Weekend Warriors

I hope everyone enjoyed your morning off today, and I hope that the few of you who had the whole weekend off were able to hold your parents off until AT LEAST noon on Saturday and Sunday.

Results for the Ken Caryl meet are posted in the right sidebar, and the team finished 9th OVERALL, out of 20 very good teams! More importantly, of all of the teams that will compete in our division at state, we finished FIRST! And although a few teams look like they'll be very good at state, the coaches sincerely believe that a top 3 finish is more than possible for this club!

We now have 43 swimmers qualified for league, and 22 swimmers qualified for state! That puts us ever nearer to the team goals that the coaches set for the team at the beginning of the year (we'll share those with you in the very near future).

So a few shout outs seem appropriate at this time. For those of you who weren't there, Coach Richard and I spent all of our downtime (i.e., 200 freestyles...) coming up with nicknames for our swimmers. So first...

..."Big Ben" Hofstra, for putting a new twist on the breaststroke, and coming away with two TOP 5 Ken Caryl finishes as a result

..."Krusin" Molly Kruse, for cutting more than a minute in her combined races this weekend. (the fact that some of her races are longer than my commute to the pool isn't relevant..)

...Tristan "The Best" Gess, for two top 3 finishes, and flirting with a team record in the process

...Carly "Can Do" Cozzo, for sacrificing her ENTIRE SATURDAY to come swim 2 relays and support her team

...Elise "The Charger" Chevalier, for deciding she simply wouldn't lose

...Joseph "The Jet" Duffy, for showing his coaches that miracles indeed do happen

...Ethan "The Trick" Schick, for showing, time and time again, that hard work pays off

...Dylan "Thrillin" Jacob, for extending his unbeaten streak in the 100 IM against the fastest swimmers in the state and placing a team-high 3rd at the pentathalon

...Elsa "The Burner" Debrunner, for burning through her 50 free and moving up 15 places in her event. And for having the *best* nickname

...Lauren "Scorin" Sutherland, for positively transfering passive aggression against her tardy brothers into some class A swimming

...Adam "Beastly" Wheatly, for being one of only two 6-year olds at the meet, and for sharing his toys with his coaches

There were MANY more amazing swims, but I can't hardly think of any more nicknames...congrats to everyone who was involved in this weekend's incredible meets!

Coach Luke

Important Practice Reminders!

Hello All!

Don't forget--NO UPPER DIVISION PRACTICE TOMORROW (FRIDAY)! You have Ken Caryl in the afternoon, so get some morning sleep! 9-12, 8-under practices will remain the same (non-KC swimmers...bring your best beaver goggles!)

In addition, practice is canceled 2 days next week! Monday, following our marathon of meets, we will not be swimming. Then, Friday after Water World (WW on Thursday!) we will take a 3 day weekend! I'll post this reminder permanently in the side bar on Monday. The next meet following the invites this weekend is our July 1 intrasquad, where I expect American pride speedos to be in full display.

Big weekend this week, so let's get ready to kick some butt and take names!

Coach Luke

New Updates, Weekend Swims!

First order of business - Night Practice is ON tonight! Don't be afraid of a massive electrical storm a little water, you wuss!

Best times are updated, as is meet information for both meets this weekend, entries for Ken Caryl and results from C/D. I would post CK/AK meet info, but they currently have the wrong report--CKST best times--and that's about as useful to us as Coach Rich at a spelling bee (or Duncan at a weight lifting competition...or coach Josh at a tanning demonstration.)

Anyway, I promised I'd get an update of this weekend's meets, so after a 3 hour nap that lasted for the entirety of the afternoon, I think I finally have the energy necessary to get something up. That said, this week's shout-outs are all about energy! These swimmers made huge contributions to the team this weekend not only through their swimming prowess, but through their hard work and hardcore attitudes! These were our weekend warriors in a VERY wearing weekend!

Sophie Aiken
Sophie swam her HEART out, especially at Sunday's C/D meet. She sought out advice before EVERY race and (gasp!) really crushed some of her old times! And even if she didn't, I'm sure she would have came up smiling, anyways...

