LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which  distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming.  (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

Coaches Report: Barracudas Swim at Jr. Olympics

By SUHA TOKMAN
    Baranof Barracudas Coach
    The Junior Olympics Report: CHAPTER 1: The Meet
    Twenty-one Barracudas arrived at Bartlett Pool in Anchorage April 25 to check the war ground out, plus support the three who were to swim the mile that day. All three executed best times and everyone went to the hotel happy. Total of 2 minutes and 48 seconds were dropped by Ashlyn Moore, Jack Weiver and Skylar Moore.
    Having to compete with huge teams like Aurora (70 swimmers), Kodiak (42 swimmers), Juneau (56), KNIK (42), and Northern Lights (57) plus 4 other teams having more numbers than us and having ZERO 15 & over swimmers to compete, I was a little scared that it was going to be pretty hard to get in top 8 in this Championship meet.
    That’s why I kept my eyes on the most prestigious award in this meet “The Team with Highest Percent of Individual Best Times.” Since they display the awards right under our banner and we were all sitting around it, I kept showing my swimmers the Best Time plaque saying, “This should be going home with us, kiddos, let’s do more best times!” Therefore, I have to admit, I made ones who didn’t do best times say “Goodbye” to the award. Talking to a wooden plaque must have been kind of awkward, so, my awesome swimmers kept doing best time after another.
    Every day, end of the meet, many coaches came and complimented me about how good we looked. Since I don’t have one of those fancy phones, I didn’t know what place we were until coach Gary Crowe from Fairbanks came and showed me the end of Friday scores. We were in second place after Aurora. That was a surprise to me, but it felt very good.
    Having zero 15 & overs, which scored down to 16th place versus 14 & unders only scoring down to 8th place, was a disadvantage for us for sure. But that disadvantage was for an “ordinary” team; because we are the Mighty Barracudas that did not bother us at all!
    My swimmers, with the support of their “incredible” parents, gave every team a run for their money the entire meet.
    Third day finals session, we were hit by a bad news. Our star swimmer Skylar Moore was sick. Sick enough to withdraw from the rest of the meet. That meant she was to miss 4 individual events and 2 relays. Over all that was well over a 100-point loss for us.
We were sad, but morale of the team was high. We won one of the relays without her, but got second on the other.
    After many “outstanding” performances by Barracudas, we ended up fourth overall by 100 points behind Kodiak, which had an army of 42 swimmers. Our awesome Girls took third and boys took fifth overall.
    End of the meet, they announced that we won the “Team with Highest Percent of Individual Best Times” award. We did it, my wonderful, outstanding, incredible, nice, and superior swimmers have won the most prestigious award of the meet. That award showed who correctly tapered, mentally ready and had the best team spirit for this meet to get more best times that any other team.
    Of course, I walked on the pool deck like I had three watermelons under each of my armpits and chest sticking like a rooster. That’s how proud I was.
    Jessica Davis, Makai Saline took first on their ages for high points with perfect first place in every event they swam. Grace Harang capture an awesome third place in her age for High Point also. Joe Pate was very close, but he missed the 3rd place by a hair!
CHAPTER 2: Behind the Scenes
    Of course kids earned this victory thanks to their very hard work, but I like to thank all the parents for making all the sacrifices to make their children attend this meet. I recognize how hard and expensive it is nowadays to travel to any meet.
    I think we have some great parents. Not so pushy, but supportive, like give love and a hug even if the swimmer does good or not so good. I like that a lot.
    I also like the relationship between the parents. In many teams, parents group up. Gossiping and hard feelings are there. I feel like we don’t have any of that, which is such a blessing for the kids. Nowadays kids are very smart and they really know what is going on. They listen and absorb all the words. Eventually it affects the whole team negatively. So, thank God we have super parents.
CHAPTER 3: Sportsmanship,
Attitude and Respect
    I tell my swimmers to wish good luck to next lanes before they swim and congratulate them afterwards. We need to learn how to win and lose. A swimmer congratulating the one who just beat him/her is the best thing to watch.
Many judges and coaches commented to me that they saw Barracudas doing that. I was very proud of them.
    I also had many comments about Barracudas being very supportive of each other. Cheered and motivated each other throughout the whole meet. Thank you for that, my heroes!
    In closing, I’d like to thank Joe Pate (Dirty Joe) for taking time to come to me at the end of meet to especially thank me by saying: Thank you coach for putting up with me every day, coaching me and making me faster and better swimmer over all” and gave me a big hug.
    I know it is my “job” to do all that to Joe, but as coaches we need motivation too as well as swimmers do. Being appreciated by a simple “Thank you coach” goes a long way. We coaches are like singers who get on the stage and perform no matter what. Give you a big smile, act happy, and be positive even we might be sick, ill, or very sad for some reason.
    Kids require that positivity, and we are required to give it to them. I coached enough years to realize that.
    Finalizing my long report, I like to remind you that I am a swim coach and I know what I am doing; therefore, if you want to get better and faster, all you have to do is come to practices and do what I tell you. You can choose to be an ordinary swimmer, or by coming whenever you can and do many other sports (which is absolutely nothing wrong with that) or you can dedicate yourself to swimming and be an extraordinary swimmer. I guarantee that.
THE INCREDIBLE BARRACUDAS ARE : 3rd place GIRLS: Rose Pellett, Grace Harang, Nancy Liddle, Jordan Gagner, Makayla Moore, Skylar Moore, Jessica Davis, Kyleigh McArthur, Ashlyn Nutting, Abby Forrester, and Whitney McArthur.
    And the BOYS: Colin Baciocco, Dominic Baciocco, Elias Erickson, Connor Fulton, JD Gagner, Janik McKinley, Joe Pate, Makai Salina, Jack Weiver, and Kobe Weiland.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.

50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.

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