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Name:
| Rachael Ballard
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High School:
| Old Mill (represent, yo) |
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Years on SPY:
| 6 |
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College Attending in Fall 2008:
| I Have no clue. I have a feeling I'm going to be north...
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Hobbies when not swimming:
| Eating. Being engulfed in a school book, boy hunting,
attempting to brush my hair, cleaning houses.
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Most memorable swim:
| When I made Short Course for the first time. I was seeded
first at Districts for 100 Breast at finals and needed to go a little faster
than I went in prelims to get my cut. I went and swam my race and it popped
up on the board 1:09.99, the cut exactly. Then I proceeded to dance with
Jim.
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Most memorable/
funny moment:
| Wow. There are probably a million. The one I can pick out the easiest would probably be when my lane,
lane 3, (lane 3 love), made “Lane 3 Nation.” Muha was president because she’s bossy so it was more like a dictatorship.
I was treasurer because I’m Jewish (and I guess that makes me frugal?) I can’t remember everyone else’s “position in
office” but Muha made is necessary for the citizens of our country to take an IQ test and meet a standard. They also
had to be attractive! This was all decided in between breaks on the wall during some crazy kick set.
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Best event:
| 100 Breast, does 50 Breast count? |
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Favorite set:
| Well, of course, first I love stations, especially with my lane playing “Telephone” under water and doing
blind relay starts. But secondly, I actually like the 30x100 that we would do with Chet. Mostly because he called my
“Grandma” and he is hot! |
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Least favorite set:
| Grinders. For those of you who don’t know, it’s where we start out with tons of freestyle and then
decrease and increase the amount of stroke, which is usually on an insane time. Oh wait, and running 2.6 miles on the bike
trail and THEN proceeding to swim a timed mile (this happened yesterday and I can NOT move). |
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Pre-swim rituals:
| Tapping my goggles excessively, listening to some ridiculous songs with Theresa and Lindsay,
stretching (making fun of the ones that jump around like the deck is hot) and dancing behind the blocks. And of course,
I HAVE to wave “Hi!” to Jim just before I swim. Even at Nationals, I made him. I think he was kind of embarrassed. |
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Favorite meal before a meet:
| uhh, a favorite meal? That’s a hard one for me. I would have to pick team dinners. It nice to actually see
my teammates all dressed up in clothes. As Melanie would say, “Aw you look so pretty dry!”
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Advice for next year's graduating class:
| I guess I could say to be emotionally strong. There are things down this road called life that will knock you right on your
butt, whether it’s swim practice or school or something more serious. Just remember “Yesterday’s history, Tomorrow’s a mystery.”
Make choices that you can live with in the future because you never know what will happen the next day. No regrets. Love you all.
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Name:
| Lindsay Calimer
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High School:
| Severna Park High School |
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Years on SPY:
| 12
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College Attending in Fall 2008:
| University of Tampa
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Hobbies when not swimming:
| Walking around aimlessly finding hubcaps, ghetto sledding, making birthday cakes and wearing
star sunglasses, having fun sleepovers with waxing machines(spilling wax everywhere and having to eat popsicles
to scrape the wax off the floor), taking pictures, getting rid of killing cockroaches, finding leonburger xing
signs, getting stuck in elevators with Melanie, playing with lucky goggles!!!
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Most memorable/
funny moment:
| When my swim suit ripped in the middle of practice right down the middle of my butt... I just sat there on the side of the pool and yelled to Crystee "Um... I can't swim" The entire practice was staring at me wondering what was going on. Finally Brooke brought me out a drag suit and I finished pracitce.
When I was like 10 years old a big group of girls did a dance to the Barbie girl song. We all dressed in pink and danced
around for Ken! It was great.
Ken's Barbie stories!!!!
the day we made lane 3 nation.... I'm in charge of the mafia
Melanies ketchup story of how my race was going to go
getting lost in quail land in North Carolina with Melanie's mom saying... "Oh just one more light and I think I know where we are"
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Most memorable swim:
| My most memorable swim was the first time i swam 200 fly. I was 9 years old and asked Jim if I could
swim it. He pretty much looked at me like i was crazy and said... sure if you really want to. After the race everyone
clapped for me because I was so little and I finished so far behind everyone else.
