___________________________________________________________

The weather was hot, but beautiful and clear for our annual raft and splash party. Team members and their families had a great time in the pool with a variety of toys - inflatable boats, boogie boards, masks and snorkels and a wide variety of floating rafts. There was pizza, cheap soda and candy and a dive for money before clearing the pool for the presentation of the awards.

After the fun, all our swimmers were recognized and received trophies for their efforts this year. The Lasers had a great season and we applaud the hard work our kids and their coaches put in to make it so. In addition to the trophies, our 13-18 year-olds received a special team gift - something we always do to let them know that as they get older, we realize swimming has to be balanced with their other commitments and we are happy they still choose to swim. (Ever notice how the 8 & under swimmers WAY outnumber the 13-18s?)

In addition to the team trophies, three awards in each age group are given for boys and girls. The High Point trophy goes to the swimmer who has scored the most points for the team during the season. The Most Improved trophy goes to the swimmer who has dropped the most time and/or improved steadily from week to week in their events during the season; and the Coaches' Award goes to the swimmer who has consistently worked hard and had a positive attitude all year, including such things as showing up to practice on time every day and being willing to do whatever the coaches ask!

The recipients of those special awards this year are:

High Point - Daniel Valencia and Katie Helenek, 8 & under; Kayla Valencia and Matt Walker, 9-10; Michael Pastis and Maria Araneta, 11-12; Jarrett Linck and Ashley Hincke, 13-14; Lauren Butz and Justin Linck, 15-18.

Most Improved - Connor Nam and Anne Domalski, 6 & under; Luke O'Malley and Kelly McShea, 7-year-olds; Aaron Czarnopys and Morgan Donnellan, 8-year-olds; Joshua Banania and Emelia Thompson, 9-10; Matt Seipp and Brittany Duff, 11-12; Daniel Guerra and Kim Chodnicki, 13-14; Kip Edwards and Sarah Cline, 15-18.

Coaches Award - Jeff Kopp and Jamie Chodnicki, 6 & under; Sean Donnellan and Hannah Nelson, 7-year-olds; Terry Leach and Paige Sekerak, 8-year-olds; Chris Luo and Crystal Pastis, 9-10; Kevin Chodnicki, Johnny Helenek (tie) and Mary Domalski, 11-12; Michael Riedman and Mallory Butz, 13-14; Sean McCarthy and Diana Fillmore, 15-18.

Congratulations to everyone on a great season and be sure to keep in shape over the winter for next year! As everyone probably knows by now (hope so, anyway - if you read the website, you would know… hint, hint) we will be moving up to Division F next year and the competition will be tough. We are seeded last in the division so we will need to work hard if we want to win any of our meets, but it can be done. As Spinny Johnson says, "If you believe it, you can achieve it."

                                                                                                 # # #

The All-Star meets at the end of the regular season are always exciting events, with the best swimmers in the Montgomery County Swim League competing against each other. The league is divided in half and the All-Star Relay meet is swum in two parts. Lake Marion was well-placed as we competed as one of the top teams in the lower half. The Lasers had six teams who qualified to swim in this meet by placing first in their events at the I Division A Relay Carnival. In addition, our girls 250m freestyle relay team qualified by swimming a competitive time in a dual meet. Then, due to scratches by other teams, we were able to swim in three other events for a total of ten relays. The Lasers did great at this meet, ending up with three first-place finishes, four second-place and three thirds.

                                                                                                  # # #

Saturday's All-Star Relay Meet was followed by the All-Star Individuals meet on Sunday, August 4^th. All our swimmers finished at or above where they were seeded and had a great day to finish off the summer swim season.

Katie Helenek broke Brittany Berry's record from 1996 in the 8 & under 25m freestyle with a 17.42; Sarah Fillmore broke her own record (again) from Week 5 with a 33.00 in the Girls 13-14 50m backstroke; and Diana Fillmore broke HER own record (ho-hum) from divisionals with a 32.35 in the Girls 15-18 50m butterfly. We are so proud of all our swimmers but particularly those who work hard and do so well.

