4 down, a lot to go…

Compliments Agnes Debrunner

Hey everyone! Sorry for the recent post lapse, that intrasquad really took it out of me (actually practice this morning post-intrasquad took it out of me..) In fact, I was so tired this morning that I had an “at 6:30 in the morning this will be easier to demonstrate than discuss” followed very shortly after by an “oh no, my phone is in the pool” moment. Oops..

Anyways no time for the usual post-meet write-up but several people (read Duncan S, Sophie A, the Giustos, Ianna D, Daria R, ect…) had a really, really great meet. So congrats to them!

To those of you who have joked that you’d love to remove my ring with a pair of pliers – it’s a bit, umm, stuck now. I might have to take someone up on that…

I will post a list of CURRENTLY eligible swimmers for Ken Caryl/Pentathlon tonight! Please check this and if you ARE on the list and AREN’T attending Friday practice/Saturday meet you need to e-mail me your entries/your scratch.

ALSO – looking at the sign-up sheet I think a lot of kids who made practice missed sign-up… This is probably just due to some miscommunication but we’ll be extending the sign-up through morning practice Friday.

And if you can’t be there, just call me. Oh wait…

2 last notes – we’ve had 4 meets, and we’re only on our second week of morning practice! That said, if your swimmer does NOT qualify for pentathlon or Ken Caryl, you get that weekend OFF! C/D meet is either moving, or cancelling. There doesn’t seem to be anyone to host the thing, but it will NOT be that weekend.

Next, I’ve received numerous letters, calls, e-mails, visits and death comments over my wish to name the Gator – apparantly its name is Gary. I missed chats, chants and even a parade in his honor. What can I say, only one eye… I can’t be expected to catch everything.

Final comment – it’s been determined that coach Richard does NOT read this blog.. That said, I’m going to tell you an embarrassing fact about him in every post from now on until he sees it.

Fact (a warm-up..) – Richard once had an afro that he would pick out before school every day. I’ll post a picture if I can find one…

Have a great night!

The official intrasquad post…

OK first, if you’re reading this now, go to bed! We have practice in like, 7 hours…

We’ll be having our second official intrasquad tomorrow (Wednesday!) night at the pool!

VITAL STATS –

Pool close/warm-up start: 5:30 p.m.
Meet start: 6:00 p.m.
Event sign-up: Morning practice/at the meet*

That little * means this – I would like, ideally, for every swimmer that is physically capable of swimming every event during the season to do just that – at least once. This is a great opportunity to knock out some of those odd events you wouldn’t normally swim in a meet. So here’s the deal:

UNLESS you need to re-swim an event again to qualify for Ken Caryl/Pentathlon, I want you swimming new events. Upper division – 3 NEW events. 9-12’s 2 NEW events. 8-unders, just do what Julie says…

Remember, there are no limits on how many events you can swim, you just better get some new ones in there.. I’ll re-emphasize this during practice and at the meet, but I’ll have my little book out, checking you.

Make sure you swim the events you need to qual in before anything else! A list of Ken Caryl qualifiers will be posted at practice tomorrow, and for Pentathlon you need a B time in 4/5 events (fly, back, breast, free, IM) to swim – ALL THIS SEASON!

We’ll also start sign-up for the meet vs Stingrays tomorrow, and first come, first serve! Events ARE being limited for this meet (except 50/25 free and backstroke) and once an event is full, it’s full… 5 swimmers per event! Relays are also being severely limited, so priority will be established in this way as well.

See ya in the morning! Send Gar(r)y the Gator a goodnight kiss…

It's official…

The 15-18 men broke the team record of 2:04.59 by 6 hundredths of a second… That relay actually did not include Tim Campbell, but it did have a Dreesen (god knows which one.)

It’s also worth noting that Brian Pak broke his own 100 breast record, set at state last year, with a 1:13.40 last week at Wheat Ridge to little fanfare. Here’s your official recognition, great job buddy.

Congrats guys!

And here’s this week’s yourhub.com article…

http://denver.yourhub.com/Lakewood/Stories/Sports/Youth/Story~319621.aspx

Goodness what a clever title…And yes, The Swamp is our new official pool name, when it comes to swim team anyways. We’re Gators after all, I’ll dump some sludge in the deep end before our next meet if it makes you faster…

Side note – I’ll buy 5 Laffy Taffys for whoever can come up with the best name for our currently nameless stuffed Gator mascot. 5 bonus points if you’re under the age of 10 (including Cody.)

