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February 6, 2019 |
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NOTEWORTHY NEWS XXI
THE NOVA AQUATIC
CENTER TURNED 22 ON MONDAY . . . a most memorable these 22
years, marked as they have been, by prudent expansion, multiple
state and national championships and sound finances. We can all
thank the visionary board led by Don Farmer (whose granddaughter
Brantley is currently in the program!!) that made this pool we call
home happen. We can thank subsequent Boards for being thoughtful
and watchful stewards of the on-going process we call NOVA. On
Monday, I asked Shana Lowry, who experienced that opening day (we
swam an hour at U of R, then drove to NOVA to finish practice), to
talk to the 2:30 and 3:30 Novice Gold Groups. Shana was awesome!
She told our young swimmers about that first day, then reminded
them how lucky they were to be swimming at the NOVA Aquatic Center,
their own pool.
THE NEWEST NOVA TEAM T-SHIRT . . . , 2018-2019 version, has hit the Swim Shop but the deadline has passed. IF you missed, throw yourself on the kindness of the Swim Shop ladies.
THE NOVA DISTANCE TUNE-UP ALWAYS PRODUCES SOME FAST SWIMS . . . and this year’s version was no exception. Chris DallaValle and DC Hellams asked to do both events, a request quickly and easily granted. Taking on a 400 IM, then a 1000 free in succession is no easy task. Doing them each in a Junior cut is harder still so a tip of the NOVA cap followed by a deep bow goes to Chris DallaValle; DC managed a 400 IM cut and a solid swim in the 1000! Congratulations to each!! Officials and parents noted how Chris and Aidan Duffy stayed to count for the younger 1000 free folk and were much impressed. Eleven junior cuts made for an exciting evening, highlighted by a spectacular 4:11 IM by Grace Sheble. Check out the long list of TSI’s and and barrier breakers for some sense of how swift this meet was.
11-12
Charlie Mayr 1000 free 3rd
Eric Lambert 400 IM 8th
First Place Winners
Crash Ackerly 400 IM
Courtney Carter 1000 free
Amelia Chen 400 IM
Eric Lambert 400 IM
Charlie Mayr 1000 free
Garrett McGovern 1000 free
Keira Reid 1000 free
Katie Russell 400 IM
Xander Schreck 1000 free
Grace Sheble 400 IM
Annabelle Young 1000 free
NCSA Juniors
Sarah Bender 400 IM
Danny Chance 1000 free
Zach Cram 400 IM
Chris DallaValle 1000 free, 400 IM
DC Hellams 400 IM
Patrick Madden 400 IM
Garrett McGovern 1000 free
Caroline Sheble 400 IM
Grace Sheble 400 IM
Maddie Wallin 400 IM
Time Standard Improvements (TSI)
Jason Abbey 1000 free AA
Crash Ackerly 400 IM AA
Lauren Armstrong 400 IM AA
Brooke Bailey 400 IM AAA
Amanda Barnard 400 IM AAA
Ella Barron 400 IM A
Henry Berger 1000 free A
Brady Bever 400 IM A
Brooks Bower 400 IM BB
Aiden Boyd 1000 free A
Riley Campbell 400 IM A
Morgan Carney 1000 free BB
Courtney Carter 500 free A
Amelia Chen 400 IM AAA
JD Chen 400 IM A
Seamus Connell 1000 free BB
Lillie D. Connor 1000 free A
Cameron Cook 1000 free BB
