News and Announcements
Good evening,,
First, we want to congratulate all of our swimmers on their hard work this season and their success at our Eastern Clusters Championship meet. We had many best times, new cuts for championships, and a lot of fun. As a reminder, swimmers will continue to practice up until they have no meets left they are qualified for/participating in. This does mean that for those not qualified for USA Regionals or YMCA States the season has concluded.
We have received a few questions regarding our upcoming championship meets and we want to clarify a few things since this season is a bit out of the normal, even for our returning families. The next two championship meets for the 9-12s are YMCA States (Feb 26-27) and Michigan Great Lakes Regionals (March 5-6). Swimmers who qualified for YMCA states should NOT participate in the Michigan Great Lakes Regional meet. For these two meets our goal is to have swimmers finish on their biggest meet of the season. Regionals is the USA swimming version of the Clusters meet we had this last weekend so it would be a better experience for those who do not qualify for YMCA Zones (March 18-20) or USA 14&Under states (March 25-27) to finish their season at the YMCA State meet even though Regionals is a week later. If your child is attending YMCA States and there is a reason you would like to attend Regionals please contact your coach individually.
Our last Championship meets are the YMCA Zone Meet (March 18-20) and the USA 14&Under State Meet (March 25-28). Unlike Y-States and Regionals, swimmers should attend both these meets if qualified. As a reminder, all 9-12 swimmers compete as their YMCA age (age on December 1) for Zones, but USA State swimmers participate as their age on the day the meet starts, meaning those who turn 11 or 13 before USA States would need to achieve 11-12 or 13-14 year old cuts to qualify. We understand there is a lot of travel due to both state meets being on the west side and there having been a lot of moving parts this year. Please let your coaches know of any conflicts, or if you are unable to attend certain meets, as it will impact relays.
In addition, if anyone is out of town and wants workouts or anything like that, your coaches will provide you with them.
Looking forward to a fast and fun ending to our season!
Coach Mike,
Coach Chris bagel0248@gmail.com,
and Coach Kevin
Dear Parents and Swimmers,
So much good news to report!!!!
First, remember that beginning today, practices at BCS and Derby will all shift back to the original start times (Covington 5:45-7:15 and 7:00-8:30, Derby 5:30-7:00 and 6:45-8:15). There is one exception this week….Derby has a meet on Thursday, February 3, so, the first practice will be from 6:00-7:30 and the second from 7:15-8:45.
Please make sure to do your entries for upcoming meets!
We had an incredible weekend in Indianapolis!
The boys won their part of the meet, and we were fourth overall. Angus MacDonald was the overall open boys’ champion. We added two new national qualifiers: Jordan Bouchillon (100 and 200 back) and Mayer Krieger (200 fly.) Madison Helmick set two new team records in one race. She set new standards in the mile and her split at the 1000 gave her that record as well. She now has the national cut in the mile. Ethan Schwab set a new meet record in the 100 and 200 breast, Christian Bouchillon set a new meet record in the 100 back and it lasted for about a minute when Drew Collins broke it again! We had national team members achieve qualifying times in additional events. We added dozens of new state, zone and AA qualifiers. All of our swimmers had many reasons to be proud of their accomplishments. It was so much fun!
Each year the YMCA takes all of the times recorded in Y competitions nation-wide and compiles a Top 16 for swimmers eleven-years-old and up. It is done for 11 year olds, 12 year olds etc…We were very well represented with many places including first places for Angus MacDonald in the 500 free with a time of 4:32.15 and in the 200 breast 2:05.15.