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Best event:
| 100/200 fly |
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Favorite set:
| Over unders... we never do them anymore |
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Least favorite set:
| 14x400 IM's (by Harry Chester Goudy the Fifth).... it was the hardest thing that I have ever done in
my entire life, but after I did it I felt like I had acomplished something
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Pre-swim rituals:
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Listen to awesome music such as Hanson, Spice Girls, or "The Worlds Greatest" by R Kelly, I'm always excited and jump
around like a crazy energizer bunny.
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Favorite meal before a meet:
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pasta.... especially if it is at a team dinner with lots of friends
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Advice for next year's graduating class:
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Everyone plateaus... it stinks I'm not going to lie. But you have to stay strong and stick with it even if it seems like
nothing is ever going to get better. Even if it takes 3 years to get a best time again don't get discouraged. You always
have your friends... don't swim for your parents or your coaches, swim because it's what you want to do.
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Name:
| Marianna Kogut
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High School:
| Glen Burnie High School |
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Years on SPY:
| 8 years (2000-2008) |
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College Attending in Fall 2008:
| Towson University, Towson Tiger swimming
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Hobbies when not swimming:
| Going to the movies with Katie and Kelsey and sleeping.
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Most memorable swim:
| My most memorable swim would have to be at 2007 Short Course. I swam 200 fly on the last day of the
meet and I was pretty excited before I swam. As I was swimming I felt really strong and I felt pretty good because I was at
least five yards ahead of everybody on the first 50. It was not until I saw Brooke Besche and my brother, who you never see
cheering for anyone, screaming for me to go faster that I knew I was doing really well. When I finished I looked up at the
clock and I saw that I had dropped my time by four seconds to a 2:08.75. I finished 18th in my event and I got into the finals
program. The reason this was my most memorable swim was because it was so unexpected and I realized that I could be fast enough
to final at Short Course. I realized that all of those early mornings and doubles were worth it.
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Most memorable/
funny moment:
| The most memorable (painful) moment was last year before swim practice. I was doing dryland with Katie Muha, like I was supposed
to, and I was lucky enough to have Katie spacing out on me. We were doing chest passes with the gigantic 10 pound medicine ball
and my hair fell out of my hairtie. After I passed the medicine ball to Katie, I told her to hold on a second. She was not
listening to me, of course, she was not even looking at me (I guess something shiny caught her eye). As I was putting up my
hair she threw the medicine ball towards me and it hit me directly in the stomach. As I am holding my stomach in agony and
pain, Katie decides to become alert and ask, "Are you okay?" I wanted to ask her, "What do you think? You just hit me in
the gut with an incredibly heavy medicine ball. I am perfect." Unfortunately, it was a little hard to talk so I just groaned
at her.
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Best event:
| 200 Butterfly (I can't really do anything else.) |
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Favorite set:
| Stations, of course. There is nothing better than coming to swim practice exhausted and Crystee telling you that
the practice is stations. Completing five relaxing sets and getting individual critique on your strokes is much more fun than
12-200s stroke. |
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Least favorite set:
| 12-200s fly on the 2:45, without a doubt, was the worst set ever invented. I love swimming fly in swim
practice but when it is 5 a.m. and I am exhausted the last thing I want to do is sprint 2400 yards fly |
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Pre-swim rituals:
| There is nothing worse than trying to swim with your goggles in your mouth, around your neck, or just filled
with water, trust me. That is why, before every swim, I press my goggles against my face so hard that my eyes are being sucked
out of my eyesockets. (I am a little bit paranoid of not knowing where the wall is when I am swimming.)
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Favorite meal before a meet:
| Anything that makes me feel full.
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Advice for next year's graduating class:
| Find time to sleep!
