Sarah Makes Cut!

Sarah Peel and Rachael Hilb loosening up before practice with a little dance.  Both girls had a great meet this past weekend at the BSL/HBT meet at Birmingham's fine new facility.  Sarah lead all Cullman swimmers with a SES cut time in 100 Breaststroke.  She is so close in several events nice to get those cuts early.

Claire Ogstad also had a great meet.  The super 8 year old is close to making the SES cut in the 9-10 Breaststroke.  WOW!  All the swimmers did well with most dropping time at the mid point in the season.  Most notably was Reagan Martin in the 100 Butterfly and Cabri Adams dropping time in all her events.

Coach Lisa discussing a little strategy with Claire Ogstad.  A successful season for all the CSA swimmers, now lets enjoy our Holiday break.  Next up in January is Hoover for the younger swimmers and Baylor for the older.

High School State

It was a crazy packed house once again in Auburn for the 2011 AHSAA State Swimming Championships.  Its hard to imagine another facility that could host this meet, its just big now with all the teams, fans and families....and its FAST!

Cullman Swimming was well represented with swimmers from Cullman High School and Saint Bernard Prep.  Individual qualifiers included CHS's Chris McAlpin, Noah Price, Eric Pilcher and Michelle Pilcher, SBP's Sean Moriarty and Bennett Glasscock.

The tough part of the meet is making it through the prelims on Friday which is such a long day.  Seemed like the 1000 heats finished at 11 pm.  Luckily the swimmers fortunate enough to make the finals get to sleep in on Saturday.

Highlights from the team side of the meet were the CHS relay of  McAlpin, Pilcher, Price and Hollingsworth making the consolation finals in the 4 X 100 Free relay.

On the individual events Bennett Glasscock made the A final in the 100 backstroke and consuls 50 freestyle.  Tough to get into finals, Alabama is a fast state with many great swimmers.

The meet was also a great social happening for the students.  Former Cullman swimmer now Auburn scholar, Stephanie Donaldson worked the meet as a timer and visited with the hometown crowd.

Such a fine facility and so much fun.  Inspiration to all the swimmers to be there in 2012!

McCallie Invitational

CSA swimmers invade The McCallie High School Invitational!  Bennett, Sean and John Paul swam for  Saint Bernard Prep, at the 19th annual meet.  50 high schools and prep schools from Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky and Virgina competed in the meet.  McCallie located in Chattanooga has a beautiful facility and ran a perfect meet that included over 500 boys and girl swimmers. 

The format for the meet was one day with prelims in the morning and finals in the evening.  Nothing quite like all those screaming swimmers at the finals.  Incredible experience.

I was very proud of our swimmers which were lead by Bennett Glasscock who made the "A" final in both his events, 100 butterfly and backstroke.  His best finish was 5th in the backstroke. Sean Moriarty had an excellent meet making the "B" final in the 50 freestyle and finishing 12th overall in the finals.

This was a great experience for CSA's senior guys being able to swim in a big time high school meet.  The meet also helped prepare them for the upcoming AHSAA State Championships this weekend in Auburn. 

MSA Invitational

Jillian Richard preparing for one of her events at the 2011 MSA Thanksgiving Invitational.  CSA had a great showing from the team with most the team swimming and some very fine swims.

Claire Ogstad lead Cullman Swimmers at the meet.  She picked up the High Point Trophy for 8-Under girls.  Earlier in the season she placed in the high point division at the War Eagle meet in Auburn.  Great job Claire!

Charis Peak also had an outstanding meet, all the hard work is paying off.  Charis dropped time in most her events.

Also this past week was the annual Cullman High School Invitational.  This is a great meet with some nice competition between local high schools Cullman and Saint Bernard, in addition to other teams in the NAHSSL.   The meet was dominated by power Bob Jones and Scottsboro.  Notable performances were Bennett Glasscock, Noah Price and Chris McAlpin all making the Cullman Invite All-Star Team.

Michelle Pilcher's College Visit

Cullman Swim Team senior Michelle Pilcher made an official college visit to Berry College in Rome, Georgia.  She got to hang out with the team for a day and live the life of a college swimmer.  The CHS swimmer shadowed the team through practice and then a dual meet.

Always a great sign for the programs, it is great to see a swimmer succeed and make it to the college level.  Berry may be that fit for the Cullman swimmer.

Berry is known for its strong academics and also its beautiful campus.  The campus located outside Rome, GA sits on thousands of acres.

Michelle shown above at the natatorium, soaking up the experience which she absolutely loved.

Auburn!

