ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               12-14-09        

           

Remember to write about Meredith in the note sending the Weekly Memo.

 

BIG LESSON LEARNED: BEING YOUR BEST WHEN BEST IS NEEDED:

SPECTACULAR TEAMWIDE PERFORMANCE AT HOLIDAY CLASSIC:

TEAM PLACES 10TH WITH 835.5 POINTS; KATZ WINS 7 EVENTS & BREAKS MEET RECORD;

4 NEW SECTIONAL CUTS (STRAND-2, WEINBROM & BOYS 800 FREE RELAY);

23 SWIMMERS ADD 36 JUNIOR OLYMPIC EVENTS;

STRAND PLACES 2ND IN 100 BACK; 5 SWIMMERS FINAL!!

DORNEO (3), A. GALEA, J. GORHAM, HUANG, KATZ (3), KOLOGY, KOVACS, I. LARAIA, B. LI, MANGO, NASH (3), PETERSON, SEBASTIAN, SHEPARD, G. SORIANO, L. STEARNS, M. TORTORELLA, TSAY, A. WEINBROM (2), V. XIA, G. XU ADD JO CUTS;

 

            First impressions, test day, championship swim meets. There are certain times when the best is needed. Getting those results when the best is needed is a tremendous life lesson. Apparently, Elite swimmers are learning that lesson.

 

            At the most prestigious and most competitive meet the team will participate in this season (with the possible exception of the 12 & Unders Junior Olympics), the Elite swimmers rose to the occasion and swam their hearts out this past weekend at the 23rd Annual Holiday Classic held at Rutgers University. Elite scored 835.5 points to place 10th out of 60 teams.

 

            Elite added 4 new Sectional qualifying times (3 individual and one relay), 23 different swimmers added 36 Junior Olympic qualifying times, 4 relay teams placed 4th or higher and 18 different Elite swimmers earned points for the team. 46 swimmers have now qualified for Junior Olympics in 203 events.

 

            12 year old Zach Katz, who ages up in January, made the most his opportunity by winning 7 events and placing 2nd in another. Zach broke the meet record in his last event, the 50 breast, with his 29.63 second performance!! This time is expected to place Zach near the top of 12 year olds competing nationally!! Katz also won the 50 back (28.17), 50 free (24.38), 100 breast (1.07.06), 50 fly (27.11), 200 breast (2.29.27), 100 fly (1.00.24) along with placing 2nd in the 200 IM (2.13.96). Along the way, Zach earned 3 JO events in the 13-14 age group (100 fly, 200 IM & 50 free).

 

            16 year old Michael Strand touched 2nd in the 100 yard back final with a 51.47 time. In prelims earlier in the day, Strand had posted a 50.78 time. Michael had already achieved a 100 back Junior National qualifying time. Michael also added his 10th and 11th Sectional qualifying time to his resume (200 free-1.46.46 & 100 breast-1.01.70). The meet was so competitive that neither of these sectional qualifying times earned Michael a finals swim!! Michael also dipped under the magical 22 second barrier for the 50 free for the first time, with his 21.82 prelim swim. Michael placed 8th in finals in this event. Michael also finaled in the 200 IM and the 100 fly.

 

            17 year old Adam Weinbrom nailed the 100 yard backstroke Sectional time exactly with his 55.09 performance (qualifying time is 55.09 or faster). Weinbrom development has been mercurial; he was a silver level swimmer just 1.5 years ago! Along with Strand, Weinbrom joined 15 year old Alex Mango and 15 year old Brendan Miller-Radest in adding a 5th Sectional Relay for the older boys when they combined to swim a 7.19.49 time in the 4 x 200 (or 800) free relay!! Weinbrom also added two Junior Olympic qualifying times (in the 100 fly-55.05 & the 100 free-49.20).

 

            11 year old Andrea Galea, swimming at the bottom of her age group, placed 3rd once & 4th twice while placing in the top 16 in each of her 8 events. Galea churned her best finishes in the backstroke events: 3rd in the 200 back (2.18.26), 4th in the 50 back (29.56) & 4th in the 100 back (1.04.28). Andrea also placed 6th in the 50 free (26.80), 8th in the 100 IM (1.06.66), 9th in the 100 free (58.78), 11th in the 200 breast (2.42.68) & 15th in the 200 IM (2.25.59). Her 200 IM swim was a new JO qualifying time for her, Andrea now has 15 JO cuts.

 

             10 year old Alicia Iizuka, who also ages up before JO’s, placed 2nd in the 50 breast with a blistering 37.03 time. This swim was Alicia’s first 11-12 year old JO qualifying time. Alicia placed 7th in the 100 breast (1.25.19).

 

            10 year old Michael Tortorella nabbed 3rd place in the 100 breast (1.23.49) and followed up with a 4th place finish in the 50 breast (38.49). Michael also placed 13th in the 50 free (30.66), which time was a new JO cut.