Anna Granquist
Anna is at the top of her age group this year, and she's showing that she has the ability to compete with the very best. She has now achieved League times in 4 events and swam a gutsy 36 second split to anchor a very good relay at Saturday's meet!

8-Unders!
Remember when I said we'd talk about how our Ken Caryl count got so high? Look no further than virtually the entire 8-under division! Just some examples from their weekend brilliance... Elsa Debrunner qualified for the 50 free, after looking like a tiny rocket shooting from a cannon. I may film her expertly executed start and show it to the upper division tomorrow... Allison Dagli got off a cast that she had been swimming with, and promptly recorded the second legal fly for the division, giving us an extra (very fast!) relay and showing that hard work really pays off. Seraphima Tsarevski and Brandon Jacob both achieved "B" and "League" qualifier times in thier first meets EVER and Adam Wheatley just about blew his coaches out of thier chairs with an incredible league-qualifying butterfly in his first-ever attempt in the 25 fly! WELL DONE, 8-UNDERS!

Evan Giusto
Evan is quickly becoming a premier swimmer in the 13-14 age group, and with an extremly hard work ethic and great attention to detail, had one of his best meets ever on Saturday. Efforts like that will make our 13-14 boys one of the top groups in the league, if not the state!

Daniel McKelvy
Daniel has redefined the term "workhorse" and seems to favor races porportionally based on how much pain they might potentially provide him. He has swam his staple--the 200 free--at every meet so far and has shown extremly impressive improvement there. Next week, I might tie some lawn furniture to his waist at the meet, just to see if we can possibly push him any harder!

Daria Romero
Daria is still relatively new to swimming, and has rarely ever ventured from the safety of freestyle. But this year she has made it her goal to branch out this year and try to be a successful, all-around swimmer (did I mention this is her first year of 100's?) Her guts and courage have been an inspiration to her coaches all season!

Ethan Schick
Ethan has developed this year from a "dang, he's pretty good" kind of a swimmer to a "holy (insert 4-letter word here), that kid has skills!" kind of swimmer. With some newly-acquired buffness, an intense personal drive, several years of very hard work and exquisite attention to detail (I'll be he's really good at making model airplanes,) Ethan has become one of the top, all-around swimmers on the team. The scary thing? He'll be even better next year, and probably even better the year after. He could make a serious splash at this weekend's Pentathlon!

See y'all in the morning!

Coach Luke

Congrats Qualifiers!

Results coming...probably not today, though!

In the meantime, congrats to all new Ken Caryl and Pentathlon qualifiers! We qualified an INSANE 53 swimmers for KC Invite this year. And if you're wondering how that number jumped from 44 in just 2 days, well, more to come later...

In addition, congrats to the following GM swimmers who qualified for Sunday's Pentathlon by posting "B" times in 4 of the 5 standard events.

Ianna Debrunner
Josh Duffy
Tristan Gess
Ben Hofstra
Dylan Jacob
Molly Kruse
Brian Long
Inez Moore
Brandon Oney
Ethan Schick
Cassidy Stein
Lauren Sutherland

Check back for more updates on this weekend's awesome meets, and entries/relays for Ken Caryl!

And HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Coach Luke

Meet Reminders, and Monday Practice CANCELLED!

I had 0 HITS on the site yesterday (even my mom didn't check it!), something that I suppose was punishment for not providing you with some kind of update...so I made up some news to get my numbers back up.

First, practice is canceled both THIS Monday AND NEXT Monday. This is simply because we have Saturday and Sunday meets both weekends and the coaches the swimmers need at least ONE day to sleep in! So please help us spread the word.

Second, don't forget that you need to be at Columbine Knolls NO LATER THAN 6:30 tomorrow morning! We'll have our team meeting then, and warm-up begins at 6:40a. Please don't be late! A map and all important meet information is in the right sidebar.

Thanks! Enjoy the sun today!

Coach Luke

Blog changes and Ken Caryl updates and polo, OH MY!

Holy blog update, batman!
Shield your eyes. This blog just got so pretty, it's no longer approved for swimmers with certain kinds of heart problems or children under the age of 5. Consult your doctor if you notice that you've been staring at the screen haplessly for 4 or more hours without interruption.

