Registration Closes May 15th

With only two weeks until summer registration closes – be sure to get to the South YMCA with your completed registration form. We’re excited to see everyone again in just a few weeks!

Remember – this session, you’ll be registering for a specific practice time (numbered on the sheet) to help with class size management. Click for more details on the registration process and the practice times.

Parent Open House
The parent meeting is set for May 15th at 5:30 pm. in the Lincoln High School Commons. There you will get the chance to talk with the summer coaching staff, purchase team suits, goggles, FAN T-SHIRTS, and have a picture taken of your child wearing their summer league T-shirt by Dan’s Portrait Studio.

Offering photos is new! We’re very excited about it too! A photo order sheet will be given to you at the South YMCA when you turn in your registration. You can come prepared with a check for the photos or pick up a packet that night.

Please note: all photos, gear, and t-shirts are optional. None of these purchases are required. The summer t-shirt is provided to all swimmers for participating on the team (no separate purchase needed).

As usual, this is an informal open-house. You can come and go as you please and take part in as much or little as you want.

Additional Questions
If you have any questions at all, please email Coach Weber. We are looking forward to a GREAT summer session, vying for the second consecutive conference championship and getting all of our young swimmers to that next level!

MidWest Regionals Meet A Great Experience!

Last weekend (3/31) marked some Rails Swimming club history as the Rails sent swimmers to the MidWest Regional meet for the first time. 

The MidWest Regionals Meet brings swimming talent from several midwestern states together in one place for one big meet. Swimmers get the chance to swim in a college pool and experience a unique atmosphere that can’t be reproduced.

The Rails swam great with many swimmers achieving personal bests! Congrats Rails!!

Check out the full meet results and enjoy pictures from the meet too!

Registration For Summer
Don’t forget to register for summer swimming. The deadline is still a few weeks away but class spots are filling quickly. To ensure you get the practice time you want, be sure to register as soon as possible.

Summer Registration Open Now

The registration period for this summer’s swim team is now open! We’re pleased to offer more practices than ever before. There are also some very important  details concerning this summer’s squad, so please read on below.  

Registration is due to the South Suburban YMCA by May 7th. You can print the form and drop it off or you can fill it out at the YMCA’s desk. 

When registering, you will be required to choose a morning or evening practice time slot for your child(ren). Simply write the practice number you select in the appropriate box on the form. As you can see – we’ll have seven practices a day this summer. 

Note: There is a registration limit for each practice time. If it is important for your athletes to attend morning or evening practices, then fill out the form and get it to the South YMCA as soon as possible. Once the practice cap is reached, we will close that practice’s availability. There will be no exceptions made regarding the practice limits. This policy was implemented to address the most common concern highlighted in our survey, overcrowding. These limits are in place to eliminate this issue.

Practice Times & Details
You will notice that practices are split by elementary and middle school aged kids. Both age groups have a morning and an evening practice option each day. High school is first thing in the AM only. There is also a “advanced” option for those kids that have reached a higher level of swimming (offer in the AM and PM each day). All parents with swimmers eligible for advanced practice have been contacted. They are the only ones able to choose those morning/evening practice options. If you feel your child should be considered for that practice, and you didn’t get an email, please contact Coach Weber.

As the summer season progresses, there will always be time for kids to move up to the advanced practices. Once again, structuring practices this way helps keep the numbers more even and allows every child to receive the best coaching and practice experience.

Parent Open House
The parent meeting is set for May 15th at 5:30 pm. in the Lincoln High School Commons. There you will get the chance to talk with the summer coaching staff, purchase team suits, goggles, FAN T-SHIRTS, and have a picture taken of your child wearing their summer league T-shirt by Dan’s Portrait Studio.

Offering photos is new! We’re very excited about it too! A photo order sheet will be given to you at the South YMCA when you turn in your registration. You can come prepared with a check for the photos or pick up a packet that night.

Please note: all photos, gear, and t-shirts are optional. None of these purchases are required. The summer t-shirt is provided to all swimmers for participating on the team (no separate purchase needed).

As usual, this is an informal open-house. You can come and go as you please and take part in as much or little as you want.

Additional Questions
If you have any questions at all, please email Coach Weber. We are looking forward to a GREAT summer session, vying for the second consecutive conference championship and getting all of our young swimmers to that next level!

Go Rails!

Good Luck Y-State Swimmers!

