ELITE NEWS BULLETIN 2-18-08
UNSCHEDULED “DART LASER LIGHT SHOW” OBLITERATES SENIOR A’S:
V. DUVVURI, FARNOW, FITZPATRICK, MARTIN, STRAND FINAL:
Unplanned and totally unexpected, Chris Dart did the near impossible this past weekend at Senior States:
He equaled his January Burgdorff (which included his Olympic Trial) performance!! The results are staggering:
1) Chris won all 7 events he entered
2) Chris had posted best career times in 6 of those 7 events (and posted 9 best times during the weekend!!!)
3) Chris dropped 3 seconds in the 200 yard back (from his USA Nationals-Atlanta swim in November) and broke the sacred 1:50 barrier-going a 1.49.71. The 2nd fastest swimmer was 6 seconds behind.
4) Chris showed his speed and endurance by winning the 50 free (21.32), 100 free (46.75), 200 free (1.43.07) & 500 free (4.36.93).
5) On Friday night, Chris won the 500 free by 10 seconds and then raced his nemesis Matt Navata in the 400 IM, winning in the last 50 while dropping 5 seconds (4.02.38) off his best. Chris accomplished this in addition to working out Friday am and attending school!
6) In his last (and 14th race of the weekend), Chris won the 100 back in 50.57 by a 3 full seconds.
Ironically, Chris accomplished all this when his training has cycled back into the distance training (in preparation for long course racing). Thus, Chris’s current training workload is aerobic based rather than anaerobic based-so his distance races should be strong but his sprinting (50 free-best time by .4) should be negatively affected. So much for the text book, In addition, the Seton Hall University pool is not known for being a particularly fast pool.
Piling on was Michael Strand, who finaled in all 6 of his events plus placed 4th in his only timed final event, the 400 IM-with a career best of 4.16.83. Michael placed 3rd in the 200 back, 5th in the 100 back and 7th in both the 200 IM and 200 breast.
Alex Morrison also swam fabulously, but was only available for the prelim swims (Alex was provided an opportunity to apply for a Presidential Academic Award last week, but the application which included 6 essays is due within 1 week-this Tuesday. Thus, Alex did not participate in finals either night). Alex placed 3rd in the 500 free (with a career best of 4.53.50-a 11 second drop) and a new JO cut.
Breana Fitzpatrick finaled in the 100 breast, swimming a career best of 1.12.72. Cassandra Farnow finaled in both the 200 breast (2.37.96) and the 100 back (1.04.90), each a career best.
Ricky Martin finaled in the 50 free (22.98), the 100 back (58.06), the 100 fly (55.92) and the 200 free (1.51.3). Venkatesh Duvvuri posted a career best in the 100 back (58.83) and also finaled in the 200 fly (2.13.78). Amanda Grywalski dropped 8 seconds in her 400 IM time, posting a 4.56.68 time.
Swimmers who participated in the Senior States A were (# in parathesis is number of best Elite SCY best times): Chris Dart (9), Corey Deatly, Tad Deatly, Venkatesh Duvvuri (4), Cassandra Farnow (2), Breana Fitzpatrick (3), Amanda Grywalski (3), Duncan Hall, Danielle Martinez, Ricky Martin (3), Alex Morrison (2), Silas Newcomb (5), Sarah Peay, Brittany Ross & Michael Strand (1).
PRIYA DUVVURI & FRIENDS SHINE AT JUNIORS:
FISCH, G. KEISER, KOLOGY, LI, MILLER-RADEST, MORREALE, WYER FINAL:
GORMAN, KOLOGY, MILLER-RADEST, SHEPARD, STEARNS DOMINATE DISTANCE:
10 JO SWIMS ADDED:
Forecasting that life after Dart will still be wondrous, the Elite youngsters participating in Junior States this past weekend showed off their skills. Many of the participants were experiencing their first prelim/finals meet format. While exciting, this format is physically and emotionally challenging to the swimmers. Along the way, 10 more JO times were achieved (giving Elite 39 participants and 222 events!!!).
Leading Elite at Juniors was Priya Duvvuri, who finaled in all 6 of her events and placed 5th in the individual high point total. Priya placed 3rd in the 100 fly (1.01.65), 4th in the 100 back (1.03.33), 5th in the 200 fly (2.23.10), 6th in the 200 IM (2.21.12), 7th in the 200 back (2.16.38) and 9th in the 50 free (26.32).
