PAC News (Posted 10/6/07)

Since the pool is OPEN on the Columbus Day holiday (that's this Monday, 10/8/07), PAC will be holding all practices at the usual time.

The monthly ACAS Meeting is being held on Tuesday, 10/9/07 in the classroom at the pool. The time for this month only has been changed to 6:30PM. The ACAS will be appointing 2 new members at this meeting. Eveyone is encouraged to attend, as recommendations made by this group impact everyone who uses the aquatic center.

Meets: PAC will attend the Duke City Spooktacular on 10/27-28, and the Charger High Desert Classic on 11/30-12/2. Duke City says they are trying to arrange a climbing wall and Haunted House for post-swimming entertainment. Entries for this meet are due to PAC by Monday 10/15. Charger entries are due to PAC on or before Wednesday, 11/14.

To give our newer swimmers a chance to compete in a less formal setting, PAC will also attend the Rio Grande League meets this year. RGL meets are short (~4 hr), single session meets with a limited number of events offered. The meet format (1 or 2) determines the events. Swimmers may only swim events in which they do not already have a state qualifying time. Whereas the RGL used to be only for 14 & Under, this year the age limit has been extended to accommmodate high school swimmers wishing to try for USS cuts. The first RGL meet (format 1) will be 11/18 at the Chavez Center in Santa Fe. Information will be posted when it becomes available.

PAC results and complete meet results from the LCAT Fall Classic are now available. Many best times and state cuts were recorded. Congratulatons to Anna Wermer, who broke Natalia Moore's PAC team record in the 10 & Under Girls 200 IM and Lauren TenCate's PAC team record in the 10 & Under Girls 1000 Free. (The ancient team records pages are being updated and will be posted shortly; stay tuned).

Weekly Update (Posted 9/24/07)

There will be no practice this Friday, 9/28/07 on account of the LCAT meet.

Anyone who still has the pink and blue PAC swimmer info and medical release forms or the white US Swimming annual registration form (fee not due until December, but we'd like the form on file now), please remember to drop them off in the the yellow coaching fees file at the pool.

Attention Master's swimmers!

(1) Charger Aquatics will be hosting its 2nd Annual Balloon Fiesta Masters Meet complete with celebratory post-swim food-fest on Saturday, October 6th. Entries must be postmarked by this Friday, 9/28/07.

(2) 2007 USMS seasonal registration forms, valid from 9/1/07 thru 12/31/07, are available here. Please mail your forms and $20 registration fee to NMMS Registrar Bill Bearden directly.

(3) Please fill out PAC swimmer info & medical info/release forms, available from your coach, ASAP.

(4) Want more Masters Swimming info? Check out the New Mexico Masters Swimming (NMMS) website and the United States Masters Swimming (USMS) website.

SC Meet Schedule (Posted 9/10/07)

The preliminary Short Course Meet Schedule is now posted. The head coach will determine which of these meets PAC will attend as a team. Swimmers are welcome to sign up and attend other meets individually. Please chat with Coach Phil for details if necessary.

The first meet of the season is the LCAT Fall Classic, being held in the outdoor natatorium at NMSU in beautiful Las Cruces, NM. Meet info is posted; entries are due to PAC on or before September 17th.

Please remember to return your USS registration and other paperwork ASAP. Place completed forms in the yellow coaching fees folder in the file at the pool.

ACAS Meeting Rescheduled (Posted 9/5/07)

The September ACAS meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday, September 11th, same bat time, same bat place (5:30 - 6:30 PM in the classroom at the pool). Please come and let the committee and the county know the public cares about the pool.

Short Course Season Reminders (Posted 9/3/07)

Practice resumes on Tuesday, Sept. 4th.

Please fill out your 2008 USA Swimming Registration Form, PAC Swimmer Info/Emergency Contact form, and PAC Medical info/release form (all included with the September invoices) ASAP.

The monthly ACAS meeting is Tuesday, September 4th from 5:30 - 6:30 PM in the classroom at the pool. Please come and voice your opinion.

