The gift I received on deck from Leah Fifield, Class of ‘32

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Thank you, Joe Aldeguer, for turning this blog post into a short (11:13) Podcast that highlights our GEMS.  You can listen to it here:

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“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” – Cicero

“Who’s got it better than us?  Nobody!” – Coach Jim Harbaugh

I hope my “parent”, gratitude, proves to be fruitful in my life in the coming days, weeks, and months, because I have had an unusually large number of reasons to feel gratitude over the past week.

Let’s start with the birth of my 17th grandchild, Maximilian James Koehr (or James Maximus, as I plan to call him 😉) to my oldest son, Coach Kevin Koehr ’06 and his beautiful wife, Eileen (Heim) Koehr ’10.

There is simply no joy quite like watching your babies have babies – and then being surrounded by them as their grandfather.  The experience can be overwhelming, both emotionally – and physically.  Prior to the Meet, which was sponsored by John Paul Design Build, I was swarmed by a mass of my little grandsons all wearing their black John Paul Design Build shirts.  It really put the work ahead of me on that day in perspective.

Prior to the Meet, I had a second reason for gratitude – my trip to the Sugar Bowl where my alma mater Notre Dame beat the SEC Champion Georgia to advance to the semi-finals of the College Football Playoff.  (I told Florida graduate Coach Ross Palazzo that beating the SEC Champion should make us the SEC champion, and he replied, “LOL, not exactly”).  It was not simply the win that was the source of so much gratitude, even though it did exorcise our 2012 experience of getting crushed by Alabama in the National Championship game.  The source of my gratitude was the success of our coach, Marcus Freeman.

I was tearing up a bit watching Coach Freeman singing “Notre Dame, Our Mother” alongside his players after the win. He converted to Catholicism in early September 2022 and reinstated the pregame Mass tradition for the team.  The pregame Mass was a 100-year-old tradition that was ended by our previous coach, who now coaches, ironically, in the SEC.

I was so grateful that Coach Freeman is re-committing the team to the Catholic traditions at Notre Dame.  If you go to a home game today, you’ll see students cheering every time the campus chaplain shows up on the jumbotron for the regular advertisements for one of the more than 160 weekly Masses around campus.  Just prior to the start of the game, you’ll hear the announcer say, “Now let’s go to the locker room for the pre-game prayer”, which is also displayed on the jumbotron, right before the players run out following another 100-year-old tradition of hitting the “Play Like a Champion” sign at the bottom of the locker room steps.

I was grateful to see that the good guys can still win in college football.

I’ve had my heart ripped out too many times by the Irish since 1981 to harbor thoughts of a National Championship – yet, but I will celebrate a great victory over a great opponent that I’m confident happened with the help of Our Lady.  As Lou Holtz once famously said, Jesus doesn’t care who wins, but his mother does!

Here are the familiar words of the Notre Dame Alma Mater, “Notre Dame, Our Mother” which honors Our Lady on the golden dome:

Notre Dame, our Mother,

Tender, strong, and true,

Proudly in the heavens,

Gleams thy gold and blue.

Glory’s mantle cloaks thee,

Golden is thy fame,

And our hearts forever

Praise thee, Notre Dame.

And our hearts forever

Love thee, Notre Dame.

And, of course, the final big reason I have for gratitude over the past few days was our 56th and 57th Conference Championship wins on Saturday.  Since the team was founded for the ’94-’95 season, our girls have won 30 out of 31 Conference Championships and our boys have won 27 out of 31.

We all knew going into the Meet that the competition would be on the girl’s side against Trinity Christian School – as it has been since they entered VISAA swimming in 2015.  We’ve had some epic battles in the past, but Seton always seemed to come out on top for either the regular season or the Conference Championship Meet – until last year.

Last season, we lost the regular season conference championship meet on the last relay when our “B” relay was disqualified, and then we lost the Conference Championship Meet by a single point, 310-309 – the equivalent of a single 12th place finish.  It was a tough one because it ended a 29-year streak.

Prior to the Meet, our female captains Elodie Brox (SR), Clara Condon (SR), Haley Fifield (SR), and Molly Bauer (SR) gathered the Varsity girls together for a team meeting.  Coaches were summarily dismissed.  I had a whole pre-game talk in mind, but I quickly decided that the captains could motivate teenage girls far better than a 61-year-old man, so I let them roll.

