ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               3-28-11

 

    “Cultivating Excellence in Academics, Character and Swimming”

 

SWIMMING AFTER DARK

HIGHLIGHTS SECTIONAL JOURNEY:

 

            Showing continued development, 5 different Elite swimmers (11 swims) plus 1 relay earned the right to compete in finals at the 2011 Northeast Speedo Champions Series Meet (“Sectionals”) held in Buffalo, New York last weekend. Sectionals is the conclusion of Elite’s Winter 2010-11 Season, with the exception of those 6 Elite swimmers who will represent NJ Swimming this week at Eastern Zones in competition against other northeastern LSCs (NJ Swimming is an LSC).

 

            16 year old Alex Mango was Elite’s top performer, with 5 different “finals” swims over the 3.5 day meet. Alex rocketed to two 4th place finishes; Alex dropped 1.3 seconds in his 200 free (1.42.66) to place 4th on Friday night and then returned to the podium with his second 4th place finish in the 100 free (47.16- .6 second drop). Alex clipped .37 off his 50 free time to dip under 22 seconds (21.68) for the 1st time in placing 10th overall. Alex also had two swims in the bonus consolation round competition: 1) placing 22nd in the 100 fly (52.71) and 21st in the 100 back (53.14). Alex posted 9 best times at the meet.

 

            Alex’s swims in the 50 free and the 200 free are Scholastic All-American Times. Last week, Alex scored his 1st SAAT Time with his 100 back swim at Junior Olympics. SAAT Times are Junior National bonus cut times, which means Alex is closing in on representing Elite at a national-level meet in a number of events!

 

            The 200 Medley Relay combination of Priya Duvvuri (back), Ali Morreale (breast), Lindsay Stearns (fly) and Jess Gorham (free) placed 13th overall (and competed at finals) with their 1.50.97 performance. Duvvuri, Sarah Slepian (breast), Stearns and Gorham combined for a 16th place finish in the 400 Medley Relay.

 

            14 year old Jess Gorham took 16th place in the 50 free, chipping .17 off her best (24.33). Jess also had a consolation round swim in the 100 back, in which she placed 23rd with her 59.05 time. Jess shaved nearly .5 off her 200 IM time in a time trial swim.

 

            13 year old Sarah Slepian, in her 1st Sectional meet, grabbed 16th place with a 4.34.55 time in the 400 IM (her best by 2.6 seconds).

 

            16 year old Michael Li, who earned his Sectional time earlier this month at the state high school championships, dropped nearly a second (.89) in his 100 breast to place 24th overall. Despite being a bonus swim (swimmers with less than 3 Sectional cuts can earn a bonus swim), Michael qualified for a consolation swim in his 200 breast, by dropping 1.63 seconds to 2.14.94. The end result is this swim is a Sectional cut for Michael in this event.

 

            14 year old Ryan Sebastian, who lit up Rutgers last weekend, knocked off another 1.5 seconds from his 400 IM to earn a 23rd place, consolation swim. Ryan also dropped 1.3 off his 200 back time (from last week) in posting a 1.57.27 time.

 

            The 400 Medley Relay combination of Sebastian (back), Li (breast), Ryan Wyer (fly) and Krishna Duvvuri (free) placed just outside the money with their 17th place finish.      

 

            Full results are posted on the team website.

 

            Swimmers who participated (# in parenthesis is number of best Elite SCY best times): Sam Duren (2), Krishna Duvvuri (1), Priya Duvvuri, Jessica Gorham (4), Michael Li (3), Greg Macchia (1), Alex Mango (9), Ali Morreale, Maggie Nelson, Ryan Sebastian (2), Sarah Slepian (1), Lindsay Stearns & Ryan Wyer (1). 

 

TRYOUTS YIELD MORE TALENT!!

18 NEW SWIMMERS (PLUS PRE-ELITE!!)

 

            Tryouts for the Elite Swim Club’s Spring/Summer 2011 Training Session yielded 18 new swimmers to the competitive club and 3 new swimmers to Pre-Elite.

 

            Joining Elite this spring will be:

 

Senior Preps: Anthony Rizzo

 

Wave Blacks: Alyssa Cataldo, Grace Chang, Jake Gutstein, Angharad Healey, Natalie Kawan, Emily Peter & Nikki Rizzo

 

Wave Teals: Michael Rizzo

 

Marlin Blacks: Danielle Mangabat, Justin Mon, Kelly Peter, Max Spurr & Penny Spurr

 

Marlin Teals: Mia Futado, Sadie Ordower, Dylan Sebastian & Alan Wu

 

            Also joining Elite in the Pre-Elite program will be Anna Butler, Grace Conley and Armann Kapoor.

WITH SEASON END IN SIGHT, TIME TO PLAN TO PARTY!!!

