Author: greenmountainswimteam

Some updates!

The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
— Tom Petty/Coach Luke

Hello again!

I know you’re all seriously dreading summer (yes, much like the flu shot, it is an annual thing) and as we all savor these last few weeks of school before that pesky sun starts shining and we have to put our school books away, buy new swim suits and be generally tied down by our daily poolside lounging commitments, I thought it might be a good time to reconnect.

Plus, I got like, 10 hits last week. I know some of you are still out there.

So first, some updates!

Many of you have asked about my summer plans, as most of you know I’m graduating from kollege with an edjaktion (kidding..) in May! Well, between you and me, here’s the deal.

I’m trying for a few things right now, including Teach for America and this incredible Semester at D.C. learning about and working in politics. So pretty darn cool.

The issue, of course, is that TFA doesn’t just…put you in a classroom. In fact, I’d be in a teacher boot-camp for much of the summer, meaning I’d more than likely have to bid farewell for a while. Frowny face, I know.

I still have to get in though, of course, and there’s much still to be decided and many other opportunities I’m seeking, so I just don’t know yet.

So…waiting. It’s hard but everything should be figured out sooner than later.

Kindly, Sandy and Dave are holding off on naming a head coach (new or old!) until May 1. In the meantime, I’ll keep you posted!

I find out about TFA on the 18th of April, and the D.C. program about a week after that. Plus a billion other interviews between now and then.

If you have nothing else to do until then, check out the American Swimming Association University league Web site next week! Rich, Josh and myself will all be heading out to North Carolina on Friday for club nationals, and those full results will be posted online by the 15th! I’m thinking a three-peat for CU, but we’ll see…

Finally…some Tom Petty love (Disclaimer: there’s more than 1 seriously bad mullet in this video..)

Good talk guys, I’ll be back online in about a week!

p.s. I added a feed! More on how to use that magic power coming soon…

state killed the swim coach…

ok not really but man was that meet long (only like, 30 hours…) and I was sick, so sorry for the lack of updates, my hit counts indicate that the faithful have been waiting..

Anyways turns out that when I don’t have to be at the pool at 6, I actually sleep, meaning I have less time than ever…

But

First thing first – here are the state results. I was really pleased with how everyone closed the year out, especially the little kids.

Take a little look there, you’ll notice that the 8-under boys cut 9 seconds in their medley relay and took 3rd. And for anyone not impressed by that, the only two teams that beat them (skyline and virginia vale) scored B relays in the top 10. So yeah, steroids.

Some other awesome swims –

Morgan got 10th in her breaststoke and Inez got her crazy fly cleaned up (read, beautiful) and took 5th (1/10 second from 4th) in about 37 seconds. Did I mention they’re both only 11? Very nice.

Tristan, Dylan and Mateo all brought home individual medals in addition to their relay hardware.

Todd and Kevin crushed a bunch of kids 2-3 times their size.

Oh yeah, and Cody won the backstroke… Bo ya.

That about wraps it up (well not really, but I’m late for work), as you can imagine I had no time to write an article after that meet, but I’ll get something in next Thursday.

In the meantime I’ll be publishing occasional updates throughout the year (we’re just so close now, I can’t let you go..) and I’ll put together a feed so you don’t have to anxiously check the site every 20 minutes only to be let down. And if you don’t know what a feed is, go ask your 10-year-old.

So yeah, whenever I have time, which may be never, but I guess you’ll have to keep anxiously checking the site to find out, right?

Time for work! Sorry for the wait! Great job everyone!

State updates

what a beautiful day…

So as you might imagine, the majority of todays 8-under state meet was postponed due to rain (we weren’t wet anyway?), cold (the give the little ones special treatment) and lightening (whatever, the pool was never even hit..)

However, that wasn’t before our boys medley relay cut 9 SECONDS and took 3rd (out of 50 teams!) and smashed the old team record with a 1:33. Oh, and Dylan broke his own record again with a 17 low/16 high in the 25.

Couldn’t be prouder.

Remember warm-ups are as follow

Sat morning – 8:00-8:20 (bring Luke coffee)
Sat afternoon (400s) – 3:00p-3:50p (open, be at pool by 3)
Sat evening (8-unders again) – End of 400s (5:45ish)-6:00p (bring Luke stronger coffee)
Sun morning (13-18s) – 7:20-7:40 (I specifically asked for an early time after Thursday’s practice..)

