Happy New Year!

We hope everyone’s new year has started off well and that everyone is dreaming big for a productive 2023. The Mustangs had some great performances by many of our swimmers at meets in December (results below). We also finished up a successful Swim-A-Thon, so thank you to everyone who contributed to our main fund raiser. Some exciting news, our club is being inducted into the Texas Swimming Hall of Fame, which will take place in April. Our club history is shared below, one of which we are very proud and hope that our current Mustangs will contribute. And wrap up this newsletter, Coach Doug gives some tips on how to handle nutrition and big meets.

This year’s Junior Nationals took place in Austin December 7-10. Our swimmers had a solid meet, with our women finishing 25th in the women’s team standings. Top performances were our women’s 400 free relay (Josie Arbuckle 50.5, Marin Clem 49.8, Amie Perna 50.6, and Emma Hrasko 50.8) who finished 5th and Amie Perna, who finished 11th in the 200 back with a US Open qualifying time of 1:56.90. Congratulations to the Mustangs who made up our 2023 Short Course Juniors team: Josey Arbuckle, Marin Clem, Emma Hrasko, Sean Li, Leo Pelaez, Amie Perna and Nico Sobenes.

The Mustangs finished third out of over 25 teams from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana in the COR Classic meet, which was held at the Garland ISD Natatorium December 1-4. Our top girl performer was Karolina Valko with 131 points and our top boy was Hunter Riemer with 76 points. The following are the Mustangs who scored points by finishing in the top 16 in an individual event during the meet: Sienna Acuff, Josie Arbuckle, Abby Beeson, Grier Beeson, Cam Belle, Dhruv Bhandarkar, Madelyn Clem, Grant Closson, Bella Dewhirst, Simone Edwards, Lola Errera, Chloe Fisher, Tom Gambow, Zach Geller, Danielle Greenwood, Jack Hernandez, Emma Hrasko, Angelina Huang, Judah Isaacs-Sodeye, Nathan Kim, Miller Martin, Max McAllister, Lucas Mijares, Olivia Qiu, Abigail Riemer, Hunter Riemer, Catherine Ripple, Catherine Salmassian, Christine Salmassian, GB Stalnaker, John Stoklas, Sebastian Suwanda, Leila Tarighi, Karolina Valko, Henry Westcott, Ella Whitney, Hannah Whitney, Katherine Yao, Ruihan Zhu.

This BB/B/C meet was held at the LISD Westside Aquatic Center in Lewisville. We had 110 sign-up for the meet and had multiple best times. Below is a list of those who had both best times and finished in the top 8 of their age group:

Sienna Acuff (1st 400 IM), CC Averitt (1st 200 free, 4th 50 free, 7th 100 free), Liam Baghai (8th 50 free), Jada Beard (4th 500 free), Harper Bryant (6th 50 free), Laura Celeste (6th 500 free, 8th 100 free, 5th 200 free, 6th 200 IM), Greer Chalko (5th 100 free, 4th 100 fly), Chloe Chang (5th 100 back, 7th 100 fly, 4th 200 IM), Adelaide Cleary (5th 50 free), Gabe Cordero (8th 50 free, 5th 200 free, 4th 100 back), Medhav Deo (4th 500 free, 6th 100 back, 5th 50 breast), Reaghan Donnelly (3rd 200 free, 5th 100 back, 5th 100 IM), Simone Edwards (4th 400 IM, 2nd 50 back, 3rd 100 back, 5th 200 breast, 3rd 50 fly, 4th 200 fly), Norah Ellis (4th 50 free, 3rd 100 back, 4th 50 breast, 7th 100 IM), Leena Estep (6th 50 breast), Zachary Goldminz (3rd 500 free, 8th 100 back), Jaxon Hanson (7th 50 free, 5th 100 IM), Avery Howayeck (7th 100 fly, 4th 200 IM), Marcus Humperlick (3rd 50 free, 2nd 100 breast), Anand Joshi (7th 100 fly), Margaret Kaufman (2nd 100 breast, 8th 200 IM), Kin Lau (6th 100 free, 7th 200 breast), Emerson Muncy (5th 200 free), Dylan Nguyen (5th 50 free), Abby Riemer (7th 500 free), Hunter Riemer (2nd 50 free, 2nd 100 free, 2nd 50 back, 1st 50 breast, 1st 50 fly, 1st 100 IM, 1st 200 IM), Malcolm Roodhuyzen (8th 100 free, 6th 200 free), Catherine Salmassian (1st 200 IM), Christine Salmassian (3rd 400 IM), Shalev Sher (5th 50 free, 3rd 100 free, 1st 200 free, 2nd 50 back, 2nd 50 fly, 1st 100 fly), Mirai Shibagaki (3rd 50 fly), Peyton Shreve (6th 100 free, 3rd 200 free, 5th 50 breast, 8th 50 fly, 2nd 100 fly, 5th 200 IM), Elizabeth Steger (8th 200 breast), Raegan Stickney (2nd 500 free, 3rd 400 IM)

