When I was a kid, I remember my father telling me that I was a “math and science guy”. I’m sure he meant it as a compliment, but what I heard was something quite different.
I went on to spend the rest of my high school and college career believing that I was not very good at reading and writing. I vividly recall the fear I felt in my first liberal arts class at Notre Dame thinking I was the dumbest person in the room.
It turns out that it can come quite naturally to all of us to avoid the things we think we are not good at. In my case, I spent my most formative years reading and writing as little as possible. To this day, I still read unusually slowly for someone of my educational level.
It took me probably twenty more years to overcome my fear of reading and writing. As I grew older and spent the 1990s commuting across the Brandy Station Battlefield to my corporate office in Culpeper, I picked up a Shelby Foote book on tape to pass the 30-minute drive. I had discovered the intellectual love of my life.
Today, on the rare days during the year that I can do whatever I want, I am likely to strap on my Asolo leather hiking boots, load up my daypack with four (4) or five (5) of Nicaragua’s finest exports and a 500-page, small-print book, and hop on an 850 lb. Harley-Davidson Road King. (My “three-quarter life crisis” as my wife calls it).
I ride out the roads of western Fauquier toward the mountains, the rumble of the Vance & Hine pipes vibrating my internal organs. At any number of my favorite Blue Ridge Mountain trailheads, I ascend to some high rocky outcropping, dripping with sweat and ready to disappear into my favorite world of the past. Often overlooking the scene of Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley campaign, I wedge my camp chair into a rocky crevice, light one of Nicaragua’s finest, and commence to enjoying a love that I was too fearful to meet as a younger man – the American Civil War.
During the few times I am able, I might sit there for 4 or even 5 cigars, mesmerized by the flawed characters and their often-astounding feats of courage. I sometimes find myself transported back to the Wheat Field, the Hornet’s Nest, Bloody Lane, Burnside’s Bridge, the Peach Orchard, or Malvern Hill, and I dream about what it must have been like. Would I have charged, or would I have run? I’m not sure it would have taken me 14 tries to charge Marye’s Heights to figure out that it wasn’t a good idea, so what compelled men to do such things?
Only the coming darkness, a shortage of cigars, and my quite natural fear of hiking down a rocky trail in the dark and riding a motorcycle at night compel me to leave.
And to think that I was once so afraid of any book longer than the Old Man and the Sea or The Stranger. How silly in retrospect – and all because of a mistaken belief that I was somehow less capable than I actually was.
These days, I have a whole room in my house dedicated to books about the Civil War. And I spend nearly every winter Sunday voluntarily writing a 5,000-word research paper about all of you. If Mrs. Ciskanik or Mr. DiVietri assigned you a twenty-page paper, you’d probably think they were being outrageously unrealistic. You don’t realize it yet, but one day you might also say, “How silly in retrospect.”
If you have made it this far in the story, then you also know what this weekend at Seton Swimming was all about. You can always do more than you think you can do. For those of you who have been around this team for a while know, one of my favorite quotes is from Thomas Edison:
“If we did all the things we were capable of, we would literally astound ourselves”
You’ve all never been 60-years old, but I have been 13. I know what fear feels like when someone like me intentionally puts you in a position where you are compelled to do something that you don’t think you can do. I do it on purpose. (Which I’ve noticed concerns some of your well-meaning mothers too 😉)
If you don’t believe it, neither me nor your mother will ever convince you that you can race the 500 Free, 200 IM, 200 Free, or even 100 Fly simply by talking to you. The only way to convince you is to let you convince yourself. You simply have to face your fear to overcome it. I could tell by the smiles on so many of your faces this past weekend, that you now know exactly what I’m talking about.
I’ve raised 12 children (almost, last one’s a junior 😉), and I have coached 694 different kids over the past 24-years. I’ve seen kids with Cystic-Fibrosis complete 200-lengths of the pool without quitting, and I’ve seen kids who were sick swim a Personal Record. So, when you come to me on deck and try to tell me that you are somehow uniquely incapable of swimming 100 Butterfly, you can forgive me for not believing you.
I remember once in 2015 when I accidentally put Marcie Vander Voorde in 100 Butterfly at Fork Union Military Academy. In my software, the toggle button for 100-Free and 100 Fly are right next to each other so it is an easy mistake to make. As 4’10” Marcie was walking up to the blocks for 100 Fly – in a meter pool, so it was going to be even farther – I was tempted to fix my mistake. But then I thought, if she thinks she can do it, why would I ever tell her she couldn’t? It may have been the most painful 3 minutes and 37.55 seconds I’ve ever personally experienced as the Seton Swimming coach, but that little girl did not quit!
All I want from you is all I ever want from you, “Give me the best you can, whatever that is today.” Even if you are feeling a little sick or your stomach is upset because you are so nervous, just go and do your best – and you just might literally astound yourself.
