PAJARITO AQUATIC CLUB


SWIMMING AT 7,240 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL!

Training North Central New Mexico swimmers from Novice to National levels at the Larry R. Walkup Center (Los Alamos).

Want to know more?
Call Head Coach Phil Coe at (505) 662-8170 or come by the pool anytime during practice
(Age Group: 3:30 - 7 PM weekdays; Masters: 6 - 7:30 AM Tuesday & Thursday).

                           

THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SUPPORTERS

The Reel Deal Theater

Los Alamos National Bank

Los Alamos National Security

Los Alamos
School of Gymnastics

 


PAC Membership Info

2010 NM State Qual Times

By Age Group

By Course

NM Seasonal
Top 12

2010 Long Course Schedule, Info, and Results

2010 Short Course Schedule, Info, and Results

Team, State & National Age Group Records

2009
Zone Meet

Archived Meet Results

Photos

Time Standards

Archived News

 

 

 

 

 

Updated 6/29/2010
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Upcoming Meets (Posted 6/29/10)

The LAA Firecracker meet is Saturday July 10; we need entries by Wednesday June 30th. This is a 1-session short course meet here in Los Alamos.

The Last Chance Meet is at West Mesa in Abq. July 17-18. Entries are due to PAC by Monday July 5th. This is a long course meet.

8 & Under Finals will be held in Rio Rancho on Sunday July 25th. This is a short course meet. Entries are due to PAC by Wednesday July 7th.

Fitter & Faster Tour coming to Los Alamos! (Posted 6/23/10)

The Swim Champions 2010 Fitter & Faster Tour is coming to Los Alamos on September 17th, 2010. The workshop will be hosted by Olympic medalists Lacey Nymeyer and Mark Gangloff , who will spend time talking to and taking pictures with swimmers before getting in the water for 90 minutes of stroke drills and races with the kids. Sign up by June 28th to receive a 20% discount; see the recent team news e-mail for the promo code, which will subtract $15 when you plug it into the appropriate box at the bottom/right the sign-up page .

Practice cancelled on Friday 6/25 (Posted 6/23/10)

The FCAT Long Course Invite gets underway this Friday morning (June 25) at the beautiful Four Corners Aquatic Center in Farmington.

Due to the meet, there will be no morning or afternoon practice on Friday June 25th.

Lobo Long Course Invite & Friday 6/4 Practice (Posted 5/31/10)

The Lobo Long Course Invite gets underway this Friday afternoon (June 4) at West Mesa Pool in Albuquerque.

Due to the meet, there will be no afternoon practice on Friday June 4th.

Summer Practice (Posted 5/31/10)

Summer Practice schedule goes into effect Tuesday June 1. Upper-level age group will swim from 7:30 - 9 AM and again from 4:30 - 6 PM Monday through Friday. This group is also expected to run and do dry-land exercises on their own (Phil lwill discuss expectations with swimmers). Younger and/or newer swimmers will be in the water from 3 - 4:15 PM, Monday through Friday.

Please make sure you are on deck and ready to get in the water at least 5 minutes before practice is scheduled to begin. This means: be in your suit, have your goggles, make sure you've already used the restroom and filled up your water bottle or had your drink of water, etc. Late arrivals and early departures are sometimes unavoidable, but they are extremely disruptive and should happen only in emergency situations.

Nick Nogar Meet Update (Posted 4/23/10)

The annual Nick Nogar Memorial High Altitude Invite gets underway tomorrow (Saturday, 4/24). Warm-ups start at 10 AM -- be at the pool by 9:45. On Sunday warm-up begins at 8 AM. If you're not swimming, come on down and cheer on those who are. Go PAC go!

Where there be dragons... (Posted 4/18/10)

Team Movie Outing (Posted 4/16/10)

Phil is taking the age-group team to the first showing of "How to Train Your Dragon" this Sunday, April 18th. Meet at the Reel Deal at 1 PM. Parents and siblings are welcome, but will need to purchase their own tickets.

Far Westerns (Posted 4/16/10)

Far Westerns = swimming, beach-combing, skipping in the surf, swimming, exploring San Francisco's famed Chinatown and more swimming in the beautiful (and enormous) outdoor pools in sometimes-sunny California; a good time was had by all! Check out the complete meet results to get a feel for the level of competition. Thanks to Giulia Venneri for chaperoning the trip.

Temporary Practice Changes (Posted 4/7/10)

Afternoon age-group practice is cancelled Thursday 4/8, Friday 4/9 and Monday 4/12 due to the Far Western Championship Meet which Phil is attending with Maria, Anna and Natalia. This is a fast, exciting meet held in Northern California once a season. Check out the qualifying times on the team schedule page and set your sights high-- maybe next time we can bring an entire relay team and more. Go PAC go!