Shane Cutchin 1000 free BB
Jack Dickerson 1000 free A
Gabriella Douglas 1000 free BB
Aidan Duffy 1000 free AAA
Eric Fagan 400 IM A
Thomas Farney 1000 free AA
Sebastian Florez 1000 free BB
Josephine Fuller 1000 free AA
Will Glass 1000 free A
Mary-Stuart Hawkins 400 IM AAA
Tripp Hawkins 1000 free BB
Connor Hughes 1000 free BB
Ava Hutcherson 400 IM AAA
Aidan Jacobs 1000 free A
Bryant Julian 1000 free BB
Emily Kantner 400 IM AAA
Kate Kuhlen 1000 free AA
Andrew Kulak 1000 free BB
Nicholas Kuriger 1000 free AA
Eric Lambert 400 IM AAA
Rawlings Leachman 400 IM A
Mia Lee-Bishop 400 IM AA
Gabi Linkonis 400 IM AA
Bella Little 400 IM AA
Sherry Luo 400 IM A
Bri Mason 1000 free AA
Charlie Mayr 1000 free AAAA
Nathaniel Milligan 400 IM B
Jackson Mueller 1000 free A
Cole Nuckols 400 IM AA
Molly Nystrom 1000 free BB
Cole Owen 1000 free BB
Garland Reid 1000 free BB
Keira Reid 1000 free AAA
Spencer Ridge 400 IM AA
Matthew Rivas 1000 free BB
Cristina Rodriguez 400 IM A
Katie Russell 400 IM AAA
Liam Ryan 400 IM AAA
Meghan Schmidt 1000 free A
AJ Schwabe 1000 free AA
Joseph Shaia 1000 free A
Ethan Smith 1000 free BB
Alex Sushkoff 1000 free A
Sam Sweetser 1000 free AAA
Nathan Szobota 1000 free AAA
Justas Viliusis 1000 free BB
Claudia Vincent 1000 free A
Sarah Wagner 400 IM AAA
Owen Wassmer 1000 free A
Sadie Webb 400 IM AA
Adele Wheatley 400 IM AA
Catherine White 1000 free A
Tess Williams 400 IM AA
Annabelle Young 1000 free AAAA
Blake Young 1000 free AA
Aaron Yuan 1000 free A
Barrier Breakers
Liam Ryan < 4:20 400 IM
Crash Ackerly < 4:40 400 IM
Emily Kantner
Katie Russell
Lauren Armstrong < 5:00 400 IM
Brooks Bower
Amelia Chen
Eric Fagan
Eric Lambert
Anna Newell
Cole Nuckols
Brooke Bailey < 5:30 400 IM
Amanda Barnard
Charlotte Barron
Brady Bever
Riley Campbell
JD Chen
Rawlings Leachman
Gabi Linkonis
Bella Little
Sherry Luo
Nathaniel Milligan
Cristina Rodriguez
Sadie Webb
Lizzie Weir
Adele Wheatley
Tess Williams
Aidan Duffy < 10:00 1000 free
Abby Russell < 10:30 1000 free
AJ Schwabe
Sam Sweetser
Blake Young
Jason Abbey < 11:00 1000 free
Thomas Farney
Josephine Fuller
Aidan Jacobs
Charlie Mayr
Grady Potter
Joseph Shaia
Owen Wassmer
Henry Berger < 12:00 1000 free
Aiden Boyd
Seamus Connell
Lillie D. Connor
Cameron Cook
Sebastian Florez
Connor Hughes
Kate Kuhlen
Andrew Kulak
Nicholas Kuriger
Cole Owen
Keira Reid
Meghan Schmidt
Ethan Smith
Nathan Szobota
Justas Viliusis
Claudia Vincent
Catherine White
Morgan Carney < 13:00 1000 free
Shane Cutchin
Jack Dickerson
Gabriella Douglas
Bryant Julian
Bri Mason
Molly Nystrom
Matthew Rivas
Alex Sushkoff
FEBRUARY AND MARCH . . .
. . . are marked by strict meet entry deadlines for the championship series of meets (see later). Parents attempting to enter the meets after the deadlines will pay a hefty penalty mandated by Virginia Swimming. Even those meets run here at NOVA must follow those guidelines. Meets hosted here and coach and swimmer departures to away meets may disrupt the schedule in small and large ways.
