ELITE NEWS BULLETIN 04-05-10
“ZONE 5” OFFICIALLY FINISH
ELITE WINTER SEASON:
GALEA (TWICE) & SEBASTIAN FINAL
K. MILLER-RADEST, K. STEARNS & M. TORTORELLA
ALSO REPRESENT NJ AT ZONES!!
Five Elite swimmers represented
New Jersey Swimming at the 2010 Eastern Zone Short Course Swimming
Championships held this past week (April 1st thru April 3rd)
in Webster, New York. Eastern Zones is an LSC All-Star Team Competition (NJ Swimming
is an LSC) held each April (following the winter season) and each August
(following the summer season). There are 12 LSC’s (Adirondack, Allegheny,
Connecticut, Maryland, Maine, Metropolitan, Middle Atlantic, New England, New
Jersey, Niagara, Potomac Valley and Virginia) that make up USA Swimming’s
Eastern Zone.
“Zones” is the 2nd
regional meet that Elite swimmers competed in this season; 2 weeks ago, 11
Elite swimmers performed at the Sectional South meet in Boyds,
Maryland.
11 year old Andrea Galea finaled twice (defined as being within the top 10 in prelims and returning to compete in finals against those 9 other swimmers). In her current signature event, the 50 back, Galea finished 3rd overall (the only 11 year old in the final heat!) with a 28.32 (just .01 off her personal best) time. Andrea also placed 9th in the 100 back with her 1.02.36 performance. Galea also competed in the 200 back (2.16.84) finishing 16th and in the 200 IM (2.23.71) finishing 24th.
13 year old Ryan Sebastian, who competed in the 6 individual events (6 swims is the max), placed best in the 100 back, where he placed 9th overall with his 57.31 swim. Ryan was 11th (which was 1st alternate for finals) in three events: 200 back (2.04.05), 200 IM (2.07.86) and the 400 IM (4.31.81). Sebastian also placed 15th in the 100 fly (57.84) and 16th in the 200 fly (2.12.12).
10 year old Michael Tortorella placed 12th with a personal best time of 36.82 in the 50 breast. Michael followed up with a 17th place finish in the 100 breast in a 1.23.75 time.
11 year old Kaitlin Stearns grabbed 14th place in the 200 free with a 2.03.80 time. Kaitlin also competed in the 100 free, placing 22nd overall with her 57.85 swim.
13 year old Kara Miller-Radest placed 14th with her 1.02.28 swim in the 100 fly.
Elite coaches Michelle DuCharme, who worked with the 10 & Unders and Patty Martin Turkot, who worked with the 11-12s, were part of the 5 person NJ Swimming Zone Coaching staff.
IT’S A BRAND NEW
DAY:
SPRING 2010
SEASON BEGINS TODAY:
Today (Monday, April 5) marks the start of Elite’s Spring/Summer 2010 training season. Practices will be held today for the Marlin Teals/Explorers 2, Marlin Black/Explorers 1, Wavebuster Blacks/Believers 2, Wavebuster Golds/Believers 1 and the Seniors training groups. Tomorrow, Elite will conduct their first practice for the Wavebuster Teals/Believers 3 and Senior Preps training group.
The two Marlin/Explorer training groups will train thru Friday, June 11. The remaining training groups will train thru Junior Olympics (Wednesday, July 28). Swimmers who qualify to represent Elite at Sectionals, Junior Nationals or Senior Nationals will train thru their meets in early to mid-August as will any Elite swimmer who qualifies for Eastern Zones.
PRIYA DUVVURI, ALI MORREALE, MAGGIE NELSON AND MICHAEL STRAND BECOME ELITE
CAPTAINS TODAY:
Swimmers who attain Senior Training level status and are seniors (or about to become seniors) in high school have earned the right to be named captains of the Elite Swim Club. This year Elite has 4 swimmers who have attained this prestigious level: Priya Duvvuri, Ali Morreale, Maggie Nelson and Michael Strand.
Priya is to be senior at Columbia high school while Ali will be a senior at Millburn High School. Maggie and Michael will be seniors at Chatham High School.
Captains at Elite lead dryland practice on a daily basis in the Senior Training Group, lead meet warm-up and are expected to lead at meets and various Elite functions.