The YMCA State swim meet is this weekend (3/3 – Boys & 3/4 – Girls) in Marshalltown.  The Rails are proud to be sending several swimmers in multiple events to the Y-State meet.

These swimmers still had practice this week after celebrating the end of the regular club season on Monday. Y-state is a great opportunity to gain swimming experience. The atmosphere of a big meet can be daunting and the sooner athletes are exposed to the pressure – the better! This allows them to learn to focus on their race instead of the crowd when the meets really matter.

These swimmers are striving for personal bests (and even a few medals) so good luck to all of our Y-State Swimmers!

Y-State Qualifiers
Alex Bennett (medley relay, free relay)
Will Bennett (200 free, 100 free, 50 free, free relay)
Lauren Benson (25 free, 50 free)
Arvin Garcia (free relay)
Edwin Garcia (50 breaststroke)
Jordan Greenwood (200 IM, medley relay, free relay)
Courtney Meyer (100 IM)
Brittany Purscell (200 breaststroke, 100 breaststroke, 50 free, medley relay, free relay)
Javier Santiago (50 fly, 100 IM, 100 free, free relay)
Valeria Santiago (200 IM, medley relay, free relay, 100 fly)
Ane Skartvedt  (200 IM, medley relay, free relay)
Alexis Trucano (200 free)
Sam Wilson (25 free, 100 IM, 50 back, free relay)

We post results from the meet early next week, so check back then.

Congrats to the Y-State Qualifiers!

Y-Team Swimmers

The YMCA swimmers recently swam at their sectional meet (2/12). The team had a great day and great swims! After aiming all season for the Y-State qualifying times, the Rails have several swimmers that qualified for Y-State!

Y-State is held in the Marshalltown at the same YMCA that holds the high school state meets (both men’s & women’s). The big meet is only a couple weeks away – 3/3/12 for the boys and 3/4/12 for
the girls.

Stay tuned for more details as the meet gets closer.

Congratulations to the Y-State Qualifiers

Alex Bennett (medley relay, free relay)
Will Bennett (200 free, 100 free, 50 free, free relay)
Lauren Benson (25 free, 50 free)
Arvin Garcia (free relay)
Edwin Garcia (50 breaststroke)
Jordan Greenwood (200 IM, medley relay, free relay)
Courtney Meyer (100 IM)
Brittany Purscell (200 breaststroke, 100 breaststroke, 50 free, medley relay, free relay)
Javier Santiago (50 fly, 100 IM, 100 free, free relay)
Valeria Santiago (200 IM, medley relay, free relay, 100 fly)
Ane Skartvedt  (200 IM, medley relay, free relay)
Alexis Trucano (200 free)
Sam Wilson (25 free, 100 IM, 50 back, free relay)

Sectionals Photos
Check out some photos from the sectionals meet!

YMCA Sectionals Meet Sunday (2/12/12)

The biggest YMCA meet of the year so far is this Sunday (2/12). Here’s where swimmers can qualify for the YMCA State Meet which held in the same pool as the high school state meet! Because of this, we selected the sectional entries based on what we felt your child(ren) had the best chance to qualify in. To qualify for Y State, a swimmer must hit the cut-times for their age-group and gender.

Meet Details
Site: Ankeny YMCA pool
Time: Warm-ups are at 9:15. Meet begins at 10:00 a.m.
Volunteers: Please report to your shift 5-10 minutes in advance. If you’d like to help time, let us know. More timers means each spends less time on deck and more time in the stands!

Y State Apparel
YMCA State shirts and apparel are also available for order. Even if your child(ren) doesn’t make it to the state meet, you are welcome to order. The order form is due by February 14th. Please make checks payable to the South Suburban YMCA.

Feel free to email Coach Hendrickson with any questions about the sectionals meet or if you would like to volunteer.

Congratulations to the MidWest Regional Qualifiers

Rails Swimming is proud to congratulate several club swimmers that have qualified for the 2012 Midwest Regional swim meet. This meet is held at the University of Minnesota’s Aquatic Center.  Athletes can only qualify for this meet by swimming faster than the cut-times at a club or YMCA swimming meet. It is a very competitive meet and all athletes that have qualified so far should be proud!

