HISTORY

The YMCA Bears closed out their inaugural season (2004) with a 6th place finish on Day 1 of the City Meet with 117 points. They finished 16th on Day 2 & 3, with 373 points; only 7 behind 15th place Starmount CC, and 13 behind 14th place Westside. Great job, Bears! The last 2 weeks of the season spent on starts (with those whistles), turns, finishes, and relay takeoffs really paid off.

We were very proud of sharing the Stancil award for Sportsmanship with the Cardinal Country Club. We collected over $530 our first year for Swim for Cancer, and plan on improving that total as well.

The YMCA Bears established team traditions of enjoying fellowship and food with their opponents at both Away and Home meets. Thank you Forest Oaks CC, Battle Forest and Starmount CC for making us feel welcome this summer. We enjoyed a team Pasta Psych Up Potluck before City Meet, and a season end Banquet.

At our Banquet we honored the following swimmers:
MVP Day 1: Brea Richardson
MVP Day 2 & 3: Shona Fenner
Most Improved: Ricardo Mira-Diaz, Nick Willard
Team Spirit / Caring: Nicole Shaw
Hard Worker/ Responsibility: Eden Franz
Sportsmanship/ Respect: Rachel Nulty, Zach Lemmon
Coaches Award/ All around YMCA values: Mitchel Cole, Grace Culver

We also thanked Reid Phillips, who so ably presented our case to the CSA, and served as photographer; Debbie Guttentag, also capturing photos of every single swimmer; and Ron Young, who served as our referee.

We honored our first Golden Bear Award Parent Volunteers, for outstanding service:
Julia Carlson, Gay James, Oneta Manuel and Karen Pippen-Roberson.
Many, many other parents gave generously and willingly of their time and talents- thank you all.

53 swimmers made history this year.... we are looking for a few more, join us in 2005 !

THE YMCA BEARS 2005

The Bears had a terrific 2005 season from start to finish. Our numbers grew and by the end of the season there were 46 active swimmers on the team. The Swim For Cancer fundraiser was a great success and the team combined to raise $1,654.28, about three times what the team raised in 2004. The City Championship Meet, which was held July 14th through July 16th, is actually two meets. On "Day 1", the meet for beginner swimmers, the Bears place 11th out of the 22 CSA teams. In the more advanced meet, "Day 2 and 3", the Bears placed 13th and won the “Most Improved Team” award by increasing our number of points by over 70% from last year. The season end awards presented at the Banquet were: Most improved female - Chelsea Banks
Most improved male - Andre Harris
Most valuable Day 1 Swimmer - Maricarmen Diaz
Most valuable female - Brea Richardson
Most valuable male - McKenzie Cole
Coaches' Award - Ryann Reid
Coaches' Award - DJ Carlson
Leadership Award - James WilliamsAlso, DJ, James, and Sarah Williams were awarded for reaching the $100 club in
Swim for Cancer and Ryann awarded for reaching the $500 club.-Daniel