E-Mail Address is VERY IMPORTANT!

Please be aware that we use e-mail as our primary means of communication. Each month when the newsletter is posted on our web site, you will receive an e-mail notification so that you know the latest newsletter is available. E-mail is also used when there is an unavoidable change in schedule and to remind you of approaching deadlines. Please make sure that you provide your current email address on your re-registration forms. Should your email address change during the year, please provide your new e-mail address to our registration chairman Ted Shaw via email at regis@dmswim.com.

If you do not have an email address, copies of the newsletter will be available at the pools. It is your responsibility to check the bulletin boards for announcements and to pick up a copy of the current newsletter. Our team phone line 972-530-SWAM (7926) will also have a recording that will include any schedule updates.

Longtime members of the Dallas Mustangs know that our team really is something special.  And it is the involvement of our swimmers, coaches and their families that makes this team work.  With that in mind, our annual picnic will be held this year on Sunday, September 30 at 4:00 pm.  This is a great chance for new swimmers and their families to get to meet our veteran swimmers and families. We will be making an extra effort to get huge attendance at this year's picnic, and we are starting by giving everyone plenty of notice about the date and time.  Reserve the picnic on your calendar now!

More details, including directions to the park, the menu, cost, etc., will be distributed at registration and via email during September.  If you have questions or would like to volunteer to help, contact Stuart Roth at 972-939-1451, before 9:00 pm please. See you there!

Effective September 4th, the Silver group at Highland Park will be divided into two groups. The Silver I group will practice at the same time it always has, 6:45 to 8:15 pm M-Th, and 4:30 to 6:00 pm on Friday’s. The new Silver II group will practice from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, M-F. The split of the Silver group will accomplish two things. First and foremost this will allow the coaching staff increased opportunity to provide the stroke instruction and individual attention that we feel is necessary for this group of swimmers to improve and stay excited about swimming.  Secondly, this will allow us to narrow the large disparity in current abilities of those swimmers in the pool at the same time and provide intermediate goals for the swimmers in this Silver group.  

The criteria for the Silver I group remains as the current criteria: you must have achieved three (3) 10 & Under "BB" time standards. The criteria for the Silver II group will be by coaches invitation, and will include those swimmers in the HP Silver group who have individual TAGS cuts and have trained effectively in the fastest two workout lanes. The TAGS cuts are "AA" or better on the time standards charts. The Silver II group will workout in the pool at the same time as the HP Gold group, however they will have a separate workout and their own lanes. This is not designed as an alternative practice time for Silver I swimmers. There is not space for swimmers to "drop-in" if they have a conflict with the later Silver I practice time. Even with the TAGS cuts, Silver II swimmers must be able to effectively stay up with the workout. Those swimmers who will be part of the initial Silver II group will be contacted prior to September 2^nd. Please contact Coach Doug Moyse if you have any additional questions regarding the Silver I or Silver II groups.

The Dallas Mustangs will hold our Annual Intrasquad Meet on Tuesday, October 2nd from 5:30-7:30 PM at Loos. All Swimmers and parents are encouraged to attend. There will not be any workouts offered that evening at Highland Park or CFB Natatorium. This is always great fun for the swimmers because it offers them a chance to show their spirit, get to know more of their teammates, and get some racing in before the actual meet season begins. (Swimmers are divided into eight teams with members from each age/workout group on each of the teams) Parents: this is also a great time to meet other parents and find out just how loud and spirited the Dallas Mustangs team can be. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend!

Thanks to all who participated in the Foley’s Charity Day fundraising event. We raised over $700 for the Mustangs and I know a lot of people went shopping at the new Foleys at the Shops of Willowbend in Plano. We will get additional money from Foley’s after they have finalized everything from the Charity Day. The Foley’s store manager told me that over $90,000 was raised by local charities that day. Thanks again for everyone’s participation and help.

