Mustang Monthly
April 2005
The Dallas Mustangs enjoyed another successful championship season on all levels, from the B/C Champs to the World Championship Trials. The end of the season’s championship meets always provides a lot of excitement and anticipation because of all of the months of hard training and preparation. There is also always a lot of magic in the air, and in turn, many amazing performances are the result. The following is a summary and a celebration of the fine efforts of our Mustangs.
Congratulations, Mustangs!!!
The short course Sectional Championships were held at
Scoring points for the Mustangs:
Clint Hallum, Codie Hansen, Alyssa Landino, Lauren Roth, Meredith Monroe, Caroline Barnett, Matt Thompson, Eric Gusa, Alex Oldenkamp, Molly Bollen, Steph Futscher, Rory Peterson, Meredith Grubb, Kate Gunning, Leslie Clampitt, Maddie Steiner, Spin Beck, Byron Carlisle, Andrew Knudson, John Bannon, Amanda Benson, Lamar Weeks, Brooks Haller, and Grace Kittle.
Final Top Ten Team Scores at Sectionals:
Cy-Fair Swim Club 787
Blue Tide 581
City of
Aside from the Olympic Trials, the World Championship Trials
is the most prestigious meet in which our American athletes compete. Needless to say, the meet attracts the
countries’ top athletes. And there is
plenty of tension to go around the deck, because only 26 women and 26 men can
qualify to represent the
A Champs/TAGS Q (Feb 25 - 27)
Held at the fast Southlake pool, A Champs primarily serves as an opportunity for many kids to attempt to swim fast enough to get either Sectional or TAGS level time standards. We almost never swim relays so that the kids will not be tired for their individual events. The odd time we do, it is usually for the purpose of getting either a lead-off split or a relay qualified for the Texas Age Group Swimming Champs (TAGS).
We finished 6th in the North Texas area in the team competition, without any swimmers entered in the relay events, in addition to having many of our top swimmers competing in the Texas State High School Championships in Austin. Below is a list of our swimmers who scored points for us at the meet. Their ages are in parenthesis immediately after their names. Congratulations to all our Mustang competitors!
Meg Austin (14), Cassidy Beckwitt (12), Jack Beckwitt (13), Luke Blaylock (9), Colin Carpenter (15), Alec Caywood (14), Kelsey Craggett (14), Elizabeth Crowling (9), Brenna Farren (14), Hannah Ferrin (13), Eric Futscher (10), Melanie Futscher (14), Des Godfrey (12), Emma Gruber (10), Tanner Harris (10), Leah Jones (13), Nicole Keller (18), Malin Kenny (12), Regan Marshall (17), Tim Moore (13), Erin Morrison (18), Rory Peterson (23), Nicholas Saliba (14), Bailey Thompson (16), Liam Veazey (11), Jake Watters (9), Keegan Watters (12), Meaghan Watters (14), Ann Weeks (10), Scott Weeks (13), and Burke Wiggins (14).
Texas Age Group Championships (Mar 10 – 13)
This meet is the top championship for age group swimming in
A few weeks prior to the beginning of this meet, there was a slight possibility that TAGS would not be held at Loos due to some potential structural issues with the bulkheads separating the deep and shallow ends. Loos was shut down for a couple of weeks in order to build some underwater support for the bulkheads. Once that problem was dealt with, the meet went off without a hitch - no doubt due to the awesome job of meet directing by Dallas Mustangs’ own Adele Wherry and Wendy Begg.
Below is a list of those swimmers who competed in individual events in this meet. Those swimmers whose names are in italics scored points for the team, while those whose names are in italics and are bolded, won at least one event at TAGs. Mustangs Rock!
Meg Austin (14), Spindrift Beck (14), Luke Blaylock (9), Kelsey Craggett (14), Hannah Ferrin (13), Eric Futscher (10), Melanie Futscher (14), Destine Godfrey (12), Emma Gruber (10), Tanner Harris (10), Malin Kenny (12), Stephanie Martin (14), Nicholas Saliba (14), Matt Thompson (14), Caleb Veazey (14), Jake Watters (9), Keegan Watters (12), Meaghan Watters ((14), Ann Weeks (10), Scott Weeks (13), and Catia Weickgenant (14).
