2009 Chiefs News:

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11.03.09 - The season ending banquet will be held Tuesday, November 10th in the school cafeteria. The time will be 6:45. Our banquet will be catered once again this year. While the cost of athlete's meals is covered we are requesting a $10 donation per adult family member to help cover the cost of the meal. It would be very helpful if you could RSVP to the coaching email account with the number of family members who plan on attending. This will make sure that our estimated attendance is on target and we have an appropriate amount of food. We hope to see all of you there to celebrate a great season.

10.26.09 - As reminder to swimmers and parents, we need to have state packets returned Monday if you (or your athlete) want to attend the overnight trip to the state championships. You do not have to be swimming in the meet to attend. You do not have to participate in the overnight part of the trip if you are swimming. If you are are swimming and do not wish to stay at the team hotel, you must contact Coach Pedersen this week.

10.25.09 - Congratulations to the following qualifiers for the 4AII state championships next weekend:

Kelsey Cooke (200 Free, 100 Back) Erin Strohmeyer (200 Free, 500 Free) Darby Johnson (200 IM, 100 Fly) Ashley Jobst (200 IM) Lizzie Theut (200 IM, 500 Free) Jamie Jaruvangsanti (50 Free, 100 Free) Chelsea Shiles (50 Free, 100 Breast) Jackie Bailes (50 Free) Taylor Sloan (Diving) Jenna Brems (100 Fly, 100 Back) Taylor Hoffman (100 Fly, 100 Breast) Nicole Kostyk (100 Free) Maggie Wisman (500 Free) Erika Miller (100 Breast) Elyse Fornefeld (100 Breast) Robbie McKernan (200 Free, 100 Back) Taylor Arvayo (50 Free) Seth Benson (500 Free, 100 Breast) Tyler Lowy (100 Breast).

Additionally we will need the following swimmers to continue to train for relay spots Cameron Conti Joe Parisi Greg Perez Nick Bode Jeff Miller

4A II Psych Sheet here

10.20.09 - Team pictures will be Wednesday, October 28th at Moon Valley Country Club. They will be at 3:00pm and done in conjunction with the photos for the golf team. The team photo will be done in swim suits, the team suit if you have it. See the coaching staff for photo envelopes.

10.19.09 - Hey everyone, it's time for annual team dinner before the Region Meet.

What: Pre-Regional Pasta Dinner
Why: To Carb-up for our Regional Meet and to enjoy a great tradition!
When: 6:00 PM on Thursday, October 22nd
Where: Kelsey's House 818 W. Gleneagles Drive Phx 85023

All swimmers and divers are invited. For more information, please see Coach Erik.

10.19.09 - We still do need additional volunteers to help with the Black Canyon region championships to reach our requirement of four volunteers for the swimming portion of the meet. We have several volunteers but the way gmail consolidates replies makes it entirely possible that I have missed some responses.

The volunteers I currently have are: Diving Thursday Debbie Sloan Swimming Friday Paige Johnson Kathleen Duffy Swimming Saturday If I have missed your response and not listed a previous volunteer, I apologize. Please re-confirm your commitment. If you would be willing and able to fill one of the remaining available slots, please email us back. The region championship staff will be expecting our list of names tomorrow evening.

Thanks to everyone in advance. It will be a very exciting and competitive meet this week.

10.09.09 - We have received the information on the where and when for the Black Canyon Region championships.

The 2009 Black Canyon Region Diving Championships will take place Thursday, October 22nd at Apollo High School (8045 N. 47th Ave). Warm up will be from 11:00am to noon and competition will begin at 12:15. There will be a van leaving from school for divers to attend this meet.

The 2009 Black Canyon Region Swimming Championships will take place Friday, October 23rd and Saturday, October 24th at Moon Valley Country Club. Warm up is at noon and competition is at 1:00pm both days. Preliminaries are Friday and the to 16 swimmers in each event will swim again on Saturday. Parents, we will need four (4) volunteers to help with each day of the swimming meet and one (1) volunteer to help with the diving meet. Please step up if you are available to help the team out. We will need to know who are volunteers are by October 20th so let us know either in person or via email if you would be willing to volunteer.

10.08.09 - Update regarding diving practice the week of Fall Break:

There is no diving practice with coach Langford on Friday the 9th, Monday the 12th or Tuesday the 13th. If they wish, divers may practice Monday and Tuesday with Greenway from 9:15am – 11:00am.

Practice for Wednesday the 14th through Friday the 16th will be at Cactus Park from 3 – 5.