Chad Rummel is the new Bronze coach at Loos. Chad started swimming at age 7. He swam for Santa Monica, CA High School and then he swam collegiately at TCU.  He swam for two USA Swimming teams, LAC and Arlington Aquatics (now MARS).  He is a high school certified PE/Health teacher and is employed by the Garland and Richardson ISD's.  Chad has also coached summer league and masters swimming over the years. Welcome to the Dallas Mustangs, Chad!

The Dallas Mustangs is a competitive year round age-group swimming program. As such we strive to provide consistent quality coaching and workout facilities. To achieve this goal we establish pool rental contracts and salary commitments with our coaching staff for a full 12-month period. Tuition amounts are established based on the 12-month budget and divided into monthly or quarterly amounts to provide reasonable payment options for our Dallas Mustang families.

The Dallas Mustangs Swim Team is not and was not designed to be a swim program where swimmers drop in one month and out the next. Flexibility has always been important to us. We try to work with each family on the team and we will continue to do so. Over the last several months, however, it has come to the attention of the Board that there is a misunderstanding and perhaps some miscommunication occurring regarding taking time off from the team and leaves of absence (LOA).

To clarify the team policy on these issues:

• Leave of Absence (LOA): this status is designed for those swimmers who have an illness, injury or extenuating circumstances that will prevent their participation on the team for a period of time. Placement on LOA requires prior approval of the Head Coach, Mook Rhodenbaugh, or Head Age-Group Coach, Doug Moyse. While a swimmer’s status is LOA they will continue to receive all team communications, but will not be responsible for tuition payments. LOA status is only granted in full month segments, ie. tuition will not be pro-rated for an illness/injury that keeps a swimmer out of the water for 2 weeks, etc.
• Time off from the team: There are sometimes circumstances where a swimmer may decide to take the summer off or may be gone for more than a month on vacation or at camp. etc. This is not an approved leave of absence! While the swimmer is a member of the team, their place is being held for them regardless of whether they workout during that month or not. Attending workout even once during a month incurs tuition responsibility for that month, as attendance is your choice. The coaches are at workout ready to coach and the pool facility has been rented. If you choose to take time off and do not wish to be responsible for tuition, you must inform our registration chairman, Ted Shaw (e-mail: regis@dmswim.com) that you are off the team prior to the 10^th of the month in which you have dropped off. While you are off the team you will not receive any team communications. When you decide to return to the team, you will be treated as a new swimmer and will be allowed to return only if space is available in your workout group. Returning swimmers must complete paperwork, clear any past due balances and pay tuition for the current month/quarter before returning to workout. Swimmers taking the summer off must go through the try-out process, complete registration paper work and pay fees as if they are a new swimmer to the team.

If you have any questions regarding the clarification of these team policies, please contact Adele Wherry via e-mail at pres@dmswim.com or phone 972-418-1544.

Billing statements are mailed out quarterly. The Dallas Mustang quarters are: September/October/November, December/January/February, March/April/May, and June/July/August. Tuition payments are due the 1^st of each month/quarter and are late after the 10^th of the month. If you choose to pay tuition on a monthly basis it is your responsibility to schedule payments for the 2^nd and 3^rd months of the quarter, as you will not receive a statement monthly.

GET READY!!!! The first meet that we will host this season is the "historic" Haunted Hat Meet. It is scheduled for the weekend of October 13 and 14. We will need a lot of volunteers, so please mark those days on your calendar. Please consider putting a business or spirit ad in the Haunted Hat heat sheet. It is a great fundraiser for our team and can earn your swimmer 25% of the ad’s value in Mustang Bucks. There will be more details to follow regarding this fun meet in the weeks to follow!

The Dallas Mustangs will host a Swim Clinic at CFBISD Natatorium, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 8 at 10:00-11:30 am. This clinic is for all Dallas Mustangs and any non-Dallas Mustangs who like to learn more about swimming and our team. There is no cost. Please check the team phone line at 972-530-SWAM (7926) for an updated schedule on this event. Bring a friend!!!

Many ingredients go into being successful. One is having the desire to do something great and the willingness to push through the tough times in order to take a step closer to your goal. Another must is continually building the attitude and the confidence in yourself that you can do anything you put your mind to.

