ELITE NEWS BULLETIN 12-18-06

FLASHES OF BRILLIANCE IN PITTSBURGH; DART, MESZAROS ADD SECTIONAL CUTS;

13-14 YEAR OLD BOYS WIN MEDLEY RELAY!

DART, MESZAROS, MARTIN, STRAND, DUVURRI ALL FINAL:

Although collectively the swimming results were a bit uneven, there was enough fabulous swimming by Elite swimmers this past weekend at the 45^th Annual Christmas Meet held at the University of Pittsburgh to foreshadow great things to come in the 2^nd half of the 2006-07 Winter Season.

Although sluggish in his preliminary (morning) performances, Chris Dart added to his legend of fabulous championship racing. Chris earned another sectional qualifying time to his resume (he now has 8) in the 100 yard butterfly by placing 2^nd (dropping over a second from his previous best). Chris also placed 2nd in the 200 IM with a 1.57.38 (also a personal best), third in his signature event the 100 yard backstroke with another personal best of 52.05. Chris saved his best performance for Saturday night, dropping 3 seconds off his previous best time in the 200 yard breast in placing 3^rd with a 2.11.75.

After flirting with the qualifying time for more than a year, a determined 17 year old Austin Meszaros finally achieved a sectional cut in the 50 Free during his preliminary race Saturday morning. Austin’s 22.49 time is the exact time he needed to swim in order to qualify! Meszaros placed 14^th with his evening consolation final performance.

Adding to the excitement were Elite’s 13-14 boy representatives: Venkatesh Duvvuri, Duncan Hall, Ricky Martin and Michael Strand. In a thrilling split second finish, this quartet touched out their competition in winning the 200 yard Medley Relay!!! Following up on Sunday, the same quartet finished 2^nd in the 200 yard Freestyle Relay!! As individuals, these boys also accomplished:

Newcomer Ricky Martin, joining Elite in October, placed 5^th twice in individual events: the 13-14 Boys 100 yard fly (57.60) and the 50 yard free (23.53).

13 year old Michael Strand also added several dynamic performances (10 best times!!) by placing 5^th in the 13-14 Boys 100 yard back (his 57.33 time represents a 1.5 second drop) and 8^th place in the 200 yard breast (his 2.25.94 represents a 6 second drop!!!). Strand also qualified twice for finals (8^th seed in both) on Sunday in the 200 yard back (2.07.47) and the 100 breast (1.09.67). No swimmer competed in Sunday finals so the team could return home at a reasonable hour.

Venkatesh Duvuuri placed 7^th in the 13-14 Boys 100 yard butterfly (57.69) and on Sunday, swimming in preliminaries, Venkatesh dropped 3 seconds with 7^th fastest time (qualifying him for finals) the 200 yard butterfly (2.12.72).

The Girls 13-14 relays also shined as they placed 8^th in both the 200 yard Medley Relay and the 200 yard Free Relay.

Swimmers who participated were (# in parenthesis is # of best times): Danielle Basile, Crissy Condus, Kat Cupka (3), Chris Dart (4), Carolyn DeMeo, Priya Duvvuri (6), Venkatesh Duvvuri (4), Breana Fitzpatrick (3), Michelle Franks (5), Julianne Furdyna, Duncan Hall (2), Jerel Ho, Ricky Martin (4), Danielle Martinez (1), Austin Meszaros (2), Ali Morreale (2), Maggie Nelson (1), Brittany Ross & Michael Strand (10).

SENIORS TO HEAD TO ASU:

Fulfilling their annual training rite, 13 Seniors will travel across the US on Tuesday, December 26 to train 12 times in 6 days outdoors!!! This will be the 7^th training trip for Elite Seniors.

Returning to the training site of two years ago, Elite will train at the Arizona State University pool. Elite will train twice a day and do drylands for a total of approximately 5 hours of training a day. The swimmers will complete approximately 11,000 yards of training (approximately 7 miles) each day for an approximate total of 70,000 yards. During a standard training week, Elite Seniors train about 32,000 yards. The swimmers will train long course meters in the morning and short course yards in the afternoon.