 

            10 year old Karen Iizuka glided to a 4th place finish in the 100 breast (1.24.11) and a 6th place finish in the 50 breast (37.77). Both Iizuka’s teamed up with Katherine Friday and Emily Gorham to place 4th in the 200 Medley Relay!

 

            13 year old Regan Kology stroked to a 5th place finish in the 500 free during finals Saturday night. In prelims, Regan posted a slightly better time of 5.13.81 (just 1 second off the Sectional qualifying time). On Sunday, Kology placed 10th in 100 free (55.46) after previously placing 13th in the “open” 1650 free event with her personal best of 18.08.85. Kology also grabbed 13th place in the 200 free (2.00.69). Her 100 fly time of 1.04.61 was her 10th JO cut of the season.

 

            12 year old Avinash Duvvuri scored big in both his events; Avinash was 7th in the 50 breast (34.83) and 10th in the 50 back (31.20). Avinash joined Katz, Chris Balbo and Matt Critchley in placing 2nd in the 200 Medley Relay and Katz, Balbo and Karl Melchior in placing 3rd in the 200 free relay!

 

            13 year old Ryan Sebastian, who had 12 personal bests thru the weekend competition, placed 7th in the 400 IM during finals on Saturday night. Earlier in the day, Ryan posted a 4.32.49 time. Ryan also finaled in the 200 back (2.06.72-11th place), 12th in the 200 fly (2.12.67) and 13th in the 100 back (58.83). Sebastian’s first swim of the meet was a 7 second drop in the 200 free, which was good enough for his 11th JO qualifying time.

 

10 year old Gian Soriano dropped 1.8 seconds to place 7th in the 50 fly (33.56). Soriano also added a JO cut to his total of 6 in the 100 IM (1.19.44).

 

            11 year old Chris Balbo was 8th in two events: the 500 free (5.39.70) and the 200 fly (2.34.04).

 

            10 year old Emily Gorham, who also ages up prior to JO’s, took 8th place in the 50 fly (32.88), 9th place in the 50 free (29.37) and 12th place in both the 50 back (34.84) and the 100 back (1.16.39).

 

            10 year old Abbie Bigham stroked to an 8th place finish in the 200 free (2.28.57) after placing 13th in the 100 fly (1.20.83). Bigham also was 14th in the 500 free (6.42.95-a 17 second drop) and 16th in the 100 back (1.17.12).

 

            15 year old Alex Mango earned 6 Junior Olympic times during the weekend: 200 free (1.48.95), 100 back (57.17), 500 free (4.57.86), 50 free (23.06) and 200 back (2.03.50). In the 100 free, Alex just missed breaking the magical 50 second barrier by posting a 50.00 time (which is also just .01 short of another JO qualifying time).

 

            12 year old Gabrielle Pick, who ages up in January, rocketed to a 9th place finish in the 50 fly (29.60). Pick as also part of a 3rd place finishing 200 yard Free Relay consisting of Galea, Kaitlin Stearns and Caroline Nash.

 

            13 year old Kara Miller-Radest stroked to an 11th place finish in the 100 fly (1.01.05), just 1 second over a Sectional qualifying time.

 

            13 year old Lindsay Stearns, who had 7 best times this weekend, was brilliant in 1) the 200 fly with a 12th place 2.16.37 time 2) the 400 IM: placing 13th (4.49.76) in finals after qualifying for the event earlier in the day and 3) the 100 fly: placing 13th with a 1.01.57, just 1.5 seconds over the Sectional qualifying time and 4) the 200 back, in which her 2.20.16 time is her 9th JO qualifying time   

 

            12 year old Isabel LaRaia dropped a second to place 12th in the 50 breast (35.97). LaRaia also added her 8th JO qualifying time in the 100 breast with her 1.19.60 performance.

 

            11 year old Kaitlin Stearns dropped under the magical 1 minute mark in her 13th place 100 free (59.12) performance. Stearns also placed 16th in the 200 free (2.10.08) and had 7 personal bests.

 

            13 year old Alli Dorneo put together 3 Junior Olympic qualifying performances this weekend: 1) 100 back (1.04.74) 2) 200 IM (2.23.02) and 3) 200 back (2.19.95) while 12 year old Caroline Nash duplicated the feat with her 1) 100 free (1.01.65) 2) 50 free (28.29) and 3) 50 fly (30.36) performances.

 

            9 different swimmers qualified for JO’s in one event:

 

1)      13 year old Jess Gorham in the 100 back (1.05.25)

2)      12 year old Jared Kovacs in the 50 breast (36.80)

3)      10 year old Brandon Li in the 100 breast (1.36.03)-his 1st JO qualifying time!!

4)      12 year old Danielle Peterson in the 50 breast (37.22)

5)      13 year old Andrea Shepard in the 200 back (2.21.08)

6)      10 year old Abigail Tsay in the 50 breast (41.79)-her 1st JO qualifying time!!

7)      10 year old Vivian Xia in the 50 back (37.29)-her 1st JO qualifying time!!

8)      9 year old Claire Xu in the 50 breast (41.97)

9)      14 year old Richard Yu in the 100 free (54.45)   

              

            Full results are posted on the team website.

