(Posted March 10, 2000)

The Dallas Mustangs put together an incredible team effort to finish in fifth place in the overall team standings at this year’s Texas Age Group Swimming Championships held at Loos March 2-5. Debbie Forinash captured the 15-18 girls High Point Award and led our 15-18 girl’s team to winning their age group. Those girls contributing to that effort were: Amy Danchik, Sarah Wells, Megan McNamara, Courtney Patterson, Sara Haney, Christina Hoover, and Clare Williams.

The Mustangs got off to a strong start by breaking two TAGS records in the opening session of the meet. Debbie Forinash, Courtney Patterson, Megan McNamara, and Sarah Wells started the record-breaking performances with a run away victory in the 800 free relay. Then Warren Renick, Andrew Hansen, Jeff Girard, and Brian Stephens followed up with a come-from-behind victory in the 15-18 men’s 800 free relay. Our 13-14 girls also turned in a strong performance, so good that they qualified for the National Top 16 reportable times list. Swimmers on that relay included Jennifer Blackman, Jennifer Penley, Nicole Keller and Candace Blackman.

Strong performances continued throughout the meet. The following is a list of those Mustangs who scored individual points for the team:

Scoring relay teams included:

15-18 women 400 free relay – Debbie Forinash, Amy Danchik, Courtney Patterson, and Sarah Wells (Junior National Qualifying Time and State Champions);

15-18 men 400 free relay – Warren Renick, Andrew Hansen, Eric Gusa, and Brian Stephens.

13-14 girls 400 free relay – Jennifer Blackman, Jennifer Penley, Nicole Keller, and Candace Blackman (National Top Sixteen Reportable Time).

10 & under girls 200 medley relay – Diana Larson, Kristen Masters, Lauren Roth and Hayley Hatfield.

13-14 girls 400 medley relay – Jennifer Blackman, Jessica Shaw, Candace Blackman and Jennifer Penley.

15-18 women 400 medley relay – Clare Williams, Debbie Forinash, Courtney Patterson and Amy Danchik.

15-18 men 400 medley relay – Charlie Morris, Jeff Girard, Eric Gusa and Andrew Hansen (Junior National Qualifying Time).

Our entire team should be extremely proud of the effort given by this year’s TAGS team. The Dallas Mustangs have definitely continued their tradition of excellence into the new millenium!

This Championship Meet held at Northlake College saw the Mustangs take second to GCAT in a tough battle that was filled with many solid swims from our Mustang Swimmers. Despite limited warm-up time and some confusion over some of the results, the meet ran relatively smoothly. The following individuals achieved at least one of the time standards listed below. Those swimmers whose names are in bold print took first place in their division in at least one event.

A Times – Molly Bollen, Megan Daniel, Diana Larsen, Kristin Masters, Kate McNamara, Amy Shyr and Alexandra Weber.

BB Times – Spin Beck, Claire Butterworth, Michael Carpenter, Melissa Dominguez, Zak Dominguez, Arielle Goldberg, Meredith Higgins, Brooke Louisell, Daniel Maute, Marcie Maute, Brittany Miller, Meredith Monroe, Hannah Penley, Nicolas Saliba, Matt Saunders, Maggie Wackel, Beverly Yee and Alex Young.

B Times – Elisa Alleman, Mark Anderson, Bri Barfield, Derrick Brown, Callie Butterworth, Rozmin Daya, Kent Irvin, Christie Kimm, Leah Kitchen, Lindsey MacIntosh, Katherine Moncrief, Caroline Pickett and Joyce Yee.

Special congratulations also to the following Mustangs for some fine efforts: Adreanna Alleman, Abbie Allums, Jack Anderson, Elizabeth Archer, Emily Archer, Althea Atkins, Nina Bolka, Mark Chesler, David Chiu, Julia Gasc, Katrina Miguel, Nikki Miguel, Jason Mitura, Sadie Morgan, Cort Payne, Avery Rape, Will Rogers, Simon Shirazi, Tom Shyr, Sarah Staples, Melanie Tull, and James White.

This is an "A" meet designed to offer the swimmers an opportunity to swim fast enough to qualify for the Texas Age Group Swimming Short Course Championships, which were held in early March. The meet was full of both excitement and disappointment as some swimmers made the cuts and some did not. Our Mustangs were extremely supportive of each other and even though some swimmers did not make some of the required time standards, all but two of our forty-six entered Mustangs had at least one best time.

Time Trials were also held after each session to offer yet another opportunity for some of the swimmers to get another opportunity to make the TAGS cuts. Here is a list of the time standards achieved. Those who achieved a TAGS cut in this meet are in bold print. Only events with the individual’s top level achieved are listed.

AAA Times – John Bannon (50 Back), Jennifer Blackman (200 Free), Eric Gusa (50 & 200 Free), Christina Hoover (50 Free), Lauren Roth (100 Free), Meredith Grubb (100 IM), Jennifer Penley (50 Free).