Also remember that our swamp is pretend, this swamp is real. The ground is nasty and sopping wet, so do yourself a favor and bring something waterproof to sit on like a tarp. Also, warm shoes will be of vital importance for all swimmers, I better not catch anyone barefoot in the cold mud or I’ll put your face in the cold mud… And bring an umbrella (or 3) cause the rain isn’t supposed to stop anytime soon.

That’s it, great job today! Let’s hope the weekend forecast isn’t accurate…

Banquet time!

Hello!

Just a heads up, the banquet begins this evening at 6 if you’d like to eat, the ceremony will begin at 7.

A few notes, all non-members need to sign in at the front but they will not need to pay. The festivities begin at 6, non-members can enter the grounds at that time. Also, there’s really a lot of food, so please bring an appetite.

That’s it, we’ll try to go as fast as possible but man are there a lot of kids… Bring your pillow if you must, we’ll shake you when it’s your kid’s turn.

And bring suits, we’ll swim until 7 and it will be hot…

Finally, the link to the results has been changed, so it won’t work anymore. Anyways apparently the results of the meet are top secret, I’ll figure out some other way to get them online as soon as I get some time.

Thanks!

Correction!

After Kevin Kruse pointed out to me tonight that we only have 2 9-10s who will be practicing this week, and that the 11-12s are actually having to get up earlier as a result of our switch, I realized it really makes more sense to allow them to do the 9-10 practice at 8:45a – 9:45a.

So that said, if the later time doesn’t work for anyone, I’d be happy to have any 9-10/11-12s at the 7:15 practice if that suits your schedule better.

Thanks! Sorry for any confusion!

League wrap-up!

Here are the complete league results –

http://stingrays-sc.com/files/Meet_Results/2007/League2007.pdf

They weren’t publicly posted but, uh, yeah, there they are.

So I’d like to start by saying that the coaches are incredibly impressed with the way the team performed this weekend. As you saw in the last post, we had a very great first 2 days, and Sunday was no different. Thanks to everyone who swam their hardest and worked their butts off this season to make it the incredible success it has been so far.

Even though it seems like we might not have done as well this year compared to last (ie 3rd rather than 2nd) we beat last year’s point total by about 40 points and swam a lot more races. That’s a huge step forward and the only thing that kept us from winning was the fact that the league was re-structured this year, placing a few traditional D-1 teams in our division. Anyways, great job!

Second, hope everyone enjoyed their morning off today, remember practice at 8 p.m. tonight for all state qualifiers!

Note that we will be changing morning practice times for this week due to our reduced numbers! They will be as follow!

11-12’s & Upper division – 7:15a – 8:45a
9-10’s – 8:45a – 9:45a
8-unders – 9:00a – 9:45a

Next, if you are seeking any information about the state meet (ie directions, warm-ups, event schedule, whatever) you can visit the web site at www.statemeet.com (easy, right?)

Finally, some well earned congratulations.

First, NEW STATE QUALIFIERS Brady Cotten and Brian Long! These guys worked hard to get those times and they’ll get to swim another week.

Also, NEW TEAM RECORD HOLDERS Dylan Jacob, Tristan Gess and Brian Pak! Dylan set the mark in the 25 free (17.65), Tristan got his in an incredible, league winning 25 breaststroke race (23.40) and Brian Pak broke his own mark in one of the most thrilling races I’ve ever seen, coming from the 3 seed to win the 100 breast in a time of 1:12. Talk about going out on top! Congratulations guys!

Note that Gator swimmers Emily Cotten, Elise Chevalier, Alex Sutherland and Dylan Jacob (in 2 more races..) all have legitimate shots at breaking new records this weekend at state.

Finally, congratulations to LEAGUE CHAMPIONS Cody Spencer, Brian Pak, Tristan Gess, Dylan Jacob. We had a fantastic time watching you guys grow and achieve great things this year.

I’ll have all state entries posted later today, we will only be taking relays for 8-under boys, 13-14 girls and 15-18 men and women.

See ya tonight!