On Saturday, we held our annual home opener – the Seton Icebreaker Invitational. It was a bit awesome, even for me. We have done regular season meets with 305 kids before, but this one somehow felt bigger. Maybe it was the fact that we were bringing our biggest team ever into the Meet. Or maybe it was the expectations I have for our championship run in February. Or maybe it was the anticipation of seeing what so many of our swimmers who worked in the off-season could do in the beginning of December.
Or maybe it was just when Paul Fifield handed me a “run of show” for the exact timing of every part of the production, including which cameras would be used. Part of the show included me, Coach Col Schroer, and Coach Hurley doing the pre-game show with it displaying on the video board in the venue. I was suddenly feeling a strange sensation prior to performing in front of a crowd – I think I was nervous 😉
Given the large number of new swimmers who were breaking into the regular season by participating in their first competitive meet at Seton, I don’t think I was the only one who was nervous. Fortunately, I have seen how these stories ends, so I was confidently able to relieve a few also-nervous mothers of their duties hovering over their fearful young children knowing that, once their swimmer climbed on those high blocks in front of the big crowd and overcame their fear, it would bring a smile to their face.
Some of you parents who are new to Seton might think your kid is on the Seton Swim & Dive to team to learn a new sport, but I live in a different paradigm. Swimming is just an excuse for me and the other coaches to push kids into uncomfortable situations where they will eventually learn to be comfortable. You will never do anything significant with your God-given gifts in this world if you can’t get comfortable with discomfort. And as I predicted, all of them overcame their fear and showed how much they have already improved after only four (4) weeks of practice.
Wasn’t it fun watching first-time swimmers like Avery Youngblut (6) drop 40 seconds in 100 Free? Briana Jolly (7) dropped 32 seconds, James Beltran (6) dropped 26 seconds, John Goodman (7) dropped 20 seconds, Maggie Mikkelson (7) dropped 17 seconds, CJ Pennefather (6) dropped 15 seconds, and Mia Nguyen (6) dropped 12 seconds – all in 100 Free. Heck, Joe Witter (FR) dropped 10 seconds and William Orellana (7) dropped 22 seconds – in 50 Free! Group 6 Coaches Jeremy Kleb, Briana Shillingburg, and Michael Brox must have been very proud.
How cool was that? And those were just a few of the 144 new Personal Records (PRs) that we saw on Saturday.
Last year was the first year with the new scoreboard at the Freedom Center, and the Seton Sports Network is treating it like their favorite new toy! It was so much fun having Paul Fifield and his Stream Team kick the Meet off with our Seton Hype Video, our State Meet Recap Video, and our very own Seton version of a music video for “Shipping Up to Boston”. Go Big or Go Home Paul! There is no such thing as “over the top” at Seton Swim & Dive! I think I even caught the Voice of Seton Swimming, John Kleb, smile when he saw his mug on the big board 😉
I will admit to particularly enjoying that music video since my Notre Dame Fighting Irish are going to the College Football Playoffs. They will be hosting the first-ever home playoff game and “Shipping Up to Boston” will be rocking Notre Dame stadium for the kick-off! Friday night before the Homecoming Meet is going to be rocking at the Koehr house – Go Irish!
The Meet went incredibly smoothly given that it was our first meet of the season and that we had eight (8) teams in the competition. You would think we’d been running big meets at the Freedom Center for two (2)-decades or something 😉
Of course, the whole key is the volunteer culture we have at Seton. With graduations each year, that team of volunteer parents continues to evolve with new faces stepping in where old faces are starting to step out.
It was a very big Meet in which Mike Judge held the reins of a very competent team dry-deck officials for the first time, relying only a small amount on the very experienced guidance he could seek out from our dry-deck master, Bill Dealey. Fortunately, Mike also had the able assistance of Melissa Sokban, Hume Nguyen, Eric Beltran, and Michael Bingham who were all paddling hard under the water but running as smooth as duck on the surface.
I could mention countless other parents who make these massive productions look easy, but I will end with a mention of our talented wet deck crew led by Richard Borneman, Charles Seltman (the “Godfather of Seton Swimming”), and Chris Condon. I know they were grateful to see so many newly certified Stroke and Turn Judges join them on deck like Charles Meadows and John Youngblut as well as some of the old pros like Tommy Reynolds, David Wilson, Bea Pennefather, and Chris Dusek. In a Conference where we are working toward getting two (2) judges per school, Seton is an embarrassment of riches.
