Winds whip Palm Springs meet!

3-21-09: This had to be the windiest meet we've been to in our 5 years on the team. Paper from admin was flying into the pool, we had to take down our EZ ups, they took off all the coverings from the shades...it was wild!

The craziest and most dangerous thing that happened was when the nice big scoreboard got blown over! Fortunately, no one--especially a kid--was walking behind it at the time or else...take a look at the picture to see how many guys it took to lift it up and out. It was attached to that lifeguard chair with all the yellow tape around it.



The wind made it tough for the swimmers, especially on the way back to the timers. Almost like swimming in the open water, what with the waves and white caps! But they did their best, as always!

Go RST!

Coach Matt all wet?

Why is Coach Matt all wet? Did someone push him in? Did he fall in? Nope, he did his annual St. Patrick belly flop, which all the swimmers seemed to know but not us parents, so I wasn't able to get a picture of that but I did get the following shots afterwards. It was hilarious to see him do that!

RST takes 1st place in Red/White Championship!

3-8-09: RST hosted the Red/White Easter Sectional Championships this weekend. With almost 900 kids competing, it was a busy 2-day meet at the RHS pools. We ran both pools to accommodate all the kids. Saturday was even crazier because there was a v-ball tourney and a baseball game going on at the same time!

According to other coaches, parents, and a ref, this was one of the best-run Red/White Championships they've been to. A big thanks to Meet Director Eddie Gornay for organizing the army of parent volunteers who helped to make this meet a success. The RST Board members were also very busy, and the coaches were all over the place working with their swimmers on both pools.

By the end of the meet, RST took 1st place with over 1,900 points. (TCC came in 2nd, and Circle City Aquatics came in 3rd).

Here's a shot of some RST swimmers holding the 1st place trophy. Congrats to RST swimmers, parents, and coaches for a successful meet!


Stay tuned for some video clips, when I get a chance to download the footage!

End of '08 & into '09

2-27-09: Even though haven't posted since Christmas parade, things have been happening at the pool. Here are some pictures to catchup! Unfortunately, I've been shooting mostly video this year for a new project, so I hardly have any pictures...will try to shoot more stills next time. Enjoy!

In Redland's Christmas Parade!

12-6-08 The RST participated in the annual Redlands Christmas Parade this year. The team rode on this big float, while some of the older kids walked besides. Everyone seemed to have a great time!
Nice antlers, Coach Matt!
Parent/Board Member Dwayne has nice antlers, too!
The coaches ride at the front of the float.

Out-of-the-pool, part 2

10-5-08: The RST kids are a talented bunch, in more ways than one. Check out these 3 examples....

Jingfu (standing) is a very talented pianist. Read about his story, featured in a recent Press Enterprise article.

These 3 swimmers are not only fast in the water, but also out of the water. This was the 1st of 5 RUSD Middle School Cross Country Invitationals for the Fall of 2008.

Holly Resh - Beattie MS, 8th Grade: Remains undefeated in Middle School finishing the 2 mile course in 13:12 (Fastest Girl of the Meet)
Kyle Gornay - Moore MS, 7th Grade: In his very first Middle School Cross Country Meet, Kyle won with a time of 12:53! WOW!
Collin Green - Moore MD, 6th Grade: Also in his very first Middle School Cross Country Meet, Collin bested 30 other 6th graders and took the bronze medal with a time of 14:13. FABULOUS!
Way to go, RST swimmers!

Just yesterday, some other swimmers also exhibited not only speed but endurance, covering 10 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail near Silverwood Lake, in 50-deg. temps and misting fog. At times, the winds were almost strong enough to blow them off the side of the trail! And yet, these 3 swimmers-Jennifer Makowski, Michelle Sabangan, and Summer Medina, charged ahead, covering the 10 miles in just over 4 hours. Amazingly, they seemed to have plenty of energy to keep going while us parents were ready to crash by the fire pit back at camp!

Since I couldn't leave with them at the start, Summer filled in nicely as the photographer, taking this group picture at the start of the trail--just over 300 miles to Mexico and over 2200 miles to Canada from this point1
Summer took this quick shot as they kids climbed ever higher along the single track on the side of these hills with Silverwood Lake far down below. Jenny is here at the front.

After chasing after the group for over 3 hours, Thomas Makowski (at right end) and I finally caught up with them with just a couple of miles to go. They were moving faster than we anticipated! (Getting lost and taking many course corrections didn't help us in catching up with them, even though we were jogging at times!)

Dryland workout by Age Group

10-5-08: As the swimmers get older, the coaches add "dry land" workouts to improve their swimming. Given the heat so far, the kids can't wait to get in the pool!