Way to go, penguins! For the first time in 11 years, LPAC has defeated the Almaden Gators. At yesterday’s meet, LPAC beat the reigning VCSL champions in both place points and improvement points, by a total score of 129.40 to 121.12. Complete meet results have been posted to the website.

NEW TEAM RECORDS

Saturday’s meet got off to a fantastic start, with our 15-18 Medley Relay team (Mackenzie Keslin, Nico Fasan, Nicole Richards, and Connor Bleeg) pulling out an exciting win — and a new team record of 1:51.66, beating the old record by more than 2 seconds. (The old record was from 2009 with Rachel Sandberg, A.J. Urias, Julia Thompson, and Adam Jasper.)
Just a few events later, Nicole Richards got back in the water and broke the 15-18 girls’ 50 yard butterfly record (another record formerly held by Coach Julia) with a great swim of :29.54.And finally, Daniela Fasan broke her own 11-12 girls’ 50 yard breaststroke record from last year with a new time of :34.54.
Congratulations, everyone!

PRACTICE TIMES CHANGE

Morning practices start tomorrow (Monday, June 9). The practice times are as follows:

  • 15-18: 6:45–7:45/8:15 am*
  • 12-14: 7:45–8:45/9:15 am*
  • 9-11: 8:45–9:30 am
  • 8 & under: 9:30–10:15 am

Swimmers who are unable to attend morning practice because of school or work commitments may attend night practices, Monday through Thursday from 8:00-9:00 pm. Swimmers must have coaches’ prior permission to attend night practices.
*Swimmers ages 12 and up have 30 minutes of dryland exercises immediately following their regular practice times on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. Please bring running shoes on those days.

THIS WEEK AT PRACTICE

Tomorrow will be “Fun Monday,” where we’ll work on a specific skill and then play some fun pool games to celebrate our hard-fought victory over the Gators. Coach Scott will also be bringing his top hat of treats for swimmers who have had perfect (or almost perfect) attendance for the last three weeks. In addition to our usual focus on stroke technique, we’ll be working all week with swimmers who need help with diving from the blocks.

WILL YOU BE HERE ON SATURDAY?

This Saturday, June 14, we will be swimming at home against the Belwood Dolphins. If your swimmer will miss any part of the meet, the coaches need to know NOW. If you have not already done so, please send email to coaches@swimlpac.org and also notify volunteer coordinator Wendy Marley: marleywl@yahoo.com. We had great attendance for our meet against Almaden and hope we will have all our penguins on hand to defeat the Dolphins!

LOOKING FOR MORE INDIVIDUAL STROKE INSTRUCTION?

Though our LPAC coaches focus on stroke technique every day at practice, there’s only so much they can do with 30-40 kids in the pool at one time. Individual or small-group swim lessons can be a great way to improve your strokes even more. See the Swim Lessons page of the team website for suggestions and contact information.

SWIM-A-THON IS COMING SOON

Our annual team swim-a-thon fundraiser will be held on Tuesday, June 24. Go to the Swim-a-Thon page of the website to download and print the Pledge Form now so you can start collecting pledges from your family, friends, and neighbors. It’s a fun way to help raise funds for the team while challenging yourself and getting a great workout. And you can win cool prizes too!

RAFT TRIP: RESERVE YOUR HOTEL ROOM NOW

The annual team raft trip will be on Saturday, July 5. For more details, check the Raft Trip page of the website. If you plan to stay over either Friday or Saturday night, you should make hotel reservations now. Completed forms and payment are due no later than June 28.

SPEAKING OF BOATS…

Not sure what to do with all your free time now that school’s out? Maybe start working on your cardboard boat for the Penguin Regatta on Saturday, July 12! Check the Cardboard Boat Races page of the website for official rules and more information.