ACAS will have several openings shortly. Anyone intersted in serving on the committee is invited to submit an application ASAP. Turn in completed forms at the front desk of the pool, or fax to the number on the form.

Dryland is Fun! (Posted 8/31/07)

Open Water Results (Posted 8/29/07)

Results for the Farmington H20 Open Water Swim are finally here! Congratulations to Lauren TenCate, who won the Zone Swimmers 12 & Under Girls 1-mile race with a time of 23:08.18. In the Zone Swimmers' 5k, Kara Leasure placed 3rd with a time of 53:54.48 and Lydia Wermer came in 6th with a time of 1:02:52.45. Former PAC Masters Swimmer Jeri Sullivan won the Masters Women's 1-mile race, clocking in at 34:08.37. PAC's intrepid webmaster came in last in the Masters 5k with a time of 1:40:27.75, but was happy to finish in under the 2-hour limit. FCAT says they'll be hosting this event again next year, so y'all get ready for it--go PAC go!

Zone Meet Update (Posted 8/16/07; revised, 8/18/07)

Swimming at the 2007 Western Zone Championship Meet, held in Farmington last week, was fast and furious. Ten Western Zone records were broken, and many NRT times were posted.

PAC swimmers faired well at the meet. Four new PAC team records were set, and everyone posted best times in at least some of their events. Kara Leasure won 2nd in the 200 free, and 3rd in the 400 free, 400 IM, and 800 free. As one of the top 8 seeds in several events, she earned a place at the wheel of a fancy corvette in the Farmington parade held on Friday before the event. She also had the chance to rub elbows with Olympic gold medalists Tom Jager and John Murphy (see photo, left). Next year's Zone Meet is in Mt. Hood, Oregon and Hawaii has made a bid for the event in 2009 so everyone should get geared up to make lots of cuts!

PAC results, Team NM results, and complete results for all 680 swimmers are posted. Stay tuned for photos.

PAC News (Posted 8/04/07)

Congratulations again to Coach Phil on a superb team performance at the 2007 Long Course State Championships. Kudos also to individual champions and high point winners Anna Wermer (3rd place, 10 & Under Girls) and Kara Leasure (1st place, 15 & Over Girls).

The Western Zone meet starts on Tuesday 8/7/07. Representing PAC on the New Mexico Zone Team are Kara Leasure; Lydia Wermer; Natalia Moore; Anna Wermer; Justine Yang; and Lauren TenCate. Lydia and Lauren will also be participating in an open water distance swim in Farmington Lake on Sunday after the Zone meet. Go PAC go!

The Aquatic Center Advisory Subcommittee (ACAS) is having their monthly meeting on Tuesday, 8/7/07 from 5:30 - 6:30 pm in the classroom at the pool. At this time there is still no published agenda, but it is expected that the topic of lane rental fees will be discussed. Currently local swim teams are taxed an an extra 50-cents per lane per session on top of the general admission fee each swimmer pays to get into the aquatic center every day, even though we use the lanes much more efficiently than the general public who pays the same entrance fee as team members do. In the name of fairness we would like to see this fee abolished, but there has been discussion by ACAS of raising the fee even more. A motion to do away with additional lane rental fees for local users paying regular admission was made by members of the public at the last meeting, and is supposed to be discussed this month. Also up for discussion, according to what they said last month, are several other motions made by members of the public that could help raise revenue for the pool: these are (1) consideration of an in-county/out-of-county rate structure for admission and other uses; and (2) reducing the senior citizen admission subsidy.

Please attend this meeting and let the ACAS members-- who are supposed to represent you-- know what you think. ACAS members are Debbie Baker (LAA), Shelby Redondo (LAA), Chris Bernstein (LAA), Terry Langham (Parks & Rec liason) and Rosemary O'Conner (Chairman). Denise McCoy, the Aquatic Center Manager, is a non-voting member of ACAS. The Parks & Rec Board will meet on Thursday, 8/9 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm in the classroom at the pool. Everyone is encouraged to attend, as the PRB makes recommendations to Council based on the recommendations the PRB receives from subcommittees such as ACAS. In the past, it has been interesting to observe differences in what was brought up at ACAS versus what was actually presented to the PRB. The Chairman of the PRB is John Erickson; if you can't make the meeting, please contact him and the other members of the PRB (addresses linked off the County website, click here) to express your views. In the words of Mad-Eye Moody, "Constant Vigilance".