Before I move on to the stunning results by our swimmers and divers, I want to congratulate Seton swimmer Orla Haggerty (SR) for an amazing senior production of “Arsenic and Old Lace”. It was an unbelievable show featuring many seniors on the team, including the leads in the show, Joe Borneman (SR) and Molly Bauer (SR). They are not just talented in the water, for sure. William Sokban (SR), Gus Kohlhaas (SR), Mary Catherine Hurley (SR), Walter Saffian (SR), Drew Nguyen (SR), Haley Fifield (SR), Lucy Cunningham (SR) and Connor Koehr (SR) also did great jobs in their supporting roles. Elodie Brox (SR) (who swam 50 Free and 100 Fly back-to-back on just a few hours of sleep, sorry Elodie!) and so many others turned Faustina into a Broadway-quality set. All I could say was “Wow!”
Meet Results
The Icebreaker Invitational was the beginning of the unique cadence we have for a Seton season for the swimmers and coaches too. In December, we concentrate very heavily on stroke technique and getting as many kids as possible to swim as many different events as possible. We are four (4) stroke swimmers at Seton, particularly in December. This past week, we concentrated on freestyle. The next two weeks will feature backstroke and then breaststroke/butterfly.
Then, over Christmas and in January, we will hit the conditioning much harder until we rest down for the championship meets in February. From what I saw on Saturday, I think the championship season is likely to treat Seton very well this year.
Although we lined up our entries with an emphasis on personal swimmer development rather than team scoring, the team scores still turned out quite favorably for us. We faced seven (7) girls’ teams and seven (7) boys’ teams – and we won with both the boys and girls against all comers.
Recall that regular season Dual Meets are scored as what is called a “3+ Dual Meet” which means there is actually a dual meet going on between every combination of teams present. For you math geeks out there, that means we had 8C2 Meets going on the both the boys and the girls – 56 total Meets. If you want to learn more about how high school swim meets are scored, you can check out my single most-read blog called, “So How is a High School Meet Scored, Anyway?”
Here’s how the scores turned out:
Girls
Seton Swim & Dive 195 Alexandria City 95
Seton Swim & Dive 200 Trinity Meadowview 88
Seton Swim & Dive 212 Fresta Valley Christian 81
Seton Swim & Dive 213 Covenant 84
Seton Swim & Dive 218 Immanuel Christian 70
Seton Swim & Dive 235 Fredericksburg Christian 24
Seton Swim & Dive 236 Carmel School 33
Boys
Seton Swim & Dive 200 Alexandria City 88
Seton Swim & Dive 210 Immanuel Christian 97
Seton Swim & Dive 213 Covenant 84
Seton Swim & Dive 241 Trinity Meadowview 40
Seton Swim & Dive 244 Fresta Valley Christian 39
Seton Swim & Dive 244 Fredericksburg Christian 28
Seton Swim & Dive 251 Carmel School 18
Freshman Meghan Condon Breaks Team Diving Record
When I hung the big record board in the Seton gym around 2014 – after our run of seven (7) VISAA Division II State Championships between 2008 and 2011 – the records were so fast, I naively thought that I wasn’t going to have to climb a ladder again while I was still the coach.
Then came Anna Kenna (who was on deck with us as the Trinity Meadowview Coach), Ariana Aldeguer (FR) – and now, Coach Ashley Keapproth’s Diving Team.
Over the past few seasons, we have seen a revolution in the way our team can compete at the State-level – the emergence of a very significant diving program.
Led by Coach Ashley Keapproth, a Nokesville attorney who does not even have kids at Seton, we have developed a team of 32 divers that have the use of two (2) diving boards at the Freedom Center and a dryland diving practice facility she built at Renaissance Montessori School. Both facilities are now equipped with cameras and widescreen TVs that utilize software to allow divers to review their dives in fast- or slow-motion immediately after completing them.
I am very confident when I say that no high school in the State of Virginia has a Diving program like Seton. As a business guy, it is always fun to find openings in the market where you have the opportunity to be the best. My primary business partner and I found such an opening with epoxy coatings and polished concrete in central Virginia, and I think Coach Keapproth has found such an opening with Diving in the VISAA (Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association).
The results under her leadership have been stunning, and her peers (all paid employees, not volunteers) recognized those results by awarding her the Diving Coach of the Year at last year’s State Championship.
Until this year, the strength of our Diving team has been with the boys. At last year’s State Championship Meet, Coach Keapproth placed four (4) boys in the top 11 with Gus Kohlhaas (JR) taking 11th, Jacob Oswald (JR) taking 10th, Mick Fioramonti (SR) taking 6th, and Connor Koehr (JR) winning the State Championship.
Mick is back as an Assistant Coach, along with Joanne Pretz (the “Godmother of Seton Swimming”), and the rest are ready for another big run at States. Connor Koehr (SR) is already showing the results of his off-season work with a big new team record of 249.20. However, if you notice the grades of those boys last year, you can see how important our new young male divers are going to be for our future.
