Team Photos!

Grace Long will be in charge of organizing photos this year!

She will have envelopes with all of the necessary info in your folder at the pool Friday, it may not be until after practice.

Remember, swimmers should be at the pool ready for the photo(s) by 7:30 a.m. July 5th, please bring your suits and smiles, frowns will be methodically photoshopped from the main team photo and replaced with someone cuter and happier. Also, please try not to look nicer than me as I enjoy being the center of attention at all times. I'll have a bucket of mud for you to smear on your face if this becomes a problem at any time.

We'll leave for Water World straight from the pool, so make sure you get there on time, whether you're doing individual photos or not! If you bought tickets, you'll need to pick them up from Grace at the club after the photo has been taken. If you need to work out another arrangement (or if you're generally bored/unhappy and need someone to harass,) contact her at gblong@hotmail.com.

Promise, I'll post all of the technique week stuff when I can, as well as updated best times (in yards!) but y'all keep me too busy... Sandy, could we fit a personal assistant into the budget next year?

Playin catch-up!

Alright! Finally have some time...

Ken Caryl/Pentathlon

The meets this weekend were awesome! Despite having a rather tough week of practice, we had best swims for 9/10 races at KC, which I'm obviously very pleased with. Alex Sutherland, Ethan Schick, Kevin/Molly Kruse, Kelsey Bollig, Cassidy Stein and ALL the 8-unders had really excellent meets.

It was really fun to see the swimmers out pace their seeding in nearly every instance. In fact, it got to the point that by the end of the day Friday (uhh 10:30 p.m.) I could tell a swimmer to go and cut 10 seconds and it would happen. That's the kind of confidence and attacking attitude that will make this a dangerous team come championship season.

For the final, we finished 9th out of 19 - beating out teams like Bear Creek, Governor's Ranch and Greeley Country Club. Most of the 8 teams that did finish ahead of us (5 or 6) are traditionally division 1 teams at state - we should be very proud of our finish. Most impressive? The fact that we moved UP from 10th to 9th on day 2 (lower division), something that virtually never happens with us. It's just another sign that we're starting to garner the depth with our lower division to make us a solid, well-rounded team.

Congrats!

Practice

This week is Technique Week! Today we did butterfly and spent about 45 minutes talking on deck before we got in. Expect the same the rest of the week, but please make sure you're ON TIME so you don't miss any key points!! Wednesday is backstroke day! I'll also be posting the videos I show as well as my stroke outline that we discuss so the swimmers can reference them again in the future, or catch up if they missed out! Watch for those this week!

Water Polo

Is now going to happen on Tuesday nights, rather than Wednesday mornings. This is in an effort to draw more people to night practice as well as provide swimmers who DON'T like polo a chance to have a cohesive practice every day.

Photos

I'll get em up as soon as I can, still working for it..

Water World

Info at the pool! The date is July 5! It's a good deal and a great time, make sure you're there!

Weekend Meets

Sat - Gators @ Mt Vernon Country Club. Warm-up is 6:30 for lower division, 6:45 for upper division. Please be there 15 minutes before your warm-up, and allow time for travel! It's off the Genesee Park exit on I-70, map available in the calendar! This is a meet against league and division rivals, a very good team. Come if you can, sign-up will be on Wednesday!
*NOTE - this is a yards pool! Note that when making cards! We'll get a yards best times print-out at the pool ASAP!

Sun - C/D @ Wheat Ridge Rec Center! This is for swimmers who have not qualified for A/B times, and is really a helpful meet! Entries are DUE from us Thursday, so we can't take anything late. Warm-up at 6:00 a.m.!

That's it for now! Sorry to miss so many days, I hope this quenched your thirst...

agh!

Too busy to post all that I need to post..but

- Night practice is ON. I'll be back from Boulder in time (barely)

- C/D meet is requiring us to get a headcount TOMORROW... So yeah, it's getting a little crazy but if you want to attend C/D meet (you must have swum your event and NOT made an A or B time) on Sunday morning, I need to know via e-mail or at practice Tuesday if you can make it!

- I don't think there will be a yourhub article this week, there's just no time!!! It'll be back, so sorry!

