State Champ T-Shirts

The school store has State Champion T-Shirts available for sale. They are black shirts with a very sharp design. The shirts are $10 each and are available to anyone that would like to buy one. You can stop by the high school office during normal school hours to pick one up. I also have a couple of each size at the pool office. They are available in sizes Small through 2XL. All proceeds will benefit the Hamilton Swimming and Diving programs. Thank you to Mr. Stoel for putting the order together.

Pizza, DVD's, etc.

I am looking forward to some Fricano's Pizza tonight. I'll see everyone there at 6:30 pm.

If you would like to buy a DVD of the pep assembly and the video that was shown during the pep assembly, you must stop by Mr. Behnke's room and drop off $4 by this Thursday, March 26.

Today, I took five of our state team around to all of our elementary schools. What a great experience this was. I think our guys had as much fun as the elementary kids did. It was great to see how much the kids looked up to our boys. I hope that what we said and how we carried ourselves this past season has a positive impact on the kids that we saw today.

T

Pictures and Video for slide show

WOW!!!! I still don't think that it has fully sunk in what our boys have accomplished.

If you have pictures please send them to Mark Behnke at mbehnke@hamiltonschools.us . If you have video please burn to disk and bring it to the high school as soon as possible Monday morning. If you do not have the ability to put the video on disk, they have the ability at the high school to transfer it to digital media so feel free to bring in videos on tape as well. I will be working with Mark to put together a slide show for Tuesday morning. The more we have the better it will be.

We'll see you at the high school for the assembly at 8:45 am and at the middle school cafeteria for our celebration at 6:30 pm.

Have a great rest of the weekend.
T

2009 STATE CHAMPIONS!!!!

What a legacy!
CONGRATULATIONS!

Awards Night Dinner

HAMILTON VARSITY
SWIMMING AND DIVING

AWARDS NIGHT DINNER

We will be having our awards dinner on Tuesday, March 17 at 6:30 pm in the Middle School cafeteria. This night is for the varsity athletes and their parents. If siblings need to attend that is ok.

We will be doing a potluck dinner and then awards. Please bring the following:

Freshmen: Hot dish
Sophmores: Hot dish
Juniors: Dessert
Seniors: Salad of some kind

We will have the paper products, silverware, and drinks taken care of.

We will start with dinner at 6:30 and start with awards around 7:00.

Thanks
T

More State Meet Info

If there is anyone willing to head up the feeding of the troops for Thursday before we head to Rochester Hills please contact me.

Each qualified athlete will be given $30 for food. I will be required to turn in receipts for each of the $30 that is given out. On Saturday evening I will be asking the boys for either $30 in receipts or receipts and money that total $30. We will probably go to the Olive Garden on Friday night and we will go out for whatever the guys want on Saturday night. Breakfast will be provided at the hotel. Each of the swimmers will need snacks for during the meet Friday and Saturday. I will accept receipts towards the $30 from snack foods that are purchased ahead of time as well.

Diving Regionals are Tuesday starting at 5:00 pm at East Grand Rapids High School. I will be attending along with any other swimmers and parents that are interested in attending. The swimmers will be practicing 2:30 - 4:00ish.

The pasta party for Wednesday night has been moved to the Breuker's. I don't think the guys were all to excited to cram into our house. A good problem to have when all the state qualifiers don't fit into the coaches house!!! We currently have 14 individual qualifiers with a chance for all 4 of our divers to make it through regionals. We will be heading over to the Breuker's at about 4:30 or 4:45 pm. We'll be done by 8:30 or so depending on if they decide to watch or movie or not.

I will post more info as it becomes available and relevant.
Thanks
T

State Meet Info

Click on this title for info about the Division 3 State Meet. There is a link (Division 3 Meet Info) with info specific to the Division 3 Meet in the middle-left of the page. It covers parking information, directions to the pool, ticket sales, when doors will open, and many other things.

The Next Two Weeks and Conference Meet Results

Very good job by all at the conference meet. We definitely put up some fast times. It will be fun to see how fast you will all go at the state meet. Click the link above for the full results.

The schedule for the next two weeks is below:

Monday: Practice 3-5:30 pm

Tuesday: Practice 3-5:00 pm, Second Shave Meet at Holland Aquatic Center. We need to be on deck by 5:30 pm. Any swimmer that wants to swim can swim in this meet. I will be emailing entries in today after practice. The meet starts at 6:00 pm and will be done around 7 or 7:30.

Wednesday: The Middle School Boys meet from Thursday got changed to Wednesday. We will have practice 5-7:00 pm.

Thursday: Practice 12-2:00 pm.

Friday: Practice 12-2:00 pm.

Saturday: Practice 12-2:00 pm.

Monday: Practice 3-4:45 pm

Tuesday: Practice 3-4:30 pm. Divers will be at regionals (diving starts at 5:00 pm). I will be heading over to East Grand Rapids as soon as we are done with practice to watch the diving regional.

Wednesday: Practice 3-4:15 pm. We will then head over to my house for a pasta party. We will be done by 8:30.

Thursday: Practice 3-4:00 pm. We have a middle school boys meet. During the meet the guys will shave down. At 5:00 it would be nice if some parents could bring in some pasta, etc. for the boys so we can eat before we leave. I would like to be on the road to Oakland by 5:45 or so. We will be heading straight to the hotel and may order some pizza before bed or something like that. I will be taking everyone’s cell phones when we get to the hotel Thursday night and I will return them Saturday after the meet. If there is an emergency and you need to get a hold of your swimmer or diver, feel free to call my cell at 616-886-4303.

Friday: We will leave the hotel early to head to a pool to do a loosen-up swim and then come back for breakfast. We will leave for Oakland at about 9:45. Warm-up starts at 10:00 and the meet starts at 12:00 pm. The swimming should last until about 3 or 3:30pm. The diving will start as soon as the swimming is done. We will head back to the hotel and relax for a bit or watch diving. We will then head out to eat. After dinner, we will hang out at the hotel and watch or movie or something. In rooms by 10:00 and lights out by 11:00.

Saturday: Same drill in the morning. The meet should be done around 3:30 or 4:00 pm. We will probably stop for something to eat on the way home.

While we want the support of parents and fans during our state meet, we would appreciate it if the team could be left alone Thursday night through Saturday at the hotel, etc. We want to give the boys the best chance possible of success and fast swimming. This will help them focus on the task at hand and make

If you have any questions leading up to the state meet, please call or email me.

Let’s get ready to go fast and dive great!

T