AWARDS DINNER RESERVATION FORM NOW POSTED UNDER AWARDS DINNER:  PLEASE RSVP ASAP (BY MARCH 30-TOMORROW!!)

            Preparations are underway for the biggest party of the season: Elite’s 16th annual Winter Swim Team Banquet!!! This year’s party will be held Sunday, April 10th from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm.

 

          This year, Elite will again be at the Hanover Marriott, located at 1401 Route 10 East, Whippany, New Jersey. This facility can accommodate up to 700 people!!! The last 9 Elite banquets have had an excess of 300 people each!!! The reservation form is now posted on the website: http://www.eliteswimclub.org/Awards%20Dinner/homepage.html

 

To reserve your dinner reservations, please print out a reservation form from the website (under Awards Dinner), fill it out and mail the form with the appropriate check amount to Bill Deatly, 32 Prospect Street, Summit, New Jersey 07901. Cost per person is $55. All 12 & Under Swimmers must have at least 1 adult accompanying them.

Reservations need to be received by March 30th!!!

 

Parents, Bill will do his best to honor your seating arrangement requests. Swimmers will be seated by Bill by training group.

Reservation forms must be in by Wednesday, March 30, 2011.       

REMINDER: SCHOLAR/ATHLETE AWARDS WILL BE HIGHLIGHT OF AWARDS BANQUET:

          With the conclusion of the 2nd marking periods, swimmers are reminded that the ultimate award an Elite swimmer can earn at the season ending Awards Banquet (Sunday, April 10, 2011) will once again be the Elite Scholar-Athlete Awards. Great grades, in addition to great swim times, are required for a swimmer to earn one of these awards.

 

            These awards will be broken down into three levels:

 

1)                          All-American Scholar Athlete Award: Swimmer must have a 3.5 grade average and at least 1 Scholastic All-American Qualifying time (Jr. National bonus cut). This award is actually a USA Swimming Award and will be presented by USA Swimming. Elite will also provide a certificate to those swimmers who have qualified for this award

 

2)                          The Elite Scholar-Athlete Gold Award: A swimmer must have all A’s and no more than 1 B (or the equivalent of all A’s and 1 B) plus at least 1 individual Junior Olympic Qualify Time

 

3)                          The Elite Scholar-Athlete Teal Award: Swimmer must have all A’s and B’s (of the equivalent) plus at least 1 individual Silver Qualifying Time

 

In addition to each swimmer receiving an impressive certificate from Elite acknowledging this achievement, from this season forward Elite will post the names of its scholar athletes on its website-forever acknowledging its most special scholar-athletes. 

 

Parents of grammar school students should remember that Bill will review the grading legend (assuming A’s and B’s are not given) to ascertain if the swimmer has fulfilled the academic requirements to receive the award.

 

Bill is now accepting the scholastic information. If your swimmer made a JO or Silver qualifying time last summer or this winter and then aged up, an applicant must fill out the application form on the team website that will point Bill to the swim in question. All scholastic information needs to be to Bill by Tuesday, March 22 (if a marking period is about to end-please contact Bill).

 

SPRING SESSION STARTS APRIL 4:

PRACTICE SCHEDULE SAME AS WINTER UNTIL MEMORIAL DAY:

SUMMER SCHEDULE STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS:

 

            All swimmers will begin the Spring 2011 Training Season on Monday, April 4 (or Tuesday, April 5). The Spring practice schedule will be identical to the Winter 2010-11 practice schedule until Memorial Day.

 

            After Memorial Day, the Seniors, Senior Preps and Wavebuster Golds will train at Summit Municipal pool from Tuesday, May 31st thru Friday, June 17 Monday thru Friday and at Morristown-Beard on Saturdays.

 

            Marlin Blacks and Marlin Teals will train with their normal practice schedule until Friday, June 10. There is no summer training for Marlin Blacks or Marlin Teals this summer.

 

            The practice schedule for June 11 thru July 30 is still being worked on.      

 

SPRING SCHEDULES NOW POSTED:

 

          The Spring Summer Master Schedules are now posted on the team website under “Practice Schedule.”

 

            The practice schedule from April 4th thru May 30th is identical to the Winter 2010-11 Season. After May 30, Elite begins using Summit Municipal pool (May 31st for Seniors and Wave Golds), Springfield Municipal (June 20th for all Seniors, Senior Preps, Wave Golds and Wave Blacks) and a possible 3rd pool (June 20th for Wave Teals).  

COLLEGE BOUND AND SWIMMING? NJ SWIMMING SCHOLARSHIP MONEY AVAILABLE:  

            New Jersey Swimmers who are attending college next year and plan to swim can apply to receive a $1,250 one-time scholarship from New Jersey Swimming.  The application has posted on the NJ Swimming website.

            The application is now posted on the NJ Swimming website: http://www.njswim.org/

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

 

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!!!