ELITE NEWS BULLETIN 2-25-08
ELITE SWIMMERS AND ELITE PARENTS SPARKLE AT 9-10 CHAMPS:
BALBO, GALEA, HARRIS, NASH, NICCOLAI WIN EVENTS;
BALBO, GALEA, HARRIS, LARAIA & NASH ADD 14 JO SWIMS:
Both Elite swimmers and Elite parents turned in spectacular performances this weekend at New Jersey Swimming’s 9-10 Silver-Bronze Championship-South Meet. The meet was hosted by Elite and held at Newark Academy.
9 year old Chris Balbo, 9 year old Andrea Galea, 10 year old Scott Harris, 10 year old Caroline Nash and 10 year old Gregory Niccolai each won events for Elite. Balbo, Galea, Harris, Isabelle LaRaia and Nash each added JO swims, ballooning Elite’s team totals to 40 individual qualifiers and 236 total swims (last year Elite had 32 qualifiers and 178 swims & there are still 2 silver-bronze meets to go)
And once again, the Elite Parents turned in their own stellar performance, hosting over 400 swimmers plus their parents each day this weekend. The enthusiasm and the hard work that the parent showed in putting together this meet was wonderful, and earned Elite dozens of compliments from competing coaches and parents all weekend long.
In understanding the divisions and awards, remember that there were really two meets being held this weekend simultaneously: a Silver level meet and a Bronze level meet. In addition, each age group was broken up into the specific ages 9 and 10. Thus, the swimmers were divided by sex, specific age and by Silver and Bronze entry times.
In competing just four times, Chris Balbo won two Silver Division for 9 year old boys (50 breast-44.76 and 100 free-1.10.65), placed 2nd in the other two (50 free-32.47 and 50 back-37.95) and posted 3 Junior Olympic times (50 free, 100 free, 50 back). In 3 swims, Andrea Galea placed 1st in the Silver Division in the 50 fly (35.86) and 2nd place twice (50 breast-42.91 & 500 free-6.56.59).
10 year old Caroline Nash was also spectacular as she won the Silver Division of the 10 year old 100 IM (1.21.53). Nash also placed 2nd twice (200 IM-2.56.05-Silver Division & 100 breast-1.44.81-Bronze Division) and 3rd twice, both in the Silver Division-100 back-1.22.78 & 50 back-38.14. Along the way, Nash added 4 JO cuts (50 back, 100 back, 100 IM & 200 IM) to her totals.
9 year old Christina Pick, swimming in just two events, when gold in each; placing 3rd in the 50 free Silver Division (32.04) and 4th in the 500 free (7.07.03). 10 year old Scott Harris won two events: the Bronze Division 50 breast (45.78) and the bronze division 50 back (44.42) and placed 3rd in the bronze division 100 back (1.34.11). Ironically, Scott earned his 1st Junior Olympic time when he placed 6th in the Silver Division of the 100 breast (1.36.76).
10 year old Isabel LaRaia posted her 2nd JO time this season by churning to a 6th place finish in the Silver Division of the 200 free (2.39.90). 10 year old Gregory Niccolai won two Bronze Division events: 50 free (33.31) and the 100 IM (1.25.73).
10 year old Avinash Duvvuri placed 2nd in the Bronze Division of the 50 fly (41.92) and 4th place in the 100 free (1.23.16). 9 year old Patrick Hong placed 2nd in the Bronze Division of the 200 free (2.59.00), 3rd in the 50 free (36.38) and 5th in the 50 fly (40.65).
9 year old Amy Duren, swimming in the Silver Division, placed 4th in both the 100 fly (1.33.76) and while swimming in the Bronze Division, placed 4th in the 200 free (3.09.30) and 5th in the 50 back (43.10).
10 year old Jared Kovacs, competing in the Bronze Division, placed 4th in the 100 back (1.40.67) and 5th in the 100 free (1.23.66). 9 year old Emily Goad placed 4th in the Bronze Division in the 50 free (36.72) while Sarah Kleppe, also in the Bronze Division, place 4th in the 50 back (43.09). 10 year old Matt Migliozzi, swimming in the Bronze Division, placed 6th in the 100 breast (1.56.35).
Brandy and Bill would like to thank the parents for going beyond the call of duty this past weekend. We appreciate the help of the officials (some of whom children were not in the meet) and all the volunteers who helped set-up, run the meet and clean-up afterwards. THANK YOU!!!
