JUNE 2008 BAD NEWS!

It looks like a busy summer.  Here are results from a great Regional Meet and info on upcoming meets.

Region Meet Results:  Congratulations to all ten BAD divers who attended the Region 1 Meet in New Jersey and placed in the top 15 to qualify for the Zone Meet (everyone!).  Region 1 was the largest  of the 10 Region meets and was great preparation for the Zone A Meet.  As a team, we finished 4th overall!  Kudos to:

11 & Unders - Casey Sherman (3rd and 3rd) and Emily Zitkovsky (4th and 12th).  12-13s - Lillibet MacRae (1st and 1st), Brooke Bernadin (8th and 8th).  14-15s - Helen Zitkovsky (3rd and 1st), Kendall MacRae (7th and 4th), Elisha Elovic ( 9th and 7th), Kelly Sherman (18th and 13th) and Taylor Clough (7th and 7th).  16-18 - Katie Feng (10th and 8th). 

BAD's new summer t-shirts and shorts are in.  The t-shirts are tie-dyed in team colors.  For those divers attending AAU National, there is a National Team version. The cost is $10.00 for the t-shirts and $15.00 for the shorts.

Our new team suits are in and there's good news and bad news.  The bad news is that they are not a brand name like Nike or Speedo.  But the good news is that they only cost $25.00.  Please hang on to your old suit as you may still want to wear it in competition.  I suggest the girls coordinate so that they all were one suit in prelims, the other in finals.

Long Island Invitational Meet Info:  For those going to the Zone Meet, we strongly suggest that you attend the Nassau County Summer Oranges Classic on Saturday, June 22nd.  This low-key invitational meet will be held at the same pool as the Zone Meet.  All other BAD divers are encouraged to attend as well.  Register for this meet at https://secure.meetcontrol.com/divemeets/system/meetinfoext.php?meetnum=393#1

On June 25^th, we will run a small 3-meter qualifying meet for AAU Nationals.  It will be for a few of our divers and some South Shore divers and we’ll be looking for some parents to run a quick table. 

We are also expecting the Seton Hall Diving Coach Mike Almasri and a few of his divers to be training with us starting the 25^th for a few days.

Zone Meet Information:  Ten BAD divers have qualified for the Zone Meet on Friday, July 11th - Monday, July 14th at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, NY.  Warmups are all day Thursday, July 10th.  The event schedule and registration for this meet  are at https://secure.meetcontrol.com/divemeets/system/meetinfoext.php?meetnum=372

US Diving Nationals.  This year, US Diving is running two sets of summer nationals.  The top six divers in each event at Zones qualify for the Speedo Junior Nationals to be held on August 5-10 at Woodlands Texas.  Divers who finish in 7-12th place will qualify for the Age Group National Championships at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center in Boyds, Maryland on August 11- 16th. 

Based on results from the Regional Meet, I  (hope) expect that we will have divers at both competitions.  BAD coaches will be at the Junior Nationals.  For anyone who qualifies and wishes to go to Age Group Nationals in Maryland, we will find a coach from another club to work with you. 

AAU Nationals - Our emphasis this summer will be on the AAU Nationals in Coral Springs, from July 26 to August 4, 2008.  This meet will be, as always, the largest summer age group championship.  More info is available at the AAU website http://www.aausports.org/sprt_Diving.asp and more specific info for our team will be available soon.

BAY STATE GAMES:   Finally, for those divers not attending Zones, please consider going to the Bay State Games on Saturday, July 12th at Harvard.  Info is available at http://www.baystategames.org/html/bsgwww/Summer/diving.asp  Joe will be inducted to the State Games Hall of Fame at the opening ceremonies.

MAY 2008 NEWS WHAT’S COMING UP….

THE PLANTATION MEET

A handful of divers will be leaving for Plantation Florida on May 15-18 for some training and a day of competition.  We hope to hit Miami Beach for some jet skiing courtesy of a friend who is a former Olympic diver and coach.  We’ll keep this option open for next year as it is a great training opportunity and a fun break.

SUMMER TRAINING

Summer Training will consist of mornings at Brandeis and Concord, and some evening practices at Brandeis.   As soon as the schedule is finalized, we will post it.

WELLESLEY POOL

Repairs have been finished at the Wellesley pool and we expect to incorporate that location back into our practice schedule soon.  Watch the calendar for those changes. 

