A positive environment for developing winners!
Emily Hanson Qualifies for FINA World Championships in Rome! Races open water 5k, Sunday, July 19, and 25k, Friday, July 24th Emily is on her first USA Swimming National Team, qualifying with her 3rd place finish in the 10km US National Open Water Championship. Currently representing Club Wolverine at age 21, Emily was a member of the WAVES from age 10 through 18. What does it take? Emily's consistent dedication to year-round training, with 9-10 practices a week most weeks since age 13. In the middle of her 10km race, she said "OK... 50x100 on 1:10, and a 10,000 for time...I can do this!" (Remembering a surprise Saturday workout at the WAVES five years ago.) Congratulations Emily!...Time to reset your goals!! >> race report and results SwimmingWorld.com   Emily Hanson with brother Jacob after she raced 16:34.30 for the 1650 at the Lost Dutchman meet in Arizona, February 2006.
WAVES results at Illinois Open, "the June meet" >> meet results >> WAVES improvements and splits Highlights New team record: Lindsay Gendron, girls 15-18, 400m IM Movin' up...New time standards achieved AAAA: Reid Byers, 100 BF AAA: Christian Grobe, 100 BS, 200 BS; Karan Somasundaram, 400 FS, 200 IM; Shaun Wolfe, 100 BK, 100 BS; Reid Byers, 50 BF; Tommy Clegg, 400 FS; Matt Frey, 100 BF; Lindsay Gendron, 100 BF; Kyle Kiper, 400 FS; Michael Wolfe, 400 IM; AA: Michael Wolfe, 50 FS, 100 FS, 100 BF, 200 BF, 200 IM; Christian Grobe, 50 FS, 100 BK; Melissa Pish, 50 FS, 100 BF; Reid Byers, 50 FS; Tommy Clegg, 100 BK; Aaron Davis, 100 BK; Lauren Eytalis, 100 BF; Caitlin Hamilton, 200 BK; Samantha Holmes, 200 IM; Gabby Hundman, 50 FS; Sidney Kennedy, 100 BK; Karan Somasundaram, 100 FS; Hannah Yuan, 100 BK; A: Riley Furman, 100 FS, 200 FS, 100 BK, 200 BK; Gabby Hundman, 100 FS, 200 FS, 400 FS; 100 BK; Yezan Alsader, 200 FS, 100 BK, 200 IM; Hannah Eytalis, 200 FS, 400 FS; Christian Grobe, 200 BK; Alex Haag, 100 BK; Samantha Holmes, 100 BS; Maddie Newcomer, 200 IM; Michael Wolfe, 200 BS First-ever long course racing: Maria Castillo, Meagan McManus 100% best times Hannah Eytalis, Joe Frey, Jonah Goughnour, Eliot Kennedy, Justin Wolfe Middle-distance tough!...Raced first-ever long course 200 or 400 of... Beau Byers, 200 BK, 200 BS, 200 BF; Reid Byers, 200 FS; Maria Castillo, 400 FS; Aaron Davis, 200 BF; Hannah Eytalis, 400 FS; Joe Frey, 200 BK, 200 BS, 200 BF; Jonah Goughnour, 400 FS; Gabby Hundman, 400 FS; Megan McManus, 200 BS; Spencer Penland, 400 FS; Michael Wolfe, 200 BK, 200 BS, 200 BF, 400 IM   Karan Somasundaram Zone cut 200m IM Tommy Clegg Zone cut 400m FS Michael Wolfe Zone cut 400m IM     Kyle Kiper and Karan Somasundarm Zone cuts in 400m FS Reid Byers Zone cut 50m BF   Join the WAVES...Our coaches want to help YOU get fast!
