ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               07-26-10

 

    “Cultivating Excellence in Academics, Character and Swimming”

 

ELITE PLACES 5TH AT LCM JUNIOR OLYMPICS WITH 1194.5 POINTS!!

STRAND ADDS 2ND JUNIOR NATIONAL CUT PLUS 2 ADDITIONAL BONUS CUTS!!

MANGO EARNS 3 SECTIONAL CUTS, WEINBROM 1 SECTIONAL CUT!!!

E. NG & G. XU POST ZONE TIMES!!

A. GALEA, L. STEARNS & STRAND WIN EVENTS!!!

C. BALBO, A. GALEA, SEBASTIAN (3), L. STEARNS, STRAND (2)

& BOTH 11-12 GIRLS RELAYS PLACE 2ND!!

SEBASTIAN 2ND IN 13-14 BOYS HIGH POINT RACE!!

 

           At New Jersey Swimming’s premier summer meet, an impressive team effort earned Elite a 5th place finish (out of 40 teams) this past weekend at the Junior Olympics held at Rutgers University. 26 different Elite swimmers placed within the top 16, thus earning points towards Elite’s total of 1,194.5 points.

 

            17 year old Michael Strand garnered his 2nd Junior National qualifying time in winning the 100 butterfly in an astonishing 57.06 time!! Michael also added two bonus Junior National qualifying times (at Jr Nats to be held in next week in Irvine California, rules allow a swimmer up to two bonus swims IF they meet a slightly slower qualifying time standard) with his 2nd place 200 back finish of 2.11.08 and his prelim swim of 2.13.15 in the 200 IM (Michael opted not to swim this event in finals). Having 4 Junior National qualifying swims (his 4th is the 100 back-58.95) will only enhance Michael’s marketability within the college recruiting process. A rising senior, currently Michael is looking at top Ivy League and equivalent colleges.

 

            16 year old Alex Mango was also brilliant this weekend, adding 3 LCM Sectional qualifying times to his resume which places him in 5 individual events this week at Sectionals (to be held in Buffalo NY, Thursday thru Sunday). Alex’s 3 Sectional cuts were in the 100 fly (1.00.59) for 8th place, the 200 free (2.01.10) for 8th place and the 100 backstroke (1.03.51) for 11th place. Alex placed 7th in the 100 free (55.46), 13th in the 200 back (2.19.55), and 13th in the 50 free (26.08).

 

            18 year old Adam Weinbrom who is headed to Gettysburg College this fall, added a Sectional cut and a bonus cut to his event list this coming week in Buffalo. Adam qualified for the 100 free with his 11th place, 55.86 time while adding a bonus qualifying time (Sectionals allows a limited amount of bonus swims also, again requiring swimmers to qualify with slightly softer cut times) with his 14th place finish in the 100 butterfly (1.01.88). Adam’s best swim was his last, the 50 free in which he dropped .2 to place 3rd overall.

 

             With her performances this weekend, 9 year old Grace Xu added two qualifying times for Zones (when a swimmer earns a Zone time, they earn the right to represent New Jersey Swimming at the 2010 Eastern Zone Long Course All-Star Championship Meet, to be held in Rockville Maryland next week). Grace’s 2nd and 3rd qualifying times came in the 100 free (1.14.37-14th place) and the 200 IM (3.02.38-10th place). Grace also placed 8th in the 50 breast (45.63), 9th in the 100 breast (1.39.12) and 13th in the 400 free. Grace previously qualified for Zones in the 50 breast.

 

            10 year old Evan Ng also earned the right to represent NJ Swimming at Zones via his 4th place, 36.65 time in the 50 butterfly. With Ng, Elite now has 18 swimmers qualified in 88 Zone events this summer.

 

            14 year old Ryan Sebastian was magnificent all weekend long. Ryan placed within the top 6 in all 9 events he raced (8 of which entailed prelims and finals races); placed 2nd in three different events and earned 139 points to place 2nd overall in the 13-14 boys high point race. 9 of Ryan’s races were personal bests despite the fact he is not yet fully rested as he is aiming for his best next week at Zones (where he will participate in 6 events-the max after qualifying in 12). Ryan was his best in the sports most grueling events: the 400 IM (2nd place: 4.58.07), the 200 IM (2nd place: 2.21.05), the 1500 free (2nd place-17.47.64) and the 800 free (4th place: 9.15.73). Ryan was 3rd in the 200 back (2.20.62) and 6th in both the 200 fly (2.25.07) and the 400 free (4.33.81).