Greater Southwest (Feb 4 – 6)
Despite the absence of many of our high school swimmers, we managed to swim well enough to get fourth place out of over forty teams, including several from out-of-state. This meet is a prelim/final meet where you have to swim fast in the morning or you’ll be in your street clothes at night (i.e. watching the competition instead of participating). Almost every Mustang swimmer in the meet had at least one best time and many were able to get some of those elusive TAGS and Sectional cuts.
Below is a listing of those swimmers who scored points in the meet for us. Again, those who are printed in italics won at least one event at the meet. Awesome job - great swimming Mustangs!
Meg Austin (14), John Bannon (15), Caroline Barnett (16), Spin Beck (14), Cassidy Beckwitt (12), Luke Blaylock (9), Molly Bollen (16), Alec Caywood (14), Kenneth Clark-Fernandez (15), Kelsey Craggett (14), Elizabeth Crowling (9), Hannah Ferrin (13), Timmy French (17), Eric Futscher (10), Melanie Futscher (14), Stephanie Futscher (16), Beth Geis (18), Des Godfrey (12), Meredith Grubb (17), Emma Gruber (10), Eric Gusa (21), Clint Hallum (15), Codie Hansen (18), Meredith Higgins (15), Malin Kenny (12), Grace Kittle (16), Stephanie Martin (14), Jordan Newman (12), Nicholas Saliba (14), Maddie Steiner (15), Alicia Stevens (15), Bailey Thompson (16), Matt Thompson (14), Caleb Veazey (14), Jake Watters (9), Keegan Watters (12), Meaghan Watters (14), Ann Weeks (10), Scott Weeks (13), Catia Weickgenant and (14).
Put on by SWAT, this meet was held in
Below is a listing of those who scored points in the meet. Swimmers whose names are in italics placed first in at least one individual event.
Kendel Ahnell (12), Emily
Andrews (12), Scot Beckwith (12), Sarah Blue (14), Skyler Clark-Fernandez
(14), Katie Curtis (15), Megan Ernst
(12), David Escamilla (16), Andrew Harvey (15), Lauren Hill (14), Meagan
Keesee (15), Miyo Malouf (11), Andy Miller (18), Courtney Nichols (9), Jeffrey Nichols (11), Steven Nichols (13),
Alicia Nicoud (15), Maddie Nieberlein (13), Sydney Patterson (10), Kyle
Savage (15), Callie Scheffler (10), and Jessica
Temple (17).
This meet was held at the Grapevine/Colleyville Independent
School District Swim Center in Grapevine.
It is for those swimmers who have less than three BB times for their age
group. We finished eighth in this
championship meet out of twenty-two
Swimmers listed below scored points in an individual event. Those swimmers whose names are in italics won at least one event in the meet. Special kudos to Caelan Freeman who got a BB time standard in the 100 back and placed third in the 10 & under division despite being only seven years old! Most impressive Mustangs!
Christopher Alkire (11), Elisa Banowsky (12), Caroline Blaylock (7), Caroline Blaylock (7), Elizabeth Crowling (9), Patrick Crowling (11), Kendall Ernst (9), Caelan Freeman (7), Bradley Gommesen (10), Tita Golnalez-Pena (11), Anna Beth Gruber (12), Audrey Gruber (8), Hailey Heiner (10), Gabi Jackson (9), Brianna Johnson (8), Meggie Lynn (11), Preston Morgenstern (10), Lauren Murski (9), Sydney Patterson (10), Mady Rhodenbaugh (8), Alyssa Rusch (10), Carolyn Thomas (9), Annelyse Tullier (8), Jo Jo Veazey (8), Meaghan Viversos (9), Daniel Withers (12), and Max Zotos (8).
