End of Season Remarks from Coach Kirby Weldon

Swim team families:

The 2009 season has come to an end with some big wins to celebrate. At the All-Star relays this past Saturday August 1, Somerset took home two first prizes in the 9-10 and 11-12 boys relays, and the 14 & Under 175M Graduated Relay (Pascal Lee, Joey Turi, Gavin Springer and Colin Losey) broke the team record (AGAIN!) to finish in fourth place in 1:55.08. The 9-10 team of Jack Chlopak, Joey Turi, Brian Geffroy and Robbie Seltzer knocked off 5 seconds from their second place seed time to win. Meanwhile, the first seeded 11-12 boys with Jay Jadeja, Vitaly Kleiner, Gavin Springer and Yasha Fotoohi knocked off more than a second to win their championship. Most of our Somerset swimmers swam season best splits in this All-Star Meet, and the excitement was wonderful to see and to coach!!! Congratulations to all of these swimmers and to our other four teams that swam in the relay finals!!! And, although we don't keep any official records on this, it may be the strongest showing that Somerset has ever had in this meet.

On Sunday August 2, the MCSL held their All-Star individual championship where the top 16 swimmers in each event across the entire county and all divisions compete head to head. Somerset had 3 swimmers at the meet. Gavin Springer finished a strong 5th with a personal best time in the 12&under IM amongst a very strong field (the winner of the race broke the MCSL record!). In the 11-12 boys 50 fly, Gavin finished 7th in a very fast field where another MCSL record was broken. Joey Turi was the 3rd alternate (19th ranked countrywide) in the boys 9-10 breast, and ran as fast to the lane that opened suddenly as he ultimately swam, finishing in 14th place with a personal best time. Kate Chlopak, who was the first alternate in girls 8 & under Backstroke (ranked 17th), did not have the same luck and get to swim. What is more important is that it is a huge honor to make it to this meet, and congratulations are in order to all three of our All Star swimmers.

As some of you may have noticed on the Somerset Swim team web site, our strong performance in 2009 has resulted in a move up to Division J for next year. After a much deserved break, I hope some of you will consider winter swimming to strengthen your conditioning and strokes for the tougher competition that lies ahead. If you would like to discuss options for this, please let me know.

And, finally, a message of thanks for all the efforts of Sarah Morse, and all of our dedicated volunteers and our wonderful Assistant Coaches!!! Without the help and support of the parent- volunteers, and without a wonderful, caring and professional coaching crew, we would not have achieved this level of success. And I believe that the final assessment of Somerset Swimming 2009 should be, This Summer Was FUN!!

Best to all for the rest of the summer,
Kirby