ELITE NEWS BULLETIN 1-10-11
“Cultivating Excellence in Academics, Character and Swimming”
UNEVEN PERFORMANCE AT WINTERFEST:
AGE GROUPERS SWIM WELL WHILE 15 & OLDERS STRUGGLE;
IIZUKA, SEBASTIAN (2),
K. STEARNS (1) & STRAND (2) WIN 6 EVENTS;
C. BALBO, CRITCHLEY (3), C. PICK (5), SEBASTIAN (3), S. SLEPIAN
(4), SUN, WATT & C. XU COLLECT 19 JO CUTS!!
Compared to their
previous performances since October, the overall team performance was off a bit
this past weekend at Winterfest 2011, held at Rutgers
University.
While there were plenty
of impressive individual performances (Elite swimmers won 6 events & 8
swimmers added 19 JO cuts) AND factoring in that many of the December Holiday
Classic qualifiers were entered into their secondary events, the overall team performance
was still less than what was expected. Ironically, after training fabulously in
Arizona two weeks ago, the Seniors performance was least impressive performance
of the team (one theory-they are just pooped!).
Still, Elite swimmers of
all ages and current ability levels made progress.
In 6 events, 14 year old
Ryan Sebastian placed no lower than 3rd and won both the 200 IM and
400 IM (his times were just off his Holiday Classic performances). Ryan earned
JO cuts in his last 3 eligible events: 50 free-23.69,
100 free-52.59 & 200 free-1.53.02. His 200 free time
was particularly important as it earned Elite its last remaining Sectional
Relay qualifier (Elite has now qualified a relay for all 10 relay events
offered for boys and girls while Elite has now qualified 13 relays-up from the 10
we qualified last year. This is the first time Elite has earned multiple relays
within the same event-the girls have 2 relays in 3 different events!!).
18 year old Michael Strand
(swimming a very limited schedule because of a cold), recovered just enough to
win the 400 IM by 10 seconds (Sebastian’s time would have placed him 2nd
in the Open 400 IM) and followed up with a 59.49 win in the 100 breast.
12 year old Kaitlin
Stearns won the 200 back with a 2.20.46 time and also earned a 2nd
place in the 200 free (2.06.01), which occurred after her 24 second drop in the
1650 free (to a 19.11.28). Kaitlin also placed 4th in the 200 IM
(2.28.76).
11 year old Alicia
Iizuka continues to be impressive in the breaststroke events, as she won the 50
breast (just off her Holiday Classic time) and placed 4th in the 200
breast-dropping 2 seconds to a 2.41.49.
12 year old Christina
Pick swam fantastically this weekend; in 6 events, she qualified for 5 JO swims
(pushing her total to 11). Christina dropped 19 seconds to place 3rd
in the 500 free (5.48.04), dropped 7 seconds to place 6th in the 200
free (2.11.52) and placed 7th in both the 100 free (4 second
drop-1.00.90) and the 50 breast (36.25).
14 year old Jess Gorham
touched 3rd in the 50 free with a 25.48 time. Jess also dropped 7
seconds in her 200 fly (2.32.21).
10 year old Grace Xu
earned a 4th place finish in the 100 IM (1.17.19) while 16 year old
Michael Li placed 4th in the 100 breast with a 1.04.14 time.
10 year old Claire Xu
knocked 6.5 seconds off her 200 IM time to place 5th. Claire also placed 6th in the 100
IM (1.18.62) and 7th in the 100 fly (1.27.18). Her 11th
place finish in the 200 free (2.37.60) earned Claire her 9th JO cut
time.
14 year old Caroline
Watt, who has already had a remarkable year, continues to excel; in her first
attempt at the event, she earned a JO cut in the 200 fly (2.25.26) and placed 8th
overall. Caroline followed up with a 5th place finish (and 16 second
drop) in the 1650 free (18.50.18).
12 year old Amy Duren
dropped her 200 fly time another 1.4 seconds to place 5th.
In her 2nd appearance
as an Elite swimmer, 13 year old Sarah Slepian earned 4 additional JO cuts (all
9 of her Holiday Classic swims were JO qualifiers). Sarah placed 6th
in both the 100 back (1.01.84) and the 1000 free (11.11.54), 7th in
the 200 fly (2.20.67) and 8th in the 50 free (25.93).
16 year old Lindsay
Stearns was 6th in the 1650 free (18.54.15).
12 year old Chris Balbo
earned his 17th JO cut by dropping below the qualifying time in the
50 free (27.47). Chris placed 7th in the 200 breast with a 2.45.36
time and dropped significant time in both the 1000 free (11.00.69-13.6 second
drop) and the 1650 free (18.37.93).
10 year old Katy Shepard
grabbed a pair of 8th place finishes (100
back-1.19.03 & 200 free-2.34.40).