Call for Volunteers
The Dallas Mustangs will host the 24th Annual D.M. Classic "A" meet at the A.R. Barr outdoor pool on the SMU Campus Friday through Sunday, May 6-8. There will be four sessions in three days, so there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer and earn Mustang Bucks. Volunteers are needed for awards, hospitality, clerk of course, runners, timing systems operators, set up, and tear down. Please help us out by volunteering for the meet.
You may volunteer by signing on the volunteer sign up sheets up at either Loos Pool or at Highland Park Pool. You may also volunteer by contacting our Meet Director, Jim Cuaderes, and letting him know you want to volunteer. You can contact Jim at jcuaderes@littler.com (work e-mail); quadlawyer@aol.com (home e-mail); (214) 880-8113 (work phone) or (214) 340-1938 (home phone). Please sign up and help us make this meet a success.
You can also assist by donating a food, drinks, or other times to run hospitality. Donations of items are greatly appreciated.
Coach Rory Callaghan Getting Married!
“What? I thought
Rory was already married to Meredith.”
Understandably, this is a response shared by some, since Rory and
Meredith have worked together at
The theme for the reception is pink cupcakes and lemonade. And while we’re at it, we’ll have some TVs hooked up to watch the Kentucky Derby. Be on the lookout for more information to come. Congratulations, Rory!
Changes in Schedules
We will be moving the Loos Bronze I and II groups to CFB
beginning April 18 and lasting until we start our summer schedule on May
31. The practice times at CFB for the
Bronze groups will be 5:30-6:30pm M-F.
We feel it is necessary to make this change in order to alleviate some
of the crowded conditions at Loos. We
are also working on some alternatives for the
Currently, we have a waiting list for the Gold group at Loos and are considering doing the same with some other groups. We will let you know any updates as soon as possible.
We will be changing the traditional summer scheduling to better accommodate the larger numbers we currently have on the team and to try to offset the lack of long course water we will have at Loos this summer. In order to get additional long course practices, we will be having Sunday practices 10-noon, instead of going short course on Saturdays. We understand that some changes will not be the best situation for all involved, but we feel certain changes must be made for the betterment of the team. Thank you for your understanding.
Summer Schedule (beginning May 31)
National 7-9am @ SMU and 3:30-6:15 @ Loos (no Wednesday pm practices)
Gold 9-11am @ SMU and 4-6pm @ Loos (no Wednesday pm practices)
Silver 6-7:30pm @ Loos or 5-6:30 @ SMU on M & W and 6-7:30pm @ HP on T, Th, F
Bronze 6:15-7:15pm @ Loos (both Bronze 1 & 2) or 5-6pm @ HP
Red and Blue 4:30-5:30 @ CFB M-Th
Summer break is tentatively scheduled for August 8 - 26th.
Tom Buck Rejoins Our Coaching Staff
Tom Buck, a former full-time Silver Loos coach for the Dallas Mustangs, is back coaching part-time. He will join the HP coaching staff on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Chris Girard is taking a break for the summer.
Team Trip
Get your country and western gear out because this summer our team trip is going to be to Nashville, TN. Tentative plans are to leave on June 23rd and to return June 27th. More information and sign-up forms will be available soon. Team trip forms and meet entry forms will be due by May 26th!
DASA
The DASA Divisional swim meets will be held on July 14th & 15th followed by the All-Stars meet on July 18th. This series of meets is one of our biggest fundraising events and we need a lot of volunteer help to make it work. Please keep these dates noted on your calendar and plan to help out in some capacity.
Raffle Items Needed
Once again, we will be holding a raffle at the end of the year banquet. We are still accepting items to raffle off so if you have a prize you can donate, please contact Nancy Beck at 214-358-0129 or by email at fundr@dmswim.com.
Painless Fundraiser
The Dallas Mustangs is registered with Tom Thumb in its Good Neighbor Program. Please remember to attach our Good Neighbor Number to your Reward Card and Tom Thumb will donate a percentage of the member’s total grocery purchases back to the Dallas Mustangs every time your Reward Card is used! Painless and potentially profitable for our team!
OUR TOM THUMB
NUMBER IS 7648
