Top swimmers from over 30 countries took part in the U.S. Open, which was held in San Antonio on December 2-4. This was the last major competition that the world would have in the 20th century. Numerous world record holders, including Jenny Thompson, Lenny Krayzelburg, Penny Haynes, Pieter van den Hoogenband, and Claudia Poll, along with 55 national team members from Australia, contributed to the fastest U.S. Open meet in history. 15 new meet records were set, with 21 of the 32 events being won by our international visitors. The Dallas Mustangs sent a small but talented group to the meet. They were: Sara Haney, Naoko Imoto, Martina Moravcova, Katie McClelland, Courtney Patterson, Brian Stephens and Lotta Wanberg. All of our swimmers swam extremely well and the Mustang women finished an unbelievable 10th place in the team standings.

The Dallas Mustangs finished sixth in a tightly contested COR Classic meet held at Loos in December. Over 30 teams from Texas and the surrounding states competed. Our swimmers competed well and continued to set themselves up for a great season. Those DM swimmers who scored points (meaning that they finished in the top 16):

Haley Hatfiled, Kelsey Hendricks, Lauren Roth, Kristen Masters, Spin Beck, Caroline Jennings, Meredith Grubb, Maggie Marshall, Alexandra Jennings, Rachel Pearson, Megan Daniel, Jennifer Blackman, Candice Blackman, Jennifer Penley, Jessica Shaw, Beth Geis, Amy Danchik, Debbie Forinash, Sarah Wells, Megan McNamara, Clare Williams, Kathryn Collier, Nicholas Low, Michael Carpenter, Brooks Haller, Matt Knubowitz, Armando Cajide, Mohamed El Madani, Kenneth Wherry, Dennis Bowsher, Oscar Masters, Jason Luter, Charlie Morris, Jeff Girard, and Eric Gusa.

Five of our Mustangs traveled to Monroe, Louisiana for the Slick Morton Invitational. They saw some new faces to compete against as 23 teams from Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas traveled to the meet. Caroline Jennings had an incredible meet, winning all nine of the 11-12 girls’ events and that age group’s high point award. The remaining Mustangs also did a great job. Their top results were: Hayley Hatfield (3rd in 100 back, 5th in 100 free), Meredith Higgins (6th in 50 free, 8th in 100 breast, 100 free, 100 back, and 50 back), Alexandra Jennings (6th in 50 back and 100 back), and Spin Beck (4th in 50 breast and 5th in 100 breast).

The Dallas Mustangs organized a training trip to Los Alamos, New Mexico for five days just before Christmas. 25 swimmers from the National and Gold groups took part and ended up having an experience that will last a lifetime. The group flew into Albuquerque and rode a chartered bus to Los Alamos, stopping in Santa Fe to get lunch at the famous Coyote Café. During their stay in Los Alamos, the team enjoyed hiking (where does this trail go anyway?!?), ice skating at an outdoor rink, the Bradbury Atomic Museum, a lot of team bonding, and plenty of good training in the highest 50 meter indoor pool in the country….7000 feet! Needless to say, everyone had trouble catching their breath from the training but all did a great job. Many thanks go to John Wherry for being a chaperone. Those Mustangs who took advantage of this wonderful opportunity were: Matt Acuff, Candice Blackman, Jennifer Blackman, Dennis Bowsher, Alexandra Buckley, Kathryn Collier, Debbie Forinash, Jeff Girard, Eric Gusa, Andrew Hansen, Greg Henderson, Margaret Henderson, Christina Hoover, Bryan Jester, Matt Knubowitz, Jason Luter, Oscar Masters, Courtney Patterson, Warren Renick, Jessica Rowe, Jeff Shipp, Brian Stephens, Sarah Wells, Kenneth Wherry, and Mohamed El Madani.

The Mustangs were well represented by over eighty swimmers at this early December event held at the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD pool. Overall, they finished in second place, a little over a hundred points behind the host team GCAT. Several kids had a chance to swim some new events that they had never competed in before. The environment was conducive to fun and fast swimming. Of the events that our little Mustangs had competed in before, we came away with a best-ever time in about two out of every three efforts.

Those swimmers who placed at least one time in the top 10 in their age group are listed below.

