MISSION MARLINS NEWSLETTER

Thanks for your patience and understanding with the wack-a-doodle weather this week. I'm so glad the sun finally decided to shine today at practice! I'm hopeful that means more sunny days are on the horizon!

Congratulations on completing your first week of meets, Marlins! While there are always a few kinks to work out at the beginning of the season, you all showed up to compete! It is important to make every race a learning opportunity. Reflect on each swim and use the experience to better the next one. Remember to listen to your coaches during practice--they're giving you tips on how to become better swimmers, either as a whole practice group or individually.

A special thank you goes to all of the parents who stepped up to make the meets run smoothly! We couldn't do what we do without you! We recognize that many of you are new to this sport and we appreciate your willingness to step up and help.

Please continue to communicate with the coaches when your swimmer will be absent from a meet. The easiest way to do this is to mark your swimmer as ATTENDING THE MEET or NOT ATTENDING THE MEET for each meet in Swimtopia. You can also shoot Coach Katie an email as well.

- Save the dates:

• Picture Day is scheduled for THIS Wednesday, June 17th. Practice schedules will be slightly adjusted. Please see the schedule below!
• NO PRACTICE Friday, July 3rd! Enjoy the holiday weekend!
• Pre-competitive Swim Meet (For GREEN Teamers Only) is Monday, July 6th at Homestead Country Club.
• Championships are Tuesday, 7/14, and Thursday, 7/16 (during the day). Please keep these dates open. These will be day meets, not evening meets, so letting you know now to plan accordingly.
• End of the Season Picnic/Awards ceremony is Friday, July 17th at 7pm! More details to be announced.

Tuesday, 6/16: Regular Practice; 10 & Under Swimmers compete vs. Homestead at Mission Family Aquatic Center

Wednesday, 6/17: Picture Day Practice Schedule; See below - things will look slightly different today!

Thursday, 6/18: Regular Practice; 11 & Older Swimmers compete vs. Homestead at Homestead Country Club

Friday, 6/19: Regular Practice

Tuesday, 6/9: MMSC - 124, WHT - 151

Thursday, 6/11: MMSC - 460 , WHT - 266

Combined Score: MMSC - 584 , WHT - 417

New Level II Times:

Maren Myers – 25 Free

Clay Kowalski – 25 Free, 25 Back

Caroline Clutter – 50 Free

Weston Anderson – 50 Free

Finn Alexander – 50 Free, 50 Back

Thomas Lantz – 100 IM

Madelyn Nichols – 50 Back

Hezzie Bloss – 25 Breast

Isaac Hrabe – 50 Breast

Ian Gonzalez – 200 Free, 100 IM, 100 Free

Eliana Gonzalez – 50 Free, 50 Fly

Nicholas Cara – 50 Free, 50 Back

Ella Tylicki – 50 Free

Sam Trost – 50 Free, 50 Back

Hadley Sawyer – 50 Back

Theo Datu – 50 Back

Nancy Logan – 100 Back, 100 Breast

Vera Thomas – 50 Fly

How are our meets scored? Most of our meets consist of two teams, and are called “Dual Meets.” Points are tabulated as follows: Relay events receive 7 points for first place only while individual events receive 5 points for first place, 3 points for second place, and 1 point for third place.

Who gets a ribbon? Ribbons are awarded for swimmers placing 1st-6th places overall in their event. Sometimes, the swimmers are competing against 20 or more swimmers. Wow! Relays get ribbons for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.

What is a Novice time? Novice times are labeled as “NOV” on the meet results. The “NOV” is a time that is achieved that qualifies that swimmer to swim that particular event in Championships at the end of the season. 15-18 year olds are not eligible for the novice category.

What is a Level II time? Level II times are labeled as “II” and are a faster time than Novice Times. Level II swimmers swim in separate events than novice swimmers. These times are set by the MoKan Swim League and can be found HERE.

What is an “A” time? “A” times are labeled with an “A” and are even faster times than Level II times. These times are set by USA Swimming.

**FUN FACT** Mission Pool is the only 25 meter pool in our league. All of the other pools are 25 yards. A yard pool is shorter than a meter pool. When looking at your swimmer's meet results, make sure you are comparing them with the correct type of standard.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026: 10 and under swimmers compete against Homestead Country Club at Mission Family Aquatic Center **Chick-fil-a will be at this meet, starting at 5:30pm!**

Thursday, June 18, 2026: 11 and older swimmers compete vs Homestead Country Club at Homestead (4100 Homestead Ct. Prairie Village, KS 66208)

For all swim meets, please arrive no later than 5:15 P.M. – Warm-ups begin at 5:30 P.M.

The meet begins at 6:00 P.M. – Please be on time!! Parking is always an issue…please consider carpooling and head to the meet with plenty of time.

Things to keep in mind for swim meets:

- Consider keeping your belongings in a trash bag or water-resistant bag.

- Bring extra towels, as swimmers will be entering and exiting the water throughout the meet.

- Bring warm clothing. Even during the summer, when the sun starts to set, the temperatures start to drop.

