Dear Genesee Swim Team Families,

As a follow-up to Andi’s email Saturday, I wanted to express my gratitude to each of you who helped make Saturday’s meet a success. Genesee had not hosted a swim meet since 2018 and for the families that were on the team at that time, most of us were timers and officials. Needless to say, we impressed the Stingrays team with our preparedness, organization, and genuine enthusiasm. I might be biased but having volunteered at a number of summer club swim meets over the years, I would say we ran the meet better than most teams!!

Saturday’s effort was definitely a team effort: from the set-up crew Friday night who had the deck ready in record time; to the timers who were timely; to the officials who made some hard calls; to the clean-up crew who took down the tents, put away the tables and chairs, and made the deck look like nothing had happened. WOW!!

There are a few MVPs, however, that deserve specific shout-outs:

• Bethany Rust for learning our meet software package, working with Coach Andi to accumulate meet entries from both the Genesee and Stingray team to seed the meet, and for entering every swimmer’s time into the system. Most teams do not publish meet results until Monday. We were signed, sealed, and delivered before we left the pool!
• Heidi and Steve Hart for making sure everyone parked appropriately and no one was ticketed on Foothills Drive.
• Amy Dorn for coordinating the concession stand, making a major Costco run to buy all sorts of goodies and treats to sell. Dan Natan for making the early morning trip down the hill to grab breakfast burritos and donuts and being back to the pool before warm-ups concluded. Erin Norton for helping organize a beautiful spread, working concession stand the entire meet, and taking Venmo payments. Cindy Weisrock Vale for supplying Hot Coffee and Iced Tea as well as asking Einstein Bagels to donate their leftover bagels.
• One of the hardest roles at a swim meet is making sure kids are behind the blocks in time for their race. With the Medley Relay being one of the first events, it often feels like “herding cats.” The 8&Under Assistants never lost a competitor as they rounded-up our littlest swimmers. The Heating Area Coordinators exceeded expectations to make sure the first call / last call board was updated, and every swimmer was accounted for, escorted to their lane, and lined up ready to race. Figuring out how to make sure all this happens without a lull in the action is hard to do. Thank you Kelly Fredrick, Andrea Kellogg, Kris Kleiner, AJ and Selena Klosowski, Chris Lauber, Julia Nieberding, Krista Prescott, Rebecca Scheurer, Chris Stellman, Sherap Tharchen, Joe Welsh, and Kim Wise for all your hard work, you made it look effortless.
• Keeping everyone happy on the pool deck is a monumental task. Our Hospitality Team of Jen Welsh, Dan Natan, and Scott Livingston made sure everyone was hydrated. It was a hot day and multiple trips around the pool deck with a tray of water was much appreciated.

Looking ahead to June 25^th and our next home meet, it would be great to have even more helpers. If we have the same level of participation and assistance, we should be able to host another fantastic meet.

Thanks again,

Kirsten