I'll post more later, perhaps tonight!

Luke

C/D meet date, pentathlon qualifiers!

It was finalized last night that the C/D meet will be held NEXT Sunday, June 30 at the Wheat Ridge Rec Center. Times were given but I don't have them with me at the moment, I'll be sure to add all of the info for that, and for Pentathlon as soon as I have it (they didn't give me Pentathlon info at the meeting!)



Here is a final list of swimmers who qualified for the Pentathlon, this Sunday!



Kelsey Bollig

Elise Chevalier

Cara Cogswell

Dan Cope

Ianna Debrunner

Josh Fleming

Morgan Genkinger

Tristan Gess

Molly Kruse

Jimmy Mee

Inez Moore

Todd Otto

Brian Pak

Lauren Pearce

Cody Spencer

Cassidy Stein

Derek Stein

Alex Sutherland



Total - 18



If you will NOT be attending, I need to know asap at practice, or you can leave a message at the pool or just e-mail me...



Otherwise congrats to all of these swimmers, qualifying for this meet is the sign of a truly well rounded swimmer, these swimmers have all had great seasons!



Time will be posted soon, but count on a 6 a.m. - 1/2 p.m. sort of meet. It's fun, I'd encourage everyone to sign up!



Have a great night.

YourHub.com article..

Can be found here. Watch for it Thursday!

Oh, and give me stars, it makes me feel good about myself.

Meet madness!

Here's a big ol' heaping hunk of post. Don't read it too early - it might spoil your dinner.

First - 3 practice reminders!

1 - Monday night practice is canceled because of a league meeting. There will be no coaches around! (btw, upper division - that's the hardest you've ever worked for me today.. So, uh, thanks.)

2 - Friday morning practice is canceled for upper division because of Ken Caryl! The other 2 age groups WILL swim that morning!

3 - Monday practice will be canceled for ALL age groups following that fabulous 3 day weekend of Ken Caryl and Pentathlon. We'll get more info on C/D tonight, but it's very doubtful for Sunday.

Second - Let's talk about the Stingray meet!

Everyone swam extremely well and I was especially pleased with the fantastic team atmosphere we had. There truly was a 'home-field advantage' and it had hardly anything to do with the Bucket 'O Swamp Sludge (TM) I dumped in the pool right before the meet.

Here were a few lessons learned this week.

- Quality over quantity. Our medley relays, outnumbered nearly 2-to-1, won seven out of eight races. There were big time performances from nearly every swimmer involved and it really got the team off on the right foot. The team, outnumbered by nearly 30 swimmers, showed enormous depth and ran away with a 50 point victory.

- Big things come in small packages. Sophie Aiken completed a week-long sweep, continuing her incredible improvement streak by hitting best times in every event she swam in the week's two meets. Kevin "Krusher" Kruse turned his peashooters into potent weapons, blowing away his old best time and grabbing a league qualifying time in his breaststroke - a goal dating all the way back to the beginning of last year.

- Hard work pays dividends. Ethan Schick, one of the hardest working swimmers I've ever seen, dropped six seconds in a gutsy 200 free that earned him a league-qualifying time and showed off his sky-high potential. Talk about leaving it all in the pool!

- New blood keeps the heart pumping. Gator 17-18 "rookies" Cara Cogswell, Dan Cope and Sam Garin demonstrated their true value to the team. Aside from being potent relay weapons and versatile individual competitors, they bring a strong work ethic, dedication and great spirit to the team. Welcome to the Gator family!

- Aim high. Miss and you'll land amongst the stars. When Ianna Debrunner told me at winter clinics that she'd like to attend the Pentathlon this year, I had some doubts. But this week when she hit three of the four times she needed, all doubt was erased. She didn't miss her goal, but she has the chance to be a real "star" there.

- Perseverance pays off. Longtime Gator Rebecca Garner was beginning to hit her stride at the end of last season, a result of hard work and an uncanny ability to actually listen to her coaches. This year she's taken off, hitting three more solid B times this week and threatening to qualify for league in nearly every event. Watch for a breakthrough soon!

Lots more great swims too, y'all are making my job easy...

