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MGM takes 55th of 152 Teams At Nationals

By mark on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 5:33pm

MGM swimmers finished 55th out of 152 teams and continued to set team and state records at the National Short Course Masters Swimming Championships in Clovis, CA, Sunday. Leading the way was Chad Morris in the Men's 100 IM (left), setting a new Illinois State Record by swimming 53.84 in the Men's 30-34 age group. John Javorski swam the event in 56.47.

In the Men's 100-yard Freestyle, Javorski set a new team Record, taking 4th place overall, swimming 47.78 (video not yet posted) ; Morris took 5th place, swimming 48.08. Lonny Boeke swam 57.62 (pr); Mark Royko 1.00.59 (tr/pr).

In the 50 Backstroke, Javorski took 4th place overall, swimming the event in 26.30 (tr/pr). Boeke swam 31.24 (pr).

Mark Royko swam 33.37 in the 50-yard breast stroke (pr/tr).

UPDATE: Earlier versions of this story incorrectly reported the number of teams at USMS Short Course Nationals. The correct number is 152, up from 123.


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Nationals Day One

By mark on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 7:41pm

MGM swimmers set a host of team records and personal bests on the first day of this year's Short-Course National Championships in Clovis, CA.

The day started with the 50 Fly, where Mark Royko swam a 30.94 (personal record/team record); John Javorski swam a 23.44 (team record); Chad Morris swam 23.87 (personal record.) Javorski took 4th place overall, Morris 5th place overall in the mens 30-34 age group.

Next, was the 200 Free, where Morris swam 1:49 (6th place overall, p.r., team record); Lonny Boeke swam 2:07 (personal record/team record); Royko 2:16(pr/tr)

In the 100 Backstroke, Boeke swam a 1:07.59. (pr/tr)

Finally, in the 200 Free relay, the team set a new MGM relay record of 1:36.02. The team took 13th place overall, beating both Team Illinois relays. John Javorski's opening sprint (21.40) was one one-hundreth of a second over the Illinois record for a 50-yard freestyle sprint.


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Records Updates

By mark on Sat, 04/25/2009 - 3:13pm

I've finally gotten around to updating the team records after State. I have to say that I can't remember ever making this many updates to the records page than after this year's final meet.* What an outstanding job by our swimmers, and what fun season its been. Congratulations, you all earned a round of applause.

The one bad thing about the records page is that while it's great to see the best times our swimmers have ever posted, the page doesn't really tell the story of our team--who made the greatest improvements; who earned something really special (like High Points at State--Chad and Marilyn). It also makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable to see someone drop out of the record book entirely after their time was surpassed by another one of our swimmers.

Frankly, I think it would be great to see a list of top ten performances, and maybe--as John Suggested--have an 'honors' page where we post special accomplishments earned by Team members.

To address these issues, I'm going to start working on a system that will allow our members to enter their fastest times in every event on their private profile page. This way, you'll always have your best times at your fingertips (which really helps when trying to figure out seed times for meets), and we'll be able to automatically list the best times in any event, show top-ten performances, etc. I think this will be a really nice feature for the website: Sure, we'll be able to see overall records--but we'll also be able to see what the team has accomplished over time. Please let me know if you have other ideas about this feature.

*If I've missed anything, please let me know.


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MGM Takes 8th at State

By mark on Mon, 04/20/2009 - 8:24am

Congratulations to everyone who swam at this year's State meet. It was a truly impressive meet--probably one of our best ever in terms of records set and overall points. Here's some of the highlights:

Marilyn Kulak won the high point total for Women 50-54 with 72 points; Mary Moore came in 2nd in the same category with a total of 68 points. Larry Kettleson took 2nd in overall points in his age group. John Miller set new team records in every event he swam in the 55-59 mens age group.

Other highlights include:

400 IM Marilyn Kulak age 53 time 6:59.90
100 Breast Marilyn time 1:46.61
50 Back Mary Moore 42.46
200 Free Mary time 2:41.49
50 free Mary 31.70
200 Back Marilyn 3:17.71
100 IM Marilyn 1:28.98
100 back Marilyn 1:31.84

PS: I'm undating these throughout the day--I will be adding updates when I get a break from work to add more numbers. I know Mark Urban set some team records as well. Stay Tuned.

Also: Georgean sent in this email: "Please let me add the following:  Marilyn "Rocky" Kulak who attained her trophy for highest point total for women, Mary "The Motivator" Moore who blew everyone out of the water, Rachel " the Irish Regimen" who's only just begun to dominate, Leslie "The Fly Girl" who's leaping over 50s in a single bound, Larry "The Locomotive" who's starts and finishes defy realization, Wayne " The Defiant" who boldly goes where no one has gone before, John "The Juice" who has jetizened back to "waveland", Ken "The Big Kipper" who backed us up, Mark "The Urbanator," what else can you say?
 