Weekly Update (Posted 7/30/07)

We're taking a new team picture this Wednesday, August 1 @ 5:30 PM. Everyone-- that means all PAC age-group & college swimmers, even if you're not swimming on Wednesday, or not swimming for the summer-- should meet by the stairs outside and to the right of the entrance to the Walkup Center. Bring yourself and your PAC hoodie if you've got one.

Team PAC (that's Phil's Awesome Crew) was 8th out of 17 teams at the 2007 Long Course State Championship Meet held this past weekend. PAC had 19 age-group (i.e., 18 and under) swimmers competing in 88 individual races and 14 relays. Together they won a total of 399 points, or an average of 21 points per swimmer, a figure higher than all but two of the other participating teams. PAC swimmers won a total of 61 individual and 8 relay medals, including 7 individual first place finishes and 2 first place relays.

Congratulations to Kara Leasure, the 2007 NM LC State Champion in the 15 & Over Girls 200, 400, 800 and 1500 M Free, and the 200 and 400 IM; and to Anna Wermer, the 2007 State Champion in the 10 & Under Girls 200 M Free. Also taking first place by a comfortable margin was the 10 & Under Girls 200 Medley Relay Team consisting of Lauren TenCate (back), Justine Yang (breast), Anna Wermer (fly) and Virginia Taylor (free); and the 10 & Under Girls 200 Free Relay Team (Virginia, Justine, Anna, and Lauren), which turned in a time that was only 7.27 seconds off the New Mexico State Record set in 1992. Kara Leasure also won first place high point in Girls 15 & Over, and Anna Wermer captured 3rd place high point in Girls 10 & Under. Way to go!

PAC results, full meet prelims and finals, and individual and team high point results are posted.

Meet Updates (Posted 7/23/07)

The 2007 Long Course State Championships start Friday, July 27th at the Wallkup Center. Everyone's invited to come on down and cheer for the team. Go PAC go!

PAC results and full meet results for the 8 & Under Finals held this past Sunday are posted.

Results from the 2007 Speedo Western Sectional Championships are posted.

Latest and Greatest PAC News (Posted 7/22/07)

Despite a bit of rain, Saturday's PAC Team Picnic was a splashing success! Hats off to Lydia Wermer, who really did a fantastic job organizing everything and making this happen. Special thanks to the Golf Course Pool Association for allowing us to use their facility for the event. Highlights of the evening included grilled burgers and hotdogs accompanied by delicious pot-luck fare; diving off the high board; spontaneous swim races featuring things like no-arm fly and corkscrew backstroke; Coach Phil fresh from Coach Patti's wedding, which is to say looking exceptionally spiffy decked out in slacks, collared shirt and no baseball cap; the swimming trivia contest with prizes consisting of aquatic-themed stuffed animals and a fish towel, which looks stunning on winner Michelle Yang; and of course the making of posters for the State Meet which starts this Friday at the Walkup center.

The PAC Garage Sale Fundraiser, also held this past Saturday, was somewhat chaotic but fairly successful due to superb assistance from Mavis Lin (Yang) and Mary Wermer. Thanks to everyone -- PAC members and others-- who donated items to sell. Non-team donors included Dr. Art Montoya & Family; Tom & Deb Claytor; Aaron Lopez; Loui, Dave, Greg and Grant Janecky; and the Los Alamos School of Gymnastics -- please be sure to thank these people/businesses when you see them. The Cannibal Bakery & Lemonade Stand, staffed by Anna Wermer, Justine Yang and Lauren TenCate, did a brisk business selling tasty homemade treats and cold drinks, leftovers of which were happily gobbled up at the picnic-- next time you or an organization you belong to are looking for baked goods caterers, give these girls a ring.

