(Posted April 20, 2000)

A third of the country’s best swimmers gathered in Orlando for the first and last Short Course Junior Championships of the Millenium. The Dallas Mustangs were trying to improve on their 35th place team finish from this past summer’s meet, which was also in Orlando. Our team was made up of rookies and veterans, all of whom swam fast enough to make the challenging qualifying times for the meet. This year’s team was: Candace Blackman, Jennifer Blackman, Debbie Forinash, Sara Haney, Courtney Patterson, Jeff Girard, Eric Gusa, Andrew Hansen, Charlie Morris, Brian Stephens, and Warren Renick. Nine out of the eleven scored points for the team, as the Mustangs finished 22nd overall, the second highest Juniors finish in team history. It was a great team performance, whether it was a rookie stepping up with a big swim or someone battling through their third or even forth shave of the season. This is a competitive and talented group that has already set their sights on making this summer’s Junior Championships the best our team has ever had. Congratulations and keep up the good work!

The following is a list of the swimmers and their accomplishments (top 16 score):

Candace Blackman – 100 Fr (41st), 200 Fr (34th), 50 Fr (18th)

Sara Haney – 200 Br (33rd), 100 Br (28th)

Brian Stephens – 200 Br (17th), 100 Br (8th), 200 IM (28th)

Jeff Girard – 200 Br (53rd)

Courtney Patterson – 200 Bk (13th), 200 IM (42nd)

Jennifer Blackman – 50 Fr (56th)

Women 400 Fr Relay – J. Blackman, Patterson, Forinash, C.Blackman (8th)

Women 800 Fr Relay – Forinash*, J. Blackman, Patterson, C. Blackman (17th)

*Individual Junior qualifying time on lead off

Men 800 Fr Relay – Renick, Hansen, Girard, Stephens (27th)

Women 400 Medley Relay – J. Blackman, Haney, Patterson, C. Blackman (16th)

Men 400 Medley Relay – Morris, Stephens, Gusa, Renick (16th)

The Dallas Mustangs were represented by eight athletes at this season’s National Championships in Seattle. Swimmers from around the world came to compete in the last major meet on American soil, before the United States Olympic Trials this summer. Our Mustangs battled well, winning three individual events and numerous top eight finishes, along with the Championship Crown in the Women’s 400 Medley Relay (Courtney Patterson, Katie McClelland, Martina Moravcova, and Naoko Imoto). Martina also received the Kuphuth Award, which is given to the top scorer in the meet. We have some amazing swimmers associated with our club and we are extremely proud of their accomplishments. It is exciting to know that we will once again be well represented at the Olympics. Congratulations on some incredible efforts.

Martina Moravcova – 200 IM (1st), 100 Fl (1st), 200 Fr (1st), 100 Fr (2nd)

Naoko Imoto – 50 Fr (19th), 200 Fr (5th), 100 Fr (5th)

Katie McClelland – 100 Br (3rd), 200 Br (5th)

Courtney Patterson – 100 Bk (47th)

Pat O’Keeffe – 100 Fl (54th)

Ed Wagner – 50 Fr (34th)

Men’s 400 Medley Relay – El Madani, Stephens, O’Keeffe, Wagner (12th)

The Highland Park Pool will be closing for renovations on May 1st and will remain closed until September. Starting on May 1st, the following schedule will be in place:

HP Gold 5:30-7:30 PM @ Loos

HP Silver 7:00-8:30 PM @ SMU OR 6-7:30 PM @ Loos

HP Bronze 6:15-7:15 PM @ SMU

Then beginning May 30, we will begin the summer schedule. Please note that the Gold group will swim on Wednesday mornings and NOT Wednesday afternoons.

National 7-9 AM @ SMU M-F, 3:30-6:15 PM @ Loos M-T-TH-F

Gold 7-9 AM @ SMU M-F, 4-6:15 PM @ Loos M-T-TH-F

Loos Silver 6-7:30 PM @ Loos

HP Silver 5:45-7:15 PM @ SMU

Loos Bronze I & II 6:30-7:30 PM @ Loos

HP Bronze 5-6 PM @ SMU

CFB Blue 5-6 PM @ CFB

CFB Red 5-6 PM @ CFB

Please be aware that even though we will be training inside (and sometimes outside for the Silver group) we will treat the SMU practices as though they are outside practices and will be cancelled incase of bad weather. We have no choice concerning this policy because the college swimmers who are normally training outside will need to move inside and there will not be enough room. Remember that the Loos practices are always an option.