On the Girls’ side last year, only Rose Waldron (JR) finished in the top-16, but one of the most stunning results of Saturday’s meet was the emergence of State-caliber Girl’s Diving team.
Rosie is now a senior, but now she has been joined by two emerging female divers, both of whom have been working hard in the dryland facility in the off-season and both of whom Coach Keapproth anticipates could be on the medal stand with Rosie in February.
The leader of the pack on Saturday was Meghan Condon (FR) who stunned us all with a 6-dive score of 165.20! That was a new team record! Sitting at the scoring table, Mrs. Condon and I pretty much figured out that she could get the record after four (4) dives, and all she could tell me was “don’t tell her!”. Only a freshman, Meghan was so Diving so confidently, that I knew it would not have mattered – but I have learned to comply with such requests from Mrs. Condon. 😉
Meghan was closely followed by Maria Miller (JR) who crushed her previous PR and came very close to also breaking the previous team record. It is going to be fun watching them push each other, and Rose Waldron (SR), to higher levels of excellence this season. Let’s get three (3) girls in the top-8 at States Coach Keapproth!
I will let Coach Keapproth take over the story from here:
It’s hard to imagine that we are starting week 6 and are beginning our competitive season. I want to start by saying how proud I was of the team yesterday at our first meet of the season and how excited I am about the future of Seton diving. I was so impressed by the depth of our girls’ team. For several years, we have had a very dominant boys’ team, and this year our girls have worked hard to up their game. It was also really exciting to see several of our newer boys step it up and learn enough dives to be able to compete in the first meet of the season, even after just starting diving a few weeks ago.
As a testament to the strong start of our season, we had both Seton 6-dive records broken yesterday and 5 divers qualified for States!!! Congratulations goes out to Connor Koehr, who broke his own school record from last season by over 15 points, setting a new record of 249.20 for the boys! Congratulations also to Meghan Condon, who broke Rose Waldron’s Seton record of 155.75 from last season, setting a new Seton record of 165.20!
1) Meet recap. I wanted to highlight some of the amazing diving yesterday, starting with the boys who swept the meet, placing 1-6 over the Alexandria City diver.
- Connor Koehr (12) – Placed 1st with a new Seton record and qualified for States. Connor’s back and reverse dives were textbook, scoring 8s, and he debuted a new twister that we have been working on.
- Jacob Oswald (12) – Placed 2nd with a score of 166.45, and qualified for States. His back and reverse somersaults were outstanding, and he continues to help coach and lead the team as a captain.
- Tom Waldron (10) – Placed 3rd with a score of 113.40. Tom dove a few years ago, and I am thrilled to have him back. Tom even competed a reverse dive (which he had just learned in warmups) to round out his 6 dive list.
- John Witter (7) – Placed 4th with a score of 105.10. John is a new diver this year, and has been a quick learner. Given his speed and body control, I expect he’ll be scoring points for us at States next year as an 8th Grader.
- Kenny Nguyen (10) – Placed 5th with a score of 94.25. As a first year diver, Kenny has been a great addition to the team. Having learned 6 dives so early in the season (including reverse dive at practice the day before), I have no doubt he will qualify for States this year!
- Daniel Sokban (10) – Placed 6th with 80.50 points. Daniel is a first year diver, so just having enough dives to compete is an achievement. Given his work ethic and positive attitude, I have no doubt he will qualify for States this year!
On the girls’ side, I am thrilled by the depth of the team — sweeping first through ninth place — and expect that we will have the largest and deepest team in the State this year.
- Meghan Condon (9) – Placed 1st with 165.20 points, setting a new school record and qualifying for States, and beating her prior personal record by 20 points. Meghan’s back and reverse dives were the highlights of her list, and are both new dives to her this year. Meghan worked incredibly hard in the off season, regularly coming to our dryland and water practice AND IT SHOWS!
- Maria Miller (11) – Placed 2nd with 151.20 points, qualifying for States and setting a new personal record by 10 points. Maria also tirelessly came to our off-season practices and even dove in a summer dive league. Again, her off-season work is already paying off this season.
- Rose Waldron (12) – Placed 3rd with 143.40 points, qualifying for States. Rose had been working to increase her difficulty, and debuted one of the new dives that she just learned – a back one and a half somersault — and is the only person on the team (besides Connor) to do this dive.
- Claire Kay (7) – Placed 4th with 131.85 points. As a 7th grader, Claire is a force to be reckoned with and is only 1 dive away from the full 11 dive list she needs to qualify for States next year as an 8th grader. Claire also worked really hard over the summer on gaining power and height from a new hurdle. She used the power to get 6s on her reverse somersault, a dive she had only learned the day before.