As I talk about things like deliberately putting kids in uncomfortable situations or teaching kids that they can always do more than think they can do, I am reminded of a pair of Awards Banquet talks that I gave after the ’18-’19 season and the ’19-’20 season:
- “Hope is Anti-Fragile”
- “Let’s Literally Astound Ourselves”
I strongly encourage you to print these talks and give them a read. Together, they are pretty much the best description I have of how I think about raising my own kids and how I’m thinking as I coach all of you on this simple high school swim team.
Astounding Competitions Across Two (2) States
This past weekend was a very busy weekend for Seton Swimming with two (2) separate meets going on nearly 100 miles apart.
Twenty-eight (28) members of our team returned to our long tradition of taking our top swimmers to the National Catholic High School Swimming and Diving Championships. After many years of the Meet being hosted at Villanova, it has more recently been hosted at the beautiful aquatic facility at Loyola University of Maryland, in Baltimore. As you will see below, our contingent made a very strong showing, especially Coach Ashley Keapproth’s boys diving team, led by Connor Koehr’s (JR) silver medal performance, and our freshman phenoms Ariana Aldeguer (FR) and Lionel Martinez (FR).
The rest of the team stayed at the Freedom Center for one of the most unique meets each season. For the last several years, I have used the Seton Winter Invitational as a sort of “rite of passage” for the new swimmers where they compete in the 500 Freestyle, many for the first time ever in a “real” swim meet. With the size of our team, that meant that we had 41 girls and 26 boys in the 500 Free – whoa! We also had 32 total entries in the 200 Free, 30 total entries in the 200 IM, and 10 total entries in the 100 Fly.
As remarkable as it was to watch the top swimmers for the top Catholic Schools swim times that might seem otherwise unbelievable if you didn’t see them for yourself, what I saw on Saturday at the Freedom Center was even more remarkable. I would say it was “unbelievable” but after experiencing this Meet every year for the last several years, I am no longer surprised by all of the ridiculous time drops.
Just for fun, I thought it might be interesting to add up the total amount of time dropped in the 86 Personal Records we saw during the meet. The total time dropped was 2,249.15 seconds – that is well over half an hour (37.5 minutes to be exact)! Are you kidding? I might not have believed it myself had I not seen something similar every year in the past at this Meet.
When I add those 86 Personal Records and the 22 Personal Records swum at National Catholics to our previous season total of 766, I can see that we have had more PRs to this point than any previous time in Seton Swimming history. Our season total for Personal Records so far this season is now up to 874!
To accommodate that many swimmers for the 500 Free – an event that could take up to 15 minutes per heat – Bill Dealey, Charles Seltman, and our outstanding interim Head Timer Yudi Sokban helped pull together our plan to swim two (2) heats at the same time – a so-called “chase start” as Mr. Seltman informed me. It required us to get 20 separate timers and stopwatches, plus 10 lap counters, behind the blocks to make sure that, with multiple kids in a lane, we could reliably get a time on each one.
It was a remarkable event to behold as I watched so many young swimmers swim in the pool with long and efficient strokes. You didn’t need a stopwatch to see that our team has experienced massive levels of improvement since the first practice.
Final Scores
This past week, the scores were not really a focus for us at all, but here’s how they turned out all the same:
Boys
Seton 171 Trinity Meadow View 29
Seton 178 BASIS Independent of McLean 30
Seton 177 Fresta Valley Christian 30
Seton 178 Alexandria Country Day 4
Girls
Seton 151 Trinity Meadow View 83
Seton 175 BASIS Independent of McLean 41
Seton 170 Fresta Valley Christian 59
Seton 183 Alexandria Country Day 24
Conquering Discomfort
Prior to the meet, I know there were an awful lot of kids who were experiencing great anxiety about swimming in this meet. (I even know some Mom’s that shared in that anxiety). Nineteen (19) flip turns? That’s surely impossible!
After the introduction to this blog post, I suppose my secret is out – I do this sort of thing on purpose – I deliberately put our swimmers in uncomfortable situations so they can build the confidence that only comes from attacking their fears head-on. Avoiding the fear just legitimizes it, and that is not something I want to perpetuate, particularly when they are afraid of something that is so clearly within their capability.
I suppose I have the advantage of 24-years of watching what happens when you push a kid to swim the 500 Free, even when they are afraid, and this year it all ended as I predicted for so many of those kids:
“Can I swim that again Coach Koehr? I know I can do it faster.”
I should have counted how many times I heard that question, but it was more than ten (10). No surprise there.
There were some massive Personal Records in the 500 Free. Can you imagine a meet where we had 22 PRs of more than 30 seconds and two (2) of those were by four (4) minutes? Remarkable!
Here are the two (2) swimmers that swam the most ridiculous Personal Records of the afternoon:
- Brian Orellana (8) beat his previous best in the 200 Free by 4 minutes and 42.99 seconds! That means that he basically cut his previous best time in half. He also dropped more than 36 seconds in 100 Free. At the beginning of the season, Brian, who is obviously a very good athlete, seemed to have no prior experience in the water whatsoever. On Saturday, it was a great source of joy for me and his Group 5 coaches to watch someone swim who has clearly gotten much more comfortable in the water. Congratulations Brian!