11 year old Regan Kology matched up brilliantly against her older counterparts in the freestyle events: Regan cruised to 4th place finish (18:51.60 which is only 6 seconds off the JO cut for 15 & Older girls!!!) in the 1650 yard free, a 5th place finish in the 500 yard free (5.30.66-dropping 8 seconds over the weekend) and a 9th place finish in her first career final event: the 200 free (2.07.07). Kology also added her 15th JO time to her schedule with her 2.41.26 200 yard butterfly swim.
13 year old Michael Li finaled in 3 events: placing 8th in both the 100 breast (1.10.24) and the 200 breast (2.30.72) while adding a 12th place finish in the 200 fly (2.29.37). 14 year old Spencer Fisch also finaled 3 times: 9th place in the 200 IM (2.19.76- a new JO cut), 8th place in 400 IM (4.51.38- a new JO cut & a 7 second drop from the am session!) and 10th in the 200 breast (2.32.94).
13 year old Brendan Miller-Radest finaled in the 200 fly (2.21.21), which was a JO cut. Miller-Radest also added two other JO cuts in the timed final distance events: 1000 free (11.12.86) and 1650 free (18.38.78). 14 year old Ali Morreale finaled in both her breast events : 6th in the 200 breast (2.38.29) and 10th in the 100 breast (1.13.14).
14 year old Ryan Wyer also finaled twice, once in each of his fly events: 1) 10th in the 200 fly (2.24.83) and 2) 12th in the 100 fly (1.04.19-a new JO cut time!). 14 year old Greg Keiser placed 4th in his only final: the 100 fly (1.00.29).
The Girls Medley Relay, consisting of Duvvuri (back), Morreale (breast), Lai (fly) and Kology (free) placed 3rd with a 1.58.20 time!
Last but not least, a trio of Elite youngsters went gold in the 1650: 1) Katie Gorman placed 15th with a 20.12.35 time 2) Lindsay Stearns placed 19th with a 20.34.66 time and 3) Andrea Shepard placed 20th with a 20.59.32 time. All three times were well under the 21.21.49 cut time.
Swimmers who participated in the Junior States were (# in parathesis is number of best Elite SCY best times): Matt Ahlmeyer (2), Taylor Campolattaro, Brannon Cho, Sam Duren, Krishna Duvvuri, Priya Duvvuri (1), Spencer Fisch (6), Katie Gorman (3), Brent Jones (3), Eamonn Keenan, Gregory Keiser (6), Regan Kology (8), Emmie Lai (3), Michael Li (3), Sarah McGrath (3), Brendan Miller-Radest (5), Ali Morreale, Dan Muro (2), Andrea Shepard (2), Lindsay Stearns (7), Michael Wang (2) & Ryan Wyer (5).
SPRING/SUMMER SQUAD SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER:
START START DATES ANNOUNCED:
The response by returning swimmers to Elite is significantly smaller than anticipated. Only 91 swimmers are returning to Elite (out of 156) this Spring Session, based upon the return of the Spring Response Sheet mailed to each swimmer during the 1st week of February. The responses were due Friday, February 15th.
Below is the list of swimmers who have positively responded that they intend to train with Elite this spring/summer:
Seniors: Lindsay Anderson, Victoria D’Altrui, Chris Dart, Tad Deatly, Priya Duvvuri, Michael Li, Maggie Nelson, Michael Strand
Senior Preps: Venkatesh Duvvuri, Spencer Fisch, Greg Keiser, Victoria Keiser, Brandon King, Robert Maloney, Sarah McGrath,
Brendan Miller-Radest, Katie Ragan, Erica Takahashi
Wave Golds: Michael Ahlmeyer, Ali Dorneo, Krishna Duvvuri, Jessie Lowe, Daniela Manzi, Marisa Manzi, Silas Newcomb, Katie Salsano, Andrea
Shepard, Lindsay Stearns, Maggie Woodruff, Ryan Wyer
Wave Blacks: Chris Balbo, Lindsay Behar, Nicole Blum, Ariel Gelman, Hannah Gleason, Katie Golway, Lydia Gracey, Julia Guacelli, Matt Hong,
Patrick Lai, Aaron Levin, Katie McGrath, Kara Miller-Radest, Caroline Nash, Nick Pachiolo, Christina Pick, Gabrielle Pick, Michelle
Pick, Kaitlin Stearns, Rachel Tortorella, Richard Yu
Wave Teals: Arlynn Baer, Abbie Bigham, Alexa Burkard, Avi Duvvuri, Madeleine Faust, Andrea Ferrell, Andrea Galea, Emily Goad, Andre Guacelli,
Emma Harris, Scott Harris, Alyssa Hartigan, Patrick Hong, Jared Kovacs, Clark LaRaia, Isabelle LaRaia, Sarah Lowe, Julia Muro,
Mikala Quinn, Jessica Solodkin, James Yoon
Marlin Blacks: Megan Balbo, Brielle Barba, Philleppe Bethlem, Thomas Burke, Meggie Butler, Elizabeth D’Altrui, Katherine Friday, Alexandra
Gordon, Dominique Gordon, Rachel Keselman, Matthew Migliozzi, Emily Torre, Michael Tortorella
Marlin Teals: Ethan Blum, Andy Fresen, Erika Fresen, RJ Fresen, Jessica Kraus, Brandon Li, Collin Miller-Radest, Kathryn Shepard, Katie Tselepis
The Spring Session will start as follows:
The Age Group Program (the Wavebusters and the Marlins) will start on Monday, April 7 (the day after the banquet). The Spring Session practice schedule, until Friday, June 6th will be identical to the Winter 2007-08 schedule.
