Meet Details
Ages 11 & Older: Warm ups begin at 4:30 p.m. The meet begins at 5:30 p.m.

Ages 10 & Younger: Warm-ups begin at 8:30 p.m. The meet begins at 9:30 p.m.

There will be a full concession stand open in the upper level of the roundhouse near the gym. There will also be programs and various swimming & conference meet apparel for sale.

Additional questions? Email Coach Weber.

Academic Award Winners

The high school men’s team concluded their season with the team banquet on Monday evening (2/13/12).  The guys and their families all gathered to celebrate the hard work and the successful year. After a delicious dinner (by Barratta’s), the guys were awarded their junior varsity or varsity letters. After that, team awards were announced. You can read more about each award below.

This year’s award winners are:

Most Valuable Player: Brady Edwards
Tom Cady Achievement Award: Brady Edwards 
Rookie of the Year: Tom Chidley
Most Improved: Mitchell Friend
Workhorse Award: Matt Friend and Mason Starmer
Team Captains: Luis Arias, Kort Kern and Brady Edwards

Check out photos from the banquet in the gallery below the award descriptions. (Unfortunately our second-year varsity letter winners photo is very blurry, but we included it anyway.)  Plus, you can read more about the Rails 2011-2012 season in the Season Summary.

Most Valuable Player (Outstanding Swimmer of the Year Award): This award is given to a swimmer that displays team leadership and excellent swimming abilities.  Prior to 2005, the award was given only to swimmers who had been members of the team for at least two years. In 2005, the requirements were changed to allow a swimmer of any age displaying outstanding leadership skills and swimming ability to receive the MVP award.

Tom Cady Achievement Award: This award was created in 2007, 40 years after Tom Cady first became a Lincoln swim coach. It’s given out to a swimmer or diver that displays a year-long dedication to the sport of swimming, and thus a dedication to the Lincoln Swim Team.  This award recognizes swimmers for their dedication, not just their ability. This award was dedicated to Tom to thank him for his life long dedication to the sport of swimming and, more specifically, to Lincoln High School.

Rookie of the Year: This award is given to the best “rookie” of the season. It recognizes a team newcomer for their contributions made to the team including ability, dedication and success in competition. The award doesn’t have to be given to a freshman, but rather can be awarded to any swimmer who completed their first season on the team.

Most-Improved: This award can be awarded using two sets of criteria, the swimmer that improved the most during one season or the swimmer that improved the most from a prior season. Sometimes, there is a winner using each set of criteria because both improvements deserve recognition and acknowledgement.

Workhorse Award: This award, simply put, is given to the athlete who works the hardest. They are at practice on time, don’t miss sets during practice, and don’t miss practices in general. They put a lot of effort into the season, and this award recognizes that hard work. Often times this award is given to a junior varsity team member and a varsity team member.

Team Captains: Team Captains are awarded at the end of each season by the coaches. Several captains are chosen throughout the season before each meet to motivate the team. Being a Meet Captain is tied to that week’s performance and effort in practice. The Team Captains are the athletes that demonstrated great leadership ability throughout the season on a consistent basis.

Banquet Photos

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!

2000+ fans pour into the Marshalltown YMCA. Each jockeying for the best place to cheer for their teams. The best young men gather to compete from all across the state of Iowa. The seniors swim their last high school meet, while the freshman swim their first “big one”. In short – State is a spectacle. 

This year the Rails sent seven events and 11 guys to this fun and exciting meet. Even with the short rest between districts and state, the guys did great. The biggest swim highlight of the day was the medley relay winning their heat and breaking the school record! Congrats to Hofmaier, Arias, Mit. Friend and Worth on your great swims! See some photos from the state meet below and see the full meet results.

A Rails state tradition is providing the whole team state T-shirts with the state qualifiers and alternates listed on the back. Plus, the state guys  receive a special gift. This year they received maroon robes with “RAILS State Swimming” on the back and their individual names on the front. Be sure to check out photos in the gallery.

