Coaching Change

South Haven Swimmers and Families,

It is with mixed emotions that I must announce that I will not be in South Haven for the upcoming school year in a teaching nor coaching capacity as I have accepted an offer to teach high school math and coach the women's varsity swim team for Holland Christian beginning this fall.  Since graduating from Hope, is has been my goal to end-up back in Holland, but certainly I did not expect the opportunity to come this soon.  Also, it allows me to work for a school with which I already have some experience as I was the assistant coach for the HC men's swim team from 2008 to 2010.  It is especially difficult for me to leave a group of athletes, as a coach naturally develops a much closer relationship with his athletes versus a teacher with his students, but I feel that this is the right next step in my career path.  I spoke with those who are currently swimming RAC this morning, but did not feel that scheduling a brief team meeting was necessary.  

Thank you for all the support you gave me throughout the year...I would not have survived without it!  I have learned a great deal through my experience with the Rams' swim teams, and my only hope is that the swimmers have learned a little something from me as well. 

Take care.

~Ben Herrman 

VOTE ON THE BOND PROPOSAL!!!

Make sure, whether voting YES or NO, that your voice is heard today for the bond proposal and other issues on the ballot!

BANQUET WEDNESDAY!

Our banquet is this Wednesday, March 23 at 6:30pm at the Yacht Club downtown.  (Thanks to the Millers for securing the location!)  Swimmers, make sure to bring your Warm Ups to turn in.  We will eat first, and then do awards.  If you haven't been contacted already, the to-bring list for each family is below...  See you Wednesday!

• Zimbrich -dessert  
• Miller – dessert
• Baker (2) – dessert/3 2liters of drink
• Goril (2) – dessert/main dish
• Orrico – dessert
• Brown – dessert
• Anders – plates and napkins (20 swimmers + parents)
• Katt – side dish
• Olivas – 3 2liters of drink
• Larson – main dish
• Verdonk – side dish
• Diekema – main dish
• Schnacke – 3 2liters of drink
• Hiatt – main dish
• Thompson – side dish
• Hager – cups and silverware (20 swimmers + parents)
• Robertson – side dish
• Heinrich – main dish
• Zapalski – 3 2liters of drink  

State Meet Results

Our State Team competed at the Division 3 State Meet in Holland!  Results:

Finals (Made Top 16):

• 200 IM
• Eddic Verdonk 16th (2:05.12)  
• His prelim time of 2:04.71 is a NEW SCHOOL RECORD!!
• 100 Breast
• Mitch Baker 14th (1:03.60)
• Eddie Verdonk 16th (1:04.29)

Prelims:

• Medley Relay: Bobby Goril, Mitch Baker, Eddie Verdonk, and Weston Orrico, 17th (1:45.55)
• 50 Free: Weston Orrico 21st (23.12)
• Diving: Colton Schnake 19th (218.10 after 8 Dives)
• 200 Freestyle Relay: Weston Orrico, Eric Goril, Eddie Verdonk, Mitch Baker, 20th (1:33.83)
• 100 Backstroke: Bobby Goril 35th (1:02.42)
• 100 Breaststroke: Eric Goril 32nd (1:05.99)

Thanks to all the parents and fans who came out to support our young men throughout the weekend!

Diving Regionals Results and State Info

Congratulations to Colton!  He overcame a rough first-round to place 9th at Regionals at East Grand Rapids High School last night with a score of 316.20.  Since he placed in the Top 12, he will be joining the State Team in Holland on Friday and hopefully Saturday!

State psych sheets (which were just posted), live results, and finals results can all be found on the MISCA website HERE.

BANQUET INFO!!!

Our banquet will be on Wednesday, March 23 at 6:30pm at the Yacht Club downtown.  Mark it down!  Please bring your Warm Ups with you to turn in.  Within the next week, more info will come about what food items people will need to bring.

Conference Results

Two GREAT Days at Conference!  For me, the best part was seeing how much Team Spirit we had, which makes it a blast for everyone.  We also had some pretty good swims!

PRELIMS.

FINALS.

**Splits are at the bottom of each sheet.


BANQUET INFO TO COME SOON!

Address Change and Psych Sheet

Goril's Address is actually 70395.  Don't go to 20395 unless you want to drive for a LONG time...

Psych sheet is out HERE.

SNOW DAY (Tuesday, 2/22)

Optional practice from 2 to 4.  Conference-only swimmers will be out at 3:30.  Also, please see the post below about Conference Week.  Rest up and stay safe!