- Elizabeth Francis (12) – Placed 5th with 128.80 points. Bitty had a great start to her season and nailed her front dive and front one-and-a-half somersaults.
- Anna Russo (12) – Placed 6th with 128.35 points and setting a new personal record. Anna learned a new hurdle over the off season and it has really been paying off in her increased power and height. Her back dive was also spectacular.
- Jane Judge (9) – Placed 7th with 123.90 points. Jane beat her prior personal record by over 75 points! Jane put in the work over the summer and has improved immensely. She has already learned several new dives this season and I have no doubt she will be making the State team this year!
- Mary Catherine Hurley (12) – Placed 8th with 120.55 points. MC just got back in the water after an injury, so this was a great start after only one day of practice this season.
- Cecelia Kelly (9) – Placed 9th with 117.85 points. Cecelia had beautiful front and inward dives, but the dive that impressed me the most was her front flip. She had a terrible hurdle and most divers would have just fallen off the board and failed the dive. Ceclia still went for it, earning some points on the dive and showing her grit and determination.
- Lucy Herwick (8) — Placed 12th with 105.20 points. I was really proud that Lucy has learned enough dives to qualify for the meet. She even learned a backflip on Friday that was one of her best dives!
- A big thank you also to Cessie Reyes, Clare Judge, and Will Judge who all came to cheer on the divers!
Breakout Performances on Saturday
Every year, it is so much fun for me as a coach at this point in the season to watch kids emerge as potential scoring leaders for the team, either now or in the future. I’m not talking about the usual suspects here. We already know that I will be writing a lot about swimmers like Ariana Aldeguer (SO), Lionel Martinez (SO), Connor Koehr (SR), Clara Condon (SR), Elodie Brox (SR), Liam Halisky (SR) and Drew Nguyen (SR) in my February blogs, but who else showed me on Saturday that they are going to be keys to a State Championship run, either this year or in the near future?
If our Boys are going to win a State Championship this year, the emergence of some new stars is going to be even more important now that our relay anchor, Michael Brox (SR), is out for the season with a lacrosse injury.
Usually it is just a few kids, but on Saturday, we had number of swimmers jump out at me and the other coaches:
- Joe Borneman (SR) was turning the heads of the coaches from the very first day of practice this season when he jumped to the front of the lane and was blowing everyone away on the sets. Joe has committed to make his senior year a special one by joining the OCCS team this past fall and working his heart out – and the results are already showing. On Saturday, I decided to see what he could do in 50 Breaststroke in the medley relay and in the 200 Free. He blew me away in both. In the Medley Relay, he swam the fastest 50 Breaststroke on the team so far this year, and he won the 200 Free at the Meet with a 4.28 second PR. Joe also went 53.67 in 100 Free, a .06 second PR. It is very unusual for a top swimmer to PR for a sprint in the first Meet of the season, so I can only imagine where this is going. It looks to me like I’m going to be writing a lot about Joe’s performances in my February blogs.
- Max Wilson (SR) is another one I expect to earn a lot of February ink. Like Joe, he also committed to the rigors of OCCS swimming this past fall, and like Joe, he was turning heads in our early practices. For Max, I decided to use Saturday’s meet to see what he could do in 50 Back leading off a medley relay, in the 500 Free, and in 100 Back. Connor noticed Max in practice and told me, “Dad, I think Max might be able to beat in my 50 Back to lead off the relay”, so I gave it a shot. Max was within .20 seconds which could really open up some possibilities for our Medley Relay – he was so good underwater. I also decided to challenge Max in the 500 Free and 100 Back, and I wasn’t disappointed. In the 500, Max cut 23.51 seconds to get the State cut, and in 100 Backstroke, he cut 2.28 seconds to break the 1:00 minute barrier for the first time. I had Max and Joe in my Pre-calculus class last year, and I really got to know them much better. I will be so pleased to see them on our “A” Relays for their senior seasons.
- Thiago Martinez (FR) is going to make a big difference in our championship runs this season, and he made that known on Saturday in a big way. In the 200 IM, he went a very fast 2:11.35 to take second place behind only his brother Lionel. Then in 100 Back, he broke the 1:00 barrier to take 4th behind two top Alexandria City kids and Max Wilson. Both times were big PRs, by 1.62 and 2.42 seconds, respectively. His underwaters are already among the best on the team. Thiago is not just going to be a key player in the future, he is a key player right now.