- Colette Kramer (SO) was very impressive during her swim in the 500 Free, and her level of improvement showed in a 239.03 second (3 minutes, 59.03 seconds) Personal Record. Her stroke has gotten beautiful and long, so the time drop didn’t really surprise me that much, which is why I felt able to give her a shot at the 200 IM for the first time. She completed the event, which requires all four (4) strokes, with no problem at all. Great job Colette!
I thought Brian Orellana’s PR might have been a team record for the biggest drop in Seton Swimming history, but that honor is held by Victor Henry who lowered his 500 Free PR by an unbelievable 10 minutes and 41 seconds (641.38 seconds) at last year’s Winter Invitational.
Here are the people who overcame their fear and swam Personal Records of more than a half a minute:
- Ben Ellis (FR) had one of the biggest PRs in the Meet with his 75.84 second drop in 500 Free. Ben also dropped .23 seconds in 50 Free leading off a relay.
- Briana Schillingburg (JR) dropped an amazing 74.78 seconds in 500 Free, more than a full minute off of her previous best time.
- Aidan McCardell (SO) made this list twice with two (2) PRs of more than 30-seconds. In 500 Free, he more than doubled that threshold with a 73.44 second PR, and in 200 Free he had a 43.60 second PR.
- Evan Rodriguez (JR) was all smiles in the stands after the meet when we were discussing his 65.44 second PR in 200 Free. He also cut .30 seconds from his 50 Back PR leading off a relay.
- Lily Waldron (8) had two huge PRs. In 500 Free she dropped almost a full minute (58.92 seconds), and in 200 Free she dropped almost 15-seconds (13.85 seconds).
- Jack Gregory (SR) had a remarkable swim in the 500 Free, beating his previous PR by 51.40 seconds. He also cut 3.17 seconds in 50 Back leading off a relay.
- Kenneth Nguyen (FR) certainly got our attention on the live-stream broadcast with his 45.34 second PR in 500 Free.
- Luke Fifield (7) cut 45.21 seconds in 200 Free!
- Katie Bauer (8) beat her previous best 500 Free time by 41.15 seconds. She also cut another 1.31 seconds from her 50 Free PR.
- Clare Heiny (8) was super in her two (2) big swims on Saturday, lowering her 200 Free PR by 41.04 seconds and her 500 Free PR by 25.43 seconds.
- Bella Nguyen (8) surprised no one but herself with her huge 37.64 second PR in 500 Free.
- Rosie DeWolf (7) improved her PR for the 200 Free by 37.37 seconds.
- Evan Wible (7) made his coaches, including Madelyn Zadnik (SR), proud with an outstanding swim in 200 Free, cutting 37.02 seconds from his PR.
- James Reynolds (7) had a remarkable swim in the 200 Free, lowering his PR by 36.66 seconds in only 8 lengths of the pool.
- JJ Cooley (SO) dropped a huge 36.34 seconds in 500 Free. He also dropped 2.84 seconds in 50 Back leading off a medley relay.
- Brian Orellana (8) did more than just cut his 200 Free time in half. He also dropped 36.12 seconds in 100 Free.
- Betsy Arnold (8) lowered her 500 Free PR by 32.79 seconds and her 200 IM PR by 4.56 seconds.
- Jenny Baughman (7) cut 32.31 seconds from her previous best 200 Free.
- Jane Judge (8) dropped 32.30 seconds in 500 Free and 17.08 seconds in 200 IM.
- Caroline Schroer (6) looked stronger than ever in 200 Free during her 30.04 second PR swim.
Here are the other swimmers who swam the rest of our 86 Personal Records on Saturday:
- Gigi Gibaldi (FR) crushed two (2) PRs. She beat her 200 Free PR by 29.74 seconds, and she beat her 50 Back PR leading off a relay by a remarkable 14.22 seconds.
- Michael Zahorchak (FR) looked very strong during his 29.63 second PR in 200 Free and his 15.09 second PR in 500 Free.
- Patrick Kay (8) smashed his Personal Record in 500 Free by 28.86 seconds.
- Camila Quispe (7) cut a whopping 28.32 seconds from her 500 Free PR.
- Sage Armstrong (FR) beat her previous best time in 200 Free by 26.71 seconds.
- Aoife Haggerty (FR) had a great afternoon with a 25.58 second PR in 500 Free and a 22.22 second PR in 200 IM.
- Joel Bookwalter (7) improved his best 200 Free time by 25.37 seconds.
- Molly Bauer (JR) had two (2) big PRs on Saturday. In 500 Free she dropped 24.50 seconds, and in 200 IM she dropped 23.25 seconds.
- Daniel Kohlhaas (7) showed a lot of heart during his 23.58 second PR swim in the 200 Free.
- Mariana Bingham (FR) cut 21.96 seconds from her 200 Free PR.