And from these folks came the 8th place trophy for State.  CONGRATULATIONS "


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MGM Heads for State

By mark on Tue, 04/14/2009 - 4:39pm

This week, MGM will head to the UIC Pool for the Illinois Short Course Championships, culimating a great season for the team. For those heading out, here's some video from this month's Fenwick meet. Featured here: the 200 Mixed Medley Relay featuring Marilyn, John, Mary and Wayne. Also featured: the Chad Morris' 100 IM and Marilyn Kulak's 200 yard Breast stroke.

Good luck at State, MGM!

Notes: I owe a few of you sweatshirts before the state meet.I will bring them on Wednesday. If you are planning to come to practice, please let me know so I remember to bring them.


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MGM Dominates at Fenwick

By mark on Mon, 04/06/2009 - 4:49pm

Sunday's Fenwick meet was one of our most successful of the season in terms of individual performances. While I don't have all results in front of me and they haven't been posted online yet, I'm almost positive there were scores of personal bests scored by team members. Those that come to mind  include Rachael, Chad, Lonny, Mark, Marilyn, Mary and John. I'll have more information (and videos) when the meet results are posted online.

NOTES: I've been promised team sweatshirts by Wednesday.


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How fast do you want to go?

By mark on Fri, 03/20/2009 - 11:53am

I've been really happy with the turnout we've gotten this year at our meets: Having a lot of people there to cheer you on makes races that much more fun, and it really adds a sense of commeradery to these early Sundays.

I notice a lot of times that when a racer gets out of the water, other team members ask, "Was that a good time for you?" I think that any time that's better than your last meet is a good time. But I'd really like to hear from individual team members who are planning on attending the upcoming Fenwick or State meets: What times do you want to be at at either of these upcoming meets?

Please use the comments to tell us the times you'd like to hit.

NOTES: The registration deadline for Fenwick is March 29th. This is a great tune-up for State meet--and we should see some fast times in the 100 Freestyle--which is the 2nd event after the 500. 


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MGM Takes 3rd at York

By mark on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 7:57am

The MGM Masters Swim Team took third place at Sunday's York Dukes meet. This was one of our strongest meets of the year, with times really dropping in every category. In attendence: John J., Marilyn, Leslie, Rachel, Chad, Mark, Lonny, John, Larry, Wayne, Mary. I'll have more information posted soon.

 


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Elgin Wrap Up

By mark on Mon, 02/23/2009 - 9:34am

Four of us went to the Elgin meet on Sunday-- John, Chad and Rachel and me. I have to say, because of the distance, I've never made it to this meet, but it was well worth it. This is one of the better pools in Chicagoland, and is part of a huge, brand-new rec-center serving the community. (Right next to the pool is a mini- waterpark with an indoor slide. Unfortunately, that was turned off.) The meet was also surprisingly well attended.

I'll be posting results and video of the meet soon, but Chad had a monster day. When the results are up, I'll post.

Next up: York. We have a few weeks to get ready for this meet, so now's the time of the season to really get to work.

Team Notes: I'll be ordering the new team swag this week, so look forward to modeling your new MGM fashion wear very soon.


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Popov Roll Over Drill

By mark on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 1:19pm

One of the terms that you hear a lot of in swimming freestyle is rotation--the idea that your body should rotate along an invisible axis that runs through your head to the bottom of your feet. I thought I'd post a video I found online that shows this perfectly--it's Alexander Popov. Now this is roation: By the time he's going into the stroke, the chest and hips are pointed exactly 90 degrees horizontal. Meanwhile, notice his head position--almost always looking straight down. Notable, too is the elbow that points straight up while going into the stroke. It's a truly amazing stroke. Try doing this drill during your next warm-up--doing it this well is a lot harder than it looks, and doing it while going fast is even harder.

Team Notes: Elgin is the next meet up on this season's meet schedule, and from the looks of it, we should have a decent showing. If anyone is interested in car-pooling, please use the comments here to find a ride or offer one.

Just a reminder, there is NO Practice on Monday night in observance of the Presidents Day holiday.

Finally: I just updated the team records to include a few more records set in the women's 50-54 age group, where at least four team records have already been shattered this season. (Great job, Marilyn.) I think that to make things easier, if you have set a team record at any meet, please send me the event, meet and your time in an email. I will make the updates as soon as I receive them.


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