Our championship season was another example of our Mustangs, young and old, striving towards and meeting high goals. We should applaud the incredible efforts that our swimmers give day in and day out. And also a challenge goes out to all of our swimmers.

To those listed below, improve upon these fine performances printed in this newsletter. And to those swimmers not listed, join the following swimmers to new heights this coming season.

The Dallas Mustangs traveled with ten athletes to Clovis, California for the United States National Championships. The best swimmers from the 50 states gathered to find out which swim clubs had the most depth and best competitors. The top 10 team standings:

Circle C (Austin) 520.5

Novauqautics (CA) 423

Gator (FL) 212

Curl-Burke (MD) 178

Sun Devils (AZ) 174

Dallas Mustangs 138

Cy-Fair (Houston) 137

KC Blazers (MO) 134

Santa Clara (CA) 122

Trojan (CA) 116.5

This is the highest team finish ever for the Mustangs. The best part about the meet was the manner in which our swimmers fought for every point, right down to the last race. Even though our men’s medley relay moved us up to sixth by a single point, everyone took pride in the fact that they contributed to a great team effort.

Congratulations to our U.S. National team members for their performances:

Candace Blackman (37th - 100 fr, 20th - 200 fr, 32nd - 100 fl, 10^th – 50 fr)
Jennifer Blackman (relays)
Katie McClelland (21st - 200 br, 18th - 100 br)
Dallas Marshall (45th - 100 fr, 57^th – 100 fl)
Codie Hansen (39th - 200 fr)
Matt Weghorst (25th - 100 fr)
Chris Epp (15th - 200 fr, 18th - 400 fr)
Tim Carlson (6th - 200 br, 13th - 100 br, 15th - 200 IM)
Bart Fassino (relays)
Rob Harrison (relay)
Women’s 400 Free Relay - 3rd (Hansen, Blackman, J., Marshall, Blackman, C.)
Women’s 800 Free Relay - 3rd (Blackman, J., Hansen, Marshall, Blackman, C.)
Men’s 400 Free Relay - 8th (Weghorst, Epp, Carlson, Fassino)
Men’s 400 Medley Relay 8th (Harrison, Carlson, Fassino, Epp)

Our team’s success on the championship level actually started in July at the US Sectional meet, held in less than ideal conditions in Oklahoma City. All of the Texas teams and a few Oklahoma teams participated and battled to the final team standings of:

Cy-Fair Swim Team 952.5

Circle C Swimming 756.5

City of Plano 424

The Woodlands 397

Just has been the case throughout the history of this team, the Mustangs displayed a great team effort. Incredible individual efforts combined with depth and strength on relays made the Mustangs hard to beat throughout the meet. Special attention goes to Candace Blackman, Katie McClelland, Matt Weghorst, and Josh Kittrell for their victorious individual swims. The following is a list of everyone’s accomplishments:

Candace Blackman (1^st – 50 fr, 1^st – 100 fr, 1^st – 200 fr, 6^th – 400 fr, 2^nd – 100 fl, 9^th – 200 fl)

Jennifer Blackman (4^th – 50 fr, 4^th – 100 fr, 5^th – 200 fr, 9^th – 100 bk, 13^th – 100 fl)

Dallas Marshall (6^th – 50 fr, 9^th – 100 fr, 17^th – 200 fr, 10^th – 100 bk, 14^th – 100 fl, 17^th – 200 IM)

Codie Hansen (8^th – 50 fr, 6^th – 100 fr, 3^rd – 200 fr, 9^th – 200 fr, 11^th – 400 fr)

Debbie Forinash (14^th – 50 fr, 16^th – 100 fr, 12^th – 200 fr, 11^th – 400 fr, 6^th – 800 fr, 8^th – 1500 fr, 36^th - 100 br)

Julia Polmeroy (53^rd – 50 fr, 3^rd – 100 br, 9^th – 200 br)

