ELITE NEWS BULLETIN 10-13-08
INSTANT
SUCCESS!!! TIME TRIALS PRODUCE UPDATED (AND SPECTACULAR) TIMES; BALBO, CRITCHLEY,
DONG, GORHAM, HONG, SEBASTIAN & SHEPARD POST 14 NEW JUNIOR OLYMPIC TIMES!!:
Last Tuesday’s time trials for the Wavebuster Gold, Wavebuster Black and the Wavebuster Teal training groups was a huge success on several levels: 1) Coaches now have some accurate times on Wavebuster level swimmers which allowed Elite to enter more swimmers in Fall Festival (see updated Event schedule) 2) swimmers were able to practice their racing and the ritual involved in racing and 3) parents were able to refresh (or learn) the timing aspects of hosting a meet.
Many of the returning Elite swimmers had not been timed in short course competition since May (and some events, March), 2008. As many Elite swimmers trained and competed over the summer, the time trial times reflected improvement that has occurred since the last SCY competitions. In addition, with the fresh new crop of swimmers at Elite, the time trials gave these swimmers an opportunity to show off their racing skills to the coaches!
7 separate swimmers posted 14 new Junior Olympic qualifying times!! Last year, only one JO cut time was posted during similar time trials. Starting the season (prior to time trials), Elite already has 26 swimmers qualified for Junior Olympics in 132 events. Last March, Elite had a final total of 45 qualifiers in 278 events. Swimmers and coaches will be working towards topping that total this year!
Leading Elite at time trials was newcomer Ryan Sebastian, who posted JO qualifying times in all 4 events (50 Free-27.41, 50 Back-30.32, 50 Breast-36.12 & 50 Fly-29.00). This is of little surprise as Sebastian, who is 12, qualified for Eastern Zones as a 10 & 11 year old. Ryan is expected to qualify in most, if not all, JO events. Sebastian also posted a JO qualifying time in a timed 1000 free swim earlier this month (12.03.27).
12 year old Matthew Hong followed Sebastian’s lead by going gold in 3 events (50 free-28.38, 50 back-33.83 & 50 fly-31.50). 12 year old Jess Gorham posted her 1st two JO qualifying times for Elite:: 50 free: 28.30 & 50 back-32.98.
10 year old Chris Balbo and 10 year old Matthew Critchley each added a JO cut. By qualifying in the 50 breast (43.96) Balbo has now qualified in each 10 & Under event. Critchley added his 2nd JO qualifying time, in the 50 free (32.35).
12 year old Andrea Shepard recorded her 9th Junior Olympic qualifying time, with a 36.97 swim in the 50 breast. 12 year old Jeffrey Dong posted his 7th JO cut, with a 33.62 time in the 50 back.
There were numerous other JO Olympic qualifying times produced. However, all these swimmers either already had qualifying times in those events or the swimmers age up during the season (and thus need to earn JO qualifying times in a older age group).
Swimmers who participated (# in parathesis is number of best Elite SCY best times): Matt Ahlmeyer (1), Michael Alelov (1), Jenni Allocco (3), Arlynn Baer, Chris Balbo (3), Brielle Barba (3), Jeff Beamer (2), Lindsay Behar (1, Mark Berns (4), Abbie Bigham (3), Nicole Bllum, Katie Brosnan (4), John Burns, Meggie Butler (4), Brannon Cho (3, Morgan Conley (4), Jimmy Coyne (3), Matt Critchley (1), Elizabeth D’Altrui (4), Drew D’Andrea (1), Anthony Don (4), De Don (3), Jeffrey Dong (3), Alli Dorneo (3), Amy Duren (2), Sam Duren (2), Avinash Duvvuri, Krishna Duvvuri, Madeleine Faust,
Katie Fell (4), Juliet Felsen (2), Emilie Ferguson (4), Andrea Ferrell (1), Katherine Friday (4), Andrea Galea (3), Emily Goad (4), Emily Gorham (4), Jess Gorham (4), Lydia Gracey (3), Kevin Greener (4),
Andre Guacelli (1), Julia Guacelli, Emma Harris (4), Scott Harris (3), Alyssa Hartigan (4), Jason Hoehn (4), Matt Hong (4), Patrick Hong (3), Elana Horowitz, Andrew Huang (4), Zach Katz (3), Lauren Kelly (4), Rachel Keselman (4), Sarah Kleppe, Regan Kology (3), Patrick Lai (1), Clark LaRaia (2), Isabel LaRaia (3), Aaron Levin (2), Jessie Lowe (2), Sarah Lowe (4), Daniela Manzi (1), Katie McGrath (3), Karl Melchior, Kara Miller-Radest (3), Andrew Morrison (4), Charlotte Morrissey (4), Dan Muro (1), Julia Muro, Caroline Nash (3), Silas Newcomb (1), Gregory Niccolai, Rebecca Niccolai (2), Dara O’Gorman (1), Nick Pachiolo (3), Christina Pick, Gabrielle Pick (4), Michelle Pick, Mikala Quinn (3), Camile Relota (2), Chris Roser (3), Monica Samtani (1), Sonia Samtani (4),
Taylor Savarese (4),
Daniel Scherb (1), Ryan Sebastian (4), Andrea Shepard (3), Jonas Singer (4),
Jessica Solodkin (3), Kaitlin Stearns (1), Lindsay Stearns (1), Kara Stevens
(4), Michael Tortorella (4), Rachael
Tortorella (3), Caroline Watt (3), Adam Weinbrom (1), Sarah Weinbrom (2), Harry
Woods (3) & Richard Yu (2).