Weekly Update (Posted 7/16/07)

Get ready for a great time at the PAC Team Potluck Picnic & (what else?) Pool Party this Saturday, July 21 from 6pm 'til dark at the Golf Course Pool. Bring your family and, if you have time, a side dish or dessert to share; we'll provide the hotdogs & hamburgers, condiments & Koolaid (or something along those lines). We'll also be making posters to adorn the PAC team area at the Long Course State Meet, so bring along all those awesome ideas to psych up the team and psych out the competition. For more info, or to let us know approximately how many people you're bringing so we can get a general idea of how much chow to get, contact Phil, Lydia, or Deb in person or via e-mail. Hope to see y'all there! (Masters swimmers, this means you too!)

Garage-o-Rama! PAC will be hosting a garage sale fundraiser event on Saturday, July 21st from 8 - 11:30 AM, so tell all your friends to come on down and support the team. If you've got usable stuff to get rid of, feel free to price it and drop it off at 542 Todd Loop South in White Rock on Saturday morning. We'll provide a tax receipt for donations. If you're looking for inexpensive treasures (books, bikes, roller blades, clothes [new & used, kids & adults, large & small], toys & games, kitchenware, fish tanks, bird feeders, weird stuff that you'd pay more for on e-bay, etc.), this is the place to be. There may even be some fresh-baked breakfast snacks to munch on while you shop. We could use a few folding tables and portable clothes racks to hang things on, if anyone has one to lend (we promise not to sell those) please contact Deb at 672-1953.

Kirtland Starfire Results are posted.

There's an immediate opening on the LA County Parks & Recreation Board. These are the people who take input from the various advisory subcommittees (such as ACAS) and make recommendations to Council about how Los Alamos's recreational facilities should be run/used/paid for/etc. If you're interested in having more of a voice in the operation and governance of our local recreational assets, ask for an application at the front desk of the Walkup Center.

PAC News (Posted 7/8/07)

Don't forget the ACAS meeting this Tuesday, July 10 @ 5:30 PM in the classroom at the pool. The more people in attendance the better. Invite your friends and your county council members. (See news item posted on July 4, below).

Kara Leasure and Katie Schmitt, PAC's very own Gentoo penguins (i.e., the fastest penguins in the world, clocking in at speeds of up to 40 km/hr), will be competing at the Western Region Sectional Championships in Mt. Hood, Oregon beginning Tuesday, July 10. Between the two of them, PAC will be represented in both distance and sprint events: Kara will be swimming the 1500 and 800 Free, while Katie will be racing in the 50, 100, 200, and 400 Free, and the 200 & 400 IM. Go PAC go!

The 2007 8 & Under Finals will be held at West Mesa Aquatic Center in Albuquerque on Sunday morning, July 22. All interested 8 & under swimmers are welcome to attend; there are no qualification times. Events are broken out into 8-yr olds, 7-yr-olds, and 6 & unders, with each swimmer eligible to swim up to 4 events. This is a fun, low-key event for our youngest members. Please get entries to PAC by July 12.

The NM Long Course State Championship Meet will be held here in Los Alamos from July 27 - 29. Entries are due to PAC on or before July 17th. Qualification times and a list of PAC qualifiers are posted. On first glance this is a bit of an eye chart, so before complaining we recommend enjoying a nice crunchy carrot and using the zoom button under the "view" menu in Adobe Acrobat Reader. Questions about the meet, what to swim, where to get the best wheatgrass juice, etc? As always, chat with Coach Phil.

Results for PAC swimmers attending meets in Orlando and Durango are posted. Congratulations to Virginia Taylor on getting her wrist cast off and making her first state cut! (100 Free)

Important Upcoming Meeting: Please try to Attend (Posted 7/4/07)

The Aquatic Center Advisory Subcommittee (ACAS) is holding a meeting this coming Tuesday, July 10 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM in the classroom at the pool.

