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February 18, 2008
NCISAA 3A State Championships

Cary Academy’s Varsity Swim Team finished the season with a splash!  Both the girls and the boys finished fifth in the State and three of the Team’s six relays won medals: the girls 200 Free, silver; the boy 200 and 400 Free, bronze.  All three boys relays set new Cary Academy records. Fourteen Chargers earned an afternoon swim in the Finals heats to earn points for their team.; many finished in the top 10.

The trip to Charlotte itself had highlights.  Before arriving at the hotel, we stopped off at Davidson College’s pool for a final practice in our taper.  The swimmers enjoyed wandering around the campus before our pool time.  Some even took their picture with the largest bronze wildcat in North America.  The lifeguard we hired through the pool happened to be a Ravenscroft alumna in her final year of collegiate swimming.  A summer coach to a few of the Chargers, she offered our relay squads pointers on their relay starts and race mentality.  All swimmers had a chance to practice their turns on the bulkheads so that this would not be a new experience the next day when focus really mattered.  After checking into the hotel, we went to dinner as a team at Uno’s Chicago Grill downtown, where we had a blast (after a crash course in tipping). 

The meet ran smoothly, and we were loading up the bus to start our journey home when the engine shut off, leaving us stranded in the parking lot at the pool.  Leaving our bus driver (who had come out of the stands onto the pool deck to energetically cheer the Charges’ final relays to their success half an hour earlier) to arrange our new transportation, thirty-four swimmers, three coaches, and three chaperones walked a mile (in a fantastically orderly fashion) to a nearby Brixx Pizza, calling ahead with our reservation.  While the food hit the spot, the service was remarkably understanding of our situation and patient with our large and exuberant group as we set up base camp for what turned into three hours.  Meanwhile coaches, chaperones, driver, and administrators engaged in a series of phone conversations which spanned six hours (Coach Seeley ended up using three separate cell phones as batteries drained).  While the bus company dispatched a replacement buses from the Triangle area to pick us up in Charlotte, these got mired in construction traffic en route, arriving in Charlotte at 12:30 am, after the swimmers had been put to bed in the cheapest hotel within walking distance of our restaurant base camp: the Holiday Inn—and wow, was it fancy!  The sinks in this place were amazing sculptural masterpieces: squared ceramic bowls rising from a granite slab counter.  The luggage, switched from the old bus, was locked up overnight while breakfast arrangements were made for the following morning.  Before boarding the buses for our return trip in the morning, we dined on eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, biscuits, fresh fruit while watching 600 Seconds streaming on a CA tablet PC.  Of course, we wouldn’t miss the show!  The surreal experience of watching our friends arrive at school while we dined in with white table clothes was enough, but the show included the announcement of our team’s successes the day before. 

We’d also like to officially thank the parents who traveled to Charlotte to chaperone and to attend the meet.  Your support is greatly appreciated. 

New Cary Academy School Records
200 Medley Relay: (J. Rowsey, M. Rushin, D. Uchiyama, A. Crockett)
200 Free Relay: (A. Crockett, K. Daragheh, D. Uchiyama, J. Rowsey)
400 Free Relay: (A. Crockett, K. Daragheh, J. Rowsey, D. Uchiyama)

CA Medal Winners – Girls
2^nd 200 Free Relay: (J. Rowsey, L. James, K. Parker, G. Van de Zande)

CA Medal Winners – Boys
3^rd 200 Free Relay: (A. Crockett, K. Daragheh, D. Uchiyama, J. Rowsey)
3^rd  400 Free Relay: (A. Crockett, K. Daragheh, J. Rowsey, D. Uchiyama)

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February 4, 2008
TISAC Conference Championships

The boys began their charge toward repeating the close meet with Ravenscroft on Thursday with a first-event disqualification.  Later in the meet, one of the boys missed his event.  In addition, a few boys were touched out in stiff competition.  Simply put, the CA boys got sloppy.  In close competition, careless errors and races narrowly lost combined to adversely affect the outcome of the meet.  Despite this set-back, the team cheers the boys 400 Freestyle Relay which smashed the CA school record by 4 seconds; the same boys came within 12 hundredths of a second of the 200 Freestyle Relay school record.  They’ll have one last shot to go for earning all three boys relay records in one season when they go to Charlotte for States.

