nov 9th

I am currently under the assumption that we will have all swim practices at D.P at the regular time this week. DP water polo will be in the play-offs in the next few weeks and I can assume that we will get moved out to UCSB a couple of times, but I don’t have the dates yet. I’ll e-mail everyone when I find out, and I’ll also post the info on the website.

Wednesday swim practice will be at the regular time.

Reminder that age group will NOT be doing dryland anymore but will start swim practice immediately at 4 pm. Age group athletes that arrive at swim practice early are asked to be ready to get into the water at 4 pm, but not to participate in the senior group dryland program.

At the parents meeting on Friday I mentioned the possibility of a team travel trip to Phoenix Az on Jan 15-18. I would like to get a rough estimate of who might be interested in participating. Please e-mail me with an initial response of “interested” or “not interested.”

This swim meet in Phoenix is open to EVERY athlete on our team. I will encourage athletes 10 and under to travel with their parents and lodge with their parents. My initial plan is for myself and a chaperon to drive 2 large vans midday on Jan 15^th (kids will miss some school that day) and stay in hotel rooms with 4 athletes per room. We would leave Phoenix around 2pm on the 18^th and return to S.B. most likely late that night.

Ventura Swim meet Recap

Scott Mahan en route to a new best time in the 100 backstroke.

Swim meet recap.

Wow, what a weekend we had in Ventura. Multiple best times were achieved, a few first place finishes were claimed, and the first ever official Santa Barbara Aquatics Club relay was contested. Thank you to all the parents that helped on the timing line. Here’s a quick rundown of the weekend:

SBAC participants; Scott/Erin/Matthew Mahan, Janelle Nguyen, Reagan Eickret, Ari Wallis, Courtney Nuttall, Abby/Deacon Hill, Andrew/Mia Giacobazzi, Eric Lindheim-Marx, Lilly Menear, Sophie Thompson, Audrey-Anne Patterson, John Errico, Shannon Slaught, P.J. Lannon, Drew Casier, Mark Warkentin.

Results can be found at socalswim.org.

Highlights:

Scott Mahan swam a personal best time in the 100 backstroke and competed in multiple races.

Matthew Mahan, Andrew Giacobazzi, Lilly Menear and Sophie Thompson all swam their first official USA Swimming competition with great success.

Abby Hill claimed the silver medal in the 8 and under division in multiple races with incredibly fast times.

John Errico/P.J. Lannon/Drew Casier/Mark Warkentin set a team record in the 200 M.R.

Courtney Nuttall swam her first 200 freestyle with an impressive time and went 2 seconds faster than her previous best time in the 100 freestyle.

Erin Mahan swam multiple races and had a tremendously positive attitude even when she was disqualified.

Reagan Eickert swam a best time by 3 seconds in the 100 freestyle.

Janelle Nguyen won 4 races, claimed multiple best times, and was in the hunt for the high-point award in her age division.

Ari Wallis swam multiple personal best times, in particular a very fast 100 breaststroke.

Deacon Hill (only six years old) competed against 8 year olds and swam very well.

Audrey-Anne Patterson swam 3 seconds faster than she did last week in Camarillo in the 100 breaststroke.

Mia Giacobazzi swam the 200 IM for the first time.

Shannon Slaught swam 4 races per day and swam a personal best time by over 2 seconds in the 100 backstroke.

Eric Lindheim-Marx swam 45 seconds faster than his previous best time in the 200 I.M (seriously).

As the head coach of our swim team the only downside to the weekend was that more SBAC athletes did not participate in the swim meet. I hope that parents/swimmers can see that our team was represented by a vast array of athletes at various ages and ability levels and we all cheered for each other and enjoyed the experience. The swimmers that participated swam well, gained confidence, learned about themselves and their capabilities and realized the possibilities ahead. We will have more opportunities in the future to swim in USA swimming competitions and I hope that everyone considers participating.

PVST SWIM MEET round-up

PVST PUMPKIN SWIM MEET ROUND-UP.

SBAC sent 11 athletes to the Pleasant Valley Pumpkin swim meet on Saturday and came away with multiple first place finishes at every age level in both individual events and relays.

Our 8 and under girls team of Abbi Hill and McKenna Grant claimed the gold and silver in the 25 freestyle, the 50 freestyle, and the 25 backstroke. In addition Abbi Hill claimed titles (and rubber duck prizes) in the 25 breaststroke and 25 butterfly.

