Last Saturday, we hosted our 8th annual VISAA Division II Invitational. The meet was originally conceived as an opportunity for all of the smaller schools in the State to get together for a championship-style meet before we join all of the big schools at the State Championship meet two weeks later. In those eight (8) years, the meet has grown to 17 teams and a real preview of some future State Champions. The music, the medals, and the friendly teams all combine to make it a great experience every year.
One of the reasons this has become such a great meet is because the depth of volunteer talent that we bring to this enterprise. Of course we have our stalwarts like Mr. Seltman, Mrs. Pechie, Mr. Sinner, Mr. Flook, Mr. Rector and Dianna Pechie who make these meets run, but I’d really like to highlight two other volunteers here who made major contributions even though they didn’t have any children in the water on Saturday. Mr. Matt Moore was fabulous as our announcer and maestro of all things musical. He was in a unique position to make the atmosphere special, and he took full advantage of the opportunity. And Mr. Bill Dealey was up in the loft with Mr. Sinner making the dry deck officiating run smoothly. There was a lot of activity up there, especially at the beginning, but with only two people working it, they still managed to make it look easy – I know it wasn’t.
Once again, I was pleased to watch our girl’s team captains claim the invitational championship trophy on behalf of Seton! The boys ended up in the third place position. Congratulations to Fredericksburg Christian’s boys who took home the invitational championship trophy.
I’d also like to congratulation two DAC swimmers who took home Swimmer of the Meet honors: Alec Morin of St. Michael the Archangel and Courtney Jones of Fredericksburg Christian School. They both swam incredibly well.
Here’s how the meet scores looked when it was all over:
Girls
Seton 386
Nansemond-Suffolk 225
Oakcrest 163
Fredericksburg Academy 143
Fredericksburg Christian 90
St. Michael the Archangel 78
Highland 75
Randolph-Macon Academy 60
Wakefield 32
Roanoke Catholic 29
Christchurch School 13
Middleburg Academy 5
Walsingham Academy 3
Boys
Fredericksburg Christian 212
Walsingham Academy 201.5
Seton School 173
Nansemond-Suffolk 172
St. Michael the Archangel 125
The Steward School 114
Highland 88
Wakefield 58
Fredericksburg Academy 50
Roanoke Catholic 39
Randolph-Macon Academy 30.5
Wakefield Country Day 19
Medal Winners for Seton
Like most championship meets, we gave gold, silver and bronze medals, and Seton Swimmers definitely took home their fair share:
- Claire Kenna was the top point earner for Seton with three gold medals and a silver medal. In addition to gold in the 200 Medley and 200 Free Relays (see below), Claire took gold in the 50 Free after a very close race with Roanoke Catholic’s top sprinter. Then in the 100 Free, she took silver behind the eventual Swimmer of the Meet, Courtney Jones. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Claire can do at States!
- Anna Kenna drew some attention from the other coaches with her three gold medals and bronze. Her gold came in 100 Backstroke against Emily Neuberg, a top senior swimmer from Nansemond-Suffolk. As I told Anna after the race, when you beat a swimmer like Emily, you have really done something. Anna’s bronze came in 100 Fly where she again raced against Emily Neuberg and a top swimmer from Oakcrest named Sam Kenis. They all took it out in under :30 for the first 50 and these older girls were able to hold Anna off at the end.
- Kimberly Rector won two Gold medals, a Silver medal and a Bronze medal. Her golds came in the relays. Her silver came in the 500 Free where she had her best swim of the day – another PR, this time by 2.56 seconds. Her 5:43.53 is getting very competitive and will certainly score at States. Her bronze was in the 200 IM behind two of the top female swimmers in the meet. It was a good afternoon for Kimberly.
- Alex Sinner won two Gold medals and two Bronze medals. Like Kimberly, her gold medals came in the relays. Alex’s best swim of the day came in the 200 Free where she swam a .35 second PR to place third behind the eventual Swimmer of the Meet and the same strong middle distance swimmer from RMA that Kimberly met in the 500. Alex’s other Bronze medal came in 100 Back behind Anna and Emily Neuberg.