Amy Danchik (55^th – 50 fr, 54^th – 100 fr, 56^th – 200 fr)

Courtney Patterson (5^th – 100 bk, 17^th – 200 bk, 32^nd – 100 fl, 21^st – 200 IM)

Kaileen Gersper (33^rd – 200 bk, 27^th – 100 br, 23^rd – 200 br, 42^nd – 200 IM)

Katie McClelland (1^st – 100 br, 2^nd – 200 br)

Tiffany Bohon (5^th – 100br, 14^th – 200 br, 55^th – 200 IM)

Sara Haney (16^th – 100 br, 16^th – 200 br, 58^th – 100 fl)

Kenley Woods (23^rd – 100 br, 31^st – 200 br)

Women’s 400 Free Relay "A" - 1^st (Blackman, J., Hansen, Marshall, Blackman, C.)

"B" – 7^th (Forinash, McClelland, Patterson, Woods)

Women’s 800 Free Relay "A" – 1^st (Hansen, Blackman, J., McClelland, Blackman, C.)

Women’s 400 Medley Relay "A" – 1^st (Patterson, McClelland, Blackman, C., Hansen)

"B" – 3^rd (Blackman, J., Polmeroy, Marshall, Forinash)

Matt Weghorst (1^st – 50 fr, 2^nd – 100 fr, 11^th – 100 bk)

Rob Harrison (5^th – 100 bk, 16^th – 200 bk)

Chris Epp 910^th – 100 fr, 9^th – 200 fr, 2^nd – 400 fr, 9^th – 200 fl)

Jonathan Hemphill (18^th – 200 fr, 9^th – 400 fr)

Eric Gusa (26^th – 50 fr, 17^th – 100 fr, 31^st – 200 fr, 22^nd – 100 fl, 37^th – 200 fl)

Josh Kittrell (34^th – 50 fr, 1^st – 100 br, 3^rd – 200 br)

Colin Patterson (36^th – 50 fr, 22^nd – 100 fr, 24^th – 100 bk)

John Waldron (33^rd – 100 bk, 23^rd – 200 bk, 36^th – 200 IM)

RD Tinidad (43^rd – 50 fr, 13^th – 100 br, 10^th – 200 br)

Brian Stephens (50^th – 50 fr, 16^th – 100 br, 27^th – 200 br)

Tim Carlson (17^th – 100 br, 17^th – 200 br, 11^th – 100 fl, 4^th – 200 IM)

Bart Fassino (9^th – 100 fl, 11^th – 200 fl)

Men’s 400 Free Relay "A" – 1^st (Weghorst, Epp, Carlson, Fassino)

"B" – 12^th (Gusa, Waldron, Paterson, Hemphill)

Men’s 400 Medley Relay "A" – 1^st (Harrison, Kittrell, Epp, Weghorst)

"B" – 7^th (Patterson, Carlson, Gusa, Fassino)

A handful of Mustangs helped bring home a sixth place, the highest place ever for the North Texas Zone team, at this year’s Southern Zone Championships. The meet took place during the first week of August in South Carolina. Swimmers were selected based on their performances at this summer’s TAGS and Sectional meets. Each LSC in the Southern Zone (13) selected their best seven girls and boys from each age group as representatives. Way to go to the following Mustangs, especially to Courtney Patterson for her victories and new Zones records in both the 100 and 200 back!

Caroline Barnett (50 fr - 7th, 100 fr - 9th, 200 free 4th, 50 bk - 4th, 100 bk - 8th)

Kelly Cobourn (5^th – 200 fr, 6^th – 100 fl, 13^th – 200 IM, 12^th – 50 fr, 2^nd – 100 fr, 14^th – 200 fl)
Meredith Grubb (28th - 50 fr, 29th - 100 fr, 22nd - 200 fr, 42nd - 100 bk, 30th - 200 IM)

Courtney Patterson (14^th – 200 fr, 4^th – 400 IM, 1^st – 100 bk, 1^st – 100 bk, 16^th – 100 br)