- Isabella McCook (SO) showed is back in Manassas after living all around the world (Saudia Arabia, Azerbaijan, and Nicaragua), and we sure are happy to have her at Seton for the first time. Friends with Ariana Aldeguer as a young girl, Isabella is already moving the needle for our team. I decided to stretch her from the very beginning by giving her a chance at 200 IM and 100 Fly in the first meet, and she was very impressive, swimming 2:27.45 and 1:09.31, respectively. I plan to keep moving her around in the relays over the next few Meets to see where she fits in best, but I can already see that it is a question of where, not if.
- Michael Zahorchak (SO) really turned my head on Saturday with his 57.11 in 100 Free, a PR by 1.98 seconds. That was good enough to score in 5th place overall. He also broke :27 in 50 Free with a 1.02 second PR and went 1:16.26 in a 100 Breaststroke with his 3rd PR, by 2.26 seconds. Michael is going to be a big contributor in February, I can already see it.
- Luke Partridge (SO) had a breakout Meet on Saturday starting with an amazing 26.79 50 Butterfly split in a medley relay. Then he cut .58 seconds in 100 Breaststroke to score in 10th place overall. Luke was justifiably excited, and so was I.
- Jack Herwick (FR) is part of the upcoming boys’ freshman and sophomore classes that I anticipate will do real damage in the VCAC in the future. His 2.65 second PR in 100 Fly resulted in a very competitive 1:07.41. He also broke through the 7:00 barrier in the 500 Free without any serious aerobic training under his belt yet.
- Patrick Kay (FR) had some great early-season swims in the 200 IM and 100 Back where he cut 4.81 seconds and 4.29 seconds, respectively, to score in 4th and 6th place overall. His times are getting quite good considering he is only a freshman. He is also on the verge of breaking :26 in 50 Free after another .13 second PR.
- Dominic Judge (SO) took a 6.27 second chunk out of his 100 Fly PR, and he scored with a strong early-season swim in the 500 Free. I can foresee a time in the not-to-distant future when Dominic breaks 1:00 in 100 Fly which would score well in our conference.
- Philomena Kay (SO) is part of a strong up-and-coming group of younger girls who will be the leaders of the team in the near future. I was very pleased to see her drop 1.40 seconds in 200 Free and .71 seconds in 100 Back.
- Joey Lynch (FR) is making leaps toward a future role on the post-season Varsity team. On Saturday, he cut 6.37 seconds in 100 Free and .89 seconds in 50 Free, leaving him with some very competitive times for a freshman.
- Betsy Arnold (FR) was on fire Saturday, dropping 6.91 seconds in 100 Free and 1.07 seconds in 50 Free. She told us on the live-stream that the difference was her underwaters. Only a freshman, it is fun to start thinking about Betsy’s future on the team.
- Lara Martinez (7) is only in 7th grade, but she doesn’t swim like it. If she were eligible to score, she’d be scoring big – already. Her times were the 5th fastest in 200 IM (2:32) and the 7th fastest in 100 Fly (1:17). Those are very fast for a 7th grade girl. Lara is going to be fun to watch in the years to come.
- Jonas Wilson (FR) is following in the big footsteps of his older brothers and doing it quite nicely. After a 13.49 second PR in 100 Breaststroke, he jumped up to 17th place overall with a 1:21.65. I’m anxious to keep testing Jonas in all eight (8) events because I’m confident he will pass the tests with flying colors.
- Avila Mantooth (FR) keeps moving up on my reports. This past weekend, when a scoring relay swimmer dropped out for sickness, Avila was the “next man up” for both of her relays. She also scored in 4th place overall in 100 Free.
- Greg Bauer (JR) had a superior swim in 100 Back, dropping 2.35 seconds. He also had a PR in 50 Free. I can definitely see Greg scoring for us in the post-season.
- Ben Ellis (SO) was not feeling well, but he still showed that he can score for Seton in the future. I was very pleased to see a huge 5.38 second drop in 100 Free and a 3.56 second drop in 100 Breaststroke.
- Haley Fifield (SR) had a great early-season swim in 500 Free, breaking 7:00 with a 1.18 second PR.
- Anastasia Garvey (JR) took 4th place overall twice in the 200 IM and 500 Free with good early-season times. She is a 4-stroke swimmer that can compete at the Varsity level in several different events.
- Maggie Schroer (FR) is one I’ve been watching closely in practice because I see so much potential in her. She did a great job on Saturday in the 200 Free with a steadily improve stroke. I can’t wait to see what happens when she swims 100 Backstroke 😉
- Charlotte Meadows (8) has shown herself to be a great addition to our team, and it is clear to me that she will be a significant future contributor. On Saturday, I challenged her to the 200 IM and 500 Free, and Charlotte didn’t blink. That’s what I like to see.