10.07.09 - The final dual meet of the season brought senior day to Moon Valley Country Club on Tuesday. The women swept every event, including diving, as Taylor Hoffman, Jenna Brems, Erin Strohmeyer and Kelsey Cooke all won two events and Bailey Ellington took diving. A final score of 124-55 was helped by stellar efforts from Lizzie Theut, Teresa Ybarra, Darby Johnson and Chelsea Shiles. The ladies finish the dual meet season 8 and 1.

The men faced a short handed Trojan squad and powered to a 96-59 victory. The win marks the fourth in a row for the red hot Chiefs. Individual event wins from Seth Benson, Robbie McKernan and Tyler Lowy were added to by strong swims from the likes of Taylor Arvayo, Jeff Miller, Joe Parisi, Cameron Conti and Tyler Yamada. The men finish the dual meet season 4 and 5 but stand 4 and 2 in region competition.

With the dual meet season over, the championship season remains. The Black Canyon region championships look like they will be held Friday, October 23rd and Saturday, October 24th at Moon Valley. We do not know times yet and will pass that along as soon as we know. The squad is allowed four entries per individual event and one relay entry. This means some people will not be swimming in this meet. Those individuals not entered in the meet will no longer need to attend practice. Everyone, even athletes not entered into the meet, is invited to attend the meet and the surrounding activities. We will go over meet entries on Wednesday, October 7th.

The 4AII state swimming and diving championships are the week following the Black Canyon region. Only meet qualifiers from the second day of the region meet will participate in the state championships. You can qualify for state by winning your event at region or being one of the 19 fastest times outside of the region event winners. As with the region meet, everyone is invited to attend this meet and the surrounding activities. The activities include the overnight trip. Information packets for this trip will also go out Wednesday the 7th. The team has finished strong and looks forward a great end of the season. If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Parents, please remind your students to dress for the weather. With the temperature dropping into the sixties at night (finally!), shorts and a t-shirt are probably not the best wardrobe for practice. Cold and wet at 9PM is not an optimal stately for your athletes short-term health.

10.06.09 - Don't forget today is a double dual meet. To alleviate space and time issues, diving will take place at approximately 4 at Paradise Valley Park (located north of Bell Road, on 40th Street on the west side of the street). There is a van to take divers from MVCC to Paradise Valley and back. Senior day activities for the Chiefs will take place at the end of the double dual meet so that our divers may also be honored.

10.01.09 - As the dual meet season starts to wind down, the Chiefs are definitely speeding up.

The ladies cruised to their seventh victory of the season by a score of 138-48. In sweeping every event, no less than eleven Chiefs nabbed a first place. Victorious in one or more events were Megan Trankle, Taylor Hoffman, Erin Strohmeyer, Jenna Brems, Kelsey Cooke, Chelsea Shiles, Darby Johnson, Jackie Bailes, Ashley Jobst and Taylor Sloan.

The men, led by Tyler Lowy's first individual victory and double winners Seth Beson and Robbie McKernan, were victorious by a 101-84 margin. Also, lending a hand in the win column were seniors Taylor Arvayo and Greg Perez.

Our final dual meet of the season will be another double dual meet on Tuesday at MVCC. Our opponent will be Paradise Valley.

09.29.09 - Those Chiefs are scorching hot. Region foe Cortez came to Moon Valley on Tuesday and double dual meet spelled doom for the Colts. Event winners were the order of the day as Robbie McKernan, Tyler Lowy, Seth Benson, Taylor Arvayo and Greg Perez all contributed to men's swimming victories. They were joined by the diving troika of Gavin Glatting, Alex Bury and Jayse Brunner swept the boards. Key swims were also turned in by Tanner Boyer, Quintin Deatrick, Joe Parisi and Tyler Yamada. The men's win streak has reached two in a row with a 101 - 78 victory.

The ladies landed another blow out victory as Jenna Brems Chelsea Shiles, Taylor Hoffman, Ashley Jobst, Erin Strohmeyer, Maggie Wisman, Darby Johnson and Teresa Ybarra all scored at least one first place in the pool. On the boards Taylor Sloan was followed by Anissa Fuentes and Ally Bloomfield in a sweep. The 132-32 win moves the ladies to 6-1 on the season and undefeated in region action. Our next meet is away against Greenway. Greenway's home pool is at Cactus park. Cactus park is roughly 35th Avenue and Cactus (west on Cactus, west of Moon Valley High School.

09.28.09 - Our last two dual meets of the year will be double dual meets. This is to help scheduling difficulties at Moon Valley CC and Shadow Mountain.

A double dual meet will feature a dual meet between Thunderbird and and their opponent (Cortez tomorrow and Paradise Valley next week) and a dual meet between Shadow Mountain and their opponent (Apollo tomorrow, ?? next week). The meets will alternate swimming by event.