SEPT ATTENDANCE STATS ARE STRONG; 6 OF 7 TRAINING GROUPS AVERAGING
OVER 80% OR HIGHER WAVE TEALS LEAD WAY WITH 91.8%!!! ATHLETES
RECOGNIZED:
Practice attendance is the foundation of improvement. Starting the season with good attendance (and thus, great work habits and a great aerobic base), is the way to faster swimming. During Sept, the Elite Swimmers showed their diligent work ethic by attending practice at an astonishing rate of close to 85% as team!!! The Wavebuster Teal training group leads the outstanding Elite attendance race by averaging, as a training group, 91.88% attendance!!! The Wave Teals are followed by the Seniors (86.32%), Wave Blacks (83.42%), Senior Preps (82.68%), the Marlin Blacks (81.28), the Marlin Teals (80.00%) & the Wave Golds (75.18%).
At the end of the Season Awards Dinner, Elite swimmers with 85% attendance (or greater) will be presented with the Attendance Award. This award, plus attendance requirements for swimmers who want to be promoted, have positively motivated Elite Swimmers to come to practice.
90 swimmers, nearly half the team, are currently on track to win the attendance award (who have an 85% or higher attendance record) are (* designates perfect attendance!):
Marlin Teals: Ethan Blum*, Richard Carchia, Ryan Dorneo*, Clio Galea*, Alex Jacobs, Sara Jacobs, Stephanie Roser, Kyle Yih & Sarah Yih
Marlin Blacks: Megan Balbo*, Emily Buckman*, Tabatha Georget, Katie Iovel*, Jessica Kraus, Brandon Li, Katie Shepard & Abir Thakur*
Wavebuster Teals: Brielle Barba*, Abbie Bigham, Katie Brosnan*, Meggie Butler*, Morgan Conley*, Elizabeth D’Altrui*, De Don*, Katie Fell*, Andrea Ferrell*, Emily Goad*, Emily Gorham*, Scott Harris*, Jason Hoehn*, Patrick Hong*, Andrew Huang*, Rachel Keselman*, Sarah Lowe, Charlotte Morrissey*, Camile Relota, Michael Tortorella & Harry Woods
Wavebuster Blacks: Chris Balbo*, Lindsay Behar*, Nicole Blum, Drew D’Andrea*, Emilie Ferguson, Andrea Galea*, Jess Gorham, Julia Guacelli, Emma Harris*, Alyssa Hartigan*, Patrick Lai, Isabelle LaRai, Isabella Morreale, Caroline Nash*, Michelle Pick, Christopher Roser, Taylor Savarese*, Jonas Singer, Jessica Solodkin, Rachael Tortorella* & Caroline Watt*
Wavebuster Golds: Matt Ahlmeyer, Anthony Don, Alli Dorneo, Sam Duren, Matt Hong, Regan Kology*, Jessie Lowe, Katie McGrath, Kara Miller-Radest, Andrew Morrison, Eric Ocheretyanger, Ryan Sebastian*, Kaitlin Stearns*, Lindsay Stearns*& Richard Yu
Senior Preps: Chelsea Allocco, Brent Jones, Greg Keiser, Emmie Lai, Sarah McGrath, Brendan Miller-Radest, Erica Takahashi*, Lexi Tedesco & Ryan Wyer*
OUTSTANDING
REGISTRATION FORMS NEEDED:
Marlin Teals: Ethan Blum (membership and emergency contact), Summer Felsen (membership and emergency contact), Colin Hart (membership and emergency contact),
Marlin Blacks: Philippe Bethlem (membership and emergency contact)
Wave Teals: Jared Kovacs (code of conduct), Rachel Keselman (emergency contact), Sonia Samtani (code of conduct)
Wave Blacks: Arlynn Baer (membership and emergency contact), Mark Berns (membership and emergency contact), Drew D’Andrea (membership and emergency contact), Caroline Nash (membership and emergency contact), Nick Pachiolo (membership and emergency contact), Christopher Roser (emergency contact), Jessica Solodkin (membership and emergency contact)
Wave Golds: Jeffrey Dong (membership and emergency contact), Daniel Scherb (membership and emergency contact)
ESCPO (ELITE
SWIM CLUB PARENTS ORIGANIZATION) SHIFTING INTO HIGH GEAR:
HOSTING SOCIAL (THIS) FRIDAY, OCT 17
& HOLDING TWO FUNDRAISERS:
Following
last years very successful social, we are looking forward to another great
evening. This year the social will be on Friday, October 17 from 7:30 to
10:30 pm. Same location as last year- Chatham Fish & Game. We are
looking for a few people to help with organizing this great event. Please
grab a friend-old or new-and let us know if you would like to
help. Please contact Sandi Niccolai at sandnic@aol.com
ESCPO is also conducting two fundraisers: the
first is a clothing sale. Attached and also posted on the website under ESCPO
is the 2008 order form. The sale includes Elite gear: shorts,
flannel pants, yoga pants, sweat pants, jackets, the Elite rowing jacket, and a
polo shirt for adults. Not included on the order form are great fleece
hats for the colder weather. They are
perfect to keep in swim bags for $12.