 CSA Senior Boys and some fans at War Eagle Invitational

CSA Girls continuing what they do best, Swim Fast!

HSA Meet

All the guys getting ready for the 25 freestyle.  Shown above is Sean Moriarty, Chris McAlpin and Bennett Glasscock.  Bennett won the event swimming a 10.8! 

Cullman Swim Association swimmers swam very well in their opening meet at HSA.  The soon to be 9-10 girls placed well and prepared themselves for the inevitable 50s approaching.  Claire Ogstad who will be 8 through the season lowered her breaststroke even more.  Great Job! All the 8-under and 9-10s swam well.

I was very proud of our senior swimmers at the meet.  We had some fantastic swims with many PRs.  Bennett, Sean and Cmac all made their High School State cuts.  Chris Mcalpin swam a great 200 IM to make his cut.  Bennett just missed the Sectional cut in backstroke.  Ellijah Price dropped like 30 seconds in all his events, that hard work and Saturday practices are paying off.  Sara Peel had a personal best in the 50 Freestyle.

Issac Dale had a great meet.  Most important he enjoyed it.  All the swimmers need to keep working hard and coming to practice, its amazing what can happen.

Next stop Scottsboro and Auburn.

Fall training has begun...

CSA hit the water this week kicking off the 2011-12 season.  The Gold group has been practicing this week in the "Get into shape to get into shape" phase of the training.  The Silver and Bronze groups will begin after the Labor Day weekend.  Impressive crowd as we head into our 3rd official USA Swimming season.

Coach Lisa and Carson were on deck getting the swimmers ready for the season fast approaching.  That outdoor pool is so nice and perfect conditions for the team.  First meet is HSA later this month, gotta get the swimmers ready to race!

Cullmans Golden Goggles

The 2011 season came to a close for Cullman Swim Team with its annual awards banquet.  A very large crowd enjoyed the festivities hosted at Cullman Church of Christ.  So many records broken and great times, the year round program is starting to show.   

Parent board president Dianne Evans started the evening addressing the parents and swimmers.  What a successful year, CST hosted ARPA State and TVC Championships, in addition to many dual meets.  Dianne and the Board did an incredible job!

Our seniors (in attendance).  Some of these guys and gals have been with the program for over 10 years.  Success in any swimming program is developing the senior swimmers.  CST has had a great success in retaining our older swimmers.  Exciting life ahead of these guys.  Matthew Murphree, Hannah Donaldson, Laura Evans and Kyle Richard.

These girls need no introduction! Fantastic no other word describes these 8-Under girls.  Won everything and broke all the records.  Lets not look too far in the future but wow if these girls stay together for many years of fast swimming...the sky is the limit! Kelly, Reese, Claire and Cabri. 

Coach Allison showing what a great coach she has been with CST.  The high points are a Cullman tradition.  Its tough sometimes to sit in the crowd as a swimmer and watch some of these win year after year, but you gotta hand it to them.  Success week in and week out.  Highpoint Boys: Neil Norris 1st, Bennett Glasscock 2nd, Highpoint Girls: Reese McNeil 1st and Claire Ogstad 2nd.

A great year in the books now, here comes CSA.  Registration is August 27th. Lets keep the MOMENTUM.

Records Fall at State!

The relays made a statement for Cullman Swim Team.  On Saturday, the final day of competition, CST had record breaking performances.  In the free relays it came first with the 8-under girls winning, then the 11-12 girls of Kacie, Morgan, Anna and Callie (all shown above) broke the team record and finished 2nd and finally most dramatically, sporting their speedos the senior boys drove it home in record time, breaking one of those ancient records that needed to go.  Incredible finish to a fantastic meet for CST.  We all need to thank the coaches because Allison and the gang had them ready to swim all weekend. 

The pool records were warped by the likes of Madison, Dothan, Scottsboro and others proving that everyone was ready to go in Cullmans fast pool.  Very competitive meet with fast times!

On those senior relays we salute our graduates:  Kyle Richard, Brian Leiter, Mathew Murphree, Hannah Donaldson and Laura Evans.  They all went out so fast and most importantly with class.



State Day One

Cullman Swim Team is hosting the ARPA State Swimming Championships, and it went off without a glitch.  Great weather and fast times were the theme for day one.  With the addition of the water cannon pool temperatures have been perfect for competitive swimming.

Cullman was lead today by the 8-under girls, Reese McNeil taking the Freestyle and Claire Ogstad and Kelly Warren finishing in the top three in Breaststroke.  Skipper, Ogstad, Adams and McNeil blasted the field and won the Medley Relay. Another great performance in the 8-under girls was Kelly Warren dropping and incredible 8 seconds in the Individual Medley to finish first for Cullman and 5ths over all.