Swimmers who participated in the 9-10 Silver Bronze Championships-South were (# in parathesis is number of best Elite SCY best times): Chris Balbo (4), Brielle Barba (5), Abbie Bigham (6), Ethan Blum, Katie Brosnan (4), Meggie Butler, Mac Charvala (5), Elizabeth D’Altrui (3), Amy Duren (4), Avinash Duvvuri (4), Andrea Ferrell (5), Erika Fresen (3), Andrea Galea (3), Joe Gleason (1), Emily Goad (6), Alexandra Gordon (4), Scott Harris (6), Alyssa Hartigan (5), Patrick Hong (4), Sarah Kleppe (5), Jared Kovacs (2), Isabel LaRaia (6), Sarah Lowe (2), Matt Migliozzi (2), Caroline Nash (6), Gregory Niccolai (4), Spencer Pearce (3), Christina Pick (2), Kaitlin Stearns (2), Emily Torre (3), Katie Tselepis (5).
SPRING/SUMMER SQUAD SWELLS TO EXPECTED SIZE:
START START DATES ANNOUNCED:
Upon receiving 44 late Spring Response Sheets last week, the Elite spring/summer 2008 team will be 136 swimmers prior to tryouts. This number is much more in line with what was expected.
Below is the list of swimmers who have positively responded that they intend to train with Elite this spring/summer. If a swimmer’s name is not listed below but they do decide to train with Elite this spring, they will need to tryout for Elite in March to earn a roster spot (which spot will not be guaranteed):
Seniors: Lindsay Anderson, Victoria D’Altrui, Chris Dart, Tad Deatly, Priya Duvvuri, Cassandra Farnow, Breana Fitzpatrick, Amanda Grywalski,
Michael Li, Ricky Martin, Ali Morreale, Maggie Nelson, Michael Strand
Senior Preps: Venkatesh Duvvuri, Spencer Fisch, Duncan Hall, Greg Keiser, Victoria Keiser, Brandon King, Emmie Lai, Robert Maloney, Sarah
McGrath, Brendan Miller-Radest, Katie Ragan, Brittany Ross, Amanda Scherb, Erica Takahashi, Lexi Tedesco,
Wave Golds: Matthew Ahlmeyer, Michael Alelov, John Burns, Taylor Campolattaro, Ali Dorneo, Sam Duren, Krishna Duvvuri, Maya Epelbaum,
Katie Gorman, Brent Jones, Zachie Katz, Regan Kology, Jessie Lowe, Daniela Manzi, Marisa Manzi, Dan Muro, Silas Newcomb,
Rebecca Niccolai, Katie Salsano, Jonathan Scott, Andrea Shepard, Lindsay Stearns, Michael Wang, Sarah Weinbrom, Maggie
Woodruff, Ryan Wyer
Wave Blacks: Chris Balbo, Lindsay Behar, Nicole Blum, Ryan Buckham, Jeffrey Dong, Juliet Felsen, Ariel Gelman, Hannah Gleason, Katie Golway,
Lydia Gracey, Julia Guacelli, Matt Hong, Patrick Lai, Aaron Levin, Katie McGrath, Kara Miller-Radest, Isabella Morreale, Caroline
Nash, Nick Pachiolo, Christina Pick, Gabrielle Pick, Michelle Pick, Collin Reilly, Taylor Savarese, Jonas Singer, Kaitlin Stearns,
Rachel Tortorella, Spencer Turkington, Caroline Watt, Richard Yu
Wave Teals: Arlynn Baer, Abbie Bigham, Alexa Burkard, Drew D’Andrea, Amy Duren, Avi Duvvuri, Helena Elston, Madeleine Faust, Emilie
Ferguson, Andrea Ferrell, Andrea Galea, Emily Goad, Andre Guacelli, Emma Harris, Scott Harris, Alyssa Hartigan, Patrick Hong, Elana
Horowitz, Sarah Kleppe, Jared Kovacs, Clark LaRaia, Isabel LaRaia, Sarah Lowe, Julia Muro, Gregory Niccolai, 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, Eloise Burn, Andy Fresen, Erika Fresen, RJ Fresen, William Kaiser, 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 13 & OLDER SILVER/BRONZE CHAMPIONSHIPS (THIS
WEEKEND!!!);
ALL 13 & OLDER PARENTS EXPECTED TO HELP!!
Elite
will be hosting (at Rutgers University) the New Jersey Swimming’s 13 &
Older Championships on Saturday, March 1 & Sunday, March 2. Debra Scherb has
been contacting parents of swimmers 13 & Older the past two weeks to
request help in coordinating the Parental work efforts.
All
Elite parents of 13 & Older swimmers will be asked to work this meet.
Coordinating and running the 1st class meets that Elite is known for
takes planning and everyone’s efforts. Please be responsive to Debbie when you
are contacted. Among the jobs needed filled will be: timing, admission,
marshalling & awards. 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), Debra’s email address is mailto:debra.scherb@novartis.com
NIQUE 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!!
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.
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