So you will see the 200 medley relays from one meet then the 200 medley relays from the other meet. Then all of the 200 freestyles, etc. This means the meet will run longer. As a result, the Thunderbird diving meet will start earlier than usual at 3:30. We need divers to be warming prior to that. Shadow Mountain's diving will occur elsewhere. The goal is to be swimming by 4:30. If we are swimming at 4:30 we should finish between 6:30 and 7.

09.25.09 - A visit from the Cactus Cobras on Thursday was all it took to cure what was ailing the Chiefs.

Triumphing with a resounding 119-64 victory, the men scored one on the right side of the win-loss ledger. In addition to stalwart double winners Robbie McKernan and Seth Benson, Taylor Arvayo and Tyler Yamada each notched their first individual win of their careers. Taylor actually touched first twice winning both the 50 and 100 freestyle while Tyler snatched victory in the butterfly. Other key swims for second and third place finishes were turned in by Cameron Conti, Greg Perez, Joe Parisi, Tyler Lowy and Kailyb Hursh. The meet really showed that all of the teams hard work is paying off.

The ladies continued to roll with a 128-55 victory over the Cobras. With many of the teams elite athletes swimming a shortened event schdule, it was time for the next hardworking group to shine. In addition to event victories by regular standouts Kelsey Cooke, Jenna Brems and Taylor Hoffman, three other athletes won events. Senior golfer/swimmer Jamie Jaruvansanti took the 50 free while Ashley Jobst and Chelsea Shiles took the 500 free and 100 breaststroke respectively.

Next up for the Chiefs, Cortez on Tuesday.

09.23.09 - The Chiefs traveled north to face Flagstaff high on Tuesday. The squad left school after lunch and climbed up over the 7000 foot elevation mark to the cool pines. While the elevation left some gasping for breath, the only indoor meet of the season pumped up the volume literally with a raucous crowd. The Flagstaff men and women are strong contenders in the Black Canyon region but that scarred neither squad.

The women dominated the meet winning nine of thirteen events. Victorious swims by Erin Strohmeyer (200 free, 500 free), Jenna Brems (200 IM , 100 Free), Kelsey Cooke (50 free, 100 back) and Taylor Hoffman (100 Breast) were bookended by wins in the first and last relays. It was a total team effort as valuable second and third place finishes turned in by Ashley Jobst, Jackie Bailes and Nicole Kostyk. With diving factored in, the Chiefs headed back to the valley with a 106-80 victory in their pocket.

The men ran up against a squad that is likely to be tops in the region. The lone victory of the day came from Seth Benson in the breaststroke. Additional strong showings came from Cameron Conti, Robbie McKernan and Jeff Miller who hit the wall in a lifetime best 100 freestyle. The end of the day saw the score 119-51 in Flagstaff's favor. Our next meet is at Moon Valley on Thursday against Cactus.

09.18.09 - It is highly likely that the Black Canyon region meet will be moving back to the it's traditional days of diving on Thursday, October 22nd and swimming on Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th.

09.16.09 - The Chiefs faced off with their first Black Canyon region foe on Tuesday. The agenda called for a trip across town to match up with the Washington Rams.

The women were hot, hot, hot as eight different athletes captured all nine individual events. Congratulations to Taylor Hoffman (200 free), Nicole Kostyk (200 IM), Kelsey Cooke (50 free, 100 fly), Bailey Ellington (diving) Erin Strohmeyer (100 free) Jenna Brems (500 free), Ashley Jobst (100 back) and Chelsea Shiles (100 breast).

Also pitching in with legs on victorious relays were Jackie Bailes and Maggie Wisman. The end of the day found the Chiefs sweep every event and return home with a 142 - 43 victory.

The men continued to show improvement in a close 101-85 loss to the Rams. Led by stalwarts Robbie McKernan and Seth Benson who won two events apiece, the Chiefs also captured the 200 Medley relay with the help of Tyler Lowy and Taylor Arvayo. Time drops are becoming common place as Taylor has dropped seven seconds from his hundred free, Greg Perez nine seconds and Jeff Miller four seconds since the Intersquad meet on 8/29. The Chiefs next travel north to compete against Flagstaff high.

Travel to Flagstaff: We will be making this trip next Tuesday via charter bus. We will be leaving after second lunch (12:35) in order to make a timely arrival in Flagstaff. Following the meet we will stop for a meal and return to the Valley. A best guess for return time is 9 PM Our bus has seating for 55 which means some athletes will not be making the trip. Our trip list will potentially change based on eligibility and unexcused absences. Unexcused absences will drop the student athlete to the bottom of the list. If anyone knows that they cannot go on this trip, the staff needs to know now so that other athletes can take their place.

