November 2001 

November is here and everyone is getting ready for a busy season. The holidays are right around the corner and everyone is preparing. The Mustangs are preparing also. Read about the Dallas Mustangs canned food drive in this newsletter. Watch for details about the Holiday get together and gift exchange for all of the swimmers.

In addition, read about some fantastic Dallas Mustangs in our new "Spotlight on Mustangs". Check out the outstanding results from recent meets, as the Mustangs get off to a great start in this young season.

Nov. 16 No Loos practices.  All practices @ HP - National, Gold & Silver 4:30-6pm, Bronze 6-7pm.

Nov. 17 No Loos practice. National, Gold & Silver @ HP 8-10am.

Nov. 19-22 No CFB practices.  All other groups - normal practices through Wednesday, Nov. 21.

Nov. 22 No practices - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Nov. 23 Silver & Gold @ HP 10am-Noon, Gold @ HP Noon-2pm, No Bronze practices.

Nov. 24 National, Gold & Silver @ HP 7-9am, No Bronze Practices

Shaun Jordan Stroke Clinic – 13 & Under, 9am–Noon – 14 & Over, 12:30pm–3:30pm

More information and registration forms are at the pools.

Nov. 30 No Loos practices.  All practices at HP - National, Gold and Silver 4:30-6pm, Bronze 6-7pm.

Dec. 1 No practices

Dec. 4 No HP practices.  All groups @ Loos - National 5-7:30, Gold 5:30-7:30pm, Silver 6-7:30pm, Bronze 6:30-7:30pm

Dec. 7 No Loos practices.  All groups at HP - National, Gold, and Silver 4:30-6pm, Bronze 6-7pm.

Dec. 8 No practices

The Christmas holiday schedule will come out in early December.  Please check the team message line (972-530-7926) for updates and reminders to the above schedule. 

 Bad Weather Policy

With winter coming, it is important to know the team's bad weather policy.  If the school district closes due to bad weather, that location will not have practices.  When in doubt, call the message line - 972-530-7926 and remember that safety comes first.

The next round of meet information should be at the pools and keep in mind that this is the last opportunity to get a meet in before the holidays. The due dates for having meet entries in for those meets are as follows:

SWAT "B/C" Nov. 15

COR Classic "A" Nov. 21

COPS "BB" Nov. 29

Please enter these meets and get your entries to the pool on time!

We will be taking 25 swimmers up to this year's Kerr McGee Pro-Am Meet. It is one of the few meets in the country that offers prize money for those swimmers who are finished with or are forgoing their college eligibility. So there should be some big swimming names participating. All Mustangs going on the trip need to make their own travel plans. Mook and Doug will be leading the troops, and parents are encouraged to go and cheer on the Mustangs. It will be a fun meet to watch and the Mustangs should do well in the team standings.

Holiday Inn Oklahoma City, 2101 Meridan, (405) 685-4000 Confirmation # 63705564. Room rate $58.00.

Dallas Mustangs swimmers will not travel by vans this meet. The coaches encourage all parents to come and cheer on the team.

The Big Kicker-Little Kicker program is off and running. There were some signs posted at the Haunted Hat meet and at the ATAC "A" meet. In addition, some notes have been sent with candy and other goodies. Remember, when you get your Kicker Buddy list, send each person on your list a note with your name, your favorite stroke, your favorite food, your favorite sport (other than swimming), where you go to school, what grade you’re in, etc. Let them know all about you. We have had some new swimmers join the team. The swimmers should all have their groups by Nov. 23. So if your group has added swimmers, there will be another sheet in the file folders. Please remember the swimmers are to contact ALL the swimmers on their list. Any questions or lost lists please call Cindy Woods 972-781-1217.

We need your photos!! As we continue to update our website, we need new photos. We would like them from any team event (meet, picnic, etc.) If you have regular photos, please mail them to John Wherry, 2205 LeMans Drive, Carrollton, TX 75006. John will scan the photos and send them back to you. Or, if they are already in a digital format, they can be sent electronically to the following email address; web@dmswim.com Thanks in advance for sending all of your great pictures in.

 Intra-Squad Meet

This year’s intra-squad meet was a lot of fun for the over 150 Dallas Mustang swimmers whom attended. We split the swimmers up into eight teams, and tried to match equal numbers from the different practice groups on each team. It was a great way for all of the swimmers to get together, have fun, do a couple of races, and get to know each other a little better. The coaches judged the teams based on their enthusiasm and once again it was a tough choice, but the winners were from team 1. Congratulations to those team members: Meredith Higgins, Neema Hessami, Jordan Hanson, Daniel Preston, Blake Woods, Jonathan Borden, Robert Chessler, Terez Barbaro, Megan Daniel, Jenny Gommeson, Delaney Rolfe, Alex Carpentier, Bolton Harris, Alexis Vigier, Kate Gunning, Griffin Marshall, Matt Knubowitz.

We do want to apologize if your child’s voice was a little hoarse afterwards…or maybe that was a good thing!?

