DCST Finishes 2nd at Rockford Early Bird On Sunday, November 7, DCST finished second at the Rockford Early Bird meet to host Rockford by a score of 439 – 325. On a positive note, DCST did outscore Rockford in the individual events. However, a 65 – 23 swimmer advantage, gave Rockford 28 relays entered in the meet to DCST’s 6. This differential was too big for DCST over come in the individual events. In addition to the huge disadvantage DCST had in the number of swimmers entered in the meet,...

DCST Swims past Piranhas On Saturday, November 6, DCST defeated the visiting YMCA of McHenry County Piranhas by a score of 853 - 338. DCST has now started their winter season with a mark of 2 – 0 in dual meets. As a team, DCST swam had an exceptional meet with 155 career best times out of a total of 251 swims for a 62% improvement rate. A whopping 54 swimmers had a great meet with at least two career best times. These swimmers were: Franz Allendorfer, Serena Allendorfer, Ty...

Coaches, Please help by distributing the below to all your swim team families via email! Many thanks! John Leonard, ASCA Help Preserve College Swimming for When YOU (or your child) Goes to College! It’s no secret that college swimming has been “under the gun” due to college budget cuts in recent decades. We want to let NCAA Division I Presidents/Chancellors and Athletic Directors know that there is a large, vibrant, energetic and committed swimming community in the USA that appreciates the fact that THEIR University has kept swimming alive and...

DCST Starts Season with a Win DCST began its 2010 – 2011 winter season with a road victory over the Illinois Valley Dolphins by a score of 373 – 307. After each meet, the coaching staff picks two swimmers, one girl and one boy, as the “Big Dogs" of the meet. Big Dogs are not only selected on their performance in the meet, but the coaches also take into consideration the swimmer’s practice attendance, work ethic, team spirit and sportsmanship. For this meet, Krissy Cutsinger, age 6, and Trace Fidler,...

DCST Swimmer Grant Alef Named Scholastic All-America USA Swimming has recognized DCST swimmer Grant Alef to its Scholastic All-America Team for the 2009 – 2010 school year. This is the second consecutive year Grant has earned this honor. The Scholastic All-America Team is comprised of high school student-athletes, who have a grade point average of 3.50 or higher, and have achieved a specific time standard in an individual event during the qualifying period. They must have completed 10 th, 11 th or 12 th grade and be a USA Swimming...

DCST Swimmers Help Team Illinois Win Central Zone Championships Six DCST swimmers helped Team Illinois win the Central Zone Championships over teams from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio. DCST swimmer Daniel Hein had a very impressive weekend. Competing in the Boys Ages 11 – 12 Age Group, he took home a 2nd in the 100 Backstroke, a 3rd in the 50 Backstroke, 5th in the 50 Butterfly, 5th in the 100 Butterfly, 18th in the 100 Freestyle, and 19th in the 200 Freestyle. He also represented Team Illinois on 3...

DCST Swimmers Shine at ISI Summer Age Group Championships DCST swimmers had an excellent meet at the ISI Summer Age Group Championship on July 30 – August 1 in Stevenson, IL. DCST swimmers had 33 individual career best times out of 47 individual swims, had 2 State Championship swims, had 17 swims in the top 16, set 5 new DCST Team Records, and had 6 swimmers qualify for the Central Zone Age Group Championships. Daniel Hein led the way for DCST with his two state championship swims in the 11...

Once a DCST swimmer achieves a national qualifying time, they are challenged to try to achieve National All-American status. After they have achieved this status, the coaching staff challenges them to see how far up DCST’s All-Time National All-American list they can climb. DCST’s All-Time National All-American Rankings 1 Grant Alef 26 8 times this week 2 Emily Launer 25 7 times this week 3 Matt Chambers 18 4 David Gordon 16 5 Grace Waller 14 1 time this week Michael Gordon 14 5 times this week 7 Travers Smith...

DCST National Results (Day 5) Day 5 concluded the YMCA National Championship with DCST achieving its highest finish ever in both the men’s (6 th place) and combined team scoring (tied for 9 th place) divisions. The DCST women finished the meet in 15 th place. On the day, DCST had 7 individual career best times out of 9 individual swims which brought the meet total to 33 career best times out of a total of 47 individual swims. Moreover, all four of DCST’s relays dropped significant time on Friday....

DCST National Results (Day 4) The 800 Freestyle Relay and the 200 Backstroke were extremely productive events for DCST on Day 4 of the YMCA National Championships. DCST’s women’s 800 freestyle relay team of Grace Waller, Valerie Jones, Casey Jepsen and Emily Launer swam 6.25 seconds under their seed time to finish 5 th. While the men’s team of Michael Gordon, Sam Seneczko, Chad Thompson and Grant Alef dropped almost 9 full seconds to finish in 6 th place. All 8 swimmers earned National All-American honors. This was the first...