Other notable performances for CST were Michelle Pilcher finishing 2nd in Senior Breaststroke, Morgan Matz 7th in Freestyle (28!), Kacie Donaldson 2nd in IM and Neil Norris 2nd in IM.

Pool and team records are falling...

District 2011

Untitled from Carson Glasscock on Vimeo.

Cullman Divers Crush District!

Cullman Diving Team crushed the competition at the District Championships in Madison taking the first place trophy with ease.  The divers now are preparing for the the next home meet, STATE!

Cullman Swim Team finished a strong 3rd at the District Swimming Championships in Guntersville.  CST had so many great races but what about those 8-Under girls, they continue their dominating march to the State Meet. Other swimmers with great Districts; Michelle Pilcher winning the IM and Breaststroke in 15-18 girls and Neil Norris winning the IM, Butterfly and Long Free in 9-10 boys. Outstanding meets by these swimmers!
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These guys did what needed to be done, broke the ancient Medley Relay record for 15-18 boys.  All four had very nice splits and smashed the prehistoric record.  More will fall at State.

Dialing it in....State Awaits!

CST Closes out Dual Meet Season

CST cruised through the last remaining dual meets of the season showing some momentum.  CST out swam Arab, River City, Guntersville and Albertville.  It was a lot of great swimming and fast times as the team prepares for District this coming weekend in Guntersville.  Its been a fast season with the team only losing to mighty Madison in dual meets.  Right now the hay is in the barn, we have to work hard and be ready for this weekend. 

Drew Fillinger after his great 50 Freestyle.  

Morgan Matz joins the sub 30 Club.  Who can go to camp for two weeks and come back and crush a 50 Freestyle? Morgan can!

Ethan Hendrix looking ready for breaststroke against Guntersville

Alberville coach Sam Bates and Bennett Glasscock prepare for a dual in backstroke.  They blew smoke with Sam out touching Bennett.

TVC

Cullman Swim Team came up short in the TVC Championships losing to NASA which is the resurection on Florence and Sheffield swim teams.  It was a tight meet with several age groups from CST swimming strong, but once again it came down to winning those relays.

The 9-10 boys relays put up a valliant fight for CST winning both medley and free relays in  a dominating way.  These guys are are the showing how hard work and coming to practice pays off. Lookout for them at disctict and state.  Shown below are the relay team of Neil Norris, Clay McAlpin, Elijah Miller and Samual Stewart.

You got to hand it to the coaches of NASA they did a great job and had a very impressive team spirit.  TVC is one of the oldest swim leagues around starting back in the 1960s.  There is a lot of prestige in taking that trophy home with you.  On the podium was NASA won followed by Cullman, Jasper and Oneonta.

Cullman continues to swim strong and fast.  A notable performance was Bennett Glasscock breaking the Senior 100 Freestyle record held by Ryan Akers (1998).  

Cullman Dunks Jasper!

Cullman flexed its muscles showing some depth by winning relays at Jasper. After a disappointing cancel Tuesday night, CST arrived at JST ready to swim. This was a tri meet with Oneonta. Records continue to fall and many swimmers are showing some great mid season form. Most notable performances were Neil Norris in all his events, Eric Pilcher in 13-14 freestyle and Laura Evans in the senior backstroke. The 8-U girls continued to show their dominance.

Anna and Laura Evans not only are sisters but both are great swimmers.

Its all about having fun and swimming fast. Kacie Donaldson does a little "Watusi" before her butterfly race. Whatever works since she swam her best time.

TVC Championships Tuesday night. A classic meet that has been part of CST for 50 years. Look for fast times and hopefully a Championship Trophy.

Medal Meet

In the video Claire Ogstad did what she has been doing now all season.  Winning!  This set the tone for CST in the meet.  It was a very strong showing.

Cullman Swim Team had a great turnout for the Madison Medal Meet.  Warm ups were bright and early starting before 8 am.  The meet got under way on schedule at 9 am quite a change from the summer meets in the evening.

Big one Tuesday night.  Scottsboro.  When is the last time CST beat them?  Its going to be a great meet with a friendly but fierce rival.  Better eat our Wheaties!

CST Wins Tri-Meet

Cullman Swim Team survived a tri-meet with NASA and Oneonta.  North Alabama Swim Association is the combined swim teams from Florence and Sheffield.  This union made a strong showing Tuesday night with CST relying on its relays to win the meet.  Oneonta is a small team but had some great swimmers.