Zone Meet Qualifiers June 27 11 WAVES qualified with AAA times or faster this season, who will join them on August 7-9? Let's get to work! >> USA Swimming AAA qualifying times for Zones 10-under boys   15-18 boys   10-under girls   Reid Byers, 10 50 BF Matt Frey, 17 100 BF Sidney Kennedy, 9 200 FS   100 BF Christian Grobe, 16 100 BS 15-18 girls   11-12 boys     200 BS Cece Holmes, 16 200 FS Karan Somasundaram, 12 400 FS   200 IM   400 FS   200 IM   400 IM Sam Holmes, 17 100 FS Kyle Kiper, 12 400 FS Shaun Wolfe, 16 50 FS   400 FS 13-14 boys   100 FS     Tommy Clegg, 14 400 FS   200 FS       1500 FS   400 FS     Michael Wolfe, 13 200 FS   100 BK       400 FS   100 BS       200 IM   100 BF       400 IM   200 IM
How Are Our Athletes Doing? Are They Getting Fast? One way to measure the team's improvement is look at how many swimmers are moving up and achieving USA Swimming "A" time standards short course yards compared to where we were a year ago. 34 WAVES athletes have achieved "A" or faster scy times this season (since Sept 1, 2008) Compare to just 14 WAVES athletes with "A" or faster scy times in the previous season (9/1/07 to 9/1/08) That's improvement!! And we can't wait to see how much faster we get in the coming year! WAVES with "A" times or faster achieved this season: Yezan Alsader, Reid Byers, Tommy Clegg, Rick Cranston, Josh Davis, Monica Drake, Lauren Eytalis, Matt Frey, Riley Furman, Lindsay Gendron, Jonah Goughnour, Christian Grobe, Alex Haag, Caitlin Hamilton, Hannah Hamilton, Jacob Hanson, Cece Holmes, Sam Holmes, Sidney Kennedy, Kyle Kiper, Alex Kizer, Meagan McManus, Kayla Orendorff, Amanda Penland, Spencer Penland, Melissa Pish, Katelyn Sauder, Karan Somasundaram, B Steffes, Amy Weisenfelder, Andrew Woith, Michael Wolfe, Shaun Wolfe, Hannah Yuan
WAVES Awarded 2009 Silver Medal Club Status Rank 37th among all 2700 USA Swimming clubs! Just one other Illinois team is among top 100, New Trier is 69th. >> full ranking of 2009 Club Excellence teams WAVES contributing points to team score: Monica Drake, Jacob Hanson, Lindsay Gendron, Caitlin Hamilton, Lauren Eytalis. Award is based on achievement of elite time standards by senior swimmers in long course meters competition. Additionally, clubs must have had at least one swimmer age 18 or younger in the 2008 US Olympic Trials or US Open swim meet.
Team Records Set Since September 1st Boys 15-18 Boys 15-18 Boys 11-12 Jacob Hanson 100 BK, 50.07 Shaun Wolfe 100 FS, 47.59 Michael Wolfe 50 FS, 24.40 Jacob Hanson 200 BK, 1:48.54 Shaun Wolfe 100 BS, 59.06 Michael Wolfe 100 FS, 52.70 Jacob Hanson 100 BF, 51.09 Shaun Wolfe 200 IM 1:54.01 Michael Wolfe 200 FS, 1:52.49 Jacob Hanson 200 BF, 1:52.32 Michael Wolfe 500 FS, 5:05.78 Jacob Hanson 400 IM, 4:02.79   Michael Wolfe 50 BF, 26.97     Michael Wolfe 100 BF, 57.74
WAVES National Top 10 Times at IHSA boys meet Jacob Hanson 2nd in 100 BK, 49.59 Time qualifies for U.S. Open Jacob's 49.59 is 9th fastest time in the country this season for boys age 17 Shaun Wolfe 8th in 50 FS, 21.13 Shaun's 21.13 is 6th fastest time in the country this season for boys age 15 >> IHSA results >> USA Swimming times database >> US Open entry time standards Best time progression Jacob Hanson - 100 BK age 11, 1:05.14 age 12, 1:03.93 age 13, 1:01.99 age 14, 1:00.03 age 15, 57.93 age 16, 54.50 age 17, 49.59
WAVES athletes win 3 at IHSA girls meet Event winners: 100 FS, Monica Drake, 50.14 200 FS, Monica Drake, 1:48.11 500 FS, Caitlin Hamilton, 4:47.81 >> results, Illinois state IHSA, Fri-Sat, Nov 21-22 >> Peoria Jounal-Star "Bloomington-Normal duo making WAVES" Nov 14
College Signings Monica Drake to Arizona, Caitlin Hamilton to Purdue, Lauren Eytalis to Iowa, Jacob Hanson to Eastern Michigan >> Pantagraph news article “They found excellent programs to swim in and they all fit very well in those programs,” said YMCA coach Charlie Yourd. “The most important thing is each of them can contribute and make a difference.”
