Green Mountain Swim Team

Hello All –

I hope you’re all enjoying this beautiful SUMMER SUNSHINE as much as I am. I had become convinced that while I was away someone had tied down a permanent, wet cloud with the sole purpose of making me miserable and freezing 8-unders…but I’m glad the little guy escaped. Hopefully he settles down somewhere already nasty, like Nebraska or West Texas.

Please remember that you need to be at the pool 10 minutes before your warm-up begins tomorrow! This will give you time to stretch with the coaches, get your goggles on, ect… Warm-up, as usual, is quite short, so don’t waste it!

Finally, please note that there are only 2 meets left to qualify for both Ken Caryl AND the Pentathalon! Those meets are both at the end of June. Ken Caryl, a cool little mid-season invitational meet, has listed it’s qual times HERE. We’ll run a report after this Saturday’s meet listing swimmers who are eligible.

Pentathalon is another meet, hosted by Applewood Athletic Club, that swimmers must qualify for. To get into this meet, you must have a “B” time or better in 4 of the 5 main events – Fly, Back, Breast, Free (25 for 8-unders, 50 for 9-12’s, 100 for upper division), and IM. You swim all 5 events at the meet and your cumulative time is calculated at the end. It’s a lot of fun. That said (cough, cough UPPER DIVISION) if you haven’t swam all of these events yet, you need to make sure you get them under your belt so that you can qualify! It’s a really fun meet. Remember, tomorrow you can exhibition AS MANY EVENTS AS YOU WANT, so get that extra race in where you can. It’s never too late to add something.

Thanks, and best of luck tomorrow! I won’t be at the meet but coaches Rich and Josh will be ready to pep talk you until your cap-tucked ears fall right off.

And remember, if you’re not a gator, YOU’RE GATOR BAIT!

Coach Luke

Hey All –

Just a few quick reminders —

First, if you’re not yet signed up for the meet, you MUST send us an e-mail ASAP! We already have relays mostly made, but we do need to know by Wednesday (today!) if you’re swimming. Contact me for 12-unders at lukemorin@gmail.com, or coach Rich (upper division) at richard.leeds@colorado.edu. Relays will be posted on the blog tomorrow.

Next, goals sheets are due tomorrow! Thanks to the MANY swimmers who got them in today! I loved reading the ones that we got and the coaches were extremely impressed with what you came up with!

Finally, polo is tonight for upper division swimmers from 7:50-9pm. Only show up if you’re ready to rumble, as your coaches will be getting in the water to regulate…

Coach Luke

Hello team!

First, awesome job at practice today, the coaches were really pleased with the effort we saw at all age levels. We’re getting ready for times to start dropping like hot potatoes…

We also wanted to remind everyone to please bring back COMPLETED goal sheets by Thursday’s practice! If you missed today, we’ll have copies at the pool for you to pick up tomorrow. Some of our younger swimmers might want to employ the help of an older friend, sibling, parent, ect… to get the sheet done! Your coaches are looking forward to hearing what you have to say!

Another note–I just got the team manager software installed on my computer today, so things like best times and at least partial meet results will be up soon. Check back by day’s end!

Finally, an updated night practice schedule (I’ll make a link to this in the links page) for our upper division swimmers.

Monday-7:30-9:00 p.m.
Tuesday-7:30-9:00 p.m.
Wednesday-7:50-9:00 p.m. (includes dryland AND water polo)

Thanks for checking in! And please share some of your team goals in the comments section of this blog post!

Coach Luke

Hello all –

First, I wanted to let you know that Coach Rich is beginning night practice tonight from 7:30-9pm! This is meant for upper division swimmers, and it is a GREAT way to improve your skills and get in even better shape!

Second, I want to encourage everyone to PLEASE try to make it out to practice tomorrow! We will have meet sign up for Saturday’s meet against Lakewood, and we will also have goal sheets that we will work on in practice. These are very important to the coaches, so if you miss please pick one up on Wednesday!

Finally, I wanted to give some quick recognition to some excellent Gators who made a big splash in the pool this weekend in our first meet of the season! Like the coaches kept saying, this week was more about smiles than state times, so here are a few swimmers who their coaches smile with their effort, toughness and great attitudes!

Kevin Kruse came back from a year off with new energy and not a trace of rust! He beat (Krushed, if you will) his goal times off the bat and with a little more practice, looks like he could be right back at the league meet this year!

Jake and Gabe Odenweller came into the year as new swimmers and have so far given it everything they’ve got! They’ve attended every practice, sported a few different hairstyles, and have gone for some of the hardest events…all after only 4 days of practice! Talk about confidence!

Kenzie Oreskovich earned her keep with a CARA swim team last year and has come in and has already made an immediate impact with the team. Her awesome attitude, huge race presence, love of butterfly and HUGE smile have already inspired her coaches and her teammates. Keep your eye on this one!

The 13-14 boys came out in force, and they showed that they’ll be a force to be reckoned with this year! At a time when many boys drop out to pursue other interests (bugs/boogers/farting/girls/ect…) we’ve got 2 relays+ of some of the most dedicated, fun-loving kids on the
team. This WILL be a top 10 relay at state, I’m calling it now!

Jack Lucas swam extremely well, crushing competition 2-10 times his size with a huge dive and killer instinct in the pool! Who said whiling away your summers on the GMSC diving boards wasn’t worth something?

Brett Wilsey swam one of the biggest races of her swimming career, coming from wayyyyyy behind to catch a fellow swimmer who looked like, after 75 meters, would swim away with the race. But Brett did EXACTLY as she was coached to do and swam a blazing fast time, all while showing that she compete in more than just the breaststroke!

and finally, I know this week was about smiles, NOT state times, but…

Dylan Jacob swam an incredibly gutsy 50 freestyle to close out the Boys 9-10 relay. Even though he wasn’t quite able to catch the stingray relay, he did manage to break 35 seconds. In meters. Did I mention that the winning time at state last year for this age group was 34.58? One of the toughest records in the Gator record book (17 years old!) looks like it might be in reach!

Thanks again for all of your hard work! We’ll see y’all in the morning!

Coach Luke

Hello again!

I first wanted to let everyone know that I made another
meet time mistake. I got the warm-up times mixed up, putting upper
division first and lower second. The times currently showing in the box
to your right are updated AND correct. Please help me spread the word, especially since this is rather last minute and I didn’t learn of my mistake until the end of practices today. We’d like to keep everything as streamlined as possible in the morning!

Lower Division (12-under)

6:00-6:15

Upper Division (13-up)

6:15-6:30

Please come 10 minutes earlier than the posted time to make sure you
have enough time to stretch and get ready! Warm-ups are short so every
minute is valuable!

And a final note…the only top haiku submitted so far from the survey by celebrated gator haiku-ist Molly Kruse.

Dear Lucas Morin
I love swimming on the team
I love prizes too.

Can you top it? Might be tough…

Coach Luke