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Name:
| Rachael Miller
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High School:
| Northeast Senior High or "No 'feast" as some Pasadenians call it |
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Years on SPY:
| Siete! |
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College Attending in Fall 2008:
| Hogwarts!!! No, seriously. Well, I have four first choices, so hopefully I can make a
decision by May =). Either Towson University Honors College, Washington College,
St. Mary's College of Maryland, or Sarah Lawrence College. Wherever the road takes me, I plan to study Classic
and Modern Languages and Cultures, with concentrations in every language possible. I shall take over the world with
my super language proficiency abilities! I'll probably concentrate in Spanish (since I've been studying it for 7 years?)
and Near Eastern Languages( especially Arabic!)
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Hobbies when not swimming:
| Well, when I'm not hovering over derivatives of trigonometric functions or wondering why Bernarda
Alba locks Maria Josefa in a closet, I usually read. I love books. I don't go to the mall to shop for clothes; I
spend hours in Borders. I also daydream, catch up on sleep, write, take photographs, chill with my mother, and have
movie nights with my friends.
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Most memorable swim:
| Hmmm I suppose 200 fly. It was a mental and physical challenge, but it was magnificent when I reached
the finish.
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Most memorable/
funny moment:
| : Oh gosh...hahaha...I remember back in 2002 at Wilton, Kori and I missed the part on the door that
said "Men's room" and we walked in on, what do you know, changing men. But I also remember when Chet first coached,
when he was still a senior in high school. He used to give us an impossible set, and then leave us to suffer while
he got a Slurpee. But there's always funny moments and I hope there will be more to come.
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Best event:
| Probably 100 back or 100 fly |
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Favorite set:
| Stations! Or anything that involves a choice. I hate being told exactly what to do. |
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Least favorite set:
| Anything freestyle= BORING |
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Pre-swim rituals:
| Before practice: pray to God that the sets won't hurt me. Before a meet: I have this OCD thing with my
cap, goggles, and drink. I have to put them on at a certain time. Too strange to explain. Wave to my mother!
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Favorite meal before a meet:
| Anthing edible will do.
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Advice for next year's graduating class:
| Make sure you have fun because it's not worth it if you're treating swimming or life as a job or task
to be completed. Don't be afraid to stand out of the crowd because well-behaved people never make history. And
remember,"Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. He must also regulate them
adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's
character is, the better it fits him." Cicero. I like that quote. =)
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Name:
| Katie Muha
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High School:
| Severna Park |
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Years on SPY:
| 6
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College Attending in Fall 2008:
| No idea, but I will be swimming wherever I go, that I know for sure.
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Hobbies when not swimming:
| Reading, going to the movies with Marianna and Kelsey all of the time (at least once every single weekend),
babysitting, spending over $50 at the Dollar Store with Marianna…
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Most memorable swim:
| The Sunday of Raleigh of 2006 where in prelims I swam my 200 back, going for the SCYN cut of 2:12.09,
and swam a 2:12.11. Then later that night at finals, I swam it again, as hard as I could, to the point where I thought I
was going to die in the pool, but when I was done swimming, the clock for my lane did not work. Jim !RAN! across the pool
deck to the officials table to see what my time was because I came in fifth and the girl in fourth made the cut I wanted,
but the girl in sixth (Caroline) didn’t. It turns out that I made the cut and I ran up to Jim, he was ecstatic, and the
few people that were left on the last night of Raleigh bombarded me, a person who does not like physical contact.
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Most memorable/
funny moment:
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Well I would like to first comment with Rachael’s by adding that in our nation, the boys were all locked underground and
only brought up when it was necessary for their presence, therefore there would be no unnecessary drama, and only the
intelligent human beings would be allowed to roam free. When we were at MD States of 2006, at St. Mary’s College, Marianna
and I were walking to the locker rooms after we were done swimming to get changed, and once we got in, took showers and were
getting changed, she realized that she had forgotten something. Or to be more precise, that she had dropped something on the
walk over, her underwear. And, because this is how life works, it had fallen right next to a group of officials. She walked
over to them, dropped her towel, on ‘accident’ of course, and casually picked up both the towel and the underwear.
