OSI News Archive - July, 2011

There will be an informational Zone Team meeting immediately following the conclusion of prelims Saturday, July 30th at 11&O Championships. The meeting will take place on deck, and the exact location will be announced at the meet.

Just a reminder that all Zone Team applications need to be submitted by the end of prelims Sunday, July 31st. Applications may be turned in at any time up until that point, and times can be updated if necessary.

See you all on deck!!

The USA Swimming Foundation, in conjunction with the Portland Sports Commission, is pleased to formally invite you to the second stop of the 2011 Make a Splash with Cullen Jones Event Series presented by ConocoPhillips. In its third year, the Make a Splash Tour promotes the life-saving message of learn to swim and reinforces the importance of water safety throughout the country.

Please accept this as your official invitation to a special community breakfast in Portland. At the complimentary breakfast, you will have the opportunity to hear from 2008 Olympic gold medalist and world record-setter, Cullen Jones, learn about the USA Swimming Foundation’s ground breaking Make a Splash initiative and enjoy host Janet Evans. Please join us and learn how you can help us save lives by “making a splash” in Portland.

Breakfast Information
Date: August 9, 2011                     
Time: 8 AM              
Location: Multnomah Athletic Club        
Address: 1849 SW Salmon St., Portland, OR 97205  

Make a Splash’s awareness campaign is built around the staggering statistics that minority children ages 5-14 are most at risk for drowning, and drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of 14. 

Make a Splash is a national child-focused water safety initiative created by the USA Swimming Foundation, with the goal of teaching every child in America how to swim. It works by aligning the nation’s top learn-to-swim resources in an effort to save lives. Make a Splash educates parents through a national awareness campaign, saves lives by joining forces with grassroots learn-to-swim programs and reaches hundreds of thousands of children through its programming, promotions and publicity tours.

The USA Swimming Foundation is proud to announce that there have been more than 750,000 enrollments in swim lessons with its more than 380 Make a Splash Local Partners over the last 4 years. With an overall goal of teaching every child to swim and a more immediate goal of reaching 1 million enrollments by the end of the year, we are very excited continue the 2011 Make a Splash Event Series in Portland.

 We look forward to spending time with you August 9^th and are excited to further build relationships within your community. Please RSVP as soon as possible by contacting Talia Mark (MakeASplashTour@UsaSwimming.org) to reserve your seat or if you have any questions about the Make a Splash with Cullen Jones Event Series presented by ConocoPhillips.

Swimmers from Tualatin Hills and Lake Oswego Swim Clubs set a number of New OSI records at the recently concluded Sectionals. Keaton Blovad of Lake Oswego set the lone individual records, beating Grace Carlson's 11-12 50 and 100 meter backstroke records. She finished the 50 in 33.66 and the 100 in 1:05.52. The Lake Oswego team of Gunnar Wolfe, Andrew Heymann, Daniel Chen, and Nicholas Bode set new 17-18 records in the 200 free relay, swimming 1:36.49, and 400 free relay swimming 3:35.58. Lake Oswego's Brenda Cha, Grace Carlson, Rowan Hauber and Karen Turner set a new Open record in the 200 free relay, swimming 1:44.66, breaking their old record by two and a half seconds.

The Tualatin Hills foursome of Jorge Casas, Myron Shen, Joshua Yadao and Jaume Martinez-Calvo set a new National Age Group Record in the 11-12 200 free relay. Their time of 1:50.52 beat Gulf Swimming's Premiere Aquatic Club's record of 1:51.50 set last year. Their time breaks the old Oregon record by about two and a half seconds set earlier this Summer. Myron, Jorge and Jaume were joined by Anthony Nosack on the 200 medley relay to set a new record of 2:04.89 in the 11-12 age group. T-Hills set the previous record earlier this summer at 2:08.24.

Prudence Rooker, Celia Keany, Michelle Cefal and Marita Sailor set new 15-16 girls relay records. They beat HEAT's 200 free record of 1:49.91 with a 1:49.08 and HEAT's 400 free record of 4:03.14 with a 3:57.62. Marita, Michelle and Prudence were joined by Charlene Yuan to set a new 15-16 400 medley relay record of 4:25.04. They old time was held by BEND at 4:27.22.

Tualatin Hills' Jonathon Zoucha, Benhamin Buchalski, Cameron Stitt and Josh Noll joined together to set a new 15-16 800 free relay record. They swam 7:58.53 to set the new record previously held by Tualatin Hills at 7:58.75.

A pair of distance records fell at the Thunderbolt Summer Classic held July 8 through 10. Myron Shen of Tualatin Hills bettered the 11-12 boys 800 freestyle record. He finished the race in 9:20.72, bettering Neil O'Halloran's 2006 record of 9:33.15.