I’m glad I did, because after their meeting, our girls were obviously ready to leave no doubt about who was going to win.  We entered the Meet with the Psych Sheet score (the score if everyone performed exactly to their seeds) projecting us to win by 18-points, 166-148.  I also calculated a version assuming that we lost all of the close races.  That resulted a worst-case projected outcome of us losing by 20-points, 147-167.

My fears were all but completely eliminated by the end of the first swimming event.  Prior to the Meet, Rose Waldron (SR), Meghan Condon (FR), and Maria Miller (JR) unexpectedly took 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Diving for a 6-point swing in our favor from the Psych Sheet score.

Then in the Girl’s 200 Medley Relay, Ariana Aldeguer (SO) gave us a 1.79 second lead over Trinity’s top female sprinter with an unbelievable 27.15 backstroke lead-off.  To put that in perspective, Ariana’s season-best split prior to that was 28.19, and our team record for 50 backstroke is held by All-American backstroker Anna Kenna at 27.03.

By the time Clara Condon (SR) got out of the water from the breaststroke leg, the lead was extended to almost 3 full seconds so there was no way that even Trinity’s two best overall swimmers, Audrey Schlieter (JR) and Allie Wiggins (JR) were going to catch Anastasia Garvey (JR) and Elodie Brox (SR).  When our “B” Medley surprisingly beat their “B” medley, we ended up 1st and 3rd for a 13-5 early lead.

That was another 6-point swing, so after only two events, we were already 12-points ahead of schedule.  I’ll talk about it more below, but our other two girl’s “A” and relays and one of our girl’s “B” relays beat their counterparts unexpectedly with some tremendous swims.  The most amazing of which was (spoiler alert!) another swim by Ariana Aldeguer (SO) anchoring the 400 Free Relay for a come-from-behind victory with a split of 52.98!  Her previous season-best split was 55.31.

Combined with stellar individual performances from swimmers like Anastasia Garvey (JR), Haley Fifield (SR), Maggie Schroer (FR), Betsy Arnold (FR), Philomena Kay (SO), and Isabella McCook (SO), we were just too much on this particular day.  The Psych Sheet score was projected to be 166-148, and after 118 Personal Records (not counting the countless relay split PRs), the Meet ended with an actual score of 182-132 – victory by 50-points.  Even I was surprised at how well our girls swam.

That does not mean that the Trinity Christian girls did not swim well though.  I expected great things from Audrey Schleiter (JR), Allie Wiggins (JR), Liz Klanderman (SR), Allie Myers (FR), Maggie Hsieh (SO) – and their new star sprinter Shoshana Feng (FR) – but the stand-out swimmers of the meet from the Gryphons for me were Alexis Dang (8) and Tori Lee (FR).  With the strong new young swimmers that Coach Alyssa Knauf has attracted, combined with the number of seniors that we will be graduating this year, I can see already that there will be more nail-biter battles in the foreseeable future also.

I apologize that I haven’t spoken much – yet – about our boys, but the truth is, I wasn’t worried about our boys – until that first relay which I will not soon let go.

Here is a breakdown of all the Conference Meet Scores from Saturday:

Girls

Seton Swim & Dive                 182                        Trinity Christian                132

Seton Swim & Dive                   202                       Fredericksburg Christian   82

Seton Swim & Dive                   227                       Oakcrest                                81

Seton Swim & Dive                   232                       Immanuel Christian            72

Seton Swim & Dive                   233                       Saint John Paul the Great   67

Boys

Seton Swim & Dive                 166                        Immanuel Christian         143

Seton Swim & Dive                   197                       Trinity Christian                    88

Seton Swim & Dive                   229                       Saint John Paul the Great   49

Seton Swim & Dive                   231                       Fredericksburg Christian    40

If you would like a primer on how high school meets are scored, see my blog, So How is a High School Meet Scored, Anyway.

Seeking Truth, Beauty, and Goodness

Sunday was the Solemnity of the Epiphany in the Catholic Church, and I was fortunate enough to have my son, Fr. Sean Koehr, saying Mass for us while he is home on leave as a Navy Chaplain assigned to the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71).  Whenever I hear Fr. Koehr preach, I invariably seem to have some sort of epiphany myself, and this time it was no different.

As Fr. Koehr explained to us, the Magi who visited the baby Jesus were men of reason, science, philosophy and learning, so they remind us of an important teaching of the church:  the truths of science, not just the truths of faith, are all rooted in the truth of Jesus.