           

Swimmers who participated (# in parathesis is number of best Elite SCY best times):  Matt Ahlmeyer (6), Chelsea Allocco, Chris Balbo (2), Abbie Bigham (8), Caitlin Brown, Brannon Cho (5), Jimmy Coyne (1), Matt Critchley (2), Jeffrey Dong (1), Alli Dorneo (4), Amy Duren (1), Avinash Duvvuri (2), Krishna Duvvuri (3), Priya Duvvuri (4), Venka Duvvuri (2), Katherine Friday (1), Andrea Galea (8), Lindsey Giostra (2), Emily Gorham (7), Jess Gorham (1), Andre Guacelli (2), Duncan Hall, Matthew Hong (1), Rachel Hong (1), Andrew Huang (6), Alicia Iizuka (6), Karen Iizuka (5), Zach Katz (9), Rachel Keselman (2), Audrey Kim (1), Regan Kology (5), Jared Kovacs (1), Isabel LaRaia (6), Brandon Li (3), Michael Li (2), Alex Mango (9), Karl Mechior (5), Brendan Miller-Radest, Kara Miller-Radest (3), Ali Morreale, Isabella Morreale, Charlotte Morrissey (3), Dan Muro (4), Caroline Nash (6), Evan Ng (3), Danielle Peterson (1), Christina Pick (6), Gabrielle Pick (5), Michelle Pick (1), Camille Relota (1), Ryan Sebastian (12), Andrea Shepard (2), Katy Shepard (1), Gian Soriano (5), Kaitlin Stearns (7), Lindsay Stearns (7), Michael Strand (5), Michael Tortorella (4), Abigail Tsay (1), Adam Weinbrom (5), Ryan Wyer (1), Vivian Xia (5), Claire Xu (2), Grace Xu (1) & Richard Yu (1).

 

NEW COACH IS SAME AS THE OLD COACH;

PATTY MARTIN TURKOT ACCEPTS OFFER TO COACH FULL TIME FOR ELITE;

 

            Filling a big need at Elite, 2nd year coach Patty Martin Turkot has accepted an offer to coach full time at Elite. Patty will begin her new duties starting this Saturday, Dec 19th.

 

            A former outstanding swimmer for New Jersey Wave and Rowan University, Patty has been associated with Elite for a number of years thru her (new) husband Coach Michael Turkot, who joined Elite as its first full time coach (other than Bill) in 2004. Patty formally joined the Elite staff in April, 2008.

 

            Patty’s full time presence will bring continuity to the Age Group program. Currently, each training group has a head coach and several assistant training coaches. With Patty being be on deck during the Age Group practices 6 days a week and at meets, she will fill an important role of communication between the coaches and between the Age Group program and the Senior Program. Patty will also assist Bill with paper work and will assist Ashley Johnston, the Age Group Head Coach, with projects and planning of the program.

 

            Patty’s prescense is also expected to help propel Elite in its development as a team.

             

HOLIDAY PRACTICE SCHEDULE NOW SET; POSTED ON THE TEAM WEBSITE;

 

            Elite’s holiday practice schedule is now posted on the team website under practice schedule.

 

….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 into Elite’s practice times.

 

            On days when there are no meets, Elite’s practices will be held at the identical 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!!

 

ADDITIONAL 12 & UNDER ENTRIES FOR WINTERFEST; PRINCETON ENTRIES ALSO MODIFIED FOR 12 & UNDERS:

 

            Elite was able to modify its 12 & Under entries for Winterfest, adding those swimmers and swims achieved at Fall Festival. The 13 & Olders portion of the meet was closed prior to competition at Fall Festival; thus no modifications of entries for 13 & Older were made for Winterfest.

 

            As a result of the modification of the Winterfest entries, the Princeton Invitationals entries were also modified to take into consideration the Winterfest modifications. An attempt was made to provide as many different events per swimmer between the two meets held in January.

 

JOURNALISM INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE WITH SWIMMING WORLD AT CERA VE INVITATIONAL IN JANUARY:

 

            Recreating the opportunity provided to New Jersey Swimmers last winter, Swimming World and Berkeley Aquatic Club will provide journal internships during the Cera Ve Invitational Meet to be held January 15 thru January 17, 2010.

 

            With the overwhelming success of the Summer 2008 Beijing Olympics and what swimming as a sport provided to that success, swimming is becoming more main-stream each year. This winter, NBC Sports will be telecasting the USA/European Dual in the Pool contact in December, 2009.

 

            Swimming World, the most widely read swimming magazine, will be providing internships for those people in New Jersey to 1) to interview Olympians and top swimmers at the meet 2) to be  involved in producing content for Swimming World’s magazine and website-both audio and visual and 3) to interact with the Swimming World Staff.

 

            Last year, Elite swimmer Sam Duren (now a Senior Prep) took advantage of this opportunity.

 

            Forms for applying for the internship are attached to this memo.

 

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!!!