2009 season off to a great start

Entering the 5th week of the season, all looks good for the Crusader Swimming and Diving team.

After a strong finish at the Apollo Relay meet, the Crusaders carried that momentum into their next meets:

• At Albany Dual had the Crusaders coming out with a good win to give them a 1-0 record in the West Central Conference.
• At the Sartell/Monticello Tri, CHS/SJP took 3rd, but had many strong performances.
• The Montevideo/Perham double dual gave the Crusaders a double win. The Montevideo win puts the Crusaders at 2-0 in the Conference.
• The Sauk Rapids dual was a close meet that ended up going to Sauk Rapids. Again, many good performances! The Crusaders learned a lot from the meet, including to never give up as they made up a lot of ground throughout the second half of the meet.

Up Next:

Conference match-up with Minnewaska
Catholic Schools Cup
Conference match-up with Foley

Crusaders Finish 2nd at Apollo Relays

The CHS/SJP Swimming and Diving team kicked off their 2009 competitive season with 84 points and a 2nd place finish at Apollo Relays on Tuesday, September 1. This is the best finish since the 2005 season (when the now seniors were 8th graders, and the juniors were 7th graders).

There were a total of 6 teams that attended the relay meet. Sartell finished 1st and Apollo was 3rd with 74 points. Great job by all participants!

Potluck Recap

It was good to see so many of you at the potluck tonight.

A quick potluck recap:
~Order forms are due tomorrow (Wednesday, August 26)..."invoices" will be sent out shortly and will include the Subway bus food ($15). Contact the coaches if you have any financial concerns.
~Parkas, pants, and mesh bags will be turned in at the end of the season - please take care of the equipment
~If you are unable to be at practice or a meet, email or send a note to the coaches
~For those in Confirmation, please let the coaches know your schedule as soon as you know it...Confirmation takes priority over practice and is an excused absence.
~The bubble buddies and the meet themes are attached to the email
~Everybody participates at the dual meets. Those not on the Conference, Section or State team are encouraged to come cheer on their teammates.
~Feel free to contact the captain's parents if you are interested in signing up for any of the volunteer positions.
~The breakfast is our big fundraiser - start selling your tickets and telling everybody about the breakfast

Should be a fun season!

Potluck - Food Allergies

It was announced at practice, but just to be sure, we have some food allergies on the team. Please avoid:
Fish (includes tuna...anything with the fish smell)
Peanuts - if you bring something with nuts in it, please label it.

Pre-Season Meeting

A quick reminder that the Pre-Season Meeting is Wednesday, August 12.

CHS/J23/SPPM athletes and parents will meet in Holy Angels at 6:30.

ALL (CHS, SJP, etc) girls who are interested in swimming or diving and their parents will be meeting at CHS at 7:15 in the CHS Library

PLEASE BRING -
Your checkbook, medical information and your calendar.

There will be practice suits, caps, goggles, etc available as well. Payment for these items will be collected a couple weeks into the season.

There is a link to the season calendar on the blog at crusaderswimdive.blogspot.com. The calendar is still be finalized, so there may be some changes.

For those who cannot be at the meeting, no worries, the meeting information will be emailed to you after the Wednesday meeting.

Please mark the following dates on your calendar (more details to come at the meeting):
August 21 - team social following practice (parents welcome).
August 25 - 6:00 potluck for the girls and their families.

Summer Pool Dates

We have been able to lock down a few pool dates at St. John's University. The dates are as follows:
Tuesday, June 23 4:30-6:00
Wednesday, July 8 5:30-6:30
Tuesday, July 14 4:30-6:00
Wednesday, July 22 4:30-6:30

Bring:
Suit(s)**
Cap and goggles** (if you have them)
Towel
Water bottle
**if you are in need of suits, caps, and/or goggles, the team typically has access to some discounted gear.

Everybody who is thinking about swimming or diving for CHS/SJP this fall is welcome to attend any or all of the above pool dates.

The pool time will be spent working on the fundamentals of the sport. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the sport, and to meet the coaches.

Also, continue to watch your email for details on the weekly Wednesday afternoon Captain's practices.