AA Times – Spin Beck (50 Free), Megan Bolanz (50 Free), Armando Cajide (200 Free), Haley Hatfield (200 Free, 50 Free, 100 IM), Greg Henderson (200 Free), Margaret Henderson (50 Free), Kelsey Hendricks (50 Free), Meredith Higgins (100 Free), Alex Jennings (100 Back), Nicole Keller (50 Free), Diana Larsen (50 Free, 50 Back, 50 Fly), Maggie Marshall (50 & 100 Breast), Oscar Masters (200, 500, 1000, 1650 Free), Drew Maute (50 & 100 Free), Roy Maute (50 & 100 Free), Josh Pringle (50 Free, 100 Fly), John Prokup (50 Free), Ashley Rape (200 IM, 100 Fly, 100 IM, 50 Fly), Jeff Shipp (50 Free) and Kenneth Wherry (200 Free).

A Times – Michael Carpenter (50 Breast), Amy Geis (50 & 100 Free), Beth Geis (50 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Free), Chris Graham (400 IM, 1000 Free, 500 Free), Bryan Jester (50 & 100 Free), Matt Knubowitz (50 & 100 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast), Kristin Masters (50 Breast), Brittany Miller (50 & 100 Free), Elizabeth Rabe (50 & 200 Free), Erica Saito (200 & 400 IM, 100 & 200 Free, 100 Fly), Jessica Shaw (100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Free), Caleb Veazey (50, 100, 200 Free, 50 Fly, 100 IM), Maggie Wackel (50 Free, 50 Back, 50 Fly), Beverly Yee (50, 100 & 200 Free) and Alex Young (50 Back).

Our Mustangs swam their way to many best times and a second place finish overall in a hotly contested race between LAC, GCAT, and ourselves. We placed ahead of GCAT by only a single point! This just goes to show that all of our swims in each division are important. The following people finished in the top 3 of their age group at least once. Those swimmers whose names are listed in bold print had at least one divisional victory. Their respective ages follow each of their names.

In addition to these fine swims, some of our swimmers also achieved at least one of the following time standards:

AA Times: Diana Larsen (a TAGS time standard at a BB/B/C meet!)

A Times: Mark Anderson, Spin Beck, David Puelz, Amy Shyr

BB Times: Molly Bollen, Claire Butterworth, Megan Daniel, Melissa Dominguez, Zak Dominguez, Amy Geis, Arielle Goldberg, Emma Gunning, Kate Gunning, Natalie Jacobs, Nicolas Low, Daniel Maute, Marcie Maute, Kate McNamara, Brittany Miller, Meredith Monroe, Alicia Nicoud, Charlie Puelz, Jessica Rowe, Nicolas Saliba, Jessica Shaw, Tom Shyr, Maggie Wackel, Leah Whaley and Alex Young.

Congratulations to all of our swimmers for their great efforts!

April begins the start of the Long Course season. Long Course season means that A/BB swimmers compete in a 50-meter pool and swim events that are multiples of 50 meters. Many of these meets are held outdoors. Sometime in May Loos Pool is converted to a long course pool so that our swimmers can experience workouts in a 50-meter pool. Those swimmers who have C and B times continue to compete in meets that follow the short course format (short course 25-yard pool).

Loos Silver coach, Ben White recently announced that he is leaving the team to pursue a career in financial planning. He will be employed with Simmers Capital Management located in Dallas. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to convince them that Ben’s day can end at 5:00 p.m. so that he can continue to coach with the Mustangs! However, he has promised that he will do his best to make guest-coaching appearances from time to time. Seriously speaking, we do wish him all the best and will truly miss him. The Daniel family has graciously offered to host a going away party in his honor on March 26^th from 4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Please review the information regarding this event, on the bulletin board at Loos.

We would like to thank all the parents who volunteered at Short Course TAGS with computer operations, lane timing, general set-up and clean-up. We could not have done it without you! Also, a big thank you needs to go to Adele Wherry who put in countless hours in computer time in preparation for the meet, during the meet, after the meet (printing final results etc.) and for making sure the information was sent to the North Texas Website for posting! Thanks Adele!

The Dallas Mustangs would like to welcome the following new swimmers to our team: Ray Achilleos, Megan Achilleos, Konrad Obek and Dabney Rice. Welcome to our team!

In January Caroline Jennings took the SAT as part of the Duke University Gifted and Talented Search. Any 7th grader who lives in the southern half of the United States who achieves over a 97 percentile on any national standardized testing program is eligible to test. Her SAT scores qualified her for State of Texas and Duke University recognition.

Jeffrey Wherry, who is in the Silver group at Loos, recently received a score of 1, (which is the highest possible score) in the CFBISD District Solo Ensemble for percussion. Jeff attends Polk Middle School and is in the 7^th grade band.

Do you want additional individualized swim instruction for your child or does your swimmer need work on a particular stroke or other aspect of swimming? If so, Mook and Meredith Rhodenbaugh are available for swim lessons. Please call Mook at 214 -768-1641 and Meredith at 972-889-SWIM to set up lessons.