Captains Priya Duvvuri and Maggie Nelson each placed 8th;
Priya was 8th in the 100 fly (1.02.99)
while Maggie was 8th in the 500 free (5.31.54). 11 year old Karen
Iizuka placed 8th in the 50 breast (36.30).
Although not placing in the top 8 in any
event, 12 year old Matt Critchley earned 3 JO cuts while swimming brilliantly.
Matt went gold in the 100 fly (1.11.51), the 200 breast (2.53.13) and the 200
back (2.34.37).
10 year old Brittany Sun
earned her 5th JO cut with her 1.10.29 performance in the 100 free.
Full results are posted
on the team website.
Swimmers who participated (# in parenthesis
is number of best Elite SCY best times): Matthew Ahlmeyer (4), Jenni Allocco (2), Chris Balbo (5), Megan Balbo (3),
Brielle Barba (5), Lindsay Behar (2), Natalia Beltran, Abbie
Bigham (4), Caitlin Brown, Emily Buckman (4), Sarah Burn (1), Meggie Butler (2), Peter Carchia, Richie Carchia (1), John
Chiang, Morgan Conley (4), Jimmy Coyne (3), Matthew Critchley (6), Elizabeth
D’Altrui (1), Drew D’Andrea, Nathan Davidovich (4),
Anthony Don (2), Amy Duren (6), Corey Duren (1), Sam Duren (1), Avinash Duvvuri (4), Krishna Duvvuri (6), Priya Duvvuri, Lindsay Ellerthorpe, Rachel Emodi, Juliet
Felsen (1), Summer Felsen (1), Andrea Ferrell, Katherine Friday (1), Emily Fu
(4), Lindsay Giostra (5), Emily Gorham (6), Jess Gorham (3), Scott Harris (3),
Gab Hayek (2), Andrew Huang (2), Alicia Iizuka (5), Erica Iizuka (5), Karen
Iizuka (2), Monica Iizuka (5), Brent Jones, Rachel Keselman (1), Audrey Kim
(1), Jared Kovacs (1), Emmie Lai, Patrick Lai, Clark
LaRaia (2), Isabel LaRaia (1), Brandon Li (2), Michael Li (2), Ben Litvin, Sarah Lowe, Greg Macchia (5), Michael Macchia (2),
Teddy Maguire (2), Isabelle Malinowski (6), Cody Matheson (3), Leighton Mayers
(3), Katie McGrath (2), Karl Melchior (1), Ryan Miller (4), Ali Morreale, Isabelle Morreale (3),
Charlotte Morrissey (4), Sandeepan Mukherjee (1), Dan
Muro (3), Fred Nagle, Caroline Nash (2), Maggie Nelson (2), Evan Ng (3),
Michael Nitting (3), Darragh O’Gorman (3), Nicholas Pachiolo (3), Danielle Peterson (1), Christina Pick (6),
Gabrielle Pick (5), Joseph Pick, Joseph Romano, Brandon Rossi (3), Ryan
Sebastian (4), Andrea Shepard (3), Katy Shepard (4), Jonas Singer (3), Delaney
Smith, Gian Soriano, Kaitlin Stearns (3), Lindsay
Stearns, Will Stearns (2), Jason Steinberg, Michael Strand (1), Brittany Sun
(3), Sachi Tanwar, Cullen
Walsh (4), Caroline Watt (5), Ryan Wyer (1), Vivian
Xia (3), Claire Xu (6), Gloria Xu, Grace Xu (5).
ELITE TO ADD 2 NEW TRAINING GROUPS
THIS SPRING:
A SMALL TRAINING GROUP BETWEEN SENIOR
PREPS & WAVE GOLDS &
A PRE-COMPETITION TRAINING GROUP;
Elite will expand during the Spring
2011 Session by adding two training groups to the club. Each group are created to enhance the overall performance of the club.
The creation of these groups will have no affect on the training schedule of the
existing 7 training groups. The Spring 2011 Session
training schedule will be identical to the Winter 2010-11 training schedule.
Starting with the Spring 2011
Session, Elite will promote a very select group of older swimmers (mainly if
not totally Seniors-to-be in High School) into a new training group called the
Senior Preps-2. This training group will train from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at
Morristown-Beard School along with the Seniors and
Senior Preps. This group will consist of 3-10 swimmers and will train in one
lane at a MBS from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm.
Also
starting in the Spring 2011 Session, Elite will create
a Pre-Elite Program. This Pre-Elite program will actually be two programs in
one:
1) Program #1: For swimmers at the Wavebuster Teal, Marlin Black or Marlin Teal level whom would be turned away at tryouts due to lack of space
within these Elite training groups. By offering these swimmers training in the Spring 2011 (and in the Fall 2011 from Sept thru Nov 15),
Elite will be developing swimmers to enter Elite when room becomes available.
Each year, Elite experiences attrition during the season; this training group
would “feed” the Wavebuster Teals, Marlin Blacks and
Marlin Teal levels during the season when space becomes available. Swimmers in
this group will also be given priority entrance into Elite at the next tryout
if space does not become available during the season.
