ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               05-17-10

 

“Cultivating Excellence in Academics, Character and Swimming”         

 

IN LONG COURSE OPENER; ELITE RESTOCKS ZONES, JO’S AND SILVERS:

MORREALE, SEBASTIAN ADD ZONE CUTS;

GALEA (2), J. GORHAM, I. MORREALE, SEBASTIAN, STRAND WIN 6 EVENTS;

C. BALBO (3), COYNE, J. FELSEN (2), FRIDAY, A. GALEA (4), S. HARRIS (5), C. LARAIA, B. LI, MANGO, I. MORREALE, C. NASH (3), SEBASTIAN (3), K. STEARNS (2), L. STEARNS (3), WATT, A. WEINBROM, V. XIA (2) & G. XU (4) POST 39 JO CUTS;

84 SWIMMERS ADD 245 SILVER QUALIFYING TIMES!!!!

            With barely 6 weeks of training under their belts and competing in the unforgiving long course venue (without the benefit of long course training), the Elite swimmers rang up 286 new qualifying times this past weekend at the Tiger Invitational Meet held at Princeton University. Elite co-hosted the meet with the Princeton Tigers Aquatic Club.

            The opportunity to compete long course this early in the long course season enabled Elite to accomplish the following:

1)      To update long course times that will provide baseline times for the summer season

2)      To provide a tune-up racing meet for those swimmers competing in the prestigious Memorial Day Meet two weeks from now. Swimmers who qualified for that meet swam “off” events at the Tiger Invitational; thus updated their secondary events times

3)      To pick up qualifying times for higher level meets

            Certainly, Elite swimmers took advantage of this opportunity. Isabella Morreale and Ryan Sebastian each posted a Zone qualifying time. With these two Zone cuts, Elite now has 14 swimmers qualified for 54 Zone cuts with the summer season just starting. For 14 year old Morreale, it was her first career Zone qualifying time, which she accomplished with her first place finish (1.23.72) in the 13-14 100 lcm breaststroke. Morreale also picked up the JO cut with the swim.

            13 year old Sebastian, who had 7 Zone cuts coming into the meet, added another with his 25 second drop in the 800 free (9.32.50). Sebastian also added 3 JO cuts to his resume (the 800 free, the 400 free-4.39.99 & the 50 free-28.76). Along the way, Ryan won the 13-14 200 breaststroke (2.52.92).

            11 year old Andrea Galea won 2 of the 4 events she competing in; touching first in both the 100 fly (1.16.48) and the 50 breast (40.51). All 4 swims for Galea were new JO qualifying times for her (she now has 13).

            13 year old Jess Gorham won the 13-14 200 breast in a 3.15.14 time. 17 year old Michael Strand won the 400 IM in a 4.56.57 time and placed 2nd in the 400 free (4.27.79).

            18 different Elite swimmers added 39 new qualifying times for this summer’s Junior Olympics. Collecting one for each finger, 12 year old Scott Harris went gold 5 separate times: 100 free-1.10.27, 50 breast-41.86, 100 fly-1.30.90, 100 breast-1.30.90 & 50 fly-35.76.

            9 year old Grace Xu competed in just 4 events (tuning up for next week) yet went gold in each of her swims: 50 free-35.02-3rd place, 50 breast-47.17-4th place & 5th place in each of the 50 fly-41.86 & 50 back-42.68.

            14 year old Lindsay Stearns grabbed 3 new JO cuts, rocking the 200 back-2.38.54, the 400 free-4.55.67 & the 800 free-10.00.44. Stearns’s 200 back, as well as her 100 breast (1.28.08) were good enough for 3rd place finishes.

            12 year old Caroline Nash also nabbed 3 JO cuts with her 5.24.98 400 free, 6.16.01 400 IM and her 11.07.37 800 free performances.

            12 year old Chris Balbo notched 3 more JO qualifying times (Chris now has 12). Chris posted his cuts in the 50 back (37.04), 50 fly (35.32) and the 800 free (10.10.53-which time is a 13-14 JO cut time!!).

