Farmington Family YMCA Stingrays

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Stingray Update - December 22, 2025

Elizabeth Simpson

Dear Stingray Parents and Swimmers,

We have some important information to share with you about our Indy meet and other meets that are opening for entry.  

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INDY MEET

From the desk of Coach Rich:

We received unfortunate news on Thursday about the INDY meet. Despite our entry being sent in exactly on time, (8:00 A.M. on the dot on 12/17,) our entry to the 2025 Circle City Classic (INDY) was not accepted. Sean Smith and I contacted the entry chair and the head coach repeatedly over the course of three days, and despite our best efforts, we cannot be added to the meet. The best explanation we were able to get from them was that they had to balance numbers each session and couldn’t fit in and keep the numbers where they needed to be. Although this is very disappointing to everyone, we have come up with an alternative solution.  There is another prelim/final meet just 11 miles south of downtown Indianapolis on the same weekend. What facility you may ask? It is called the Center Grove High School Natatorium, and is a newer, 50 meter facility in Greenwood, IN. There are many positive aspects to this meet. The prelim/finals format includes 11 & older, giving our 11/12 swimmers an opportunity for a second swim. They run 10 lanes at the top and 20 swimmers come back for finals each evening. There is an added bonus of no 6:30am warm ups!!

Here are some photos of the Center Grove High School Natatorium.

https://www.centergrove.k12.in.us/district/facilities/project-archive/cghs-natatorium

I know everyone is disappointed about not going to a meet our team has been to for 28 straight years. Believe me that we turned over every stone and spoke to as many people as we could to try to get into the meet. At the end of the day, our kids have earned the right to attend a travel meet and swim “lights out” like we always do down in Indianapolis. 

Thanks and Go Stingrays!

Coach Rich

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MEET UPDATE

There will be three meets opening for registration in the next couple days with fast turnarounds to submit entries:

  1. NOW OPEN - the “new” INDY meet... 2026 CGAC ChaseStrong Prelim/Final Invite - This is a USA Meet

  2. NOW OPEN - 2026 Michigan Open* - This is a USA Meet

  3. COMING SOON - 2026 LCG Tropical Freeze Invite... hosted by the Lenawee County Gators (LCG) 

This is a YMCA meet.  ALL SWIMMERS should swim this meet! 

 

*Only USA Swimming registered swimmers who have met the minimum 3 meet YMCA requirement are eligible to sign up for this meet. Swimmers who have not met the three-meet YMCA requirement must attend one of the YMCA meets offered this weekend (or both, if two meets are still needed).

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HOTEL UPDATE

 

We have booked a block of rooms at TWO different hotels for our new Indy meet.  The downtown Indy hotel was expensive and was already fully booked.  The new hotels are at least $100 less per night and there is no additional parking cost!  Go to the Meet Info heading on our website, and select the Hotel Info tab to see the booking information. 

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Please feel free to reach out to your Booster board members or Coach Rich if you have questions. Sean Smith can answer questions regarding the meet entries for all of these meets.  

 

On behalf of your coaches and board,

Elizabeth