- Paul Partridge (7) is not yet eligible to score, but when that changes, I don’t expect it to take long for him to start making a difference. On Saturday, he broke :30 in the 50 Free with a .41 second PR, and he dropped to 1:06.97 in 100 Free after a 3.56 second PR. I can’t wait to see what Paul can do as he gets older.
- Joe Witter (FR) could be a real wildcard for us this season and in the future. He joined us a beginning swimmer in Group 6, but on Saturday, he swam 50 Free in 32.06 – a 9.61 second PR! He also cut 4.69 seconds in 100 Free. Joe is clearly an athlete with a very high ceiling. It wouldn’t surprise me if Joe was on our scoring relays in the next couple of years.
So Many Other PRs!
Personal Records (aka PRs or lifetime best times) are THE key metric at Seton Swimming, and if that is the measure of success, then we were incredibly successful on Saturday – 144 new Personal Records.
We have already heard about some of the swimmers who had massive Personal Records (PRs) and breakout performances in their first meet of the season, but here are the other swimmers who had PRs this past weekend:
- Ariana Aldeguer (SO) had the rare opportunity to swim sprint freestyle and performed superbly, particularly in the 50 Free where she dropped .35 seconds and broke :26.
- Bethany Allen (6) swam her best-ever 100 Free, .85 seconds faster than ever before.
- Katie Bauer (FR) dropped .05 seconds in 100 Free.
- Emma Beltran (7) cut a whopping 3.45 seconds in 50 Free.
- James Beltran (6) swam a monster PR in 100 and 50 Free, cutting 26.39 seconds and 8.15 seconds, respectively. Those are huge drops.
- Veronica Bingham (8) dropped 1.40 seconds in 50 Back leading off a medley relay and .10 seconds in 100 Free.
- Grace Catabui (7) had a good swim in the 50 Free, beating her previous PR by .70 seconds.
- JJ Cooley (JR) swam a PR every time he hit the water. He dropped 5.18 seconds in 100 Free, .92 seconds in 50 Free, and did two strong relay splits.
- John Cooley (FR) also swam a best time in every one of his swims. He cut 7.12 seconds in 100 Free, 1.93 seconds in 50 Free, and 3.78 seconds in 50 Back leading off a medley relay.
- Katie Cooley (7) crushed her previous 100 Free PR by 3.98 seconds. She also beat her 50 Free PR by .89 seconds.
- Raffa De Micoli (FR) continues to improve rapidly with a 4.14 second PR in 100 Free and a 1.44 second PR in 50 Free.
- Annie Dusek (FR) dropped a huge 3.80 seconds in 100 Free. She also dropped .09 seconds in 50 Free.
- Charlie Dusek (JR) swam 100 Free 1.01 seconds faster than ever before.
- Luke Fifield (8) has been fighting sickness, but that did not stop him from cutting 1.02 seconds in 100 Free and .22 seconds in 50 Free.
- JJ Garvey (8) had two big PRs including a 1.72 second drop in 100 Free and a 1.92 second drop in 50 Free.
- Gigi Gibaldi (SO) had a great day on Saturday with her big 9.20 second PR in 100 Free. She also cut 2.85 seconds in 50 Back and 1.26 seconds in 50 Free while leading off relays.
- Chiara Gonzalez (7) crushed her times from just a few weeks ago with an 8.56 second PR in 100 Free and a 4.07 second PR in 50 Free.
- John Goodman (FR) showed massive improvement in 100 and 50 Free, beating his previous bests by 20.26 seconds and 7.36 seconds, respectively.
- Thomas Goodman (7) cut 2.66 seconds from his 50 Free PR.
- Bella Gorman (7) was super in 50 Free, beating her time from a few weeks ago by 10.28 seconds. She also beat her 100 Free PR by 1.31 seconds.
- Addi Hadro (7) destroyed her previous best time in 50 Free by 13.33 seconds. Grandpa Mike Hadro was very proud, I’m sure.
- Aoife Haggerty (SO) dropped another .50 seconds from her 50 Free PR.
- Eamon Haggerty (8) cut 8.51 seconds in 100 Free.
- Dominic Henry (FR) had a massive PR in 100 Free, beating his previous best by 16.70 seconds. He also beat his previous best in 50 Free by 7.10 seconds.
- Gianna Henry (7) completed the great day for the Henry family with a 13.13 second PR in 100 Free and a 12.00 second PR in 50 Free.
- Lucy Herwick (8) swam very well with a 5.34 second PR in 100 Free and a 1.86 second PR in 50 Free.
- Daniel Hurley (JR) is back on the team and making the most of it. I enjoyed watching his 4.42 second PR in 100 Free.
- Elizabeth Hurley (FR) dropped 1.16 seconds in 200 IM, which is very hard to do this early in the season.
