P a g e 1 Volume 10, No. 4 Uwww.swimaqua.orgU Houston, TX 77062 Turning today s potential into tomorrow s performance! President Harold Johnston Vice-President Jerry Hardt Treasurer Josh Johnston Secretary Jeaneen Dale Directors John Mason Amy Schauss Christina Klun Meet Entries Jeaneen Dale Head Coach Jeaneen Dale Newsletter Editor Christina Klun NEXT BOARD MEETING Tuesday, December 12,2017 8:30 pm 15403 Pleasant Valley ALL PARENTS INVITED AND ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND! December Meets Dec. 1-3 Gulf Sr. Champs (15 & over) Dec. 2 8 & Under Champs Dec. 8-10 Fall Champs (ages 9-14) Dec. 15-17 Gulf Champs (14 & under) Way to go Swimmers, Keep up the hard work! Meet Results On October 28th forty-one Aquastar swimmers traveled to Atascocita to participate in the 2017 Halloween Meet and improved in 83% of events entered. Robert Pheister was the 6 and under boy high point earner for the meet. Swimmers with 100% best times include Laine Anderson, Kaleb Brown, Kennedy Brown, Samantha Cassady, Austin Cotie, Jaxon Dale, Reese del Valle-Guerra, Sebastian Ervesun, Daniel Gardner, Ben Goodman, Lillian Hammonds, Henry Hearon, Marissa Klun, Carmen Laurito, Lara Malkani, Jana McGarity, Megan Merritt, Kyle Odom, Winfred Pham, Robert Pheister, Anna Reichert, Ingrid Schauss, Audrey Simonds, Izabelle Simonds, and Luke Yamokoski. Aquastar placed third as a team. On October 29th forty-seven Aquastar swimmers traveled to Atascocita to participate in the 2017 11 and Up Meet and improved in 59% of events entered. Swimmers of the Meet, with 4 best times in 4 events entered, are Mariam Hadaegh, Mark Luo, Elliott Miles, and Caroline Song. Others with 100% best times are Karissa Dorville, Nyssa Jagan, Tony Laurito, Jackie Laurito, and Fletcher Wells. Aquastar placed second as a team. On November 4-5. Six Aquastar swimmers traveled to Pearland to participate in the 2017 November Senior Meet and improved in 52% of events entered. Swimmer of the Meet, with 3 best times in 3 events entered, is Mitchell Mason. Ashley Comin also improved in 100% of her swims. On November 11-12 86 Aquastar swimmers traveled to Humble to participate in the 2017 November Gulf Open Meet hosted by STA and improved in 71% of events entered. Swimmers of the Meet, with 6 best times in 6events entered, are Shiv Malkani, Marshall Odom, and Ethan Schauss. Others with 100% best times are Elizabeth Abe, Kaitlin Adams, Shraya Bhatt, Sophia Callahan, Haru Funaki, Daniel Gutierrez, Kimiya Hadaegh, Zachary Joiner, Rio Kato, Nina Laurito, Amelie Nguyen, Annie Nguyen, Ryan Nguyen, Allen Shen, Evelyn Tran, Katelyn Tran, Tiffany Tran, Chuck Yang, and Isabella Zhang. Aquastar finished first in overall points scored at this meet. Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. -Thomas Jefferson
Page 2 Congratulations to the following swimmers who earned new promotions way to go! PROMOTIONS Alex Ervesun from Red to White Kimiya Hadaegh from Red to White Nina Laurito from White to Aqua Colin Shen from White to Aqua Talon Welch from White to Aqua Mark Luo from Aqua to Blue Parent on Deck NEW SC TEAM RECORD Aquastar is pleased to announce that we now have parent volunteers helping with any Max Hardt in the 1650 free. general questions and paperwork that the team/parents will need. This will allow coaches to be less distracted while your swimmer is in the water. These volunteers will be at most practices and will be available at all 3 pools. Please do not hesitate to go and say Hello! And a BIG thanks to them!!! Lisi Rayburn, Amy Schauss, Miyuki Boone, Laura Hearon, Christina Klun and Ed Evresun *SWIM PARKA S* Winter is approaching, and the best way to keep those swimmers warm is with a swim parka! They are made for swimmers and dry very quickly. www.swimoutlet.com www.metroswimshop.com these two websites are good for online, and you can always go to Swim Shop of Southwest in Pearland as well. CJ Custom Sewing can embroider them www.cjcustomsewing.com 832-738-6609 The newsletter is posted on the Aquastar website on a tab near the top of the page. Check it out!