I’ve understood that at the level of acceptance for most of my life, but I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever really comprehended it fully.  Perhaps my lack of a classical education has left me poorly equipped to understand the beautiful words of Saint Pope John Paul II in Fides et Ratio (i.e., the relationship between faith and reason):

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth.

I fully believe that Jesus rose from the dead and opened the gates of heaven for us as a result, but I’ve never been sure that is “reasonable”.  Isn’t that something that we must take on faith?

Well Fr. Koehr finally explained the relationship of faith and reason to me in a way that I could comprehend.  In his words:

Natural science can only answer the what and the how. Faith answers the questions: WHY something exists and WHO brought it into being”.

Now that makes sense to me.

Without faith, science (i.e., reason) can become a false god, devoid of the more important questions of “why” and “who”.

Anyone who has been conscious since March 2020 should not have to reflect too hard to find an example of how science can become a false God, with the resulting devastation on the Church and society.

Screwtape would have been proud.

I loved the story that Fr. Koehr told at the end of his homily.  It describes a more modern version of why the Magi are commonly called the “Wise Men”:

The year is 1890, and there is a French gentleman taking a train ride on a steam engine from Paris to Marseilles. He’s in the first-class cabin. He has a top hat and a cane.

As the train moves through the French countryside, about two stops from Paris, it picks up a young man—also a gentleman—carrying a stack of scientific journals and magazines.

He places them down next to him as he sits across from this older man.

The younger man is amazed that the older man, looking out the window, is praying his rosary as the train moves down the tracks.

So, he politely waits for him to pause, then says:

“You know, sir, I appreciate your old-school religion, but I have here next to me some fascinating scientific journals that pretty much prove we don’t need religion anymore. 

What we really need is science. What we need is scientific progress and technology.   

That’s our hope. That’s the future. That’s what civilization is going to rest on—not your Hail Mary’s.”

“Can I show you what I mean?” The old man replies: “Sure. Please, by all means.”

For several hours, the young man explains all kinds of scientific discoveries, showing him journals filled with incredible scientific facts.

He tells him about Heinrich Hertz and his discovery of electromagnetic waves, paving the way for radio and television.

He speaks of Nikola Tesla and his alternating current systems, leading to widespread electrification.

He describes the famous rabies vaccine, which was revolutionizing public health.

The old man is very, very impressed. The young man thinks he has made a convert.

“Finally, I’ve pulled another person away from old-time religion into this new world of science and discovery,” he thinks.

Then, the young man says, “Look, there’s so much more I can share with you. If you give me your address, I can send you more articles, and maybe we can get together to discuss them when we’re both back in Paris”.

The old man replies, “I’d be happy to speak with you. Here’s my calling card. I’m really looking forward to our next meeting.”

The young man takes the card and puts it in his pocket. A stop later, the old man, still praying his rosary, gets off the train and walks down the platform.

As the train pulls away, the young man looks in his pocket. And in a sudden moment of epiphany, he reads:

Louis Pasteur
Secretary, French Academy of the Sciences
Director of the Pasteur Institute

And it could have also said: Father of Microbiology and inventor of the rabies vaccine.

As Fr. Koehr concluded, “Those who sincerely seek the truth will eventually find Jesus……The Magi teach us this lesson today, and today, the wise men still seek him

I think I finally understood.

Here is the complete text of Fr. Sean Koehr’s homily for Epiphany 2025: Fr. Sean Koehr – Epiphany 2025

The Victory Started with Diving

Coach Ashley Keapproth’s Diving Team has become a force to be reckoned with! (I’m sorry, but the correct “a force with which to reckon” just doesn’t sound as good 😉)

Our boys have been the leaders at the State level since last season, but it has been very exciting to watch the development of our girls.

Here is an excerpt of the notes sent out to the Diving team by Coach Keapproth:

1) Special Congratulations. 

  • Congratulations to Daniel Sobkan (10) who learned his 11th dive Friday, qualifying him to National Catholics next weekend!
  • Congratulations to Betsy Arnold (9) who learned her 6th dive to move up to Group 2.

2) National Catholics.  Congratulations to Connor Koehr (SR), Jacob Oswald (SR), Gus Kohlhaas (SR), Daniel Sokban (SO), Rose Waldron (SR), Meghan Condon (FR), Maria Miller (JR), Jane Judge (FR), and Anna Russo (SR) who have earned a place on the National Catholics team.