Tigard Tualatin's Caitlyn Wilson set a new 11-12 girls 1500 freestyle record, stopping the clock at 18:18.77. The old record was 18:28.83 held by Taylor Scroggy.

The University of Puget Sound will be hosting the 54th Annual Northwest Swim Coaches' Clinic on September 24, 2011. This year's clinic features coaches John Bitter of Santa Clara Swim Club and Tom Jager of Washington State University. For more information, download the flyer.

There is still lots of space in the long course meet scheduled for July 22-24. It's a last chance meet for those  not yet qualified for 11 & Over Championships. The Dalles Swim Team will be taking entries through Friday, and all of the meet information is online at www.tdswimteam.org.

GPAC out of Grants Pass is looking for a meet referee for the event on Aug 5-7.
Contact Steve Maxwell at cc4me@charter.net if you need more information or if you are able to help them.

Mason Coad (TDPS) won the 1500 Free at the Special Olympics World Games and he was part of the 4x100 Freestyle relay that won gold and set  a new World Games record.

Four Tualatin Hills relays set new OSI records at the Howard Jones Memorial Age Group meet held June 17-19. Jaume Matinez-Calvo, Joshua Yadao, Jorge Casas and Myron Sheen lowered the 11-12 200 free relay record of 1:57.71 with a time of 1:53.14. The same four swam finished the 400 free relay with a time of 4:11.51 to beat the old record of 4:14.56. Jorge, Myron and Joshua teamed p with Anthony Nosack to set a new record in the 200 and 400 medley relays. The boys finished the 200 relay in 2:08.24 to better the old time of 2:12.36. They finished the 400 medley in 4:42.56, bettering the existing 4:48.28 record. Great job boys.

Kevin Zwart (BRSC) and Team USA have finished competing at the Special Olympic World Games in Athens, Greece. Kevin tallied a team high four gold medal victories. His first victory was Team USA's on the first day of competition of the Olympiad in the 800 meter freestyle (9:11.03). A few days later Kevin claimed gold medals two and three, 1500 meter freestyle (17:20.44) and the 400 meter freestyle relay. On the final day of swim competition Kevin swam the 400 meter freestyle in 4:21.53.

Kevin and Team USA had a very successful and fun 10 day competition period. Congratulations and way to go!

Click here to see Kevin receiving his first Gold medal.

 Kevin Zwart (BRSC) and Team USA have finished competing at the Special Olympic World Games in Athens, Greece. Kevin tallied a team high four gold medal victories. His first victory was Team USA's on the first day of competition of the Olympiad in the 800 meter freestyle (9:11.03). A few days later Kevin claimed gold medals two and three, 1500 meter freestyle (17:20.44) and the 400 meter freestyle relay. On the final day of swim competition Kevin swam the 400 meter freestyle in 4:21.53.

Kevin and Team USA had a very successful and fun 10 day competition period. Congratulations and way to go! Click here to see Kevin receiving his first Gold medal.

There are still openings for assigned positions at the 11&over Championships in Eugene, July 28-31. If you are interested contact Joe Dahl at 503-697-5585 or joe@tcsor.com.

Please join TEAM Eugene Aquatics and JD Pence Swim Shop for our first ever "Teddy Bear-Toy Drive" July 28-31, 2011, at the "OSI 11 & over Age Group Championships" held at Amazon Pool in Eugene, Oregon.

Raffle ticket will be available for purchase for $5.00 each. All raffle proceeds will go directly to Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend to purchase hypo allergenic teddy bears for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Every raffle ticket purchased on Thursday or Friday will enter you in one of two drawings. The first drawing will be held on Friday before Finals. Every raffle ticket purchased on Saturday or Sunday will enter you in the second drawing which will take place on Sunday morning.

For every new, washable toy, in store wrapper (no fabric toys of any kind) donated on Thursday or Friday you will receive a raffle ticket that will enter you in one of two drawings. The first drawing will be held on Friday before Finals. For every new, washable toy, in store wrapper (no fabric toys of any kind) donated on Saturday and Sunday you will receive a raffle ticket that will enter you in the second drawing that will be held Sunday morning. Ideas for toys are plastic puzzle boxes, wood didactic or tactile toys such as puzzles or blocks. All toys will be donated to Sacred Heart to be distributed where needed.

Winners will receive a Speedo LZR Pro, donated by JD Pence Swim Shop. Suits will be given to winners at the end of the meet and is contingent to stock on hand. If the suit is not available at the end of the meet, it will be shipped to the winners as soon as it becomes available.

Thank you in advance for your support and Best of Luck!

TEAM Eugene Aquatics & JD Pence Swim shop