                                                                                                  # # #

Each year the North Creek Neptunes sponsor a long course meet at their pool. For those who wish to give themselves a bit of a challenge, all dual meet event distances are doubled in a long course meet. For instance, the normal freestyle distance for an 8-year-old is 25 meters, so in the long course it becomes a 50 meter race. For 15-18 year-olds, the dual meet freestyle distance is 100m, so in the long course it becomes 200m. When setting the pool up for a long course event, the distances are swum in 50-yard lengths, so that instead of swimming from one side of the pool to the other, the swimmers are going from one end to the other.

Although this meet is open to anyone who wishes to try it, spaces are limited to two entries per team per event. If you wanted to swim it, you had to get your entry form and money in right away. Quite a few Lasers gave it a shot and they ended up doing very well. Many swimmers like to try the longer distance in the year before they will move up to a new age group and a longer distance.

Here are the results of the Lasers who participated:

                                                                                          # # #

Unlike the North Creek event, this long course meet is sponsored by the MCSL and is by invitation only to the eight fastest swimmers in each event in the league. This year, the Lasers were represented by Daniel Valencia, who competed in two events and placed first in both! Way to go, Daniel! Daniel swam the Boys 8 & Under 50m freestyle in 35.97 and the Boys 8 & under 50m Butterfly in 43.16. Some of you older boys may want to compare your times with Daniel's in these events… just remember - there is no turn in the long course!

                                                                                                 # # #

White House Christmas ornament sale - October to December

First Day of Practice for 2003 swim season - Tuesday, May 27^th

                                                                                       # # #

Do you check the website regularly? You should… it is updated daily and has tons of information that you can access at any time. The main page has importantnews items and there are other pages for our calendar, meet results, directions to every pool we visit, copies of our newsletters and links to photo pages, the I Division website and the MCSL website. Please make use of this valuable resource for team information. The website is also updated periodically during the fall, winter and spring so bookmark it or add it to your favorites list. For instance, the calendar for next summer will be posted as soon as we get the meet information in early spring, so you can plan your vacations accordingly! (I can tell you the B meet schedule already if you really want to know!) There will also be information about our fall fundraiser. We will sell the White House Christmas ornaments again this year, so stay tuned.

# # #

Finally, along with all the thank-yous to our swimmers and their parents for making this such a great team, of course we have to thank our coaches for doing such a great job this summer and leading us to the divisional title! Thanks to Chris Higgins, Ellary Draper and Kim Magnanelli for your hard work and motivation.

For those parents who wonder whether anyone did anything nice for the coaches to acknowledge their leadership and team spirit, yes indeed we did. Instead of collecting extra money for a coach gift at the end of the year, the Swim Team Committee puts aside a portion of our team profits from fundraising activities. At the end of the year, that money can be used to give deserving coaches a cash bonus from the team to show our appreciation. We have discovered they like that better than clothing items, gift certificates, etc - and our coaches were well taken care of this year!

                                                                                           # # #

         ____________________________ __________________________

Wow! In a closely contested championship meet, the Lake Marion Lasers managed to hang on to a slim halftime lead over Carderock Springs and finish in first place. Finishing ahead of Carderock Springs maintained our divisional point lead and earned us the title of divisional champions! Way to go, Lasers! There were many fine efforts in the pool on Saturday, more broken records and more All-Star times.

We also salute our two graduating seniors, both of whom have been on the team for many years and contributed greatly to the success of the team in that time. Cate Cravath and Lauren Butz have both been on the team since our first summer eleven years ago.. That year we worked to pull the team together, train our parent volunteers and learn how to run a meet (and a team) by swimming B meets. The following year we were admitted to the Montgomery County Swim League in the N Division, right down at the bottom! These girls are the first two seniors to graduate who have been on the team since they were in the 8 & under age group. Congratulations to them both!

