Mustang Monthly- Internet Edition

August 2006

The Mustangs are coming off another exciting season and we have high goals for the upcoming season.  We will continue to offer a top-notch program for the entire family.  Again this year we will have swimmers competing at every level, from the beginner to national and even international qualifiers.  We can take our swimmers as far as they wish to go if we all work together.  Our club is extremely proud of its members and their great accomplishments.  To follow are some highlights from the championship meets from this past season. 

 

Meet Reports

 

The Mustangs have had one of their best seasons in recent history.  Great swims were turned in from Mustangs of all ages and abilities, from our B/C swimmers who finished second as a team at the B/C Champs, to our senior swimmers who made impressive statements at Sectionals, Junior Nationals and Senior Nationals.

 

Matt Thompson and Spin Beck qualified for the United States National Junior Team and will compete against swimmers from around the world at an international competition in Hawaii in January.  Matt also qualified as one of only four 17 and under men from the United States to compete at the World Youth Championships, which took place in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, August 22-26, 2006.  The Mustangs also had more swimmers qualify for the 2008 Olympic Trials.  The following is a list of our swimmers who have qualified:  Spin Beck, Candace Blackman, Jennifer Blackman, Katie Roberts, Leane Darling, Matt Thompson, and Jonathan Berrettini.

 

Nationals:

 

This year’s United States National Championships meet was held in Irvine, California and brought together some of the biggest names in swimming – Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol, Brendon Hansen, Katie Hoff, Natalie Coughlin and Kaitlin Sandino.  The Mustangs took nine swimmers to the competition and finished 23rd as a team.  Matt Thompson won the 18 and under national championship in the 100 back and our women’s 400 free relay broke a team record by averaging better than 57.5 per person.  The following is this summer’s team and how they faired:

 

Candace Blackman – 200 free (48th), 50 free (33rd), 100 free (66th)

Jennifer Blackman – 200 free (88th), 100 free (73rd)

Katie Roberts – 400 free (42nd), 200 free (73rd), 800 free (55th)

Leane Darling – 50 free (61st), 100 free (22nd)

Jenny Basil – 100 breast (44th), 200 breast (58th), 200 IM (68th)

Matt Thompson – 400 IM (25th), 100 back (14th), 200 back (17th)

Nate Clark – 200 fly (59th)

Justin Smith – 200 IM (62nd), 200 fly (29th)

Brett Dunham – 100 fly (57th)

Women’s 400 free relay (4th) Blackman, Darling, Roberts, and Blackman

Women’s 800 free relay (12th) Blackman, Roberts, Darling, and Blackman

 

Junior Nationals:

 

Matt Thompson led our men’s team to a second place finish and a women’s and men’s combined 5th place team finish at the United States Junior National Championships. The meet was held in Irvine, California August 6-10 and brought together over 350 teams from across the country.  Matt won the 100 back, 200 back and 200 IM, and broke the meet record in each event.  Max Murphy picked up Senior National qualifying times in the 100 and 200 back and Caleb Veazey dropped over 20 seconds in the 1500 free to score valuable points for the team.  The following are the Mustang swimmers who made up this summer’s Junior team and how they placed in their events.

 

Alyssa Landino – 800 free (75th), 100 free (101st), 200 free (99th)

Meredith Monroe – 200 back (69th), 200 free (86th), 100 back (54th)

Catia Weickgenant – 200 fly (52nd), 100 fly (84th)

Kannon Betzen – 100 breast (26th), 200 IM (67th)

Lauren Roth – relays

Maddie Steiner – relays

Nick Kalivas – 100 free (28th), 200 free (65th), 100 fly (20th), 50 free (64th)

Matt Thompson – 200 back (1st), 400 IM (3rd), 100 Back (1st), 200 IM (1st)

Max Murphy – 200 back (5th), 100 back (3rd)

Clint Hallum – 800 free (32nd), 200 free (101st), 400 free (23rd), 1500 free (39th)

Caleb Veazey – 800 free (58th), 400 free (52nd), 1500 free (14th)

Jack Dwyer – 50 free (63rd)