We need to know who plans to swim the Nick Nogar meet, which is being held here in Los Alamos on April 24th & 25th, by Tuesday 4/13. Drop an e-mail to Deb or talk to Phil at the pool on Tuesday.

News Update (Posted 4/2/10)

Long Course season is upon us! A preliminary meet schedule is now posted.

The first Age Group Meet will be the Nick Nogar Invite, which is being held April 24-25 at the beautiful Larry R. Walkup Center here in Los Alamos. The meet is only two sessions and there's no travel or overnight accomodations involved, so please consider signing up. Meet info is posted. We'll need to know who's swimming this event by Monday 4/12.

Masters swimmers! The annual Sinko-de-Mile fun meet and post-swim food-fest is happening on May 8th. Registration is $20 if you sign up by April 30th; the fee includes the post-swim party, which is reported to be excellent. Interested? Contact Bill Bearden directly (see meet info).

Spring Break Practice Schedule (Posted 3/24/10)

Next week, 3/29 - 4/2/10, is Spring Break for the Los Alamos Schools. During this time there is no change in our training schedule -- PAC will hold practices at the regularly scheduled times for all groups.

Short Course Wrap-Up (Posted 3/19/10)

The 14 & Under Age Group State Championship Meet two weeks ago and the 8 & Under Finals the weekend before that marked the end of the regular Short Course competitive season. Far Westerns is the one remaining post-season championship meet on the schedule; eligible swimmers wishing to attend should discuss their intentions with Phil ASAP.

Some Highlights from Recent Meets

14 & Under Age Group State

PAC had a dozen swimmers compete at the 14 & Under Age Group State Championship Meet in the end of February. The meet was fun and PAC swimmers had some excellent races. Special congratulations to our new PAC team record-holders: Michael Moore, 13-14 Boys 400 IM (5:15.30Y); Kerry Song, 13-14 Girls 50 Breast (33.97Y); Anna Wermer, 11-12 Girls 400 IM (5:12.59Y); and Maria Venneri, 11-12 Girls 200 Back (2:23.62Y).

Among the other notable performances were Michelle Yang dropping almost 5 seconds in the 100 Breast, a feat which garnered her her first-ever A time; Niamh Short kicking it into high gear to overcome her opponent in the swim-off for the 8th slot in the finals of the 10 & Under Girls 50 free (Niamh dropped 2/3 of a second between her preliminary swim and the swim-off, and held that time for finals); Lauren TenCate doing a very nice 100 Fly and dropping almost 10 seconds on her way to a personal best AA time of 5:35.32 in the 500 Free; and Justine Yang swimming the 200 Breast and the 500 Free back-to-back, and also establishing herself as a formidable distance swimmer with an almost 20-second drop and a 3rd place finish with a time of 19:36.67 in the 1650 Free. Perhaps the most exciting race of the meet came on Saturday evening in the Girls 400 IM. PAC's Anna Wermer and Justine Yang had a photo-finish with LOBO's Kelsey Summers. In the end Kelsey outtouched Anna by a fingernail, and Anna's fingernails were ever-so-slightly longer than Justine's. The final times -- all personal bests -- were 5:12.24 (K), 5:12.59 (A) and 5:12.63 (J).

There were some truly outstanding races by other swimmers in the LSC at this meet. PAC extends congratulations to LOBO's Gillian St. John , who took down two long-standing 11-12 Girls New Mexico Swimming state records. Gillian swam a 25.23 in the 50 free, shaving 0.04 seconds off the record set by Lobo's Marissa Campbell in 2002. In the 100 Free, Gillian's time of 54.18 was 0.22 seconds faster than the previous record set by Lobo's Jenny Dudley in 1990. We'd also like to recognize 8-year-old Makayla Davidson from Swim Rio Rancho. Makayla blasted an A time of 1:25.00 in the 10 & Under 100 Fly, eclipsing by 1.03 seconds the previous NM Best time posted by Lobo's Cassaundra Pino in 2006. We tip our fins to these and all the other individual and relay record-breakers at this meet -- Way to go!

8 & Under Finals

PAC's 3 swimmers at 8 & Under Finals in Taos all fared well. In the boys competition, Presley Gao took home two medals for top 3 finishes in the 8 & Under 100 Free and the 7-yr-old 25 Back, as well as two fourth place ribbons in the 7-yr-old 25 Breast and the 8 & Under 100 IM. In the 7-yr-old girls competition, Cory Liechty captured 4th in the 25 breast and 5th in the 50 free. In the same age division, Beth Short swam a fantastic 25 back, dropping over 4 seconds and placing her in 4th. Beth also had a fine showing in the 25 fly, capturing 6th place the first time she swam this event in competition. Great job, everyone!