. . . Ah, that Championship season business. . . that seems to consume these two months. For those of you new to NOVA, I’ll sketch out the championship season and then offer a quick glance on later spring into summer. The first “championship” meet is the 8 and Under District Champs on February 9-10th. This meet is open to all 8 & U swimmers regardless of time qualification. The next meet is the 9-12 Central District Championships, February 15th-17th and it is for all swimmers lacking Age Group Champs qualifying times (see the website for time standards links). This meet has been expanded this year to include Trials and Finals for 9-10 and 11-12 year olds, one heat of finals for the former, two heats for the latter. Again, this meet is open to all 12 & under swimmers below an Age Group Champs cut. Entry deadlines for these meets will be firm, without wiggle room. The coaching staff would like see all eligible swimmers entered into each meet with a maximum line-up of events. All 13-18 swimmers who haven’t qualified for AGC or Senior Champs will attend the Regional Champs, held February 22-24th at the Jeff Rouse Center just north of Fredericksburg. All those 14 and unders from these meets who make Age Group Champs (AGC) Qualifying times move on to the State Age Group Champs March 7th-10th in Christiansburg. All 15 and over qualifiers move on to the Virginia Senior Champs, February 28th- March 3rd, back again this year in Stafford and the Jeff Rouse Center. A compressed timetable:
2/9-2/10 8 and Under
District Champs
2/15-17 12 and
under District Champs
2/22-24 13 and
over Regional Champs
2/28-3/3 Virginia State
Senior Champs
3/7-3/10 Virginia Age
Group Champs
We term this rush of meets the “championship season”. Following these meets are the various high level All Star or fast qualifying times championship meets listed below. These meets are generally travel meets to the land of Far Far Away.
3/19-3/23 NCSA Juniors, Orlando,
FL
3/20-3/23
Florida International Championships, Clearwater, FL
3/27-3/30
NCSA Age Group, Orlando, FL
So there it all is - a tidy summing up of what lies ahead.
SOME OF OUR
COLLEGE-BOUND SENIORS HAVE MADE DECISIONS . . . and we
are delighted to announce the following future destinations. Our
rule here is simple: gotta know before a name is added to this
list. So here’s what we currently know. If you know and we
don’t, stay calm and drop me a line. Our latest additions are
Laney Van Lenten who will join Sally Ennis (and 2018 grad Caroline
Baber) at Washington & Lee as a student and
athlete, Michael Senter is heading to Ashland and
Randolph-Macon College and Colin Clements is joining a couple of
the girls at William & Mary. Congratulations to Laney, Michael
and Colin!!! More to come, I am sure, and NN will let you know as
soon as it knows!!
Maggie Baham Allegheny
College
Colin Clements William & Mary
Mary Cornett Penn
State
Zack Cram
North Carolina State
Chris DallaValle
Duke
Sally Ennis
Washington & Lee
Mark Graff
Vanderbilt
Maura Graff
William and Mary
Reid Hutcherson
Villanova
Quinn Keatley Roanoke
College
Tillie Lewis NYU
Alli Lovell
University of the Cumberlands
Patrick Madden Denison
Iain Moore
Franklin & Marshall
Peyton Proffitt
William and Mary
Michael Senter Randolph-Macon
College
Ethan Spencer DePauw
University
Laney Van Lenten
Washington & Lee
THE COACHING STAFF IS ALWAYS LOOKING TO IMPROVE THE MEET ENTRY PROCESS . . . both for parents and for our meet management folks. Each meet entry is posted and coaches strongly request that parents either accept or decline a meet entry. We do aim to accommodate late entries whenever possible but that means extra work for our meet entry team. So please let us know your intentions for meets listed for your swimmer’s training group. Just log in, find the appropriate meet and let us know your intentions. The coaching staff will also often send reminder e-mails as meet deadlines approach.