- Noemi Rodriguez (FR) had a great swim in the 500 Free, breaking 9:00 after a 20.72 second PR.
- Julia Maranian (8) was probably smiling underwater knowing how much faster she was swimming during the 200 Free. It turned out to be 20.64 seconds faster.
- Orla Haggerty (JR) was awfully fun to watch, particularly during her 19.73 second PR in 500 Free and her 15.73 second PR in 200 IM.
- Clare Judge (7) continues to make massive improvements. This week she improved in 200 Free by 19.41 seconds.
- Thomas Keapproth (7) had a big day with three (3) new Personal Records. In 200 Free he cut 17.85 seconds, in 50 Back leading off a relay he cut 3.37 seconds, and in 50 Free leading off a relay he cut .05 seconds.
- Annie Dusek (8) had two (2) huge PRs including an 18.49 second drop in 500 Free and a 17.57 second drop in 200 Free. She added a third PR to the mix with a 2.84 second drop in 50 Backstroke leading off a relay.
- Annabelle Mikkelson (7) beat her previous best time in 200 Free by 15.64 seconds.
- Grace Catabui (6) made the 200 Free look easy with a 15.24 second PR.
- Mary Catherine Munsell (SO) had a great swim in 200 Free, beating her previous best by 14.19 seconds.
- William Sokban (JR) had his best 200 IM swim of the season, lowering his PR by 13.85 seconds. He also cut another .90 seconds from his 100 Free PR to break 59-seconds for the first time.
- Cora Kramer (FR) looked amazingly fast during the 500 Free, and it showed in her time – by 13.58 seconds.
- Daniel Sokban (FR) was rocking on Saturday. His 12.84 second PR in 500 Free gave him a finishing time of 6:18.35, and his 1.33 second PR in 100 Fly gave him a finishing time of 1:20.40. Both of those will be very competitive in our conference going forward.
- Jed Albin (SR) dropped 11.75 seconds in 500 Free.
- Malia Buser (SO) cut 11.48 seconds in 200 Free.
- Joey Lynch (8) beat his former best time in the 500 Free by 8.44 seconds.
- Veronica Gonzalez (8) is already an old pro at the 500 Free, and she showed it with another 8.32 second drop.
- Dominic Judge (FR) rocked three (3) PRs including an 8.21 second drop 100 Back, a 4.72 second drop in 200 IM, and a .62 second drop in 50 Back leading off a relay.
- Sophia Halisky (8) has her 200 IM time down to something that is pretty competitive at the high school level after she improved by another 7.90 seconds.
- Allison Quispe (7) dropped 7.54 seconds in 500 Free.
- Gabby Russo (FR) had three (3) PRs on Saturday including a 7.39 second drop in 200 IM, a 3.28 second drop in 100 Back, and a .32 second drop in 50 Free leading off a relay.
- Maggie Schroer (8) beat her previous best in 100 Back by 7.08 seconds to get her time down to 1:14.31. He also broke 29-seconds in 50 Free with a .34 second PR.
- Peter Konstanty (SR) was on fire during the relays, and in 100 Back too – he cut 4.11 seconds from his 100 Back PR.
- Meg Blanchette (JR) beat her 100 Back PR by 3.95 seconds.
- Lucy Herwick (7) dropped 3.79 seconds in 50 Free. That’s a big drop for such a short event.
- Elizabeth Hurley (8) lowered her 100 Breaststroke PR by 3.15 seconds even though she wasn’t feeling well. Way to power through Elizabeth.
- Mary Clare Osilka (SO) gave me a high-five in her excitement over a 2.94 second PR in 200 IM. That happened just a few minutes after her .41 second PR in 50 Back leading off a relay. It’s fun to watch Mary Clare have fun.
- Jonas Wilson (8) cut 1.34 seconds in 100 Back.
- Avila Mantooth (8) looked very strong and smooth during her 1.61 second PR in 200 Free and her .69 second PR in 500 Free.
- Jack Herwick (8) cut .07 seconds in 100 Fly.
- Sofia Kohlhaas (8) dropped .01 seconds in 200 Free.
And finally, here are the swimmers who swam the most challenging events in a high school Meet for the very first time:
- Jenny Baughman (7) – 500 Free
- Sage Armstrong (FR) – 500 Free
- Meg Blanchette (JR) – 200 IM
- Joel Bookwalter (7) – 500 Free
- Caroline Brand (FR) – 200 IM and 500 Free
- Malia Buser (SO) – 500 Free
- JJ Cooley (SO) – 200 IM
- John Cooley (8) – 200 IM
- Rosie DeWolf (7) – 500 Free
- Charlie Dusek (SO) – 200 IM and 500 Free
- Ben Ellis (FR) – 100 Fly
- Luke Fifield (7) – 500 Free
- JJ Garvey (7) – 200 IM and 500 Free.