The Senior Program will have two different start dates: 1) for those swimmers who participate only in the 13 & Older Silver-Bronze Championships, the 1st practice will be Monday, March 24 and 2) for those swimmers who participate in the Junior Olympics, practice will start Monday, March 31.
TRYOUT
INFORMATION NOW POSTED:
Information regarding Elite’s tryouts and Spring Practice Schedule is now posted on the website. The practice schedule is identical to the Winter 2007-08 until long course begins. Long course schedules are still being worked on.
NOMINATIONS
WANTED FOR ESCPO:
Nominations for positions are wanted and needed for the Elite Swim Club Parents Organization. Parents who are interested or who have nominess should email Moya Chew-Lai at moya.chew-lai@prudential.com.
DUAL CITIZEN DILEMNA FOR DART: BRITISH OR USA OLYMPIC TRIALS??
Brit or Yank? That is Chris Dart’s newest dilemma. If you had the options, how would you choose?
As many Elite swimmers know, Chris is unique in that he is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and of the USA (Chris was born in London and emigrated when he was young). By virtue of his amazing 100 meter back swim last month, Chris has qualified and can attend at least one of the two countries Olympic Trials (Bill is exploring if he is able to attend both Olympic Trials!).
Presuming that he can only attend one, Chris has opted to attend the British Olympic Trials (to be held March 31st thru April 5) in Sheffield, England. Plans are being made for him to do so.
Why? While it is a very difficult choice, the reasoning comes down to simple probability: in the USA, Chris is approximately 70th in the country with his OT time. In Britain, he is in the top 15. Given that Chris biggest dream is to complete in the Olympics (2012 is more realistic than this year), the odds are considerably better that Chris could actually do so representing Britain rather than USA.
In addition, at the British Olympic Trials, Chris will be in the hunt to be selected to represent UK at the Junior Level (officially called the European Junior Championships) in Budapest this summer or the World Youth Championships in Mexico. His performance at BOT could result in being asked to do so.
As of press time, USA Swimming has not given Elite a definite answer as to whether Chris is eligible to compete at USA OT if he competes at BOT.
A tough, but fun situation, isn’t it?
REMINDER:
SCHOLAR/ATHLETE AWARDS WILL BE HIGHLIGHT OF AWARDS BANQUET:
With the conclusion of the 2nd marking periods, swimmers are reminded that the ultimate award an Elite swimmer can earn at the season ending Awards Banquet (Sunday, April 6, 2008) will once again be the Elite Scholar-Athlete Awards. Great grades, in addition to great swim times, are required for a swimmer to earn one of these awards.
These awards will be broken down into three levels:
1) All-American
Scholar Athlete Award: Swimmer must have a 3.5 grade average and at least 1
Sectional Qualifying time. This award is actually a USA Swimming Award and will
be presented by New Jersey Swimming. Elite will also provide a certificate to
those swimmers who have qualified for this award.
2) The Elite
Scholar-Athlete Gold Award: A swimmer must have all A’s and no more than 1 B
(or the equivalent of all A’s and 1 B) plus at least 1 individual Junior
Olympic Qualify Time
3) The Elite
Scholar-Athlete Teal Award: Swimmer must have all A’s and B’s (of the
equivalent) plus at least 1 individual Silver Qualifying Time
In addition to each swimmer receiving an impressive certificate from Elite acknowledging this achievement, from this season forward Elite will post the names of its scholar athletes on its website-forever acknowledging its most special scholar-athletes.