Current MidWest Regional Qualifiers

Lauren Benson (25 free, 50 free)
Aubrey Douds (50 free)
Sam Wilson (50 free, 25 back)
Javier Santiago (50 free, 50 fly, 100 IM, 200 free)
Will Bennett (50 free, 50 back, 100 free)
Summer Struve (50 free)
Ane Skartvedt (50 free, 100 free, 200 IM)
Sara Bennett (50 free, 100 free)
Max Hosier (50 free)
Courtney Meyer (50 free)
Alex Bennett (50 free, 200 free)
Jordan Greenwood (100 back, 200 IM)
Abby Harrison (100 back)
Brittany Purscell (50 free, 100 breast, 200 breast, 200 IM)
Valeria Santiago (50 free, 100 fly, 200 IM)
Olivia Simpson (50 free)
Torie Dotts (50 free)
Evan Chidley (200 free)
Matt Friend (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free)
Mitchell Friend (50 Free, 100 free, 100 back, 100 fly, 200 IM)
Tom Chidley (50 free, 100 back)
Curtis Knapp (50 free, 100 free, 100 fly)
Carter Worth (50 free, 100 free)
 
With a few more club meets this season, there’s still time to earn a spot on the Regionals team. We’re wishing everyone Good Luck for the rest of the season!
 
More details on the meet can be found here. Please note – you will not be doing any online registration for this meet. Coach Stefanie will be handling all of the details for participating athletes. Please email her with questions about the meet. However, you will need to book your hotel. This can be done online.
 
 

Rails Y Team Doing Great

The Rails YMCA team has been having a great season! These young swimmers have hit the road on several Saturdays heading to various YMCA’s around the state to swim in all-day meets.

YMCA meets are slightly different from standard club meets. They have more events in different distances. But the athletes still swim by age-group and gender.

You can learn more by visiting the YMCA Team page. There, we have details about the team, a meet schedule, meet results, upcoming meet information, Y State Cut-off Times and more!

The Y team’s next meet is February 4th at the Riverfront YMCA in Des Moines. For full meet details, click here.

*Pictured above are the swimmers that attended the January 7th meet at the Newton YMCA.

 

Club Swimmers Excel Against Indianola

The Rails Swimming club team swam great against Indianola! Last night (12/12) marks the last meet before the Winter break. The meet was great opportunity to showcase all the strides the club team has made so far. Tons of swimmers are improving their times with every meet! All should feel proud of the hard work they put in each week.

While we can’t recognize everyone – we did want to highlight some great swims by Rails swimmers.

  • Aburey Dowds (18.77), Lauren Benson (19.84), and Ellie Sizemore (23.22) taking first, second and fifth in the 25 Free for the 8 and Under girls.
  • Ella Worth taking third in the 50 Free for the 9-10 girls with a time of 39.74
  • Frank Hosier (40.95), Konnor Klocke (42.52), and Arvin Garcia (42.86) taking third, fourth and fifth in the 50 Free for the 9-10 boys
  • Javier Santiago taking first in the 100 IM for the 9-10 boys with a time of 1:33.63
  • Alexis Trucano taking first in the 11-12 IM for the 11-12 girls with a time of 1:26.74
  • Sam Wilson (24.57) and Austin Ilse (27.01) taking first and second in the 25 Back for the 8 and Under boys
  • Edwin Garcia taking second in the 50 Back for 11-12 boys with a time of 49.67
  • Ane Skartvedt taking first in the 100 Free for 13-14 girls with a 1:10.73
  • Andi Miller taking first in the 50 Breaststroke with a time of 44.16 for the 11-12 girls

You can also view the full meet results. All club meet results can be found under Current Season beneath the Club tab.

One thing to note: Some results have an asterisk next to the place. This because the event is combined with at least one other event. So while it may look like several relays took first in the same event, that’s not the case. These races swam in the same heat, but were actually different events (a different event number due to age, ect).

Looking for YMCA meet results? They can be found under the YMCA Team under the Club tab. The results are posted as part of the meet schedule.

Club Meet Tonight (12/12) Against Indianola

Tonight is the last meet before the Winter break! The Rails are swimming against Indianola at Lincoln at 5:30 p.m. We’ll have fan T-shirts on sale for $13. Since it’s also the third meet of the Fall/Winter club season, now would be great time to invite friends and family to watch a swim meet. 

It’s also a great time to take stock of your swimmer(s). Hopefully, everyone is starting to see some time drops and is getting more comfortable with the hectic meet environments! If not, don’t worry – we’re only halfway through the season. Each week builds your child’s strength and comfort level. And we’re excited for the second half of the season!

Go Rails!

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