The divisional meet was the venue for more All-Star qualifying times as our swimmers continue to put forth their best efforts:

Maria Araneta - Girls 11-12 50 Breast (42.33)
Diana Fillmore - Girls 15-18 50 Fly (32.51)
Sarah Fillmore - Girls 13-14 50 Free (30.54); Girls 13-14 50 Back (34.56)
Johnny Helenek - Boys 11-12 50 Breast (43.29)
Katie Helenek - Girls 8 & Under 25 Free (17.99); Girls 8 & Under 25 Back (22.87) and Girls 8 & under 25 Breast (25.60)
Michael Pastis - Boys 12 & Under 100 IM (1:21.02); Boys 11-12 50 Free (31.74); Boys 11-12 50 Breast (39.79)
Daniel Valencia - Boys 8 & Under 25 Free (17.55); Boys 8 & Under 25 Fly (20.56)
Kayla Valencia - Girls 9-10 50 Free (35.63)

More team records have fallen this year than in any other and the divisional meet was no different. The following swimmers have set new team records in these events:

Cate Cravath - Girls 15-18 100 Breast (1:31.84)
Diana Fillmore - Girls 15-18 100 Back (1:17.23); Girls 15-18 50 Fly (32.51); Girls 15-18 100 IM (1:19.83)
Ashley Hincke - Girls 13-14 50 Fly (35.28)
Katie Helenek - Girls 8 & Under 25 Back (22.87)
Michael Pastis - Boys 11-12 50 Breast (39.79)

It's been a great season for all the Lake Marion Lasers. Congratulations to everyone for the part you played in winning this championship and good luck next year!

                                                                               # # #

Sarah Fillmore, 4^th in back
Diana Fillmore, 15^th in fly
Katie Helenek - 8^th in free, 14^th in back, 15^th in breast
Michael Pastis - 10^th in breast
Daniel Valencia - 2^nd in free, 14^th in back, 4^th in fly
Kayla Valencia - 15^th in back

We wish you all good luck in your events! Go Lasers!

                                                                                # # #

Flower Hill B Meet Highlights

The Dolphins were pretty strong competition, but we managed some sweeps in several events anyway:

                                                                                    # # #

As usual, we are indebted to our parents for without them the swim season could not go on. Thanks a million to everyone who has pitched in to help in any way and if you haven't had a chance to help this year, be sure you volunteer next year. It's a rewarding experience AND you generally learn a lot more about the sport of swimming and the intimately choreographed ballet of running a swim meet than you may have known previously!

Thanks in particular to the following people:

                                                                                         # # #

All- Star Relay Meet on Aug. 3 at RMSC; All Star Individuals on Aug. 4 at RMSC
First Day of Practice for 2003 swim season - Tuesday, May 27th

# # #

Do you check the website regularly? You should… it is updated daily and has tons of information that you can access at any time. The main page has important news items and there are other pages for our calendar, meet results, directions to every pool we visit, copies of our newsletters and links to photo pages, the I Division website and the MCSL website. Please make use of this valuable resource for team information. The website is also updated periodically during the fall, winter and spring so bookmark it or add it to your favorites list. For instance, the calendar for next summer will be posted as soon as we get the meet information in early spring, so you can plan your vacations accordingly! (I can tell you the B meet schedule already if you really want to know!) There will also be information about our fall fundraiser. We hope to sell the White House Christmas ornaments again this year, so stay tuned.

_______________________________________________________________________             

    And once again, we had several All-Star times:

    And, in the team record department, it was Fillmore Week as Sarah and Diana continued breaking records in their events:

Girls 13-14 50m Back – Sarah Fillmore (33.65) breaking a record she set 2 weeks ago
Girls 13-14 50m Free – Sarah Fillmore (30.21) breaking Diana’s record from 2002
Girls 15-18100m Free – Diana Fillmore – (1:07.58) breaking a record she set 2 weeks ago
Girls 15-18 100m Back – Diana Fillmore – (1:18.09) breaking a record she set 2 weeks ago

                                                                                    # # #

    The week before West Hillandale, the Lasers beat Stonegate at home by a score of 456 ½ to 330 ½ . Again, the depth the Lasers have definitely helps us outswim the other teams. This is interesting because all the teams in the MCSL can sign up swimmers who live anywhere in the county, except the four teams in Montgomery Village. We are the only teams who have a geographical requirement for membership. Not only must you live in the Village to be on one of our teams, but which team you swim on depends on the neighborhood in which you live. So Stonegate, for instance, could have swimmers on their team who lived in Damascus, Bethesda, Silver Spring and East Village, if they wanted. The Lasers can only have swimmers from East Village. That is why some of the teams in the upper divisions are always powerhouses, and pretty much always will be – because they recruit from all over the county. We, on the other hand, have a pretty good team just from our own neighborhoods! Even though we are limited in where we can draw members from, we have a large team because everyone, of course, wants to join! (And we don’t want to be in the "A" Division anyway – we want to ENJOY swimming)
    Here are the events we swept in the meet:

    Finally, one more team record fell as Diana Fillmore broke her record from last week in the Girls 15-18 50m Fly with a time of 33.63. Congratulations to all!

