ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               03-20-06

 

ELITE ENCORE: BEST SAVED FOR JUNIOR OLYMPICS:

DART, MASON, MESZAROS & V. DUVVURI FINAL;

P. DUVVURI, DEMEO, LI, BROSNAN & STEARNS

LEAD 12 & UNDERS:

 

            Like all great athletes, Elite’s top swimmers saved their best performances for last as they competed against New Jersey’s finest swimmers this weekend at Rutgers University in New Jersey Swimming’s 2006 SCY Junior Olympics.

             

Spurred on Elite’s impressive poster gallery, Elite was led by sophomore swimming phenom Chris Dart. Allowed to compete 9 times individually, Chris “finaled” in each event (meaning he swam in the morning preliminaries and qualified to compete in the same event again at night in “finals”). Coupled with his 3 relay swims, Chris competed 21 times in just 3 days!!! And remember, Chris competed 7 times last weekend at Sectionals!

 

 For his efforts and despite being just 15 years old (Chris aged-up on Dec 30), Chris tied for 3rd with 97 for total points scored in the Boys 15-19 Age Group!!! Last summer at Long Course JO’s, Chris won the top point competition in the Boys 13-14 Age Group.

 

Along the way, Chris accomplished the following:

 

1) Qualified for 3 additional Sectional events which brings his total Sectional qualifying times to 6: 100 back, 200 back, 200 IM, 50 free, 100 breast and 200 breast

 

2) Placed 4th in his signature event: the 100 back (52.60)

 

3) Placed 5th in both the 200 back (1.55.23) & the 200 breast (2.14.72)

 

4) Placed 6th in both the 200 IM (1.58.20) & the 50 free (22.39)

 

5) Placed 7th in the 100 breast (1.01.00)

 

Chris was joined by a host of other Elite swimmers who swam fabulously:

 

1) 12 year old Priya Duvvuri placed in the top 16 (scoring points for Elite in each swim) in each of her 9 swims!!!! Priya finished 3rd in the 50 fly (28.82!), 5th in the 100 back (1.06.09), 6th in the 50 back (30.91), 7th in the 100 fly (1.06.85) and 8th in the 200 Fly (2.38.34). Priya’s total point contribution to Elite’s cause was 82!!!

 

2) 12 year old Carolyn DeMeo rocketed to 4th place in the 50 free (26.42) along with placing 6th place in the 100 fly (1.06.37). Carolyn also burst thru the magical minute mark in the 100 free for the 1st time (59.48!!!)

 

3)  14 year old Colleen Mason flexed her endurance muscles as she “finaled” in the 400 IM and the 200 fly. This means Colleen swam prelimins in both events in the morning (plus the 200 breast) session and then returned at night to compete again in the same events. Held just minutes apart, Colleen placed 6th in the 400 IM (4.52.39) and 13th in the 200 fly (2.18.89).

 

4) 10 year old Courtney Brosnan cruised to a 7th place finish in her last event, the 100 back (1.15.65). Courtney have previously competed in 8 events, finishing 11th in both the 100 fly (1.18.39) and the 100 free (1.07.20). Possibly most impressive, Courtney also placed 14th in the 500 Free (6.47.04) in dropping 21 seconds in a month!! 

 

5) 11 year Michael Li continued in posting impressive results:  a 10th place finish in the 100 breast (1.14.84), a 12th place finish in the 200 breast (2.42.58), and two 15th place finishing: 50 breast (34.38) and 100 IM (1.07.14)

 

6) 16 year old Austin Meszaros followed up last week’s impressive swimming with more of the same: breaking the magical 23 second mark in the 50 free twice; including a 22.63 time in consolation finals good enough for 15th place. Austin also placed 15th in the 100 free-breaking the 50 seconds barrier twice after accomplishing that for the 1st time last weekend

 

7) 10 year old Lindsay Stearns, competing in her 1st Junior Olympics, churned to an 11th place finish in the 50 fly (34.14) 

 

 8) 14 year old Venkatesh Duvvuri qualified for his 1st JO final, powering a 16th place finish in the 200 butterfly (2.19.43)

 

            In addition to these spectacular swims, there were dozens of impressive swims by the rest of the Elite contingent. A season’s worth of training was validated by swim after swim by our Elite Swimmers. Check out the complete results now posted on the website.