A congratulations goes out to all of our young Dallas Mustangs who made it to this year’s 10 and under Little Splashers Meet at Loos. Those that swam did a great job and we hope to see more of you at the next meet. The Mustangs were led by the following high point scorers from their age groups: Spin Beck (10 year old girls), Jake Watters (6 year old boys) and Mady Rhodenbaugh (5 and under girls). A big congratulations also goes out to those young Mustangs who won events: Elizabeth Crowling, Mady Rhodenbaugh, Keegan Watters, Spin Beck, and Jake Watters. Great efforts were also turned in by: Meaghan Viveros, Kendall Ernst, Casey Watters, Meghan O’Keefe, Claire, McStravick, Vicky Wu, Taylor Vaughn, Shuya Lou, Shelbi Hendricks, Michelle McCloskey, Alethea Atkins, Cassidy Beckwitt, Hannah Ferrin, Nina Bolka, Stephanie Grote, Cat Courtwright, Rocio Rios, Megan Reardon, Melanie Tull, Stephanie Villalobos, Elliott Blackmon, James Carson, Liam Veazey, Jeremy Chiang, Patrick Crowling, Jonathan Borden, Blake Woods, Michael Bortnyck, Tim Moore, Jonathan Beckwitt,and Mark Chesler. GREAT JOB LITTLE SPLASHERS!!!

During the same weekend as the Little Splashers, many of our older Mustangs also competed. The meet was an "A" Invitational at Loos, hosted by COPS. The following Mustangs finished in the top eight individually, therefore scoring points for the team (winners of events in boldface): Caroline Barnett, Alex Jennings, Emma Gunning, Maddie Steiner, Rachel Borden, Diana Larson, Meredith Grubb, Caroline Jennings, Maggie Marshall, Molly Bolen, Codie Hansen, Jennifer Blackman, Kate Gunning, Julia Tucker-Huth, Kathleen Gallagher, Brooke Louisell, Sara Haney, Erika Saito, John Bannon, Clint Hallum, Caleb Veazey, Byron Carlisle, Brooks Haller, Eric Gusa, Andrew Hansen, Griffin Marshall, and Fabian Toth. Also doing a great job for the Mustangs were: Kelsey Hendricks, Meredith Higgins, Kristin Masters, Meredith Monroe, Nicole Keller, Margaret Henderson, Whitney Jones, Audrey Rogers, Jennifer Penley, Brittany Miller, John Crowder, Tim French, and Matt Knubowitz.

Over 750 swimmers showed up to compete and have fun at the 15^th annual running of the Haunted Hat meet held at Loos Pool on October 13-14, 2001. Mustang meet director Jeff Veazey did a great job of recruiting volunteers and organizing this year’s event. Our team finished second overall in the team standings and had many outstanding swims in our first BB/B/C meet of the fall/winter season. Almost every Mustang swimmer recorded at least one personal best time.

Special congratulations to the Mook, Meredith, and Mady Rhodenbaugh. Mady (4 years old) competed in her first USA Swimming Meet. Lets hope she does not burn out by the time she is eight. Below is a listing of swimmers and the top time standard they achieved at the meet. Those that are in italics won at least one event. Each swimmer’s age at the meet follows their name.

Maggie Marshall (14), Stephanie Martin (11), Annalisa McCormick (14), Maggie Wackel (12), Keegan Watters (9)

Emily Andrews (9), Ellyn Baker (9), Bri Barfield (13), Elliot Blackmon (10), Michael Bortnyck(10), Rachel Briscoe (12), Derrick Brown (12), Tammy Carrell (17), Cat Courtwright (10), Nathan Crowder (14), Melissa Dominguez (15), Zak Dominguez (16), Brenna Farren (11), Timothy French (14), Malin Kenny (9), Mary Larsen (14), Lindsay Larson (11), Lindsay MacKintosh (13), Erin Morrison (14), Alicia Nicoud (12), Rachel Pearson (14), Hannah Penley (12), Andy Pimentel (13), Amy Shyr (13), Liam Veazey (8), Alexis Vigier (11), Meagan Watters (11), Blake Woods (10)

Blake Armstrong (11), Alethea Atkins (9), Taylor Barinka (9), Erin Baroni (11), Jonathan Beckwitt (10), Nathaniel Cho (10), Kelsey Craggett (11), Sameer Deshpande (10), Glynnis Garry (12), Stephanie Grote (9), Bolton Harris (11), Jun Hirota (13), Kaho Hirota (10), Kent Irvin (11), Christie Kimm (11), Alex King (10), Alyssandra Lombard (9), Shuya Lou (8), Michelle McCloskey (9), Timothy Moore (10), Mizuki Okada (11), Kristen Onsgard (13), Alex Pappas (11), Kelsey Pearson (9), Katie Radford (9), Megan Reardon (10), Samantha Ringmacher (13), Delaney Rolfe (10), Kyle Savage (12), Sophie Shepherd (10), Kati Smith (9), Julia Thompson (9), Stephanie Villalobos (10), Casey Watters (8), Rachel Wharton (12), Colleen Whelpley (13), John White (10), Andrew Wong (12), Hao Xu (14), Joyce Yee (11), Preston Yetts (13)