                                                                                # # #

    We continue to thank all of you who have helped out at our meets! We want you to know we appreciate you taking on your responsibility to support your team. As always, please forgive us if we leave out your name (and let us know so we can beat ourselves with a wet noodle). We do try very hard not to leave anyone out who helps in any way, but the brain cells are the first to go so bear with us!

                                                                                    # # #

    On July 10, the Lasers were guests of the Quail Valley Marlins (shouldn’t that be Quails?) for a B meet that went on into the dark of night. Although it was long, our swimmers enjoyed competing against a team that has many members they know from school. The Lasers did well and it was good to see swimmers representing all of our age groups. Again, we don’t score B meets, but we do keep track of the highlights. Here are the events in which the Lasers swept first through third (and sometimes more) places:

    Congratulations to all those who swam, particularly those who made personal best times. It is great to be able to see the improvements our swimmers are making from week to week.

                                                                                # # #

    There was a time, when our team first started out, that we dreaded swimming against the North Creek Neptunes. They were big and powerful and we were… well, puny and inexperienced. They were a powerhouse and we were just scraping along in the bottom divisions of the MCSL. They’re still consistently ranked pretty high (Division D this year) but we no longer fear swimming a B meet against them. We have grown and improved and our B meet swimmers are every bit as good as theirs these days. Once again, the depth on our team is awesome and helps us overpower the competition! Check out how many events we swept when we swam them on July 16^th:

                                                                                # # #

    Once again, we thank all the parents who have volunteered their time to help us run these meets. It’s pretty easy work, it’s generally fun and the company is usually pretty good! We’re sure your kids are glad you are there and glad that you make the fun of swim team happen for them in the summer. What better place to be than at the pool?

                                                                                        # # #

    Our final B meet is Wednesday night, July 24^th at Flower Hill. This Saturday is the Divisional Championship Meet at Lake Marion. This Sunday is the Popsicle Meet for our Preteam and 8 & Under swimmers. And of course no one in their right mind would miss our annual Raft and Splash Party Awards Night on July 30^th at Lake Marion!

    #  # #

    It’s a big job to run our concession stand for home meets! But if everyone pitches in just a little bit, it can be made so much easier for everyone, especially our coordinator, Kathy Stovicek. Kathy would like to thank everyone who has helped do anything for any meet - and hopes that no one gets left off the lists of volunteers that we print. You all deserve a pat on the back for helping everything run so smoothly. This is the major revenue-generating source for the team, so the more everyone helps, the more money we make to cover our expenses!

                                                                                        # # #

    On July 30, we will have our team awards night and annual raft party at the pool. Please remember there are no guests allowed beyond your immediate family. This is our team awards night and it is not a neighborhood pool party. Thanks for adhering to this policy so that we do not have any embarrassing moments that evening. Admission to the party is free and you may bring any rafts or pool toys you like. It's our once-a-year chance to have all that fun stuff that is usually not allowed!!! There will be some games and plenty of free swim time from 4-7 - no rest break!
    For those of you who are interested, we will have pizza for sale. You may choose cheese or pepperoni and you must buy in whole pizzas - no slices!! You must order and pay ahead of time. Please sign up at the pool or call Kathy Stovicek to order and pay in advance. You can leave checks in Kathy’s folder (made out to Lake Marion Swim Team) or give cash in person to Kathy, Winnie Guerra or Ruth Donnellan. Please do not leave cash in anyone’s folder! Our concession stand will NOT be operating as this is a party and we want minimum work for those attending - but if there is any leftover candy and/or drinks at the end of the season, we will have someone selling it.
    Parents who are interested in participating in the entertainment portion of the program should contact Roberta McIntyre as soon as possible.