- Bring a water bottle and a healthy snack. Keep in mind that trash should not be left in the team area.

- Eat a light dinner no later than 4:30.

- Try to limit your time in the sun on meet days.

- Label EVERYTHING!

- Do not bring anything to the swim meet that cannot get wet. Swimmers are responsible for lost or damaged belongings.

- Please notify Katie ASAP if you are unable to attend the meet.

- Meet entries are posted during practice on the day of the meet. Swimmers will check their events and Coach Katie will send out meet entries via Remind, as well.

- PLEASE do not leave the swim meet early without checking out with Coach Katie. This is super important so that swimmers can participate in relays and we don't have to declare a last minute scratch because someone left early.

From HCC Marketing Team:

Due to the size of our parking lot, we highly recommend arriving early and carpooling when possible.

"Overflow parking is available AFTER 5 PM along the south side of Homestead Court for roughly 10 number of vehicles. We kindly ask all attendees to please abide by any no-parking signs along this road as a courtesy to our neighbors and to avoid being ticketed. There will not be an announcement if you're parking in a no parking zone - you'll be ticketed.

Indian Hills Middle School on the next block north, also allows us to use their parking lot.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Let us know if you have any questions."

When trying to find parking for meets at Mission Family Aquatic Center, please be respectful of the "No Parking" signs that are posted on side streets for our swim meets. These are put up by the police, so it is obviously not recommended you park there. There is an overflow lot just east of City Hall near Martway. There are neighborhood side streets you can park on, but it's further south towards Shawnee Mission Parkway. As we maintain a positive relationship with the city, this is something easy we can do. If there's a sign - no parking. Thank you!!

Picture day is THIS Wednesday, June 17th. Due to the size of our team, our overlapping practices, and doing our best to keep the arrival times for families as close to practice times as possible, we aren't taking a LARGE team photo and are only doing individual/buddy/sibling pictures. Below are TWO important things to pay attention to.

1. HOW TO ORDER PICTURES

This info is directly from our photo company:

Swim Club Portraits – Selfie Check-In Required

To help families quickly access their athlete's photo gallery after picture day, we ask that

all athletes complete a Selfie Check-In before photos are taken.

• Why complete the Selfie Check-In?

• Helps the photographer correctly identify each athlete.

• Speeds up delivery of individual photo galleries.

• Ensures photos are sent to the correct family.

• How it works:

• Upload a current selfie of the athlete (parents may upload on their behalf).

• The selfie is used only as a reference to match the athlete with their portrait photos.

• The process is secure, quick, and easy.

• Complete your Selfie Check-In here:
• https://www.quic.pics/checkin/27375774

Questions?

• Contact Brock Stubbs at:

• Email: help@pecphoto.net

• Phone: 913.884.3379

Thank you for helping make picture day run smoothly!

2. ADJUSTED PICTURE DAY SCHEDULE

**Please arrive on time; the rest of the times for the morning are approximate.**

Blue Team Practice: 7-7:40am

7:40am - Blue and Red Team Individual Pictures

Red Team Practice: 8:00(ish)-8:45am

8:45am - Orange Team Individual Pictures

Orange Team Practice: 9:00(ish) - 9:45am

10:00am - White Team, Yellow Team AND Green Team Individual Pictures

White AND Yellow Team Practice: 10:25(ish)-11:00am

There will NOT be Green Team Practice on this day.

• I have TWO Male Size 30 Jammers available for sale for $10/each. Both are black and blue of various designs. Contact Coach Katie if interested and I'll get you in contact with the seller!

1. Green Team: Green team is considered our Pre-Competitive team. The only meet they participate in is the league provided Pre-Competitive Meet, which is on Monday, July 6th at Homestead Country Club.

2. Volunteering: If you are the parent of a swimmer who participates only in Green Team, your volunteer commitment is to help at the Pre-Competitive Meet. As I've reviewed volunteer sign-ups to ensure all positions are covered, I've noticed that some Green Team parents have generously volunteered at our regular Tuesday or Thursday meets, even though their child is not competing in those events. If this is you (thank you!) you can remove your name from any of the remaining Tues/Thurs night meets so our parents with participants on Tuesdays/Thursdays can fulfill their commitment. Green team only parents: If you have already volunteered at one of our meets this past week, please consider your volunteer commitment fulfilled. Thank you for your willingness to step in and support the team—I'm so sorry if there has been confusion about this! Hoping this helps clear things up for our green team families.

For families with a swimmer in both Green Team and one of our competitive practice groups (Yellow, White, Orange, Red & Blue), we ask that you fulfill the volunteer requirement of two shifts for the summer.

3. Competing in Swim Meets: If your swimmer is part of one of our competitive practice groups (Yellow, White, Orange, Red, or Blue), we expect them to participate in our weekly swim meets. As outlined in the parent agreement during registration, meet participation is an important part of being a member of the competitive team and is not optional. Of course, we understand that circumstances such as vacations, illness, injuries, camps, or other unavoidable conflicts may occasionally prevent attendance.