Once again the 8-under girls scored some major points for the team, highlighted by Reese McNeils near record in the freestyle.  Some of the ancient records will fall this summer.  Other super performances included Kacie Donaldson winning the 11-12 girls butterfly with 5 stiches in her foot.  She injured her foot on the side of the pool during warm up, went to UrgentCare got sewed up and returned to win her butterfly.  Now thats tough!

Reese, Kelly, Claire and Reagan are resting before their races.  Nice to see those smiles.

Senior Brian Leiter swam well in his final season giving the senior boys a much needed boost in the relays.  In the picture is Brian and Kyle Richard after their dual in the breaststroke.

The next meet for CST is Madison Medal meet on Saturday.  This meet gives the swimmers a chance to do some USA events that are not done in TVC or ARPA meets.  It also gives more racing to keep sharpening.  Huge meet Tuesday night against Scottsboro, Cullman has to have all the swimmers there and they have to swim their best.  Big test for the team.

Madison Out Swims Cullman

The CST tandem of 8-U and 11-12 Girls made the Madison Swim Team earn their victory Tuesday night.  It was opening night for the 2011 summer season.  Two big teams clashed with MSA showing why they are the best team in the state.

CSA had outstanding performances in all age groups but the 11-12 girls rocked lead by Kasey Donaldson, Anna Evans, Sarah Peel and Morgan Matz. 

New team records fell in the 8-U Girls Medley Relay of Reese McNeil, Kelly Warren, Claire Ogstad and Cabri Adams.  Bennett Glasscock set a new team record in the 15-18 Backstroke.

Cullman will swim a tri meet next Tuesday at the CWAC against North Alabama Swim Association (Florence/Sheffield) and Oneonta. 

Black and Gold

Cullman Swim Team kicks off the 2011 season with the annual Black and Gold meet Tuesday May 31 at the CWAC.  All the swimmers have been anxious to get in the water and begin training for the fast pace of the summer season.  Many swimmers will come into the summer after finishing a strong winter of training with CSA.

CST will be lead by Head Coach Allison Norris.  She will be assisted by Jackie Donaldson and Lisa Martin.  There are also several junior coaches helping.  Coach Allison has been keeping it fun with lots of fun like "Tennis Shoe Tuesdays".

Hosting TVC and State at CWAC this should be a very exciting season in Cullman.

Spring Training

CST starts spring training this week in the phase I like to call, getting into shape to get in shape.  Most of the swimmers have had a break and now with much excitement we get ready for the summer league.  It will be nice to see all the swimmers and families on the pool deck at our great training facility the CWAC.

Heres one of my favorite drills to get us all thinking about having fun and swimming fast!


Butterfly Drill from Carson Glasscock on Vimeo.

CSA Awards

Cullman Swim Association closed out its 2010-11 season with its annual awards party. 60 swimmers and family members attended the Sunday afternoon event. Special awards were given to all the Southeastern and Sectional Qualifiers.

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Anna Evans and Neil Norris led the team this season with their very special qualifying effort at Sectionals. They represented CSA by swimming at these meets and swimming on the highest level. Bennett Glasscock also qualified for Southeastern after aging up into the senior division. Congrats to them on an excellent season.

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An award was given to CSA's dynamic group of 8-under girls. This group all made "A" time standards and every meet they competed they were a force. They are the future of CSA. In this group is Claire Ogstad, Regan Martin, Reese McNeil, Kelly Warren and Cabri Adams.

The team was treated to a motivational talk given by swim mom Kim Warren. Not only being Kelly's mom she was a member of the USA Olympic gymnastic team. Did you know she was NCAA champion her senior year at the University of Alabama? Things will never be the same on the pool deck with our celebrity swim mom!

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Coach Carson presented a PowerPoint presentation to close things out. Included in this were how the team got started all the way to training techniques and progression of some swimmers.

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CSA is done for this season and now the summer league kicks off soon....Here Comes CST!

Southeastern Championships 2011

Cullman swimmers Anna Evans, Neil Norris and Bennett Glasscock competed this past weekend in the 2011 Southeastern Swimming Championships. The meet was hosted by Nashville Aquatic Club in the incredible Caulkins Center Pool.

Modern history was made for Cullman Swimming with Neil Norris making the "A" finals in the 10-under boys 100 freestyle. Norris had many great races competing in a total of seven individual events.

Anna Evans competed in six individual events in the 10-under girls division, making her mark in the CSA record book. Evans had a great first Southeasterns and will be back!

Bennett Glasscock qualified in five individual events making his debut in the senior men's division.

