Hello GMST families,

Yesterday’s official meet and today’s mini-meet marked the end of the 2016 GMST regular summer swim season. There are no more swim practices for your family this summer unless your child will be participating in the Divisional championship meet next Saturday (if so, you would have already received a message informing you). Congratulations to all our swimmers on their personal achievements during the season and for making this a fun swim season!

Before we say our goodbyes for the summer, and look forward to the fall swim season (more to come on that), there are two more major events on the calendar:

1. The team picture on Tuesday, July 19 at 7am at the Greenbelt Pool (no divisional swim practice that day)
2. The Annual Barracuda Banquet at Flowers High School on Saturday, July 23rd, followed by the Splash Party at the Greenbelt Pool

Banquet Details
What: Annual Barracuda Banquet
Where: Charles H. Flowers High School, 10001 Ardwick Ardmore Rd, Springdale, MD 20774
When: Saturday, July 23rd from 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Please go to the Swim Portal to RSVP with the Banquet RSVP link so that we can know how many people are coming.

Please bring a potluck-style dish to feed 10-15 people.
Families with swimmers with last names beginning with…
A-O: bring a main dish
P-U: bring a side dish
V-Z: bring a fruit salad

Last minute opportunity to score some volunteer points and avoid the $75 volunteer fee charge!
The following opportunities are currently available for sign-up via the Swim Portal. If you have any questions, you may contact Sharon (shastafford AT gmail DOT com).

• Banquet coordinator
• Table setup and breakdown
• Plates, saucers, cups & foil
• Servers
• Event MC
• Pizza ordering
• (Costco) cake order, pickup and delivery
• Splash party coordinator

The upcoming week will be a busy one for the swim team. You can always check out the team calendar for upcoming events.

Wednesday, July 13: We’re back at Cheverly for a B meet. Cheverly is still putting the finishing touches on the program. Once they provide it, we’ll open registration on Active. Without knowing the details, I can say that swimmers who have placed highly in a given PMSL event cannot swim the event at the meet. (However they could swim in a higher age group.) There will also be events for developmentals.

Thursday, July 14: Swim-a-thon from 8-10 pm at GAFC. An information sheet and a pledge sheet have been handed out at practice.

Saturday, July 16: Our final PMSL meet at Fort Washington. Registration is already open via the Active Swim Portal.

Sunday, July 17: Knights of Columbus Mini-Meet. This is only open for swimmers 10 and under, including developmentals. Swimmers only swim against those of the same age. Sign-up on Active Swim Portal will go up in a day
or two.

Meet Manager, Marc Swidak

Swimmers and Parents!

Cheers swimmers to another wonderful swim meet and many thanks to all the parents/helpers that made today possible! If you weren’t here for today’s swim meet you missed a lot! Over 25 swimmers broke their personal best time in an event!

For one 8 and under swimmer, today was the beginning of a bright future in swimming. Calista Ausema took a time of 36.94 in 25 Free and 43.45 in 25 back. Great Job Calista! We look forward to seeing more great things from you in the water!

In other big news Kira Moore and Sena Williams are our two big record breakers this week! Kira Moore broke an Adelphi pool record at the long course Adelphi Swim Meet on Sunday 6.26.16! She broke the 8&u 50 LC Freestyle record of 41.48 set by J. Gerlach in 2001 with a new time of 40.50. Congrats Kira! Today at the Greenbelt pool today 8 and under Sena Williams broke the long time GMST record holder Jill Lau’s time of 23.34 set in 1996 in the 8 and under 25 breaststroke with a new time of 23.27! Congratulations Sena!

Today was a great race. Keep up the good work GMST! RCS came in with a total of 284 and GM came in with a total of 271. We will get them next time!

Coach Meredith