THIS WEEK REMINDS US THAT RICHMOND WEATHER IS SOMETIMES ERRATIC . . . and even warm spells such as the one we are experiencing this week eliminate a need for warm gear together with dry socks and shoes. Each year in the cold months, NOVA swimmers continue to arrive at NOVA as if it was summer, dashing from or to a car in a bathing suit. The good habits of a swimmer’s career begin early and that means dressing warmly when cold or even mildly chilly winds blow. Shoes, socks, gloves, wool hats and warm parkas do much to blunt winter’s bite. An athlete emerging from a taxing practice needs to let his body and muscles recover inside some warm wrappings.
THE WINTER MONTHS BRING MORE THAN COLD . . . . They bring - no big surprise - darkness and that darkness makes the parking lot more of a hazard than in better-lit months. I am asking that all drivers exercise extreme caution upon entering NOVA from Gayton Road. Some of the swimmers play outside; some swimmers aim swift charges at warm cars. The potential for serious mischief is there and slowing down is certainly a good way to minimize or avoid it. Thank you in advance for your support of my yearly slow down initiative.
OUR LOST BUT NOT FOUND . . . is one unmanned store with some customer friendly store hours, generally 4:45 AM to 8:30 PM M-F with generous weekend hours available as well. Its business cycle is unusual. Inventory grows and grows until the invisible hand of the marketplace sweeps all away to the waiting hands of Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Towels, suits and water bottles are inventory staples but jackets, boots and umbrellas are not unknown! Feel free to stop and shop and claim what is yours.
A TIMELY REMINDER: As parents, we all hope our children do well in school and that means a steady diet of “A’s” and correct answers. Success is what we want them to embrace. While we want them to do the same in athletics, it is worth noting that the path to success in sports is littered with failure. LeBron fouls, Bryce Harper strikes out, Messi misses. Failure and/or mistakes are constants in all sports. It is part of the passage to success. Some failures are absolutely the key to great future success. So stay patient during the process: it’s sports, not school. NOVA’s coaches understand that DQ’s, missed turns and their kith and kin are learning moments!
PARENTS BE ADVISED THAT CHILDREN PLAYING OUTSIDE THE BUILDING ARE NOT UNDER THE SUPERVISION . . . of any NOVA staff member. If your child plays outside and that is OK with you, please remind them that ours is a “trafficked” parking lot and that swiftly darting young children should be wary of the driving lanes. On the other hand, we are asking that all parents be especially vigilant when you enter our parking lot. On a slightly related note, please respect the handicapped parking places. I know folks like to use these spaces for picking up swimmers but they are there to provide easy access for handicapped or special needs swimmers and visitors. We appreciate your support !
DO YOU HAVE ADDITIONAL FAMILY MEMBERS WHO HAVE EXPRESSED INTEREST IN NOVA? FRIENDS WHO SEEM INTERESTED? We stand ready to evaluate any and all who have summer swim team level abilities. Evaluations are quick, easy and free. Interested? E-mail Drew or Geoff. We can take care of most swimming levels somewhere in our program. From lessons to Masters, NOVA is a full service swimming organization, the best in Richmond and in Virginia. Modesty forbids us to say more so we’ll stop with that minor bragging.
BEFORE DONATING ELSEWHERE . . . check with the staff to see if NOVA has a need. For example, re-doing your kitchen? Have a decent refrigerator? Consider taking the tax write-off and helping NOVA. We have three such refrigerators here at NOVA but we are always looking to update.
WE
HAVE THE NOVA FLAT HAT BULLETIN BOARD . . . that traces, through
pictures, the travels of NOVA families and their NOVA caps. I
thought it would be fun to see NOVA’s international
bloodlines. Here is the rule: only parents and children count. So
parents or children have to be first generation here in the United
States. Here’s what we have gathered - I suspect
we have more. And I proved to be right after many long months, then
a very short week of waiting!! We now have 38 countries and
counting! Another South American country (Ecuador was our previous
most recent addition), Chile, becomes our latest proud addition to
our point of origin list. Don’t hold out on us regarding your
point of origin if you’re not on this list!
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Albania |
Denmark |
Poland |
E-mail Coach Geoff with any additions. I suspect we will have an amazing NOVA tapestry when we are done - if we ever get done!!!
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