Conference Week

We’re finally here!  For many of our athletes, this will be their final week of swimming for the 2010-11 season…  Here’s what you need to know:

• Tuesday and Wednesday
• Practice will get out at 5pm for Conference Swimmers. 
• State Swimmers will practice until 5:30
• Thursday
• After a short practice, the Conference Swimmers will shave down in the locker room.  Each swimmer will need to bring a couple razors.  Shaving cream will be provided.
• Following the shave-down, we will head to the Goril’s house for our Conference Team Dinner.  Rides will be provided by our upperclassmen.
• The swimmers will need to be picked up from the Goril’s house afterwards.  Their address is 20395 M-43.
• Friday
• For the classes they will miss on Friday, each swimmer is to get their assignments BEFOREHAND and turn them in at the same time as the rest of their classes.  This does not count the same as a regular absence.
• All swimmers will get out of class to eat A Lunch.
• We will leave the high school by 12:15.
• Warm Up begins at 1:30, Prelims begin at 3:00.  Divers may stay for an hour afterwards (this is up to Justin).
• EVERYONE will ride the bus home.  We will stop somewhere in Allegan to grab some food, so swimmers need to bring money.
• Saturday
• WE NEED TO PROVIDE PARENT TRANSPORTATION ON SATURDAY.  CALL (269-313-6234) or EMAIL (benjamin.herrman@gmail.com) me if you can provide transportation so I can get an accurate head count.
• Those who placed in the Top 16 in each event will swim on Saturday.  EVERYONE attends, whether they made the top-16 cut or not.
• Divers need to be at Allegan by 8:00 for Warm Up, with prelims beginning at 9:30.
• Swimmers need to meet at the high school at 8:45.  We will leave by 9:00 so that we can catch part of the diving prelims.
• Warm Up begins at 10:45, Finals begin at 12:00 (noon). 
• Miscellaneous
• Swimmers will need to bring food and drink for each session.
• Admission is $5.00 at the door each day.
• Conference shirts will be available on-site for $15.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to call or email me!  

D3 Top Times

You can go to the MISCA Website to see the top times for Division 3.  From that page, there's one link to individual events and one link to relays.  Unfortunately, not all teams submit their times, so the list is not completely accurate; however, most of the top teams do submit their times, so it's not far off.  

Results vs. Plainwell

Results from our meet against Plainwell can be found HERE.  Three new State Cuts: the 200 Free Relay, Eric Goril in the 100 Breaststroke and Eddie Verdonk in the 100 Breaststroke.  We now have 5 guys swimming at the State Meet! A number of other time drops as well: Alex Anders in the 200 Free and 100 Free (relay split); Ryan Miller and Tim Larson in the 100 Free; George Zapalski and Steven Zimbrich in the 50 Free; Robert Heinrich in the 500 Free.  Great way to end our dual meet season!  More info to come over the weekend about the next four weeks with Conference and State...

Results vs. Spring Lake

WOW!  What a meet tonight!  New State Qualifying times for our Medley Relay, Bobby in the 100 Back, and Mitch in the 100 Breast.  Plus, we had a TON of lifetimes best swims across the board.  Our work is definitely paying off...and we still have a couple weeks left!  Check out the results and improvements HERE.

The Week Ahead: 2/7 to 2/11

Two meets this week, both home.  Tuesday we swim against Spring Lake, Thursday against Plainwell (rescheduled from last week).  The usual times: 4:45 on-deck, 5:00 warm up, 6:00 meet start.  Thursday is our last dual meet of the season, so it will be our Senior Night.  The ceremony, with the seniors and their parents, will begin after the 50 free, before the diving warm up.

For those who have not qualified for the State Meet, this will be our last week of full-on practices before beginning taper!  Remember, you have to put in the work for taper to work for you.  The swimmers who want to should be bleaching their hair this weekend, a long-standing tradition in high school swimming.  Freshmen and first-year swimmers should be getting a call from our captains this weekend explaining this.  

MEET VS. PLAINWELL CANCELLED

Due to the incoming storm (it better happen!!) our meet tonight has been cancelled.  We will practice until 5.  The meet has been rescheduled to next Thursday, the 10th so that will be our Senior Night.

The Week Ahead: 1/31 to 2/4

Can you believe that we're beginning February already!?  Yikes!!  A new semester of classes is upon us, and we have only FOUR more weeks until Conference, SIX until State...!  Anyway, here are the updates for the week:

• Meet Tuesday against Plainwell at Home.  
• Swimmers ON-DECK at 4:45pm, IN THE WATER at 5:00pm
• Meet starts at 6:00pm
• FRIDAY PRACTICE will go until 5:30pm.  We have been getting out around 5:00 on Fridays, but there is NO SATURDAY PRACTICE this weekend (February 5th) due to a RAC home meet.

