Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team : FAST Team News

FAST Swimmers Selected to 2009 Mutual Duel in the Pool Team

Congratulations to Tyler Clary, Margaret Hoelzer, Katie Hoff, and Ariana Kukors!

USA Swimming selects 2009 Mutual Duel in the Pool Team (10/28/2009)

Thirty-six top American swimmers, including 17 Olympians, will battle against a squad of European swimmers Dec. 18-19 at the 2009 Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool in Manchester, England. The event, which will be broadcast on NBC on December 27 from 2-4 p.m. ET, will star Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.), Rebecca Soni (Plainsboro, N.J.), Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) and Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.).

The bi-annual Duel in the Pool is a made-for-TV event, designed to showcase the sport’s most exciting swimmers. This year’s Duel takes on a new format with Team USA facing a team comprised of the top swimmers from Great Britain, Germany and Italy. The event will be held at the Manchester Aquatic Center.

In addition to Phelps, Soni, Lochte and Peirsol, the U.S. team will intermix Olympic medalists Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill.), Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich.), Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) and Margaret Hoelzer (Huntsville, Ala.) with rising stars such as Ariana Kukors (Auburn, Wash.), Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif.), and Dagny Knutson (Minot, N.D.). The men’s head coach for the Duel in the Pool will be Frank Busch while the women will be led by 2008 Women’s Olympic Coach Jack Bauerle. See full article on usaswimming.org.

For more information about this year’s Duel, visit duelinthepool.com.

USA Swimming Foundation Announces Nominees for the 2009 Golden Goggle Awards

The USA Swimming Foundation today released the nominations for the Golden Goggle Awards, a star-studded awards gala celebrating the accomplishments of top American swimmers in 2009. The event will take place Sunday, November 22 at the Beverly Hilton and will feature the 2009 U.S. World Championships swim team which includes FAST own Tyler Clary, Ariana Kukors and Coach Sean Hutchison. You can help the FAST nominees win by voting on-line each day through November 18. Go to www.GoldenGoggles.com. On the left side of the page you will see a tab "vote Now". You can vote each day! So Vote often!

Breakout Performer Nominee : Tyler Clary

Tyler Clary was the only American male rookie on the 2009 U.S. World Championship team to win a medal in the pool in Rome. He won a silver medal in the 400m IM and also finished fifth in the 200m butterfly. Clary qualified for the U.S. World Championship team by finishing second at the Trials in both the 400m IM and 200m fly. He was also third in the 200m back.

Perseverance Award Nominee : Ariana Kukors

Ariana Kukors went from two third place finishes at the 2008 Olympic Trials to a World Championship gold and silver medal in 2009. In Rome, Kukors broke the 200m IM world record two times on her way to her first international medal and won a silver medal as part of the 800m free relay team.

Coach of the Year : Coach Sean Hutchison

Sean Hutchison helped guide his own athlete, Ariana Kukors, to a spectacular performance in the 200m IM in Rome. It was the first international medal for Kukors, and the first major international gold medal (as coach) for Hutchison, who also served as the American women’s head coach at Worlds. He was the head coach of King Aquatics in Seattle, but recently took over as head coach of the Elite team with Fullerton Aquatic Sports Team in Southern California.

Female Race of the Year : Ariana Kukors

At the World Championships in Rome, Ariana Kukors won a gold medal and set a world record in the 200m IM. Kukors had completed each of the preliminary and semifinal rounds as the top seed, even breaking the world record in the semifinals by nearly 1.5 seconds. Kukors trailed Olympic champion Stephanie Rice of Australia by four-tenths of a second after the first 50 meters but Kukors then recorded the fastest splits in the field in each of the next three legs, finishing with a 29.84 freestyle split to win the gold.

Female Athlete of the Year : Ariana Kukors

Ariana Kukors made the most of her opportunities at the 2009 World Championships. Kukors broke the American record in the prelims of the 200m IM and then shattered the world record not once, but twice on her way to her first World Championship gold medal. In the semifinal of the event, Kukors broke Australian Stephanie Rice’s world record by more than a second and in the final, Kukors won gold in 2:06.15, dropping another second off the world record. In addition to her outstanding performance in the 200m IM, Kukors also earned a silver medal in the American record-setting 4 x 200m free relay.

Let ’ s get FAST some Golden Goggle Awards!!!! Vote often!

Congratulations to Breezy Gonzales and Patrick Merlihan being named USA Swimming 2008-09 Scholastic All-American Team

On Saturday September 19 ^th, the USA Swimming House of Delegates voted to ban “tech suits” and restrict suit-coverage in USA Swimming sanctioned meets starting October 1, 2009. The International ban on these suits goes into effect on January 1, 2010, while the NCAA and National High School governing bodies have both already implemented this rule for their competitions.

Legal Material:
Suits must be constructed exclusively of textile fabric, which is defined as material consisting of natural and/or synthetic, individual and non-consolidated yarns used to constitute a fabric by weaving, knitting and/or braiding.

Legal Coverage:
For men, the swimsuit shall not extend above the navel nor below the knees, and for women, shall not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor extend below the knee.

Specific suits have not been approved or rejected yet but the rule of thumb is that if the suit has anything rubbery, its no longer legal. If the suit extends below the knees, it isn’t legal. For guys if it extends above the belly button, it isn’t legal. If it extends past the shoulders for girls, it isn’t legal.

Also, the drawstring in a men’s suit will be the only legal fastener on suits. No zippers, clasps, buttons or snaps are legal for male or female styles.

We have 1 month remaining of the FAST Swim-A-Thon. To date, September 1, 2009, you have raised over $21,000. This is a great achievement in these difficult times and a new procedure for our Swim-A-Thon.

Please note below the list of swimmers and the amount raised to date. Our next step will be to write thank you notes to each of your donors. We will discuss this procedure at our parent meeting on September 12^th and during our first weeks of training.

I do ask, if your name is not on the list below that you contact your friends, family, nearby businesses to support you in your efforts.

Please note the list of athletes and the dollars raised to date. Donations sent in via the Firstgiving web page have not been separated by swimmer and have not been updated by Firstgiving as of September 1, 2009.

Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST) was named today ‘U.S. Olympic Committee Professional and Post Grad Training Center’ for the Western United States

Fullerton, August 17, 2009 - USA Swimming announced today, that the Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST) has been named ‘U.S. Olympic Committee Professional and Post Grad Training Center’ for the Western United States.

Sean Hutchison, U.S. 2009 World Championship Women`s Head Coach, was appointed as the Head Coach of the FAST Senior Elite program starting in September, 2009. Jon Urbanchek will also return to FAST in Spring 2010.

“I am excited that FAST has been selected as one of the three elite training centers in the United States and will participate in this great venture,” said Bill Jewell, the Head Coach of FAST. Bill has been working for about a year with Mark Schubert, USA Swimming National Team Head Coach and General Manager, to create this opportunity for our post-graduate national team swimmers.

F or more information, please see article on USA Swimming.