In no particular order, here are the results:
AJ Farner
11th 400 IM 4:32.19
13th 500 free 5:06.24
Angus MacDonald
1st 200 breast 2:05.15
11th 200 free 1:44.07
2nd 400 IM 4:01.82
1st 500 free 4:32.15
Angus MacDonald, Christian Bouchillon, Ethan Schwab, Drew Collins
15th 800 free relay 6:56.18
Charlie McCuiston
2nd 100 IM 1:01.30
4th 200 free 1:58.14
7th 50 fly 27.35
2nd 50 free 24.19
Charlie McCuiston, Owen O’Neill, Aleks Bovdur, Allen Zhang
4th 200 free relay 1:47.66
Christian Bouchillon
9th 200 back 1:50.97
Christian Bouchillon, Ethan Schwab, Drew Collins, Charlie Bruce
10th 400 medley relay3:24.81
Emma Dickhudt 15th 100 breast 1:06.55
Emmett Knudsen, Evan Tack, Sean Lu, Jack Higgins
3rd 200 medley relay 1:42.99
Ethan Schwab
4th 100 breast 56.06
3rd 200 breast 2:01.05
16th 200 free 1:43.53
5th 500 free 4:34.45
Evan Tack 6th 100 breast 1:04.80
12th 100 free 51.39
2nd 200 breast 2:15.32
2nd 200 IM 2:02.86
7th 50 free 23.41
Jack Higgins 4th 100 free 50.33
8th 200 free 1:52.99
3rd 50 free 23.02
Drew Collins
4th 100 back 49.27
6th 200 back 1:47.98
4th 200 IM 1:51.82
6th 400 IM 4:01.71
Drew Collins, Ethan Schwab, Charlie Bruce, Christian Bouchillon
7th 200 medley relay 1:33.07
Kelly Hassett
12th 200 breast 2:26.77
11th 200 free 1:55.82
Lauren Louwers
9th 200 breast 2:22.82
Mariana Becharas
14th 200 breast 2:33.89
Meghan Clifford
6th 200 fly 2:05.27
Michael Bailey
6th 50 breast 36.35
Olivia Kamp
16th 50 breast 33.97
Sean Lu
7th 100 breast 33.97
4th 200 breast 2:18.89
7th 200 IM 2:05.21
Sean Kanary, Aleks Bovdur, Quinn O’Neill, Allen Zhang
9th 200 medley relay 2:02.47.
And in long-course competition….
Angus MacDonald
3rd 200 breast 2:28.69
6th 200 IM 2:13.18
3rd 400 IM 4:39.38
Ethan Schwab
2nd 100 breast 1;05.43
4th 200 breast 2;23.67
Drew Collins
9th 100 back 59.28
7th 200 back 2;11.75
13th 50 free 24.48
Imagine if they ranked our ten-and unders! That is an impressive list. Congratulations, swimmers !!!!!
Have a great week!!
Kevin
Dear Parents and Swimmers,
Since the girls’ middle school season is over, we can move our Derby and Covington practices to the earlier times….Covington 5:45-7:15 and 7:00-8:30, Derby 5:30-7:00 and 6:45-8:15 beginning Monday, January 31.
What a great meet we had last Sunday!
Thank you to our board and all of our volunteers who worked to pull it off. The kids really benefited! A special thanks to the volunteers who worked the whole day. I am very grateful. Everyone went the extra mile. I was in the lifeguard chair for most of the meet because the Y couldn’t supply us with a guard. We are all doing what we can to keep the program moving forward.
The live streaming was very impressive, wasn’t it?
I am looking forward to this weekend’s Indy meet. It is a fabulous, storied facility. Swimmers— make sure you read the wall with the names of all of the Olympians who swam Olympic trials there…I will have some stories for you!
At Indy…..
…..swimmers MUST check in before warm-up so you MUST be punctual.
….the deck is frequently chilly, so bring sweatshirts/pants so that you are comfortable.
….Wear your masks!!!
….this is a regular season meet so 12 and Under swimmers must be in team suits. 13 and Up swimmers may ask a coach’s permission to wear tech suits. Generally, tech suits are not worn until we get to the championship season, and then only for the swimmer’s most competitive meet.
Clusters….
…Swimmers will be registering for Clusters shortly. This is our first championship meet and it is a required meet for all swimmers except for high school boys who have already done their two outside meets. When selecting events, nine-and- up swimmers should be looking to add events for YMCA state meet, so they should not select events in which they already have qualified for the YMCA state meet. A lot of our swimmers already have qualified in all of the events and they should be swimming events with an eye to qualifying for YMCA Zones and the USS 14 and Under State Championship.
Philosophy
With all of the COVID limitations, I feel like we have lost a lot of opportunities to help explain Y philosophy as it pertains to age-group competitive swimming. Y swimming puts the team first and that is why swimmers are “locked into” their age group rather than aging up on their birthday. That is one of the reasons our swimmers practice with other swimmers in their age group rather than being grouped by ability/achievement. I can see how the swimmers have bonded and made a lot of new friends. Especially after this weekend, I think you can see how every one of our swimmers is a winner! The improvement in our kids has been dramatic…and individual progress is the most important measure.