P a g e 3 Max Hardt starting swimming for when he was 6 years old. He started in red group and moved to white group at his first meet. Max has been a superstar swimmer since they day I met him. I still remember that day. His Dad (Coach Jerry as we know him now) walks into practice at Clear Brook High School and tells me that his son would like to join the team. He told me, Max might not look like much right now, but this kid is going to be an incredible swimmer. He sure was right. Max moved through the groups quickly. He was in white group at the age of 6, aqua group at age 8, blue group at age 9, gold group at age 11, and senior group right after his 13 th birthday. That is just incredible. It is very rare that a swimmer qualifies for these groups at such a young age. Max is now 15 and swims in our senior group. Max went to TAGS for the first time as a 7 year old. He qualified to swim relays with the 10 and under boys. He made his first individual TAGS cut at the age of 8 in 50 Breast. He won his first TAGS medal for placing 3 rd in 100 Breast at the age of 9. At the age of 10 he won his first GOLD medal at TAGS in 100 Breast. The next TAGS, Max got many gold medals and the high point award for 10 and under boys. Max continued to qualify for TAGS every season and also won high point as a 12 year old. Max has been to a total of 15 TAGS meets!! WOW!! Max earned his first Sectionals cut when he was 12 years old. He was selected to represent Gulf Swimming at Zones when he was 11 and the North American Challenge Cup (NACC) when he was 12 and 14. He also qualified for NSCA and Junior Nationals at the age of 14. These are tremendous accomplishments. Max has always enjoyed pushing himself to the limit. He loves to race and hungers for victory. It is always very exciting to watch him race. Max has had many victories in swimming, but just like every other swimmer, he has had his fair share of tough times. There are periods of time where he has struggled to continue to improve, like we ALL do. But, he has never given up and always finds a way to push through and focus on the positive. He has learned that with great success comes great failure, and that success means nothing without failure. Max will compete at Winter Junior Nationals in Iowa Dec. 6-9. We want to wish Max the best of luck at this meet and let him know that we stand behind him all the way. If you happen to see Max around the pool please wish him good luck at Junior Nationals. We are so proud of Max and all of his accomplishments. We know he will achieve his goals and find the success he hungers for. GOOD LUCK MAX!!!! WE ARE CHEERING YOU ON!! Written by: Coach Jeaneen
P a g e 4 Max Hardt NASA 2015 Florida Meet
P a g e 5 This is the time of year to be Thankful and to give Thanks. I would like to share with the Aquastar family ALL the amazing people that I have meet at this team/family. First off, being able to have a team with this many swimmers is tough work, there is a lot of personalities, different lifestyles and ethnic groups that must get along for this to work, and I think we as a team do a wonderful job making sure there is no differences when it comes to our kids and swimming. It is so important that we teach them by example, and we all have doing a great job from helping each other at swim meets from getting kids ready and to the coaches on time to helping new families learn the ropes, and helping families with kids that swim the long distance races. I have seen firsthand what Aquastar families do at this crazy time (swim meets). We band together including swimmers and we conquer. We get the job done! So with this I want to say THANK YOU for all that you have done to help big or small! Have a safe spectacular Holiday Season! Editor Christina Klun
P a g e 6 2017-2018 Short Course Meet Schedule October 14-15 HCAP Invitational (all ages) HCAP October 28 Halloween Classic (10 and under) ESA October 29 Halloween Classic (11 and over) ESA November 4-5 Senior meet (ages 15 and over) PEAK November 11-12 Gulf Open Meet (all ages) STA Nov. 30- Dec. 3 Southern Sr. Champs (15 and over) TWST Dec. 1-3 Gulf Senior Champs (15 and over) NOCH Dec. 2 8 & under Champs LSST December 8-10 Fall Champs (ages 9-14) ESCA December 15-17 Gulf Champs (14 and under/must qualify) AGS January 11-12 SSAN Invite Prelims/Finals SSAN January 20-21 Gulf Open Meet (all ages) NOCH February 16-18 Short Course Champs II (9-14) NOCH Feb. 23-25 Short Course Champs III (13 & over) PEAK March 3 Short Course Champs I (8 & under) TBA? TAGS 14 & under (must qualify) TBA March 28-31 Elite Showcase Classic (must qualify) St. Petersburg, FL Many coaches are available for summer swim lessons! If you would like private lessons please contact your coach or www.swimaqua.com