April 2010 Archives

Mark you calendar... IAN CROCKER is visiting the FISH to share his knowledge and skills with us!

       His world-class talent and accomplishments come from competing at numerous World Championships and the Olympics.  His past accomplishments are quite plentiful with 7 WORLD RECORDS, being a three time Olympic Champion, and a five-time Olympic Medalist.  Some of his other accolades are winning the 100 Fly at Worlds in '03 and '05 and Duel in the Pool in '05 and '07 and being ranked in the TOP 100 in the World in 2 or 3 events in '05, '06 and '07.

       Ian Crocker was born in Maine, where he grew up and learned to swim.  After a very successful swimming career up north and the 2000 Sydney Olympics under his belt, he decided to move to Texas to join the Texas Longhorns.  As a result, he was able to compete with some of the top athletes in the world at practice and be a part of the "Texas Trio", with Brendan Hansen and Aaron Peirsol.  His progression with success kept happening, both in and outside the pool, eventually, graduating with a degree in Sociology in 2005 and with another Olympics, the 2004 games in Athens, in hand.

• Donations
• Volunteers

           The Fish LC Derby is just around the corner and as you know, this is the "crown jewel" of all the meets we are hosting throughout the season. This is the meet that has gained national recognition, because of its uniqueness.  The LC FISH Derby is run in lieu of the Kentucky Derby and the swimmers do have a lot of fun.  It is a tremendous show and we would like to remind you that we need every FISH parent to support our swimmers.  Please remember to sign up for:

           Food donations and volunteer positions! Sign up sheets are posted on the bulletin board at Spring Hill RECenter or simply send an email to Diane Ellor and let her know how you want to contribute.

Volunteers

     If you can officiate at the Derby, please get in touch with the FISH Officials' Chair, Al Meilus, and let him know directly in which capacity you would like to help.  

     Because it is the Derby, we created special T-Shirts that can be 

pre-ordered until 4/20, or can be bought at the meet!! If you choose to pre-order a t-shirt, simply print the pre-order form, fill in the requested information, attach a check made out to the FISH and place it with the payment in the Team Manager's folder or mail it to her.  

Written by Coach Josh Hyde

2010 NASA Individual Champions

We the FISH have already had an extremely successful season, but a couple of our athletes felt like they had some unfinished business and they decided to trek down to Coral Springs, FL to participate in the first ever National Age Group Swimming Association's Showcase Classic.

Ben Sharrer, who had just been nominated FISH of the Month for March, was one of the athletes who decided to make the trip down to Florida; and he took full advantage of every opportunity. He ended up walking away from this meet with a best time in every event he completed, and achieved an AAA time standard in both the 50 and 100 fly which automatically qualified him for the meet next year as a 10 year old.

The other FISH athlete who made the trip was Isabella Rongione. Isabella has already had an extremely successful season - being a high point winner at Junior Olympics, a multiple PVS record holder, and also a multiple event winner at the Eastern Zones Championship just a short week ago. However, she still felt like she had something left in the tank, and so she set out to NASA Showcase Classic with something to prove. She signed up for a full slate of 12 events over 4 days (which comes out to 23 races with prelims and finals) and ended up putting on one of the most dominant performances I have ever seen. She ended up winning 11 of 12 events (with a second place finish in her only non-winning effort), broke 2 FISH team records, broke 2 more PVS records, and took home the meet High Point Award (with 237 points out of a possible 240).

         We are very excited about this year's upcoming Swim-A-Thon.  It almost marks the end of a very successful short course season for all of us here at the FISH.  For all of you who have already pledged and donated money towards the cause, we thank you very much.  For those of you who are planning to do so within the next few days leading up to the event, we thank you too.  And all of those who donate and pledge even though they cannot participate in this fun event, a special thank you goes to you as well.  Please remember, if you meet your fund raising goal and turn in your envelope with donation BEFORE the Swim-A-Thon, your name will be entered into a drawing for a 30 minute swim lesson with Coach Josh Morgan, Coach Josh Hyde, or Coach Gunther.

           You might already be aware that the FISH has made it possible for Ian Crocker to put on a clinic for its swimmers.  As you can imagine, this is quite an expensive proposition.  Not only are there travel and lodging expenses to be considered, but, you can also probably imagine the fee for an appearance by an Olympian.  Please show your appreciation and support for this special opportunity by supporting our Swim-A-Thon.

          We have reserved this two-hour slot especially for the Swim-A-Thon to take place.  Space is very valuable so please honor the request that only FISH swimmers who are supporting this fundraiser will be able to swim during this reserved time.

·      All swimmers should arrive by 3:30 on Monday afternoon, April 19^th to begin the two hours of swimming.  If you cannot get there by 3:30 p.m., arrive as soon as possible.

·      Please make sure to bring your envelopes and donations.

·      We will have some random drawings of fun prizes right after the completion of the two-hour swim!

·      Be there, you don't want to miss this!