Dennis Bowsher (16^th – 200 fr, 12^th – 200 br, 18^th – 100 br)

Jeff Girard (14^th – 400 IM, 14^th – 200 IM, 20^th – 50 fr, 21^st – 100 bk, 13^th – 200 br, 18^th – 100 br)

Andrew Hansen (20^th – 800 fr, 20^th – 200 fr, 18^th 50 – fr, 22^nd – 100 bk, 11^th – 100 fr)

The long course 2001 TAGS Championships were held at the Woodlands this year. Despite rumors of incessant mosquito attacks and equator-like temperatures our team finished a strong 5^th place overall just 37 points out of 3^rd place. Way to go Mustangs! There was a nice indoor pool for warm-up/cool down purposes and the Woodlands people did a great job trying to provide shade and water for the athletes, officials, and swimmers. If you were a parent, you were on your own unless you volunteered to time! Thanks to those of you who did volunteer. It appeared that many other teams were having troubles filling out their timing responsibilities while we were only singled out once the entire meet by the announcer to get our timers rallied. Even then, our help was already on the way!

Individual Mustang Champs included the following swimmers: Caroline Barnett (100 Back), Spin Beck (50, 100 Breast), Kelly Cobourn (50 Free), Codie Hansen (50, 100, 400 Free, 100 Back), and Griffen Marshall (100 Breast). Codie Hansen set several new TAGS records and was the high point 13-14 Girl to boot! Caroline Barnett just got edged out in the 11-12 Girls high point battle by 4 points. Below is a listing of our 2001 TAGS Mustangs. The list is not "all inclusive" in regard to relay splits. Congratulations on an awesome top-5 finish!

Blake Armstrong (10)

The long course season BB Championships had a few challenges this summer. Lakeside had the meet set for Saturday and Sunday the 14^th and 15^th of July. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and the session on Sunday was first canceled, and then revived out the following weekend by the GCAT team out in Grapevine. Anyone who was entered in Sunday’s Lakeside meet was automatically entered in the next meet. Unfortunately many did not want to be at meets on successive weekends. It was also unfortunate that some kids did not get a chance to make some TAGS cuts since the deadline was a couple of days after the Lakeside meet.

Thanks to all the parents who made trips to Grapevine and Lewisville to support their kids in swimming!

Since the two meets were separate (one was long course, one was short course) the results get a bit tricky to report. Below are the top time standards achieved by our Mustangs competing in the BB Championships. Only the top level achieved is listed.

Maddie Steiner (50 Free)

Kelsey Craggett (50 Breast), Jenny Davis (50 Free), Meredith Higgins (50 Free), Nicholas Low (50 Fly), Matt Saunders (100 Breast, 50 Free), Keegan Watters (100 Breast), Joyce Yee (100 Breast), Preston Yetts (50 Fly).

Bri Barfield (400 Free, 200 Free, 50 Free, 200 Back, 1000 Free), Cathy Cote (100 Fly), Jack Ken (50 Free), Mary Larsen (50 Free), Annalisa McCormick (200 Free, 100 Free, 100 Back), Kate McNeil (200 Free, 50 Free), Erin Morrison (200 Free, 100 Back, 50 Free, 200 Backstroke, 100 Free, 100 Fly), Hannah Penley (400 Free), Casey Watters (100 Breast), Meagan Watters (100 Breast, 200 Breast, 200 Back), Colleen Whelpley (100 Breast, 50 Free).

Becky Jester (100 Breast, 50 Free), Jeffrey Wherry (100 Breast, 100 Back, 50 Free), Hao Xu (100 Breast, 100 Fly, 100 Free).

 B/C Championships (July 21-22, 2001)

The long course season B/C Championships were held in Duncanville and put on by SWAT. The Mustangs performed admirably and got a best time in over 50% of the times they hit the water. Nineteen swimmers carried the Mustang banner for us and represented our team well. Below is a listing of our swimmers and the highest time standard and placing they achieved. The meet was held in a 25-yard pool. Excellent job Mustangs!

Cally Alvarado (12)