Hi Blue Crabs! 

While we were certainly sad not to be swimming outside this week, the Blue Crabs brought the sunshine and put together an incredible meet! We celebrated Coach Brad’s birthday in style by defeating the Braddock Heights Barracudas by a final score of 339 to 289! You can check out the full results here and photos from the meet here.

There is A LOT of important information below, so sit down somewhere comfortable and happy reading! This email contains shout-outs, information about our home meet against the VOU Seahawks, the pool party after the meet, our 2025 team picture, a link to our apparel store, some details about the Relay Carnival, and our Mini Crabs and Blue Crabs schedule for the week. 

SHOUT-OUTS

Once again, our swimmers put together some outstanding accomplishments with 102 swimmers combining for an impressive 202 personal bests (full list here). Our PR Pot was getting plenty of use on Saturday! This week we had four Blue Crabs finish in 1^st place in all four of their individual events, scoring 20 points each—Andrew McDonald, Alberto Nevares, Carmen Nevares, and Spencer Stanley, and two more (Kyleigh Kauflin and Conner Stanley) added 18 points to our lovely total. Alberto Nevares also equaled a league-wide record set all the way back in 2016, swimming the 9-10 boys 25m backstroke in 16.28 seconds! Congratulations, Alberto and to all of our swimmers!

Several of our swimmers added their names to our impressive list of all-star qualifiers. This week’s first time all-star qualifiers are Aubree Carr (25 breast), Lilly Higgins (25 breast), Abby Mosher (25 free, 25 back), Emma Twilley (50 free), and Collins Wright (25 free, 25 breast). This brings our total number of all-star qualifiers to 31 swimmers (see chart below listing initial all-star qualification by meet). Kudos to all of these swimmers and to our fantastic coaches who have helped these swimmers get there!

A special volunteer shout-out goes to the birthday boy! No, not that one (looking at you, Coach Brad), the other one—Brian Polesnak—who not only served as the safety marshal for both halves of the meet but did it on his very own birthday! Thank you, Brian! 

MEET VS THE VOU SEAHAWKS

This Saturday will be the first-ever all-VOU summer swim meet! We are excited to host the Seahawks on Saturday, June 28! Our meet theme will be a Locals Luau! Break out the leis, grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts, and tropical vibes because we’re bringing the island spirit poolside this weekend!

Swimmer Entry: Whether you plan to attend the meet or not, please take a moment to declare whether your swimmer will be “attending” or “not attending” the meet. In order to participate in the meet, this must be completed no later than Tuesday, June 24 at 10:00 PM.

Volunteer: If you haven’t yet had the opportunity, please take a moment to sign-up to help out at this week’s meet. Thank you!

GroupMe: We will once again be using GroupMe to call swimmers to Clerk of Course. You can join the Announcement-Only Event Group for this Saturday's meet using this link.

PARTY IN THE VOU!

We are so excited to not only be hosting our sister team, the Seahawks, for an all-VOU meet this coming Saturday, but we are also going to have them stick around for a pool party! We’ll be providing pizza for all swim team families and our teams will have exclusive use of the pool until it opens at 2 PM. We hope you can stick around for the fun!

2025 TEAM PHOTO

Thank you so much for your patience last week as we assembled our swimmers for the 2025 Blue Crabs Team Photo. It turned out great! You can download the file here.

TEAM STORE

Our team apparel store is back open for a limited time only! Grab your gear, show your team spirit, and rep the Blue Crabs in style. And we now have Crab Shack T-Shirts available! Store closes on Saturday, June 28, and once it closes, it's gone — so don’t miss out!

RELAY CARNIVAL

We are super excited about the Eastside Splashdown, a Relay Carnival, that will be held on July 1 at our pool. This event should be a blast, but given the number of teams involved the number of swimmers who can participate is limited. However, we need to know if your swimmer is available to attend next Tuesday night ASAP. Please take a moment to indicate your availability for this meet no later than this Thursday, June 26, and then our coaches will determine who will be able to participate. Stay tuned for more information regarding this fun and unique event!

MINI CRABS

Mini Crab practices will be available this week on Monday morning and evening, Wednesday morning and evening, Thursday evening, and Friday morning. We look forward to seeing our Mini Crabs continue to progress!

🦀THE WEEKLY CRAB🦀

We have another full week of practices ahead of us! Please remember the following about our practice procedures:

• Please remember to sign-in for all practices that are held when the pool is closed. Sign-in is once per-family, per-day. Thank you!
• On Monday and Wednesday afternoons (days that the pool is open) you must bring your pool pass and enter through the normal pool entrance. All other practices are held when the pool is closed, where you will check-in and enter at the Blue Crab Gate.
• If you’d like to hang out at the pool after our morning practices end and the pool opens at 12 PM, you will need to first leave the pool deck and then come back in with your pool pass through the regular pool entrance.

MONDAY | JUNE 23

Morning Practice Session:

• 9-10 year olds practice from 8:30-9:15 AM
• 11+ practice from 9:20-10:10 AM
• Mini Crabs practice from 10:20-10:50 AM
• 8 and unders practice from 11:00-11:45 AM

Afternoon Practice Session (you must bring your pool pass):

• 9-10 year olds practice from 5:00-5:40 PM
• 8 & under practice from 5:45-6:25 PM
• Mini Crabs practice from 6:35-7:05 PM
• 11 & over practice from 7:10-8:00 PM

TUESDAY | JUNE 24

Please declare your swimmer as either “attending the meet” or “not attending the meet” by 10:00 PM on Tuesday.

Stroke Clinic with the Seahawks:

• 9-10 year olds from 4:00-4:50 PM
• 8 and unders from 5:00-5:50 PM
• 11-12 from 6:00-6:50 PM
• 13 and over from 7:00-7:50 PM

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 25

Morning Practice Session:

• 9-10 year olds practice from 8:30-9:15 AM
• 11+ practice from 9:20-10:10 AM
• Mini Crabs practice from 10:20-10:50 AM
• 8 and unders practice from 11:00-11:45 AM

Afternoon Practice Session (you must bring your pool pass):

• 9-10 year olds practice from 5:00-5:40 PM
• 8 & under practice from 5:45-6:25 PM
• Mini Crabs practice from 6:35-7:05 PM
• 11 & over practice from 7:10-8:00 PM

THURSDAY | JUNE 26

Please declare your availability for the Relay Carnival!

• 9-10 year olds practice from 5:00-5:40 PM
• 8 & under practice from 5:45-6:25 PM
• Mini Crabs practice from 6:35-7:05 PM
• 11 & over practice from 7:10-8:00 PM

FRIDAY | JUNE 27 – DONUT FRIDAY!!!

• 9-10 year olds practice from 8:30-9:15 AM
• 11+ practice from 9:20-10:10 AM
• Mini Crabs practice from 10:20-10:50 AM
• 8 and under practice from 11:00-11:45 AM

SATURDAY | JUNE 28

Swim Meet: Our home meet vs. the VOU Seahawks will begin at 8 AM. We will be enjoying a locals luau! Please plan to arrive at 6:45 AM to get your swimmer(s) checked-in for the meet. Swimmer warm-ups will be from 7:10-7:30 AM. Full meet information is available here. And don't forget to make plans to stick around for our Pool Party immediately following the meet!

LOOKING AHEAD

July 1 | Relay Carnival

July 12 | Away Meet @ Robin Meadows

July 17 | Mighty Mini Meet (for swimmers 8 and under)

July 19 | Divisional Championship

July 20 | End of Season Party

Whew! That's all for now. We are looking forward to another amazing week!

Go Blue Crabs!

Thank you to all of our Gold Sponsors: