GCSTO High School State & District Champions Crowned & Other Amazing Achievements!!! 
Congratulations go out to the following GCSTO athletes and their high school coaches for their outstanding performance at the State High School & Central District High School Championships Friday, Feb. 19, 2010.

GCSTO High School State & Runner-up Champions
GCSTO swimmers won 4 individual event state championship titles this past weekend. Gracie Finnegan went her third year in a row winning, both, the 50 and the 100 yard freestyle events in the women's Division 1 portion of the meet (23.20 & 50.06, which also currently ranks her as 6th & 8th IN THE COUNTRY FOR HER AGE IN THOSE EVENTS and which also broke the 100 yard free GCSTO 17-18 age group team record). Maddie Martin blistered to a 54.85 to win the 100 yard butterfly setting a GCSTO 13-14 age group team record and swimming a time that currently ranks her AS THE FASTEST 14 YEAR OLD IN THE COUNTRY. William Rosler won the men's 100 yard freestyle event in the men's Division 2 portion of the meet with a GCSTO 15-16 age group team record of 46.63 but then came to shatter that leading off his team's free relay with a time of 46.28, which currently places him as the 20th FASTEST 16 YEAR OLD MALE IN THE COUNTRY! GCSTO swimmers were also members of 3 state high school championship 1st place relay teams!

State championship runner-up titles went to Andee Cottrell in the 100 breast (1:03.96 re-breaking her GCSTO 13-14 age group team record set the week before and swimming a time that currently ranks her as the 2nd FASTEST 14 YEAR OLD FEMALE IN THE COUNTRY, Will Rosler in the 100 fly (50.62) & Sandy Whitaker in the 100 fly (50.11).

Bronze medalists (3rd place) included Andee Cottrell in the 200 IM (2:07.18 re-breaking her 13-14 age group GCSTO team record set the week before), Ranndi Grubbs in the 50 free (24.24), Ronnie Bolden in the 50 free (21.41 re-breaking his 15-16 age group GCSTO team record set the week before and swimming a time that currently ranks him 12th in the nation for ALL 15 year old boys) & Sandy Whitaker in the 100 back (50.89).
 
GCSTO High School District Champions
Note that there are 32 individual swimming events at this meet and that there are over 115 high school teams and over 25 club teams that could lay claim to training an athlete for this event AND THAT
GCSTO TRAINED ATHLETES CLAIMED AN AMAZING 37% OF ALL CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES!!!!

  Tiffany Aeling (D2) - Women's 200 free (1:56.39)
Tiffany Aeling (D2) - Women's 500 free (5:12.83)
Andee Cottrell (D2) - Women's 200 IM (2:08.36... NEW 13-14 team record, as well)
Andee Cottrell (D2) - Women's 100 breast (1:04.05... NEW meet record & new team record)
Gracie Finnegan (D1) - Women's 50 free (23.16)
Gracie Finnegan (D1) - Women's 100 free (50.48)
Maddie Martin (D1) - Women's 100 fly (56.51)
Taylor Shotwell (D2) - Woman's 100 back (59.88)

Ronnie Bolden (D2) - Men's 100 butterfly (51.59)
Tyler Simonton (D2) - Men's 100 back (52.68... NEW meet record, as well)
Sandy Whitaker (D1) - Men's 100 fly (49.16)
Sandy Whitaker (D1) - Men's 100 back (50.54) 

GCSTO High School State Championship Qualifiers
  Tiffany Aeling (D2) - Women's 200 free & 500 free
Riley Buer (D1) - Women's 100 breast
Andee Cottrell (D2) - Women's 200 IM & 100 breast
Andrea Devakul (D2) - Women's 200 IM & 100 back
Gracie Finnegan (D1) - Women's 50 free & 100 free 
Aly Francis (D1) - 50 free & 100 back 
 Ranndi Grubbs (D2) - Women's 50 free & 100 back
Hope Kahrig (D2) - Relays
Annie Lee (D2) - Relays
Suzanne Sliwowski (D1) - Relays
Maddie Martin (D1) - 100 fly
Hope Mitchell (D2) - 200 IM & 100 breast
Taylor Shotwell (D2) - Women's 100 butterfly & 100 back