SUMMER DIVING CAMP – PRE AAU NATIONALS

We will be leaving three days prior to AAU Nationals to get some great training in and get acclimated to the sun (aka tan).  We expect to be training at either Coral Springs or Plantation.  Olympic Coach Dick Kimball, who will be in Florida at another camp, will join us for a part of each day to spot our kids.  As you may already know, Dick is by far the world’s best spotter using belts and dryboard.  This training camp will be open to anyone attending AAU Nationals.  The cost will be $65/day for coaching plus housing costs. 

AAU NATIONALS – JULY 26-AUGUST 2, 2009

AAU Nationals will run for eight days between July 26^th and August 2^nd.  The schedule will be published shortly, but you can count on plenty of free time each afternoon for training or tanning because prelims will be held each morning and finals at night.  The structure of the meet will allow families to have some time off to enjoy the beaches and other activities.  While at the Plantation meet, we will look at the possibility of renting a house or condo(s) for the team.  If this doesn’t work, there are plenty of hotels.  Divers who make US Diving Nationals will be able to stay and train at Coral Springs and then go directly to Woodland, Texas for US Diving Nationals. 

US DIVING REGIONALS/ZONES/NATIONALS

USA Diving is still tweaking its summer meet schedule, but it appears that Regionals will be in Ewing, NJ on June 13-15^th, followed by Zones on Long Island on July 11-13^th.  Only divers who have a chance to qualify for Nationals should attend these qualifying meets as the cost to join USD and compete at these meets is more substantial than AAU.  Nationals will in Woodland Texas.  Warmups are on August 4-5^th and the meet runs from August 6-10^th. 

RESULTS, AWARDS & ACCOLADES 

2008 USA DIVING EAST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

Team finishes 6^th out of 38!

The East Nationals was a great competition for the BAD divers, with almost everyone getting a medal or two and placing high in their events.  Casey Sherman, dove strongly in both 11 & under events, and earned two 5^th place finishes.  Emily Zitkovsky, diving in her first nationals, put in a great performance on three meter finishing 19^th.   Lilibet McCrae dove up a storm in the 12-13 events and earned two 4^th place finishes.  BAD had 3 divers competing in the 14-15 girls events - Kendall McCrae, Helen Zitkovsky and Elisha Elovic.  Elisha finished with a 13^th and 14^th place, just missing a medal but diving strong in her first USA Diving Nationals.  Kendall dove consistently, finishing 8^th on 3 meter and 10^th on 1 meter.  After placing 22^nd last year, this year’s performance was a huge improvement.  Helen placed on 7^th on 3 meter earning 6s on her back 2 ½ .  On one meter, Helen missed one dive and that kept her out of the top three.  I received positive comments from several coaches, not only about the number of divers we had at Nationals, but the fact that they all did so well.  This type of recognition comes in handy when it’s time to look at colleges.  The team took the 4^th place finish for Girl’s Teams and 6^th place overall – very impressive considering we accomplished this with six divers!

KATIE FENG WINS HIGH SCHOOL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Westford High School sophomore, Katie Feng won the High School State Championships for the second year in a row.  Last year, Katie out-dived two former state champions to win the meet.  This year, she battled another nationally ranked diver to take the title.

JOE CHIRICO IN BAY STATE GAMES HALL OF FAME

At this year’s Bay State Games Opening Ceremonies, Joe Chirico will be inducted into the Bay State Games Hall of Fame for his leadership role in diving for the past 24 years.

COLLEGE NEWS

“Sprout” Sorenson Finals at NCAA Division III Championships

Wellesley College junior and BAD Team member, Sprout (Katie Sorenson) placed 10^th and 14^th at the NCAA Division III Championships.  Sprout accomplished this after diving for only two years, picking up the sport her sophomore year at Wellesley.  According to coaches who have attending this meet for many years, this year’s competition was some of the strongest they had seen. 

Alex D’Ambrosio had a great year at the University of Virginia.  He is flourishing under the direction of UVA’s new coach and has been the school’s top college diver during his freshman and sophomore years.  Tess Waresmith, who transferred from Miami to Boston University for her junior year had an awesome season and qualified for the NCAA Division I Nationals, becoming BU’s first National Qualifier in decades.  Bridgette Duffy, a freshman of Dartmouth spent most of the battling injuries and illness.  I’m hoping we see a lot of her this summer.  A healthy Bridgette should be at the top contender in the Ivy League.  Charlotte Rey finished out her senior year at Brandeis by finaling at the UAA College Championships.  She just missed making Division III Nationals.  Finally, Joe and Jim who share coaching duties at Babson College, coached Babson’s first diver to Division III Nationals.