- Monica Irving (FR) was bubbling on the live-stream to tell her father that she cut 2.47 seconds in 100 Free and .36 seconds in 50 Free.
- Briana Jolly (7) overcame some nerves to drop more than half a minute (32.14 seconds) in 100 Free. She also dropped 4.41 seconds in 50 Free.
- Will Judge (6) is already pretty fast, and his 2.61 second PR in 50 Free. showed him getting even faster. 09 is a very good time for a 6th grader.
- Clare Kay (7), spelled without an “i”, cut 4.35 seconds in 100 Free and .04 seconds in 50 Free.
- Connor Koehr (SR) had a couple remarkable early-season swims with PRs in both the 50 and 100 Free. His times were already among the fastest on the team, but that didn’t keep him from dropping another .03 seconds and 1.59 seconds, respectively.
- Sofia Kohlhaas (FR) had a big drop in 100 Free, beating her previous best by 3.55 seconds.
- Cora Kramer (SO) continues to improve with a .16 second PR in 50 Free and a 1.09 second PR in 100 Free.
- Penny Kramer (SO) had three (3) huge drops on Saturday. In 100 Free she cut 2.90 seconds, in 50 Back she cut 2.51 seconds, and in 50 Free she cut .42 seconds.
- Rebecca Kramer (7) lowered her 50 and 100 Free PRs by .92 seconds and .53 seconds, respectively.
- Siobhán Maher (7) saw a .47 second improvement in 50 Free.
- Matthew Maranian (7) did a nice job in 50 and 100 Free, cutting .19 and .41 seconds, respectively.
- Evie Mayer (8) is improving rapidly this season as demonstrated by her big 3.43 second PR in 50 Free and her 2.82 second PR in 100 Free.
- Annabelle Mikkelson (8) cut a huge 3.73 seconds from her 50 Free PR.
- Maggie Mikkelson (7) swam two (2) huge PRs on Saturday. In 100 Free she dropped 16.86 seconds, and in 50 Free she dropped .62 seconds.
- Bella Nguyen (FR) is quietly having some early-season success with a .15 second PR in 50 Free
- James Nguyen (7) had a big 2.51 second drop in 100 Free.
- Mia Nguyen (6) has made great strides already this season with a 12.29 second PR in 100 Free and a 7.43 second PR in 50 Free.
- Philip Nguyen (7) cut another .20 seconds from his 50 Free PR.
- Brian Orellana (FR) broke :50 in 50 Free for the first time after a 1.97 second PR.
- William Orellana (7) showed massive improvement in 50 Free with a time that was 21.77 seconds faster than his time on the first day of practice.
- Mary Claire Osilka (JR) cut .07 seconds in 100 Free. Mary Claire is helping to coach in Group 5, so perhaps she’s been listening to her own advice?
- CJ Pennefather (6) has improved his freestyle technique quite a bit, and the result was evident with his 14.77 second PR in 100 Free. As he continues to work on doing the strokes correctly, I think we will see even more dramatic improvement as the season progresses.
- Gianna Pillion (8) dropped big in 100 Free – 9,05 seconds.
- Luke Pillion (SO) cut .29 seconds in 50 Free.
- James Reynolds (8) had three (3) excellent swims, dropping 6.56 seconds in 50 Back, 2.15 seconds in 50 Free, and .82 seconds in 100 Free.
- Gabby Russo (SO) had three (3) nice drops in 200 Free (by 1.96 seconds), in 50 Free (by .63 seconds), and in 100 Breast (by 1.65 seconds).
- Philip Saffian (8) saw dramatic improvement in 50 Free, beating his previous best by 8.33 seconds.
- Walter Saffian (SR) had a nice swim in the 100 Free with a .62 second PR.
- Caroline Schroer (7) dropped 1.20 seconds in 50 Free and 2.24 seconds in 100 Free. She also had an excellent 50 Fly split in her Medley Relay.
- Dominic Sciscilo (6) is one of three (3) new 6th grade boys are showing very rapid improvement in Group 4 with Coach Hurley and Coach Judge who had to be excited to see him drop 2.58 seconds in 50 Free.
- Bella Vaughan (8) swam with confidence on Saturday, and it showed with her 6.90 second PR in 100 Free and her 1.23 second PR in 50 Free.
- Lily Waldron (FR) looked as good on Saturday as I’ve ever seen her, and the results showed in her times. I was very pleased with Lily’s 4.68 second PR in 100 Free and her .14 second PR in 50 Free.
- Evan Wible (8) has come back this season bigger, stronger, and more determined. He cut 8.19 seconds in 100 Free and .74 seconds in 50 Free.