2009 Key Dates

August
Wednesday, 12 - CHS Fall sports Meeting (6:30 pm at Holy Angels)
Wednesday, 12 - Swim/Dive Pre-Season Meeting (7:15 pm at CHS, location TBD)
Saturday, 15 - Female Fall Sports Triathlon at SJU (see Captains for details)
Monday, 17 - First day of practice (6-8:30 pm at Tech)
Friday, 21 - Team Social following short practice (7ish) all athletes and their families are welcome. More details to come.
Monday, 24 - SJP First Day of School
Tuesday, 25 - Team Potluck following early practice (6ish) all athletes and their families are welcome. More details to come.
Monday, 31 - CHS First Day of School (7th and 9th grade)
Monday, 31 - First morning of Dryland (6:00 am at CHS - 9th-12th grade)

September
Tuesday, 1 - CHS First Day of School
Tuesday, 1 - First meet at Apollo
Wednesday, 9 - Pictures (3:45 @ Lake George)
Thursday, 10 - Bubble Buddy pizza night
Saturday, 19 - Catholic School's Cup at Sartell
Sunday, 27 - Breakfast Fundraiser at St. Anthony's (7 am -Noon)
Wednesday, 30 - SJP Bonfire (tentative, no practice)

October
Saturday, 3 - CHS and SJP Homecoming Dance
Thursday, 8 - Parent Night
Friday, 9 - CHS Homecoming football game (tentative, no practice)
Tuesday, 13 - Senior Night/Last night for JV
Thursday, 15 - MEA - Varsity am and pm practice with gathering in between
Friday, 16 - MEA - Varsity early am practice
Friday, 23 - Fundraiser at the Eagles (5:45-9:00)
Friday, 30 - Conference Dinner to follow practice
Saturday, 31 - Conference at SJU (Foley to host)

November
Friday, 13 - Section Prelims at Sartell (Section team lunch at 12:30)
Friday, 13 - Fundraiser at the Eagles (5:45-9:00)
Saturday, 14 - Section Finals at Sartell (team dinner to follow)
Sunday, 15 - Team parent meeting
Thursday-Saturday, 19-21 - State at U of M

December
Sunday, 6 - Banquet at Kelly Inn (4:00)

January
date TBD - Parent party

End of School Year Update

Can you believe that summer is right around the corner?!

Here is a quick update on the CHS/SJP Swimming and Diving team including summer plans.

• The coaching staff for the fall has been hired! We have a couple of familiar faces returning to the team...Meghan Rysavy (CHS '07) will be the assistant coach and Kayla Edelbrock (CHS '06) will be the diving coach. Both ladies will bring a lot of new energy to the team, and have already been helping to plan the fall season.
  
  
• We were informed that the 2008-2009 team was rewarded the Silver Level of the NISCA All-American Scholar team award (http://www.inswim.net/acallamerteam09.html). Congrats to all athletes. Without all of your hard work in the classroom, we would not have qualified for the award. Keep up the great work. Let's see if we can reach the Gold Level in 2009-2010.
  
  
• Congrats to Miriah Hoffman on receiving the Academic All-American award (http://www.inswim.net/acallamer09.html). This award is for senior swimmers or divers who maintain a GPA of 3.75 or higher for 7 semesters. Also, good luck to Miriah as she heads to St. Ben's this fall.
  
  
• We have created a blog so that you can easily access information on the team. The blog can be found at: http://crusaderswimdive.blogspot.com
  
  
• The Captains will be having Captain's practice every Wednesday at 3:00 throughout the summer. The location and activities will vary throughout the summer. The first Wednesday will be June 3 at Whitney. Come on out for capture the flag. This is not mandatory, but a great way to meet new team mates, and have a good time together.
  
  
• The coaches are in the process of locking down some possible summer pool dates. More information to come soon. Like the captain's practices, the pool dates are not mandatory, but rather a good opportunity to get in the pool and learn a little about what is in store for the fall season.
  
  
• Attached is the goal sheet for the fall season. If you feel comfortable filling out the form, feel free to do so. Once your form is complete, send it to crusaderswimdive@yahoo.com. We can then schedule a time this summer to discuss your goal sheet so you can start planning how you are going to reach your goals.
  
  
• Key Dates: August 15 for a pre-season team function. August 17 first day of the season.

That should pretty much cover everything for now. Feel free to forward this email to families/athletes that are thinking about joining the team this fall. We would love to have them as a part of the team in the fall. Encourage the interested athletes to attend some of the events this summer so they can see what the team is like before the fall season.

Enjoy the last days of the school year!