 

            Despite just turning 12 last month, Andrea Galea won the 50 back in a sizzling 33.41 and placed 2nd in the 100 back (1.11.12). Andrea followed up with a 5th place finish in the 200 back (2.39.79) and 8th place in the 200 IM (2.43.45). Andrea posted 86 of Elite’s points.

 

            14 year old Lindsay Stearns dusted her competition in the 200 fly, winning by more than 3 seconds with her 2.28.44 time. Lindsay nearly won the 100 fly, placing 3nd by just .14 with her 1.06.90 swim. Nearly matching Sebastian by competing in 7 finals, Lindsay nailed the 400 free (6th place: 4.46.28), the 400 IM (7th place:5.24.43) and the 800 free (9.52.89) to total 85 points. Lindsay is also not fully rested as she will compete at Sectionals in both fly events this week.

 

            12 year old Kaitlin Stearns finished in the top 16 in 8 of her 9 swims and snagged two 3rd place finishes. Kaitlin smooth freestyle stroke propelled her to a 4.56.27 time in the 400 free and a 19.38.98 time in the 1500 free (her 3rd place finishes). Kaitlin’s 1500 time was 1 minute, 57 seconds faster than her time last year!!! Kaitlin was 4th in both the 800 free (10.14.16) and the 200 free (2.21.30) and she was 5th in the 100 free (1.04.91). Kaitlin posted 92 points. Kaitlin’s swimming is far from over as she will attend Sectionals as a relay swimmer and then represent NJ Swimming at Zones in 5 events.

 

            12 year old Chris Balbo touched 2nd in the 400 free with his 4.51.88 effort. Chris followed up with a pair of 4th place finishes (the 800 free-10.09.52 and the 1500 free-19.10.25) and a 6th place finish in the 200 fly (2.42.56). Chris’s efforts totaled 74 points. He will also represent NJ Swimming next week at Zones.

 

            11 year old Alicia Iizuka was a rocket in the 50 breast as she finished 3rd with a 38.18 time. Alicia followed up with a 12th place finish in the 100 breast.

 

            16 year old Michael Li finaled in his breaststroke events, coming in 4th in the 200 breast (2.39.02) and 6th in the 100 breast (1.13.00-just .3 off the Sectional qualifying time).

 

            17 year old Ali Morreale, despite missing the 200 breast event due to an injury, placed 5th in the 100 breast with her 1.18.09 swim.

 

            12 year old Caroline Nash dropped 9 seconds to place 6th in the 200 butterfly (2.51.30). Caroline was 9th in the 100 free (1.06.60) and13th in the 200 free (2.26.48).

 

            14 year old Isabella Morreale placed 7th in the 100 breast (1.22.28) and 8th in the 200 breast (2.59.28).

 

            14 year old Jessica Gorham nicked .2 from her previous best in the 100 free to finish 8th (1.03.58). Jess won the consolation heat in the 100 back to place 9th with another personal best of 1.12.18.

 

            In the Girls 200 Medley Relay, Galea, Iizuka, Nash and Stearns teamed up for a 2nd place finish of 2.16.37. Galea, Nash & Stearns joined Emily Gorham for a 2nd place finish in the 200 free Relay!

 

            Other top 16 finishes were:

 

1)      10 year old Abigail Tsay snagged 10th place in the 50 breast (45.85)

2)      12 year old Danielle Peterson placed 12th in the 50 breast (40.17) and 13th in the 200 breast (3.08.35)

3)      10 year old Brandon Li was 12th in the 100 breast (1.40.31) and 16th in the 50 breast (47.00)

4)      10 year old Claire Xu was 12th in the 50 back (40.21)

5)      11 year old Amy Duren was 13th in the 200 fly (3.05.17)

6)      14 year old Caroline Watt earned a 14th place finish in the 400 free (4.52.04) and 15th place in the 1500 (19.22.33)

7)      10 year old Katy Shepard nabbed 14th place in the 400 free (5.55.45)

8)      12 year old Camille Relota came in 15th in the 50 free (31.07) and 16th in the 50 back (36.82)

9)      12 year old Matt Critchley was 15th in the 50 breast (40.89)

10)  11 year old Jimmy Coyne placed 16th in the 50 breast (41.17)

11)  14 year old Juliet Felsen was 16th in both the 100 fly (1.12.01) and the 400 IM (5.47.49)

 

            Full results are posted on the team website.