Parents
of grammar school students should remember that Bill will review the grading
legend (assuming A’s and B’s are not given) to ascertain if the swimmer has
fulfilled the academic requirements to receive the award.
Bill is now accepting the scholastic information. If your swimmer made a JO or Silver qualifying time last summer or this winter and then aged up, an applicant must fill out the application form on the team website that will point Bill to the swim in question. All scholastic information needs to be to Bill by Tuesday, March 18.
Preparations are underway for the biggest party of the season: Elite’s 13th annual Winter Swim Team Banquet!!! This year’s party will be held Sunday, April 6, 2008 from 12:00 am to 4:00 pm.
This year, Elite will again be at the Hanover Marriott, located at 1401 Route 10 East, Whippany, New Jersey. This facility can accommodate up to 700 people!!! The last 6 Elite banquets have had an excess of 350 people each!!!
To reserve your dinner reservations, please print out an reservation form from the website, fill it in and mail the form with the appropriate check amount to Bill Deatly, 32 Prospect Street, Summit, New Jersey 07901.
Parents, Bill will do his best to honor your seating arrangement requests. Swimmers will be seated by Bill!!
Reservation forms must be in by Saturday, March 8, 2008.
ELITE GEARING FOR 9-10 SILVER/BRONZE CHAMPIONSHIPS (THIS
WEEKEND!!!);
ALL 9-10 AND 8 & U PARENTS EXPECTED TO HELP; SWIMMERS ARE
INVITED TO HELP!!!
Elite
will be hosting (at Newark Academy) the South 9-10 Silver/Bronze Championships
this season on Saturday, February 23 & Sunday, February 24. Allison Nash
and Sue Duren have been contacting parents of swimmers 10 & U this past
week to request help in coordinating the Parental work efforts.
All
Elite parents of 10 & Under swimmers will be asked to work this meet (8
& Under Parents are being requested to help to train them for next year’s
meet). Coordinating and running the 1st class meets that Elite is
known for takes planning and everyone’s efforts. Please be responsive to
Allison & Sue when you are contacted. Among the jobs needed filled will be:
timing, admission, marshalling, spectator concessions, coaches concession,
parking, awards and hallway monitoring. Parents who are away will be requested
to provide a financial donation (but we don’t want money, we want your
help!!!).
If you want to be proactive (which would be extremely
helpful), Sue’s email address is sduren@neca.org & Allison’s email is allisonrnash@msn.com.
Elite
swimmers (when not at an Elite practice) may also volunteer their time in
fulfilling jobs. Last year’s Elite swimmers had a blast helping marshalling the
10 & unders!!! This volunteer work can be used for community service hours
as Bill will complete all paperwork necessary to document your help.
HOW THE END OF THE SEASON “WORKS” AT ELITE:
With the Winter 2007-08 Session rapidly approaching its conclusion, the following is an explanation of how the “End of the Season” concludes at Elite.
Each Elite swimmer will be entered into at least one “End of the Season Championship Meet.” A swimmer will be entered into ALL championship meets they qualify for. If a swimmer qualifies for 2 different levels of championship meets based upon their times, they will be entered in each meet. These meets, as described below, are:
1) 8 & Under Mini-Championships
2) 9-10 Silver/Bronze Championships
3) 11-12 Silver/Bronze Championship
4) 13 & Older Silver/Bronze Championships &
5) the Junior Olympics.
For all swimmers ages 8 & under, the final meet of the season is the Mini-Championships held Saturday, March 1, to be held at Seton Hall University. At the conclusion of this meet, all swimmers ages 8 & Under are finished (including practice) for the season (with the exception of an 8 & Under who makes a Junior Olympic Qualifying Time).
For all swimmers ages 9 & 10, the final meet of the season is the South 9-10 Silver/Bronze Championships, held Saturday, February 23 & Sunday, February 24 to hosted by Elite and held at Newark Academy. At the conclusion of this meet, all swimmers ages 9 & 10 are finished (including practice) for the season. The only exceptions are those swimmers who have qualified for Junior Olympics held Friday, March 14 thru Sunday, March 16.
All swimmers 11 & older will participate in one or more of the following meets: the 11-12 Silver/Bronze Chamionships Saturday, March 8 & Saturday, March 9 (to be held at Bergen County College Pool), the 13 & Older Silver/Bronze Championships Saturday, March 1 & Sunday, March 2 (to be held at Rutgers University & hosted by Elite) and/or the Junior Olympics, held March 14 thru March 16.