- Veronica Gonzalez (8) – 200 IM
- Jack Gregory (SR) – 200 IM
- Jack Herwick (8) – 500 Free
- Lucy Herwick (7) – 500 Free
- Monica Irving (8) – 100 Fly
- Clare Judge (7) – 500 Free
- Colette Kramer (SO) – 200 IM
- Cora Kramer (FR) – 200 IM
- Penny Kramer (FR) – 200 IM and 500 Free
- Joey Lynch (8) – 200 IM
- Annabelle Mikkelson (7) – 500 Free
- Bella Nguyen (8) – 100 Fly
- Kenneth Nguyen (8) – 200 IM
- Camila Quispe (7) – 200 IM
- James Reynolds (7) – 500 Free
- Evan Rodriguez (JR) – 500 Free
- Walter Saffian (JR) – 200 IM and 500 Free
- Brian Schillingburg (JR) – 200 IM
- Evan Wible (7) – 500 Free
- Grace Catabui (6) – 500 Free
- Katie Cooley (6) – 500 Free
- Claire Kay (6) – 100 Fly and 500 Free
- Thomas Keapproth (7) – 500 Free
- James Nguyen (6) – 500 Free
- Caroline Schroer (6) – 500 Free
One funny story about Monica Irving (8): Referee Charles Seltman suggested to me that he might have to DQ Monica in 100 Fly because she went past the 15-meter ring underwater. I told Mr. Seltman that I have told all the kids that if anyone gets DQ’d for going past the 15-meter mark, I’d give them a hug. Mr. Seltman decided that, since he didn’t have a side judge to see the infraction clearly, he would not DQ her. Monica got her hug anyway.
Tempest Swimmers Continue Building
I was very pleased to have our sister team from Trinity School at Meadow View in attendance once again to swim with us on Saturday. One day I hope to see them in our VCAC Conference, at least for swimming and lacrosse, but for now we have to rely on Meets like Saturday’s Winter Invitational to start to build a tradition that I hope will one day grow into a great Tempest Swimming program.
We were missing two (2) of our top swimmers, but that didn’t stop us from breaking another team record – Aine Maloney (JR) Aine went 1:12.37 in 100 Breastroke to break the previous record of 1:15.56 set by Sydney Arllen back in December at the Homecoming Invitational. That was a 3.60-second-high school PR for Aine which she paired with a .78 second 100 Fly PR to establish two (2) strong seed times for the upcoming State Championship Meet. Aine also cut another .61 seconds in 50 Free, so it was a pretty good afternoon for her!
Speaking of State Qualifiers, we added Shane Monroe (JR) to the list of Tempest Individual Qualifiers with his .43 second PR 23.92 in 50 Free to make the cut. Shane swam an excellent “effective freestyle” and that looked to make the difference for him. Shane also looked very good in the 500 Free.
Like the Seton swimmers, I put our Tempest swimmers outside of their comfort zones and gave them the opportunity to try some new things:
- Sydney Arllen (SO) had great swims in the 500 Free and 100 Fly. This was her first attempt at 100 Fly this year, and her 1:20.49 was a pretty strong result.
- Sophie Blankenstein (JR) looked like she enjoyed her attempts at the 100 and 200 Free, and the results showed in her times with PRs of 1.76 seconds and 6.27 seconds, respectively.
- Charlotte Mazanec (SO) really seemed to catch my attention while I was doing the livestream broadcast. I just thought she looked particularly good on Saturday. Her .66 second PR in 100 Free and 1.05 second PR in 500 Free seemed to validate what I thought I was seeing.
- Reagan Mazanec (FR) has a joy about her that I find infectious. She had a great swim in the 500 Free, and had two other PR swims. In 100 Free she dropped 1.20 seconds, and in 50 Back leading off a relay she dropped .20 seconds.
- Lizzie Neal (FR) had me smiling during her first attempt at the 500 Free. She broke 8:00 – great job Lizzie!
- Eamon Schrock (FR) is going to be the core of this team as it (and he) develops into the Tempest program I know it can become. He swam the 500 Free in a very fast 6:15.31, and his first high school attempt at 100 Fly of 1:05.57 was also very fast.
- Joseph Theide (7) is only in 7th grade, but he doesn’t swim like it. He swam two (2) PRs, including a 3.72 second drop in 500 Free and a 3.16 second drop in 100 Back. I was very pleased with what I saw from Joseph.
Going back to States, it looks like we have an “A” Relay qualified in all the relay events except the Boys 200 Free Relay. For that one, I know we are more than fast enough, so it is just a question of getting all four (4) boys there at the same time for the VISAA Division II Invitational on February 3rd.
I’ve posted our qualifiers and an early draft of our entries for States under the State Meet in Meet Information. A swimmer can swim up to all three (3) relays which is what I typically do at Seton to try to get the relays fast enough to make the Finals at night. What we do for Trinity depends pretty much on what we do with Aine and Elijah individually, so what I have posted could change. I’ll have a discussion with Mr. Maloney after the VISAA Division II Invitational to make a final decision.
