There will be an informational meeting on Tuesday, September 4th from 7:30 to 8:15 p.m. at the Woodbury Elementary School Pool. This meeting is for parents and guardians only; swimmers should not attend.

Returning Shark parents are welcome to attend, however it is not required. Parents who may be registering new Sharks this season should attend to learn more about new swimmer tryouts. Contact Sarah Tobin if you have any questions.

Important Information About The Meeting

• Bring your checkbook! Immediately following the meeting, we will accept opening payments. All payments will be held (not cashed) until September 24th. Payments submitted at the meeting ensure a tryout and, upon successful completion of the tryout, a two-week evaluation period. Due to limited pool space, payments for new swimmers submitted after September 4th may be put on a waiting list.

  During the tryout and two-week evaluation, you and the coaches will determine if your child is ready to be a Shaker Shark. If your child is not ready, your check will be returned. After September 24th, there will be no refunds.

• Bring a legal document that proves date of birth! The Shaker Sharks are part of USA Swimming, the National Governing Body for competitive swimming in the United States. USA Swimming requires a copy of a document (birth certificate or passport) proving date of birth for every swimmer. Copies can be prepared at the meeting.

New swimmer tryouts will take place Wednesday, September 5th and Thursday, September 6th at the Middle School Pool. Please attend one of the following times:

• 5:20 - 5:40 p.m.
• 5:40 - 6:00 p.m.
• 6:00 - 6:20 p.m.
• 6:20 - 6:40 p.m.

We hope to see you there!

Welcome to the brand new Shaker Swimming webpage!

While we have spent many, many hours designing and testing the new homepage, we realize that nothing is ever perfect on the first try. So, if you discover a glitch or a bug (or if you are having trouble with the new layout) please e-mail shakerswimming@msn.com and describe the problem. Someone will respond to your e-mail as soon as possible.

All season opening letters have been mailed. If you are (or have a swimmer who is) interested in joining the Sharks for the first time, please e-mail shakerswimming@msn.com and we will send you a letter.

Practice schedules, meet schedules, event schedules, and documents (including updated handbooks!) for the upcoming 2007-2008 swim season have been posted. Some information is not available yet. It will be posted as soon as it is completed.

Enjoy the new site and see you soon!

The Shaker Sharks would like to thank Coach Brendan, Coach Rob, Julia McCauley, Andi Wasserman, Alex Wasserman, and Fernan Echeverria for volunteering their time to work the Central Zone swim meet at Cleveland State on behalf of Shaker Swimming.

The Sharks are proud to support the continued success of Lake Erie Swimming.

INDIANAPOLIS - Dara Torres’ 15th national title felt no different than her first, 25 years earlier.

The oldest national champion in U.S. swimming history, Torres set an American record in the 50-meter freestyle Saturday night in her bid toward a possible fifth Olympics appearance.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” she said at the USA Swimming National Championships. “I can’t put words on it to describe how I felt when I touched that wall and saw my time.”

Competing in the pool in which she qualified for her first Olympics as a teenager in 1984, two years after her first national championship, the 40-year-old Torres came in at 24.53 seconds, a personal best that surpassed her American record of 24.63 set in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The world record, also set in Sydney, is 24.13 by Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands.

Torres won the 100 freestyle Wednesday, her first national title since she came out of retirement last summer after the birth of her first child.

“It feels exactly the same,” Torres said of the transition from a swimming wunderkind to the sport’s most senior citizen.

A former world-record holder at 50 meters, Torres beat Lara Jackson, who had a time of 25.27 in the final.

Torres said she felt no pressure getting back into competitive swimming.

“I just got in shape swimming with my daughter and I started swimming a couple of meets and I swam real fast,” said the 6-foot Torres, a Parkland, Fla., resident. “A lot of master swimmers were encouraging me to swim, so I just decided to get back into it.”

And she seems far from finished.

Her goal is to swim at the Beijing Games next year.

“I’m just going to take a couple weeks off and hopefully get back in training and start training for the Olympic trials,” she said.

Among other events on the final night of the five-day meet at the IU Natatorium, Katie Hoff, the world-record holder in the 400 individual medley, won the 200 IM for her third national title of the week, and Emily Brunemann, who was fourth in the 800 freestyle, beat her previous best time by eight seconds and won the women’s 1,500 for her first national title.

Ariana Kukors of Auburn placed seventh in the 200 IM.

Michael Phelps, who won two of his first four titles Friday night, passed up Saturday’s 200 IM but was part of the winning Club Wolverine team in the meet’s final event, the 400 medley relay. Phelps, Scott Spann, Davis Tarwater and Peter Vanderkaay won in 3:38.32.

“Probably not in the best training state right now, not in best physical shape we really want to be in,” Phelps said. “But all things considered, it was a pretty solid week.”

Ryan Lochte, the world-record holder in the 200 backstroke, won the 200 IM in 1:56.95. He won the 400 IM on Wednesday.

“The times I put up, I just raced tough,” Lochte said. “I’m happy with the overall meet.”