ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               6-16-08

 

JUNE 29th INTRACLUB MEET: WE ARE MINING FOR SILVER (4 TIMES)!!!

 

            The meet and event information for the Sunday, June 29th Intraclub Meet will be posted later today or tomorrow. The event entry strategy for this meet is as follows: we are looking for as many Silver qualifying times as possible. The reason behind this is simple: the coaches want the swimmers to have as many chances to qualify for Junior Olympics as possible at their Silver and Silver/Bronze Championships. And to help this effort, each swimmer has been entered in 4 events.

 

            Normally, we would be looking for as many Junior Olympic qualifying times in this type of meet. But because we are competing in a SCM pool rather than LCM pool and because conversion formulas are inaccurate, we want our swimmers to have as many opportunities in the LCM venue to qualify for JO’s.

 

            Thus, if a swimmer already has a LCM Silver qualifying and is reasonably close to Silver times in other events, they may not be placed in the LCM Silver event in order to give them more opportunities to compete with swimmers at their level at Silvers.

 

If we chose not to follow this formula and swimmers participated in less events at Silvers, we would then have the problem of not having as many LCM times from this summer when we are dealing with entries next summer.

 

Thus, we are mining for Silver (and if we hit Gold, terrific!!!).

 

ELITE’S ALEX MORRISON NAMED VALEDICTORIAN OF UNION COUNTY BY THE STAR LEDGER!!

 

            Elite’s Senior Alex Morrison, a recent graduate of Oratory Preparatory School in Summit, has been named by the Star Ledger as the Valedictorian of Union County. Alex, who is heading to Princeton University in the fall, was selected by the Star Ledger in a comparison of each Valedictorian of each high school within Union County.  

 

            As amazing as this award is, it is important to also note the following about Alex: 1) he is actually a year younger than his peers, he skipped a grade in middle school  2) he posted Junior Nationals swimming times, becoming only the 2nd Elite swimmer to do so  3) he is a musician (trumpet player) and 4) he attained the Eagle Scout ranking in Boy Scouts!!! Alex also scored a perfect 2400 on his SAT’s and will be a winner of USA Swimming’s Scholar Athlete Award.

 

            Planning on studying science and math at Princeton, Alex also expects to compete at the Varsity Swimming level for Coach Rob Orr.

 

            Morrison is actually the 2nd Elite swimmer to earn this very prestigious award; 3 years ago Alex Denby of Governor Livingston High School was named by the Star Ledger as the Valedictorian of Union County that year. Alex is currently studying biology at Cornell University.

 

SUMMER SCHEDULE STARTS NEXT MONDAY (JUNE 23) ;

THIS WEEK: NO DOUBLES, NO MAKE-UPS, DO NOT MISS SCHOOL FOR PRACTICE:

 

            The summer practice schedule starts next Monday, June 23. This week, practices are offered at both Springfield in the am and Morristown-Beard in the pm. Due to the limited space and expected crowded conditions, no doubles and no make-ups are allowed.

 

In all instances, Elite is NOT promoting missing school to attend morning practice!!!! Academics first, practice second!!!

 

            When there are 2 practices offered to the same training group on the same day (am & pm), swimmers are NOT to swim at both (no doubles). Providing the two practices is meant to ease the expected crowding situation at the evening practice, when most swimmers are expected. All swimmers are invited to the morning practices if it does not interfere with school. 

 

PHASE 2 OF “OPERATION THRIVAL:  PHASE 2: SUMMER TEAM CLINICS:

  

            In order to help swimmers and parents who are interested in Elite, the team has added a separate “Interested Swimmer” homepage to help provide information an Interested Swimmer would need in making a choice to train at Elite.

 

            With the need to draw new and beginner level swimmers into the program (so we can develop them like we have with our current 9-12 year olds), Bill has dubbed this effort “Operation Thrival.” Combining the words thrive and survival aptly gives the effort the right label; for Elite to survive but also to continue to thrive, the club needs new blood at the lowest levels of the program.

 

            In addition to the new webpage, Bill will be providing clinics to local swim clubs this summer.

 

23 MEMBERS SWIM FOR CHARITY IN  TEAM’S 7th ANNUAL ELITE-A-THON,

MANY RAISE $ FOR CROHN’S IN THANKS TO LEIGHANN; $2,689 ACCOUNTED FOR:

           

Twenty-one Elite swimmers swam up to 2 hours in the 7th Annual Elite-a-thon fundraiser. 

 

Like all past “Elite-a-thons,” this year’s event was structured so each individual participating will be raising money for the “charity of their choice.” At this moment, swimmers totals are at $2,104!!!

 

Those who participated were: Chris Balbo, Megan Balbo, Tad Deatly, Andy Fresen, Andrea Ferrell, Erika Fresen, Andrea Galea & Clio Galea ($189 for Chrohns), Alyssa Hartigan,  Greg Keiser, Emmie Lai, Jesse Lowe ($75), Sarah Lowe ($75), Daniela Manzi ($127.50), Marisa Manzi ($127.50), Dan Muro, Darragh O’Gorman ($455 for Chrohns), Mikala Quinn, Brittany Ross, Kaitlin Stearns ($250 for Bridges Outreach), Lindsay Stearns ($300 for Susan Komen for Breast Cancer), Will Stearns ($250 for Cora Hartshorn Arboretum), Michael Strand  ($250 for Creative Heartwork, Inc), Michael Tortorella, Rachel Tortorella . 

 

If you participated and are not listed above with regards to your amount raised, please email Tad at filmmaker1991@comcast.net today!!

 

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