The girls had a far better meet today than on Thursday.  Most girls dropped time in both their events and the team finished second in the Conference.  While a 3 point difference in the score indicates that our Conference Runner-Up team of girls could have, on another day, walked away with the trophy, we recognize the achievement of our estimable opponents.  The Ravens swam well and so did the Chargers.  As the two teams are so closely matched, they kept their fans on their feet for three hours.  We celebrate the hard swims from all the CA ladies.  Two girls made state cut times while at TISACs.  Kelsey Parker, seeded third in the 50 Free, raced from 5^th place to win the event in a tenacious display of athleticism.  Ladies, we have one more shot to beat Ravenscroft at States; let’s go for it all out one last time!

Go Chargers !!!

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January 31, 2008
SENIOR NIGHT

Girls: CA vs. Ravenscroft School (68 - 102)
Boys: CA vs. Ravenscroft School (79 - 91)

Amid a rash of illnesses plaguing Cary Academy’s Upper School, the Chargers came together to honor their Senior leadership and to take on their most formidable challenge of the season: Ravenscroft.  Having never out-swum the Ravens, the Cary Academy swim teams had been gearing up for this meet all week.  In the first few events, the Ravens managed to out-touch our ladies at the wall time and again.  The ladies swam well in the second half of the meet, but were unsuccessful in obtaining enough first and second place finishes to garner the points necessary to do the job.  The boys were more successful at beating their competition to the finish and were all set to tie the Ravens with a first place finish in the final event, when they disqualified themselves with an early relay take-off confirmed by both officials.  Ravenscroft’s Coach Warren told the CA coaches afterward that he “hated to win that way,” but as we told him, his team won fair and square.  Swimming, like all sports, has rules for a reason.  If we take advantage of beneficial situations created by the rules, as we do, then we must also willingly accept the rules when they seem not to be in our favor.  The team—swimmers and coaches—were disappointed to learn of the disqualification, but I am most proud of the way my swimmers handled the news.  They got angry, swore to avenge their pride, cooled down emotionally with a 50 swim, and shook hands with the winning relay squad.

Before the meet, we recognized the significant contributions of our six Seniors:  Savannah Crockett, Melisa Hillmann, Ayla Koc, Marina Lee, Yasmeen Mansour, and Dan Uchiyama.  While we still have TISACs and States to go, the coaches are already feeling the void that their graduation will create among their teammates, not only for their swimming, but also for their charming, fun-loving friendship.

We’d also like to officially thank the parents, friends, and faculty—including Don Berger, Alyson Downing, Cheryl Cotter, Gray Rushin, and Katy Allen—who attended the meet.  Your support is greatly appreciated.  Additionally, parents and friends who volunteered as timers—some of you on the spot because of depleted ranks owing to the rash of illness—thank you so very much.  Coach Rebecca Watkins, thank you for subbing in as one of the individuals keeping the score of the meet.                                                                                                                                                                                          

CA Winning Swimmers – Girls
  50 Yard Freestyle:  Kelsey Parker
400 Yard Freestyle Relay: (Kelsey Parker JR, Jessica Rowsey 08, Laura James 08, Georgia Van de Zande FR) 

CA Winning Swimmers – Boys
200 Yard Medley Relay:  (Josh Rowsey JR, Matt Rushin 08, Dan Uchiyama SR, Austin Crockett SO)
  50 Yard Freestyle:  Austin Crocket
100 Yard Butterfly:  Dan Uchiyama
100 Yard Freestyle:  Austin Crockett
100 Yard Backstroke:  Rowsey, Josh

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January 24, 2008

Girls: CA vs. North Raleigh Christian Academy (67 - 27)
Girls: CA vs. St. Mary’s School (49 - 45)
Girls: North Raleigh Christian Academy vs. St. Mary’s School (36 - 57)
Boys: CA vs. North Raleigh Christian Academy (84 - 76)

The Cary Academy Varsity Swim Team traveled to North Raleigh Christian Academy’s pool for its one regular-season away meet today.  Spirits were high as we stepped off the bus, and we entered the pool area ready to make it our new home.  The team’s banner unfurled and hung on the wall, the swimmers warmed up with Coach Meeks, getting in as much of their usual warm-up as they could in half the time.  While the pool depth, starting block height and angle and surface, and air temperature were all slightly different than what we were used to, the blue and gold tiles made the Chargers feel at home and ready to take on the challenging conference opponents: NRCA and St. Mary’s.

The girls’ only winning swim for the meet came from the 400 Free Relay, yet the Chargers were still victorious in the end.  How could this be?  The answer lies in the technicalities of scoring a Tri-Dual meet.  While overall the other two teams came in first more than we did, we came in second place more often than they.  This meant that when scored against one or the other, we really had more first place finishes.  In a championship meet, the scoring works differently, but this can still work to our advantage if enough winning swims are shared by many teams, no one team is advantaged too greatly, and then teams rely on depth, which Cary Academy’s girls have a lot of.  NRCA requested a second heat of the 200 Free Relay as exhibition.  CA was happy to oblige, entering two squads which handily came in 1^st and 2^nd in their heat.

