It's Christmas Time!!!

Merry Christmas!!!! I can’t believe it’s that time of year already! This swimming season has just flown by and it’s been awhile since we’ve been on here – so I’ll try to catch everyone up on all that’s been happening! The semester has been done now for about a week and the girls are all home for Christmas break; and believe me, after finals, it’s a well deserved break! We’ve all worked hard both in and out of the pool and so some rest, relaxation, and family time will hopefully refresh the girls so they can come back ready for the new year! Just after the new year we’ll hit our training at it’s peak, as we head down to Islamorada, Florida for our annual training trip. There we’ll get in some major yards as we swim two-a-days in a long course meter pool! It’s outside and we’re hoping for great weather! We’ll tell you more about it when we return in January. For now though, the girls are expected to swim on their own over break to stay in shape – otherwise this trip could be a little rough! ;)

Our hard work in the water has certainly paid off in the meets that we’ve swam in. Our first meet, the Augsburg Pentathalon went really well as did the Tommie Relay meet at the end of October. Our team really showed the strength we had at both meets. Right before the Relay meet we had our annual Halloween practice where everyone showed up in costume and then swam a length of the pool! We had some great costumes this year: winning first place were a pair of oompa loompas – complete with the song; we also had a mad scientist and egor, crayons, and many other creative costumes! As well...our sister sport Cross Country had their MIAC championship over the halloween weekend, so we headed over to Como Park after the Relay meet and cheered on the runners!!

The first part of November we headed up to Moorhead to race Concordia. We won 12 of the 16 events with Bridget Perkins and Steffanie Jurusik each winning three! Our relays did well as did our divers! Sarah Moody won both the 6 and 11 dive events off the 1 meter board.

That next week we headed to Macalester for the fifth annual Hour of Power event. We teamed up with Hamline, Augsburg, and Macalester to swim relay-style for an hour in honor of Ted Mullin, a Carleton College student-athlete who passed away from sarcoma in 2006. It was a great experience and we got to know some more of the swimmers from the other teams. At the end of the week we hosted a meet racing Hamline, Augsburg, Macalester, and Gustavus. Again we had strong swims by all the girls and our divers did very well too leading to a second place finish to Gustavus! Right before Thanksgiving we headed over to the Macalester invite where we again placed second - to St. Thomas. Steffanie set two meet records and Sarah Moody won the 3 meter and was second in the 1 meter diving events.

At Thanksgiving we got a little break, but with the anticipation of our last meet our coaches kept us working hard. Our last meet we swam at the St. Thomas invite where we saw many great swims! Many of the girls got their conference cuts, and Lena Anderson had season best times! We finished third to LaCrosse and St. Thomas.

That ended our competition until after our training trip in January when we’ll be dualing St. Thomas a few days after we return from Florida!

We've also been doing some fundraising - thanks to Marissa's mom at a Byerly's gift basket shop. We help out making baskets and other odd jobs in the store! We appreciate the support and have had a lot of fun helping out!

So…that’s our season in a little wrap up for now! We wish you a Merry Christmas and Blessings in the new year!!

Feed My Starving Children

This post is a couple of weeks late, but definitely worth writing about . . .

The last day of our first week of practice wasn't spent in the pool, it was spent in the weight room, goal-setting, and doing some volunteering (and team bonding) at a local non-profit, Feed My Starving Children. It was a great way to not only end the first week, but to give back to the community (and world)!

In the span of about an hour, we packed enough food to feed 35 children for an entire year. (Talk about making an impact!) We'll do the same thing in January over J-term, when all of the team is back to practice but taking a break from classes.

Here are a few pics from the evening!

Waiting to hear instructions (always wear your hair nets, ladies)!

Team work!

Proving it was an enjoyable experience--they even blasted music from the 90s while we packed!

A Successful First Meet!

Yesterday, Wildcat swimmers had their first meet of the season, the Augsburg Pentathlon. Since it was a swimming-only meet, the divers didn't compete. (They'll compete next week at St. Thomas Relays.) There were many highlights, including a sweep of the top nine finishes! The girls worked hard (they all swam five 100s--one of each stroke and a 100 IM--in the span of 1 hour and 15 minutes), and accomplished our two goals for the meet: finish each event :) and have fun.

Kathleen and Steff at Feed My Starving Children a couple of weeks ago. Kathleen was 7th and Steff placed 1st overall at the Augsburg Pentathlon. Way to rock those hair nets, ladies!