Congratulations to Priya, Ali, Maggie and Michael!!!
TENTATIVE SPRING/SUMMER MEET SCHEDULE POSTED:
The tentative Spring/Summer Meet Schedule is now posted on the team website. The link is: http://www.eliteswimclub.org/Meet%20Schedule/homepage.htm.
This schedule is “tentative” in that Elite, will attempt to compete in the non-championship meets (Summer Solstice, Summer Sizzle & Friday Night) but could be shut out of these meets.
Elite will definitely compete in a meet hosted by Tidal Wave of Union in early to mid May (short course & for Wave Teals-Believers 3, Marlin Blacks-Explorers 2 and Marlin Teals-Explorers 1). Elite has already entered Memorial Day meet (meet and event information posted on the website) and will co-host the Tiger Challenge thus guaranteeing participation. All teams are accepted into the championship meets.
ELITE WELCOMES NEW TALENT; MARCH TRYOUTS YIELD MORE
QUALITY SWIMMERS FOR THE TEAM THIS SPRING SEASON!!
As a result of last week’s tryouts, 14 additional and very talented swimmers have committed to train with Elite this fall.
Those invited to join the team as a result of the March 23,
2010 tryouts are:
Marlin
Blacks/Explorers 2: Aislin Black, Katherine Zhang
14 new swimmers will join Elite as of the Spring Session, which practices start April 5th.
The top 10 all time times per age
group has been updated on the team website. Check it out!!
Preparations are underway for the biggest party of the season: Elite’s 15th annual Winter Swim Team Banquet!!! This year’s party will be held Sunday, April 11th from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm.
This year, Elite will again be at the Hanover Marriott, located at 1401 Route 10 East, Whippany, New Jersey. The RSVP list is on the website: http://www.eliteswimclub.org/Awards%20Dinner/Awards%20Dinner%20reservation%20form%202010.htm
227 Reservation
forms were received. The list is posted on the team website.
SCHOLAR/ATHLETE
AWARDS WILL BE HIGHLIGHT OF AWARDS BANQUET:
78 HAVE APPLIED
FOR AWARD; LIST ON WEBSITE
78 swimmers have applied to win one of the prestigious Elite Scholar Athlete Awards. These awards will be presented at the 15th Annual Awards Banquet to be held this Sunday (April 11).
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.
78 Elite
Swimmers have already applied for the award. The list is now posted on the
website:
http://www.eliteswimclub.org/Awards%20Dinner/scholar%20athlete%20awards%202010%203-11-10.pdf
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 2010. When planning the upcoming summer, please consider sending your Elite swimmer (Wave Black level, Wave Teal level, Marlin Black level or Marlin Teal level) to one of the numerous swim camps. Wave Golds and Seniors should remain training with Elite thru the summer months
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 renown 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 at http://www.eliteswimclub.org/Swim Camps/index.html
is information regarding Summer Swim Camps. Many of these swim camps close out
in late February and early March!!! Also check out this month’s Swimming World
Magazine, which lists many of the swim camps.
Thinking about summer? Think Swim
Camps!!
PARENTS: PLEASE BE PROMPT IN PICKING UP SWIMMERS:
Parents are requested to be prompt in picking up their swimmers at the end of practice. Recently, especially after the Wave Golds on weekdays and the Wave Teals on Saturday, swimmers have had to wait 30-45 minutes after practice for their ride.
Bill has asked the coaches to remain at practice until the last child has been picked up (for the obvious safety reasons). Coaches are more than willing to do so occasionally. But Elite coaches have other full time jobs and several are attending school in addition to their primary jobs and coaching. It is unfair to ask the coaches to spend an additional 30-40 minutes waiting for parents to pick up their children virtually every night.
Elite is prompt about ending practice on time. Please help out the coaches by being prompt to pick up your child.
CLOTHING ITEMS PREVIOUSLY
PURCHASED THRU ESCPO NOW IN: CONTACT ALLISON NASH:
The clothing items previously purchased thru ESCPO have arrived. Parents are encouraged to contact Allison Nash to arrange pick-up at Newark Academy. Allison’s email address is ALLISONRNASH@MSN.COM.
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!!!