3)  Meet Recap.  Several divers had fantastic meets yesterday, while I know some left disappointed.  If you had a great Meet yesterday, I encourage you to continue that momentum.  If you left frustrated or knowing you could do better, let’s work in practice to get those dives nailed down!

  • Rose Waldron (12) placed 1st with 165.65 points and a new PR! She had a beautiful reverse dive pike, reverse somersault, and full twisting somersault.
  • Meghan Condon (9) placed 2nd with 158.65 points.  She had a consistent meet, not scoring below 4.5 on any dive, which is just what we need going into the Championship season.
  • Clare Kay (7) placed 4th with 138.00 points and a new PR! Clare was on fire with several judges noting how high she jumps and her beautiful front one and a half somersault and reverse dive.
  • Elizabeth Francis (12) placed 5th with 128.25, just shy of her personal record.  She rocked her full twisting somersault and front one and a half somersault and picked up a lot of points on those dives!
  • Maria Miller (11) placed 6th with 125.05. She had a nice back dive and front one and a half pike.
  • Anna Russo (12) placed 7th with 124.80, just shy of her personal record. She had a great reverse somersault and inward dive. 
  • Jane Judge (9) placed 11th with 106.10. She had a great inward dive to end the  meet.
  • Cecelia Kelly (9) placed 12th with 98.75. Cecilia has been working hard to learn her full 11 dive list. 

On the boy’s side:

  • Connor Koehr (12) placed 1st with 217.90. Connor got great height and scores on his front double pike and front two and a half somersault tuck.
  • Jacob Oswald (12) placed 5th with 143.15. I know he was frustrated, but we will channel that into greater success in our Championship season.
  • John Witter (7) placed 6th with 135.60, smashing his prior PR by over 20 points. John performed several new dives this meet including a front double somersault!
  • Kenny Nguyen (10) placed 7th with 113.95 points, smashing his prior PR by almost 20 points. Kenny consistently impressed the judges with his height off the board.
  • Tom Waldron (9) placed 9th with 103.30 points. Tom had a great front double.
  • Daniel Sokban (10) placed 10th with 101.00 points.  Daniel has been working hard to learn new dives, which will really pay off as we enter our Championship season.

The Difference Makers for the Girls

Winning a Meet like this is the result of many small performances that add up to the whole.

Let’s start with the relays from where most of the unexpected points came:

  • Our Girls 200 Medley “A” Relay of Ariana Aldeguer (SO), Clara Condon (SR), Anastasia Garvey (JR), and Elodie Brox (SR) was an absolute stunner. Not only did I not expect Trinity Christian to lead-off with their best sprinter, but I also didn’t expect Ariana to beat her by 2-body lengths (1.79 seconds)!  That was more than a second faster than her best earlier this season and .70 seconds than she swam at States last year.  Then Clara beat her season-best 50 Breaststroke split by 1.07 seconds, followed by Anastasia’s season-best 50 Fly split by 2.74 seconds (the timing system kept missing her splits in December), and finally Elodie’s season-best by 1.01 seconds.
    • Their final time was 1:53.01 while I projected they could go 1:55.15.  It’s great to see all these girls at State-Championship-form this early in the season.  I was particularly pleased with Elodie’s 24.72 split.
    • All of that is not to say that Trinity Christian did not swim well.  I expected their best relay to go 1:57.06, and they went 1:54.32.  Liz Klanderman (SR), Audrey Schlieter (JR), and Allie Wiggins (JR) all went much faster than I projected.
  • Our Girls 200 Medley “B” Relay of Haley Fifield (SR), Rose Waldron (SR), Betsy Arnold (FR), and Lucia Bingham (SR) were not projected to score at all.  With Betsy’s 29.19 (.55 seconds faster than her previous best) and Lucia’s 27.76 (1.27 seconds faster than her season best), these girls jumped ahead of Trinity’s “B” Relay to steal a valuable 3-points.
  • Our Girls 200 Free “A” Relay was even more of a stunner because my projection showed that we didn’t have a prayer. My projection for our fastest time was 1:47.95 while I expected them to be able to go 1:43.24 with all their top girls (which they were not able to use).  But Isabella McCook (SO), Clara Condon (SR), Maggie Schroer (FR), and Elodie Brox (SR) decided that my projection was wrong – they ended up going 1:45.29!  My projections were off by .16 seconds for Isabella, 1.06 seconds for Clara, .89 seconds for Maggie, and .82 seconds for Elodie.
  • Our Girls 200 Free “B” Relay of Gigi Hill (JR), Betsy Arnold FR), Kyleigh Fifield (SO), and Philomena Kay (SO) was looking good for 3rd place against Trinity Christian, but the ghost of Christmas past (another early take-off DQ) derailed our chance there. That does not diminish the fact that Betsy rocked her split with a time of 1.15 seconds faster than her previous best.
  • Our Girls 400 Free “A” Relay was the coup de gras for me because it was another one that I never expected to be able to win, but that is because I didn’t count on Maggie Schroer (FR) and Ariana Aldeguer (SO) swimming out of their minds the way they did. After good lead-off swims by Isabella McCook (SO) and Anastasia Garvey (JR), we were well behind Trinity’s Allie Wiggins (JR) and Allie Myers (FR). Then came Maggie with a lifetime best 57.32 (2.68 seconds ahead of my projection) that almost caught us up completely followed by Ariana’s crazy 52.98 to secure the victory.  The race was pretty much over on Ariana’s tremendous underwater off her second turn. We finished in a season-best 3:50.60 on my projection of 3:53.38.
    • For Trinity, Allie Myers (FR) 59.73 and Shoshana Feng’s (FR) 55.81 were both particularly strong swims.  I’m going to have to meet both these girls the next time we are together.  I always appreciate great swimming, and I know I will be seeing it from these two freshmen for three and a half more years.
  • Our Girls 400 Free “B” Relay of Gigi Hill (JR), Philomena Kay (SO), Lucia Bingham (SR), and Haley Fifield (SR) exceeded expectations both in terms of time and place. For some reason, we missed the splits, but I can tell you that these girls went 4:10.99 on my projection of 4:13.85, and that was good enough to jump from 4th place against Trinity Christian to 3rd place for a final 6-point swing.