It was also our Parent Meet---we had a great crowd of family members and supporters come to cheer on their daughters, sisters, girlfriends, etc. We truly appreciate the support they give our team, and look forward to seeing a sea of Wildcat supporters at our upcoming meets! Thank you all for coming!

Meet the Team!

October is finally here and our 2010-2011 season is underway. This year we are excited to have a larger team (especially a larger diving squad!) and so many wonderful & talented women. We hope to have all of our fans join us at our meets this year and cheering on us to another successful season. Our first meet is Saturday, October 23rd at St. Kate's for the Augsburg Pentathlon!

First-Years

Parrin, Nellie, Lauren, Kathleen, Sarah B., and Brooke

Sophomores

Alli, Steff, Mel, Kylah, Laura O-H, Lena, and Crissy

Juniors

Ashley, Laura M., Bridget, Reba, Mary, Sarah V., and Sarah M.

Seniors

Kelley and Marissa

Full Team

New Blocks!

Our new starting blocks have arrived and just in time for our season!

Senior Kelley Holmes approves!!!

Swim season is just around the corner!!

Hello Everyone! I hope that you are all enjoying what is left of summer. Not too much happening right now but we did get new blocks today! Hopefully they will have them in soon, I hear the construction going on in the pool all the time while I am at the desk so that's promising right? We will have a team meeting the first day of classes with team information and captains practices too. I look forward to seeing everyone soon!!

-Kelley

A Huge Success!!

The Relay for Life event held this last weekend was a great success! Our team raised about $765 and all the teams raised a total of over $27,000!! Wow!!

We want to say a big thank you to all who supported our team. We certainly would not have been as successful without your support towards such a wonderful cause!

The event had to be held inside due to weather, but it was still a lot of fun as well as a very powerful experience. It was great to see our team come together and support not only the American Cancer Society but also each other. We all had different reasons for supporting such a cause and to see the encouragement of all the girls together was very rewarding for myself, as I'm sure it was for the other girls involved.

Swim for Hope. It's what our bandannas said and is what we walked for at the Relay. Maybe someday the battle over cancer will be won; for now though, there's hope.

Fighting for a Cure!

Last Year's Relay for Life Team!

As we jump into the busy final weeks of school a few of us from the team are participating in the Relay for Life walk again. Taking place on Friday April 30th till Saturday May 1st teams from both St. Kate's and St. Thomas will join together to support the fight against cancer.

It's an event that is fun but also humbling. The event recognizes all those who have been affected by cancer with either a victory lap for those who have survived, a supporting lap for those who are fighting it now, and a lap where luminaria are lit up to remember the loved ones lost. It's an event where students from both campuses fundraise to see how much they can raise for the American Cancer Society. As a team last year we raised just over $1,200! This year we're trying to break it, but need some help. Our members have been asking family and friends, and we are selling the luminaria bags during our free time between classes to get the campus community involved. If anyone would like to support us with a donation I’ve added a link, or you can come support us at the event.

It’s being held this year here at St. Kate’s in the quad from 7pm Friday to 7am Saturday. Stop by and say hello. We would love to see you!

Here's the link if you would like to support us!!

Thank you!

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=22874&team_id=662733

Year End Banquet and Team Awards

Today the team reunited for our annual banquet and the presentation of team awards. It is always a great way to end our season and to get together with our families that offer us so much support every year. Thank you to all of you for another great season and I can't wait for next year!

Team Awards Given

• MIAC Sportsmanship Award: Sarah Vrudny

• All Conference: Sarah Moody for 1-Meter Diving

• Team Academic Award (those with a GPA of 3.5 or higher) Reba Bisciglia, Marissa Donatelle, Elizabeth Fosse, Kelley Holmes, Kaitlyn McClay, Laura Oberg-Hauser, Christina Paetzel, Bridget Perkins, Sarah Vrudny, Mary Walters, and Alli Witt

• Most Improved: Kaitlyn McClay

• Most Inspirational: Sarah Vrudny

• Most Dedicated: Mary Walters

• Most Valuable: Sarah Moody

Wildcat Academic Team (minus Christina)

Most Valuable: Sarah Moody, Most Inspirational: Sarah Vrudny,
Most Dedicated: Mary Walters, and Most Improved: Kaitlyn McClay

Team Captains for 2010-2011 Season

Melanie Maas, Kelley Holmes, and Sarah Vrudny

A MIAC Champ and Seven School Records!

Congrats, Sarah!

Sophomore Sarah Moody won the 1-meter diving competition on Saturday night with an NCAA qualifying score and a new St. Kate's school record. She is the first St. Kate's MIAC champion since 1992! She finds out next week if she will be competing at the NCAA Championship meet.