The team, their families and fans headed to Okoboji Grill to celebrate the successful day and season. Congrats Rails!

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.

Luis Arias: 2nd place in the 100 Breaststroke

The men’s team had an extremely succesful districts meet on Monday (2/6). In front of a packed house at Roosevelt High School, the Rails swam their way to a solid fourth place and had a podium swimmer in 9 of the 11 events! The guys dropped seconds off their seed times and broke three school records. Here’s some highlights from the meet:

• Medley Relay (Hofmaier, Arias, Mit. Friend, Worth) swimming a 1:42.99
• Seth Carter dropping several seconds in the 200 Free to a 2:13.71
• Brady Edwards going a 1:46.38 in the 200 Free, breaking the school record and being seated 6th in the state
• Mitchell Friend dropping 2 seconds off his seed-time in the 100 Fly to 57.08 and moving up from the second heat to 5th place overall!
• Matt Friend swam a 5:11.24 500 Free, dropping over seven seconds
• 200 Free Relay (Hofmaier, Kern, Arias, Edwards) earning a time of 1.30.42 and breaking the school record by more than a second!
• Hunter Hofmaier swimming at 55.66 in the 100 Back and breaking his own record AGAIN
• Luis Arias going a 1:01.72 in the 100 Breaststroke moving up from the second heat to 2nd place!
• 400 Free Relay (Hofmaier, Knapp, Matt Friend, Edwards) swimming a 3:23.26 and earning a spot at the state meet

You can also view the full meet results. Pictures from the meet can be found in the gallery below.

The Rails qualified seven events to state: all three relays, 200 Free, 500 Free, 100 Back, and the 100 Breaststroke. This means we’ll be bringing 11 guys to the meet including alternates (the most in over 10 years). The alternates named were: Michael Natchigal, Keaton Tripp and Chase Shumaker.

State Details
State tickets were sent to the Athletic Office yesterday. We received 100 tickets (wristbands), so there should plenty for families and friends to come to the meet. Buying your tickets now means you don’t have to stand in two lines at the meet and gets you into the stands quicker!

We also have more spectator information, directions to the Marshalltown YMCA and the Events & Awards Schedule. One other tip: Send your athletes with money for state t-shirts. They sell out quickly! The state apparel runs from $15-$40.

Immediately following the state meet, the team (as a whole) and their families are invited to celebrate the day at Okoboji Grill on S.E. 14th St. We have the party room that is located on the left-hand side of the restaurant. Just ask for Lincoln Swimming when you arrive. If you aren’t able to travel to the meet, you are still welcome to come to the dinner! Everyone should be arriving to the restaurant around
5:00 p.m.

District Meet Photos 

After the guys ate all of the good food – the shaving began. It’s a Rails tradition to let the parents shave their sons’ heads, first with an electric razor and then with shaving cream and four-blade razor. This makes the guys’ heads extra smooth for the big meet the next day (usually!).

After an evening of fun – the team got to do a reshave two days later due to the meet being canceled. Now they’re ready for districts. You can read more about the districts meet here.

Why Shave?
Swimmers are often asked why they shave their heads. The simple answer is speed. Hair slows you down. However, there’s more to it than that. Having your scalp exposed to the water directly stimulates nerve-endings in your skin. It gets the blood moving, the heart pumping; ultimately helping kick off the adrenaline boost that comes from a race. That spike leads to speed and faster times.

And who wouldn’t want that!?

For many club swimmers that only swim moderate workouts three or four days a week, a taper is rarely used. High school swimming is a different story, with swimmers working out intensely six days each week. Here is a brief explanation of the season and the taper.

High School Swimming: Season & Taper
High School swimming (both boys and girls) is a 14 week season, which includes practicing every afternoon after school, Saturday mornings, and four mornings a week before school. High School swimmers not only swim a lot of yards, they also do weight-training, cardio-training, and resistance-training.

