3rd Thursday in November is ....

always a great day. Family, LOTS of good food, football, and a day of rest. We've crammed a lot into 6 practices so far, and it is a good day to recover. Overall, I'm really pleased with the first few days. There is a lot of enthusiasm and energy at practice and we are getting a lot done. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm off to watch the Packers-Lions game. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Guest List for the February 16th Party

The IHSA has released the Sectional assignments. Click on this link to check it out.

1 Down, 106 to Go!

Life is a little different at 5:45 AM. The good news is that there was a lot of energy this morning, not unusual for the 1st day, but nice to see that early in the morning. A possible sign of the Apocalypse is that not only was the "Turtle" not the last person in the water, he was actually there at 5:44! Nice Work!

And So It Begins!

How will it end? We'll find out starting tomorrow at 5:45 AM!

STATE!!!

The girls wrapped up their season last night at the State Meet prelims at New Trier. Carrie Dinelli made her State debut finishing in 34th place in Diving. Gabrille Bunney finished 25th in the 200 free with a time of 1:57.16. Gabrielle was out strong, but tapering 2 weeks in a row is tough and faded a bit at the end, just off her time from Sectionals. Donna Szostak went 5:13.54 in the 500 free, finishing in 17th place. Donna was in a heat with some big guns and went out hard, was with the leaders for the first 300, but paid for the fast opening pace at the end. Even though we're disappointed not to be swimming Saturday, the girls did a great job this season and we are all proud of our Spartan Swimmers & Divers!

Sectional Recap

It's hard to say a meet with 16 lifetime bests of a possible 18 would be a disappointment, but the the Spartans left the Vernon Hills pool feeling a little empty. The good news is we have 3 state qualifiers Gabrielle Bunney (200 Free), Donna Szostak (500 Free), and Carrie Dinelli (Diving). The bad news is we missed qualifying 7 more spots by a total of 2.5 seconds combined! We were on the cusp on every occasion and just came up a little short. Overall, a great effort by a young team. We'll finish up strong at State next week and use this to build for next year. GOOD LUCK AT STATE SPARTANS!

Finishing Strong

This past week was a busy one with 3 meets in 3 days, didn't know what to eat today because I couldn't find a coach's hospitality room in my house. Here are some recaps from the past week:

Evanston JV Invite - this is a great chance for the girls who don't make the conference line-ups to have a championship style meet at a good pool. It's a great atmosphere with good competition (Evanston, New Trier, & Maine South), and a fun time. They actually give out awards to heat winners as well as the top 6 finishers. It was definitely a good night, with several girls finishing in the top 6 and getting in on the awards ceremony. Analise VanSpankeren and Jackie Herman led the way with some great swims. Another highlight was seeing our A & B 400 Free relays finish in the top 6.

JV Conference - no better way to spend a Friday night in northeast Park Ridge than absolutely dominating the conference meet! It started off with a huge bang with a new CSL North record in the 200 Medley Relay (Maria Vlahova, Margot Tuchler, Bri Reid, Sami Hogan). They broke the record by about 2 seconds, great 26.8 free split by Sami sealed the deal. Bri came back later and broke the 100 fly record by over a second as well! Other champions were Becca Flam (200 free), Cyn Hsu (200 IM), Sami (50 Free), Malia Silvert (100 free), Margot Tuchler (100 breast) and both free relays (200 FR - Sami, Becca, Bri, Malia & 400 FR - Becca, Sami, Malia, Maria). AN ABSOLUTELY GREAT NIGHT!

Varsity Conference - when we absolutely, positively had to have it, we did! The Spartans captured the meet which earned a conference co-championship. Lots of excellent performances including conference championships by Donna Szostak (200 & 500 Free), Gabrielle Bunney (100 Free), Kate Dvornitsyn (100 Back), Carrie Dinelli (Diving) and a sweep of all 3 relays. Some good tapered swims and solid mid-taper times highlighted the meet. A great way for some to end their season and a good building block for the rest for next week.

WAY TO GO SPARTANS!!!!