DCY Featured Swimmers

Ethan Almstadt and Katie Norton. Photo by Suzanne Rose.

Featured Swimmers Bio: It seems that our young swimmers are really taking off right now, with several best times and state cuts each meet. Our swimmers of the week are Ethan Almstadt and Katie Norton. Ethan has exploded this year into an excellent all-around swimmer, qualifying for the State Championships in the 9-10-year-old 50 breast, along with very close times in the 50 back, 100 IM, and freestyle events. He is also one of the contenders for state relay events. We might have enough swimmers for two state relays! Katie Norton is having an awesome year, qualifying for State in almost every event. Katie is also on the state relays that are close to state record times. Another one of our rising stars, Katie has the opportunity to place in the top six at state in several events, with butterfly and breast stroke really improving rapidly.

Notes from Coach Mike McHugh: The DCY swim team has been very busy with meets and year-end activities. Our team was at the “Manty Invite” this weekend in Manitowoc while I was at the “Big 10 Championships” in Iowa to watch my son, Conner, a freshman at University of Minnesota, swim with his team, the Golden Gophers.

The Big 10 Championships was a fantastic meet to attend and see some of the best swimming in the nation. We had several swimmers at the college level swimming in championships the past few weekends, with Sierra Townsend and Arica Smith swimming for UW-Milwaukee, and Savanna Townsend swimming for Iowa State. Savanna was on a relay that set a new school record over the weekend! It really is incredible to see our swimmers from this small community swim at the collegiate level so successfully.

Team and individual picture day was this past Tuesday night and the upcoming Annual Sectional Dinner and Shamrock Decorating Party next week brings us to almost the end of the season.

The big finale: State Championships, in Milwaukee at the end of March will be hosted by the Schroeder Aquatic Center. DCY has 38 state qualifiers at this point, two shy of our team goal. With 160 events qualified for by individual DCY swimmers, plus almost all age group relays qualified, this looks like we are on track to finish with our best year ever.

Swim Terms:

pull buoy: Equipment used at practice: a piece of foam shaped like a figure-8 that is held between the legs to keep them afloat while swimmer practices arm strokes.

DCY website: teamunify.com/Home.jsp?team=widcy

Upcoming Meets:

Fast & Furious: Sturgeon Bay, March 7

2015 Wisconsin YMCA Sectional Championships: Oconomowoc, March 14-15

2015 Wisconsin YMCA State Meet: Brown Deer, March 20-22