Individually, the competition was much more predictable, but we had several standout performances that made a real difference for Seton.  As I often say, “If we swim PRs, the winning takes care of itself”:

  • Ariana Aldeguer (SO) rocked her individual events too, taking first overall in both the 200 IM and the 100 Free. Her flat-start 100 Free time was 54.50, a .05 second PR.
  • Haley Fifield (SR) had her best meet of the season so far. In 100 Back she dropped a huge 5.86 seconds to jump up from the 3rd seed to 2nd place against Trinity Christian.  In 100 Fly she also dropped time, by .89 seconds.
  • Clara Condon (SR) had a season-best swim in 100 Fly to hold off Audrey Schleiter (JR) for 1st place against Trinity. She also had a season-best swim in 100 Breaststroke to hold off Liz Klanderman by only .02 seconds to take 1st place again in the meet against Trinity Christian.  If you watch the live-stream recording of Clara’s race, you can see that she won breaststroke with a superior finish.
  • Elodie Brox (SR) also had a great swim in 100 Breaststroke, beating her previous best by .85 seconds and just missing the chance to move up a spot against Trinity. Elodie also held serve in 50 Free.
  • Anastasia Garvey (JR) jumped up to 3rd place against Trinity Christian with a 1.62 second PR swim in 100 Fly.
  • Betsy Arnold (FR) continues to show dramatic improvement, dropping 2.86 seconds in 100 Fly and 2.90 seconds in 100 Back.
  • Philomena Kay (SO) dropped 5.04 seconds in 200 Free and 1.20 seconds in 500 Free to score in 6th and 4th place overall. Both of her swims held her seed against the Trinity Christian girls.
  • Maggie Schroer (FR) rocked her 100 Free with a 58.08 which was 1.99 seconds faster than her previous best.
  • Kyleigh Fifield (SO) had a great swim in 200 Free, beating her previous best by 9.17 seconds to take 10th overall and hold her seed versus Trinity.
  • Sophia Halisky (FR) cut 2.82 seconds from her 200 IM PR and .28 seconds from her 100 Breaststroke PR to score in 9th and 8th overall, respectively. Sophia’s breaststroke swim jumped her from 6th to 5th versus Trinity Christian.
  • Isabella McCook (SO) came directly to the Freedom Center from a meet in Arlington, but that didn’t keep from scoring 2nd overall in 500 Free and 3rd overall in 200 Free. In both cases, she held serve against Trinity Christian.
  • Lucy Cunningham (SR) delivered for Seton in the 500 Free by cutting 6.55 seconds from her Personal Record to place 7th overall and 5th against Trinity Christian.
  • Gabby Russo (SO) was on the scoring team for the first time (I think), and she made the most of it with a 7.47 second PR in 200 IM. Great job Gabby!