Dallas, Texas has been a center for aquatic success since the 1940s, when Wally Hofrichter led the Dallas Aquatic Club. Hofrichter, a University of Texas All-American and TSDHOF honoree, was perhaps the earliest in what became a long line of coaches and swimmers with connections to major programs and success at state, national, and international levels.

In 1966 Legendary SMU Coach Red Barr along with Walter Kaspareit started the Junior Mustang Swim Team. In the late 60s the team began to truly impact swimming beyond Dallas and swimmers from each iteration of the Mustang Swim Club have competed at every Olympic Trials since 1968. To this day, there continues to be a close relationship between the club and the SMU women’s and men’s swimming programs.

The team became known as the Dallas Swim Club when Richard Quick took the helm in 1971, swimming out of Highland Park High School and SMU pools. Around the same time, the DISD All-Stars swim team was established at the Loos Swim Center.

In 1975 the Dallas Swim Club merged with the Fort Worth Swim Club, coached by Pat Hogan, to form one of the largest organizations of its kind at the time: the DFW Swim Team. In 1977 Rick Klatt took over the Dallas Swim Club until the team officially became known as The Mustang Swim Club.

Legendary coaches in this time period included George McMillion, Berry Hamilton, Eddie Sinnott, Nancy Nitardy, and Bob Laura. The mid-70s brought a name change as Dr. Pepper sponsored the team until 1980. Meanwhile, the DISD All-Stars became the Dallas Aquatic club, coached by Audris Zidermanis (Coach Z) and then Mook Rhodenbaugh in 1989.

In 1992 the clubs finally came together. The Mustang Swim Club and the Dallas Aquatic Club merged to form the Dallas Mustangs, with Rhodenbaugh as head coach and who still leads the Mustangs three decades later. The main pools for the team were Loos, Highland Park High School, and SMU.

Following the merger, the prominence of the team grew over the following decades, leading eventually to the Dallas Mustangs winning the Long Course Junior Nationals overall team championships in 2007. As a result, in the following year the Dallas Mustangs were named a United States Swimming Gold Medal Club, an honor they were given each of the next four years in a row.

Dallas continues to contribute to swimming in the state of Texas each year, led by the Mustangs.

Notable swimmers over the decades (Olympians, National Champions, and National Team Members):

1970s: Jerry Heidenreich, Ronny Mills, John Thorburn, Paul Tietze, John Rubottom, Greg Kraus, Andy Veris, Geoff Gaberino, Kim Dunson, Leslie Crozier, Jim Montgomery

1980s: Steve Lundquist, Guy Goosen, Mook Rhodenbaugh, Mike Heath, Bruce Hayes, Bobby Patten, John Spaulding, John Miranda, Greg Rhodenbaugh, Glenn Mangum, Chris Weissman, Chuck Bauman, Jon Cleveland, Shaun Jordan

1990s: Ryan Berube, Mike Ross, Katie McClelland, Martina Moravcova, Lars Frolander, Robert Musclewhite, Courtney Patterson, Sandra Cam, Craig Jackson, Naoko Imoto

2000s: Matt Thompson, Max Murphy, Candace Blackman, Codie Hansen, Spin Beck, Flavia Rigamonti, Georgina Lee

2010s: Claire Brandt, David Johnston, Alvin Jiang, Nina Rangelova, Mindaugas Sadaskas