Ashley Andro (11), Ricky Andro (9), Alethea Atkins (7), John Bannon (10), Bri Barfield (12), Latane Barnes (8), Laura Beck (9), Spin Beck (9), Devon Bowsher (11), Alex Brown (9), Claire Butterworth (11), Michael Carpenter (11), Haley Coe (11), Megan Daniel (11), Zak Dominiguez (14), Amy Geis (13), Beth Geis (13), Kelsey Hendricks (9), Meredith Higgins (10), Jun Hirota (11), Kent Irvin (10), Alexandra Jennings (11), Becky Jester (12), Nicole Keller (13), Christie Kimm (9), August Knape (9), Jordan Knape (11), Diana Larsen (10), Mary Elizabeth Larsen (12), Liz Lass (9), Brooke Louisell (15), Lindsey Macintosh (11), Maggie Marshall (12), Kristin Masters (10), Daniel Maute (10), Marcie Maute (10), Will McNamara (6), Nikki Miguel (10), Meredith Monroe (11), Alex Pappas (9), Cort Payne (11), Hannah Penley (10), Jennifer Penley (14), Caroline Pickett (8), Andy Pimentel (11), Charlie Puelz (10), David Pulez (10), Ashley Rape (9), Avery Rape (8), Audrey Rogers (13), Nicholas Saliba (9), Matt Saunders (13), Sean Sessel (10), Sean Stogner (12), Caleb Veazey (9), Maggie Wackel (10), Alexander Weber (9), Jeffrey Wherry (12), Michael Withers (10), Robert Withers (12), Hao Xu (13), Joyce Yee (9), Preston Yetts (11) and Alex Young (10).

The following kids also made at least one of the time standards listed below. It is important to reiterate, many of these swimmers were swimming "off" events and have achieved these levels (or higher) before this meet.

"A" Times

Beth Geis (13), Nicole Kellar (13), Jennifer Penley (14), Ashley Rape (9)

"BB" Times

John Bannon (10), Spin Beck (9), Alex Brown (9), Claire Butterworth (11), Michael Carpenter (11),Megan Daniel (11), Zak Dominguez (14), Amy Geis (13), Kelsey Hendricks (9), Meredith Higgins (10), Alexandra Jennings (11), Diana Larsen (10), Brooke Louisell (15), Maggie Marshall (12), Kristin Masters (10), Daniel Maute (10), Nikki Miguel (10), Meredith Monroe (11), Hannah Penley (10), Charlie Puelz (10), David Puelz (10), Audrey Rogers (13), Matt Saunders (13), Caleb Veazey (9), Maggie Wackel (10), Alexandra Weber (9), and Alex Young (10).

"B" Times

Devon Bowsher (11), Kent Irvin (10), Becky Jester (12), Mary Elizabeth Larsen (12), Lindsey McIntosh (11), Marcie Maute (10), Nicholas Saliba (9), Jeffrey Wherry (12), Joyce Yee (9), and Preston Yetts (11).

The achievement of these goals is important, but it also important to recognize the high level of effort achieved from all of our swimmers.

The Dallas Mustangs would like to welcome the following new swimmers to our team:

Ryan Alexander, Alex Aminzadeh, Grace Ann Arnold, Molly Bollen, Gregory Bradley, Hayley Bybee, Alisha and Rosmin Daya, Alex Palma, Christine Voisinet and James White.

Swim-a-Thon® Y2K is being held on Tuesday, February 1. You’ll get a chance to swim up to 200 lengths during your regular workout time, to help raise money for the Dallas Mustangs. What do you need to do?

1. Make sure you have your pledge envelope (you can pick one or two up at any of the three pools)

2. Get pledges from everyone you can think of. Those pledges add up fast. Additional forms are available when you fill up your envelope.

3. Be at any of the three pools on Tuesday, February 1 at your regular workout time ready to swim. It’s best if you have someone with you to count your lengths, it can be hard to keep track of.

4. Win prizes at the Swim-a-Thon® Y2K. There will be prize drawings at the Swim-a-Thon®.

5. After the Swim-a-Thon®, you’ll collect your pledges, turn them in and get ready to win some more great prizes.

Any pledges, large or small, will be accepted. Bring your pledge stories with you to the Swim-a-Thon®. There might be prizes for the Best Line Used to Get a Pledge, and the Most Interesting Pledge story.

