Mustang Monthly - Internet Edition

May - June 2002 

Welcome to the long-course summer swimming season! By now, many of you have already participated in one meet and are back in the swing of things with our summer schedule.

 

Our DM Classic went very well (details below), many, many thanks to the wonderful volunteers on our team! We have a few other meets coming up that we will be hosting, the first of which is the Senior Circuit Meet, June 7-9th, followed by the DASA meet, July 11-12th and July 18th.  There is more information on volunteer opportunities later in the newsletter, so read on! 

 
Meet Results
Long Course Intra-Squad Meet

Because the swimmers had so much fun last fall with the intra-squad meet, we decided to give them another opportunity to show their spirit at a long course intra-squad meet.  This also gave the swimmers an opportunity to swim in a long course pool (50 meter, as opposed to a short course 25 yard pool), which is what most of them will be competing in this summer.  It seems that the team spirit is getting better and better every time we have one of these meets.  There were costumes, a bull horn, swimmers who decorated their bodies with Magic Markers, and of course, the normal banging and screaming.  And when it was all said and done, Lane 2 was victorious by displaying the most enthusiasm (they did only beat out several other teams by one vote).  Thanks to all of the Mustangs who made it such a fun night.

Lane 2 – Alex Carpentier, Stephanie Grote, Cally Alvarado, Mazuki Okada, Sasha West, Katie Ische, Nicholas Kirk, Meredith Monroe, Beth Geis, John Banowski, Sam Clausen, Matt Saunders, Jennifer Blackman, and Dennis Bowsher. 

 

Dallas Mustang Swim Classic Huge Success

A big thank-you goes out to Victor Kimm, for directing this year’s Dallas Mustangs Swim Classic (also Adele Wherry and Jeff Veazey for their advising).  Once again, the Mustang family put on an exceptional meet and Mother Nature was kind enough to provide some gorgeous weather.  We appreciate all of the parents who volunteered their time.  You are the reason why the Mustangs are known for running first class meets.

 

The weekend’s success didn’t stop on the deck.  Our 12 and under A/BB swimmers had great performances in the pool as well. 

The following Mustangs scored individual points for the team - Hannah Ferrin, Keegan Watters, Ellyn Baker, Lauren Roth, Em Gunning, Spin Beck, Kristen Masters, Alexis Vigier, Stephanie Martin, Rachel Briscoe, Caitlin Thomas, Meredith Higgins, Brenna Farrin, Ashley Rape, Meaghan Watters, Malin Kenny, Liam Veazey, Jonathan Borden, Blake Woods, and Caleb Veazey.

Way to go Mustangs!

 
FAST 13 and Over Meet

Caroline Barnett, Diana Larson, Bri Barfield, Maddie Steiner, Megan Daniel, Molly Bollen, Brittany Harvey-Lemons, Candace Blackman, Jennifer Blackman, Kate Gunning, Caroline Jennings, Trina May, Amy Geis, Brittany Miller, Kaileen Gersper, Brooke Louisell, Maggie Marshall, Nicole Keller, Erin Morrison, Erika Saito, Beth Geis, Byron Carlisle, Clint Hallum, Timmy French, John Bannon, Andrew Hansen, Nick Bredehoft, Fabian Toth, Matt Saunders, Griffin Marshall, and Alex Vanderzant.

Congratulations Mustangs!

 
COPS Short Course B/C Invitational (May 17-19, 2002)

Although this meet is held during the summer season, it is a short course yards meet, which allows many of the kids to get best times in their events.  So, many of our Mustangs did just that! Out of fifty-two kids entered in the meet, only two of our Mustangs walked away without at least one best time!  The coaches who attended (Rory, Tammy, and Ann) were pleased with everyone’s enthusiasm and efforts!  We finished a strong second out of ten teams.  Below is a listing of the top time standard achieved for those who competed.  Swimmers who finished first in their division, in at least one event, are in italics.

 

BB Times

Alethea Atkins (10), Tori Beckman (11), Alex Carpentier (10), Nathan Cho (10), Stephanie Grote (10), Kent Irvin (12), Rosy Rios (10), Kyle Savage (12), and Casey Watters (8).

B Times

Kendel Ahnell (10), Katie Clemens (9), Jason Corral (12), Lauren Hill (11), Kaho Hirota (10), Katie Ische (11), William Keys (9), Thomas Lin (11), Tim Moore (11), Mizuki Okada (11), Rachel Wharton (12), and Blake Woods (10).

