Thank you for your support and flexibility as we swam our meet yesterday/today with the storms. Huge kudos to all the parents for finding ways to help us out as a team and working it out with your full time jobs as well- we couldn't have made this work without all you did! Shout out to all of our seniors as well- seniors: Aiden "Snake" Boyd, Lucia Bremer, Lily Budzinski, Jackson Eakes, Caroline Hope, Coach Kate Hotem, Mary Kate Jacobs, Sam Lionberger, Erin Walters, Coach Aurora Weeks, and Hazel Wells. We are so proud of all of your years as a Croc! I also am happy to report we ended the season tonight by matching my goal of exactly 55 CHAMPS qualifiers! I am so proud of the team spirit, the time drops, the energy, and support that could be seen on deck by our team all season long. While we endured some extremely humid meets, warm water temps, unexpected delays, and late night meets, we were a united group though it all! We couldn't be more proud of each swimmer and both the individual/team successes over the course of this season! Way to go, Crocs :) Can't wait to celebrate soon with one more fun practice/donuts tomorrow, the team banquet next Tuesday, July 15 and CHAMPS next weekend, Saturday/Sunday at SwimRVA!

Green Caps

Green Caps are given at the start of every meet to a few swimmers who the coaches would like to recognize for their performance in practice, sportsmanship, and team spirit throughout the past week. This week the coaches wanted to recognize Cam Douglas (8) and James Lynch (13)!

Cam- Cam shows pride in being a Canterbury Croc every time she shows up to the pool. She is supportive teammate and always wants to take the feedback from the coaches to improve her swims. She doesn't back down from a challenge and even asked to swim butterfly this week for the very first time! Way to go, Cam!

James- James has been really bringing the spirit the past few weeks to meets and the coaches have noticed! We love having James join us on the team this season! We appreciate his calm, consistent, and hardworking attitude at practice. He works hard and is a great supporter of his teammates! Keep it up, James! 

Coaches Highlights

Coach Lauren - “My swim of the meet goes to Norah Chang for her huge swims and time drops in our meet against Raintree. Norah is new to swimming and the team this season but that hasn't stopped her from working on getting all four strokes legal and showing up to every practice with a smile. Norah finished the season tonight with an amazing first 100 IM, a three second time drop in her 50 backstroke, and an almost 2 second drop in her 50 free. I am so proud to have been able to watch Norah's growth from the start of the season to now! Incredible first season of swimming, Norah! In addition, I'd like to give Reagan Lynch a shout out for her consistent efforts to dropping time and qualifying for CHAMPS in the 50 butterfly! Each week she has listened to feedback and worked on all the areas possible to drop time- tonight paid off and she dropped another three tenths to get just under the qualifying for champs after just aging up this season! Awesome job, Reagan!"

Coach Aurora - “My swim of the meet goes to Henry Zwerdling for both of his events! He has been working hard at practice everyday, and this effort shoed in his 8.5 second drop in the 100 IM and over 7.5 second drop in the 100 backstroke! Way to go Henry! I also would like to shout out Caroline Hope's 100 backstroke, where she dropped over 2.5 seconds and won her heat!" 

Coach Ellie- "My swim of the meet goes to Cole Kinsler's 100 IM! Cole always shows up to practice ready to work and his IM definitely proved that! Cole dropped 14 seconds of his previous time and won his heat! Awesome work, Cole!"

Coach Kate- "My swim of the meet goes to Lily Fike's 100 IM! Not only was it her first ever 100 IM, but it was her first ever CHAMPS cut! She is more than deserving of this cut because she shows up everyday, works hard, and is always happy to cheer on her teammates! Couldn't be prouder of you, Lily!"

Coach Steph - "I would like to highlight two swimmers for our two days of swimming! First, Johnny Marshall for his incredible 100 IM! Johnny always gives 100% at practice and it shows every time he races. He earned his first-ever CHAMPS cut this event, and it's been so rewarding to watch his progress all season. So proud of you, Johnny- keep it up! Next up, Kennedy Dixon's amazing 50 breastroke! Kennedy is always dialed in during practice asking thoughtful questions and constantly looking for ways to improve. Her dedication has truly paid off. She dropped two full seconds and secured a champs time in the event!! It's been such a joy to see her confidence and technique grow this season. Congratulations, Kennedy, you've earned it!"

Coach William- "My swim of the meet goes to Camden Douglas for her 2.27s time drop in the 25 back earning her first ever champs time! Camden is a complete rock star in the water every time she swims! Congrats on a great season, Camden!"

Pictures from this Season for Banquet!

Last call for pictures for our end of season banquet video and CHAMPS videos. If you have pictures you would like to be included in these videos, please use this link to add your pictures/videos here! Tomorrow is the last day to get this in the folder to be used in the videos! Shout out to Emilie White for helping us out this season again with the videos and spirit wear this season! YOU ROCK :)

CHAMPS Relays

I will be working to finalize our CHAMPS relays by Friday but please know we will reach out in the next 24 hours to any additional swimmers that we may need to help us complete our CROC CHAMPS relay crews! Thank you for your patience with this, understanding, and support with this! 

Fun Practice tomorrow! 

Reminder we will have fun practice tomorrow morning from 9-11am. Please join us at your swimmer(s) hour to celebrate the last meet/season in the pool! After that, there is no more swim practices unless you are a CHAMPS qualifier or helping us out with a relay. I will communicate directly with those people tomorrow. But Thursday evening is CHAMPS registration at the pool- no more swim practice this week. 

CHAMPS: July 19 and July 20 at SWIMRVA!

We had 55 individual CHAMPS qualifiers this season! Congratulations to all who qualified and a shout out to the many very close qualifiers that we had this season! I look forward to sharing the accomplishments from this final meet next weekend with the whole team! Also, just a heads up we plan to do a GLORY DAYS dinner celebration on July 20! More on this to follow but if you are missing Canterbury swim team by the end of next week, just wanted to let you know that there's one more chance to celebrate with us all!

A BIG THANK YOU

On behalf of the coaching staff, I want to express my sincerest thank you for all that you've done to make this summer swim season a success! We finished the regular season in a three way tie for second place and that is all due the efforts of all involved! From getting all of the volunteer positions covered, to prepping/cleaning up our pool for home meets, and sweating it out it seemed like every week this season, I have truly had another wonderful season getting to work with all of you and cheering "GO CROCS" for your swimmers every chance I get at meets. I value each swimmer and parent on this team for your effort to making this summer another very memorable one! Please don't think just because summer swimming is coming to a close that you can't still reach out! We would love to hear from you or come cheer your swimmer(s) on at other events during the school year if you invite us! If there is anything I can do to support you or your swimmer(s), please know we are always here for you!

Sincerely,

Coach Lauren