Lamar Weeks – relays

Women’s 200 medley relay (22nd) Monroe, Betzen, Weickgenant, and Landino

Women’s 200 free relay (27th) Steiner, Roth, Landino, and Betzen

Women’s 800 free relay (17th) Roth, Landino, Weickgenant, and Monroe

Women’s 400 free relay (14th) Roth, Steiner, Landino, and Monroe

Women’s 400 medley relay (7th) Monroe, Betzen, Weickgenant, and Roth

Men’s 200 medley relay (9th) Thompson, Murphy, Kalivas, and Dwyer

Men’s 200 free relay (12th) Kalivas, Thompson, Murphy, and Dwyer

Men’s 800 free relay (9th) Kalivas, Hallum, Weeks, and Thompson

Men’s 400 free relay (14th) Kalivas, Dwyer, Murphy, and Thompson

Men’s 400 medley relay (6th) Thompson, Hallum, Kalivas, and Dwyer

 

Sectionals:

 

United States Swimming holds about eight different Sectional Championship meets each season around the country.  These Sectional meets serve a couple different purposes for swimmers.  One, the meet provides a high level tune-up for swimmers who will be competing at Nationals and Junior Nationals.  Sectionals also mark the end of the season for many swimmers, who have not qualified for national level meets. 

 

This year, the Mustangs took 41 swimmers to the meet, which was held in Houston, and came away with an impressive victory, out distancing the second place team by almost 300 points!  Spin Beck, Clint Hallum and Jonathon Berrettini led the Mustang stampede with individual victories and once again our relays showed our team’s depth by scoring A, B and C relays in some of the relay events.

 

Congratulations to this summer’s victorious Sectionals team (swimmers who scored individual points by placing in the top 16 are in boldface):  Caroline Barnett, Spin Beck, Kannon Betzen, Hannah Ferrin, Steph Futscher, Mel Futscher, Meredith Grubb, Bolton Harris, Alexandra Jennings, Katherine Jones, Leah Jones, Grace Kittle, Alyssa Landino, Stephanie Martin, Meredith Monroe, Jordan Newman, Lauren Roth, Erin Smith, Maddie Steiner, Alicia Stevens, Bailey Thompson, Keegan Watters, Meaghan Watters, Catia Weickgenant, John Aselton, John Bannon, Jonathon Berrettini, Colin Carpenter, Jack Dwyer, Tim French. Chris Ginder, Clint Hallum, John Kalivas, Nick Kalivas, Max Murphy, Rory Peterson, Jamie Slater, Andrew Tran, Caleb Veazey, Lamar Weeks and Scott Weeks. 

 

Sectional Team Scores

1. Dallas Mustangs       784

2. The Woodlands        506

3. Cypress Fairbanks    497

4. Longhorn Aquatics   427

5. Aggie Swim Club      381

6. Blue Tide                  347

7. Alamo Area              345

8. Metroplex                290

9. City of Plano            272

10. River City               248

 

TAGS:


Thirty three of the Mustangs’ most elite 14 and under swimmers flocked to the Woodlands, Texas, to compete in the Texas Age Group Swimming Championships. In order to swim at this meet, athletes must achieve difficult time standards in an individual event or qualify for a relay. DM swimmers had to battle the 100 degree, humid weather and it was not uncommon to see portable fans and large coolers filled with water and energy drinks at the numerous Mustang tents that were set up. The five day meet was grueling, but DM walked away with a 10th place flag.

The standout of the meet was 14 year old SCOTT WEEKS, who individually compiled 56 points and was the 2nd highest 13-14 year old boy scorer. Scott won the 100 back, 200 back and 100 fly and placed 2nd in the 200 free and 200 fly, 3rd in the 400 free  and 7th in the 800 free. Way to go, Scott!

The boys 13-14 relays  consisting of Scott Weeks, Fernando Lara, Greg Hoffman, and Malin Kenny placed 2nd in the 200 and 400 free relays, 3rd in the 800 free relays, 4th in the 400 medley relay, and 5th in the 200 medley relay. Their relays achieved Top 16 standards in 4 out of the 5 relays. Great job, boys!

Rounding out the scorers were our 10 and under girls’ relays, consisting of Audrey Gruber, Lauren Murski, Natalie Rathjen, and Courtney Nichols.  They placed 4th in the 400 free relay and 8th in the 200 medley relay. Awesome job, girls!

In addition to those swimmers listed above whom all qualified to compete in individual events, the following additional swimmers also qualified to compete in individual events. Congratulations to those swimmers also:

Tanner Harris (12), Keegan Watters (14), Jordan Newman (14), Leah Jones (14),  Harrison Tran (11), Eric Futscher (11),  Jake Watters (11), Jon Hoffman (12), and Christopher Alkire (12).