Our 9-10 age group was represented by Erin Mahan. Erin placed 4^th in the 50 Free, 4^th in the 50 back, and 5^th in the 50 breaststroke. Erin narrowly missed the rubber duck prize on numerous occasions but swam lifetime bests in every event.

At the 11-12 age group level SBAC had multiple heat winners and best times. Reagan Eickert placed 1^st in the 100 I.M. 3^rd in the 50 breaststroke and 5^th in the 50 butterfly. Courtney Nuttall finished 5^th in the 50 butterfly, 2^nd in the 100 IM, and 4^th in the 50 backstroke. Madeline Brown finished 8^th in the 50 free, and 6^th in the 50 backstroke.

At the 13-14 age group level SBAC was represented by Audrey-Anne Patterson who finished 7^th in the 100 breaststroke.

On the men’s side SBAC was represented by a trio of athletes at the 13-14 age group level. Spencer Kemp finished 1^st in the 100 breaststroke and 2^nd in the 100 free. Graham Young finished 3^rd in the 100 free, 2^nd in the 100 back, and 8^th in the 100 breaststroke. Scott Mahan finished 2^nd in the 200 IM, 6^th in the 100 free, and 3rd in the 100 back and breaststroke.

Competing in the 15 and over Men’s division Big John Errico placed 1^st in the 200 I.M. 2^nd in the 100 free, 2^nd in the 100 back, and 2^nd in the 100 breaststroke.

SBAC also put together a female relay team (Reagan, Courtney, Madeline and Audrey) and a male relay team (Big John, Spencer, Scott, and Graham) and competed in the 200 free and 200 medley relays. SBAC TOUCHED FIRST ALL FOUR TIMES.

Congratulations to everyone that participated in the swim meet this past weekend. As the coach of the team I was very proud of all of our swimmers that participated.

Our next competition is this upcoming weekend in Ventura. The swim meet is expected to be very fast and very large. Almost every swim team from Paso Robles to Westlake will be competing in this event. Let’s have a good week of preparation!

NOV 1st

SBAC Families,

It's getting colder and darker.....and the likelihood of sickness increases dramatically. Please help keep your family (and others) healthy. One way to do this at swim practice is to take a few precautions.

1. Wear shoes as often as possible to the pool and try to encourage your family to wear shoes AFTER swim practice.

2. Wear a swim cap at swim practice. A swim cap will help keep your head warm.

3. Dry your ears out after swim practice so that cold water doesn't get stuck in your ear.

4. Wear warm clothes, bring a big towel, and use them!

At this time it appears that all swim practices this week will be at D.P. If a random water polo game comes up that sends us out to UCSB I will make sure to e-mail you. The D.P. team is nearing playoff time and there may be some short notice pool changes.

On Tuesday night at midnight our online team store will close. You only have 2 days left to purchase team gear! Suits, bags, parkas, jackets and pants are all on sale with deep discounts off retail prices. The Santa Barbara team logo (either embroidered or silkscreen) will appear on all apparel and I highly encourage you to purchase a swimsuit if nothing else. The swimsuit (and team gear) will help identify our athletes at swim meets and will help develop our team image and personality. Please participate. Attached is the apparel information. Tuesday will be your last time to get team gear for a few months (there will be a couple of swim meets in that time) so get going!

I will be selling official Santa Barbara Aquatics Club “Rocket Scientist” team T-Shirts all week at the pool. If I’m busy coaching try to find Kelly Mahan (Thanks so much for the help Kelly) when she's around. If you are going to the swim meet in Ventura this weekend I HIGHLY encourage you to get a team T-Shirt.

I would like to have a parents meeting on Friday at 5 pm at the pool. The meeting should only take about 20 minutes but I can stay later to answer questions. There are a few issues about the winter swim schedule, potential travel swim meets, and the future at SBAC that I would like to share with all of our parents. Parents from every group in the program are encouraged to attend. Because of the swim meet on Saturday/Sunday we will have a shortened swim practice for age group and senior group that will conclude around 5:15 pm. I will have Coach Alisha take over coaching duties while I host the parent meeting.

If you have questions that might be helpful to have answered please e-mail me beforehand.