C Times

Jack Beckwitt (11), Luke Blaylock (7), Amanda Campbell (9), Devan Carpentier (7), Elizabeth Crowling (7), Patrick Crowling (8), Sameer Deshpande (11), Brad Gommesen (7), Ashton Gregory (12), Lauren Gregory (6), Logan Gregory (8), Bolton Harris (11), Shelbi Hendricks (8), Brooke Jensen (6), Ryan Jones (7), Nick Kirk (7), Jessica Lin (7), Connor Masters (11), Claire McStravick (8), Meghan O’Keefe (8), Miller Pyke (11), Megan Reardon (11), Samir Saidi (8), Jason Sizemore (7), Meaghan Viveros (7), Jake Watters (7), Sasha West (8), Burke Wiggins (12), Nick Wiggins (7), and Vicky Wu (9).

Awesome Mustangs!

 

Social News

 

The Annual Mustang Swimmer Recognition Banquet was a great success.   Over 300 swimmers and their families attended, making this year's banquet the largest in years.  Our guest speaker, Olympic Gold Medalist Rowdy Gaines, was funny, friendly, and shared his personal insights with our swimmers.  Some of the points that Rowdy made were worth noting.  So, just in case you missed it, here is what Rowdy said it took for him to be a world class swimmer - - -

 

  1. Dedication:  We must be dedicated to being our best.
  2. Do not be afraid to fail:  This means taking risks and learning from our mistakes.  Rowdy was one of the first swimmers to try a track start in a race.  In his first outing with this start, he slipped, fell in the water, and came in last.  Later, after more practice, he used the track start to set a world record. 
  3. Originality: We must focus on what we, ourselves, are doing.  Worry about our race, not the person in the next lane.  And, if you can do something to help your race, then do it - even if it is a little different.  Again, changing to a track start was cited as an example.
  4. Virtuosity:  This is a mindset that says you want to be better than anyone else in the pool.  How can we accomplish this?  By focusing on the positive aspects of our sport and working towards a goal.  Be committed to being the best in the water.
  5. Teamwork:  Help each other.  Work together not just on relays, but in practice.  Push each other.  Have fun together.  Recognize that what we do to help each other in practice allows us to earn success in competition.

 

As an aside, Rowdy mentioned that he was very impressed with our team and the way we conduct our swimmer recognition. Rowdy said that most clubs he visits recognize swimmers around a picnic table in a park somewhere.  It tends to be hot, loud, and hard to hear.  If you attended our banquet, you can take pride in knowing it is just another example of what makes the Dallas Mustangs a step above the rest. 

 

There were lots of folks who helped pull this banquet together.  The Dallas Mustangs want to extend a special thank you to the following people: Harmen Bollen, Tom Grubb, Michael Hill and Dennis Monroe for the A/V set-up. Doug Moyse and Janet Roth handled the Award Certificates.  Adele Wherry organized the Ballots and lots of other details along the way.  Registration was smoothly conducted by Nancy Beck and Theresa Marshall.  Chris Blackman procured our slide projector, and Wendy Begg pulled together a terrific slide and sound show, that had our swimmers glued to the screen. Tom Hendricks did a super job as our Master of Ceremonies.  (Tom, do you think you can come back next year?  Please?)  Mook and the coaches did a bunch of work behind the scenes to order trophies, select award winners, and encourage kids to attend.  And finally, Don and Ilene (better known as D&J Sports) provided transportation for Rowdy, even leaving the banquet early to drive him back to the airport. When you see these folks, thank them for their efforts and let them know you appreciate their work.  They all did a great job!

 

Board Members

 

Each year at our swimmer recognition banquet, we hold an election for new board members. This year’s officers were announced at the banquet, but for those of you who did not attend, here is a list of the Dallas Mustangs Board members for 2002-2003:

 

Board Members

Adele Wherry, President

Wendy Begg, Vice-President, Newsletter & Publicity (new officer)

Jamie Jester, Secretary

Cathy Corral, Treasurer (new officer)

Chris Blackman, Fundraising

Harmen Bollen, Fundraising

Jeff Veazey, Fundraising (new officer)

Victor Kimm, Meet Director (new officer)

Cindy Woods, Travel

 

Committee Chairpersons

Stuart Roth, Social Chairman

Jerry Saunders, Supply Room Director

Ted Shaw, Membership & Registration

 

If you have any questions for the board members about specific matters, you may email them. The links can be found on our website: dmswim.com  under “key contacts”.

 

Treasurer’s Information and Tuition Reminder

 

In addition to the other new officers, we are very pleased to welcome our new treasurer, Cathy Corral, on board. Cathy will be sending out the billing statements this week. These statements will include payments for June or the June/July/August quarter. Please note that payments are due on the 1st of June and are late after the 10th of June. Payments can be turned in to the pool where you child swims, or mailed directly to Cathy at:

 

Cathy Corral,

5724 Meadowhaven

Plano, TX  75093.

 

She can also be reached at 972-378-0250 or email at treas@dmswim.com

 

Birth Certificates

 

This is a reminder that all swimmers need to have a copy of his/her birth certificate on file, in order to continue swimming with our team. Most swimmers turned one in with the rest of the registration papers, however if you know you have not turned one in yet, please do. Our policy effective September 1st is that no swimmer will be allowed in the pool unless a birth certificate is on file.