This quartet broke four school relay records!

The entire team swam tremendously, swimming many personal and season bests. Seven school records were broken (three individual and four relay) and the team placed its highest (6th) in many, many years. Great job, Wildcats!

MIAC Championships 2010

The team is tapering, fine-tuning and getting excited for this week's MIAC Championship meet at the University of Minnesota! The meet is three days long, and runs Thursday through Saturday with prelims in the morning and finals in the evening.

Here is the event order:
Thursday, Feb. 18th
Prelims 10:30am
Women's 3-Meter/Men's 1-Meter Diving (concurrently with swimming events)
Women's/Men's 500 Free
Women's/Men's 200 IM
Women's/Men's 50 Free

Thursday, Feb. 18th
Finals 6:30pm
Men's 1-Meter Diving
Women's/Men's 200 Free Relay
Women's/Men's 500 Free
Women's/Men's 200 IM
Women's/Men's 50 Free
20-minute break
Women's/Men's 400 Medley Relay

Friday, Feb. 19th
Prelims 10:30am
Women's 3-Meter Diving (concurrently with swimming events)
Women's/Men's 400 IM
Women's/Men's 100 Fly
Women's/Men's 200 Free
Women's/Men's 100 Breast
Women's/Men's 100 Back

Friday, Feb. 19th
Finals 6:30pm
Women's 3-Meter Diving
Women's/Men's 200 Medley Relay
Women's/Men's 400 IM
Women's/Men's 100 Fly
Women's/Men's 200 Free
Women's/Men's 100 Breast
Women's/Men's 100 Back
20-minute break
Women's/Men's 800 Free Relay

Saturday, Feb. 20th
Prelims 10:30am
Women's 1-Meter/Men's 3-Meter Diving (concurrently with swimming events)
Women's/Men's 200 Back
Women's/Men's 100 Free
Women's/Men's 200 Breast
Women's/Men's 200 Fly
Women's 1-Meter/Men's 3-Meter Diving (will begin at 3:45pm)
Women's/Men's 1650 Free (beginning in the afternoon, and completed by 5:30pm)

Saturday, Feb. 20th
Finals 6:30pm
Women's 1-Meter Diving (concurrently with first two heats of 1650 Free)
Women's/Men's 1650 Free (final heat only)
Women's/Men's 200 Back
Women's/Men's 100 Free
Women's/Men's 200 Breast
Women's/Men's 200 Fly
Women's 1-Meter Diving
Women's/Men's 400 Free Relay

For more meet information, including ticket sales, visit the official MIAC website.

Go Wildcats!

Costa Rica

The team traveled to San Jose, Costa Rica this year for our annual training trip. The trip was amazing and everyone had a great time. Amidst lots of training (9,000-10,000 meters a day) the girls had time to lay out by the hotel pool, walk to the nearby bakery and McDonalds for treats, nap on the rainy days, and become a closer team.

The girls also got to choose an excursion for their day off while we were there. The majority chose to go into the rain forest on a canopy tour, which consisted of ziplining from platform to platform through the rain forest. The rest of the team went white water rafting for an extra workout. Both groups had an amazing time and enjoyed a break from the pool!

Another highlight of the trip was meeting so many wonderful Costa Rican swimmers, coaches, and parents. They were so honored to have us training at their pools and wanted to learn as much as they could from us while we are there. Following our meet with Ursinus College from Pennsylvania both myself and Ursinus's head coach stayed to do a coaching clinic with the swimmers and coaches from the Guadaloupe team. The clinic consisted of them asking us lots of questions about our training methods. Everyone was so nice and it was really hard to say goodbye to them on our last day there.

View from the airplane flying in to Costa Rica

Jumbo Burgers from Soda Tapia, definitely a team favorite!

Captain Kelley Holmes learning how to pick coffee beans

Canopy Group about to head off into the rain forest

First run on the canopy tour

Costa Rican swimmers and coaches from our Guadaloupe Pool

Our team with the Guadaloupe morning swimmers

Morning practice pool ~ indoors and 25 meters long

Evening practice pool ~ outdoors and 50 meters long

Our team bus with our driver and Juan

On our last night of practice the team is allowed to pick their own activities to make up the workout. Above is a video of them playing Birdie on a Perch. Luckily it didn't get too violent!

Costa Rica-Bound!

This morning at 4:30am, the team left campus to board a plane headed for San Jose, Costa Rica. They'll be there swimming two-a-days, taking in some sites, doing some excursions and getting tan until next Tuesday when they fly back to Minnesota. Happy training trip!