RST 3 rack up 250+ splash points!

5-26-08: This Memorial Day weekend was a "free" weekend for our team, so a number of families chose to enter meets outside of our section. If you've never done that before, it's a bit "different" because you don't your whole team there, you don't have any of your coaches there...you're basically, "on your own". Here's what it looks like (lots of space!):

Fortunately, the Ryans were there at this particular meet in Thousand Oaks, so we could share their EZ-Up the Sun. and Mon. we were there to race. BTW, Justin wouldn't have been alone if we didn't go, because the guy knows more people on other teams than anyone else I know! (Parents from Palm Springs and Temec were hanging out with us and stopping by).

The 3 RST members who represented the team well: Mia Ryan, Summer Medina, and Marcia Ryan.
Even though we only had 3 RST members, they earned us over 255 "splash points" as you can see on this paper. (I know it's more than that because this was not counting Marcia's top 3 placing in the 200 free). When we left, RST was ranked 4th in the "small team" category! In most of the 6 events each girl entered, they placed high enough to earn points for the team. Way to go, girls!
Because you have to warm up under a coache's supervision, you have to approach a coach there and ask if you can warm up with their team. We had the good fortune of warming up with Coach Todd, of COTO (Coyotes from La Brea). He was really nice to the girls and even commented on their swimming during the meet. He told the girls to be sure to tell him "Hi!" at the next meet they see him at.
Hopefully, those of you who did an away meet this holiday weekend had as good a meet as we did!

RST @ PossAbilities Tri & 5k

4-27-08 On this bright and clear Sun., the 6th annual PossAbilities Triathlon took place. Several RST members took part in both the adult (3 mile run, 10 mile bike, 150 yard (!) swim) and kid's tri. RST was well represented on the medal stand as well! Congrats to all the RST swimmers who showed they can also run and bike.

Summer getting her leg marked with your bib number for the adult tri..Besides the tri, there was also a 5k run as well. Here is Charlie waiting for the start of his first 5k race, which he did in 31:05. Way to go, Charlie!Coach James supports Helena (adult) and James (kids tri).

Sheila (mom) and Heather wait with Keri (mom) and Summer at the start of the run.

Summer and Keri after the turn-around. This is the only picture I was able to get of them since they left me behind!
I didn't get any bicycle shots because I was left behind so I spent all of my energy trying to catch up to Keri and Summer, who I never saw again till the finish.

Holly zooming in from the bike transition to the swim...

Heather swims under the lane line as she completes the swim portion of the race. (Of course, the easiest part for all the RST kids! There were many who had to REST on the wall!)

Holly showing that fine RST-trained swimming form.

A welcome sight for all the racers--the finish line! Heather coming across.

Holly coming down the chute to defend her age group title--way to go, Holly!

All the finishers rec'd a medal, and those who placed in their age group rec'd an additional medal--and RST ruled!

RST guys - Jonatan Olafsson (Boys 12-14 division) placed 2nd with a time of 1:00:58.

RST girls - In the Girls 12-14 division, Holly placed 1st (1:06:53) and Helena placed 2nd. In the Girls 11 and under division, Summer placed 1st (1:21:30). (sorry about the water spots on the photo below--I carried my camera in the pool while I swam).

The overall women's winner was Julie Swail, a pro triathlete who is on the US Olympic team heading to Bejing! Here she is holding her check with Summer.

Some of us RST parents participated in it as well. The Resh/Peoples Family each won their respective age-groups. Tom, 50 (53:57), Patty, 51 (58:26), Holly, 13 (1:06:53)

Here's one more photo of a RST parent doing the Triathlon. It's Jackie Hurst (mom to Daniel, Coach Chuck's swimmer) en route to winning her age-group (45-49) in 1:06:10. It just goes to show how brutal the swim can get in a tri.

Unlike the Resh/Peoples family where the parents are still faster than their child, Team Medina parents were left behind by their child! Here we are, before the start of the race--little did I know that this would be one of the last times I'd be with them the rest of the race. Keri and I both got a 1:25:45 (12th in our respective age divisions)--caught up to Keri on lap 2 of 6 in the pool while Summer cheered for us at the finish line.

Congrats again to all the RST kids who participated in this triathlon! Maybe next year, we can get even more kids (and parents!) to join in for this worthy cause.

April 4-6, 2008 RAA Meet

4-6-08 This was a 3-day long-course (50m) meet in Riverside. To start the meet off on Friday were the long distance swimmers (400M and 1500m freestyle). They were diehards! Then the rest of the weekend was jam packed with kids--over 500 swimmers! So many, that they dropped the relays on both days in order to finish. Congrats to all the 60+ RST swimmers!

RST in Chlorination Video!

Check out the video that RST made with two of Coach Vicky's friend. It's hilarious! You can see the video at this URL or view it below:

Chlorination Episode 2

(Cut and paste this URL if the link above doesn't work - http://swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20080320/chlorination_episode_two-9625.html)

Palm Springs Meet

Here are some shots from the Palm Springs meet in March. Sorry for the delay! Also, some of the shots were from one of the parents--can't remember their name, but if you know who you are, let me know so I can put your name in here. Thanks!

Final Day @ JO's

2-3-08: Today was the final day of Spring JO's. Kudo's to the diehard parents who sat in those bleachers for 3 days straight! Here's a shot of what the inside of this complex look like. (You can see some of our team down at the bottom right corner of the pix.)

This final day saw a lot of excitement, both in the individual events and the relays. Check out the slide show and the captions for more info.


Kudo's also to our coaches who were there during this 3-day meet. They really got into their coaching, as Coach Audy demonstrates here and as seen in the other pictures.


And so ends another year of Spring JO's at this Olympic pool. Hope to see this pool again next year!





Here's the first video, a relay. Click on the play button. I'll work on an overall video re-capping JO's. Enjoy this video clip and stay tuned!

Day 2 @ Spring JO's

2-2-08: It's the 2nd day at JO's down in Long Beach, and here are some of the relays at the end of a long day of swimming.

The coaches exhorting our relay swimmers to go faster! Not sure why Coach James looks so distressed...I think this was the team that got 1st in their heat!

Check out the slideshow for more pixs from Day 2.