Final note - Looking ahead to the JULY 7 quad meet between GMST, WR, state-powerhouse AAC and defending state champions GOLDEN! This will be a truly incredible opportunity to swim the absolute best competition in the league, and some of best in the entire state. The problem? The sheer mass of this meet will make it extremely long. Unless events are severely limited, the sun will be well on its way West before we pack up (read 3 p.m.) That said, I think this will be a great chance for us to come out as a team and show what we can do against the very best, I'd like as much of the team there for as long as possible, so plan ahead now!

I'll post intrasquad photos either later this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon, there's just so many it's taking my computer eons to pull itself together...

Fact (this hardly seems fair while he's out of town...) - Rich dressed as Cupid for Halloween last year, wearing nothing but a diaper and fairy wings for three days.

And there is a picture. But...he'd have to something horrible like run over my cat for me to publish it, I think...

We'll see everyone tomorrow!!

Monday night practice CANCELLED!

Hey everyone!

A few quick things..

1 - Monday night practice is canceled because there is a league meeting that I have to attend and Julie is out of town. So there will be no coaches available. Sorry!
2 - Ken Caryl entries, info and directions are posted! Check em over, notify me of mistakes!
3 - I'm still very much planning on writing about the meet Saturday, but the combination of Ken Caryl entries yesterday and Fathers Day today have put me a bit behind. The CD compilation of intrasquad photos (nearly 400) from Sean Hill that crashed my computer 4 times today didn't help either...

Anyways Mr Hill worked from start to finish at that meet and there are so many great shots and almost every member of the team is in it, so as soon as my computer stops threatening to explode, I'll get them online. Check back late Monday for more...

Oh, and we did win the meet, 427-375. And we were outnumbered, 105-76. Very nice. Everyone swam great, I couldn't be prouder!

Relays are posted!

You can view tomorrow's relays here. Sorry, I know it's late but I had 3 scratches and an add tonight... Couldn't get these together much sooner. Anyways to view the doc you MIGHT need a google account. I think I'll publish all of our results and top times this way as well if possible.. I'll experiment with it.

Notice specifically that the 8-under girls relays are currently non-existent. That's due to a last minute scratch that left us a little screwy, Julie will get them straightened out in the morning - we just don't know who to expect at the meet.

Remember, little kids at 5:45, big ones get there by 6.

Finally, some of you may have noticed a new coach at practice today, Katie Klane.

Those of you who have been around the club for a while will certainly recognize her, she's worked and swam at the club for years and years. She's also my roommate and my teammate up at CU.

She'll be joining us at the meet Saturday and then for practice all next week while Shelby, Richard and Julie go on trips. She'll be working with all age groups during that time.

While her personal swimming resume is impressive (1 year at DI UNC and multiple collegiate club champion and record holder) she also has a lot of great coaching experience. She's coached with Applewood Athletic Club the past two seasons and has been teaching lessons for many more. We're thrilled that she'll be helping out. She's a great resource so please use her while she's here!

And watch out, she gets a little crazy sometimes...

I dunno...

Fact - Richard has a collection of Kelly Clarkson songs on his iPod.

Meet lists!

Here are the promised lists and they are organized like so -

K.C. - If you have qualified in any events you are listed with the NUMBER of events you qualified for in parentheses. If you have 3 or fewer events and do not qualify for more on Saturday, simply tell me you want to swim. If you have more events, I need to hear from you what you want to do. Coaches will have some say at league/state, we let the swimmers choose whatever they want at k.c. Just as importantly, I need to know if you qualified and CAN'T come. An e-mail is acceptable. We must submit entries THIS Saturday afternoon.

The schedule runs like so -

Friday, June 22 (UPPER DIVISION ONLY!)

400's - Warm-up 12:30p, Start 1:00p
Rest of meet - Warm-up 3:00p, Start 4:00p

Saturday, June 23 (LOWER DIVISION ONLY!)