 

            Swimmers who participated in Junior Olympics in individual events were:  Courtney Brosnan (8), Crissy Condus (1), Chris Dart (8), Tad Deatly (1), Carolyn DeMeo (8), Priya Duvvuri (9), Venkatesh Duvvuri (2), Cassandra Farnow (3), Spencer Fisch (2), Alex Gonzalez, Katie Gorman (2) Duncan Hall (1), Kim Jones, Greg Keiser (2), Katie Kilcullen, Regan Kology, Emmie Lai (2), Michael Li (5), Danielle Martinez, Colleen Mason (7), Sarah McGrath, Austin Meszaros (2), Ali Morreale (8), Madison Munoz (1), Matt Poloniak (1), Brittany Ross (1), Nicki Ross (3), Lindsay Scott (1), Veronica Smith, Lindsay Stearns (1), Lily Thompson (1), Nick Trojanowski (3), Sarah Weinbrom (2), Alex Wolfson (1) & Maggie Woodruff (1).

 

SCHOLASTIC AWARD: GET BILL THOSE REPORT CARDS WITH LEGENDS BY THIS WEDNESDAY:

             

            As noted earlier in the season, Elite will be recognizing its Scholar Athletes starting this year thru new awards to be presented at the Awards Banquet this year: the Elite Scholar-Athlete 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 QualifyTime

 

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 Qualfying 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. 

 

In order to be eligible, a swimmer or parent must provide a copy of their latest valid report card (plus legend, if necessary) to Bill by Wednesday, March 22. These copies can be given to Bill or mailed to Bill at 32 Prospect Street, Summit, New Jersey 07901. The certificates will be presented at the Awards Dinner on Sunday, March 26th.

 

WAVE BLACKS: SPRING SCHEDULE ALTERED (ON SAT):

 

            Pursuant to the request at the January Parents Meeting to discuss the new Spring Schedule, Elite has altered its spring schedule with regards to practice time on Saturdays for the Wave Blacks. During the Spring 2006 Session, the Wave Blacks will practice at Newark Academy from 9:30 am to 11:00 am on Saturdays.

 

            Because of a conflict with the Newark Academy High School Swim team, Elite will not be able to provide this Saturday am practice time throughout the Winter 2006-07 Session. The tentative plan is for Elite to have this am practice time from September thru November 15 and then move it to Saturday pm from 2:45 pm to 4:00 pm

             

TOP 10 TIMES TO BE UPDATED THIS WEEK:

 

            One of the most fun elements of swimming is the “measurability” of performance. To help keep swimmers motivated, Elite posts all sorts of “top 10” times on its website.

 

Already updated on the website is the Top 10 All Time Times list, which includes all this year’s championship performances (including this past weekend’s Junior Olympics). Later this week, the Top Age Group and Training Group times will be updated.

 

Look for your favorite swimmer and lets get motivated to climb the list!!!

 

SPRING SESSION: TRYOUTS TUESDAY, MARCH 21ST :

 

          Elite will hold a spring session from Monday, April 3 thru Friday, June 9. Tryouts for all ages will be held Tuesday, March 21 from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm at Newark Academy.

 

            Swimmers currently training with Elite will be asked at their practices if they intend to train this spring. The list of swimmers participating in the Spring 2006 Session will be posted on the website under Spring 2006.

 

            All swimmers whom have trained with Elite during the Winter 2006 and Spring 2006 sessions will automatically have a roster spot reserved for them (assuming they respond positively this summer) for the Winter 2006-07 Session. Swimmers who opt not to train during the Spring 2006 Session will need to earn their roster spot for the Winter 2006-07 Session thru a summer tryout.

 

SUMMER LONG COURSE MEET SCHEDULE REVISED:

 

            Adjusting to the increased participation in summer “long course” competition, New Jersey Swimming has announced a restructure of the schedule of its championship meets.

 

            To meet the additional interest in summer competition (last summers meets were terribly overcrowded), NJ Swimming will hold a Bronze Level Meet this summer in addition to “moving back” the Junior Olympic competiton.

 

            Junior Olympics will be held Friday, August 4 thru Sunday, August 6, 2006 at Rutgers University.

 

12 & Under Silvers will be held Saturday, July 15 and Sunday, July 16 at Rutgers (same weekend as in the past).

 

13 & Older Silvers will be held Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23 at Rutgers (same weekend as in the past).

 

 Bronze Championships will be held on Saturday, July 29 and Sunday, July 30 in Bayonne (at an outside venue!).