                                                                                        # # #

    Do you check the website regularly? You should… it is updated daily and has tons of information that you can access at any time. The main page has important news items and there are other pages for our calendar, meet results, directions to every pool we visit, copies of our newsletters and links to photo pages, the I Division website and the MCSL website. Please make use of this valuable resource for team information. The website is also updated periodically during the fall, winter and spring so bookmark it or add it to your favorites list. For instance, the calendar for next summer will be posted as soon as we get the meet information in early spring, so you can plan your vacations accordingly! (I can tell you the B meet schedule already if you really want to know!) There will also be information about our fall fundraiser. We hope to sell the White House Christmas ornaments again this year, so stay tuned.

___________________________________________________________

Volume XI, Number 2 ________________________July 12, 2002

    In keeping with this year’s tradition of only swimming teams that live as far away from Lake Marion as possible, the Lasers drove to Twin Farms on Saturday, July 6, to bring home another win. Some additional swimmers in our older age groups have beefed up the team a little bit and that certainly helped us on Saturday. (Having the older boys back from lifeguard training helped too!) Both the boys and girls did well this week and both groups posted winning scores over the other team.

    You may recall that only our boys had any sweeps in the first meet against Carderock. Then, against Mohican, there was a good mix of sweeps in both boy and girl events. This week it was apparently the girls’ turn:

    In week one, there were four swimmers who had All-Star times in an event. In week two, we had those four plus one more. Now, in week three, we have those five, plus two more. An All-Star time is the qualifying time you must swim in an event to be considered eligible for the All-Star meet at the end of the season. After the divisional swim meets, all the swimmers who have made the qualifying time are ranked, by time, and the top 16 will swim the All-Star Individuals Meet. That is why these swimmers keep working hard every week even though they have made the qualifying time – they want to be sure they have the fastest time they can! Let’s help cheer them on each week (and you can track their status on the MCSL webpage at www.mcsl.org)

Girls 25 Free 8 & Under - Katie Helenek (18.65)
Girls 50 Free 9-10 - Kayla Valencia (35.99)
Girls 25 Back 9-10 – Kayla Valencia (20.19)
Girls 50 Free 13-14 – Sarah Fillmore (30.74)
Girls 50 Back 13-14 – Sarah Fillmore (34.73)
Girls 50 Breast 13-14 – Ashley Hincke (41.09)
Boys 25 Free 8 & Under – Daniel Valencia (17.37)
Boys 25 Fly 8 & Under – Daniel Valencia (20.15)
Boys 50 Free 11-12 – Michael Pastis (32.32)

And, more team records were set!

Girls 13-14 50m Back – Sarah Fillmore (34.73)
Girls 13-14 50 Breast – Ashley Hincke – (41.09)
Girls 13-14 50m Fly – Ashley Hincke – (35.36)
Girls 15-18100m Free – Diana Fillmore – (1:07.83)
Girls 15-18 100m Breast – Kristin Rydland – (1:32.67)
Girl 15-18 50m Fly – Diana Fillmore – (34.86)

    The Lasers joined the other five teams from our division on Sunday morning, July 7^th for the I Division Relay Carnival. Our six first place finishes out of the 22 events helped propel us to first place. Final team scores were Lake Marion -202, Carderock Springs-195, W. Hillandale – 162, Twin Farms – 145, Mohican – 130, and Stonegate – 114.
The six first-place teams will represent Lake Marion at The All-Star Relay Meet at RMSC on Aug 3^rd. They are:

# # #

    Many of these swimmers recorded personal best times in this meet and many more were swimming an event for the first time. Go, Lasers!

                                                                        # # #

    Our second B meet was much bigger as the Whetstone Whales came to Lake Marion with another equally large team. There is a maximum of four heats allowed in any one event and several events were filled to capacity – that’s a lot of swimmers! The Lasers again did very well and here are the events in which we had sweeps:

    In an unusual circumstance, we had two new members join the team who had no times in any events. We knew they were pretty good, but they had to swim a B meet in order to get official times. Sure enough, Sarah Fillmore set a new team record in the Girls 13-14 50M Back with a time of 35.24 and her sister Diana Fillmore set a new team record in the Girls 15-18 100M Free (1:08.10) and the Girls 15-18 100M Back (1:18.69). Her backstroke time is also an All-Star qualifying time. In case you were wondering, according to the B Meet rules, neither of these two girls were included when awarding ribbons, as that would not be fair!