- Adeline Youngblut (7) had a huge drop in 50 Free – by 5.45 seconds
- Avery Youngblut (6) somehow managed to drop 39.56 seconds in 100 Free and 8.26 seconds in 50 Free. Coach Jeremy Kleb and Coach Briana Shillingburg had to be all smiles.
“Last Ones Up”
It would be hard to be more pleased with what I saw on Saturday. Our work with our underwaters was clearly evident. We have made great strides, but we are not there yet – especially off of turns when we are tired.
Let’s keep getting better here.
Two other areas where I see an opportunity to improve:
- Finishes
- We haven’t gotten to Finishes in our stroke technique work at practice yet, but when we do, you are going to hear me repeatedly say, “Never, never, never, never ….. never finish the race by grabbing the top of the gutter”
- When you finish a race, you should reach for the touchpad with your head down, and touch the pad below the surface of the water.
- Not only will that ensure that your time is recorded properly, it is also the fastest way to finish.
- Missed Events
- We had only three (3) swimmers miss their event without me personally knowing about it in advance. Unfortunately, two (2) of them were experienced swimmers.
- For our first meet, that is not too bad, but I just want it to be clear on these points:
- This is a high school swim team, so you all should be responsible enough to get to where you are supposed to be in time for your event.
- If you feel like you can’t swim the event, you need to talk to me.
And as I conclude here, let me take this opportunity clarify two times when the whole team will gather together during each meet:
- Team Meeting Before the Meet – right after we conclude our warm-up session, everyone will return to the bleachers, get their uniforms on, and reconvene in the hallway outside of the racquetball courts for a pre-meet team meeting. At the meeting, we will start with a team prayer and discuss our goals for the Meet.
- Post-Meet Handshake – At the beginning of the first heat of the Boys 400 Free Relay, the entire team should be on deck and in uniform to cheer for the final two relays. That way, as soon as the last heat of girls finishes, we can show our gratitude to the officials, timers and our competitors by marching around the pool for the post-meet handshake.
I had a few interesting conversations with swimmers who wanted to leave the meet early because they were done swimming. Fortunately, the swimmers with whom I was speaking have played other sports so I was able to frame the issue in a way that they could clearly understand. Imagine you are at the end of the bench with your team for a football, baseball, basketball, hockey or soccer game, and you know you are done playing. Would it ever be OK for you to head to the locker room before the game ended?
Our Annual Homecoming Meet
Two Saturday’s from now, on December 21st, is our annual Homecoming Meet at the Freedom Center. 1st warm-up starts at 1:00 p.m. and the first event goes off at 2:08 p.m.
As we have in the past, we’ll be running some alumni relays along with our own scoring relays. I hope to see the Wilson Brothers there again with a family relay, and I’ve also heard that Coach Palazzo, Coach Kevin Koehr, and Coach Zadnik might be putting together a relay.
If you know of other alumni, please make sure they know they are welcome. If they show up with a suit and goggles, I’ll try to get them in a relay and an exhibition heat of 50 Free.
Christmas Break Practices
Traditionally, every Christmas Break, we have practices at the Freedom Center for the Varsity swimmers who will be scoring in the key Conference and Championship meets starting in January.
Since we don’t yet know who is on the Varsity team, in general, this means Group 1 and 2 Swimmers who were entered as a scoring swimmer in one of the December meets. That means that most of the swimmers who practice with Coach Schroer, Coach Ross Palazzo, Coach Kevin Koehr or Coach DD Ross should plan on attending.
Everyone else can take the holiday off. I know that some of you want to swim, but we won’t have enough lanes or enough coaches to accommodate any more kids. So, if you are not Varsity, relax and enjoy Christmas – then come back ready for the push to the January 25th JV Invitational at the WARF.
For Diving, Coach Keapproth will announce her expectations for attendance over the break.
I’m still finalizing the schedule, but I am anticipating practices from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for swimming and 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. for Diving on:
- Monday, December 23rd
- Friday, December 27th (Swim only, no Dive practice)
- Monday, December 30th
- Friday, January 3rd (no morning Dive. Diving at normal 4:15 p.m. time)
Our Christmas practice schedule is posted on the Team Calendar on www.setonswimming.org
Also remember that we have the Cystic Fibrosis Swim-a-thon on Tuesday, December 31st from 10:00 to 1:00 p.m. at the Freedom. I have more information posted on that shortly.
If you are in town, please plan on being at these practices and the Swim-a-thon. I’m sure that Trinity Christian and Oakcrest will be working hard.
We’re off to a great start this season – great job! We’ve got two more December meets on the next Saturdays. Expect to swim something different in those two meets.
See you at practice,
Coach Jim Koehr