11-12's/9-10 BOYS - Warm-up 6:00a, Start 7:00a
9-10 GIRLS/8-unders - Warm-up 11:00a, Start 12:00a

Pentathlon - Your name is listed if you have qualified or are feasibly close. What I mean by that is that you have either not swam all the necessary events yet or you simply have gotten very close and haven't hit it. If you need more events, it will say how many in parentheses by your name. Remember, pentathlon requires a B time in four of the following 5 events - Fly, Back, Breast, Free (8-unders - 25, 9-12 - 50, 13-up - 100) and IM.

REMEMBER, SATURDAY'S MEET VS. STINGRAYS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO QUALIFY FOR THESE MEETS!

FINALLY, if you did NOT qual for Ken Caryl but are interested in coming up to watch/swim relays, let us know and we'll try to find you a spot!

Oh, and everything is alphabetical(ish)...

KEN CARYL

8-unders
Ianna Debrunner (2)
Beth Brewster (3)
Dylan Jacob (3)
Tristan Gess (4)
Mateo Zielbauer (1)

9-10's
Jessica Lucero (1)
Cassidy Stein (3)
Carina Wang (1)
Kevin Kruse (2)
Jason Mortenson (1)

11-12's
Katie Denney (1)
Inez Moore (6)
Morgan Genkinger (4)
Brady Cotten (1)
Evan Giusto (2)
Todd Otto (4)
Derek Stein (3)

13-14's
Kelsey Bollig (4)
Emily Cotten (1)
Molly Kruse (ALL)
Olivia Moore (1)
Sarah Papke (2)
Duncan Sutherland (1)

15-18's
Elise Chevalier (4)
Cara Cogswell (3)
Nicole Cotten (1)
Shelby Denney (3)
Laura Enger (1)
Sam Garin (2)
Rebecca Garner (4)
Ashley Hill (2)
Lauren Pearce (3)
Lauren Sutherland (3)
Briana Wenholz (4)
Casey Zelus (5)
*we could totally bring a C relay...
Dan Cope (3)
Chris Enger (4)
Josh Fleming (ALL)
Rodrigo Lander (1)
Jimmy Mee (5)
Brian Pak (ALL)
Sam Papke (3)
Scott Raia (2)
Cody Spencer (5)
Alex Stricker (1)
Alex Sutherland (1)
Riley Zelus (6)
*or 2...

PENTATHLON

Kelsey Bollig (NEEDS 1)
Beth Brewster (NEEDS 2)
Elise Chevalier (NEEDS 1)
Cara Cogswell (NEEDS 2)
Dan Cope (NEEDS 2)
Ianna Debrunner
Shelby Denney (NEEDS 2)
Chris Enger (NEEDS 1)
Josh Fleming
Rebecca Garner (NEEDS 2)
Morgan Genkinger
Tristan Gess (NEEDS 1)
Evan Giusto (NEEDS 1)
Ashley Hill (NEEDS 1)
Dylan Jacob (NEEDS 3)
Molly Kruse
Rodrigo Lander (NEEDS 2)
Jessica Lucero (NEEDS 1)
Jimmy Mee (NEEDS 1)
Inez Moore
Todd Otto (NEEDS 1)
Brian Pak
Sam Papke (NEEDS 3)
Ethan Schick (NEEDS 2)
Cody Spencer
Cassidy Stein
Derek Stein (NEEDS 1)
Alex Sutherland
Lauren Sutherland (NEEDS 3)
Briana Wenholz (NEEDS 1)
Casey Zelus (NEEDS 1)
Riley Zelus

Fact - Rich once sent an e-mail to the CU swim team with 16 words and 9 mistakes. Darn right I counted...

And I am so not swimming masters in the morning...

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...

No night practice!

Not because of the weather (you guys are tough..) but because of the club board meeting - there won't be a coach available for the practice. Sorry for the late posting, we didn't realize the issue until we were at work today...



Thanks, sorry!

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!

Night practice is retroactively cancelled...

I can do that, right?

Sorry, forgot to post about this one before practice but I was tired from mowing the monster weeds at the club all day and my brain wasn't really working. Anyways it's about 41 degrees, I would hope no one showed up..

If you did show up, we keep the thumb screws in the back of the snack bar, I'll get 'em out for you tomorrow...