 

‘A’ Championships:

 

Swimmers at the “A” level or above traveled to Southlake to compete in the “A” Long Course Championships. The meet was hosted at the CISD Aquatic Center in Southlake
on the weekend of July 6-9, 2006. DM brought a record 83 swimmers to the meet and brought home a 4th place finish.  This was accomplished without any relays and with many of the swimmers competing on a very limited schedule in an attempt to get qualifying times for TAGS or Sectionals. Great job to all participating Mustangs—italicized names indicate scoring points for the team and bolded names signify winning at least one event:

Natalie Rathjen, Audrey Gruber, Lauren Murski, Courtney Nichols, Miyo Malouf, Tanner Harris, Ann-Claire Karalyos, Ann Weeks, Emma Gruber, Casey Watters, Des Godfrey, Leah Jones, Blake Osborn, Cassidy Beckwitt, Julia Cuaderes, Jordan Newman, Megan Ernst, Ellyn Baker, Katie Radford, Hannah Ferrin, Keegan Watters, Delaney Rolfe, Erin Smith, Leslie Clampitt, Alex Weber, Bolton Harris, Hadley Trautmann, Alicia Stevens, Amanda Arrington, Jessica Temple, Christie Kimm, Pia Lara, Alyssa Landino, Catia Weickgenant, Kannon Betzen, Katherine Jones, Caroline Barnett, Meredith Monroe, Susan Jennings, Melanie Futscher, Tori Beckman, Stephanie Futscher, Katie Ische, Meaghan Watters, Meredith Grubb, Maddie Steiner, Grace Kittle, Lauren Roth, Bailey Thompson, Kristin Masters, Stephanie Martin, Harrison Tran, Jon Hoffman, Eric Futscher, Chris Alkire, Luke Blaylock, Jake Watters, Malin Kenny, Fernando Lara, Jack Ken, Steven Nichols, Scott Weeks, Greg Hoffman, Jamie Slater, Nicholas Saliba, Burke Wiggins, Corey Dennis, Paul Gerard, Matt Hock, Kyle Savage, Nick Kalivas, John Bannon, John Kalivas, Max Murphy, Andrew Tran, John Aselton, Jim Montgomery, Tim Moore, Jon Berretini, Clint Hallum, Jack Dwyer, Caleb Veazey, and Lamar Weeks.

 

COPS BB Championships:

The BB Champs this year were held from July 14-16th, 2006 at the Oak Point Recreation Center in Plano. The Mustangs held their own at the meet, finishing a solid 8th place with 30 swimmers. Almost every DM swimmer swam at least one best time and an astounding ELEVEN new ‘A’ times were achieved by Mustangs at this meet! Several of these swimmers now have 3 ‘A’ times and will have the opportunity to swim in ‘A’ level meets. Special congratulations to the following swimmers who achieved a new ‘A’ time:

 

Laura Rathjen, Chelbi Smith, Caitlin Koranda, Jeffrey Nichols, Liam Veazey, Andrew Harvey and Burke Wiggins

 

Kudos to all participating swimmers! Bolded names signify winning an event:
Laura Rathjen, Kendall Ernst, Caroline Florence, Caitlin Klemme, Sydney Lacey, Sara Granger, Erin Florence, Carolyn Thomas, Chelbi Smith, Stephanie Grote, Katie Radford, Alex Fraley, Vicky Wu, Caitlin Koranda, Katie Streepey, Katie Holt, Anna Beth Gruber, Sarah Gerard, Chloe Bristol, Max Zotos, Connor Mullen, Jeffrey Nichols, Liam Veazey, Daniel Withers, William Grubb, Michael Withers, Paul Gerard, Andrew Harvey, and Burke Wiggins.

 

GCAT "B/C" Championships:


The B/C summer champs were held at the GCISD Swim Center in Grapevine from July 21-23, 2006, the same weekend the TAGS swimmers were competing at the Woodlands. The Mustangs showed off their skill to their opponents by placing an awesome 2nd place with 568 points!  Way to go Mustangs!!! Congratulations to all the participating swimmers!

Julia Eller, Virginia Tiernan, Ellie Pfieffer, Tiffany Futscher, Morgan Eller, Mika Malouf, Kassi Steger, Caroline Blaylock, Annelyse Tullier, Ellie Ward, Sarah Jones, Sydney Patterson, Morgan Koranda, Callie Scheffler, Alyssa Rusch, Catherine Ward, Chase Temple, Grant Hemingway, Cy Thompson, Parker Capron, Jo Jo Veazey, Timothy Simenc, Nick Hemingway, Steven Cornish, and Alberto Bambach.