The update is the product of some sweet collaboration between myself and Mr. Peter Schick, our resident design guru. Mr. Schick created the logo, painstakingly selected the photo, masterfully blended the 2, boldly explored new fonts, and applied top secret, art guy knowledge to create a wonderful header. I clicked a button or 2 (yeah, I was working on it all afternoon). So pretty much 50/50. Hope you like it!

KEN CARYL UPDATE (See last blog for KC Invite details)
It has been discovered that Ken Caryl entries are due on Sunday at noon! No sweat, but it means we'll have to get those in on Saturday afternoon. That said, we're going to be asking swimmers to commit to the meet a little earlier than we had hoped. Don't worry--you still have Saturday (and, in theory, Sunday to our C/D swimmers!) to qualify, but we need your help being extra vigilant if you newly qualify for the meet and aren't on our list! Although I have nothing better to do on Saturday afternoon than repeatedly hit redial trying to reach you to ask you about the meet, we'd really like to make sure we get an official "yes" or a "no" from everyone by the end of Saturday's meet, at the VERY LATEST!

Yeah, that's right. You have to un-sign up for this one if you can't make it. Don't forget it!

*Extra -- we may be seeking some extra swimmers to help us fill out relays! If you don't qualify and would still like to participate, let us know and we'll try to find a slot!!

Marco...
...polo tonight! 7:50. Upper Division. If your last name is "Cotten," please trim your nails to suit your aggressive playing style. That is all.

Coach Luke

Today's Tasty Updates

Update #1: Ken Caryl
Ken Caryl-eligible swimmers have been uploaded to the increasingly cluttered "IMPORTANT LINKS" bar off to the right. Once I run out of things to upload, perhaps I'll consider organizing something. But that sounds improbable.

Either way, we have 44 SWIMMERS CURRENTLY QUALIFIED! Holy cow! This could easily make us one of the biggest teams at the meet where we have traditionally done quite well. Please let us know if you can make it ASAP if you are on our list. I'll have a sign-up sheet posted at the pool tomorrow where you'll be asked to indicate whether or not you're swimming so that we can get on top of Relays ASAP.

KEN CARYL INVITE SCHEDULE--June 26 and June 27:
Friday (UPPER DIVISION ONLY!)
400's - 12:30-3:00p
Rest of meet: 3:00-??? (usually around 9pm)
Saturday (LOWER DIVISION ONLY!)
9-10 BOYS, 11-12s (ALL) - 6:00a-11:00a
9-10 GIRLS, 8-unders (ALL) - 11:00a-??? (usually around 4pm)

Update #2: Gator Guide/Schedule
Both are now posted in the same cluttered tab.

Update #3: New Foothills League Web Site
A great, new resource that has results posted from every meet in the league so far! So in case you, say, only had one job and spent most of your day at home with little to do (not like anyone I know...) you can certainly while away some time there...http://www.fsacolorado.com/

In addition, a blog from Lakewood coach Betty Woods has been promised! So far, all that she's written is more coming soon, but I'm sure some great stuff will be there soon!

See y'all in the morning!

Coach Luke

Intrasquad Photos, meet sign-up

Hello all -

Ms. Alzamora very kindly spent her time during the intrasquad meet a few weeks back taking photos of our swimmers on her camera! Coach Josh just had an opportunity to get the album online, and you can find it at http://picasaweb.google.com/greenmountaingators! There are some old photos up as well, the one marked "intrasquad" is this year's album. Please make sure you take a second to thank Ms. Alzamora when you get a chance, she does a lot for the club in addition to this! And if you have other photos you'd like to add, either talk to Coach Josh about access (the do-it-yourself method) or give him a CD with your clearly labeled photos so he can put those up for you (the what-else-does-Josh-have-to-do,-anyway-? method)

Finally, please note that we need to have entries done for Saturday's meet, so please sign up at practice ASAP! Most of the lower division has done that, but only a few upper division swimmers are currently signed up. Please, make sure you're signed up by tomorrow! If you miss practice or forget to sign up for some other reason, please e-mail me at lukemorin@gmail.com. I'll be inputting those electronically, so if I don't know, I can't help and the only swimming you'll be doing this Saturday will involve whatever giant puddles are left over from the now inevitable afternoon downpour!