Andd I’m all posted out. Goodnight!

Meet photos!

Here are some beautiful shots from Saturday’s meet, complements of Mr. Miguel Lander (son Rodrigo.)

You can view the entire album (73 photos) at http://picasaweb.google.com/mvlander/GMSTSwimMeet6907. Please take some time to check this out, there are a lot of really great shots!

Here are a few of my favorites…










Thanks again to Mr. Lander for all of these gorgeous shots, look for them in this week’s YourHub!

Congrats! Some notes from the Swamp

First, for Shelby – http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/retroactive

Second – congrats to everyone who competed today! Not only were we EXTREMELY competitive with (Division 1) Columbine Knolls, close to 90 percent of today’s swims were season bests with TONS of personal bests. It’s crazy what 9 months did to you kids…

Because there were SO many great swims (just about every heat of that glorious 6 1/2 hour meet) I can’t mention them all but there’s a lot worth talking about.

Here were some highlights for me today –

– Getting the priceless ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me’ look and head shake from both Denney girls on multiple occasions as they got up on the block next to swimmers twice their size. Katie crushed some old times and Shelby hung darn close with CKST state record holder (lots of state records, actually) Ashley Weers (who only had 2-3 heads on her.)

– Getting a call from the Foothills League officials saying the only way Dylan Jacob gets to swim at league is if we tie bricks to his feet. His 25 free today – 18.4 seconds. Last year’s league champ? 19.03. Anyone else excited for week 3?

– Watching Scotty Way “get it” today. He made me promise him that he swam the best of anyone on the team today, but seeing as how he averaged about a 15 second drop for every race he swam, it’s hard to argue..

– Cheering Derek Stein on to 2 league times and one solid B (practically league) at one of his strongest showings since league ’05.

– Watching Brady Cotten get his groove – and his mojo – back, debuting a new block dance and dropping some real time in his breaststroke, qualifying for league once more. Now if we could get the kid to grow a few (six) inches…

– Having Gator newbies Ellie Howell and Emma Sargent swim their first butterfly races ever, stay completely legal, then get out and tell me with big smiles how much ‘fun‘ that was. Uhh…yeah!

– Seeing Tim Palese compete (and compete hard!) in his first meet ever after a tough bout with illness and a rather scary block experience Friday. Gotta love that spirit!

– Seeing Ashley Hill back in the water after an adversity-filled year that has only made her a stronger person. She serves as an inspiration to her coaches and all of her teammates and we’re thrilled to have her back in the Gator family this summer.

– Being a firsthand witness to history and watching our esteemed (and oh-so-humble) 15-18 men fend off three CKST relays and set a team record (a record that isn’t safe as long as these guys are together) in the medley relay with the team of Cody Spencer, Brian Pak, Josh Fleming and Riley Zelus. That 2:04 at the beginning of the meet? It didn’t just break a record, it pumped up the team and put us on track for a great day. That’s what real champions do. Someone call Tim Campbell and tell him we’re on a mission to stamp his name out of that record book for good…

– Watching all the parents volunteer their time so readily this week and last! These meets don’t run without you and I’ve been very impressed with our efficiency. It makes a big difference to the coaches and the swimmers and we appreciate it (except Julie, who demands to be fed grapes and dusted with a soft mist next week.)

And again, there are so many more people I could have talked about, I was really proud of the effort we put in today!

Don’t forget –

Ken Caryl AND the ACC Pentathlon are in 2 WEEKS! You have 2 more meets to qualify for those events (intrasquad Weds. and meet vs. Stingrays Sat.) so you need to check your status and make sure you choose your events wisely! I’ll post more details on that soon. If you qualify, I’d STRONGLY recommend attending! Those are 2 of my favorite meets of the year!

ALSO – I haven’t received any photos from parents yet! If you have anything, please send it to me ASAP! Mr. Landers spent virtually the entire meet shooting Gators in action, a special thanks to him – can’t wait to see the shots! I’ll be posting a super condensed version of this post onto YourHub.com tomorrow for Thursday publication (hopefully) so I’d really like to publish some of your work!

morinl@colorado.edu

Ok well it’s late now, I’m glad you all get to see how I spend my Saturday nights… Have a great weekend, we’ll see everyone Monday!