Lost Dutchman

The Lost Dutchman is an annual qualifying meet held over President's Day in Chandler, Arizona. The venue is a huge sea-level outdoor pool complex, and there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of swimmers so it's a little different experience than what we're used to here in Los Alamos. This is a fast meet with swimmers from across the Western Zone, but the rules allow for bonus swims and filler events, so it's a good meet to go to in terms of getting to swim a lot against some real speed demons. Qualifying times are posted on the PAC Schedule/Info page, so folks can set some goals for next year.

Although PAC had a number of qualifiers, only 3 swimmers ended up attending the meet. Those who went had a lot of fun! Though a bit cool during early-morning warm-up, the temperature climbed steadily as the sun rose, eventually reaching a very pleasant 80-degrees (note-- it was snowing in Los Alamos when we left for this meet, and snowing upon our return!). Swimming her last meet as a 10 & Under, Jesse Liechty made a splash by making finals in something every day. In her quest to achieve 11-12 state cuts, since she would be aging up the day before state meet this year, Jesse worked her start/turns, poured on the steam and swam her first A times in both the 100 breast and the 50 breast. Jesse also executed particularly nice tub-turns in the prelims and finals of the 200 IM. Maria Venneri broke her recent PAC team record in the 11-12 Girls 200 Back, posting an AA time of 2:28.37.

Senior Championships

This year the New Mexico Swimming head honchos decided to split up the State Championship Meet into a 14 & Under Age Group State Championshp to be held at the usual time in the end of February, and a Senior State Championship to be held in the end of January. The deal is there is one set of qual times per gender and anyone with the cuts can swim, regardless of age. The meet was supposed to be a prelim/final format, but somehow got curtailed into a timed-finals-only affair when it became apparent that conflicts with high school swimming could severely limit participation by the target audience. As it happened, roughly half the swimmers at this meet were 14 & Under, and while there were some advantages, there were also plenty of problems. Those who prefer the old format should express their concerns by writing to the New Mexico Swimming Board of Directors.

Team highlights from the swimming portion of this meet include Maria Venneri dropping 16.49 seconds to set a new PAC team record in the 11-12 Girls 200 Back (2:30.40Y); Natalia Moore swimming A or AA times in all her events, including 3 personal best USS times; Justine Yang ratcheting down her times in all the distance events; and Lauren TenCate breaking a minute in the 100 Free for the first time (58.06Y). Go PAC go!

LAA Winter High Altitude Day

Sad to say LAA scaled back its usual 3-day winter meet to a single session, eliminating relays and all those distance events that are so fun to swim at alititude. This was the second meet of the season for most of our swimmers. Many posted best times in everything they swam.

Charger IMX Challenge

This meet was scored a little differently than usual invites. Each swim is awarded a certain number of Power Points based upon the swimmer's time, gender and age; power point tables and calculators can be found on USA Swimming's Time and Time Standards webpage. If two swimmers of different ages post the same time, the younger swimmer will garner more power points for that swim. There is a given set of events in each age group which all swimmers must complete. Power points for each swimmer are then tallied to determine the winner in each age group and gender. There is also an overall award for the top combined point total. Congratulations to Lauren TenCate on winning the 6th place trophy in the Girls Super 8 (overall) competition.

Practice Update (Posted 2/12/10)

Practice is cancelled Friday 2/12 due to the Lost Dutchman swim meet. If you're around town Friday afternoon, LAHS is hosting a diving meet at the Larry R. Walkup Aquatic Center at 4 PM-- come watch Judy and Emily perform aerial stunts off the 1- meter board. (Photo courtesy of the Los Alamos Monitor.).

The pool is closed Monday 2/15 for President's Day, so no practice then. Regular practice resumes Tuesday 2/16.

Breaking News! (Posted 2/2/10)

Results for the LAA Winter Invite and the NM Senior Champs are now posted. Stay tuned for all the exciting details, coming soon to a web page near you...

January Team News Update (Posted 1/23/10)

Happy New Year! Our technical difficulites are resolved and we are happy to report that the site is back to being updated on a (mostly) weekly basis.

The LAA Winter Invite is this Sunday, 1/24. Warm-up begins at 1 PM -- be ready to get in the water promptly! New swimmers, come on down to the Walkup and cheer on the team. We congregate in the same area that we practice (far side of the pool, middle of the deck). Feel free to bring a drink and snack for yourself, and also deck chairs for you and your family if you have them.

