All motions passed by the Competition Committee are recommendations to the PVS Board of Directors.
Attendees: Bill Marlin, Chair; Janet Auger, PVS; Austin Auger, PVS; Riley Eaton, PVS; John Ertter, PVS: Mark Faherty, PVS; Jim Garner, PVS; John Hirschmann, PVS; Dan Jacobs, PVS; Cassidy Wolfe, PVS; Greg York, PVS; Denise Adams, ASA; Manga Dalizu, FAST; Emily Felker, HACC; Chris Huott, MSSC; Paris Jacobs, MACH; Mike Kraeuter, FISH; Terri Marlin, PM; Pete Morgan, CUBU; Mark Murray, FBST; Brian Pawlowicz, CUBU; Robert Walker, ASA;
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Competition Committee Chairman, Bill Marlin at 6:37 PM at McLean Community Center, McLean, VA.
Agenda: Bill Marlin provided an agenda for use at the meeting.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the October 3, 2007 Competition Committee Meeting were unanimously approved as submitted. They had been posted on the pvswim.org website and copies were available at the meeting for review.
PVS Board Action on Items from Fall Competition Committee Meeting: Bill Marlin informed competition of the PVS Board’s actions on recommendations made by the Competition Committee at its October 3, 2007 meeting.
The Board approved Competition’s recommendation that the athlete selection requirements for the PVS 2008 SC Zone Team remain as it was in 2007 – i.e., based on the two fastest times (limited to those swimmers eligible to represent PVS on the Zone team and who apply to be on the team).
Marlin reminded the members that nominations for the PVS Age Group Coach of the Year were due to him no later than May 30, 2008.
Club Sanction Requests for the Period April 1, 2008 to April 30, 2009: Competition was provided with a calendar indicating meets already approved and requests that have now been received for endorsement of sanction for additional club sponsored meets. Several additional meets were presented at the meeting and were added to the proposed calendar, resulting in the following:
For the Period April 1, 2008 to August 31, 2008:
Welcome to Summer – RMSC – May 17-18, 2008 – Rockville (replacement for Bunkey Lewis Mini Meet)
FISH Just Swim Again LC Derby – FISH – either May 17-18, 2008 or May 24-25, 2008 (dependent upon acquiring GMU)
Maryland States – RMSC – June 6-8, 2008 – Rockville
Swim Like a FISH Invitational – FISH – June 14-15, 2008 – GMU
For the Period September 1, 2008 to April 30, 2009
PEAK All Freestyle – PEAK – either October 5, 2008 (1st choice) or October 4, 2008 (2nd choice) – PGS&LC (date dependent upon Redskins’ schedule and final approval by the Age Group Chair)
Harvest Moon – HAAC – October 11-12, 2008 – Herndon
MSSC All Freestyle – MSSC – October 11-12, 2008 – Fairland
Victor 12/U Invitational – SDS -- October 11-12, 2008, South Run
Senior Circuit – PEAK – October 25-26, 2008 (1st choice), October 18-19, 2008 (2nd choice) or November 22-23, 2008 (3rd choice) – PGS&LC (dates dependent upon Redskins’ schedule and final approval of selected date by the Age Group Chair)
MSSC Senior Meet – MSSC – November 1-2, 2008 – Fairland
Swim & Rock – SDS – November 21-23, 2008 – Oak Marr
FAST Qualifier – FAST – November 22-23, 2008 – Fairland
Pilgrim Pentathlon – CUBU – November 23, 2008 – Claude Moore
Christmas Championships – MSSC – December 5-7, 2008 – Fairland
Machine Turkey Claus Championships – MACH – December 5-7, 2008 – Takoma
Tom Dolan Invitational – CUBU – December 11-14, 2008 – TBD
Sport Fair Winter Classic – PM – December 19-21, 2008 – TBD
14/Under Polar Bear Invitational – SDS – January 10-11, 2009—South Run
Snowball Splash – CUBU – January 11, 2009 – American University
Potomac Marlin JO Qualifier – PM – February 7-8, 2009 – Cub Run
FISH Qualifier – FISH – February 7-8, 2009 – Spring Hill
President’s Day Classic – OCCS – February 14-16, 2009 – Freedom Center
Machine/York Qualifier – MACH/YORK – February 28-March 1, 2009 – Warrenton
Spring Championships – MSSC – March 27-29, 2009 -- Fairland
Early Bird LC – MSSC – May 2-3, 2009 – Fairland
Addressing the club meet sanction requests, it was confirmed that FISH’s Just Swim Again LC Derby meet was an invitational with a goal of significant participation of non-PVS clubs. The Committee voted to recommend to the Board that all of the above meets be sanctioned. [Subsequent to the meeting, FISH’s rental of GMU was approved for May 17-18, 2008.]