- Emily Heim took one Gold medal, one Silver medal, and one Bronze medal. Her Gold and Bronze came in relays, and her Silver came in 100 Breast behind only Reni Moshos of Highland who is the favorite to win the State Championship in the event. It was a very solid swim for Emily, just off her lifetime best. Emily also took 5th place in the 200 IM.
- Joe Kosten was awesome in the 200 IM where he took the Bronze medal with a 4.59 seconds PR to go 2:13.12. Joe also had a huge 1.65 second PR in 100 Back. I’ve said it before, but this level of performance is really amazing given that he is no longer swimming on a USA team. I know Coach Lowell was very proud!
Championship Meets are won with relays
In a high school championship meet, relays typically score double the points of an individual events. The traditional depth that we’ve always had at Seton has long been the foundation of many great relays – relays that have been most responsible for our eight (8) state championships and 19 straight conference titles. It is clear that future Seton victories are going to be primarily the result of big relay points also.
- Our Girls 200 Medley Relay of took the Gold medal by more than 4.5 seconds with some solid splits for all four girls. From the “B” relay, Emily Heim really swam well, splitting 33.09 for her best split of the season.
- Our Girls 200 Free Relay of Anna Kenna, Alex Sinner, Kimberly Rector and Claire Kenna took their second relay Gold medal, again by a wide margin. Anna’s lead-off split was particularly strong at 26.46 which was a .18 second PR for her.
- Our Girls 400 Free Relay of Jillian Ceol, Madeline Snider, Sally Marrazzo and Emily Heim took the Bronze medal. Sally led the way with a really strong split of 1:02.90
- Our Boys 200 Medley Relay of Brian Koehr, Joe Kosten, Tommy Flook and Cris Salas took 4th place with a time that was nearly 3 seconds faster than their previous best for the season. I only wish I was able to see their splits, but the CTS in their lane missed them – one or more of these boys had a heck of swim!
- Our Boys 200 Free Relay of Brian Koehr, Joe Zapiain, Tommy Flook and Joe Kosten took 4th place with another time that was substantially faster than their best so far this season. Brian led off with a fast 25.54, followed by Joe’s 25.41 – that’s the kind of split I really like to see from Joe. Then Tommy Flook split a lifetime best 24.23 and Joe rocked the anchor with a 23.65. It was quite a swim by these boys.
Personal Records
Here are the rest of the 31 personal records that I have not already mentioned:
- Brendan Santschi was all smiles with two really big PRs. In the 500 Free, he dropped 20.50 seconds! Check out his splits on the Individual results report and you see some really good consistency – and judging from the speed of that last 100, I suspect Brendan is not done improving in this event. Brendan also cut an almost unbelievable 4.23 seconds in 50 Free to go 29.00, his first time under :30 seconds. What a great day it was for this 8th
- Andrew Quinan also had a big day with two PRs. In the 500 Free, Andrew cut 7.84 seconds and in the 200 Free, Andrew cut 5.97 seconds. His splits were very consistent across both distances, and I’d expect him to score some significant points at DAC Champs next season.
- Matt Fioramonti had a big three (3) PR day. In the 500 Free he cut 8.72 seconds, in the 200 Free he cut 8.07 seconds and in the 50 Free leading off a relay he cut .66 seconds.
- Sally Marrazzo didn’t just swim well in the relays, she also swam two PRs in her individual events. In the 200 Free, she cut 3.36 seconds and in the 100 Free, she cut .42 seconds.
- Alex Ceol was super in the 100 Fly when he beat his previous best by a whooping 2.05 seconds. Alex also cut .30 seconds in his 200 Free.
- Paul Pechie lowered his PR in 200 IM by another .68 seconds with a very fine swim. And leading off a 400 Free Relay, he cut .51 seconds from his 100 Free PR.
- James Kosten was great in the 200 Free with his 4.87 second swim. He took it out in a really fast 29.39 and pushed himself through to an 8th place finish.