2) Program #2: For swimmers who are not yet at
the Marlin Teal level. This program will give these swimmers “water time” to
develop their swimming within the structure of Elite’s training system. These
swimmers will also have priority entrance into Elite upon achieving the Marlin
Teal level (when space opens up or at the next tryout).
At the moment, the plan
is for the Pre-Elite program will train 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday and
Friday for 1 hour (4:00 pm to 5:00 pm).
SMALL GROUP TO TRAVEL TO WASH, DC TO COMPETE IN FEB AT IMX GAMES:
7 Elite Seniors and Senior Preps will travel to Washington, DC in early February to compete in a meet against top regional competition (Maine thru West Virginia). These swimmers will compete in what is billed as USA Swimming’s Eastern Zone IM Xtreme Challenge Games 2010-11. The swimmers who will be participating are either Elite Seniors or Senior Preps and are 14 years or younger; they are: Juliet Felsen, Jess Gorham, Ryan Sebastian, Andrea Shepard, Sarah Slepian, Lindsay Stearns & Caroline Watt.
USA Swimming is gently prodding clubs to develop swimmers that are versatile and well conditioned. Several years ago, USA Swimming created IMX scores (one can go onto USA Swimming website and find their IMX score) to encourage stroke and distance development. Last year, USA Swimming financially backed regional IMX structured meets for swimmers who are 14 & Under and have IMX scores higher than 1800. This year, USA is again backing a regional IM Xtreme Meet. 13 LCS in the Eastern Zone have been invited to participate.
For three reasons, Elite is taking a small contingent this year (Elite has approximately 25 swimmers who have an IMX score higher than 1800). Reason #1 is that this is the first time Elite is participating in this meet (it is the 2nd year of the meet) and Head Coach Bill wants to understand the meet, the competition level and the complexity of traveling with swimmers 14 years and younger before taking a large group. Reason #2 is that the meet information was just provided in late December; attempting to coordinate a large scale travel trip with virtually no lead time and without prior experience suggests Elite will not be able to coordinate this trip for a large group in its accustomed well run style and Reason #3 is that USA Swimming has just released (again, in late December) its Model Travel Policy (related to Athlete Protection). This policy needs to be either adhered to OR a USA Swimming Club needs to have in place a comparable Club Travel Policy starting January 1, 2011. Elite will establish its own Club Travel Policy (Elite already adheres to many USA Swimming’s Travel Policies) but may not be able to establish this formal Club Travel Policy prior to the team traveling to Wash, DC.
PARKING AT PRINCETON INVITE (THIS WEEKEND)EXPECTED TO BE TIGHT;
OVERFLOW PARKING NORTH OF PRINCETON (FOOTBALL) STADIUM;
The
following is a message from Princeton University regarding the Princeton
Invitational Meet:
Due
to multiple events on campus, parking for the Princeton Invitational will be
somewhat limited. Please try to carpool as much as possible.
The fewer cars on campus, the easier it will be to find suitable parking.
Also,
please see the attached campus map for overflow parking areas. There are
parking lots just north of Princeton Stadium, along Western Way,
that are not much further than the back of the main parking lot as well
as a parking garage (North Garage) along Prospect Avenue.
Please remember that Elite is co-host of this meet. All parents have timing assignments!!!
….JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE NOT TO
LOOK AT OUR PRACTICE SCHEDULE: HIGH SCHOOL MEETS TO DISRUPT PRACTICES:
In December, January and thru the middle of February, high school & middle school swim teams conduct practice and meets at the two pools Elite uses. Incredibly, a total of 7 high school and middle school teams use either Newark Academy or Morristown-Beard School during this time in addition to Elite. What these means to us is that Elite’s practices will be disrupted as meets will encroach upon Elite’s practice times.
On
days when there are no meets, Elite’s practices will be held at the usual time.
However, on those days when a high school or middle school is using one of our
pools for a meet, our practices might be shortened at the front end or on the
back end. And meets get canceled and rescheduled. So, please continue to
check the practice schedule for practice time changes on a daily basis!!
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.
Elite is prompt about ending practice on time. Please help out the coaches by being prompt to pick up your child.
TIMING
COORDINATORS ASK FOR YOUR HELP IN RESPONDING TO EMAILS:
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
NEXT UP: CERAVE & PRINCETON; GO ELITE!!!; MEET INFORMATION POSTED; PLEASE RESPOND TO TIMER
COORDINATORS EMAILS:
Elite’s next competition will be CeraVe (qualifiers only) & Princeton Invitational (remaining team) January 15 & 16. Information regarding these meets is posted on the team website at: http://www.eliteswimclub.org/Meet%20Schedule/homepage.htm. Please have your swimmer get in the habit of checking this page on a regular basis (and report back to you about details such as warm-up times, entries, meet locations!).
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!!!