Orders and payments are due by October 10th in Bill's mailbox at Newark
Academy in the ESCPO folder.
The 2nd fundraiser other sale is a Yankee Candle sale. The candles make great gifts. ESCPO earns 40% of the sales. Delivery is four to six weeks after order receipt. Completed forms and the payment are due by October 19 in Bill's mailbox at Newark Academy in the ESCPO folder also. The money raised by ESCPO is used to fund events for the swimmers such as the Pizza and Movie Night plus the Olympian visit. It is also used for the Personal Best Ribbons and the Memory Books that the swimmers receive at the banquet. Any questions (or if you didn't receive your Yankee Candle sale packet), please contact Allison Nash at allisonrnash@msn.com.
DART, KOLOGY OFFICIALLY LISTED IN USA SWIMMING TOP 10!!!
K. STEARNS TO BE RECOGNIZED AS RELAY PARTICIPANT!!:
Elite swimmers Chris Dart and Regan Kology have been officially listed as placing within the Top10 times for their age for the entire country during the 2007-08 season (Sept 1, 2007 thru August 15, 2008).
Dart, who has since graduated from both high school and Elite and is now a freshman at Clemson University, placed in the top 10 in four separate events: 1) 3rd place as a 17 year old in the 100 LCM back-56.65-performance: British Olympic Trials 2) 6th place as a 17 year old in the 200 SCY Individual Medley-1.50.43-performance: New Jersey State High School Championships 3) 8th place as a 17 year old in the 100 back SCY -49.67-New Jersey High School Championships and 4) 10th as a 16 year old in the 100 SCY back-50.59-performance-Holiday Classic
Kology, who aged up in May and is now a 12 year old, placed 10th as an 11 year old in the SCY 1000 free-11.14.66-performance- NJ Junior Age Group Championships. Kology also hovered near the top 10 this summer in the 400, 800 and 1500 LCM free events for 11 year olds; but was eventually finished just out of the top 10.
Kaitlin Stearns, as a representative of New Jersey Swimming at this past summer’s Eastern Zones LCM meet, was part of a 10 & Under 200 m Free Relay that swum under the National Age Group Record (and won the race!). Although the time is not recognized as a National Age Group Record (swimmers must be all from the same team, not a collection of All-Stars), Kaitlin will receive a certificate from USA Swimming recognizing her accomplishment.
EASTERN ZONE VOTES TO ADD 3RD ALL-STAR TO 12 &
UNDER SCY ZONE MEET;
At the USAS Convention in Atlanta last week, the Eastern Zone voted to accept a 3rd all-star swimmer in each event for 12 & Unders at all future Spring SCY Zone Meets. LSC’s will continue to pick 2 representatives for all 13 & Older events. This rule becomes effective as of this coming Zone Meet in April 2009.
In the past, the “Spring Zones” meet allowed for only 2 swimmers in each event to represent an LSC (NJ Swimming is an LSC-stands for Local Swim Committee).
Elite may directly benefit from this rule change, as Elite has a number of swimmers who are within the range of earning the right to represent NJ Swimming at the Spring 2009 Eastern Zone All-Star Championships. This rule increased the probability that more Elite swimmers will earn this right.
RUTGERS WOMEN’S TEAM TO HOST “COLLEGE CONFERENCE CARNIVAL” ON
JAN 16-17; ENTERTAIN FOR ALL, ELITE AGE GROUP RELAYS MAY PARTICIPATE:
Trying
to build on the swimming phenomena generated from the 2008 Bejing Olympics,
Rutgers University Women’s Team will host a “College Conference Carnival at
Rutgers University on Friday, January 16 & Saturday, January 17, 2009.