- Tommy Flook’s 100 Fly continues to improve. On Saturday, he cut another .43 seconds from his best time and took 6th place in the meet.
- Dani Flook had a great lead-off split in a 400 Free Relay, beating her previous best time in 100 Free by 2.42 seconds – that’s a lot when you swim as fast as Dani!
- Vivian Zadnik had quite a swim in the 50 Free, cutting .92 seconds from her previous best.
- Jude Van de Voorde also had a big swim in 50 Free, cutting .91 seconds.
- Madeline Snider looked great in the 100 Free, and it showed in her time – she lowered her PR by another .26 seconds
- Meghan O’Malley looked very strong in 100 Fly during her 1.13 second PR swim.
- Bridget O’Malley lowered her 100 Free PR by another .16 seconds to break 1:07 for the first time.
- Mark O’Donohue swam really well in the 500, beating his previous lifetime best by 13.62 seconds.
- Geni Lucas cut .08 seconds from her 100 Fly PR
- Seamus Koehr did a great job in the 200 IM, lowering his PR by 4.14 seconds.
- Brian Koehr swam a lifetime best in 100 Fly by .91 seconds to go 1:12.34. That’s a time that will score in a lot of meets.
- Sarah Heim swam a lifetime best in 100 Breaststroke by .34 seconds.
Next Weekend’s DAC Championship Meet
Next weekend is our annual conference championship meet. While the actual team declared conference champion is determined by the regular season (our girls were undefeated again and the conference champion for the 20th straight year), this meet is still a big meet for us. Anyone who finishes in the top 3 will be designated All-Conference. I hope to work on the entries on Monday, and my goal will be three-fold: 1) win, 2) get the maximum number of Seton Swimmers designated All-Conference, and 3) finalize our state team.
Our warm-up is at 1:10 p.m. so we all need to be on deck stretching by 12:39 p.m. There is always traffic on I-95 South, so let’s make sure we all leave plenty of time to arrive. The last time we were down there, many people arrived late.
The State Championship Meet is Friday and Saturday, February 14-15th at the Freedom Center
Joe Kosten added another state cut in the 200 IM, and Alex Sinner completed the sweep of State cuts by getting the qualification time for the 8th and final event – Alex now has the State cut in every event!
So with one meet left to qualify, here are the swimmers who have qualified individually for States, so far:
| Meet | Girls | Boys |
| States | Kimberly Rector
· 200 IM · 500 Free · 100 Free · 100 Breast · 50 Free · 100 Fly · 200 Free Claire Kenna · 50 Free · 100 Free · 200 Free · 100 Breast Anna Kenna · 100 Fly · 100 Back · 50 Free · 200 IM · 500 Free · 50 Free · 200 Free Alex Sinner · 100 Fly · 100 Back · 200 IM · 100 Free · 100 Breast · 500 Free · 50 Free · 200 Free Emily Heim · 100 Breast 200 Medley Relay “A” 200 Medley Relay “B” 200 Free Relay “A” 400 Free Relay “A” 400 Free Relay “B” |
Joe Kosten
· 50 Free · 100 Breast · 200 IM 200 Medley Relay 200 Free Relay 400 Free Relay |
I also hope to have a draft of our State Meet entries posted by the end of the day on Monday. It will just be a draft because things could change depending on how kids swim at DAC Champs.
We tentatively have a 6:00 p.m. warm-up on Thursday night at Freedom before the meet start with the first preliminary session on Friday morning. Once warm-ups times for the prelim sessions are assigned, I’ll be sure to let you know. Also, the Sinners and the Rectors are planning to host the State team between the Prelim and Finals sessions on Friday and Saturday so we have time to get some good food and relax a little.
All swimmers are welcomed to join us at the meet, and you will be allowed in for free if you are in uniform – so find your black shirts. And once Saturday night finals are over, around 9:30 p.m. or so, I’ll be heading over to City Tavern. I hope you can all join me there.
Five (5) more good practices left – let’s make the most of them!
Coach Jim Koehr