 
Team E-mail Communication

 

As most parents and swimmers already know, the Dallas Mustangs is one of the largest swim teams in our LSC. We are active in three locations which is wonderful! However, it does at times, make mass communication somewhat of a challenge. The following information is geared primarily towards new parents and swimmers but returning swimmers may find it helpful as well.  Our primary means of communication is done via e-mail. In the next few months there is probably going to be a lot of information coming your way—scheduling changes, information on the annual intrasquad meet, various social events, meet information, parent meetings, etc. It is extremely important that you let me know if you have not been receiving e-mails or if you have a change of e-mail address at any time during the year.  I have inputted all the e-mail addresses that I have received from the registration chairman, but many of them are being returned to me.  My contact information is Donna Watters, 214-890-0227 (home), 214-535-3205 (cell), vp@dmswim.com or watters7@sbcglobal.net.    We also have a team telephone line, which has general information and is also updated with pertinent scheduling information each week. The number is 972-530-SWAM (7926).  This becomes particularly important for last minute changes when e-mails cannot be distributed quickly enough or when there are problems with the system.  Finally, you will occasionally receive handouts that have been sent home with your swimmer which contains information about upcoming meets or team-sponsored social events.  We try to send home a minimum amount of paper information with swimmers simply because it tends to get lost on the way home. 

 

Annual Team Picnic

 

Mark your calendars now for the kick off social of the 2006-2007 season. The team picnic has been planned for Sunday, September 24th from 4-6 p.m. It will be held at Cottonwood Park in Richardson (on Beltline 1 mile west of Central Expressway) near the pool and tennis courts. Catered barbeque, drinks and cookies from Spring Creek Barbeque will be served. Bring your family and mingle with your coaches, swim friends and other Mustang families. 

 

A flier with information and reservation form will be in your registration swim packet. Make your reservation early by returning the bottom of the form along with a check made out to the Dallas Mustangs for $7 per person and mail by Sept. 18th.

YOU MUST MAKE RESERVATIONS IN ADVANCE TO ENSURE ENOUGH FOOD!

Reservations WILL NOT be accepted at the event, so fill yours out early and help us kick off a great 2006-2007 swim season.  Questions should be directed to our social chairperson, Maryann Martin at social@dmswim.com or 214-821-7588.  GO MUSTANGS!! 

 

 

 

We Need Your Help!

The Dallas Mustangs will host the 18th Annual Haunted Hat meet at Loos pool the weekend of October 20-22.  Volunteers are needed for awards, hospitality, clerk of course, runners, timing systems operators, set up, and tear down. Please help us out by volunteering for the meet.  Volunteers will be awarded Mustang Bucks to be applied towards your swimmer's dues.  Please consult your policy manual for our Mustang Bucks policy.

Jeff Veazey is our meet director and he will be posting information at the pools regarding his volunteer needs. You can contact Jeff at jeffveazey@sbcglobal.net or at 214-348-6233.  Many of the swimmers in this meet will come from the Bronze group, so if you are a parent of one of these swimmers we are encouraging you to please sign up and help us make this meet a success.

You can also assist by donating food, drinks, or other items for hospitality. Donations of items are greatly appreciated.

 

                               

 

ATTENTION MUSTANG PARENTS

 

Parents of all groups, please help the coaches by staying in the stands during practices.  Loos and CFB parents can sit anywhere upstairs and HP parents should stay on the diving board end of the pool in the stands.  Please do not talk to the coaches during practice—the coaches are responsible for the swimmers in the pool. If you have any concerns or questions, you may talk to them after practice. Also, when a coach is giving a private lesson, please do not interrupt them with questions. Thank you for your understanding.

 

OFFICIALS NEEDED

 

Dallas Mustangs is the 2nd largest team in North Texas, yet we only have 3 certified Stroke & Turn judges.  We need your help!!! 

 

In order for the Dallas Mustangs to host future meets, we need to have more officials. In addition, we are required to provide officials at meets hosted by other teams in which the Mustangs are swimming at.  We especially need parents whose children are in the ‘B/C’ or ‘BB’ level, but we welcome anybody.  No experience required—we provide all the training.  If you are interested in participating, please contact Victor Kimm via email at Vkimm@hdrinc.com. 