Believe It Or Not, Our Boys Competed Too

The Boys won the VCAC Regular season championship, as I expected, but it was much closer than I expected.  Immanuel Christian came within 23-points of Seton.  Fortunately, we had some outstanding swims to secure the victory to overcome the facts that we were missing Lionel and Thiago Martinez and that our Boys “A” Medley Relay inexplicably missed their heat.

Had this been a

Meet using championship rules, all four (4) of the boys in that medley relay, four (4) of our top swimmers and all seniors, would have been disqualified for the rest of the competition, so we dodged a bullet for sure.  I don’t think they are done hearing about it from me though.

Other than the missed relay, which included all senior boys, I’ve really been enjoying the boy’s Class of 2025.  I particularly like the way they have gelled as a team.  The attitude of meekness on the boy’s team is most evident in the relays where they all continue to push each other for slots on our championship “A” Relays.  Here were some of the great relay performances we saw from our Conference Champion Boys:

  • Max Wilson (SR) may have had his best meet of the season, although there are plenty of other candidates. Max is having a tremendous year.  In 200 Free Max cut l8.58 seconds to jump from the 4th overall seed to 2nd  Then in the 500 Free, Max dropped 2.32 seconds to come within .12 seconds of beating his teammate Joe Borneman for 1st place overall.  As if that weren’t enough, Max led off the 400 Free Relay in a blazing 52.40 which was 3.60 seconds faster than his previous best, and in the 200 Free Relay, Max split a lifetime best 23.36.  That split secured him a spot on the 200 Free “A” Relay at National Catholics.
  • Joe Borneman (SR) has also saved the best for his senior season. On Saturday, he dropped an incredible 50.31 seconds in 500 Free to out-touch teammate Max Wilson by only .12 seconds for 1st place overall.  Joe cut another .77 seconds from an already very fast 100 Fly to take 2nd  And finally, Joe had a great 50 Free split in a relay, going 23.44 on a previous season-best of 24.12.
  • Patrick Kay (FR) completed the 1-2-3 finish in the boys 500 Free with his own 6.42 second PR.
  • Dominic Judge (SO) saw the benefit of his hard work over Christmas break with a 7.07 second PR in 200 IM and a 2.16 second PR in 100 Fly. Dominic knows how to make sure he’s got a spot on the post-season teams by excelling in events like those.  In the 200 Free Relay, Dominic also split 25.38, .66 seconds faster than ever before.
  • Daniel Sokban (SO) had an insane swim in 100 Fly, beating his previous best by a massive 11.96 seconds. He also had a big drop in 100 Back, by 1.77 seconds where he scored in 4th place overall.  In the 200 Free Relay, Daniel split a blazing 23.22 which has secured him a spot (for the time being) on the 200 Free “A” Relay.  And finally, in the 400 Free Relay, Daniel split 54.71, his best by .16 seconds.
  • Greg Bauer (JR) had a great breaststroke leg in the 200 Medley “B” relay when he split 31.27, a time nearly a second faster than his previous best. Greg had his best swim of the day, however, in the 500 Free where he cut 19.14 seconds.  He also cut .38 seconds in 200 IM.  At the very end of the Meet, Greg completed a great day of swimming with a 56.89 split in the 400 Free relay, .14 seconds faster than his previous best.
  • Drew Nguyen (SR) showed me something at the very end of the meet with his 53.75 split in the 400 Free Relay. That was .40 seconds faster than his previous season best.
  • William Sokban (SR) looked great in 200 Free, swimming 2.61 seconds faster than ever before.
  • Luke Partridge (SO) swam two (2) PRs on Saturday. In 50 Free he dropped .27 seconds, and in 100 Breaststroke he dropped .23 seconds to score in 9th and 7th place overall, respectively.  In the 200 Free Relay, Luke cut .95 seconds from his fastest 50 Free split also.
  • Michael Zahorchak (SO) took 5th place overall in 100 Back with his big 4.65 second PR. He also cut .43 seconds from his 50 Free PR leading off a relay and a whopping 1.77 seconds from his 100 Free split in the final 400 Free relay.
  • JJ Cooley (JR) cut 3.48 seconds in 100 Back to take 8th place overall.
  • Ben Ellis (SO) took advantage of his scoring opportunity to take 9th place overall after a .90 second PR in 100 Breaststroke. He also cut 1.26 seconds in 50 Free.