National Catholic High School Swimming and Diving Champs
During this past weekend (January 13-14, 2024), 28 of our top Seton Swimmers and divers journeyed to Loyola University in Baltimore, MD to compete at the National Catholic High School Swimming and Diving Championship. While the Meet is not truly “national”, I did meet teams from as far away as northern Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and New York City.
I was so pleased with the results, starting with our Diving team, particularly our Boys, that competed under the tutelage of Coach Ashley Keapproth. Believe it or not, no school in the meet scored as many diving points as Seton – in fact, since Diving was the early in the morning before swimming, Seton was actually winning the entire meet following the diving competition! It was definitely cool being ahead of Gonzaga!
The reason we scored so well is because we placed 4 Divers (the maximum allowed to score) in the Top 9 scoring positions including the Silver-medalist for the entire competition:
- Connor Koehr – Silver medalist
- Mick Fioramonti – 7th
- Jacob Oswald – 8th
- Gus Kohlhaas – 9th
- We had two other male Divers show well in the competition too:
- Max Gonzalez – 15th
- Philip Gomez – 23rd
Of the divers in the competition from Virginia Schools, Seton took 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th with one (1) O’Connell diver that dove at Fork Union Military Academy last year scoring between Connor and Mick. Mick, Jacob, and Gus, let’s fix that this coming weekend at NoVa Catholics!
Here is a video of Connor’s performance.
Our female divers also competed well with one (1) scoring in the top-16:
- Rose Waldron (JR) – 12th
- We had three (3) other female Divers show well in the competition too:
- Maria Miller (SO) – 19th
- Meghan Condon (8) – 30th
- Elizabeth Francis (JR) – 37th
Rosie was 7th among divers from Virginia schools, less than 3-points behind 5th and 6th. Let’s out-work those girls between now and States!
Congratulations to these boys and Coach Ashley Keapproth!
On the swimming side, we had two (2) of our star young freshman qualify out of the Saturday Prelims to swim in the Sunday Finals.
- Ariana Aldeguer (FR)was our highest placing finalist with a 4th place finish in 500 Free and a 6th place finish in 200 IM.
- In the 500 Free, she left Prelims with the 5th seed at 5:09.93. To put that in perspective, she swam 5:17.04 in Prelims last year so she has definitely gotten much faster. In the Championship Final, she dropped to 5:08.05, a high school PR by .08 seconds, to move up one spot to finish in 4th. As Ariana gets a little rest after she gains some distance from this difficult part of her training cycle, I can see another team record in Ariana’s future here too. In 1999, long before Ariana was born, Katie Shipko swam a 5:06.98 on her way to the Gold medal at States and State MVP honors. Breaking that record would be a marvelous achievement.
- In the 200 IM, she swam a PR 2:11.34 to qualify 5th, and in the Championship Final, then in a very fast Final, she dropped to 2:10.95 and finished in 6th
- Lionel Martinez (FR) was our other swimmer who scored individually in this extremely fast meet – Lionel made two (2) appearances in the Consolation Final.
- In 100 Fly, Lionel qualified out of Prelims in 12th place with a 53.49 and ultimately finished in 16th in the Finals at 53.56. The boy’s competition is always stupid-fast at this meet, and with the broader geography of the participating teams, it was even more.
- In 500 Free, Lionel qualified in 14th place at 5:02.59 with a 5.71 second PR and then held his 14th place seed in the Finals even though he dropped another 3.62 seconds from his Personal Record. Lionel’s 4:58.91 is the first time he’s broken 5:00 and the first time Seton has had a sub-5:00 500-Freestyler since Jameson Hill.
It was a great weekend for both Ariana and Lionel as they each prepare to score individually at the VISAA State Championship in mid-February.
We had four (4) relays come back for Sunday Finals too:
- Our Girls 200 Medley “A” Relay of Ariana Aldeguer (FR), Clara Condon (JR), Stella Paradise (SR), and Elodie Brox (JR) came into the Meet with a best time of 1:57.37, but I knew we could do better than that.
- For Prelims, we qualified in the 9th seed after dropping to 1:54.72, mainly on the strength of Stella’ season-best 28.20 (previously 29.06) for our 50-Fly split.
- Then in Finals, we dropped to 1:53.69 to finish in 10th place. Stella dropped again, to 28.01, and Elodie also had a life-time best split at 25.12 (previously 25.33).
- Our Boys 200 Medley “A” Relay of Connor Koehr (JR), Drew Nguyen (JR), Lionel Martinez (FR), and Michael Brox (JR) just seemed to swim out of their minds. They came into the Meet at 1:44.58, which is pretty fast, but with the competition on the boy’s side, we felt like we had our hands full to even make the “B” Final. We did!
- In Prelims, we dropped to 1:42.78 to qualify in 14th place with all four (4) boys swimming at or below lifetime-best splits. Connor split 26.98 (previously 26.98) in 50 Back, Drew split 29.53 (previously 30.12), Lionel split 23.61 (previously 24.33), and Michael split 22.66 (previously 23.15). Those were some fast splits!