Election of PVS Eastern Zone Team Coaches: Four individuals had requested to be placed on the ballot for 2008 PVS Eastern Zone Long Course Head Coach and two individuals for the Assistant Head coach. Those individuals were Joel “Cy” Cyganiewicz, Mark Faherty, Mike Kraeuter, and Peter McDonough for Head Coach and Mike Kraeuter and Peter McDonough for Assistant Head. Ballots were distributed for Head Coach and each club present was allowed to cast one vote. After tallying the votes, it was announced that Mike Kraeuter had been elected as Head Coach. By acclimation, Peter McDonough was elected as Assistant Head Coach. A motion was made, seconded and approved to destroy the ballots.
The Committee next turned to the election of the 2008 PVS Eastern Zone Short Course Assistant Coaches. It was noted that at its Fall meeting, John Cyganiewicz and Mike Kraeuter had been elected as Head Coach and Assistant Head Coach, respectively. Bill Marlin had prepared a ballot of the following candidates: Bob Brofft (PM), Kristin Bryant (YORK), Scott Bryant (PM), Shelley Gesker (YORK), Peter McDonough (PM), Nate Meadows (TIBU), Steve Mennard (AAC), and Anthony Portare (SDS). Each club present was allowed to cast one vote and was instructed to vote for exactly 4 coaches in order for their ballot to be valid. Following a tally of the votes, it was announced that Kristin Bryant and Shelley Geskar had been elected and that a run-off election was needed among Peter McDonough, Nate Meadows and Steve Mennard. Those eligible to vote were asked to vote for 2 of these three candidates. Following a tally of the run-off election, it was announced that Nate Meadows and Steve Mennard had been elected. A motion was made, seconded and approved to destroy all ballots.
Report on Scratch Rates at PVS Distance Meets: Marlin informed the Committee that, in response to the PVS January Distance meet’s host’s concerns regarding the swimmer scratch rate, he had prepared and presented to the PVS Board a handout illustrating five year data on the matter that demonstrated an average scratch rate of at least 24.4% for distance meets. He recommended that in preparing estimated timelines for future distance meets, a scratch rate of 25% be assumed based on the historical numbers.
Request for Hosts for PVS Sponsored Meets: Marlin noted that bids for 2008 LC PVS sponsored meets were still being accepted and that no bids had been received for the PVS LC distance Meet scheduled for June 21-22, 2008.
PVS Camps Planning: Marlin recognized Terri Marlin, PVS Camp Coordinator, who informed the attendees that she would be asking the PVS Board to endorse a camp to be held on Sunday, April 27th at Fairland. The proposed camp will be Level II – addressing the needs of beginning competitive swimmers ages 9-12. . The camp will be open to 50 USA-S registered athletes ages 9-12. She indicated that she hoped to concurrently run at least one officials clinic.
Release of 2008 SC Zone Maximum Qualifying Times: Marlin noted that the 2008 SC Zone Maximum Qualifying Times had been released and were posted on the PVS website.
Senior Division: Riley Eaton, Senior Chair, informed the Committee that no additional invitations to the 2008 PVS Senior Championships would be extended to non-PVS teams. He also stated that he had received a request from Rick Curl to permit approximately 8-10 Australian athletes each to compete in both the PVS LC Senior and Junior Championships. As Senior Chair, he has authority to permit entries into Senior Championships; however, since Junior Championships is a closed meet, he requested and received unanimous approval from the Committee to recommend to the Board that their participation be permitted.
Eaton concluded on a personal note and informed the Committee that, as of April 1st, he would no longer be coaching on a full time basis.