Swimmers
who qualify for the Junior Olympics via their performances at the Silver/Bronze
Meets will be entered by Elite into JO’s and all swimmers will keep training
and performing until they have concluded their championship performances. Once
a swimmer has concluded their championship performances, their practice season
has concluded. Only swimmers who still have championship swims are invited to
practice.
THINKING SUMMER? THINK SUMMER SWIM CAMPS!:
Although the hot sun and humid weather seems millions of years away, summer is only 6 months away and top-notch swim camps are already taking registrations for the summer of 2007. When planning the upcoming summer, please consider sending your Elite swimmer to one of the numerous swim camps.
Each summer, numerous Elite swimmers spend a rewarding week (or two) at a summer swim camp. The benefits of such a camp are: 1) individual attention by reknown swim coaches 2) an increased knowledge of the sport of swimming and 3) personal growth that occurs as a result of “being on one’s own.” The formula that seems to work best is finding an Elite friend to spend the week with at the swim camp.
If you are considering sending your
swimmer to a swim camp, now is the time to do the research and make decisions
(many of these camps are sold out by mid-Spring). On
the website, under Swim Camps, there is a list of swim camps. Many of these
swim camps close out in late February and early March!!!
Thinking about summer? Think Swim Camps!!
PHOTOGRAPHERS:
GET YOUR PICTURES OF ELITE SWIMMERS TO BILL:
As the season heads to it’s conclusion, all amateur photographers who have been busy taking candid shots of our Elite stars need to get your pictures to Bill on a compact disk so that Elite can coordinate two major photography projects: 1) the memory book and 2) the slide show at the Elite Awards Dinner.
Courtesy of the Elite Swim Club’s Parents Organization, at the end of this season each swimmer will receive a memory book with dozens of pictures of Elite swimmers. Last year’s (1st year) book was an instant hit and this year’s is expected to be treasured by swimmers for years to come.
In addition, there is a slide show presentation at each year’s Awards Banquet. This year is no different as hundreds of slides will be reviewed for a place in the show.
Please place your pictures on a CD and place them in Bill’s mailbox at Newark Academy!!!
LESS IS MORE: IF YOU ARE
SICK: BE SMART.
PLEASE DO NOT COME TO
PRACTICE OR MEETS:
Reports are coming into coaches that swimmers who are sick are still coming to practice and meets, presumably to keep up their attendance records. These efforts are actually extremely counter productive for the sick swimmer and for their teammates.
If a swimmer is sick, their 1st and ONLY priority is to get better. Energy expended at practice depletes the energy sources of the body to fight off sickness (thus, the swimmer is likely to become sicker and remain sicker longer). This is not what coaches want: we can only effectively train healthy swimmers.
In addition, a sick swimmer at practice or a meet will likely get OTHER SWIMMERS SICK. This is extremely counter productive.
Missing a practice is the right thing to do if a swimmer is sick. Please think twice before sending a lethargic, coughing swimmer to practice.
UNIQUE FORMAT TO
HELP EASE 13 & OLDER SILVER/BRONZE MEET:
ODD HEAT
POOL/EVEN HEAT POOL:
As the new meet hosts of the 13 & Older Silver/Bronze Championships, Elite needed to take a hard and fresh look at the previous year’s meet format. As one of the most crowded meets of the season, this meet has produced some of the most stifling meet sessions in NJ Swimming history. If possible, Elite would like to avoid that situation.
The happy problem is that there are a significant number of competitors in New Jersey that are 13 & Older. In the traditional way of running these meets (one age group-one pool) at Rutgers, sessions timed out to an excess of 5 hours, without including the distance events.
With a suggestion from Henry Frycynski of Scarlet Aquatic Club, Elite has explored and will go with a meet format that has a single age group utilizing both pools simultaneously. Thus, the 13 & 14 Girls will swim in Session number 1 using both pools. The Scoreboard Pool will be designated as the Odd Heat Pool while the Dive Pool will be designated as the Event Heat Pool. Heat 1 and Heat 2 will be run virtually simultaneously. Heat 3 and Heat 4 will be run virtually simultaneously and so forth. The next event will not be started until such time as the previous event is concluded in both pools.
This format will also be used for the 15 & Older Girls (mid day session) and the 13-14 & 15-19 Boys (pm session).
When this meet format was created in the computer and last year’s entries were dropped into this format, as expected the sessions dropped to very manageable 3 hour (including distance events) sessions. Obviously, Elite is hoping that the reality is identical to the model!!
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