Other notable DM Coaches: Eddie Sinnott, Steve Collins, Greg Warner, Jim Henry, Greg Rhodenbaugh, Doug Moyse, Dorsey Tierney, Christy Shefchunas, Andy Kershaw, Mike Shrader

If you are the parent of a swimmer, you’ve pulled your hair out over either the massive amounts they consume, their choices of pre and post-meet meals, or wonder why they are not eating enough. Food is fuel and too many swimmers think they can just put anything in their bodies or are reluctant to put the right things into their bodies. Unfortunately, bad fuel does not burn cleanly and has consequences in terms of your ability to perform in the water and recover after a tough workout or meet. As our championship season looms ahead of us, we need to make sure our kids are doing what they need to in order to maximize their performances in the water and to help them recover from those efforts with the right combination of foods.

Most sports nutritionists believe our athletes need about 50% of their food to be in the form of carbohydrates. For endurance activities we want our kids to have a relatively high amount of glycogen stored in our muscles to provide readily available energy. The other 50% consists of protein to rebuild damaged muscle tissue in addition to dietary fat. Eating 5 to 7 meals a day doesn’t seem realistic when kids are at school all day but giving them healthy snacks like raisins, dried fruit, yogurt, and bananas can help to keep them from crashing between meals. Long timelines at meets can be a challenge also. Some swimmers are nervous before meets and don’t tolerate a large meal beforehand but try to figure out if your swimmer can at least eat half of an energy bar so that they have some fuel in their body before they compete.

As a parent of younger athletes, I know getting out the door in the mornings of meets can be chaotic. This is despite your pleas to have them be ready the night before. Plan ahead of time to know what they can take with them to eat and drink on the way to start out the morning right. It’s not just that extra pair of goggles or suit that’s going to save the day if your athlete is going to have a peak performance! A sandwich, apple, orange, or favorite squeeze snack can hit the spot when they’ve got an hour or two between swims. A good taper can be short-circuited if your child gets low blood sugar and crashes while slinking down in their chairs at the meets. Every 20-30 minutes the kids should get in and swim a bit so that they can keep the blood moving and it helps with their feel for the water as well.

Ideally, we want them in the water about 15 minutes before their next event. They don’t have to swim very much. About 200-300 yards is enough. If they are doing events back-to-back their “cool down” from their previous swim will suffice. Some “knee-up jumps” or stretches can be a part of their routine. I’ve always advised kids to exude confidence and to execute a “rehearsed” pre-event routine. There is nothing more unsettling than to see your competitor completing an obviously personal round of pre-event exercises that leaves you emulating them at a lesser level just so you also can expect greatness once you hit the water!

When your swimmers are anxious about a particular event (like butterfly for example) they shouldn’t watch the heats ahead of them because their challenges can become your swimmer’s reality once they get to that stage of a race. They should keep focused on positive things like that day in practice when they felt they could go forever. Swimmers need to talk to our coaches at meets. All of our coaches were swimmers and most likely can relate to where your swimmer is training and where they are in terms of pre-event anxiety. If your swimmer executes a solid race strategy instead of hoping that “magic” happens then they’ll most likely be happy with the results. When things get tough in the water it’s great to have a “Plan A” and “Plan B” so that you can get to that finish without giving in. Once they start to trust our advice, we notice how quickly after a race they return to see us after a great swim!

If they pay attention in practice and start to be more aware of the pace clocks, more information can be a good thing! At the end of meets, you’ll see kids doing both dive start sprints and some kids doing “pace” swims. Pace swims are for events 200 yards and more. They help the swimmer get a sense of the exact pace they need to hold to reach a certain goal time. Physiologically we are trying to get your swimmer's heart rate up so that they’ll increase the core temperature of their muscles prior to their event. We are careful to make it a “warm-up” and not a “wear-out.” Some of the younger kids we may get out early so that they don’t do too much.

Long timelines for the kids at meets also means long timelines for you as parents! We appreciate your commitment to your child’s swimming program and they’ll never forget it either. Keeping them positive on the way there and hopefully keeping them positive on the way home as well. We like to think of meets as part of the process and as long as you can learn from something you did right or wrong, you can make adjustments next time and be better. The key is for them to want to be at practice and the meets and that is why we don’t have you sign contracts to “make” them be there. Go Mustangs and best of luck to all your swimmers in their championship season!

Coach Doug