One other note, we will switch the Loos pool over to long course on May 12th.

The Dallas Mustangs have the privilege of adding a fresh new face to it’s coaching staff. Chuck Rogers is the new coach of the Loos Silver group. Chuck is a native Texan (from Monahans, Texas) who recently graduated from TCU with a degree in Marketing and Management. He currently works with "Option One Mortgage Company" as an Account Executive. Chuck started his swimming career with a summer recreational team and joined the USS swimming circuit at age 12. He swam on his high school team as well as for TCU. His coaching experience has been directed towards age group swimming. Please be sure to welcome Chuck to the team!

Yahoo! It’s time for our team trip! This year we will be returning to Shreveport, Louisiana to compete in the Damon-McCoy Invitational from June 16th – 18th. The meet is open to all levels of swimmers and to all age groups. Be on the look out for information, which should be posted on the bulletin boards at the pools within the next few weeks.

It’s been a long wait but we have finally received the awards for the GCAT meet held in December. Check your folders for those awards.

The Dallas Mustangs would like to welcome the following new swimmers to our team: Laura McGarrah, Alexis Vigiers, Jennifer Gommesen, Lexie Janak, Clark Markham, Caroline Glass, Ryan Gunter, Kara Leediker, Kate MacKenzie, Jessica Tucker, Nancy Fuentes and Lindsey Smith. Welcome to our team!

In addition to qualifying for TAGS in six events and swimming four best times, John Bannon has had a phenomenal school year so far. He has maintained high straight A's 4 grading periods in a row and was named Citizen of the Month this month at McCulloch Intermediate School. Also, he and his 6 teammates came in second place at the Regional Competition of Destination Imagination and received a Da Vinci award. John is 10 years old and swims with the Silver group at Highland Park.

Jonathan Harper, who swims with the Gold group at Loos, has decided to take a leave from swimming for several months because he is going to school at night, as well as all day, so that he can complete high school in 3 years. This will be the second time he has skipped a grade! He completed third and fourth grades in one year in elementary school, so he will be 16 years old in the fall when he goes to college. He has been accepted at the University of Texas at Dallas (in Richardson) on a full scholarship for a major in Computer Science. He also was nominated for the Texas Aerospace Scholars Program at NASA in Houston. This is given to 200 Texas students who meet certain qualifying standards. Jonathan is anxious to return to swimming, which he will do as soon as he is finished with night school. He will live on campus the UTD campus next year and plans to continue swimming for the Mustangs while in college.

Brian Stephens (aka Norm), was named 2000 All-Area Swim Team Most Valuable Boy Swimmer of the Year, by the Dallas Morning News. Brian swims with the National Group at Loos and for Highland Park High School, where he is a Senior. On Sunday, April 16, 2000, the Dallas Morning News published a special section of the Sports News entitled "All-Area Teams – High School Winter Sports". It is in that section that Brian is profiled. For those of you who missed it, check out our website www.dmswim.com.

Matt Saunders (swims in the Gold group at Loos) and classmates from Garland's Austin Academy for Excellence have much to be proud of lately. They designed and built a robot (the Texas Torque) that competed in the US FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science & Technology) Robotics Competition this spring. The team, consisting of two drivers, a student coach and a human player (Matt), traveled with the robot to competitions in Houston, TX. and Long Island, New York. The "game" consisted of two teams playing in an alliance against two allied opposing teams to score 13" balls into a goal and then position themselves on the ramp to earn final points. At the Lone Star Regional the team placed second, and at the Long Island Regional the team swept the awards with the Delphi Creative Design award, Spirit Award and the first place trophy, beating high school teams from New York, Mass., New Jersey, and Puerto Rico.

Elisa Alleman, who swims with the Blue group at CFB Pool, won 1st place in the 4th grade Spelling at Hebron Valley Elementary School, and was named the fourth grade Spelling Champion. She participated in UIL Spelling and after competing with 40 other children in 10 different schools, she placed fourth overall in the District!

The Swim-A-Thon 2000 was by all standards, a tremendous success! In excess of $20,000 was raised by the team and all swimmers who participated are to be congratulated for their hard work. The coaches for each group are also to be commended for their efforts in encouraging the swimmers to participate.

For those of you who were not in attendance at the SAT party, you really missed a spectacular event! Mook looked ravishing in his low-cut, floral maternity dress, especially as it ballooned out around his ears when he jumped off the 10-meter diving board! Doug Moyse and Tom Hendricks were the picture of bravery as they crawled on their hands and knees to view the pool before they too, plummeted 10 meters into the water below. It has been reported that all three went for much needed chiropractic attention immediately following the party.