The topic is rate increases for almost all aquatic activities held at the Walkup Center, including swim team practices (FYI: this is not about PAC coaching fees, but rather about fees assessed by the County for using the pool. For those who are unaware, two years ago the County started taxing swim teams for lane useage. This tax is on top of the regular pool admission fees that every swim team member pays. Note that local swim team members pay the same rate the general public does to get in the front door, although swim teams use lanes more efficiently than the general public and swim team members are covered by USS insurance during practice.) 

The recommendations of this committee impact everyone who uses the pool. This is your chance to ask questions and voice your opinion.

We want to encourage as many people as possible (everyone, not just swim team members/parents) to attend this meeting. Please mark your calendars and pass this information along.

Time Standards (posted 6/26/07)

Updated time standards for NM State Championships on up through Olympic Trials are now available on the PAC website. Lists of PAC qualifiers will be coming soon.

Breaking News (posted 6/25/07)

PAC takes second place team high point at the Nick Nogar High Altitude Invitational-- Congratulations to Coach Phil and all 23 participating swimmers!!

Lauren TenCate, Anna Wermer, and Justine Yang swept the prizes in the 9-10 Girls high point competition, while Alisa Romero swam away with first in the 13 - 14 Girls division. Complete PAC results are posted. Stay tuned for more meet pictures.

Get your meet entries for Kirtland into PAC ASAP! Please include names of all people attending the meet. As always, chat with Coach Phil if there are any questions.

Meet Updates (Posted 6/18/07)

Results from LOBO and the 2007 Lennar Homes Summer Invitational in Florida are posted.

Nick Nogar starts on Friday afternoon at the Walkup Center. Warmup is at 3 PM, meet begins at 4PM. Go PAC!!

Get your meet entries for Kirtland into PAC no later than Wednesday, June 27th. As always, if there are any questions about the meet, what to swim, etc., chat with Coach Phil. Remember to include a list of everyone that might possibly be in your personal cheering section for the weekend with your entries. If someone is not on the Base Access List, they will be denied entry.

Weekly Update (Posted 6/10/07)

Information for the Kirtland 2007 Starfire Invitational is posted. This is the last meet before the NM Long Course State Championships. Please get entries in to PAC no later than Wednesday, June 27th. Note that Kirtland requires all athletes and spectators to be on the base access list. It is essential that everyone provide the names of all accompanying people with their entries. If in doubt as to whether someone will be attending, include the person on your list.

News for the Week of June 4th (Posted 6/03/07)

Ahoy mates! Forty or so pirate lads and lasses had a great time at the afternoon showing of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End". Many thanks to Captain Phil for an entertaining high seas adventure:) May ye never be banished to Davie Jones's locker.

Morning practice will be held (at the pool, not the theater) Monday thru Thursday starting Monday June 4. Afternoon practices will be Monday thru Friday. Click here to be reminded of the summer schedule and training group assignments.

The deadline to get PAC entries for the Nick Nogar Meet, being held here in Los Alamos June 22 -24, has been extended to Friday June 8th. Please e-mail your entries, or drop them in the coaching fees file at the pool. Questions?? Chat with Coach Phil.

PAC Outing this Friday, May 25th! (Posted 5/22/07)

Practice on Friday, May 25th will be held at the Reel Deal Theater for all groups. Captain Phil will be taking the team to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End". Those wishing to go should meet at the Reel Deal on Friday afternoon. Coach Phil will be standing at the door with tickets in hand starting at 3 PM. The movie begins at 3:50 PM; come early to get a good seat. Parents are welcome, but will need to get their own tickets. We've bought a total of 50 tickets, which means as of Tuesday there are only 32 seats left for this showing so any parent wanting to buy a ticket needs to do so soon. Swimmers should be picked up at the Reel Deal after the show. Swimmers, please let Coach Phil know by Thursday if you will be attending this event.

Meet Results & Summer Training Schedule (Posted 5/22/07)

FCAT results are posted. Pictures still to come, hopefully this weekend. Stay tuned:)

The Summer Training Schedule & Training Group Assignments are posted. The summer schedule starts Tuesday, May 29th and runs through Friday, August 17th. Morning workouts will be held Monday through Thursday, beginning May 29th through the Thursday before the State Meet.