- Then in the Finals, we dropped another .03 mainly on the strength of Connor’s additional drop to 26.81 in 50 Back to claim 15th place.
- Our team record in this event was set in 2006 with a relay that contained All-American’s Kevin Koehr and Nevin Cook. Given that all four (4) of these swimmers are underclassman, it is not inconceivable that the inconceivable (at least to me before this year) happens – that these four (4) guys beat the record of 1:39.82!
- Our Girls 200 Free “A” Relay of Stella Paradise (SR), Maggie Gibbons (SR), Giselle Hill (SO), and Elodie Brox (JR) came into the meet with a season-best time of 1:47.39.
- In Prelims, they dropped to 1:46.68 to qualify in the last available spot, 16th. Gigi Hill (SO) was a difference maker here after she split 26.84, .81 seconds faster than her season-best split.
- In the Finals, it was Maggie Gibbons (SR) turn to step-up. With her season-best split of 26.19 (previously 26.30), the girls dropped to 1:45.51 to move up the 15th place in the end.
- Our Boys 400 Free Relay of Lionel Martinez (FR), Connor Koehr (JR), Joseph Borneman (JR), and Michael Brox (JR), improbably, was our last relay to come back on Sunday. With a seed time of 3:29.59, the task seemed impossible going into the Meet, but like the Medley Relay, these boys were just insane. (The boys they were racing against were even more insane!)
- In Prelims, Coach Palazzo gave them a goal of 3:30 – and they did it – 3:29.57. Lionel led off at 50.43, followed by unbelievable swims by both Connor and Joseph. Connor split 52.97 (previous best 54.72) and Joseph split 53.84 (previous best 54.98). With Michael’s 52.33 on the back-end, they miraculously qualified in 15th
- Then in Finals, they dropped nearly another 1.83 seconds, down to 3:27.74 and took 16th place. This time, it was Lionel and Michael’s turn for ridiculous splits. Lionel led off in 49.20 – a 1.12 second PR! Connor and Joseph were right on their Prelim splits, but then Michael anchored in an incredible 51.42! Ironically, that was also 1.12 seconds faster than his previous best split.
We had two other “A” Relays that came very close to making Finals:
- Our Girls 400 Free “A” Relay of Ariana Aldeguer (FR), Stella Paradise (SR), Clara Condon (JR), and Giselle Hill (SO) qualified 17th in Prelims after dropping .68 seconds from their seed time to go a season-best 3:57.06. Stella Paradise had the best swim of the group by beating her season-best 100 split by 2.16 seconds.
- Our Boys 200 Free “A” Relay of Michael Brox (JR), Drew Nguyen (JR), Liam Halisky (JR), and Joseph Borneman (JR) qualified in 18th place after dropping .99 seconds to go a season-best 1:34.87, but the implications for our State 200 Free Relay extends into our “B” Relay where Connor Koehr’s split was faster than two of the swimmers on the “A” Relay after he split 23.63 on a previous best of 24.60.
- Cutting to the chase, here are the fastest 50 Free splits among the Boys through National Catholics:
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- Michael Brox 22.66 (was 23.15)
- Lionel Martinez 23.19
- Liam Halisky 23.26
- Connor Koehr 23.63 (was 24.60)
- Joseph Borneman 23.67 (was 23.72)
- Andrew Nguyen 23.97 (was 24.39)
- Daniel Sokban 24.61 (was 23.63)
- Max Wilson 24.66
- Thiago Martinez 25.23
- Luke Mantooth 25.24
- This could get very interesting for reasons beyond the fact that we still have several Meets to change this rank order of sprinters:
- Will Lionel swim two (2) individual events?
- States will all about scoring the maximum possible number of points.
- When we get closer, the coaches are going to have to look at times across the State and determine if Lionel is worth more points in all three (3) relays or in two (2) individual events.
- Connor can’t swim in Saturday Prelims, but he can swim in Saturday Finals
- The Boys Diving Preliminaries is during the Saturday morning Swimming Preliminaries, so if Connor has one of the top-4 splits going into States, the 5th fastest swimmer will swim in Prelims on the Relay
- But after Prelims, we’ll look at the splits one more time and take the four (4) fastest for the season. If no one knocks Connor off the relay in Prelims, he’ll swim for Seton on the Relay in Finals.
- Of course, a lot can happen between now and then given that Connor is the 4th fastest by only .04 seconds right now.
- Will Lionel swim two (2) individual events?
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While we are at it, let’s look at the current standings for 100 Free splits among the boys because there was some movement there too:
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- Lionel Martinez 49.20 (was 49.88)
- Michael Brox 51.42 (was 52.26)
- Connor Koehr 52.97 (was 54.72)
- Andrew Nguyen 53.43 (was 55.50)
- Joseph Borneman 53.81 (was 54.98)
- Max Wilson 55.13
- Daniel Sokban 55.47
- Thiago Martinez 55.68 (was 56.09)
- Liam Halisky 56.19
- Peter Konstanty 57.95
- Once again, this could get very interesting for reasons beyond the fact that we still have several Meets to change this rank order of sprinters.