That said, tomorrow morning is looking a bit like this morning. For those of you who slept in, we actually did end up getting people who showed up in for all 3 practices, but it was a touch cold. It'll probably be the same drill for tomorrow, especially if it's sunny again. Just use your discretion, I won't be mad if you don't bring your 6-year-old, I'll be less sympathetic if you don't get your 16-year-old butt out of bed.

Finally, YourHub.com online editor Erin Feese got in touch with me today and said she'd be willing to give us some space in the paper every week if we submit it to her. Well she couldn't promise it, but it sounds like she's got a quarter-page slot she needs to fill (the same slot we filled today. Here's the extended version.) and is requesting highlights, results and an action photo after each meet. I'll take care of the results and highlights, but I need help with photos. So get nutty with your cameras at meets, shoot me some great action shots, get them to me in a timely manner and they might get published. It might even go front page one of these weeks (she said we'll get one cover...) and I can post lots of photos online.

I'll also get a photo sharing community together soon, sorry, I know, lots of promises, not so many results yet.

That's it, make sure you check up on the site tomorrow, I'll definitely post relays PRE-MEET so we're all on the same page come Saturday morning!

Thanks!

p.s. commenting on the blog is OK. In fact, I'd be at least 10 percent less cranky in the morning if I knew you read the blog (compared to 500 percent less cranky if you brought me coffee...)

Get over here!

Rather than "moving in during the during the night and settling in over Denver" the "storm" doesn't appear to be here yet. Kathy Sabine can be such a liar sometimes (but I still love her.) It's a little colder than usual but, c'mon.

Anyways upper division practice is still on. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

If things take a turn for the worse by the later practices, you may call the club (303-985-5880) and I'll try to keep the phone with me. But I'll also be coaching (and expecting thousands, if not millions of calls), so I'll just update the message if I can't answer. And 8-under parents, don't take the 65 degree thing 100 percent seriously, but if it's too cold for your kid, you're allowed to keep em home.

OK see everyone at the pool.

I have a hunch...

That we'll be forced to cancel morning practice.

Despite the beautiful forecast, (47, feels like 40, 20 mph winds. Really, I just want the pool all to myself.) I do not endorse torturing swimmers in most situations.

I'll post before it's time to leave in the morning (maybe not by much) but uh, use your common sense. Except you 13-18 year olds, I know that part of your brain is on an extended lunch break. Ask your little sister. Just don't call poor Sandy.

Julie also wanted me to pass it on that if it's not 65 degrees (it won't be) don't bring your 8-unders. Unless they've been especially sassy...

We WILL be doing relays tomorrow for Saturday's meet, regardless of whether we have practice or not. I need any missing entries ASAP by e-mail! MorinL@Colorado.Edu

Some final reminders -

Letters of interest for the open coach's assistant jobs are due Saturday. Strong coffee brewing experience a plus.

Warmups for Saturday's meet vs Columbine Knolls (at GMSC) will be as follow

• 12-unders - 6:00 a.m. - 6:15 a.m. (be at pool at 5:45 a.m.)
• 13-ups - 6:15 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. (be at pool at 6:00 a.m.)

I'll post everything possible from team manager as soon as I get the time to figure out how (might be tomorrow, if the pool doesn't open)

See everyone tomorrow.

Or not.

Back in action!

Hey everyone!



Sorry the blog has been M.I.A. the last few days, this weird thing called 'work' popped up out of nowhere and just won't leave me alone...



A few announcements -



FIRST - Job announcment! Any of you who have been lucky enough to be around at 9 have seen that our 8-under division has exploded in size!! We're thrilled to have so many newcomers, but at the same time we need some help getting it under control.



We're looking to hire two people to come every day from 9-9:45 and get in with the kids and help them learn. The positions will go 5 weeks (or so) and will pay $5 a day (that's like, $7 an hour or something.)



All upper division swimmers are welcome and encouraged to apply! If you are interested, please turn in a short letter of interest to either myself or Julie by Saturday! It's a great opportunity to make some extra money and get really valuable teaching/coaching experience that could help you get a job later down the road...