          We are very excited about this year's upcoming Swim-A-Thon.  It almost marks the end of a very successful short course season for all of us here at the FISH.  For all of you who have already pledged and donated money towards the cause, we thank you very much.  For those of you who are planning to do so within the next few days leading up to the event, we thank you too.  And all of those who donate and pledge even though they cannot participate in this fun event, a special thank you goes to you as well.  Please remember, if you meet your fund raising goal and turn in your envelope with donation BEFORE the Swim-A-Thon, your name will be entered into a drawing for a 30 minute swim lesson with Coach Josh Morgan, Coach Josh Hyde, or Coach Gunther.

           You might already be aware that the FISH has made it possible for Ian Crocker to put on a clinic for its swimmers.  As you can imagine, this is quite an expensive proposition.  Not only are there travel and lodging expenses to be considered, but, you can also probably imagine the fee for an appearance by an Olympian.  Please show your appreciation and support for this special opportunity by supporting our Swim-A-Thon.

         Space is very valuable so please honor the request that only FISH swimmers who are supporting this fundraiser will be able to swim during this reserved time.

Terrific, Incredible and Awesome FISH

• All swimmers should arrive by 6:00 am on Saturday morning, April 17^th to begin the two and a half hours of swimming. 
• Please make sure to bring your envelope and donations.
• We will have some random drawings of fun prizes right after the completion of the two-hour swim!!
• Be there, you don't want to miss this!

Mini, Age Group, Advanced Age Group FISH

•  All swimmers should arrive by 5:45 pm on Saturday afternoon, April 17^th to begin the two hours of swimming. 
• Please make sure to bring your envelope and donations.
• We will have some random drawings of fun prizes right after the completion of the two-hour swim!!
• Be there, you don't want to miss this!

Turn in your Swim-A-Thon envelope with donations BEFORE the Swim-A-Thon and have your name entered into a drawing for a 30 minute private lesson with Coach Josh Morgan, Coach Josh Hyde, and Coach Gunther.

Envelopes should be placed in the Swim-A-Thon slot of folders poolside.

      The FISH swim team is off to a great start at the 2010 Eastern Zones SC Championships in Webster, NY. 

       The first race of the day in which the FISH swimmers dominated, was the Women's 10 & Under 100 Yard Freestyle.   Emily Meilus swam a personal best time of 56.88 (breaking the PVS Resident Record) and took second place.  Isabella Rongione came in third with a time of 57.82. 

 The Women's 100 Yard Freestyle race seemed just to be a warm-up for the FISH swimmers.  Only a few hours later, Isabella Rongione, Emily Meilus, and Michelle Owens faced each other in the Women's 10 & Under 500 Yard Freestyle race.  And what a race it was!!  They all took time off and Isabella Rongione set yet another breath-taking record with a time of 5:25.23, dropping nearly 3 seconds off her recent best time swum at the Junior Olympics, taking first place.  Just in case you didn't know, 5:26.22 was Elizabeth Beisel's Zone record - she went on to the 2008 Olympics!  Emily Meilus came in second, also with a fantastic best time of 5:27.44, taking nearly five seconds off of her best time which she achieved at the Junior Olympics just two weeks ago.  Michelle Owens took sixth place making her best time a 5:46.75 after swimming a tough 200 IM earlier.

In the Women's 10 & Under 50 Fly, Joanne Fu swam a personal best time of 30.21, taking 5^th place.  She keeps getting faster and faster!  The taper must have worked.

In the Women's 10 & Under 200 IM, Michelle Owens took fourth place with a best time of 2:26.80.  This is a fantastic time.  She really is tough in all four strokes.

On the men's side, 11 & 12 Men's 100 Freestyle, Christopher Murphy took second place with a fast time of 52.71.

In the Women's 10 & Under 200 Freestyle Relay,  Isabella Rongione and Emily Meilus had amazing splits and Potomac Valley took first place with a time of 1:49.28.

In the Men's 11&12 400 Freestyle Relay, Christopher Murphy let off the relay and Potomac Valley took first place with a time of 3:32.06.

Congratulations to all!  Let's see what tomorrow brings!

        Jessica Rogers competed in the Canadian/American Paralympic Nationals in San Antonio, Texas March 24-26^th.  The event included celebrated Paralympic swimmers such as Erin Popovich and Jessica Long, as they attempted to qualify for selection to the USA world team for the upcoming International Paralympic Committee championships in the Netherlands.  Even though the Can-Am meet is a national event combined for USA and Canadian swimmers with physical disabilities, swimmers from Mexico, Colombia, Canada, Turkey and even Azerbijan came to compete. 

        Jessica Rogers entered the meet ranked 12^th in the world, 1^st in the US, in breast stroke. Jessica hoped to bring home a gold medal, and that's exactly what she did; two of them: the 100m and the 200m breast stroke.  Her final event, the 200M breast stroke, was definitely her best technical swim as she achieved near perfect negative split times-touching out the competition for a first place finish. Her 100 M event was also an exciting swim. To view her 100 M Breast race click here.

        Jessica has dropped 29 seconds off of her 100 M breast stroke time in the past 7 months as she added more practices to her weekly schedule including long course practices at Wakefield.  As a result, she moved into 8^th ranked position in the world . 

       Jessica achieved best times in all of her events. She plans to swim in similar meets in Ohio, Chicago, and Canada this year and next, before she moves on to the paraolympic trails in 2012.  

      Congratulations, Jessica!