Trevor Askins (D2) - Men's 100 fly
Ronnie Bolden (D2) - Men's 50 free (NEW 15-16 team record, as well)
Pat Donohoe (D2) - Men's 100 butterfly  & 100 breast
Trung Lee (D2) - Relays
William Rosler (D2) - Men's 100 butterfly & 100 free
Tyler Simonton (D2) - Men's 100 freestyle & 100 back
Corey Taylor (D1) - Men's 200 IM & 100 breast 
Will Westwater (D2) - Relays
Johnny Whitaker (D1) - Relays
Sandy Whitaker (D1) - Men's 100 fly & 100 back
Conrad Wuorinen (D2) - Men's 200 free 
Drew Yakscoe (D2) - Relays
  
An Amazing Schedule of Swim Camps Right Here In Central Ohio!!!
If you are looking for swim camps this spring there will be an amazing schedule from which to choose! Take a look at what's in store:

Saturday, April 10 - Arluck Promotions "Fitter & Faster Tour" hosted by UASC. Olympic Gold Medalists Mark Gangloff & Megan Jendrick will be present as will World University Games Triple Gold Medalist (& GCSTO Alum), Adam Ritter. 

Saturday, April 17th - GCSTO's Advanced Technique Stroke Analysis Camps (breast and fly divisions) 12:30-5:00 p.m. at St. Charles Preparatory School.

Saturday, April 24th - GCSTO's Advanced Technique Stroke Analysis Camps (free and back divisions) 12:30-5:00 p.m. at St. Charles Preparatory School.  

Sunday, May 2 - USA & Ohio Swimming's "Catch the Spirit" Camp hosted by GCSTO from 1:30-5:30 p.m. at St. Charles Preparatory School.

Saturday, May 8th - GCSTO's Advanced Technique Stroke Analysis Camps (start, turn & finish division) 12:30-5:00 p.m. at the Columbus Academy.

Saturday, May 15th - GCSTO's Advanced Technique Stroke Analysis Camps (Dry Land Development) 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Columbus Academy.
 
GCSTO Chosen As Local Partner in USA Swimming's Make a Splash Campaign

Make a Splash is a national child-focused water safety initiative created by the USA Swimming Foundation. It works by aligning the nation’s top learn-to-swim resources in an effort to save lives. Make a Splash educates parents through a national awareness campaign, saves lives by joining forces with grassroots learn-to-swim programs and reaches thousands of children through wide-reaching in-school materials. CLICK HERE to read more about how Make a Splash helps our communities! 

GCSTO Achieves Level 3 Status in USA Swimming's Club Recognition Program
GCSTO was recently achieved Level 3 in USA Swimming's Club Recognition Program for leadership and club development. To find out more about this program please CLICK HERE.  We want to thank all of the coaches, parents and athletes for their help in this achievement and we look forward to working on qualifying for the final level in the prestigious program. 

Spring Team Waiting List Started
 We are now accepting names for spring swimming and will place these athletes on a waiting list for that spring session. If you would like to secure a spot for tryouts for spring swimming with GCSTO please contact coach Nye at stevenye@sbcglobal.net with your name, your athlete's name, age, telephone number, email address and any other information that you feel pertinent. THANKS!  

  GCSTO Selected as Winner of NICKELODEON'S PARENTS' PICK AWARD
GCSTO's Swim School was recently named the winner of this award as the best in our class in the central Ohio area. You can go to PARENTSSPICK and see more on this and other award categories. Note that we are honored to have received this award and will continue to strive to make our programming first class and programming of which you are proud to be a part! Creating the Difference!

                                                                                                        
The Club Excellence Program: This program deals with the performance levels of the older athletes on the team in comparison to the rest of the nation. Of the thousands of clubs in USA Swimming, only 200 clubs were screened for such recognition. GCSTO was first recognized in 2007 as a Bronze Medal Club in USA Swimming, repeated in 2008 and has qualified, once again, in 2009. Click on the icon for more information about this program from USA Swimming.

          
USA Swimming’s Club Recognition Program:We have now qualified for level 3 in USA Swimming's Club Recognition Program! Recognition at this level deals with club administration and organization and it is no easy task to achieve. Congrats to all of our swimmers and coaches on this achievement. CLICK HERE for more information about this program from USA Swimming. 