Anna and Neil will be competing in the Age Group Sectionals in Nashville in two weeks. Wow now that's an accomplishment. Sectionals is a taste of swimming on the highest level. Both are swimming many events that required making very fast qualifying times. Congratulations.

Making it to Southeasterns is a big deal and takes a lot of hard work. Its also a lot of fun. These guys are our pioneers for many CSA swimmers in the future.

District Championships Day 1

The Girls relaxing after a great relay performance.

Cullman swimmers dropped time and swam well at the USA District Championships in Tuscaloosa. This is the 8-Under championships since there is no division for them at Southeasterns. The team was lead on day one by Bennett Glasscock winning the Senior 100 Butterfly (SES Cut) and Claire Ogstad finishing 3rd in 50 Breast (Best Time).

Day Two will bring more outstanding performances and hopefully a cut or two. A SES cut gives you a ticket to the Big Dance next weekend in Nashville.

HSA Meet

Coach Jackie giving Kacie Donaldson and Callie Hollingsworth some post race coaching. Both swimmers posted best times in their events, 11-12 girls gonna be a tough age group this summer.

Other highlights from the meet included Anna Evans making a Sectional Cut in girls 10-U 100 Backstroke. CSA now has two swimmers going to Sectionals, quite an accomplishment for our young team.

Next stop on CSA's quest for Southeasterns is the District Championships in Tuscaloosa next weekend. This meet is the 8-U championships and also a last chance for age group swimmers to make SES cut times.

CSA Swimmers EXCEL

Reese McNeel, Abella Skipper, Cabri Adams, Kelly Warren and Reagan Martin enjoying a little warm up before their events at the Excel Aquatics Mardi Gras Invitational. These girls competed very well against some of the fastest girls in SES. Reese set the pace with third places in the 25 and 50 Freestyles. Reese, Cabri, Kelly and Reagan finished 3rd in the 100 Freestyle Relay.

Other highlights from the meet were Sarah Peel swimming a 29 in 50 Freestyle, breaking that huge plateau and Bennett Glasscock finishing 2nd in Senior Men's 100 Backstroke.

All CSA swimmers swam well dropping time and placing well overall in their age groups. The next meet on the schedule is this weekend with the team heading to HSA.

Below swimming 25 fly is Reagan in lane 1 and Reese in lane 2.

Reese and Reagan from Carson Glasscock on Vimeo.

CSA/USA Swimming Pep Rally

Dave Thomas, Director of Sport Development for USA Swimming spent a great day with the swimmers, parents and coaches of Cullman Swim Association. The team now in its third year and second at the new facility has a mission of quality and doing things the right way. Everyone was excited about having Dave coming in from Colorado Springs and discuss our team and educate us on becoming successful.

The day started with a coaches meeting at Cracker Barrel. Coaches Allison, Glen and Carson discussed many topics including ways to get more pool time, high school swimming and better participation at practice and meets.

Never enough time! Just as the coaches meeting got warmed up it was time for afternoon practice. Below Dave is talking to the swimmers before they hit the water about the importance of nutrition, sleep and hydration.

Dave Thomas also brought something special for show and tell. A Gold Medal from the Olympic Trials. Since he is based out of the Olympic training facility he probably sees a few of those. A very special motivation for our swimmers. Pretty cool to wear it even if its two at a time.

After practice we all moved to the front meeting rooms for a pizza party and a talk for the 65 swimmers and parents who attended. Dave discussed why children swim, why they quit, the benefits of swimming, college swimming, responsibilities of the team and many other topics. The swimmers having fun tied all these topics together as critical for success of the swimmer and the team.

It was a fantastic day for Cullman Swim Association and we had a great turnout for the event. Everyone left the CWAC Friday night excited about competitive swimming.

CSA Strong at Baylor

CSA took a small but very strong team to The Nike Winter Invitational at Baylor School this weekend. Participating were Clay McAlpin, Sara Peel, Neil Norris, Chris McAlpin and Bennett Glasscock.

Neil Norris led the team with an incredible 5 first places, proving why he is a premier 10 and under in SES. Sara Peel (11) dropped 2 seconds in 50 breast barely missing the SES cut and finishing a strong 3rd overall. Bennett Glasscock finished 5th in 100 back after a very good 200 IM. Brothers Clay and Chris McAlpin both had best times in several events.

Coach Allison giving some pre race instructions to Sara and Neil following warm ups. It was early mornings being eastern time zone, we must love swimming!

Baylor 50 Free Senior from Carson Glasscock on Vimeo.

Bennett Lane 2 in the Senior Mens 50 Freestyle.