SECOND - Meet sign-up was today! If you missed practice/didn't sign up for the meet, please come tomorrow to get on the list. If you CAN'T attend tomorrow and missed today, please send your entries to me via e-mail - morinl@colorado.edu. Bailey and Caleb - you're covered.



That's it for now, work is back and he's starting to nag...

Monday practice reminders

A few things to note for MONDAY!

• Morning practice starts
  
• Upper Division - 6:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.
• Please COME and be on time! We'll be having a quick meeting at 6:30 to discuss the season and a few other things.
  
• 9-12 - 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
• 8-unders - 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.

• Night practice will start for upper division, Monday/Tuesday/Thursday
  
• 8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
• Night practice is OPTIONAL and meant to supplement morning practice, not necessarily to replace it. If you can make the morning, we'd like to see you there!

I'm currently also working on setting up a photo sharing system where parents can post photos they take online. And still working on obtaining/posting results. Coming, promise!

Thanks! See y'all Monday.

Congrats swimmers!

Congratulations to everyone who swam today in a resounding victory over the Wheat Ridge Pihranas! To be fair, they're a much smaller club, but you guys kicked butt!



I was also thrilled to see all of the contributions our brand new swimmers were able to make and I'm very excited about the future potential for everyone!



A few moments that stuck out in my mind -



- Jessica Way losing goggles and a cap during a race - and never slowing down

- The return of the Moore girls - Olivia and Gabrielle swimming their first meets after a season (or multiple season) hiatus and not missing a beat

- Tristan Debrunner's well earned 6-second drop in the 50 free after a very hard working winter (he made more clinics than I did...)

- A preview of whats to come of an elite upper division squad. Hey boys, how's a state relay title sound?

- Cassidy Stein's debut as a 50 swimmer, showing that the 8-to-9 jump isn't unkind to everyone...

- Jessica Lucero having a bit of a breakthrough meet and showing a bit of competitive fire we haven't seen before

- Dylan Jacob crushing the state time in the 100 free by 11 seconds in our first meet of the year. Wow.

- Baily Sherrard stepping up and swimming a distance freestyle program (including that nasty 200) and showing some real grit

- All of our new swimmers (including a huge group of ultra-tough 8-unders, some CARA transfers and a few league veterans) coming out and competing hard for the team!



We had a lot more special races but these ones were really great to me. I hope everyone had as much fun as the coaches today!



A side note - we had a few no call/no shows today. Remember that when you sign up for a meet, we put you on relays and expect you to show! It's certainly understandable that things happen and sometimes a kid is forced to miss, but please e-mail me (I checked my e-mail as late as midnight last night) or call the club so we know what's going on and we can make adjustments!



I'd also like to take a minute to re-emphasize the importance of being on time for warm-up! 12-unders must be READY to go at 6 because they only swim until 6:15. I still expect the upper division to be there at 6 because that group arguably needs more warm-up time (longer events!) and you can't run off of 5 minutes of warm-up. Make sure you AND your kids are ready to go! Cards can wait until AFTER warm-up for home meets (get em done before warm-up on the road, 6:30-7:00 warm-ups then.)



I promise I'll post results and perhaps best times as well as soon as I have them (and as soon as I figure out how to do it...)



Stay tuned...Have a great weekend! We'll see everyone at morning practice Monday!

Practice, meet reminders!

Remember -

Upper division - practice at 10 a.m. today!
12-unders - no practice today (enjoy your last day of school!)

For the meet tomorrow (WR @ GMST) -

Warm-up begins at 6 a.m. Because of the increasing size of our team, and the very small size of our pool, we will be splitting the warm-up like this.

12-unders - warm-up 6:00 - 6:15 - be at the swim club at 5:45 and READY TO SWIM at 6!
Upper division - warm-up 6:15 - 6:30 - be at the swim club at 6:00 and READY TO SWIM at 6:15!

Finally, if you want to enter the meet, please e-mail me asap with your entries so I know you're coming. It's too late to get into relays anymore if I haven't heard from you yet, but please e-mail if you're coming and haven't signed up yet.

morinl@colorado.edu

Thanks! Can't wait to start seeing you all at 6 a.m. rather than 6 p.m.!