118 New Personal Records

There were loads of other Personal Records on Saturday also.  With 118 this week, our total for the season is now up to 582 Personal Records!  Dramatic individual improvement continues to be the hallmark of Seton Swimming and Diving:

  • Gianna Henry (7) had a huge PR in 100 Back, swimming 17.37 seconds faster than ever before. She also swam 50 Free 1.95 seconds faster than ever before.
  • Joey Lynch (FR) made his old 200 Free PR look slow when he beat it by 15.06 seconds. He also cut another .29 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Bella Vaughan (8) showed amazing improvement in 100 Breaststroke with a 14.08 second PR and in 50 Free with a 3.05 second PR.
  • William Orellana (7) improved by 12.69 seconds in 100 Free and by .50 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Raphael De Micoli (FR) crushed his 100 Breaststroke PR by 11.24 seconds and his 50 Free PR by 3.30 seconds. Those are both very big drops.
  • Katie Bauer (FR) looked great in 100 Fly, dropping 10.66 seconds. She also dropped 5.29 seconds in 100 Back and .71 seconds in 50 Free leading off a relay.
  • Bella Gorman (7) beat her previous best in 50 Back leading off a relay by 9.86 seconds.
  • Jane Judge (FR) did more than just excel in Diving. She also swam a huge 8.98 second PR in 100 Free and a 2.52 second PR in 100 Back.
  • Madelyn Fioramonti (7) cut 2.49 seconds in 50 Back leading off a relay and a whopping 8.23 seconds in 100 Back later in the meet
  • Gigi Gibaldi (SO) had a great swim in 100 Breaststroke, swimming 7.39 seconds faster than ever before.
  • Avery Youngblut (6) lowered her 100 Free PR by 7.27 seconds.
  • Siobhan Maher (7) had two big PRs. In 100 Back she cut 6.77 seconds, and in 100 Free she cut 4.33 seconds.
  • Charbel Pennefather (6) cut 5.95 seconds in 100 Free and .95 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Rose Ellis (JR) lowered her best 100 Free time by 5.86 seconds.
  • Philip Nguyen (7) cut 4.91 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and 3.27 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Bethany Allen (6) beat her previous PR in 100 Back by 4.91 seconds.
  • Claire Kay (7) beat her 100 Free PR by 4.86 seconds and her 100 Breast PR by 1.70 seconds.
  • Caroline Schroer (7) swam well in 100 Breaststroke, lowering her PR by 4.75 seconds.
  • Aidan McCardell (JR) cut 4.73 seconds in 100 Free and .58 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Paul Partridge (7) lowered his 100 Back PR by 4.58 seconds and his 50 Free PR by .97 seconds.
  • Grace Catabui (7) dropped a big 4.46 seconds in 50 Back leading off a relay, 1.48 seconds in 50 Free, and 2.55 seconds in 100 Free. It was good day for Grace.
  • Mary Claire Osilka (JR) looked better than ever in 100 Breaststroke, and it showed with her 4.31 second PR. She also cut .19 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Eamon Haggerty (8) cut 4.18 seconds from his 100 Free PR.
  • Charlotte Poullath (7) cut a big 3.78 seconds from her 100 Back PR.
  • Luke Fifield (8) beat his 100 Free PR by 3.73 seconds.
  • John Cooley (FR) lowered his PR in 100 Breaststroke by 3.60 seconds.
  • Jane Vaughan (6) cut 3.54 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Addi Hadro (7) crushed her 50 Free PR by 2.47 seconds. After completing 5,000 yards, I guess 50 yards seems a lot more doable!
  • Evie Mayer (8) continues to improve, this time with a 2.39 second PR in 50 Back leading off a relay.
  • Orla Haggerty (SR) dropped 2.34 seconds in 100 Back and .01 seconds in 50 Free leading off a relay.
  • Dominic Henry (FR) lowered his 100 Free PR by 2.29 seconds.
  • Charlotte Meadows (8) beat her previous best in 100 Breast by 2.18 seconds.
  • Elizabeth Hurley (FR) looked great during her 2.13 second PR swim in 200 IM.
  • Lily Waldron (FR) is quietly having an excellent season. On Saturday, she swam three (3) PRs in a 1.67 PR in 100 Free, a 1.40 second PR in 50 Free, and another .51 second PR in 50 Free leading off a relay.
  • Dominic Sciscilo (6) lowered his 50 Free PR by another bit 1.57 seconds.
  • Katie Cooley (7) beat her previous best in 100 Free by 1.48 seconds.
  • Julia Maranian (FR) dropped 1.47 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Daniel Hurley (JR) made me smile with his 1.42 second PR in 100 Free.
  • Gianna Pillion (8) beat her previous best in 100 Free by 1.13 seconds.
  • John Goodman (FR) cut .93 seconds in 100 Free and .61 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Penny Kramer (SO) dropped .42 seconds in 50 Free.
  • JJ Garvey (8) swam 1.13 seconds faster than ever before in 50 Free. He repeated the feat in 100 Free and 50 Back by .19 and .25 seconds, respectively.
  • Annie Dusek (FR) dropped .76 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Molly Bauer (SR) lowered her PR in 50 Free by .66 seconds and in 100 Free by .39 seconds.
  • Mia Nguyen (6) swam a .61 second PR in 50 Free.
  • Angela Andreu (FR) cut .52 seconds from her 50 Free PR.
  • Luke Pillion (SO) dropped .39 seconds in 50 Free.
  • Bella Nguyen (FR) beat her previous best times in 100 Free and 50 Free, by .28 seconds and .06 seconds, respectively.

