Masters Long Course All-Americans & National Age Group Short Course Top 10 (Posted 3/8/09)

Congratulations to Jackie Marr on being named an All-American by United States Masters Swimming for the 2008 Long Course Season. USMS All-Americans are swimmers achieving a first-place ranking in the U.S. Masters Top 10 in an event/age-group over the course of the season. For 2008, Jackie finished first in the Women's 65-69 year old 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 free; the 100 and 200 back; 100 fly; and 200 and 400 IM. Check out these and other times at the USMS Top 10 website.

PAC would also like to congratulate NM swimmers Eddy Dai (Mountain Club), Kyle Temple (LCAT), Duncan Lee (Charger), Anthony Kim (Charger), Stephen Klein (Charger), Dorian Holler (Lobo), Timothy Zoltowski (Swim Rio Rancho) and Anika Apostalon (Duke) for turning in some of the fastest times in the country in their age groups in a number of events this season. Check out the girls and boys Top 10 Preview Lists and the USA Swimming Event Rankings webpage for complete info.

NM State Championship Meet Results (Posted 3/4/09)

Congratulations to Coach Phil and the 16 PAC swimmers participating in the NM Short Course State Championship Meet this past weekend. Out of 22 teams we came in 9th overall, and tied for 5th in the voting for the spirit award.

Highlights of the weekend include 4 new team individual records as well as several new team relay records, and 5 PAC swimmers (Jesse Liechty, Jessica Moore, Michelle Yang, Niamh Short, and Trey Pereyra) all participating in their first-ever state championship meet.

Michelle Yang lowered her 1-week-old team record in the 8 & Under Girls 100 breast by almost 5 seconds. In the 11-12 Girls division, Justine Yang obliterated the 400 IM record set last year by Lauren TenCate, dropping almost 7 seconds off the previous mark, while Anna Wermer just slipped past Alisa Romero's PAC team record in the 200 back. Maggie Schappell took the 13-14 Girls team record in the 100 IM with a time of 1:06.30, about 1.3 seconds faster than the time set by Natalia Moore at last year's NM State Meet. The 11-12 Girls relay team, consisting of Maria Venneri, Anna Wermer, Justine Yang and Lauren TenCate, also turned in some team-record-breaking performances in the Medley and Freestyle relays. Complete results are posted. Go PAC go!

8 & Under Finals Results (Posted 2/24/09)

Congratulations to Beth Short, Cory Liechty, Dara Armstrong and Michelle Yang on some fine performances at 8 & Under State held in Taos this past Sunday. Special mention goes to Michelle Yang, who took first in the 8-yr-old girls 50 breast. Michelle's time of 47.09 shattered the previous PAC record set by the legendary Caity Ferguson in 2000 by almost 3/4 of a second, and also qualifies her to swim the event in the NM State Championship Meet. The girls 100 Medley and 100 Free relays also entered the PAC team record books. Complete meet results are now posted. Way to go!

Breaking News! (Posted 1/19/09)

PAC had a fantastic showing at the LAA Winter High Altitude Invite this weekend! Many PAC athletes achieved personal best times in one or more events. Overall the team took 2nd place with 511 points, only 189 points behind first-place Duke City Aquatics, which had almost twice as many swimmers registered for the meet. Congratulations and a big thank you to Coach Phil for all his hard work. Thanks also to everyone who came to cheer the team on and otherwise help out. Complete meet results and updated team records are now posted. Go PAC go!

Highlights of the meet include Michelle Yang claiming first place high point in the 8 & Under Girls division with 95 points and 9 first place finishes. Michelle's time of 1:46.29 in the 100 Breast eclipsed the earlier PAC 8 & Under Girls team record of 1:50.05 set by Natalia Moore in 2003. Justine Yang also had an amazing meet which culminated in her capturing 2nd place high point in the 11-12 Girls division. Justine posted best times in all 12 of her events, which included the grueling 200 Fly, 400 IM, 500 Free and the 1650 Free. Her altitude-adjusted time in the 400 IM earned her a place in the PAC record books, eclipsing the previous mark set by Lauren TenCate last year by 0.94 seconds. Lydia Wermer took first in the 15 & Over Girls category, while Lauren TenCate rounded out PAC's medal haul by winning 3rd in the 11-12 Girls high point. Lauren's altitude-adjusted mile time qualifies her to swim the event at Far Westerns in California over Spring Break.

Other notable performances include Trey Pereyra and Bethie Short making a splash at their first-ever swim meet; Wilbur Wang, Jesse Liechty, and Michelle Yang entering the record books as the first PAC team swimmers to complete certain 200-yard stroke events in their age groups; Jessica Moore and Niamh Short making their first NM State Championship qualifying cuts; and Brandon Bao coming within three-fourths of a second of the state cut in the 10 & Under Boys 100 Backstroke. FYI, the NM State Championship Meet is only 6 weeks away and it's in Los Alamos this year. We'll be posting a list of qualifiers next month. Even those without qualifying times may still be selected to represent PAC on a relay squad so everyone should be training hard. See y'all at the pool!

PS: For those who work at LANL, time spent working at the meet counts for VolunteerMatch hours, which generates a donation from LANS to the club. Ask Deb for details.

PAC News (Posted 1/15/09)

(1) The LAA Winter High Altitude Invite gets underway tomorrow (Friday 1/16) right here at the beautiful and immaculately maintained (thanks Phil!) Larry R. Walkup Center. Warm-up is at 4:15 sharp. Come watch Phil's Awesome Crew compete in the 13 & Over 400 IM, the 12 & Under 200 IM and the open 1650 free.