Coach Luke

Best times, meet results UPDATED

Hello all!

I wanted to make a quick note to say that the results from this weekend's meet were VERY impressive. Even though I was busy dancing with bridesmaids wishing my newlywed cousin well, Rich and Josh indicated that everyone showed a lot of heart and spirit at the meet. 10 out of 16 gator relays posted season best times, and GM found themselves with 6 new league qualifiers and countless other season best times! Congrats to everyone who swam!

Full results are posted in the "Important Links" tab on the right.

Best times have also been updated, and I've fixed the bug that was requiring me to perform complex, Hollywood Hacker-esque techniques to bring you these reports, so expect them to get posted sooner in the future!

Finally, (incomplete) meet information is up for this Saturday's meet against COLUMBINE KNOLLS and APPLEWOOD KNOLLS! These are 2 EXTREMELY talented teams with some very, very good swimmers. For those of you who were around last year, AK was a Division I team at state and CKST won state by a large margin at the Division II level. Even though we'll face some tough competition later this season (see Golden, AAC...we weren't messing around with the schedule!) these could very well be some of the quickest swimmers we'll see all year. So bring your game face, and let's see some extra focus this week in practice! This is a great opportunity to show the league what you've got!

Coach Luke

Meet Reminders, Invitational Qual Times!

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

Meet Results NOW ONLINE!

Just a heads up-

PDF results of our first 2 meets are now available in the right sidebar under "Important Links." Check those out to fill out your trackers and look up meet results!

Thanks!

Coach Luke

Polo, Goals Reminder

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

Night Practice, Goals reminders

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

Night Practice, Meet Wrap-up!

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

Meet Warm-up time UPDATE!

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

Blog Updates!

Hello again!

There aren't many new updates to report (I know, it's killing me too...) but I did productively waste my free time today by doing the following things to the blog:

1) There's a new link section to the right that mostly links back to the GMSC main site to provide you with things like qual times, records, order of events, best times (coming soon) and practice schedule.
2) Created a "next meet" section with vital information about our Saturday Meet and the finalized relays for that meet.
3) Created a survey to test out a new format for meet entries that is posted below. Please help me out and fill it out! View survey here!

Coach Luke

Intrasquad information!

So I missed my self-imposed 10 a.m. deadline, but here's the info for tomorrow!

-----------

What:
Intrasquad Swim Meet

Where:
Green Mountain Swim Club

When:
Wednesday, June 3

Warm-Ups: 6 p.m.
Meet Start: About 6:30 p.m.

Who:
All swimmers, especially those new to the Gator family!

Why:
This meet is a big practice meet for us. It gives all of our swimmers (new and old!) a chance to get back into our pool and swim a real meet in a fun, stress-free environment. It's great practice for everything from understanding race procedures to how kids go through the heating tent. These meets can feel complicated if you've never participated in one!

It also gives us a chance to test out our equipment and volunteers to make sure that everything is running smoothly so that we don't encounter problems on Saturday!

-----------

Please make sure you're at the pool on time for warm-up, it will be short! Also note that we will have a very IMPORTANT parents meeting at the beginning of the meet, so don't just drop your kids off, if at all possible! We'd really like to get the chance to speak with you at the beginning of the meet!

Finally, on the weather watch, note that the high tomorrow is supposed to be a blustery 65. That means that when the sun starts going down, you're going to want something warming for both you AND your wet child. Think wind chill, multiplied by 10. Then think about how grumpy your child will be once their teeth stop chattering enough for them to express their displeasure. Bring SEVERAL dry towels, blankets and a thermos with some warm liquids!

Thanks, and everyone hope for some SUNSHINE!

Coach Luke

Practice Cancelled (or, surprise!)

As the very perceptive and insightful amongst you may have guessed, practice is off today due to the mildly inclement weather...and the fact that the coaches don't want to catch hypothermia trying to instruct you.

Tomorrow looks like a bit of a toss-up, although if it's not raining you can assume that we'll be there waiting for you at the pool!

Intrasquad updates are coming in the near future (by 10am), since I got it totally wrong the first time...

Coach Luke