 

Benefits of being a judge:

  1. You show your children your interest in swimming.
  2. You get to be down at pool level to see your child compete.
  3. You learn more about swimming than you ever thought possible.
  4. At the B/C level meets you get to see some real creative strokes and “Kodak Moments” that you can’t see from the stands.
  5. You get a chance to get wet and get some exercise to boot.
  6. Finally, you get Mustang Bucks in the form of $100.00 for working a minimum of 2 sessions at each of 4 swim meets during the year at meets hosted by other teams.  You get the standard Mustang Bucks ($10 for 5-10 hours/$25 for more than 10 hours) at our DM hosted meets and double for the DASA meet.  So potentially -- if you worked 4 meets for other teams plus all our hosted meets and the DASA meet -- you could earn $250.00 in Mustang Bucks over the course of the year. 

 

So, please support your Dallas Mustangs and start now!

 

Add these links to your favorite’s lists

 

Dallas Mustangs website:     http://www.dmswim.com

North Texas LSC website:    http://www.ntswim.org

USA Swimming website:      http://www.usa-swimming.org

 

All three of these websites have lots of helpful information.  Our website is updated frequently with issues that concern our team primarily and has an archive of newsletters we’ve sent out over the years.  North Texas’ website has the calendar for swim meets, results of meets, meet information and many other important swimming links.  USA

Swimming has an even broader scope and also includes educational material for both swimmers and parents. 

 

Treasurer change of address

 

If you have not already done so, please make a note of the new address for our treasurer, Shannon Rusch.  It is 121 Lansdowne Circle, Coppell, TX 75019.  Her e-mail address is fhrusch@comcast.net.  Please contact Shannon if you do not receive a re-registration packet.

 

 DM Tuition Policy Reminder

The Dallas Mustangs is a competitive year round age-group swimming program.  As such we strive to provide consistent quality coaching and workout facilities.  To achieve this goal we establish pool rental contracts and salary commitments with our coaching staff for a full 12-month period. Tuition amounts are established based on the 12-month budget and divided into monthly or quarterly amounts to provide reasonable payment options for our Dallas Mustang families.  The Dallas Mustangs Swim Team is not, and was not designed to be a swim program where swimmers drop in one month and out the next.  Flexibility has always been important to us.  We try to work with each family on the team and we will continue to do so. 

 

Tuition may be paid quarterly: September, December, March, and June, or monthly.  Tuition paid monthly includes a $5.00 per month processing fee.  (If tuition for the quarter is not paid by the due date, monthly payment has automatically been selected.)

 

·         Tuition is due from September through August.  (If you swim in July, you are responsible for August tuition.)

·         Tuition is due on the 1st of each month/quarter.

·         Leave of Absence (LOA) is available only for injury and medical reasons.

·         There will be a $10.00 per month tuition discount for the second and subsequent swimmers in the same family.  The fourth swimmer is free, but all swimmers must pay the annual registration fee.

·         A swimmer transferring from another team must be in good standing with their old team.

·         Statements are only mailed quarterly. If you have chosen to pay monthly, it is your responsibility to remember to mail or drop off tuition by the first of each month that we do not send statements.

·         There will be a $5.00 per family late fee after the 10th of the month for non-zero balance accounts.

·         The swimmer(s) may be barred from swimming if there is an aged account balance is excess of 60 days.

·         Please indicate in the memo portion of all checks what the payment is for (i.e. Dues – swimmer’s name, meet account, supplies, etc.).

·         If there is a problem with your billing, please contact the treasurer.

·         Should circumstances prevent full payment of your tuition, please contact the president.  Scholarships and alternate payment plans will be addressed on a case by case basis.  (Please Note: Lack of communication is not an option!)

·         Should you choose to leave the team – it is your responsibility to contact the treasurer or registration chairman.  (Informing the coach does not fulfill this responsibility!)

·         If you choose to leave the team for the summer, you must go through the tryout process in the fall. You may not return to workouts until you have attended the tryout, completed paperwork and paid your fees.  You are not automatically guaranteed a spot on the team. If your group is full, your name will be placed on the waiting list.  Any tuition/fee balances that were not paid when you left the team must be paid prior to re-joining the team. 

·         If you choose to leave the team at any point during the year, you MAY NOT represent the Dallas Mustangs at any swim meet or event that occurs after the date you have left the team. Should you choose to participate in a swim meet after you have left the team, you must register for the meet and swim as unattached (Team = UN).  

·         Tuition may be sent with the swimmer to the pool, or mailed to the Treasurer:

DM Treasurer – Shannon Rusch

121 Lansdowne Circle

Coppell, Texas 75019

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