Despite being exhausted from all this practice, the Seniors will find the energy to go out to dinner each night. Also planned are attendance at the Insight Bowl game (held at ASU football stadium across the street from the pool) and the legendary Tempe Az First Night celebration, which includes dance contests, carnival rides and several simultaneously rock/pop/country concerts.

The swimmers will leave return Tuesday, January 2. Swimmers participating in the trip are; Danni Basile, Crissy Condus, Kat Cupka, Chris Dart, Corey Deatly, Cassandra Farnow, Juli Furdyna, Ricky Martin, Austin Meszaros, Sarah Peay, Brittany Ross, Michael Strand & Kayla Wolonsky.

ELITE WEAR ON ITS WAY:

Jodi and Paul Shepard report that some of the “Elite Wear” has arrived. All those who ordered Elite Wear should contact Jodi Shepard at jc.shepard2@verizon.net to arrange delivery/pick-up.

HOLIDAY PRACTICE SCHEDULE POSTED:

The holiday practice schedule is now posted on the website under Practice Schedule.

SICK? COULD BE YOUR LACK OF “AT HOME” SWIMMING DETAILS!!!

Are you sick? Got the flu, strep or a bad head cold? Your sickness is probably caused by your own lack of swimming details!!!

Since we are heading towards our championship season (late February/March), this is the most crucial segment of your training season. Each swimmer needs to practice their “at home” swimming details: drinking lots of fluids, eating properly and often, getting enough sleep and dressing properly for winter.

There are literally dozens of swimmers that ignore these vital “at home” swimming details, and most of these swimmers end up missing significant training and/or actually missing their meets because they do not live their “at home” swimming details. These swimmers literally shorten their training seasons due to their sickness!!!

One new swimmer phenomena that is just plain crazy is the “sandal/no sock look” in zero degree weather. Swimmers who dress like this are literally begging to get sick. One Elite swimmer actually got frostbite 2 years ago due to not dressing properly on the way home from swimming on a particularly cold night. Ever tried swimming with frostbite?

Be a winner: do your swimming details at home and at school, in addition to at the pool!!!

WEATHER AFFECTING PRACTICE? CHECK WEBSITE & EMAIL:

Weather will have an affect on practice schedules and meet starting times. When in doubt, check the Elite website and your email for information regarding time changes due to weather.

Be advised that both Newark Academy and Morristown Beard tend to close down at the forecast of bad weather. In addition, safety is extremely important. Thus, weather is likely to interrupt practice and even if it does not, parents should make decisions based upon their comfort level regarding travel to and from practice.

NINE (9) HIGH SCHOOL SWIM TEAMS TO AFFECT PRACTICE TIMES IN DEC, JAN & FEB; PLEASE CHECK SCHEDULE DAILY!!!!:

During the December, January and February, nine (9) high school swim teams will be using either Newark Academy or Morristown-Beard pools for practices and for meets. These additional teams will affect Elite’s practice schedule virtually every day.

Newark Academy Varsity (Boys & Girls), Newark Academy Middle School and Millburn High School (Boys and Girls) use the Newark Academy prior to and after Elite Swim Practices. On days where these teams have a meet, the Elite schedule will be reduced.

Morristown-Beard Varsity (Boys & Girls), Morristown Middle School and Villa Walsh use the Morristown-Beard School pool prior to Elite Swim Practices. On days where these teams have a meet, the Elite schedule will be reduced.

Wave Blacks are reminded that practice on Saturday’s will be held from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm at Morristown-Beard School.

LOST AND FOUND:

There is a Lost and Found at Newark Academy which is already overflowing with t-shirts, sweatshirts, goggles, fins, etc. If you have lost something, check out the lost and found. AND put your name on everything you own so it can get back to you!!!