27 swimmers had PRs this afternoon!  They are: Abby Andrews, Chase Brewster, Austin Crockett, Kayvan Daragheh, Emma Frank, Jack Hannon, Brittany Hatt, Melisa Hillmann, Kenji Jameel, Damien Jiang, Caitlin Kelly, Maggie Kneifel, Ayla Koc, Marina Lee, Adam Linker, Alex McKay, Megan McKay, Nathan Niles, Michael Papich, Alyssa Potter, Jessica Rowsey, Matt Rushin, Erin Schaberg, Kasey Sedova, Sonja Thalheimer, Dan Uchiyama, Georgia Van de Zande.  Those who did not PR this week were all within a couple seconds of their PR.  A fantastic showing indeed!  Seeded third, Kenji Jameel swam a great come-from-behind 2^nd place Fly, just touching out the NRCA boy seeded second.  Chase Brewster dropped another 4 seconds in the 200 Freestyle and Michael Papich swam is first sub-7:00 500 Free!  Zack Layne, back from an injury yet wearing an approved ankle brace, swam within 2 seconds of his best 100 Back time!  The ladies had too many exciting stand-out swims to single out a just a few—the whole team deserves praise.                                                           

Congratulations to the Blue & Gold of both genders on being undefeated in the Conference thus far and to the ladies on their 7^th straight win in this fantastic undefeated season.  All that stands in our way is Ravenscroft!  Edgar Allen Poe, a great poet from my home state penned the famous line: “Quoth the raven, “Never more!”  The Chargers, though, are anxious to have the last word!

We’d also like to officially thank the parents and friends—including School nurse, Judy Rodocker—who traveled to North Raleigh to attend the meet.  Your support is greatly appreciated. 

CA Winning Swimmers – Girls:
Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
 Cary Academy-NC 'A' (Parker, Kelsey JR, James, Laura 08, Van de Zande, Georgia FR, Rowsey, Jessica 08)

CA Winning Swimmers – Boys:
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle
 Rowsey, Josh

Boys 200 Yard IM
 Uchiyama, Dan 

Boys 50 Yard Freestyle
 Crockett, Austin 

Boys 100 Yard Butterfly
 Uchiyama, Dan 

Boys 100 Yard Freestyle
 Daragheh, Kayvan 

Boys 500 Yard Freestyle
 Linker, Adam 

Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
 Cary Academy-NC 'A' (Brewster, Chase 08, Daragheh, Kayvan SO, Crockett, Austin SO, Uchiyama, Dan SR)

January 17, 2008

Girls: CA vs. Durham Academy (117 - 53)
Boys: CA vs. Durham Academy (118 - 40)

The long list of CA Winning Swimmers speaks volumes for how the meet went this evening in terms of the scores: the boys won every event, while the girls gave up a win in only two events.  What’s more the girls swept 1^st through 3^rd  in the 50 Free, 100 Free, and 100 Breast.  Adam Linker swam an impressively controlled 500 Free build (gaining strength and momentum as he went through his swim).  Nearly all the breaststrokers across the board dropped about seven seconds on their best time.  Erin Schaberg who had asked to swim exhibition breaststroke instead of the 500 this time was incredulous when the timers told her she would have been second in the scoring heat with the time she posted!  Melissa Geiss, beat her best backstroke time by seven seconds swimming by herself in the exhibition heat—what would she have done with competition?!  Aaron Rushin, a seventh grader, swam some of the best looking fly I’ve seen in a while during the 200 Medley Relay and fluidly helped his squad gain the boys’ first 1^st of the evening.  Chase Brewster had an awesome meet with a PR in the 200 Free and the 100 Free, dropping into the sub-minute range., and mightily anchoring the B squad of the 200 and 400 Free Relays.

I would like to address to issues I noted at the meet.  While we were elated to win, I heard no cheer of thanks and support rise up from our side of the pool to buoy the DA team who themselves gathered to cheer our team.  This is uncharacteristic for our team, so I know we will have a good post-meet cheer next week.  Also, during the 5 minute break for warm-down / warm-up, Adam Linker was the only CA swimmer to swim.  He showed great discipline in warming down after his 500 Free, and I’d like to suggest to his teammates that his discipline is an example to be modeled.  For those who have just sat for at least 12 minutes during the 500, it would be most beneficial to loosen up the muscles before asking them to perform in a race.

