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Emmaus Aquatic Club hires coach(Morning Call, The (Allentown, PA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jul. 13--Emmaus Aquatic Club has announced the hiring of Chuck Kaylor as its head coach and CEO for the 2006-07 season. Kaylor becomes the second coach in club history, succeeding EMAC founder and Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of Fame inductee Mike Seip. "It is an honor following a coach of Mike's caliber," Kaylor said. "He has put the pieces in place to develop a world-class swimming program, and with the support of the community, that is exactly what we will do." Kaylor served most recently in Phoenix, Ariz., under former national team director and 2006 American Swim Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee Dennis Pursley. Kaylor assisted Pursley and the Brophy East Swim Team (BEST) in building one of the Southwest's most competitive swim programs. Kaylor's swimmers have achieved numerous top-16 national reportable times, Arizona state individual championship titles and BEST team records. While in Phoenix, Kaylor also coached the 2005 Brophy College Preparatory team, which won its 18th consecutive Arizona 5A state title and was named the national high school champ by Swimming World Magazine. Prior to his arrival in Phoenix, Kaylor coached at the North Carolina Aquatic Club and the New Wave Swim Team in Raleigh, where his swimmers accounted for 46 nationally ranked performances. He was also an assistant coach at the University of North Carolina, helping the Tar Heels win two ACC women's titles and Jessi Perrequet win the NCAA 200 women's freestyle championship. As a competitor, Kaylor was a member of two state-title teams at Kings Mountain (N.C.) High School. He graduated cum laude from UNC-Charlotte in 1998. He will take over the EMAC program July 25. "We had 25 to 30 really qualified applicants for this position, and Chuck rose to the top of the pile very quickly," Seip said. "He has a vision for the future of swimming in the Lehigh Valley and more particularly the growth of the Emmaus swimmin g community." BLAZE OF GLORY The Lehigh Valley Patriot Blaze are state softball champs for the second year in a row. The Blaze won the 2006 Amateur Softball Association (ASA) 16&under championship in Drifton last month, giving them a 16&under crown to go with the 14&under title they won in 2005. The Blaze finished the 22-team, double-elimination tournament undefeated. Bad weather prevented the completion of the tournament, forcing officials to declare the Blaze and the Hatboro-Horsham Banshees co-champs. The Blaze led 1-0 when the title game was called. The Blaze and Banshees finally will get to decide things Wednesday night with a doubleheader at Pates Park. Hatboro features several members of the high school team that reached the PIAA Class 4A final last month. The Patriot Blaze (32-7) also took third place in the prestigious Independence Day Firecracker held in Mechanicsburg last week. The Blaze went 8-3 in the 53-team field, which included teams from nine states. Also, in June, the Blaze won a PONY national qualifier. The team is sponsored by the Allentown Patriots and coached by Lehigh Valley Softball Hall of Fame member Ed Stinner. Team members include: Kim Teti, Katie Gross, Hadley Elsenbaumer, Lindsay Frontino, Kelly Muth, Kayla Smerdon and Deanna Stinner (all of Parkland); Michelle Grundhauser and Amanda Paulus (Easton); Amanda Polaha (Central Catholic); Jess Bensinger (Tamaqua); Brandi Stettler (Whitehall) and Alaina Loguidice (Liberty). WEEKLY PLANNER The Bob Caravan Memorial women's fastpitch softball tournament will be held this weekend at the Moore Township Recreation Complex. The 20-team event will be hosted by the Blasters, formerly known as the Pates Women's Club. Other local teams involved include Shea's, the Valley Girls, the Topton VIP's, the Spirit and the Vypers. The Blasters play the Valley Girls at 7 p.m. Friday in the tourney opener, with VIP's-Shea's to follow at 9. Twenty-eight games will be played on five fields Saturday. The tourney concludes with another 18 games Sunday. The final is set for 3 p.m. The tournament favorite is the renowned Brakettes, who are still fielding an amateur squad in addition to their expansion pro team in the National Pro Fastpitch League. To prep for the Caravan tourney, the Brakettes will play an exhibition doubleheader against the Patriot Gators at 7 p.m. Friday at Pates Park. The Lehigh Valley Steelman Triathlon will take place Sunday at Lake Nockamixon near Quakertown. It is a USAT national sanctioned event, allowing athletes to compete for points in a national ranking system. The triathlon will offer two races. The "Olympic" race begins at 7 a.m. and consists of a nearly mile-long swim, a 24.8-mile bike ride and a 6.2 mile run. At 7:30 a.m., the "Sprint" race will start, consisting of a half-mile swim, a 12.5-mile ride and a 3.1 mile run. Currently, 785 athletes are registered. Last year, the race was held in Allentown with 285 athletes. SportsFest X continues on Sunday at the Allentown YW-YMCA with three table tennis events. In the team event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 20 pairs are entered from Connecticut, New Jersey, New York as well as various parts of Pennsylvania, including a Russian team (Vladimir Iodkovskiy and Mike Leshinsky). In the "Top Gun" singles competition, five players are ranked among the top 100 players in the U.S. The headliners will include Iodkovskiy and Leshinsky as well as Christoph Teille, a world-ranked player from Germany, who is now a minister living in Pennsylvania. Others to watch include John Wetzler of York, a six-time SportsFest singles champ, and Rich DeWitt of Connecticut, a four-time SportsFest MVP. The singles event runs from 3:30-6 p.m. In conjunction with the table tennis events, a ping-pong tournament will be held for less-experienced local players. It will include 12 classes divided by age and ability levels. Singles and doubles champs will be crowned. [email protected] 610-820-6740 Click here to find out more! |