 

Leave of Absence

 

In order to eliminate any confusion regarding leave of absences from the team, we have included a review of the policy:

 

A leave of absence from the team is available only for medical and injury reasons. All such leaves MUST be approved by either Mook Rhodenbaugh or Doug Moyse. All issues regarding billing, registration etc. will be handled by the coaches (i.e. the coaches will speak to the respective board member to inform them of an approved leave of absence).

 

If you have any questions regarding this policy, please speak with Adele Wherry.

 

Loos Supply Room Hours

 

Please note that the supply room hours have changed for the summer. The new hours will be from 5:00-6:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

 

Summer Schedule Recap

 

HP Bronze

Monday through Friday 6-7pm @ HP

HP Silver I & II

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 6-7:30pm @ HP, Wednesday & Friday 5:30-7pm @ SMU -these will be long course in the outdoor pool and the bad weather policy will be in effect (in case of bad weather, practice will be cancelled).

Loos Bronze I & II

Monday through Friday 6:15-7:15pm @ Loos

Loos Silver

Monday through Friday 6-7:30pm @ Loos

HP & Loos Gold

Monday through Friday 7-9am @ SMU, M-T-Th-F 4-6pm @ Loos

National

Monday through Friday 7-9am @ SMU, M-T-Th-F 3:30-6:15pm @ Loos

CFB Red and Blue

Monday through Thursday 4:30-5:30pm @ CFB

 

If you have any questions regarding the schedule, please ask your coach.

Volunteer Opportunities

 

In the next few weeks and months, we will have many opportunities for every one to help out our team and volunteer at the various meets we will be hosting. Why should I volunteer, you ask? Simply put, we can’t run meets without parental help. We also would like to offer everyone an opportunity to be involved in his/her child’s activity. Meets are a VERY good way to get to know the other kids on the team and the parents of the children your swimmer is friends with. The bottom line though, is that you are helping our team achieve the fundraising goals that we rely upon for operation.

 

Some added benefits: free food (from hospitality), you get to be on deck, and for the summer meets, you can work on your great tan! Seriously though, just an interesting note: there were 40 Dallas Mustangs volunteers who worked a total of 475 hours to make the DM Classic swim meet, run smoothly and make it a huge success. That is for a long-course meet with one pool. You may also note that it takes about twice as many volunteers to host our other meets that are held at Loos: DASA, Haunted Hat (October), and the Mid-Winter meets (January). For parents with older children, if you are not personally able to be at a meet, we can always use help from responsible older students who may need volunteer hours for NJHS or NHS.

 

So, with all this in mind, let’s get on to what is coming up - - -

 

Senior Circuit Meet (June 7-9)

The Senior Circuit Meet is the next swim meet we will be hosting. This is a great opportunity for the younger swimmers on the team to watch some of the best swimmers in our country compete. We are always needing timers and hospitality support, so please consider volunteering a little of your time to help out. Lilli Hansen is our Meet Director and she would be thrilled to have an abundance of help! You can contact Lilli at LILLIAN.HANSEN@tccd.net. In addition to making the meet run smoothly, it is a wonderful reflection on our team when we host a well-run meet.

 

DASA Divisional and Championship Meet (July11-12th and 18th)

The other meet we will be hosting is the DASA Divisional and Championship Meet, held in July. The DASA meet is the championship meet for the summer country clubs. The DASA Divisional meet has four sessions. The top swimmers who qualify in individual events then move on to compete in the Championship meet, a week later. This is one of our biggest fundraising meets of the season and we will need as many parents and swimmers to participate, as possible. The older swimmers on the team will be asked to help out at this meet. One of the benefits of your child working this meet, is that it gives them an appreciation of all the work that it takes to run a meet, and perhaps, will help them understand just how hard their parents work at meets. So please, if you are asked to volunteer, offer a little time to benefit your swimmer and the Dallas Mustangs as a whole.

 

Swimmer Recognition

 

One of our very own is off in Rome representing the USA on the Junior National Olympic swim team! Candace Blackman left on May 29, 2002, to compete alongside 17 men and 13 other women from all over the United States, in an international swim meet in Rome, Italy. Candace qualified last year as a "15 year old," for the National Junior team.  She spent 4 days of training at the Olympic training center in Colorado this past fall.  Candace has already qualified in 4 events for the 2004 Olympic Trials to be held in Long Beach Calif. Her other swimming accomplishments include qualifying for the 2000 Olympic trials at age 14, Junior National Champion for the 50 free,  4-time High School individual champion, and team member on HPHS’ 2-time High School women’s team champions.

 

We wish Candace all the best in Rome and congratulate her on her awesome achievements!