Important Dates

GREAT Swims for RSA at Turkey Meet!

The Raleigh Swimming Association competed in the Thanksgiving Invitational Swim Meet held at Ravenscroft School this past weekend (November 22nd, 23rd, and 24^th).  The Wahoos had some really great swims to mark their best meet of the season.There were several great swims for the Nova practice group in this meet.  Cassidy Holland drop 5 seconds and swam to a personal best time in the 25 back.  Kiko Lamb also swam to best times in all of her events.  She took off over 5 seconds in her 25 breast.  Mandy Spalding also had a great race in her 25 breast, taking off almost 8 seconds.  Congratulations to the follows Novas for participating in their first ever year round swim meet:  Trey Lower, Del Dillard, and Matthew Ahlers. There were several Wahoos that achieved time standards and swam to personal best times.  Patrick D’Alessio and David DeJarnette swam to B times in the 100 breaststroke.  Natalie Hill also achieved a B time in the 100 breast.  McKenzie Randall swam to a B time in the 100 Free, while Jackie Wyche got her first B time in the 50 back.  Sean Rudio got his first B time in the 50 breast, while Toby Rosen also achieved his B time in the 100 breast and 50 backstroke events.  Several Wahoos had personal best times:  Victoria Bell dropped 1 second in the 50 fly, while Cara Chabreck dropped 2 seconds in the 25 fly. Alex Clarke took off two three seconds in the 25 free, Paula Crisp dropped 2 seconds in the 25 breast, while Libby Facchine took 2 seconds off her 50 freestyle. Drew Gintis dropped one second in the 25 fly, Anna Li took 3 seconds off her 50 butterfly, and Rachel Minore dropped 3 seconds in the 25 back. Kendall Pena dropped 4 seconds in the 25 fly, while sister Torie Belle Pena took off 2 seconds in the 50 freestyle, and Julianne Strickland
dropped 2 seconds in the 25 back.  Other good swims were turned in by Savannah Currens in her first ever 50 fly swim, Kayla Mikolajewski, Ryan Spalding, Cat Jacobson. The Dolphin practice group had an outstanding meet.  It seemed like there was a time drop after every single race.  Many Dolphins also reached new time standards.  There were a few "A" times reached in this meet.  Torrey Bussey got her AAA time in the 100 breast, while Grace Robinson achieved her first ever A time in the 50 backstroke.  There were several BB times reached in this swim meet as well.  Philip Ahlers and Andrew Clarke achieved their BB time in the 50 yard breaststroke.  Deniz Gurel got his BB time in the 100 backstroke.  Caitlin Kelly got her BB times in the 50 breast and the 100 freestyle, while Nicole Esplin got her BB in the 50 breast.  Katie Olson dropped 2 seconds and achieved her BB time in the 50 backstroke, while Tessa Pena got her BB time in the 50 backstroke.  There were also many new B time standards reached:  Carolyn Daussin got a B time in the 100 free, while Mona Le achieved a B time in the 100 breast. Thao Le reached a B time in the 50 back and Karen Perry received a B time in the 100 back. Matt Robertson reached a B time in the in the 50 back, while Paige Randall swam to a B time in the 100 free, and Katie Weber achieved a B time in the 100 back.  Other Dolphins had some really large drops:  Hannah Gardner dropped 7 seconds in the 100 fly, Kevin Chabreck dropped time in his 50 breastwhile John Clemmer took off 8 seconds on his 100 free. Steph Daussin took 19 seconds off her 100 back, while Emily Facchine took three seconds off her 100 IM.  Melissa Geiss took 2 seconds off her 100 IM, Lindley Hill swam to a best time in the 100 back, while Katie Mathis swam to a 5 second time drop in the 100 free. Lexi Mitchell dropped 4 seconds in her 100 free, and teammate Heather Robertson dropped 2 seconds in her 100 free. Jacob Tart swam to two first place finishes, while Sage Watkins took off 1 second in the 50 free.    

Thanksgiving Practice Schedule
Wednesday, Nov. 27th - normal practice schedule for Wahoos and Dolphins
Thursday, Nov. 28th- Thanksgiving Day- no practice for all groups
Friday, Nov. 29th- NO PRACTICE FOR ALL GROUPS
Saturday, Nov. 30th- PRACTICE AT CANDLER - Minnows, Novas, & Wahoos 10:30 AM-11:30 AM; Dolphins 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Fall States Scratch Deadline
The Fall States Meet this year will be held at Pullen Aquatic Center. Only swimmers with BB times and above can swim in this meet. If you will not be attending this meet or only will be going to one of the sessions of the meet please email Coach Brian at bgill@swimrsa.org. by Sunday, December 1, 2002

Technique For the Week
A week when we have a meet is always an important week of practice. We have to do a really good job of listening, this week especially when we are working on starts and turns. Here are some things to remember for each of the 4 turns;

1. Freestyle Flip Turn: A lot of swimmers tend to get to close to the wall when you flip. Do a flip so that your body position is like you are sitting in a chair. Make sure you use your arms to flip your body around faster. Plant your feet and push off the wall streamline on your back. Once your feet leave the wall then you can roll over to your stomach.

2. Backstroke Flip Turn: The most important thing about this turn is to know your stroke count. If you do not know it, you will be in trouble! Subtract 1 stroke from your normal count from the flags to the wall. After that last stroke that you subtracted that is when you are suppose to turn over to your stomach and flip. When you turn from your back to your stomach it is like you are doing one corkscrew stroke. Once you turn over you have to flip do not wait! Try your best to swim into the wall in a sprint, so your stroke count will be the same emery time. It helps to make sure that you start counting at the flags with the same arm every time . It is easiest to use the arm that your write with. After you flip you plant your feet and push off on your back.

3. Breaststroke Turn: The breaststroke turn is more difficult than it looks. First thing you must do is to touch with two hands (Make sure your hands are not uneven, you will be DQ'd). After you touch the next thing is to turn your feet and your body side ways. Once you have positioned your feet, you must drop the arm that is closest to the water followed by sinking your head under the water. Next push off the wall and "answer the telephone" with your other arm while pushing off the wall on your side. "Answering the telephone" means to bring your other arm up close to your ear and then enter in the water as you push off under the water. After you push off on your side you can roll to your stomach, do an underwater pull out (one pull and one kick underwater) and then come up swimming breaststroke.

4. Butterfly Turn: The butterfly turn is the same as the breaststroke turn, the only difference is when you push off the wall on your side and you roll over kick fast dolphin kicks under the water to get you up to the surface to swim butterfly.

Great job at the swim meet everyone! Coach Meghan and I were so happy the way every single one of you swam. This was by far the best meet of the season. Times were dropping left and right, and I gave out so many best time ribbons. Great job RSA! See you at practice.

Coach Brian