Championship Meet Qualifiers

Recall that there are two championship meets that are unique in that, to qualify, you or your relay must beat a qualification time at a high school meet during the current season.  Those meets are:

  • The National Catholic High School Championship at Loyola University of Maryland in Baltimore, MD on January 11-12, 2025 (aka “National Catholics”)
  • The VISAA State Swimming & Diving Championship at the Jeff Rouse Swim & Sport in Stafford, VA on February 13-15, 2025. (aka “States”)

I have posted both the qualification standards and the qualifying swimmers under Meet Information for both Meets.

Congratulations to Seton’s 2024 National Catholic Championship Team.  Entries are now final.  Here is the final team that we are talking to Baltimore:

  • Swimmers
    • Ariana Aldeguer (SO)
    • Betsy Arnold (FR)
    • Lucia Bingham (SR)
    • Elodie Brox (SR)
    • Clara Condon (SR)
    • Haley Fifield (SR)
    • Kyleigh Fifield (SO)
    • Anastasia Garvey (JR)
    • Sophia Halisky (FR)
    • Giselle Hill (JR)
    • Philomena Kay (SO)
    • Isabella McCook (SO)
    • Maggie Schroer (FR)
    • Joseph Borneman (SR)
    • Liam Halisky (SR)
    • Patrick Kay (FR)
    • Connor Koehr (SR)
    • Lionel Martinez (SO)
    • Thiago Martinez (FR)
    • Andrew Nguyen (SR)
    • Daniel Sokban (SO)
    • Max Wilson (SR)
  • Divers
    • Connor Koehr (SR)
    • Jacob Oswald (SR)
    • Gus Kohlhaas (SR)
    • Daniel Sokban (SO)
    • Meghan Condon (FR)
    • Rose Waldron (SR)
    • Maria Miller (JR)
    • Anna Russo (SR)
    • Jane Judge (FR)

Logistics and a detailed schedule for the trip to Baltimore are posted under Meet Information. Thank you, Mrs. Condon!

Please note that there are actions to be completed by each team member.

I have also posted all the individual qualifiers for the VISAA State Championship Meet under Meet Information.  I expect the list to get longer.

Remember that we will be putting the fastest possible relays in the water which means most of the top swimmers will be swimming in all three (3) relays.  The exception will be Ariana Aldeguer (FR) and possibly Lionel Martinez (FR) because they may be able to generate more points swimming two (2) individual events.

For Diving, to qualify you must be able to do 11 Dives from all five (5) categories and demonstrate that you scored at least 2.5 on each one of them.  Plus, you must have scored at least 140.00 in two (2) 6-Dive Meets using 11 different dives or 200.00 in an 11-Dive Meet.  The Divers that have qualified so far are the ones we are taking to National Catholics.

We are now approaching the championship portion of the season with three (3) weeks left for all but the post-season Varsity team.  Let’s make the most of it!

See you at practice,

Coach Jim Koehr

 

 

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