Congratulations to the ladies on their 5^th straight win in this fantastic undefeated season.  Keep it up!  Boys, congratulations to you on a clear victory.

We’d also like to officially thank the parents and friends who attended the meet and those who volunteered as timers.  Your support is greatly appreciated.

CA Winning Swimmers:
Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay
 Cary Academy-NC 'A' (Randall, Nikki SO, James, Laura 08, Kneifel, Maggie FR, Kelly, Caitlin FR)

Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay
 Cary Academy-NC 'A' (Hannon, Jack SO, Rushin, Matt 08, Rushin, Aaron 07, Jameel, Kenji FR) 

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle
 James, Laura

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle
 Hannon, Jack

Boys 200 Yard IM
 Uchiyama, Dan 

Girls 50 Yard Freestyle
 Rowsey, Jessica

Boys 50 Yard Freestyle
 Crockett, Austin

Boys 100 Yard Butterfly
 Uchiyama, Dan

Girls 100 Yard Freestyle
 Van de Zande, Georgia

Boys 100 Yard Freestyle
 Rowsey, Josh

Girls 500 Yard Freestyle
 Rowsey, Jessica

Boys 500 Yard Freestyle
 Linker, Adam

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
 Cary Academy-NC 'A' (Rowsey, Jessica 08, Van de Zande, Georgia FR, James, Laura 08, Parker, Kelsey JR)

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
 Cary Academy-NC 'A' (Jameel, Kenji FR, Crockett, Austin SO, Uchiyama, Dan SR, Rowsey, Josh JR)

Girls 100 Yard Backstroke
 Randall, Nikki 

Boys 100 Yard Backstroke
 Rowsey, Josh

Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke
 James, Laura

Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke
 Rushin, Mat 

Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
 Cary Academy-NC 'A' (Kneifel, Maggie FR, Parker, Kelsey JR, Van de Zande, Georgia FR, Rowsey, Jessica 08)

Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
 Cary Academy-NC 'A' (Linker, Adam 07, Crockett, Austin SO, Uchiyama, Dan SR, Rowsey, Josh JR)

December 20, 2007
HOMECOMING

Girls: CA vs. Riverside High School (110 - 60)
Boys: CA vs. Riverside High School (66 - 104)

As I chaperoned the Homecoming Dance after the swim meet, I’m tuckered out after a fantastic Homecoming Day at CA.  Needless to say, I’m proud of the fine swims this afternoon.  We showed a pool packed with friends how swim meets are electrifying.  The ladies swam to a fourth straight win to continue their undefeated season!  In personal best time, Georgia Van de Zande swam to an impressive winning finish in the 50 freestyle from the outside lane.  Josh Rowsey anchored the 200 Freestyle Relay in a thrilling swim to watch.  In a wonderfully anaerobic sprint, Josh swam a determined 20 yards before breathing.  Maintaining the lead developed by his teammates, he accelerated out of the turn and spun his arms without moving his head out of alignment.  His younger sister Jessica later anchored the 400 Freestyle Relay to an exciting finish, moving smoothly through the water powered by an efficient stroke.  The key to Riverside’s win on the boys side of the scoreboard was their 9 winning swims to our 2, yet our young and small boys squad (numbering a third of Riverside’s) garnered its 66 points by swimming to 2^nd  in all but 3 events, likewise with 5^th place.  Our depth is commendable.  Michael Papich dropped 45 seconds in 500 Freestyle, a studly result.  Nikki Randall had a fantastic personal best 100 fly.

The homecoming spirit was certainly alive at the pool:  our fans packed the pool.  Spilling over from the stands with fifteen minutes to go before the start of the meet, they left virtually no tile unclaimed.  Too many alumni to count returned to watch their Charger teammates compete in the first homecoming swim meet—thank you all.  Parents, family friends, and many, many student friends and faculty turned out for us.  We thank you all profoundly, with a  special thanks to Mr. Berger, Mr. McGuigan, Mr. Bondy, and Coach Scullen (tennis) who drove our Charger bus fan shuttle all afternoon, cheering us on between shifts.  Let your friends know that their support is appreciated.  Get ’em to come back for more!

Lastly, I feel compelled to speak to the most touching support of the entire evening.  As we often ask him to do, Damien Jiang swam the 500 Freestyle this meet.  In the 500 Free, swimmers have the benefit of a lap counting device inserted into the water by a teammate so that they keep track of where they are in this, the longest high school event.  With 100 yards to go in Damien’s swim, I noticed that the girls counting for him weren’t wearing our black caps, but the silver of Riverside!  I immediately dispatched one of our girls, Meggie Niles, to take over from them and thank them.  After the meet, I commended these anonymous young ladies to their coaches who had no idea they had acted so graciously.  I applaud the sportsmanship of these two Riverside girls unknown to our team who directly supported one of our athletes in his swim. 

