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Updated 6/29/2010
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
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