            14 year old Juliet Felsen collected her first 2 JO cuts this summer with her 400 free-5.04.26 & 800 free-10.31.86 swims. 12 year old Kaitlin Stearns nailed the 800 free with a 10.43.87, JO level swim as well as with her 6.10.16 400 IM time.

            15 year old Alex Mango collected Junior Olympic times #10 & #11 with his 2.23.89 200 IM swim and his 9.22.57 800 free swim. 10 year old Vivian Xia posted her first career long course Junior Olympic times with her 100 back-1.28.95 swim and her 100 breast-1.45.64 performance.

            14 year old Clark LaRaia earned his very first career Junior Olympic time with his 28.88 swim. 14 year old Caroline Watt earned her first JO cut this summer with her 10.28.08 time in the 800 free.

            11 year old Jimmy Coyne earned his first JO cut this season with his 1.31.76 100 breast swim while 10 year old Brandon Li also earned gold with his 49.84 time in the 50 breast.

            10 year old Katherine Friday churned to a gold time in the 50 fly, with her 41.58 time. 17 year old Adam Weinbrom picked up his 4th JO cut with his 2.22.32 time in the 200 back.

            Incredibly, 84 different Elite swimmers posted 245 new Silver qualifying times this weekend. Elite now has 103 swimmers qualified for 469 Silver swims!!

Swimmers who participated (# in parathesis is number of best Elite LCM times):  Matt Ahlmeyer (4), Chelsea Allocco (3), Jenni Allocco (4), Chris Balbo (6), Megan Balbo (6), Lindsay Behar (4), Mark Berns (6), Abbie Bigham (6), Katie Brosnan (5), Caitlin Brown, Emily Buckman (6), Meggie Butler (3), John Chiang (6), Claire Chiperfield (6), Jessica Chu (6), Morgan Conley (6), Jimmy Coyne (5), Matthew Critchley (5), Elizabeth D’Altrui (6), Drew D’Andrea (6), Nathan Davidovich (3), Carolyn Delaney (6), Kelly Delaney (4), Will Delaney (6), Anthony Don (4), Jeffrey Dong (1), Amy Duren (5), Corey Duren (5), Sam Duren (4), Avinash Duvvuri (3), Krishna Duvvuri (4), Priya Duvvuri, Venkatesh Duvvuri (2), Madeleine Faust (2), Juliet Felsen (4), Andrea Ferrell (6), Katherine Friday (6), Emily Fu (6), Andrea Galea (4), Clio Galea (4), Ariel Gelman (6), Lindsay Giostra (5), Emily Goad (5), Emily Gorham (6), Jess Gorham (4), Lydia Gracey (1), Andre Guacelli (6), Claire Hagerstrom (6), Emma Harris (1), Scott Harris (6), Rachel Hong (6), Andrew Huang (4), Jennifer Huo (5), Alicia Iizuka (6), Erica Iizuka (6), Karen Iizuka (6), Monica Iizuka (5), Katie Iovel (3), Brent Jones (4), Audrey Kim (3), Jared Kovacs (4), Jessica Kraus (3), Emmie Lai (1), Patrick Lai (4), Clark LaRaia (6), Isabel LaRaia (4), Brandon Li (6), Michael Li (3), Sarah Lowe (2), Greg Macchia (5), Michael Macchia (3), Alex Mango (3), Cody Matheson (6), Katie McGrath (5), Karl Melchior (5), Matt Migliozzi (3), Ryan Miller (6), Ali Morreale, Isabel Morreale (2), Charlotte Morrissey (6), Dan Muro (5), Julia Muro (2), Caroline Nash (5), Alexandra N’Diaye, Maggie Nelson (2), Eugene Ng (3), Evan Ng (2), Michael Nitting (6), Darragh O’Gorman (6), Nick Pachiolo (6), Betsey Peinado (5), Danielle Peterson (6), Christina Pick (4), Gabrielle Pick (6), Natalie Pruitt (6), Mikala Quinn (1), Brandon Rossi (2), Dmitriy Savinskiy (5), Ryan Sebastian (3), Andrea Shepard (3), Katy Shepard (5), Abigail Shvorin (6), Jonas Singer (6), Gian Soriano (4), Kaitlin Stearns (2), Lindsay Stearns (4), Michael Strand, Brittany Sun (6), Abir Thakur (6), Amy Tsay (3), Katie Tselepis (6), Caroline Watt (6), Adam Weinbrom (3), Ryan Wyer, Vivian Xia (6), Claire Xu (4), Gloria Xu (6), Grace Xu (4) & Richard Yu (2).