 

            Swimmers who participated (# in parathesis is number of best Elite LCM times):  Chris Balbo (3), Abbie Bigham (1), Morgan Conley (1), Jimmy Coyne (2), Matthew Critchley (3), Jeffrey Dong (2), Amy Duren (2), Venkatesh Duvvuri, Juliet Felsen (3), Katherine Friday, Emily Fu, Andrea Galea (1), Lindsey Giostra, Emily Gorham, Jess Gorham (3), Scott Harris (6), Andrew Huang (2), Alicia Iizuka (2), Karen Iizuka (2), Rachel Keselman, Jared Kovacs (1), Clark LaRaia, Brandon Li (5), Michael Li (1), Alex Mango (11), Ali Morreale, Isabella Morreale, Caroline Nash (6), Evan Ng (7), Daniel Peterson (3), Christina Pick (4), Gabrielle Pick (1), Camille Relota (2), Ryan Sebastian (9), Andrea Shepard, Katy Shepard (3), Gian Soriano (1), Kaitlin Stearns (3), Lindsay Stearns (6), Michael Strand (5), Michael Tortorella, Caroline Watt (4), Adam Weinbrom (6), Ryan Wyer, Vivian Xia (4), Claire Xu (1), Grace Xu (3) & Remena Xu.

 

TOP 10 ALL TIME LCM LIST UPDATED:

 

            The Top 10 All-Time LCM list has been updated thru Junior Olympics. Here is the link: http://www.eliteswimclub.org/Top%20Times/top%2010%20all%20time%20lcm%208-10.htm.

 

            Check out the new times from this weekend!!!

             

MORE TALENT ON THE WAY; TRYOUTS YIELD 22 NEW SWIMMERS:

 

            By reason of the July 20 tryouts, 23 new swimmers have committed to training with Elite during the Winter 2010-11 Season.  Joining Elite will be:

 

Wave Golds: Cullen Walsh

 

Wave Blacks: Jason Steinberg, Alexis Tabisz

 

Wave Teals: Sara Bellog, Gauri Deorkar, Jasmine Gulati, Paul Guenther

 

Marlin Blacks: Benjamin Campbell, Benjamin Litrin, Chloe Lawrence, Samantha Siracusa

 

Marlin Teals: Tara Balan, Milind Bangalore, Sheetal Bangalore, Jessica Carchia, Nikhil Deorkar, Katharina Dowlin, Jeffrey Ho, Jonathan Kao

                        Ryan Lam, Sophie Lawrence, Joseph Siracusa & Katharine Slover

 

The Coaching Staff looks forward to working with these new swimmers!!

COMING THIS FALL: PARENT WORKSHOPS: 1st DATE IS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND

            In an effort to educate parents about swimming and Elite’s philosophy, Head Coach Bill will conduct a Parent Workshop once a month during the Winter 2010-11 Training Season at Newark Academy. The initial workshop will be Wednesday, September 22.

            The workshops are meant to educate the Age Group Parents as to the sport of swimming. Each workshop will consist of a lecture regarding a specific topic (like nutrition) and will have time set aside for general questions. On the first date, there will also be a 2nd workshop specifically for Marlin parents in introduce them to the sport of swimming.

RISING SENIORS (IN HIGH SCHOOL), JULY AND AUGUST ARE THE “OFFICIAL COLLEGE ESSAY MONTHS!!!:

            All rising Seniors in high school should take advantage of some down-time and prepare your college essay this summer. July and August are “Official College Essay Months!!!

            1st semester Seniors have a tremendous workload in addition to being under a tremendous amount of stress. 1st semester Seniors have: 1) college visits (swimmers may have college recruiting visits that last Friday thru Sunday) 2) SAT preparation 3) preparing college applications 4) keeping up their grades (colleges will want to see the 1st semester grades) and 4) swimming workload (college coaches expect swimmers to be training at their usual full schedule).

            Thus, organizing and writing one’s college essay during the “down” months of July and August is extremely productive and wise.

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!!!