No School...PRACTICE AT 1

SNOW DAY!

We will have practice from 1 to 3(ish)pm.  That means IN THE WATER at 1pm, so arrive early.  Again, since we have a snow day this is optional, but if you're allowed to get out and drive, I expect you to be there!  Also, if anyone wants to work on starts, turns, etc afterwards this would be a great day to get that time in.  I'll gladly stay after for anyone who wants to put in the time.

Another thought: I'm not sure what the other athletic teams are doing today, but it doesn't matter because we are not them!  We are SOUTH HAVEN SWIMMING.  BE PROUD!

Results and The Week Ahead: 1/18 to 1/22

• Results with improvements from the Otsego/Holland Christian Double Dual can be found HERE.
• Results with improvements from the Albion/Alma/Otsego Quad can be found HERE.
• Meet Thursday versus Manistee.
• Swimmers need to be ON-DECK at 4:45pm, IN THE WATER at 5pm.
• Meet starts at 6pm.
• Practice Saturday (optional...) from 10am to Noon.  Pancakes will be served afterwards!!

Invitational Results and The Week Ahead (1/10 to 1/15)

• Invitational Wrap Up
• Results can be found HERE.  Another good meet overall.  Everyone had at least one really nice swim.  Again just a stepping stone though.  As we get into better shape, our focus needs to stay on the little things: turns, breakouts, streamlines, etc.
• Big THANKS to the following for making our invite a success:
• ...Amy Garber and her high school helpers for helping clean and organize the pool area on Friday.
• ...Dave Gumpert and Brenda Schrader for setting up the medals and hospitality room.
• ...Tracy Hiatt and Nancy Baker for organizing the concessions, Lisa Miller for organizing the schedule, and everyone who donated and helped work the stand.  We had quite the spread!
• ...Dale and Karen Novotny for running yet another super-efficient meet.
• ...Mike and Tim, our officials.
• ...Wilma Wilson for announcing.
• ...the Timer Girls.
• ...all of our parents and fans who came out to support us!
• The Week Ahead (1/10 to 1/15)
• Practice Tuesday will begin at 3:30 on.  I will be at an inservice at the Van Buren ISD in Lawrence that gets out at 3:00.  We will still be out at 5:30.
• Meet Thursday at Holland versus Holland Christian and Otsego.  This will count as our conference dual meet against Otsego.  We will be swimming at the Holland Aquatic Center, which is an excellent facility and the site of the Division 3 State Meet this year.
• TIMES HAVE CHANGED SINCE THE INITIAL CALENDAR WAS PUT OUT.
• Meet at the school at 4:15pm.  Bus LEAVES at 4:30pm.
• Warm Up begins at 5:30pm.
• Meet starts at 6:30pm.
• Meet Saturday at Otsego versus Otsego, Albion, and Alma.  This will count as our conference dual versus Alma and our conference dual versus Albion.
• WE HAVE TO PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION.  Not provided by the school.
• Please call me or email me with the number of swimmers you are able to take if you can drive.
• TIMES HAVE CHANGED SINCE THE INITIAL CALENDAR WAS PUT OUT.
• Meet at the pool at 8:15am.  Depart by 8:30am.
• Warm Up begins at 9:30am.
• Meet Starts at 11:00am.

Invitational & A Few Other Items

• Invitational Information
• Our home invite is this Saturday.  The schedule differs from the one on the calendar sent out at the beginning of the season.  Warm Up for swimmers will begin at 8:30am, with the meet starting at 10:00am.  The swimming portion will last around 3 hours.  Diving Warm Up will begin immediately after the swimming portion and will last for an hour.
• We will be running a concession stand for the meet.  Sheets went home with the swimmers today detailing what item(s) they need to bring.
• Swim Suits
• Some swimmers have still not payed for their suits!  I need the $36 by Friday.
• Post-Practice Food/Drink
• BIG THANKS to those who've already donated drinks and snacks for the swimmers to have after practice!  However, we're running low.  If you'd be willing to donate some items (granola bars, peanut butter crackers, capri suns, juice boxes, etc.) please send them with your swimmer or you can drop them off after practice.  The swimmers really appreciate it, and it's great to have them refuel within the critical 30-minute window immediately following their workout.

Meet Results vs. Loy Norrix

Meet results can be found HERE.

What an exciting meet tonight!  We pulled off our first win, with plenty of new season and lifetime best times.  Our work over Christmas Break definitely paid off.  Now, we just need to keep our focus each and every day in practice and we'll have some more moments like tonight on our journey towards Conference and State.