There will be a party later in the spring to award prizes such as something electronic you can use at home or something electronic you can use at swim meets. There will be some great surprises in store for those who participate and raise money for the Dallas Mustangs, including prizes and fun the night of the Swim-a-Thon®. Make sure you are there.

Please note: If your swimmer is unable to swim on February 1, he/she may swim the 200 lengths on another day in lieu of the regular workout. The activities and prizes however, only pertain to Tuesday, February 1.

The Short Course TAGS (Texas Age Group Swimming) Championship Swim Meet will be held March 2-5, 2000, at Loos Natatorium. This meet is hosted by the North Texas Swimming LSC (Local Swim Committee) and we, the Dallas Mustangs, are a part of the LSC. It is the combined team effort of all the teams in our area that make the TAGS meet run smoothly.

Our team responsibilities include computer operations and support for both the meet and time trials, set-up prior to the meet (Wednesday March 1, 2000, in the evening), and clean-up after the meet on Sunday evening. We will be working with volunteers from several teams for both the meet set-up and clean up. Additionally, we have been asked for a list of our trained/certified Colorado timing system operators and a list of general volunteers to be assigned as needed. If your child will be swimming at TAGS, please volunteer to work during one session or set-up/clean-up. A sign-up sheet will be posted on the bulletin board at each pool. Also, even if your child will not be swimming at TAGS, you are welcome to volunteer. This is a wonderful way to meet some new people and see some really exciting swimming.

If you have questions about volunteering for TAGS or can not get by the pool to sign up, please contact Adele Wherry.

A big Mustang thank you goes out to Gayle Hendricks for giving the National group a talk on nutrition. Nutrition can play an important role in an athlete’s performance. So it is important for our swimmers to realize which foods can help performance and which foods hinder progress. Gayle’s knowledge and examples seemed to have a big impact on the swimmers, which will probably translate into faster times in the pool. Hopefully we can talk her into doing some more talks with some of the other groups. Stay tuned to the bulletin board for more information. Thanks again Gayle!

Our new Social Chairman, Stuart Roth, is busy planning the annual Mustang Awards Banquet. The dinner will be held on Sunday, April 30, at 6:00 p.m., at SMU. More details will follow next month. For those of you new to the team, this banquet is a fun chance to look back on the past year and recognize our swimmer's accomplishments. We will also hear from our graduating seniors and from a guest speaker. There will even be a slide show featuring pictures from the current season.

We need your help with two things. First, take pictures (slides only, please) at practice, meets, whenever, of our swimmers in action and get them to Stuart by April 1, 2000. Second, we need a few volunteers to help organize this banquet! Please call Stuart or email him at seroth1@gte.net if you can help out.

Be on the look out for the new team banners, which are sporting the new team logo. One of the banners is already hanging at Loos. Highland Park Pool and CFB will be receiving theirs within the month.

Congratulations to Nicholas Saliba, who swims at Loos, for his academic achievements. In the following letter, his parents describe his accomplishments.

"Nicholas Saliba has been nominated to be a part of the summer program of the DeBusk Enrichment Center for Academically Talented Students (Junior DECATS) in the Dallas Catholic Diocese. Students whose STANFORD 9 test scores meet the guidelines of 95% for Complete Battery are eligible for nomination. Nicholas is in the third grade at St. Rita Catholic School. In addition, Nicholas has been selected to compete, for the second year in a row, at the Dallas Catholic Diocese Academic Fair in the subject of written math. Last year Nicholas placed forth overall among all second graders.

Patty and I are very proud and believe that swimming with the Dallas Mustangs helps promote success at school.

Thanks,

David and Patty Saliba"

Information on academic or other extracurricular accomplishments by swimmers can be submitted to Wendy Begg at teg45@home.com or calling her.

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!

As a quick reference, here are important dates of practice scheduling changes:

17, 26, 27 Loos Closed - All practices at HP (N & G 4:30-6:30, S 6:45-8:15, B 6-7)

20 HP Closed - All practices at Loos (N 5-7:30, G 5:30-7:30, S 6-7:30, B 5:30-6:30)

4, 11, 18 Loos Closed - All practices at HP (N & G 4:30-6:30, S 6-7:30, B 6-7)