                                                                # # #

    Congratulations to all All-star swimmers! The 27th Invitational Coaches Long Course Meet will be held at the Rockville Municipal Swim Center on Tuesday, July 16, with a start time of 7:00pm. The top eight seeds are invited to swim and the ninth and tenth seeds are alternates. The facility will be open at 5:30. Warmups are listed below:

    8&Under - 6:00-6:10 (lanes 2&7 for sprints the whole time)
    9-10, 11-12 - 6:10-6:30 (lanes 2&7 for sprints from 6:20 - 6:30)
    13-14, 15-18 - 6:30-6:50 (lanes 2&7 for sprints from 6:40 - 6:50)
    Clear pool - 6:50

Representing Lake Marion will be:

Daniel Valencia - seeded 3 in free; seeded 4 in fly
Katie Helenek - seeded 11 in free, may swim if someone drops out
Kayla Valencia - seeded 12, may swim
Sarah Fillmore - seeded 9 in backstroke

                                                                        # # #

    Next Sunday, July 21^st the North Creek Neptunes will host a long course event at their pool. If you’d like to try swimming twice the distance you usually do in your favorite event, then this is the meet for you! We may enter two swimmers per event from our team, so if you’re interested let the coaches know right away. There is a $2.50 per event fee to swim in this meet.

                                                                        # # #

    This Monday is the trip to Six Flags with the other MCSL teams. Tuesday night we have a B meet at home against North Creek – please be generous with volunteering your time to help. Call Kathy Stovicek to help with food shopping or preparation, or working in the concession stand. Call Michele Dillingham to work as a meet official (yes, this includes timers and yes, you can split the job with someone else). Tuesday night is also the Coaches Invitational Long Course – good luck to our swimmers! Wednesday is the B Relay Carnival at North Creek and next Saturday our final dual meet of the season will be at West Hillandale.

# # #

    Thanks again to everyone who has put forth the effort to help at our meets! It is only by working together that we can all run these meets so successfully for our children’s enjoyment – and we can have a lot of fun together doing it. If you have not yet stepped forward, please do so – be a part of the team and come have a good time with us! We EXPECT you to as we are all doing it for YOUR kids. As always, if we missed your name, we are very sorry and please let us know so we can fix the situation in the next issue of the newsletter!

Timers: Elizabeth Tinling, Walt Tinling, Roberta McIntyre, Kevin McCarthy, Debbie Walker, Jeb Miller, Chris Nelson, Michele Dillingham, Don Dillingham, Alan Moore

Bob and Ashley Hincke, Jarrett Linck, Tommy Firestone, Jeanne, John and Fran Christian, Sherry Marlowe, Joshua and Zachary Greenwald, Kim, Kayla, Daniel and Matthew Valencia, Bill and Crystal Pastis

                                                                                # # #

    The annual crab feast for team parents was a great success as usual, despite a few rain sprinkles at various times during the evening. Thanks to Dave and Sue Cline for planning this event and thanks to all who helped by bringing food, picking up ice and beverages, setting up and clean-up. Only 11 months till we can do it again!

                                                                                # # #

    Don't forget to go to our website and check the photo pages! Click on the link that says Pictures and our photo page will appear. There are links there for pictures from our meets and activities. You may be in them!!! You probably are - so go take a look!

                                                                                   # # #

    If things had turned out differently, we could have had some very interesting parents on our swim team. Have you ever thought about what would have happened if certain people had married people other than the ones they did? For instance, did you know that if Donnel Moore had married Mike Donnellan, she’d be Donnel Donnellan? If Helen Pastis had married Jack Helenek, she’d be Helen Helenek? And if Ashley Nam had married Bob Hincke, she’d be Ashley Hincke?

                                                                                    # # #

Don't forget to check out our website!

