The Mustangs have been churning up the waters lately and have put themselves in position for an incredible championship season. Mustangs young and old have had some impressive performances during the past month. Katie McClelland and Martina Maravcova traveled to Europe for a series of FINA World Cup meets, both placing in the top three several times. Courtney Patterson made a National Qualifying time in the 100 back at High School Regionals. And our 10 & under girls are showing their depth by qualifying with A and B relays for TAGS. These accomplishments, along with strong efforts to date from many other Mustang swimmers, make for strong and exciting DM teams for TAGS, Juniors, and Senior Nationals.

THIS IS A FRIENDLY REMINDER FROM YOUR TREASURER:

QUARTERLY DUES ARE TO BE PAID BY MARCH 1^ST. DON’T BE LATE!

The first A meet of the new millenium was held at LAC and the Mustangs had many strong performances, even though most were still recovering from intense holiday practices. Those Mustangs finishing in the top eight in individual events were: Lauren Roth, Kelsey Hendricks, Meredith Higgins, Kristen Masters, Caroline Jennings, Meredith Grubb, Maggie Marshall, Candace Blackman, Jennifer Blackman, Jennifer Penley, Jessica Shaw, Beth Geis, Debbie Forinash, Sarah Wells, Christina Hoover, Courtney Patterson, Clare Williams, Sara Haney, Nicholas Low, Brooks Haller, Matt Knubowitz, Armando Cajide, Eric Gusa, Warren Renick, Drew Maute, Kenneth Wherry, Dennis Bowsher, Jeff Girard and Brian Stephens. Congratulations, Mustangs!

Over 50 teams with more than 1000 swimmers, crowded into Loos Swimming Center on the first weekend in February to compete in this year’s Greater Southwest Invitational. The meet had a good mix of teams from across Texas, as well as teams from Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and New Mexico. The Mustangs showed their competitiveness by ending up 5^th overall in the team standings. Those Mustangs scoring valuable points were: Lauren Roth, Kristen Masters, Caroline Jennings, Candace Blackman, Jennifer Blackman, Courtney Patterson, Megan McNamara, Sarah Wells, Sara Haney, Naoko Imoto, Debbie Forinash, Matt Knubowitz, Eric Gusa, Andrew Hansen, Kenneth Wherry, Jeff Girard, Dennis Bowsher, Warren Renick, Armando Cajide, Mohamed El Madani and Brian Stephens. Great Job, Mustangs!!!

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!

Just a reminder for those parents who will be attending any workouts at Highland Park, the parents’ seating section is in the first section of stands at the diving board end of the pool (east end). Please abide by this team policy so that we can minimize distractions for both the swimmers and coaches. Also, please direct any questions to the coaches before or after workout, or by phone (coaches phone numbers are in the team directory). Thank you for your consideration regarding these matters.

USA Swimming will be changing the way in which they conduct their National Championship meets starting in the year 2001. In order to get more of a team concept and hopefully more excitement into the National Championships, there will be 12-16 sectional meets around the country, which will replace the current Junior Championships. The top three scoring teams from each of these sectionals will take the top ten females and top ten males from their teams to Nationals. Teams can take more than ten if more individuals make the National Time Standards. Also, individuals not on the top three teams in each section can still go to Nationals if they achieve the qualifying times. The time standards for the sectional meets should be easier than the current Junior Time Standards, which will allow more swimmers to qualify and travel to the meet.

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 a $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!

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

Starting with the next newsletter, swimming families will be receiving a message, in the form of a link to the Dallas Mustangs website when a new newsletter is published. In other words, instead of receiving the newsletter through the postal service, we are going to use the electronic highway to deliver our news. Why? Because it delivers the information to our team members more quickly, it saves the team money spent for printing and postage, and it saves many hours of volunteer time for assembly. In addition, it will enable our swimming families to review the website on a regular basis and check for news and other important updates. On March 1^st I will email a test message to those families whom have email addresses currently listed in the team directory. If you wish to receive your message to a different email address or have any other changes to inform me about, then please email me at teg45@home.com with the subject header "DM newsletter". For those of you who do not have an email account, you will still receive the newsletter through the mail. If you have any questions, please call Wendy Begg at 972-307-3128.

We still need more swimming officials in our LSC. If you have any interest in becoming more involved with your child’s sport in this manner, please call John Bowsher for information about training clinics (972-241-1961).

We still are in need of volunteers for Short Course TAGS which will be from 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 responsible for 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. If your child will be swimming at TAGS, please volunteer to work during one session or set-up/clean-up. Please call Adele Wherry ASAP to help out our team (972-418-1544).

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.

A round of applause goes to Dennis Bowsher, who swims with the National group at Loos. Dennis is a Junior at W.T. White High School and was elected to the National Honors Society. In addition, Dennis recently placed first in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 IM in the High School 4-A Regionals. Congratulations Dennis!

Information on academic or other extracurricular accomplishments by swimmers can be submitted to Wendy Begg at teg45@home.com or 972-307-3128.

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!

There has been a change in the procedure for starting a race in swimming. The "A" Meets have been using whistle starts for some time now, and beginning with the start of the Long Course season, all age groups will be using this procedure. It goes as follows: An announcer will state the event number, stroke, distance and heat. At the commencement of each heat, the Referee shall signal to the swimmers by a short series of whistles to remove all clothing except for swimwear, followed by a long whistle indicating that they should take their positions on the starting platform and remain there. When the swimmers and officials are ready, the Referee shall signal with an outstretched arm to the starter that the swimmers are under the Starter's control. On the Starter's command "take your mark", the swimmers shall immediately assume their starting position. When all swimmers are stationary, the starter shall give the starting signal.

February 28^th HP closed; TAGS party from 6-7:30 p.m. at Loos, w/o’s N, G & TAGS swimmers 5-6 p.m.

March 2^nd – 5^th Short Course TAGS

March 2^nd & 3^rd All w/o’s at HP; N, G, S 4:30 – 6 p.m., B 6 – 7 p.m.

March 4^th No w/o’s

March 9^th – 11^th American Short Course Championships in Austin

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^th Junior Championships in Orlando

March 23^rd B/C Meet entries due

March 25^th No w/o’s

March 27^th- 31^st SPRING BREAK FOR TEAM – NO WORKOUTS!

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