The age-group team outing has been postponed until after the age-group state meet. More details in March.

Snow Policy: In the event of inclement weather, we follow the same schedule as Los Alamos County (not LAPS or LANL). If the pool is open, practice will be held.

November Team News Update (Posted 11/12/09)

Lobo results are now available. See the schedule/results webpage. Stay tuned for photos.

2010 Time standards for the NM State Meet, Western Zones and Western Sectionals are posted on the team bulletin board at the pool. Check them out and set your goals high.

Age group swimmers--2010 USS Registrations are being processed this month. Forms are available on deck if you haven't completed one yet. Place completed, SIGNED forms in the coaching fees file. Registration fees are $56 per swimmer, please make checks payable to PAC.

Masters swimmers -- 2010 USMS registrations will be processed in December. Registration fees for 2010 are $37 per swimmer and will be included on your December invoice. For insurance purposes everyone MUST to be registered with either USMS or USS.

Team News Update (Posted 10/11/09)

In honor of Columbus Day, there will be no practice on Monday October 12. Practice for all groups resumes at the regular times on Tuesday.

PAC will be attending the Lobo Holiday Classic, being held Nov. 6- 8, 2009 at the newly renovated UNM pool. Phil will post entries this week. If you cannot attend it is your responsibility to talk to Phil and scratch your name off the list.

2010 NM State Qualifying Times are now posted. A list of qualifiers to date, taking into account age-ups, will be available at the pool next week.

New Mexico Swimming has revised the State Championship Meet rather dramatically. This season there will be two Championship meets. The 14 & Under Age Group State Champs will take place Feb 26 - 28th in Albuquerque. Unlike past years, all age groups (including 10 & Under) will swim prelims and finals. The Senior State Championships is a 3- session meet being held at West Mesa Aquatic Center in Albuquerque on Jan 30 -31. Warm-up on Saturday is slated for 4 PM, which is supposed to allow time for affected swimmers to compete in the HS meet that morning. Qual times are the NMS 15 & Over times. Any swimmer making the cuts, regardless of age, is permitted to participate in the NM Senior Champs meet. At the moment, events are the 100's & 200's of each stroke plus the 50, 500, ad 1650 free and the 200 and 400 IM. More information will be posted as it becomes available.

Pentathlon Results (Posted 9/27/09)

PAC and our Mountain Club friends had a good showing at yesterday's season opener, the 2009 LAA Fall Pentathlon. Jessica Moore (9-10 Girls), Anna Wermer (11-12 Girls), and Natalia Moore (15 & Over Girls) all took first place high point honors in their respective age groups; Kerry Song placed second in the 13-14 Girls, while Presley Gao (8 & Under Boys), Sarah Lott (11-12 Girls), and Maggie Schappell (13-14 Girls) garnered 3rd place honors. Special congratulations to Anna Wermer, who went under a minute for the first time in the 100 Free (59.96), and Michael Moore, whose 50 Back sprint earned him a place in the PAC Team Records book for 13-14 Boys. Check out the complete meet results for all the exciting details.

Welcome Back! (Posted 9/6/09)

The pool re-opens at 6 AM Tuesday September 8th; all groups will be practicing at their regular times. Phil's been working hard these last two weeks getting the pool in tip-top shape for the upcoming year, so make sure to thank him when you see him.

Those of you who have been away from swimming, this is a good time to dig out your suit, dust off your goggles and start up again. If you have a friend or relative that wants to check out the team, have them come on by the pool and talk to Phil. PARENTS, you can swim a good workout too: Masters meets from 6 - 7:30 AM on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Good exercise, great fun, guaranteed stress relief AND no experience required -- give it a try:)

September tradionally starts the short course season; the tentative meet schedule has been posted. We'll be discussing team competitions and other details in an upcoming meeting; stay tuned.

New Mexico Seasonal Top 12 swims for the 2009 Long Course season are now posted. PAC swimmers clocking some of the fastest times in the state last season were Cory Liechty (8 & Under); Annika Davenport, Jesse Liechty, Jessica Moore, Wilbur Wang and Michelle Yang (10 & Under); Michael Moore, Lauren TenCate, Maria Venneri, Anna Wermer and Justine Yang (11-12); Maggie Schappell (13-14); Yuliya Matlashova, Natalia Moore and Emily TenCate (15 & Over). Special mention goes to Justine Yang, who posted the fastest time in the state in the 11-12 Girls 1500 Free (20:10.75, or 19:47.75 altitude-adjusted).

See y'all Tuesday-- go PAC go!

Do you have any swimming pictures you're willing to share with the Club? Send them to Deb or burn a CD and leave in the TenCates' folder in the file at the pool.

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