We recognize that trying something new and competing can feel intimidating. Many swimmers experience nerves before a race, and that's completely normal! The best way to build confidence is to take that first step and give it a shot! Swim meets provide a wonderful opportunity for athletes to showcase the skills they've been working so hard on in practice, set personal goals, and celebrate their progress alongside teammates.

Our summer season is short and goes by extremely quickly, so we encourage every swimmer to take advantage of as many opportunities to compete as possible. We love watching our swimmers grow, improve, and achieve things they may not have thought were possible.

This worked so well last year, so we are going to try this again. This fundraiser is a quick & easy one that bonus, has amazing popcorn! 50% of what we earn with this fundraiser will go straight back to us! This is through Double Good Popcorn. It's a 7-day virtual fundraiser that can be a HUGE success! The website, with the history of this fundraiser, calculates that if just 20 people really participate in this fundraiser and share, our team could earn over $2000. And we have 255 swimmers! I think this has the potential to be AWESOME for us!!! Check out the flyer below for the easy to follow steps and for more info!

Begins: Monday, June 22nd at 1:00PM

Ends: Monday, June 29th at 1:00PM

This fundraiser can be amazingly successful - but it's only possible with your help! It's super easy - follow the steps provided in the flyer below. The most important thing you can do for this to be successful is SHARE, SHARE, SHARE! Once you download the app and enter our team store code, it will give you a sharable link to use.

**My favorite part of this fundraiser is that it doesn't require a lot of "extra" - just sharing the link. Let's do this Mission Marlins!!!**

• @swimblue26 (for Blue Team swimmers and families)
• @swimred26 (for Red Team swimmers and families)
• @swimora26 (for Orange Team swimmers and families)
• @swimwhi26 (for White Team swimmers and families)
• @swimyel26 (For Yellow Team swimmers and families)
• @swimgre26 (for Green Team swimmers and families)

Each Friday, the coaches recognize swimmers from each practice group for their outstanding weekly attendance, hard work, and positive attitudes. It is always a VERY hard decision, as we are full of AMAZING young people! These swimmers were recognized as this week's Top Tankers:

- BLUE: Annika Berg, Charlie Holloway, Curtis O'Laughlin, Sydney Tann, Lauren Trost

- RED: Harrison Hrabe, Bridget Kellerman, Cade Simonsen

- ORANGE: Theo Datu, Clark Kellerman, Maureen McCauley, Vera Thomas

- WHITE: Anna Mae Bright, Maren Myers, Jack Simonsen

- YELLOW: Henry Demo, Kenna Hansen, Livia McLarren, Zeke Schwenk

- GREEN: Lucas Bett, Jane Boyle, Pippa Carter-Brown, Henry Snider, Rylee Vincent

Top Tanker recipients need to return the shirt they were given next Friday CLEAN so we can award more Top Tankers. Thank you!!!

Top Tankers are sponsored by: Gabrielle Morris Real Estate by Compass Realty 🏠

Blue Team: I Believe I Can Fly Club (Captain's Class) - Members of this club are able to swim a 25 butterfly without taking a breath. Welcome to the club, blue teamers!

Lucy Adamo, Emily Atchity, Ashlyn Beckley, Joseph Beecher, Annika Berg, Tyson Boyer, Clara Breneman, Elli Brunsvold, Dominic Cara, Cassidy Carter, Ella Clutter, Ian Gonzalez, Maddox Harvey, Charlie Holloway, Juliana Jamison, Kaitlyn Kellerman, Jack Kingston, Darcy Kroening, Leah Kroening, Quinn Laing, Izzy Nely, Abe Nissen, Caroline Nissen, Zoey O'Keefe, Curtis O'Laughlin, Graham Peoples, Dakota Rominger, Declan Rydzel, Calvin Sawyer, Landon Solenberger, Eileen Smith, Blake Thompson, Lauren Trost, Ella Tylicki, Mirah Wade, Dale Williams, Hazel Williams, Alex Wingert, Zachary Wingert, Calvin Winkler

Red Team: Super Duper 50 Free Club - Red Teamers are given the opportunity to join this club by swimming a 50 freestyle at practice from a start either under 40 seconds (Captain's Class) or under 35 seconds (Captain's First Class). Welcome to the club, red teamers!

Captain's Class (Under 40 seconds):

Layla Busche, Nicholas Cara, Ellie Collier, Cale Connell, Isaac Datu, Morgan Dennis, Bexley Geis, Eliana Gonzalez, Eliana Guild, Luke Swob, Sam Trost

Captain's First Class (Under 35 seconds):

Charlie Gibson, Elaine Giroux, Mitch O'Laughlin

Many of you have asked how you can help out the team. I've started this Amazon Wish List for this year. There is absolutely NO pressure for any of this, but wanted to create it for those who have asked. I will add on to this as we go. Thank you for supporting the Mission Marlins!

WOWWWWW - thanks for all the contributions last week. What an amazing community we are. 🩵

Gabrielle Morris Real Estate with Compass Realty 🏠