09.15.09 - Changes were made to the meet schedule. Please take note, the location of the Greenway meet has changed.

09.11.09 - The Prescott Badgers paid a visit to the Valley on Thursday to swim against the Chiefs. Thunderbird, swimming the second half of a two meet week, put up a game fight. Under the threat of inclement weather, the newly energized diving squad ran through full set of 6 dives led by the women's victor on the one meter, Taylor Sloan.

The action then moved between the lane lines as event winners Kelsey Cooke (200 Free, 500 Free), Taylor Hoffman (200 IM), Seth Benson (200 IM, 500 Free) , Jenna Brems (50 Free, 100 Free) and Erin Strohmeyer (100 Back) led the charge.

They were helped by exemplary relay efforts from Taylor Arvayo, Greg Perez, Ashley Jobst and Chelsea Shiles. At the end of the day the women posted a substantial victory of 125-61 while the men endured another frustrating loss 76-110. Things will slow down next week with only one meet (away, against Washington) as the squad focuses on sprinting, starts and turns.

09.09.09 - The Chiefs traveled over North Mountain for a rare meet hosted by the rival Sunnyslope Vikings. Making the meet even more unique is that it was held in a long course (50 meter) format.

Despite another set of tremendous efforts, both squads fell to the Vikings by almost identical scores (127-58 men; 122-64 women). The day was not without victory as Seth Benson (200 IM, 100 Breaststroke), Erin Strohmeyer (200 free, 400 free) and Kelsey Cooke (100 Backstroke) all won events.

After two meets against strong opponents the coaching staff is pleased with the squads progress. With more than half the team new this year we expect to learn more and work hard to peak at the end of the season. Great things are ahead for the 2009 swimming and diving Chiefs.

09.03.09 - The 2009 swim season kicked off with a bang on Thursday with an "away" meet at our home pool at Moon Valley.

The women scored a stunning 103 to 79 victory riding a wave of diving prowess to victory. Event winners included Taylor Sloan (diving), Taylor Hoffman (100 Breaststroke), Erin Strohmeyer (200, 500 freestyle) and Kelsey Cooke (50, 100 freestyle). Exemplary performances were also turned in by Nicole Kostyk, Darby Johnson, Ashley Jobst and Chelsea Shiles. Everyone had a great first meet. We had no missed events and a ton of great efforts.

The men came up just short in a 71-112 defeat to the Matadors. Like the ladies they were led by diving as Jayse Brunner, Alex Burry and Gavin Glatting went one, two, three on the boards. In the pool senior stalwarts Seth Benson (200 IM, 100 Breast) and Robbie McKernan (100 Backstroke) captured three events between them. Stellar efforts came from many swimmers new to the program highlighted by Taylor Arvayo's 100 butterfly and a gutty performance from Greg Perez. Like the ladies, this was a great starting point for the season.

There is practice Saturday, there is no practice Monday. Enjoy the day off.

Next week has two meets. We are at Sunnyslope on Tuesday and host Prescott on Thursday. Like the Shadow Mountain meet, we will be taking the bus over to Sunnyslope. Your student athlete needs to take the bus to and from the meet. If you must take your child (and only you child, not their friends) home directly from the meet, you may do so by signing a release slip available from the coaching staff.

09.02.09 - Shadow Mountain's staff contacted us last night at practice to clarify times for the meet Shadow Mountain will be hosting on Thursday. We will conduct the swimming portion of the meet at 4:30 and dive at the conclusion of swimming. An approximate time for diving is 6:00.

We hope to see as many family and friends at the first meet of the season.

09.01.09 - The GUHSD relay meet has unfortunately been cancelled due to lack of interst from six district schools.

09.01.09 - The State 4A-II State championships are confirmed to take place at Mesa Kino pool October 29th and 30th. The 4A-II Black Canyon Region championships are currently scheduled for October 19th and 20th at Cactus High School (swimming) and October 22nd at Apollo High School.

09.01.09 - Anyone with unsold Entertainment books needs to return them no later than end of practice Wednesday. After that point, you have purchased the book. If you have sold Entertainment books we need to collect that payment by the same deadline.

09.01.09 - Pool management has indicated that our "away" meet against Shadow Mountain will have swimming starting at 4:00 pm on Thursday.

09.01.09 - Parents, if you were unable to attend our parents meeting, you can find and electronic copy of our parents guide here.

**UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE: practice is at Apollo High School from 3:30 to 5:30, Monday through Friday. The water main has broken at Cactus Park and that pool is out of commission for the immediate future.

http://thunderbird.guhsdaz.org/athletics/Athletic_Clearance/

7.29.09 - First practice is at Moon Valley Country Club on August 10th at 7:00pm.

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