- The same two reasons apply from the 200 Free Relay with Lionel and Connor, but also
- Drew Nguyen has qualified for 100 Breaststroke. Like Lionel, if we think Drew can score more points by swimming well in Breaststroke, he will, but I suspect he will probably be more valuable in helping to get this relay to the Finals – if he is still in the top-4 after the VISAA Division II Invitational.
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Here is a report with the most recent splits for both the boys and girls: Top Relay Splits-Jan14,24
And finally, congratulations to our other National Catholic Team members who swam well:
- Elodie Brox (JR) broke 1:00 from a flat-start in 100 Free for the first time. Her 59.26 was a .99 second PR for her.
- Michael Brox (JR) was not just good in the relays, but he performed exceptionally well in his one individual event, 100 Free, where he dropped .12 seconds to go 52.14.
- Haley Fifield (JR) led off the “B” 200 Free with a .09 second PR in 50 Free.
- Kyleigh Fifield (FR) had her best swim of the weekend in the “B” 400 Free Relay with a split of 1:07.72, which was 1.58 seconds faster than her previous best.
- Anastasia Garvey (SO) crushed her 100 Back PR by 3.06 seconds and her 100 Free PR leading off a “B” 400 Free Relay by 3.36 seconds. She also split 29.63 seconds in 50 Fly in a “B” Relay, .44 seconds faster than her previous best.
- Giselle Hill (SO) had two (2) outstanding individual swims. In 100 Fly she cut her PR by 1.02 seconds, and in 100 Free she cut her PR by .53 seconds.
- Philomena Kay (FR) was in her first big travel meet, and I’m confident that she learned a lot about handling the challenges that come with a big multi-day meet. Those lessons will pay off at States in the future.
- Luke Mantooth (SR) had three (3) great swims in Baltimore. In 100 Fly he dropped 1.92 seconds, in 100 Free leading off a “B” Relay he dropped 1.79 seconds, and in 50 Breaststroke in a “B” Relay he split .41 seconds faster than his previous best.
- Thiago Martinez (8) dropped a big 1.98 seconds in 100 Back. He also swam a lifetime best split of 55.68 in the 400 Free Relay, a drop of .41 seconds.
- Drew Nguyen (JR) might be finally hitting his stride. I was so pleased with his 1.52 second PR in 100 Free (53.43) and his 2.00 second PR in 100 Breaststroke (1:07.98). Oh! The pain feels so good when you see those kind of fast times doesn’t it Drew?
- Rose Waldron (JR) performed well in both diving and swimming. In 50 Breaststroke in a “B” Relay she swam .06 seconds faster than her previous best, and in 50 Free in a “B” Relay she split .37 seconds faster than ever before.
- Max Wilson (JR) crushed his 100 Backstroke PR by 1.72 seconds.
All-in-all, it was a great weekend for our top Seton Swimmers. We once again stayed in AirBnB houses. It was so cool being able to have a gathering space between sessions and a central place for all of our meals.
We must start our Thank Yous with the great work of Mrs. Katie Condon who put together all of the logistics for the weekend. It was a huge job made even bigger with a weekend trip to the hospital. It was a huge job, very well done. I am personally so grateful!
A special thanks to volunteer coaches Ross Palazzo and Ashley Keapproth, neither of whom have kids on the team, for taking their weekend to guide our swimmers and divers.
And also, a big thank you to Mrs. Ellen Gibbons, Mr. Richard Borneman, Mrs. Christi Brox, Mrs. Carol Ann Miller, and Mr. Keith Oswald x for their hard work implementing Mrs. Condon’s plan for the meals and rides for everyone.
Final Notes
Let’s wrap it up with some final notes:
- There are only two (2) weeks left in the season for our non-Varsity swimmers. Everyone will be swimming in the Northern Virginia Catholic High School Championship (aka, “NoVa Catholics”) on January 20th
- After NoVa Catholics, I will draft our entries for one of the February championship meets and use that to announce our 2024 Varsity Team.
- Then, as a season-ending meet for all non-Varsity swimmers (i.e., swimmers who are not entered into meets during the championship season where there is no exhibition swimming), we will host our 17th annual Junior Varsity Invitational Championship at the Freedom Center on January 27th.
- This meet is primarily for 6th to 9th graders, but I will be able to include some select upperclassmen as exhibition.
- For the Varsity swimmers, it’s time to start to get serious about some championship level swimming. Since New Year’s, you have seen our attention shift from giving you a wide range of different types of swims to lining you up to be as competitive as possible.
- Both our Boys need to take the VCAC Championship Meet from Trinity Christian, and
- I also expect both our Boys and Girls to be competitive for VISAA State Championship.
- None of those are going to be easy
So, let’s make the most of our training for the rest of January. It’s nearing the end of the season for most of you, and this is when championships are won for the rest of you!
Coach Jim Koehr