Toyota Virtual Club Championships:This system of ranking the thousands of clubs in USA Swimming is based on overall team performance in relation to the rest of the nation. Last year GCSTO made the top 100 on this list (as 100th) with 157,104 points. This year, the team is sitting at 87th with 164,514 points.  Click on the icon for more information about this program from USA Swimming.

Announcements             

Level 1: see the Gold Medal Camps below

Level 2: see the Gold Medal Camps below or the state age group championship practices below in this section.

Level 3: see the Gold Medal Camps below or the state age group championship practices below in this section.

GCSTO Age Group State Championship Team: practices are at the Columbus Academy Monday through Thursday from 5:30 to about 7:00 p.m. (note that Thursdays will be just a longer warm-up for those families who need to get on the road to Bowling Green if they are travelling that night).

Level 4: practices Monday through Thursday (Brian’s covering Tuesday) at the Columbus Academy from 6:30-8:15 or 8:30 p.m. for these state age group championship swimmers and then 8:30-8:45 p.m. for the sectional swimmers. We will then have a Saturday morning practice at Academy from 7:45 to 10:00 a.m. for this group (coach TBA although Tommy will write the practice).

SST: these swimmers may come to, either, the level 4 practices this week or the level 5 practices this week.

Level 5: practices Monday through Thursday at St. Charles from 3:45-5:15 to 5:30 p.m. for these state age group championship swimmers and then 6:00 p.m. for the sectional swimmers. We will then have a Saturday morning practice at Academy from 7:45 to 10:00 a.m. for this group (coach TBA although Steve will write the practice).

GCSTO Polar Bear Gold Medal Camps                                                                                                   Any swimmer in level 1, 2 or 3 this season who is not on the age group state championship team is invited to attend (and HIGHLY encouraged to attend) any and all of these camps. This camp will be Monday through Thursday at St. Charles from 5:45-7:00 p.m. but may spill over to 7:15 p.m. if the numbers are big (which they have been in the past). You are NOT required to be there every day although you may certainly do so. We have 4 coaches lined up each night to help and the outline has been written by myself to help emphasize the important technical aspects that we want these athletes to be reminded of. It should be a GREAT experience for your child to help them wrap up their season. There’s no cost as your team fees as this can be simply looked at as being covered by your team fees. We are simply ON A ROLL here on the team considering the many, many new faces that we brought into the sport so we’d like to keep the kids excited about their swimming and allowing them to learn even more before the season is over. We hope to see you there and we want the athletes to MAKE SURE TO END THE NIGHT WITH A GREAT TEAM CHEER!

Spring/Summer Practice Schedule Is Completed
You can click on our "Swim Team Information" tab on the left to see our updated spring/summer practice schedule now! New swimmer application accpetance starts February 15, 2010.
 
Spring/Summer Stroke Camp Registrations Are Open
On line registrations are now open for our spring and summer stroke camps. Simply click on the tab there on the left of this page entitled "Stroke Camp Information" to see this camp information and to register.  

Spring Life Guard Courses Available
Please click on our "Certification Course" tab to the left to get this spring's LG course information. We have our first class set up now and will be finalizing the dates and times for our second class shortly.

Upper Arlington To Host FITTER & FASTER TOUR

On Saturday, April 10, 2010, Arluck Promotions will bring their nationwide “Fitter and Faster Tour" to Columbus. Upper Arlington High school will be the site of this exciting opportunity for your swimmers to meet, interact and swim with two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Mark Gangloff, Olympic Medalist and 2009 NCAA Woman of the Year, Lacey Nymeyer and World University Games triple gold medalist and GCSTO ALUM, ADAM RITTER.  During each of the separate 3 hour sessions, swimmers will have the chance to learn from the best, hear their stories, hold their medals, and of course RACE the Olympians. The athletes will also take pictures with the participants and sign autographs! A ll participants receive a gift bag with a Speedo t-shirt, event program, TYR swim cap, and samples from great companies like Powerbar and Chocolate #9! Parents and supporters are also encouraged to attend for free with their swimmers participation.  Visit www.swimchampions.com for more information. There are only 75 spots per session and will be filled on a first come first served basis. Swimmers must register directly with www.swimchampions.com .