This training continues all season long until each individual’s taper season begins. At this point the swimmer stops coming to morning practice, stops lifting, and starts reducing their swim yardage totals in the pool every day. The taper can begin anywhere from 7 days to 21 days before their final conference, district, or state meet.

Though tapering doesn’t work with drastic results for 100% of the team each year, it is a process that allows the swimmer to feel completely strong and full of energy for that final meet. Most kids see time drops of a second or more on their 50, a couple of seconds on their 100’s, and we have seen 10-20 second time drops in 500 yard races! Boys will “shave down” for their final meet, and both boys and girls wear a team-provided “fast suit” which is much tighter than the normal meet suit.

What Makes Taper Work

Athletes can only get the full benefits of taper by working hard each and every day, from the beginning of season to the end. Once taper begins, the team may swim fewer yards every day, but we continue to work just as hard and concentrate on the yards they do swim. This allows the body to recover from the earlier season strain and become focused on peak performance. We also work on overcoming the mental stress of swimming through visualizations and meet preparation steps prior to the big meet.

We hope that all of our swimmers will continue training hard, so that when their time comes to “taper” for a meet, it is successful!

Super Bowl Head Shaving Party

Today’s the day the men’s team, parents and fans have been waiting for – districts!  The guys will finally get their shot to swim at this very important meet today at 5:00 p.m. at Roosevelt.

They’ve spent the last couple days hanging out with the team, eating right and prepping for the meet. And we must say – they look even better now!

The guys will do a warm-up at Lincoln today, eat a healthy lunch together, and drive over to RHS in a group. They’ll be ready to do a second warm-up at 3:30 p.m. when the site warm-ups start.

Admission to the meet is $5 for adults. Roosevelt will have a concession stand open. There will also be T-shirts for sale ($15 approx.) along with programs ($2 approx.).

Tips for Districts
– Get to the meet early. It will be a full house and Roosevelt doesn’t have great parking. The streets around the school will fill with cars.
– Buy your T-shirts early! The T-shirts at these meets sell out fast, especially if they do dri-fit ones again. If you’d like one for your son, please get it quick!
– Bring healthy snacks for your swimmers (and yourself if you’d like!). The meet starts at 5:00 p.m. and could last until 9:00 p.m. The guys will need fuel to keep performing at peak level. Fruits, nuts, crackers are all great ideas.
– Expect a late night. We’ll be heading over to the Worth’s house immediately following the meet. This will allow the team to find out qualifiers and alternates (if applicable) together, just like we would have on Saturday. This means we could all be there until 10:00 p.m. or even a little later depending on when the cut-times are released.

Game Cube games before the "real" game began.

We’re looking forward to tonight! Go Rails!!

Attention All Rails Fans:

The district meets being held at Roosevelt and S.E. Polk have been rescheduled. They will be held on Monday at 5:00 p.m. with warm-ups beginning at 3:30 p.m.

Council Bluffs schools were not able to safely travel to the Des Moines area so the meets were postponed.

We’d love to see our fans there on Monday cheering on the team as they try to make it to state. If 12 guys qualify, Coach Brayton Weber shaves his head!

Schedule Changes:
Tonight (2/4):
Team Dinner tonight at 4:30 at Cal’s in Norwalk for the team
Parents invited to socialize following the team dinner, when the guys head to Hofmaiers

Sunday (2/5):
Practice at 2:00 p.m. at Lincoln
Guys head to the Weber’s for a team dinner and head re-shave
Team heads home around 6:00 p.m. to enjoy their evening and the Super Bowl.

Monday (2/6):
Team goes to school until lunch time (between 11:30-12:00 p.m.)
Guys do pre-meet warm-up at Lincoln, like normal, beginning at 12:15
Following warm-ups, team will enjoy lunch together at Lincoln
Guys head to Roosevelt from Lincoln together, with plans to get in the pool around 3:30 p.m.
Meet starts at 5:00 p.m.

Go Rails!!