Michael Pastis, Boys 12 & Under 100 IM (1:22.02)
Daniel Valencia, Boys 8 & Under 25 Free (17.87); Boys 8 & Under 25 Fly (22.50)
Kayla Valencia, Girls 9-10 50 Free (36.99)

Mallory Butz , Girls 13-14 100M IM (1:21.27)

As always, complete results for all meets can be found on the results board at the pool and on our website at http//:www.lakemarionswimteam.com

Boys 100 IM 12 & Under - Michael Pastis, 1^st (1:25.96); Kevin Chodnicki, 2^nd (1:28.84); Johnny Helenek (1:35.08)
Boys 50 Free 11-12 - Michael Pastis, 1^st (32.14); Kevin Chodnicki, 2^nd (33.88); Matthew Seipp, 3^rd (35.53); Chris Miller, 4^th (36.20); Johnny Helenek, 5^th (36.28)
Girls 100 Free 15-18 – Lauren Butz, 1^st (1:14.72); Megan McCarthy, 2^nd (1:17.72); Cate Cravath, 3^rd (1:19.08)
Boys 50 Back 11-12 – Kevin Chodnicki, 1^st (42.19); Ian McIntyre, 2^nd (48.98); Matthew Seipp, 3^rd (54.00)
Girls 100 IM 15-18 – Lauren Butz, 1^st (1:25.66); Trisha Firestone, 2^nd (1:31.56); Megan McCarthy, 3^rd (1:32.40)
Boys 50 Breast 11-12 – Michael Pastis, 1^st (42.52); Johnny Helenek, 2^nd (45.21); Ian McIntyre, 3^rd (50.45)
Girls 50 Breast 11-12 – Tayler Grimail, 1^st (47.40); Fran Christian, 2^nd (48.96); Stephanie Strasnick, 3rd (50.57)
Girls 100 Breast 15-18 – Cate Cravath, 1^st (1:35.58); Trisha Firestone, 2^nd (1:43.03); Megan McCarthy, 3^rd (1:46.56)
Girls 25 Fly 9-10 – Alicia Nelson, 1^st (19.53); Kayla Valencia, 2^nd (19.63); Molly Donnellan, 3^rd (22.67)
Boys 50 Fly 11-12 – Michael Pastis, 1^st (39.27); Kevin Chodnicki, 2^nd (40.27); Chris Miller, 3^rd (45.68)

The "B" meets are just as important to the team as the "A" meets. They provide a competitive atmosphere for those wishing to improve their times in events, and are our training ground for many younger swimmers. Please keep in mind that swimmers who better their times, at any meet, can move up the team swim ladder. They may find themselves switching from B to A meets or swimming a combination of both each week. Swimmers can also move down the ladder, so swim fast every chance you get! Moving down should not be seen as a failure in any way – it just means someone else is having success. A swimmer might better his or her time in an event and still move down the ladder – because someone else also bettered their time! Because we are a team, we should take pride in the success of our teammates (and if it makes everyone else work a little harder, that’s a good thing!).

The two most important things to remember are that 1) we are a team and the coaches will place the best combination of swimmers in any one meet in order to insure the team’s success and 2) we are all here to have fun as well as improve our swimming skills, so work hard and have a good time swimming in whatever meet you find yourself.

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Please be sure to check the calendar and website often (several times a week) to keep track of upcoming meets and other team events. There are copies of the calendar in the back of your team handbook and on the website. If there are activities for which you need to sign up, there are clipboards for that purpose under the team bulletin board at the pool.

Meet lineups are posted on the bulletin board at the pool. You should always check these, even if you are sure you won’t be swimming!! Someone could be away and you might be asked to swim when you haven’t been before; or you might be slated to swim when you are not going to be here and you must let the coaches know immediately if you cannot be at a meet. This is especially important for A meets, as we cannot make substitutions and we will lose points if we do not have a swimmer in a lane. It is also important for B meets when we have many more swimmers. Having to deal with no-shows at the last minute causes us to constantly re-seed the meet as it is going on. There are people working behind the scenes for days before a meet, writing entries and placing swimmers in lanes and heats according to their abilities, and coordinating with the representatives from the other teams. Please make it easier for them! You will also find directions to all our meets on the website. Go to the homepage and click on the link that says "Pool Directions."

Sign up sheets for "A" Meets are at the pool, we encourage all of you to sign up for something. Kathy Stovicek particularly needs concession workers for Saturday the 13^th for our meet against Stonegate. "Many hands make light work." To sign up to help at a B meet, contact Michele Dillingham or Jackie Miller.