Parents, are you one of those people whom every year makes a New Years resolution to eat less and exercise more? Well here’s a golden opportunity to start the new millenium off right and stick to at least part of that resolution! Come join us in the Masters Swim program at Loos or Highland Park pools. The group swims at Loos on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6-7 a.m. or at Highland Park Monday-Friday from 6-7 a.m. Call Mook with any questions at 972-889-SWIM. Hope to see you there!

The TAGS meet is over, the races are done

And I want to congratulate everyone.

Every lady and gentleman came to race

And your Dallas Mustangs finished up in 5^th place!

We beat a lot of teams. Who? I can’t say,

But one of the teams’ initials starts with an "A".

Now on to something very close to my heart

The Swim-a-Thon. I’ve had fun from the start.

A few more weeks and we’ll see him under stress

We’ll all get to see what Mook looks like in a dress.

But before we can get to the fun and the party

Some of the pledges are a little bit tardy.

Don’t worry, the principal won’t send home a note

But, please, give your filled envelopes to your coach.

We’re nearing our goal, the finish line is near

There’s only one thing left I want to hear,

As Mook leaps from the tower in a "beautiful" dress

I know I’ll hear "Tom, why’d you get me into this mess?"

Enough poetry……….

Make sure you don’t miss the Swim-a-Thon get together on April 7^th at Loos at 6:00 PM.

See you there,

Tom Hendricks

The Highland Park Pool will be closing for the summer in order to do renovations. The exact date that this will begin is unknown at this time but it will most likely be in May. When HP does close, those groups will move to SMU and will swim in the 5-7 pm time frame. As soon as we know more details, we will get them to you.

The annual team banquet is right around the corner (April 30^th @ SMU). We are running a little low on slides for the slide show. Please take your cameras to any up coming meets or team functions, have slides made, and get those to Mook so that we can have another fantastic year in review. Thanks!

At the risk of sounding repetitive, we need more volunteers for our upcoming meets in May and June. The team has the opportunity to host 4 meets during the course of the year and we are dependent upon those meets for income. We have already hosted a very successful winter meet and now the DM Classic for 14 and unders is approaching. The dates of that meet are May 5^th – 7^th and once again, it will be held at SMU. Although the meet is for swimmers 14 year olds and younger, it does not mean that you cannot volunteer. Also, if you volunteer it does not mean that you have to work the entire meet – you can volunteer for one session, if that’s all you can do. Additionally, if everyone does not do their part then it puts a greater burden on those volunteers who repeatedly offer to help. We wish to remind everyone that your help is what makes this a team with a reputation for running meets efficiently. Please remember that most of the help needed does not require a lot of skill or knowledge and that so-called "seasoned volunteers" are available to orient new volunteers. Information about the DM Classic in May and Senior Circuit in June will be posted on the bulletin boards at the pools. Please sign up or call Adele Wherry at 972-418-1544. Thank you.

All swimmers are challenged to talk their friends into trying out the great sport of swimming. Joining our team now is a great way to get a head start on the summer club swimming scene, especially with summer coming up fast. Remember that you get $50 dues credit for every swimmer that you bring on to the team (applied towards your next quarter). So get out there and spread the word about the mighty Mustangs!

Thank you to all those swimmers who let me know about changes to their email addresses. As I explained in last month’s newsletter, it is our goal to convert this newsletter delivery system from postal to email. If you currently receive this newsletter in the mail and have an email address, please let me know what your email address is. Also, we do not currently use a calendar on the website but all dates that are normally on the calendar, are listed in "Scheduling Notes" (see below). Swimmers can always keep up to date on changes in workout schedules and other events by calling 972-889-SWIM. A hard copy of this newsletter and the team calendar will continue to be posted at the pools on the team bulletin boards.

March 11^th N, G, S from 9 – 11 at HP

March 18^th N, G, S from 9 – 11 at HP

March 21^st – 25^thJunior Championships in Orlando

March 23^rd B/C Meet entries due

March 24^th LOOS POOL CLOSED; ALL WORKOUTS AT HIGHLAND PARK (N, G, S 4:30-6 p.m.; B 6-7 p.m.)

March 25^th No w/o’s

March 28^th Senior Championships in Seattle

April 3^rd Workout schedule back to normal; A/BB Sprint Meet entries due

April 7^th Swim-a-Thon Party at Loos; no w/o’s at HP

April 8^th B/C Meet in Plano

The following is the tentative schedule for summer. This schedule will begin May 30^th.

National 7-9 AM @ SMU, 3:30-6:15 PM @ Loos

Gold 7-9 AM @ SMU, 4-6:15 PM @ Loos

Silver 5-6:30 PM @ SMU or 6-7:30 @ Loos

Bronze 5-6 PM @ SMU or 6:30-7:30 @ Loos

Red/Blue 5-6 PM @ Carrollton

Please note that the Bronze and Silver practices at SMU will be treated as though they will be outside, even though they will be swimming inside (and some outside for Silver). This is due to the SMU college swimmers needing to be inside in case of bad weather.

PROGRAM

Check-in

Board Member Elections

Dinner

Guest Speaker

Swimmer Recognition

Team Highlights & Slide Show