Greetings Last Ditch Meet Participants,

  Just some quick notes to help everything go as smoothly as possible this weekend. We have around 470 athletes in our event this week which, while being large, will be quite manageable due to the format that we are using to swim the meet. Remember that we are swimming all events as mixed gender, mixed age group while still awarding them separately AND that we are using a positive check-in for ALL events, which really helps speed up session timelines each and every session. 

  If you are a coach receiving this please pass this on to your Last Ditch Meet participants if you would as this really helps keep the meet running smooth.

Parking

Please remember to park on the east side of our facility which is on the opposite side of the facility from the football field without exception. There is a lot on the west side of the facility but that is not to be used so that it remains clear for Academy functions, which are to be plenty this weekend. Those doors will, in fact, be locked so you’d have to walk all of the way around the facility to get in. Thanks. 

Warm-Up & Positive Check-In Timelines

There have been changes to the assigned warm-up time periods to try and help account for safety in the pool during warm-ups with this many athletes:

Meet Operations

Athletes & Meet Bull-Pen Volunteers, Only, In The Bull-Pen – We’ve got the bull-pen area set up to help us keep athletes and bull-pen volunteers, only, in that area. Spectators really can help us keep meet operations running smoothly (and the meet running quickly) by staying out of that area during the meet so that the volunteers can efficiently coordinate the athletes to be walked down onto deck. Parents and spectators can really help us by remaining out of the bull-pen area during the course of the meet.

No Spectators On Deck Please – No spectators are to be in deck during meet operations.  

No Peanuts at the Pool Please – We’re running a peanut free environment to help ensure the safety of any competitors with peanut allergies so please do not bring peanuts/peanut products into the event. THANKS! 

Clothing – Please bring plenty of towels & extra dry clothes as with the weather being as cold as it is you’ll want to ensure that your athletes stay as warm as possible at all times as, even with the heat the facility has, it can get cold in hallways and such due to folks coming in and out of the meet. 

Heat Sheet Sales

VITAL INFORMATION: The only catch to doing positive check-in is that it then takes a short period of time to print out heat sheets on site once check-ins close. However, the trade off is that we can save anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes a session at this meet by using the positive check-in procedure. Pre-seeding the event ALWAYS leaves open lanes as this time of year often sees sickness and other such things that keep athletes from coming to meets. Open lanes and open heats (lanes not filled with a swimmer and heats not filled with 6 swimmers) dramatically increase the length of time it takes to get through the meet so by making athletes who are there check-in to confirm that they are, indeed, there we can eliminate open heats and open lanes thereby speeding up meet operations even more.  

  Once we have all check-ins, we will make the officials and coaches heat sheets first so that they are prepared to start. We will then post 2 copies on deck for the athletes so that they know where they are in their events. We will then immediately start bringing heat sheets upstairs to the heat sheet sales table (located just as you walk in the doors to the facility from that east side) for sale.

  The heat sheet cost will be $2 on Friday night and $3 for each session the rest of the meet. Exact change will be extremely helpful if you can pre-plan on that.  

Vendors

GCSTO Booster Club Concessions – We will have our concession stand set up in the athlete rest area (Academy’s Barton or Wrestling Room) with plenty of food and drinks to meet your needs.

Kast-A-Way Swimwear – Kast-A-Way will be in the foyer outside the athlete rest/concession stand area on Saturday & Sunday throughout the course of the meet.

Rotelli’s Pizza Past Perfect – We’d like to thank Rotelli’s for donating our coaches and officials lunches on Sunday at this meet. Rotelli’s is also our official vendor for pizzas there at the meet.

Raising Cane’s – We’d also like to thank Raising Cane’s for donating our coaches and officials lunches on Saturday at this meet.

Thanks…

GCSTO

We sent 45 swimmers to compete in the GCSTO B meet on Sunday, January 15^th, at Columbus Academy.  Our swimmers age 5 – 11 competed with other clubs from around Columbus.  Most of our swimmers dropped time and achieved new personal bests as they get ready for the Barbara Kay Mini Meet 8 & Under Championships on March 3^rd and 4^th or the Regional Championships for ages 10 – 14 on February 18^th – 20^th.

Swimmers of the Meet!

Breakers: Caelan Knettler Luke Haffer Jed Lory Marcus Schwartz Becca LeMay Mara DeAscentis Lily Goodman Jr. Ripples: Ben Goodman Makana Knettler Kiara Crumbley Alexandra Hurt Megan Klingerman Addison Scharver  Natalie Dupperre

Ripples: Sydney Arlin   Juliana Hurt   Alex Jacoby   Jasmine Kelley Sarah Klingerman Gwyneth Lee   Waves: Danielle Hall Livia Meeting

Individual Event Top 10 Finishers: Age 8 & Under Girls: Maddy Rosenberg: 25 Free 8th and 25 Fly 7th  Age 8 & Under Boys: Ben Goodman: 25 Breast 7th Makana Knettler: 50 Free 10th   Sam LeMay: 100 IM 8th Jack Lira: 25 Free 5th , 100 IM 5th , 25 Breast 6th and 50 Free 5th Garrett Neale: 50 Free 9th  Age 9-10 Boys: Wil Borchers: 50 Fly 10th Alek Jacoby: 100 IM 9th Age 11-12 Girls: Mahnaz Amini Kelley: 50 Back 9th   Age 11-12 Boys: Jonny Wong: 50 Back 9th