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Best event:
| 200 Back |
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Favorite set:
| any amount of 500’s stroke |
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Least favorite set:
| breaststroke |
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Pre-swim rituals:
| Before I swim, I only worry about one thing, not to psych myself out, which does not always work. |
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Favorite meal before a meet:
| orange juice
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Advice for next year's graduating class:
| Be smart. Do not do anything that you would regret. If you aren’t telling your parents what you are
doing, it is obviously wrong. There is a reason that the coaches ask us to do the things which they ask of us, we need
to simply do it, without questioning their intelligence and the reasoning behind it. They actually know what they are
doing, most of the time.
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Name:
| Ashley Mullen
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High School:
| Chesapeake Senior High School |
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Years on SPY:
| 8
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College Attending in Fall 2008:
| I haven't decided yet.. Either East Carolina University or Arizona State. |
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Hobbies when not swimming:
| Spending all of my parents money, shopping, tanning, downloading music, hanging out with friends,
sitting at the computer for hours at a time, taking pictures (generally of myself), text messaging until my parents yell at me
when they see the bill..
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Most memorable swim:
| The Saturday night of Winterfest 2005 where in prelims, I went a 2:30.95 in my 200 breast, trying to go for
the SCYN cut. I was milliseconds away, but didn't make it. Then later that night at finals, I came back and swam a 2:28.51. I
think my mouth stayed open for a solid 5 minutes. I couldn't stop smiling.. and that's the only time you know the coaches won't
yell at you.
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Most memorable/
funny moment:
| Lane 2, everyday. (Lane 2 dyNASTY) Something funny happens each practice, no matter what mood we're in.
But it's usually Caroline, Kori, or myself saying/doing something absolutely ridiculous, Emily laughing at us and Christina looking
at us like we're crazy. But, we have fun! :)
Everyone running from the rent-a-cop at SCYN 2007. No one was suppose to be in the hotel pool after 12 a.m. and of course,
there were about 8 teams down there all after 12 a.m. When the rent-a-cop came down, everyone ran. It had to be one of the
funniest things.. Especially seeing the kid next to me, fall over the gate, tear open his knee and knocking out the whole
back side of the hotels power. Not to mention, Brooke made Rachael, Caroline and myself jump over the wall to first get into
the pool (since it was after 12 a.m.).. let's just say, Brooke showed us we could never make it in the Naval Academy. Btw, Jim..
It was after all of our swims, so don't worry :)
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Best event:
| 200 Breaststroke |
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Favorite set:
| Starts, turns & finishes. The only time we do this is 1-2 days before a meet.. Or if we annoy the coaches
bad enough, but even that doesn't work. |
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Least favorite set:
| Anything freestyle. Sometimes these random 500's will get thrown up on the board and let's just say I've
never been in anything over a 200 freestyle at a meet.. that certainly is for a reason and the only reason I'm in freestyle
at a meet is because there's nothing else to put me in. Now that says something.. |
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Pre-swim rituals:
| Usually yawning and stretching at the same time. Standing there with a clueless look on my face. Starting a
random conversation with the girl next to me. Tightening/fixing my goggles until I get onto the block. Then picking out all of
my wedgies..front, back and both sides. (You can never be too sure what's going to happen when you dive in.) |
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Favorite meal before a meet:
| Usually an entire thing of grapes, carrots with ranch dressing, a mini-bagel, my lemon-lime
Gatorade
and maybe a chewy bar.. depending on if I think I can handle it after eating all of that.
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Advice for next year's graduating class:
| Always have your cap on when Crystee says "It's time to get in!" because if you're standing
there with it on, it looks like you're making the attempt to get in, so she usually doesn't say anything.. but when that cap isn't on,
be prepared!
Don't blame the coaches if you're not getting faster. They're always there telling you what you do wrong and how to fix it. Take
that information in.. and do each set like they want it done. As much as you don't want to, it'll help you in the long run.
Remember, "pain is temporary, pride is forever."
And lastly, don't ever let somebody tell you, you can't do something. If you want something, go get it. Don't let him, or her, or
anyone tell you, you can't. "It's the magic of risking everything for a dream, that nobody sees but you."
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