Dear GHSC,

It's age group swimming and summer time.  We all need to enjoy our summer, and that means not everyone can always be swimming... I get it.  So, inevitably there are changes to our meet line up.  Generally, what it means is, a lot of B team members will not be moving up to swim in the A meet.

Will must scratch or alter the following relays:

Girls 8&U Medley, #1     do not need to attend:   Alyssa, Lucy Sikkema, Nora Schuhardt
Boys 8&U Medley, #2     do not need to attend:  Keegan Sharp
Girls 9&10 Medley, #3,   do not need to attend:   Lucy Schuhardt, Olivia Eickholt, Ellery Dirkse
Boys 9&10 Medley, #4   do not need to attend:   Griffin Brown
Girls 11&12 Medley, #5  do not need to attend:   Saydee Duram, Megan VanKuiken
Girls 8&U Free, #45        do not need to attend:  anybody listed originally
Boys 8&U Free, #46       do not need to attend:  anybody listed originally
Girls 9&10 Free, #47      do not need to attend:  anybody listed originally
Boys 9&10 Free, #48      do not need to attend:  anybody listed originally
Girls 11&12 Medley, #49 do not need to attend:  Megan VanKuiken, Saydee Duram,


2019_summer_a_meet_updated_lineup.pdf

2019_b_meet_updated_tmientries.pdf

I am very sorry for the late notice.  Please apologize to your athlete(s) for me, I know some of them had their hearts set on swimming.  I am still hoping to go out with a bang and have 3 very fast days of swimming.  See you at practice and at the meets.

Bill

Dear GHSC,

Here is my annual effort to explain our championship meet:

First the rules:  The meet is divided into two meets, A & B.  The kids 12 & Under must achieve a qualifying time for the A meet.  If they do not, they are automatically available to the B meet.  If they do achieve a qualifying time, they must swim at least one event they achieved their time in, and MAY NOT swim in the B meet.

A swimmer may swim a total of only 3 swims consisting of a maximum of 2 individual races.  That means the available combinations are:

           individual race(s)         relay(s)         total
1.                   0                           1              1
2.                   0                           2              2
3.                   1                           0              1
4.                   2                           0              2
5.                   2                           1              3
6.                   1                           2              3

Now for the hard part.  Those 3 races may exist over both the A and B meet.  So, if we have less than 4 kids in an agegroup in the A meet, I ask B team members to swim up into a relay for the A meet kids.  It can't work the other way, A team members may not swim down to give B team members a relay.  So, yes, some "B team" members do swim in the A meet.

Also, in order to achieve the highest awards I choose which relays we swim the day of the meet.  I am allowed to enter an athlete into 2 relays and 2 individual races, but they only may swim three.  I choose which relay to swim based upon our best seed options.  I work hard to accommodate B team members and have them swim the first available relay so they don't have to sit through an entire meet, but that is not always possible.

So please read the meet line up carefully and let me know 1. if your athlete is entered into a meet they CANNOT attend, and 2. if I made an error and missed your athlete.  Do not worry about alternate on a relay, that just means I haven't decided which relay members to swim yet, and having 8 kids to choose from gives me a great deal of flexibility.

We swim on 3 days, Tu. 12&Under A meet at East Grand Rapids, Wed. 13&Up 'A meet at Calvin University, and Thursday, 12&Under B meet at Hudsonville.  Medals and ribbons are given to 12&Under participants finishing in the top 16.  We score only the A meet.

I try hard to put the kids in the races they choose, but it is possible that I see a place where they may have a better chance to place higher and feel better about their race and therefore I may enter them there.  We aim to do as well as we can in this meet, but have no delusions of winning.

Also, I try to give every athlete a chance to swim on a relay (in my opinion the most fun races).  So there have been times that I have asked an individual to forego one individual race so that other kids will be able to swim on a relay.

The entry reports are attached here, and on their meet pages. 

A meet lineup.     B meet lineup.

I turn in my A meet entries tonight, midnight, so please if you see an error, let me know as soon as possible.

Clear as mudd?  I will be on deck Monday to answer your questions.

On that note, next week's schedule:

Monday  practice for everyone as usual
Tuesday practice at regularly scheduled time for everyone not swimming in the evening meet.
Tuesday, 12&Under A meet, 3:30 warm up at East Grand Rapids high school.  Events start at 5:00
Wednesday, practice for all B team members at 9:30-11:00, 13&Up A meet at Calvin University, 3:30/5:00
Thursday, 12L&Under B meet, 8:30 warm up Hudsonville high school (freshman campus)

Thursday evening, GHSC team banquet and awards, 6:30 pm, Hamm backyard, 13878 Green St.   If weather is bad we will reschedule to the following week, Tuesday.  A-P = entrees, Q-Z = desserts.  Bring your own plates, forks, cups and drinks and something to sit on.

Bill

Wow!  What a beautiful day for a swim meet!  Thanks to all that came and made it work, and a HUGE thank you to Coaches Christy and Kendall.  They made it one smooth meet!  I hope the kids had as much fun as I did.  Hopefully next year we can swing a movie and pizza night with MCC to say thanks.

Please check the Meet Signups page (MLA) for our lineup tomorrow.  If I have put your swimmer in the meet and they can't be there, please let me know as soon as possible.  Similarly, if I left them out of the meet, let me know so I can make changes.

Thanks again for a great morning, see you tomorrow, warmup starts at 8.  No need to be there before 7:45, but please no later than 8:00.

Bill