 

8th ANNUAL ELITE-A-THON TO BE THIS SATURDAY, MAY 22:

SWIMMERS ASKED TO EMAIL LINDSAY STEARNS:

BILL TO SWIM FOR RED CROSS/HAITI RELIEF:

 

The 9th Annual Elite-a-thon fundraiser will be held Saturday, May 22th at Morristown-Beard from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

 

Like all past “Elite-a-thons,” this year’s event will be structured so each individual participating will be raising money for the “charity of their choice.” A suggestion list of charities accompaning information to be provided by Seniors Lindsay Stearns, the fundraiser head who are coordinating this year’s efforts. Lindsay will provide information directly to swimmers at a Sunday practice in May. Last year’s charity list is posted on the website.

 

Participants are requested to contact Lindsay Stearns at lindsaystearns14@yahoo.com that they are expecting to participants.

 

In a tradition begun six years ago, Bill will swim approximately 2000 yards to raise money for his yearly charity. This year, Bill will raise money to support the American Red Cross’s relief efforts in Haiti, following the devastating earthquake Haiti suffered this past winter.

 

Information will be posted on the website under “Elite-a-thon” later this week. Please follow the directions (do not go out soliciting for money alone!!!) and keep track of your pledge totals!!! 

 

OPEN ESCPO MEETING THIS SATURDAY, MAY 22:

 

            ESCPO President Antone Balbo has announced there is an ESCPO Meeting this Saturday, May 22 at 3:30 pm (during the Elite-a-thon). The meeting is open to all parents of Elite Swim Club members.

 

ELITE TO RENT CROMWELL POOL THIS SUMMER FOR WAVE TEAL-BELIEVER 3 PRACTICES:

 

            Elite has contracted with the Cromwell Pool, located in Morristown (off Columbia Turnpike/Columbia Turnpike) to rent their pool during the summer mornings. Elite will be renting the Cromwell Pool Monday thru Thursday, from 7:15 am to 8:30 am. In addition, the Wavebuster Teals-Believer 3’s have one scheduled practice a week in the long course pool at Springfield (Sunday mornings 6:30 am to 8:15 am).

 

            As with all changes made at Elite, the ultimate goal is to make the program stronger. The decision to rent the Cromwell pool (which will add expense to Elite without adding any income) was based upon the following:

 

1)      renting the Cromwell Pool will provide the proper space for the Wavebuster Teals-Believer 3 to train in during the summer months. With the previous summer practice schedule, the Wavebuster Teals-Believer 3’s were allocated just 1 lane at Springfield two days a week. Many times, there were 20 swimmers in the one lane during practice. The Cromwell Pool has 5 lanes.

2)      renting the Cromwell Pool will provide consistent coaching for Wavebuster Teals-Believer 3’s during their summer training. Coach Michelle is available to coach all 5 of the schedule practices whereas she was not available to coach all 5 practices under the previous schedule.

3)      renting the Cromwell Pool will provide a more conducive environment for proper stroke technique. At the Parents Meeting in February, parents indicated that stroke technique work/proper stroke technique provided was their number one concern for their swimmers. Stroke technique generally breaks down when a swimmer is tired. By having Wavebuster Teals-Believer 3 swimmers training in the most challenging venue 3 times a week last summer, stroke technique was much more likely to break down and bad habits to occur and cement. With the Cromwell Pool being a shorter pool, this will help cement proper stroke technique for these younger swimmers who should be less tired during their sets within practice.