Our board has done an exceptional job securing sponsors for our program. I hope you noticed the banners at Seaholm during the meet. Please support them and let them know how much you appreciate their support. If you go to TDR for orthodontia say hello to Dr. Tyler (former BBD president) and Dr. Groth (the son of a former BBD president, a national-caliber swimmer and my student at Cranbrook) and Dr. Reyes ( a former student of mine…) Thanks to all of the Goldfish family who are associated with our program and all of our other sponsors.
Keep up the fine work!
Kevin
Dear Parents and Swimmers,
The coaches are so proud of our swimmers this past weekend!
We had many first places: Mairin Dalziel (400 IM,) Drew Collins (400 IM and 50 free,) Blake Schwab (400 IM,) Madison Helmick (1,000 free,) Scott Hassett (1,000 free,) Sully Jackson (1,000 free,) Mariana Becharas (200 fly,) Sean and Brendan Kanary (200 fly,) Charlie McCuiston (100 and 200 free,) Jack McCuiston,) Malin Murphey (200 IM,) Ellie Ker (100 IM, 50 free amd 100 free,) Lyla Collins (100 and 200 IM,) Jack Ruud (100 and 200 IM, 50 and 100 free, 100 breast, 200 free,) Reid McCuiston (25 back and fly,) Grafton Anderson (50 and 100 back,) Brooklyn Ruks (50 back,) Tommy Higdon (50 fly,) Lila Solomon (50 fly,) Mary Bailey (25 free and breast,) Brady Handzell (50 free,) Katie Stempien (50 breast,) Will Michael (50 breast,) AJ Farner (200 back,) and Sam Clifford (500 free,) and of course MOST of the relays!
Swimmers were achieving all sorts of cuts for championship meets. Congratulations to all of the swimmers!!
As exciting as this all is it can come to a crumbling halt if COVID gets in our way. So we will continue to follow all safety protocols.
SWIMMERS MAY ONLY COME TO PRACTICE IF THEY ARE MASKED AND THE MASKS ARE BACK IN PLACE AS SOON AS THE WORKOUT IS OVER….NO EXCEPTIONS. COACHES WILL DISMISS SWIMMERS WHO ARE NOT ABIDING BY THE RULES.
We will be hosting a meet soon, At our meet , NO ONE WILL BE ADMITTED, SWIMMER OR SPECTATOR, WHO IS NOT MASKED. I know how tired we are of all of this but that doesn’t alter our responsibility to ourselves and one another. I know, personally, that all of our precautions do not guarantee that we won’t be infected, but we have to do our absolute best. We are also required to follow protocols set forth by the Metropolitan Detroit YMCAs. This past weekend’s meet was sponsored by Flint, which is an independent YMCA and clearly are not subject to the same scrutiny as we are. With this meet being at Seaholm, we are also required to follow BPS’ masking rule, and failure to do so puts our relationship with BPS and access to practice pools in jeopardy.
We are now preparing for our championship season and we have had questions from parents about swimmers’ eligibility re: the three-meet requirement. The YMCA coaches in Michigan are in discussion to suspend the requirement for those swimmers who, through no fault of their own (a meet cancellation, a quarantine, legitimate fear about attending a meet with rising infection rates,) did not fulfill the requirement. This would have an impact on YMCA Clusters, the Eight and Under State Meet and the YMCA State Meet. It does not extend to YMCA Zones or Y Nats. I am pretty confident there will be some leeway extended as long as the intention was there to fulfill the obligation. We will know more when those dates get closer.
Be well, everyone.
Kevin
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!
I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season. We got a lot done in the pool. It was good to have some of our college swimmers return.
I was going to write some new year’s resolutions for you….but I know you know what I would say! One resolution we must make and keep is that all swimmers and parents MUST wear masks at all times (except while in the water) at our practice facilities. We are at serious risk of losing access to our rented practice pools if we do not have 100% compliance with the masking rules.
We had a great round of time trials on the 27th. Coach Greg compiled the results and they were emailed and posted on Meet Mobile. Swimmers, please record them on your goal sheets and bring them to practice and review your progress with the coaches. The season is about to kick in this month and we want you to be prepared to reach your goals.
I have some great news to share. One of our 13-14 swimmers, Jack Higgins, was invited to represent the state of Michigan at the Midwest All-Star meet in Indianapolis this weekend. He will be swimming freestyle and backstroke events. Good luck, Jack. If anyone else was invited, please don’t keep it a secret!
Work hard, swim fast!!
Kevin