ahlmeyer, Taylor Campolattaro, Alli Dorneo, Spencer Fisch, Katie Gorman, Regan Kology, Brendan Miller-Radest, Andrea Shepard, Lindsay Stearns*, Erica Takahashi, Sarah Weinbrom, Ryan Wyer
Senior Preps: Lindsay Anderson, Michael Li, Ali Morreale
Seniors: Victoria D’Altrui, Chris Dart, Tad Deatly,
Amanda Grywalski, Dani Martinez, Alex Morrison, Michael Strand*
ESCPO JAN 9TH
BOARD MEETING OPEN TO ALL:
All Parents are Invited - Open
ESCPO Board Meeting - Wednesday,
January 9th 6:15 pm at Newark Academy.
Please come and find out what the
ESCPO Board has in the works for the rest of the season and next year. Chair, Co-Chair or join a committee,
run for one of the open board seats,
submit a new idea for discussion, raise
a complaint, etc. The team needs
your help, so come and find out how you can become a more active supporter of
our swimmers.
WHEN DUTY CALLS,
ELITE PEOPLE STEP UP:
ELITE, ALONG
WITH MORRIS COUNTY SWIM CLUB, WILL RUN 13 & OLDER SILVER/BRONZE CHAMPS AT
RUTGERS IN MARCH:
No one else would run it. Since the meet potentially affects 63 of our swimmers, we will do it.
For 9 months, no other team(s) bid on the 13 & Older Silver/Bronze Championships to be held in March at Rutgers. Last year this meet attracted 50 teams and there were over 7500 entries. With the prospect of no championship meet to be held this year, Elite, along with Morris County Swim Club, will jointly host the 2008 13 & Older Silver/Bronze Championships.
While a huge undertaking, the co-hosting allows for a pool of approximately 120 family volunteers whom are directly affected. Since the Rutgers facility runs a lot of the ancillary jobs in running a meet (concessions, security, parking), the undertaking is really reduced to timing, coaches hospitality and admissions.
As ESC & MCSC get organized in the coming weeks, please expect to be contacted to volunteer if you have a swimmer who would be participating in the meet.
CONSIDER OPPORTUNITY TO CATCH WORLD CLASS SWIMMING IN NJ:
It is not every weekend
that the opportunity exists to watch world class swimming in New Jersey. But
that opportunity will exist from Friday, Jan 11 thru Sunday, Jan 13 at Rutgers
University. Consider bringing your swimming star to watch finals one (or more)
of those nights!
Each year, Berkeley
Aquatic Club hosts the Burgdorff Invitational Meet held at Rutgers the 2nd
weekend in January. What is special about this meet is that it is a long course
format rather than short course. Every 4 years, this meet takes on special significance
as it is one of the last opportunities for the nation’s best to qualify for
Olympic Trials (to be held this year in late June, 2008 in Omaha, Nebraska).
That entices many of the nation’s best swimmers to travel in January to NJ to
race.
Last year, in a
non-Olympic year, this meet attracted Olympian Katie Hoff (from North Baltimore
Aquatics Club), Pan-Pacific team member Elizabeth Beisel (of Attleboro-Mass
Bluefish), Olympic Trial qualifier Teresa Crippen (of Germantown Academy) and
Junior USA Swimming Team member Dan Madwed (of North Baltimore). Four years ago, this meet attracted Gary
Hall, Jr. and Olympian Anthony Irvin!!
Elite
swimmers will be participating in this meet. With luck, some of them will
qualify for finals and compete head to head with future Olympians! Consider
coming to a final and catching world-class swimming competing against our own
stars!!
Elite will not travel to Charlotte in April this year.
In planning out the end of the season, it has become quite apparent that organizing this trip would be too difficult to pull off this season. Thus, Elite’s competition season will conclude this winter with the New Jersey Swimming Championship meets.
CHANGE OF DATE FOR THE AWARDS
DINNER:
Please note that there has been a change of date for the 2008 Elite Awards Banquet. The new date is Sunday, April 6 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. The dinner will be held at the Hanover Marriott in Whippany on Route 10 East as it has been for the past 3 years.
PROMOTION REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDENCE, LEVEL OF TRAINING
AND STROKE TECHNIQUE:
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 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 85% for Wave Golds and Senior Preps
There will be no exceptions.
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.
SICK? COULD BE YOUR LACK OF “AT HOME” SWIMMING DETAILS!!!
GOOD FOOD, WATER, SLEEP, DRESS WARM, REPEAT!
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!!!
SWIM MEET “LOST & FOUND” BROUGHT BACK TO NA; PLEASE CHECK
YOUR ITEMS AT HOME:
As anyone at Princeton this weekend knows, the crowded situation at meets creates a ripe situation where items are going to be left, lost or accidentally picked up by other swimmers. Swimmers and parents should know the following:
1) Items easily identified as Elite’s that are left at the meet are brought back to Newark Academy and placed in the lost & found.
2) Items with names on them are much more easily identifiable. If not already done so, write your name on all swim gear and team uniform items so they can get back to you.
3) As
a courtesy to your fellow swimmers, please check the items you bring home to
confirm they are actually yours. You may have accidentally picked up someone
else’s uniform, suit or goggles.
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!!! If you do not see what you need, email Bill at eliteswimclubnj@comcast.net