Hello Lasers! You guessed it - it’s time for your weekly update!

Away A Meet versus Carderock Springs on Saturday morning

While we didn’t win, there were some fabulous swims on Saturday morning. The team spirit was amazing and the sportsmanship was great to see too. You can find the meet results under Schedule, Meet Results or by clicking here.

We would like to recognize the following swimmers who swam All Star times yesterday morning:

• Sam Arias - breast
• Eli Hunter - IM, breast, and fly
• Chase Keeler - IM, free, back, and fly
• Alice Kuminov - back
• Austin Seager - breast
• Daniel Zhelyazkov - breast and fly

We would like to congratulate Chase Keeler for breaking all kinds of records yesterday! He broke two team records:

• Men 15-18 IM with a time of 1:00.09, beating Kenny Afolabi-Brown’s record set in 2017 of 1:01.85.
• Men 15-18 Backstroke with a time of 59.27, beating his brother Coach Nick Keeler’s record set in 2021 of 59.56.

He also shattered the Carderock Springs pool record in Men 15-18 backstroke set in 2007, which was 1:02.82!

A shout out to Josie Lucas, Daniel Zhelyazkov and the Page Family for winning this week’s A meet spirit awards!

A Relays at Long Branch this morning

It was a long trek to Long Branch this morning. Thank you to all of the swimmers who swam their hearts out! A huge thank you to the parents who volunteered, including our stellar parent relay team of Angie Niemiec, Mike Page, Stacey Seager, and Stephen Ravas!

B Meet Week 3 - Wednesday, July 3rd AWAY at Quail Valley

The deadline to sign up for our B meet is MONDAY at 6 PM. Sign in TODAY to select your swimmer’s events AND choose a volunteer role. Prepare your finest Red, White and Blue attire to show your team spirit! Please refer to the message Ashley sent yesterday with the directions on how to sign up!

A Meet Week 4 - Saturday, July 6 at HOME vs. Arora Hills

Our next A meet is HOME on Saturday, July 6. This is the meet where we will honor our 3 graduating seniors: Chase Keeler, Lauren Shuttles, and Emily Turner. Declare, declare, declare for this special meet! Here’s how!

Log in to your Swimtopia account by clicking here or go to https://lakemarionlasers.swimtopia.com/swim_meets

1. Click on Week 4A at HOME vs. Arora Hills.
2. Select Edit under the swimmer’s name.
3. From the drop down, select Available For This Meet or Not Available For This Meet.
4. Click Save.

We need you to declare your swimmer’s A Meet availability as soon as possible, but no later than NOON on Wednesday, July 3rd. Please do this even if you don’t think your swimmer would participate in an A meet.

Please declare your availability for the AWAY Week 5 A meet and DIVISIONALS when you declare for the Week 4 A meet! Not sure if you should declare? If your child has competed in an A or B meet so far this season, please declare them for both of these meets. These meets provide critical points for our team which determine our divisional ranking next year. Thank you!

Nick will communicate who will swim in this Saturday’s meet on Thursday. The line-up will then be formally exchanged with Arora Hills by noon on Friday.

Sign up for the Manchester Farm Mini Meet

The deadline to sign up for the Manchester Farm Mini Meet is just about a week away. See the email from Alison sent last week or click here to review all of the details. This meet is a wonderful opportunity for our younger swimmers to experience the fun of swimming in the meet, with the support of in water helpers. Parents of CITs, please sign up your CIT through Swimtopia under jobs. You will need to put in your own name, not your CITs name, to indicate that your CIT will be there to help.

More Details about the Week Ahead

Have I already said that the Lake Marion Laser summer is non-stop fun? This week we can look forward to these exciting events:

• Monday:
  • Tie Dye from 8:45 AM to 10:30 AM and 6:30 PM to 7:15 PM for our upcoming Week 4 theme. (Swimmers in the second morning practice and those on preteam can come early and tie dye before they swim from 8:45 AM to 9:15 AM if they can’t stay after their practice.)
• Tuesday
  • Age 10 and Under Team Building at Apple Ridge from 2 PM - 4 PM. We invite all of our swimmers 10 and under, including preteam of course, to enjoy time at the Peggy Mark pool. Some of the CITs and coaches will be there!
  • Those 15-18s who RSVPed will enjoy Top Golf from 8 PM - 10 PM with Coach Nick and Coach Rachel. Thank you to Coach Nick for organizing this fun event!
• Wednesday
  • We have our Pancake Breakfast after morning practices. Thanks to our chefs, Karrie Shuttles and Irma Najarro, for carrying on this B meet morning tradition. We ask families to donate to help defray the cost of this tasty treat.
  • Our B meet is AWAY at Plantations. You already know that entries are due by 6 PM tomorrow!
• Thursday
  • Meet us at the start of the MVF Fourth of July Parade at 9:30 AM. Come march with our patriotic Olympic-themed float! The details are in an email Chuck Shuttles sent last week and are also listed on our website calendar under All Meets and Events.
  • There are NO PRACTICES due to the federal holiday.
• Friday
  • Coaches will hand out B meet ribbons between the first and second morning practices
  • $1 donuts after each morning practice!
  • We have Potluck Pasta Dinner team building from 6:30 to 7:30 PM in the community center. Sign up for set up/clean up and/or bring a large dish to share!
  • Help us set up the pool deck for the Saturday morning home A meet around 7:45 PM.

Thank you for persevering until the end of another epic message. I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Daria, on behalf of the swim committee