Committed to competing are Rutgers, University of Florida, University of North
Carolina and University of Richmond. All of these teams either won or placed 2nd
in their respective conferences.
As
part of the festivities, Rutgers will coordinate 4 events that will hopefully
impact directly on Elite Swimming: in the middle of the meet, Rutgers will
schedule relay races for the top 8 teams in New Jersey (including southern NJ
which is part of the Mid-Atlantic LSC) in both the 9-10 and 11-12 Age Groups.
Based upon Elite’s recent past performances, relay teams from Elite should be
invited to participate!!
As
currently scheduled, the 11-12 Boys and Girls Relays will participate at
approximately 7 pm Friday night and the 9-10’s will participate at
approximately 7:45 pm on Saturday night.
Elite
will be entering teams and assuming our teams are accepted to participate, will
notify those swimmers who have been selected to compete.
Rutgers
will also be planning other entertain activities at the meet such as Synchro
Diving & Big Man Cannonball Contests, Masters World Record 3-Meter Diving Contest
and Clown Diving.
WITH MEETS FAST APPROACHING, SWIMMERS & PARENTS ARE REMINDED
OF
TEAM SUIT, UNIFORM & RELAY POLICIES:
With
meets on the horizon, Elite will begin its competition season that will run
thru the middle of March 2009. Elite teams act as a unit and follow procedures
set forth by their coaches. Elite has several policies all swimmers and parents
need to understand and follow regarding competitions. Elite Simmers are
expected to know and follow these procedures:
1)
Elite has a team suit policy. Each
swimmer is expected to wear their team suit at all non-end of the season
championship meets
Elite swimmers
perform in their team suit until championship season. Each swimmer is provided
a team uniform (the entire uniforms are in and will be disturbed shortly).
Elite swimmers do NOT wear technically advanced racing suits at any
non-championship meet (with exceptions made for a swimmer trying for a state
record or a sectional level or higher qualifying standard). Elite coaches
believe that the swimmer makes the suit, rather than the suit making the
swimmer. Thus, we hold back using these types of suits (fastskins, FS-II,
aquablades, etc) until our championship season, when we bring everything
together (training, positive mental attitudes, stroke technique and fast
suits). This guarantees that swimmers will be excited to perform their best
when their best is required! Coaches can and will remove a swimmer from a meet
if they are not in the proper team racing attire.
Please note Elite will follow the new USA Swimming rule
which does not allow 12 & U athletes from performing in technologically
advanced suits (fastskins are ok as long as they are the correct suit-no neck,
arms or legs below the knee coverage) but LAZR’s or equivalent are not
acceptable.
2) At every meet,
wear your correct t-shirt!!
Each swimmer is
provided with a team uniform consisting of two Elite t-shirts, a sweatshirt and
a racing cap. Swimmers are expected to wear the team uniform at the meets (it
is the swimmer’s responsibility to know which t-shirt to wear on which day of
the competition. This information is listed within the meet information of each
meet on the team website. Smart swimmers pack both t-shirts so they can never
be wrong!). Swimmers are expected to wear the t-shirts (to keep warm, and thus
increase the possibility of performing well) at all times at meets when they
are not performing. Thus, Elite swimmers look like a team (psychological
advantage to Elite) and are the best prepared to perform well. Swimmers and
training groups will be penalized if swimmers are not in the team uniform at
the meet.
3)
Any pre-meet relay combination is
subject to change at the meet!!!
At several meets during the season, Elite will enter teams in relays (Fall Festival of X-Cellence Meet being the 1st meet). All swimmers entered in
relays prior to the meet are done so tentatively. This means the coaches will be determining the fastest relays on the day of the meet. Thus, a swimmer
who is tentatively scheduled to perform a relay could be removed and a swimmer who is not listed could be inserted. Changes will be made on the
day of the meet based upon performances at the meet that dictate a change in the relay combination. We want our 4 fastest swimmers to represent
Elite in the each relay (spectacular and mediocre
performances will factor into the coaches decision making process!).
4)
We have new racing caps this year.
Those are the caps to be worn.
Elite will be sporting new racing caps this year. No one is to wear an “old” Elite cap during an Elite competition. The uniform now calls for the new cap.
TENTATIVE MEET SCHEDULE NOW UPDATED:
The tentative Winter 2008-09 Meet Schedule has now been updated. It is posted under Meet Schedule.
Please be advised that meet dates change during the season due to pool availability. Thus, Elite's meet schedule will be updated from time to time thru out the season. Please have your swimmer constantly review the meet schedule for meet entries, dates and session times!!!
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!!!