4)      renting the Cromwell Pool will provide a consistent practice schedule for the Wavebuster Teals-Believer 3’s (rather than the flip flop practice schedule the previous schedule provided).

 

            The summer schedule for the remaining groups will remain the same (with the slight alteration of an earlier start time and 15 minutes longer per practice at MBS for Wavebuster Blacks-Believers 2 on Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s. The schedule from June 21 thru July 31 is now posted on the team website under practice schedule. http://www.eliteswimclub.org/Practice%20Schedule/homepage%20practice.htm

 

SMALLER PARENT MEETING ON THE HORIZON:

WAVE BLACKS: WEDNESDAY, MAY 26:

 

            In his continuing effort to personally receive feedback from Elite parents regarding the Age Group program, Bill will host a training group specific parents meeting next week for the Wavebuster Blacks-Believers 2 Training Group on Wednesday, May 26 at Newark Academy from 6:00 pm to 7:15 pm

           

            Bill meet with the Wavebuster Teals-Believers 3 Training Group last Thursday, May 13 at Newark Academy

 

            Each of these meetings have two purposes: 1) for Bill to receive feedback regarding the program from the Parents; specifically regarding their concerns regarding stroke technique work and 2) for Bill to present an outline (to be adjusted as parents provide information) as to what is being planned for next winter to provide a more structured and efficient way of providing stroke technique to Elite Swimmers on a daily/weekly/monthly and seasonal basis.

           

SOMERSET PATRIOTS HONOR US (SWIMMERS!!!):

PUT JUNE 28TH ON YOUR CALENDAR!!!

BUY SEATS IN SECTION 217!!! & PRIOR TO JUNE 8 FOR DISCOUNT;

 

            The Somerset Patriots, a local professional Minor League Baseball team, will be honoring Swimmers this summer with a special night at the ballpark! On Monday June 28, the Patriots will be holding Swim Night at their home park in Bridgewater, New Jersey (just off Route 287 South).

 

            The night will be dedicated to a swim theme. The Patriots will provide a special appearance by a well known swimmer, scoreboard recognition & public address announcement to each NJ swim team that participates, a pre-game parade and multiple opportunities for participate in on-field activities.

 

            Given the complexity of trying to coordinate getting seats together, Elite Swim Club members should buy seats directly from the Patriots in Section 217. That way, Elite parents and children can sit in close proximity to each other!!! Buying the tickets prior to June 8 will provide a discount on the tickets!!!

 

            In recognition of this night, Elite will cancel the 4 pm-6 pm practice at MBS on Monday, June 28 so swimmers and their families are free to attend this event.

 

WITH MEETS ON THE HORIZON; NEW TIMING COORDINATORS WILL BE IN TOUCH WITH YOU

 

            Parents of Elite swimmers are asked to add the following four email addresses to your e-mail address book to ensure you receive important information regarding Elite Hosted Meets, Timing Information for all other meets and Parent Association Information.  Adding the e-mail addresses will insure that these important e-mails do not go to your junk/spam folder.

 

Carolyn Balbo -                     cbalbo@comcast.net

Sanjeeta Mukherjee -            sanjumukhe@gmail.com         

Sue Duren -                            sueduren@aol.com

Antone Balbo -                      abalbo@comcast.net

           

PARKING AN ISSUE AT NEWARK ACADEMY:

 

            As we head into the Spring 2010 Session, parents are reminded that there is a distinct shortage of parking spaces at Newark Academy, especially on weekdays between 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm. Parents are welcome to “drop off” or “pick-up” their swimmers by the field house entrance during this time period if the driver remains in the car. If a parent is coming into the building, they are requested to park in the “upper” lot and walk thru the school to reach the pool.  Newark Academy is also now requesting the cars do not idle. Obviously, if the lot is not crowded, parking in the lower lot is acceptable.

 

            Please remember to drive slowly thru the parking lots and do not park in the fire lanes, as the Livingston Police will ticket improperly parked cars.

 

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.

           

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!!!