WAVES Score 10 National Top Ten Age Times for 2008 Season Nov 11 Team is #1 among Illinois girls; Academy, St. Charles follow with 5 each >> USA Swimming national top ten final lists for 2008 season WAVES National age top ten performers, 2008 season final rankings Monica Drake lcm 800 FS, 7th; 400 FS 8th scy 500 FS, 4th; 100 FS, 5th; 200 FS, 10th Caitlin Hamilton lcm 800 FS, 8th scy 1650 FS, 8th Lindsay Gendron lcm 400 FS, 8th scy 200 FS, 8th Monica Drake, Lindsay Gendron, Caitlin Hamilton, Lauren Eytalis scy 800 Free Relay, 5th
Scholastic All Americans 2008 WAVES lead state and rank #1 in country by team size WAVES 2008 Scholastic All Americans Lissa Tommerdahl Monica Drake Lauren Eytalis Caitlin Hamilton Lindsay Gendron >> Scholastic All American info Our Scholastic All Americans trained 9-10 practices per week all year and did not miss practice. This is how swimmers learn time management and efficient study habits. Fitting life around swimming and making adjustments so as not to miss training is the way it’s done.
WAVES in 99th Percentile...Top 20 Clubs in USA June 18 We have 3 swimmers, age 17 or younger, entered in the Olympic Trials. How rare an achievement is that? Who are the best USA Swimming clubs in the nation at developing young swimmers to elite levels of the sport? Does our team rank among the best clubs in the country? Just how good are we? To answer these questions, I ran the numbers on the 2008 Olympic Trials entry data. I thought I’d share these numbers with you, so you can have a better idea of how our WAVES team is doing compared to all the other swim clubs in the country. What I found out is…we’re one of the top 20 clubs in the country developing 17-unders up to Olympic Trials level. With approximately 2,800 total member clubs, this puts our little team in the 99th percentile of all USA Swimming teams, better than 99.29%. Pretty good, being better than 2,780 of 2,800, especially considering the small size of our community and our limited facilities. Scroll down to view a list of the Top 20 developmental teams. Interesting to see who else is getting the job done. And..we are the only Central Zone team in the Top 20. >> full size Zone map pdf FUN PROJECT...Get a colored pen, print the Zone map, and mark the locations of each of the Top 20 clubs in the country! Top 20 Developmental Clubs in USA...Trials Qualifiers Age of swimmers – who is developing 17-unders to this elite level? Clubs with 7 entrants age 17-under North Baltimore Aquatic Club (Baltimore, Maryland) Clubs with 5 entrants age 17-under Longhorn Aquatics (Austin, Texas) King Aquatics (Federal Way, Washington) Brophy East Swim Team (Phoenix, Arizona) Clubs with 4 entrants age 17-under Sierra Marlins (Sacramento, California) Mecklenburg Aquatic Club (Charlotte, North Carolina) Dallas Mustangs (Dallas, Texas) Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club (Houston, Texas) Crow Canyon Country Club Sharks (Danville, California) Clubs with 3 entrants age 17-under WAVES Bloomington-Normal Terrapins (Concord, California) Sun Devil Aquatics (Phoenix, Arizona) SoNoCo Swim Club (New Haven, Connecticut) Saint Petersburg Aquatics (Saint Petersburg, Florida) Raleigh Swimming Association (Raleigh, North Carolina) Nova of Virginia (Richmond, Virginia) North Coast Aquatics (San Diego, California) Mission Viejo Nadadores (Mission Viejo, California) DeAnza Cupertino Aquatics (Cupertino, California) Bluefish Swim Club (Attleboro, Massachusetts)
If this bell-shaped curve represents all 2,800 USAS clubs, then the Top 20 listed above would be way over on the far right side.