That was of course only the beginning of the fun for the swimmers. After eating, they were treated to an endless supply of cream pies that they hurled at their coaches with great glee! Most of the coaches looked like snowmen with the exception of Meredith Rhodenbaugh, whose swimmers thought it would be more amusing to hit her in the behind with the pies!

Hopefully everyone had fun at the party and now can look forward to raising even more money for the team next year! Thanks again for your efforts!

What for? The DM Swim Classic and Senior Circuit Meets.

When? The DM Swim Classic is being held from May 5th – 7th and Senior Circuit from June 3rd – 6th.

Why? Because if we are to run efficient meets and not burn out the same volunteers, we need everyone’s cooperation; because your swimmer is involved in a sport which depends on parental involvement from everyone.

Our immediate needs are obviously for the DM Swim Classic. There will be sign up sheets at all the pools very shortly. Please sign up to do something. It should be noted that most of the help needed does not require a lot of skill or knowledge and that so-called "seasoned volunteers" are available to orient new volunteers Hospitality, which is provided to all the coaches and officials attending our meets, is an area of great need. Nelia Buckley is the Chairperson for Hospitality. She will also be posting sign-up sheets for donations of food for the meets. If you would like to help her out, please call her at 972-393-5144.

For any further questions about either meet and how you can help, please call Adele Wherry at 972-418-1544. Thank you.

The newsletter is now being received by email by over half of the team. This is a quicker, more cost efficient way to send the newsletter and will be the only way it is sent beginning the fall season. At that time, swimmers who have not submitted a working email address will need to pick up a hard copy of the newsletter at the pools. For the time being however, those swimmers who have not given me their email addresses will continue to receive the newsletter through the mail. I will be at the registration table at the banquet on April 30th, and will be asking for email address updates. Please help me to make this as efficient a communication tool as possible. Thank you.

Remember Mook and Meredith Rhodenbaugh are available for swim lessons. If you are interested in private instruction for your swimmer, please call Mook at 214 -768-1641 or Meredith at 972-889-SWIM to set up lessons

The Masters swim program at H.P. will be ending effective April 28th and at Loos effective May 26th. Both programs will resume the normal practice schedule September 11th, 2000. Call Mook with any questions at 972-889-SWIM.

In addition to the information that is scheduled here for the team, remember that the entire swimming schedule for our LSC is posted on the North Texas website www.ntswim.org. It can be accessed as such or through the link "North Texas Swimming" listed under "Affliates and Friends" on our website www.dmswim.com

April 22nd National w/o 6 – 8 a.m. at SMU; Gold and Silver w/o 9 – 11 a.m. at H.P.

April 29th National w/o TBA; Gold and Silver w/o 9 – 11 a.m. at H.P.

April 30 th Annual Swim Banquet at 6 p.m. at SMU

May 1st H.P. Pool closed for renovations

May 4th B/C meet information due

May 5th – 7^th DM Swim Classic for 14 years & under; PLEASE VOLUNTEER TO HELP!

May 5th – 7^th A/BB meet hosted by FAST for 15 years & over

May 6th No Saturday workouts

May 12th Loos Pool converted to long course

May 13th Workouts TBA

May 18th A/BB meet information due

May 20th –21^st B/C meet at Duncanville HS

May 20th Workouts TBA

May 27th Workouts TBA

May 29th Memorial Day! Workouts for National group only 7 – 9 a.m. at SMU

May 30th START SUMMER SCHEDULE

June 3rd – 4^th A/BB meets; 12 & under at Tyler, 13 & over at UTA

June 3rd No Saturday workouts

June 10th – 11^th B/C meet in Waco

June 16th – 18^th Team Trip to Shreveport!

National 7-9 AM @ SMU M-F, 3:30-6:15 PM @ Loos M-T-TH-F

Gold 7-9 AM @ SMU M-F, 4-6:15 PM @ Loos M-T-TH-F

Loos Silver 6-7:30 PM @ Loos

HP Silver 5:45-7:15 PM @ SMU

Loos Bronze I & II 6:30-7:30 PM @ Loos

HP Bronze 5-6 PM @ SMU

CFB Blue 5-6 PM @ CFB

CFB Red 5-6 PM @ CFB

Please note that the Bronze and Silver practices at SMU will be treated as though they will be outside, even though they will be swimming inside (and some outside for Silver). This is due to the SMU college swimmers needing to be inside in case of bad weather.