On Saturday and Sunday, warm-up is a 9 AM with a meet start time of 10 AM. We've got 29 swimmers competing in events ranging from 25 - 500 yards; come on down and cheer on the team. Go PAC go!

NOTE: Those who didn't sign up but who want to swim, we can deck-enter you. Come to the pool in time for warm-up and we'll take care of it.

(2) Last weekend's team movie & dinner outing was a huge success--Thanks Phil!

(3) Please get your coaching fees and meet entry fees in ASAP.

(4) The last chance meet before state is at Kirtlnd over President's Day weekend-- Feb 14 -15. See the Schedule-Info-Results page for meet info.

(5) No practice tomorrow (Friday 1/16) due to the LAA meet. No practice on Monday 1/19 because the pool is closed in observance of MLK Day.

Penguin Tales: Brave Michael (Posted 11/22/08)

Coach Phil lost a little wager on Friday and is therefore planning an athlete dinner sometime in December or January.. stay tuned for further details:-)

Meet Results (Posted 11/16/08)

Results from last weekend's Lobo Holiday Classic are now posted. Although PAC didn't have too many people there, we had a lot of fun and some truly fine swims, including one new PAC team record. That came in the women's 1000 Free, where Lauren TenCate's AAA time of 11:47.27 surpassed the mark (11:51.66, 11-12 Girls) set by the legendary Mari Padilla almost 10 years ago. Congratulations to all -- Go PAC Go!

Team Updates (Posted 11/5/08)

1) The Lobo meet gets underway Friday 11/7 at the West Mesa Aquatic Center in Albuquerque; warm-up is at 4 PM. On Saturday & Sunday, morning warm-up starts at 7:30 AM, afternoon warm-up begins at 1 PM. Go PAC go!

2) There will be NO PRACTICE ON FRIDAY 11/7 due to the Lobo meet.

3) We still have a few ultra-cool PAC Team hoodies, perfect for staying stylishly warm now that the weather has turned brisk. These are black pullovers with the PAC team logo in pink/white or blue/white on the front, the larger ones also have "Water Reactive" across the back. We're selling them at the bargain basement price of $15, which is below cost. We have adult sizes small (pink and blue available), large (1 pink, 2 blue left), and XL (1 blue left). Contact Deb to reserve yours.

Meet Updates & Other News (Posted 10/15/08)

1) Our meet for November is the Lobo Holiday Classic, being held at West Mesa Aquatic Center in Albuquerque on November 7 - 9. Entries are due to PAC by Wednesday, October 29; sooner is better.

2) For those making holiday plans, there will be NO PRACTICE the week of Thanksgiving (November 24 - 28).

3) Reminder: 2009 USS registration materials and fees are due to PAC by November 15th.

4) Captain Phil's Book of the Month: Golden Girl: How Natalie Coughlin Fought Back, Challenged Conventional Wisdom, and Became America's Olympic Champion by Michael Silver and Natalie Coughlin.

PAC News (Posted 9/28/08)

1) Results from the LAA Fall Invite are posted on the Schedule/Info results page. PAC will not attend the FCAT meet next weekend.

2)The LANS United Way campaign ends this week. If you are contributing to United Way in general, please consider directing a portion of your donation to the club. Although we're not one of the [few] "United Way Member Agencies", as a 501c(3) non-profit organization PAC is eligible to receive directed UW donations, including the 1-for-1 LANS matching funds; simply check "other" and write in the full club name. UW keeps 19% of all donations in house, but with the LANS match this still amounts to $1.62 to the club for every $1 pledged through LANS. PAC uses donations to help cover costs of things like caps, equipment, team social events, and so forth. With the next Zone Meet being held in Hawai'i, we're hoping to raise some additional funds to help defray travel expenses as well.

Penguin Pride (Posted 9/20/08)

The NM Seasonal Top 12 list for Long Course 2008 is now available. PAC swimmers making the list include Annika Davenport, Niamh Short, and Michelle Yang (8 & Under), Maria Venneri (10 & Under), Matthew Davenport, Michael Moore, Lauren TenCate, Anna Wermer and Justine Yang (11-12), Jacob Romero (13-14), and Lydia Wermer (17-18). Placing first in events were Annika (8 & Under Girls 100 & 200 Free), Michelle (8 & Under Girls 100 Breast), Maria (10 & Under Girls 100 Fly) and Lauren (11-12 Girls 1500 Free). Go PAC go!

2008 - 2009 Short Course Season (Posted 9/18/08)

Welcome back! Short Course is upon us and the new meet schedule is posted (click the button on the left sidebar). We plan to attend no more than one meet a month as a team, though swimmers are always welcome to sign up to attend any meet and attend on their own. Stay tuned for team updates coming soon to a website near you.

There will be a mini-meet hosted by LAA here at the Walkup Center on September 28th. Meet info is posted. We need to know who wants to swim by this weekend; invoices for entry fees will be e-mailed and are due by the 24th.

A big "thank you!" to all those swimmers and parents/family members who helped out at the Los Alamos triathlons this summer. We had 24 volunteers who worked a total of 90 hours. One of the County triathlon coordinators remarked that this was the first time they've ever had enough volunteers to really do the job the way it should be done.

Thank you to LANS and LANB for supporting our team! PAC was fortunate to receive a $700 donation from Los Alamos National Security (LANS) this summer in recognition of volunteer hours put in by several of our parents. We also received a generous grant from LANB to upgrade our bookkeeping software. Please take the time to thank these sponsors when you are in their offices.