Coaches Representatives: Citing the recently completed PVS January Open meet, Mark Faherty stated concerns had been expressed to him about a lack of consistency between venues and various Open meets. He suggested to the Committee that a review of warm-up procedures be undertaken. As background, he explained that approximately ten lane lines were damaged and that, even though lanes had been assigned to teams, the pool was not utilized properly. He recommended that a committee be formed to bring back recommendations at the May meeting. Mike Kraeuter, Dan Jacobs, Manga Dalizu volunteered to assist Faherty.
Faherty next reminded the Committee that his term as Coach’s Representative to the PVS Board expires in July 2008. While he is eligible to run for a second term, any individuals interested in running for the position should contact Dan Jacobs, Junior Coach’s Representative, who will be responsible for conducting the election.
PVS Board of Directors Reports: There were none offered.
Old Business: Marlin informed the Committee that the Potomac Marlins Virginia Long Course State Championship had been moved from May 16-18, 2008 at GMU to May 24-26, 2008 at Oak Marr.
He next queried the Committee as to whether or not the PVS 2008 EZ SC Championships athlete selection process regarding times eligible to be considered for zone team selection should be reviewed. Those present agreed that the prior year’s policy of times eligible for consideration should be continued. [See http://www.pvswim.org/0708meet/08ez_sc_times_14U.pdf for 14/U Athletes and http://www.pvswim.org/0708meet/08ez_sc_times_15-18.pdf for 15-18 Athletes.]
Marlin’s final item of Old Business was to remind the Committee that USA Swimming’s National Age Group Recognition Top 16 program had been replaced with a National Age Group Recognition Top 10 program. [Further information is available on the USA-S website at: http://www.usaswimming.org/usasweb/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1061&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en.]
New Business: Referring to the air quality and equipment issues at the recently completed PGS&LC site of the PVS January Open meet, Marlin provided those in attendance with a copy of an email outlining his telephone conversation with the site’s pool management. Greg York, PVS Chair, and John Ertter, PVS Executive Director, assured the Committee that the Board was undertaking steps to resolve the issues prior to PVS Senior Championships.
York informed the Committee that repairs had been recently completed to the scoreboard at Oak Marr as a direct consequence of a PVS Board vote authorizing the funding of up to $2,000. Additionally, the Board has authorized the purchase of two portable 4-line scoreboards. These are intended to be initially used for the Age Group LC Meet at Fairland and the Eastern Zone LC Age Group meet at Montgomery Aquatic Center. They are not expected to be received in time for the Age Group SC Championship which is being swum at Fairland this year.
Marlin informed the Committee that he had updated the LCM qualifying times for the 2008 PVS 14 & Under LC Championships. He offered a proposal that the meet’s SCY qualifying times of AAA times be replaced with the 2008 PVS 14/U JO Age Group Championship SCY qualifying times. If adopted, SCY entries would be treated as non-conforming times and seeded last. Following a motion and second to adopt the proposal, there was considerable discussion.
In response to a question regarding the potential increase in size to the meet, Marlin responded that he believed the increase in swimmers would occur mostly in the 10/U ages. Those in favor of the motion based their support on the low number of long course meets offered and the limited opportunity for obtaining LCM qualifying times. Opposition to the motion hinged on two themes: (1) the importance of teaching the athletes that there are two seasons in the sport and (2) the potential that athletes might qualify for the meet without competing in a single long course meet. Following a vote, the motion failed and the 2008 PVS 14/Under LC Championships Qualifying Times, as originally presented, were approved.
The final item of New Business was the recognition by the Committee of the PVS Athletes selected for the 2008 Zone Select Camp. Event Qualifiers are Eva Greene (100 Back), Elizabeth Pepper (400 IM), Cabell Perrot (100 Free), Matthew Thomas (400 Free), and Charlie Putnam (100 Back).
Next Meeting: The date and time of the next meeting were discussed. It was agreed that the next meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 14th, 6:30 pm. The location will be announced at a later date. This will permit it to occur after the Spring Eastern Zone meeting and before the PVS Annual House of Delegates meeting. [Subsequent to the meeting the location was announced as McLean Community Center.]
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:02 PM.
Respectfully submitted by,
Janet Auger
PVS Administrative Assistant