Cally Alvarado (12), Alexandra Barinka (11), Cassidy Beckwitt (9), Casey Brundage (11), Christian Bueno (13), Daniel Bueno (11), Haley Bybee (9), Toni Campbell (9), James Carson (7), Mark Chesler (10), Jeremy Chiang (8), Katelyn Clemens (8), Brian Collins (11), Jason Corral (12), Austin Crepeau (9), Mary Clare Crocker (10), Kathleen Curis (11), Regan Donnenfield (9), Kendall Ernst (5), Megan Ernst (8), Constantino Fontes (9), Gabriella Fontes (11), Bradley Gommesen (6), Jenny Gommesen (13), Shelbi Hendricks (7), Neema Hessami (9), Lauren Hill (11), Rachel Hunt (9), Jordan Ivey (11), Ryan Jones (7), William Keys (9), Jordan Knape (13), Katherine Kofahl (13), Kristine Larsen (8), Brandon Malekie (6), Michael Masters (12), Forrest McClain (13), Nason McKnight (7), Will McNamara (8), Nicole Norton (9), Meghan O’Keefe (7), Augustin Olsen (10), Katie Palser (11), Rachel Patterson (15), Mady Rhodenbaugh (4), Will Rogers (11), Matney Rolfe (12), Samir Saidi (8), Chloe Staffin (7), Melanie Tull (10), Taylor Vaughn (8), Meaghan Viveros (6), Laura Wall (12), Jake Watters (6), Ward Weber (8), Jeff Wherry (14), Trayce Womack (12), Vicky Wu (8), Davis Zapffe (13).

(These are meets for the Highland Park High School Swim team and they are included here since they impact Mustang workouts at HP)

Tuesday, Dec. 4 Richardson Pierce @ HP 6:30 PM No Mustang Practices at HP

Saturday, Dec. 8 Coppell @ HP 10:00 AM No Mustang Practives at HP

Saturday, Jan. 5 Highland Park Relays @ HP 1:00 PM National, Gold, Silver in AM

Tuesday, Jan. 8 Jesuit & Ursuline @ HP 6:00 PM No Mustang Practices at HP

Saturday, Jan. 26 District Meet @ HP 1 or 1:30 PM Check team line for workout time

November is the end of the first quarter. Quarterly tuition fees are due December 1st. As always, monthly tuition fees are due the first of every month. If you have joined the team since September and/or have been paying monthly tuition fees you may change to the quarterly plan the first of December and take advantage of the discount. If you have questions about the tuition fees please contact Adele Wherry at treas@dmswim.com.

When a team social event is scheduled for which there is a fee charged and an R.S.V.P. required, if you do not show up or you cancel within 72 hours of the event, your account will be billed for the amount equal to the published fee times the number of people for which you reserved a place." This policy has become necessary due to the large number of individuals/families who reserved a place for the team picnic and did not show. When we have ordered food, etc. for a specific number of people, the team must then cover the cost. This type of occurrence is unfair to the team as a whole and can only lead to a need for increased fees. Therefore, each individual/family who reserves a place for a social event will be responsible for the published cost. Thank you for your understanding.

The Dallas Mustangs Board

On Sept 30, 2001 in St. Louis, MO, Alexandra Weber (11 years old-- HP Silver group) was awarded 4th place in the USA in the Ironkids Triathlon National Finals. This is the 4th time Alexandra has been in the top five at the national finals. Way to go Alex!!

John received straight A's and made the honor roll every grading period in 6th grade. He also was named citizen of the month one month as a 6th grader and received the Effort award out of all the brass players in the 6th grade band. We're very proud of all he accomplishes. Outstanding, John!

Once someone "gets" the right motion and feel for the breastroke they usually see a tremendous amount of improvement in a short amount of time. That is definitely the case for Mustang 10-year old Spindrift (Spin) Beck. She has gone from barely making one individual TAGS cut in a time trial at the State meet when she was 9 to setting two new Texas State records when she was 10. In between Spin realized that it does take more than just talent to succeed in swimming. She actually began to work hard in workouts and the results have been outstanding.

In early November Spin set the State record in the 50-yard breast (33.60) bettering a time that had been set by Laura Holt over 10 years ago (about when Spin was born!). Following that performance she raised the bar even further by shattering the 100 breast state record by 1.3 seconds with a blistering 1:12.64. Her other strokes have followed suit as well. At the ATAC meet held recently at Loos she set North Texas records in the 100 backstroke (1:06.4) and 100 IM (1:06.53). She has continued to do the job in workout and we expect that with her great attitude and humble nature she will be a great role model and Mustang for years to come. Way to go Spin!!!

Here is the new meet calendar for the remainder of 2001 and all of 2002. You can also go to the North Texas Swimming Website and look at the calendar at any time (http://www.ntswim.org/calendar.html)  

 Dallas Mustangs are Division "C" for 2002 (January – April and September – December)