CA Winning Swimmers – Girls:
200 Medley Relay: N. Randall, L. James, M. Kneifel, J. Rowsey
200 IM: M. Kneifel
  50 Free: G. Van de Zande
200 Free Relay: M. Geiss, G. Van de Zande, L. James, K. Parker
100 Breaststroke: L. James
400 Free Relay: M. Kneifel, K. Parker, G. Van de Zande, J. Rowsey 

CA Winning Swimmers – Boys:
200 Free Relay: K. Jameel, A. Crockett, D. Uchiyama, J. Rowsey
100 Breaststroke: M. Rushin

November 27 , 2007

Girls: CA vs. Wesleyan Christian Academy (52 - 42)
Girls: CA vs. Cary Christian School (81 - 10)
Girls: Wesleyan Christian Academy vs. Cary Christian School (81 - 10) 

Boys: CA vs. Wesleyan Christian Academy (52 - 42)
Boys: CA vs. Cary Christian School (70 - 21)
Boys: Wesleyan Christian Academy vs. Cary Christian School (67 - 21)

The Cary Academy Varsity swim team performed admirably this afternoon.  Four additional wins made the coaches and the swimmers very happy when we gathered after the meet at Moe’s Southwest Grill for a team dinner.  The races against Wesleyan Christian were tight in both genders.  After the meet in conversation, the coaches from the two schools commented about how exciting the races for first were to watch as many were very close.  One volunteer parent timer mentioned after the meet that she noticed that the Cary Academy swimmers had much stronger finishes overall, swimming all the way into the wall.  I could only smile thinking of all the times the swimmers have drilled this technique in practice.  While all the swimmers on the team had great swims, I’d like to use the girls exhibition 50 freestylers as a metonymic example:  in heat after heat, the CA girls not only swam best times for the season, but also out performed the competition with whom they had been seeded.  When the entries are fed into the computer before the meet, coaches provide entry times so the swimmers will be seeded in heats according to their past performances.  Again, our girls repeatedly outperformed their seeding—way to go!  I was especially pleased to see this continued improvement despite the ten-day holiday we just had.  Clearly, the CA swimmers continued to work out over the break as they were instructed.  The same dedication will yield similar results over the New Year’s holiday.  Additionally, the sprint workout yesterday, though admittedly hard for the first wet practice in 10 days, got the Chargers pumped to race, reminding them what it feels like to race.  The boys on the A 200 Medley Relay certainly recalled the feel of the water, as they swam to a new CA school record!  Jack Hannon earned the respect of every person in the SAS Natatorium when he finished the 500 freestyle distance event at full sprint, beating his opponent (seeded within hundredths of him) by 16 hundredths of a second.  The coaches have often told the swimmers to leave everything in the water, and Jack nearly did; luckily his lunch ended up in the pool gutter (sewer drain) rather than the pool water.  This was Jack’s first of 3 consecutive swims followed by one event off before swimming his final event.  He gave his all each time he entered the water, swimming on a winning 200 Free Relay, and finishing second in the backstroke.  Jack demonstrated great heart, tremendous will, good sprinting, stamina, and humility this evening.  Kudos!  The girls and the boys both had huge wins tonight, and to cap it off Cary Academy Swimming has a new record!  Go Chargers !!! 

We’d also like to officially thank the parents and friends who attended the meet and those who volunteered as timers.  Your support is greatly appreciated.

New CA School Record – Boys:
200 Medley Relay: J. Rowsey, M. Rushin, D. Uchiyama, A. Crockett 

CA Winning Swimmers – Girls:
200 Medley Relay: N. Randall, L. James, M. Kneifel, J. Rowsey
200 IM: L. James
100 Free: G. Van de Zande
200 Free Relay: M. Geiss, G. Van de Zande, L. James, K. Parker
100 Breaststroke: L. James
400 Free Relay: M. Kneifel, K. Parker, G. Van de Zande, J. Rowsey

CA Winning Swimmers – Boys:
  50 Free: A. Crockett
100 Free: J. Rowsey
500 Free: A. Linker
200 Free Relay: K. Kameel, J. Hannon, A. Linker, K. Daragheh
100 Backstroke: J. Rowsey
400 Free Relay: J. Rowsey, A. Crockett, K. Daragheh, D. Uchiyama

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