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On Saturday, December 14, 2024, we held our annual Seton December Invitational with our continued December focus on expanding the horizons of our swimmers toward all eight (8) individual events. Not only did we mix up our individual entries, we also mixed up our relays quite a bit in an attempt to get as many splits as possible so that we can line up the fastest possible relays in January.
In our pre-Meet meeting, we spoke about “opportunity”. Every time you swim, it is an opportunity for you – an opportunity to participate in a great sport with your friends, an opportunity to PR, an opportunity to earn a spot on the post-season Varsity team, an opportunity to earn a spot on a scoring relay, or an opportunity to qualify for States or National Catholics.
The thing about an opportunity, however, is that it sometimes takes courage to take advantage of it. There is an old cliché’ that says “luck” is when opportunity meets preparation. The more prepared you feel, the less courage it takes, but even if you feel fully prepared, it always takes some amount of courage to climb up on those blocks to compete.
Upperclassmen are not immune to the fear. I had a case on Saturday where an experienced senior swimmer was feeling reluctant to swim the 200 IM. So spoke with me and tried to get out of it – you can imagine how that conversation went. Fortunately, she quickly understood that this was an opportunity for her to find a spot on the post-season team and gave it a shot.
After the race, she came up to me and asked “Can I try that event again? I know I can do better.” Long-time readers of this blog have heard that story before. She found the courage to make the attempt, but she hadn’t yet found the courage to go “all-in” on the opportunity. Now she knows what I knew all along – that she could excel in the event – and I will definitely be giving her another shot at it.
On the other end of the spectrum, I had a young swimmer on Saturday who is new to the sport of swimming. He had put in his best effort in the water, but was having trouble recovering in time for his next event. He came to me on deck with a high level of concern, wanting out.
“Just do the best you can, whatever that is.” This particular kid has the heart of an athlete, so I knew how he would feel about himself afterwards if I let him quit.
He swam his PR by over 30 seconds. His preparation had paid off, and his heart allowed him not to quit. It was a great opportunity for him, and he took full advantage of it.
Unfortunately, we had other swimmers who didn’t take advantage of their opportunities on Saturday. A couple just missed their events, one of whom I was trying to give a shot at a new event where I thought she might be able to make the Varsity team. It was an opportunity missed. I was upset, but at least it was not intentional.
If you really want to make me upset on deck, the best way to do it is to skip your event without talking to me. Yes, me personally. Not another coach. Not a captain. Not a friend. Not your mother. Me.
I do the Meet entries, particularly in December, with your personal development in mind. If I didn’t think you can do it, I wouldn’t put you in that event. I understand fear and nervousness – I was a swimmer once. I understand what it is like when you are not feeling well and likely won’t do your best time.
All I want is for you to “do your best, whatever that is today.” No one can ever ask any more of you than that and neither will I. Do not quit just because conditions are not ideal. Do not quit.
There are, of course, legitimate reasons not to swim, but that is for you to assess with the head coach. So, to be clear, if you are scheduled to swim an event, the only way out of it is with specific permission directly from me. You can always do more than you think you can do, and that is a lesson you can only learn by actually doing more than you think you can do
Meet Results
The December Invitational continues 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 backstroke. Next week will feature breaststroke and butterfly.
Although we lined up our entries with an emphasis on personal swimmer development rather than team scoring, the team scores still turned out mostly favorable for us – but it does appear that the Girls’ Conference Championship could be another dog-fight for us, just like last year.
Last year, the December results with Trinity Christian were similar to this, but we need to remember that they were missing more USA Swimmers than we were, and they, like Seton, were also focused more on seeing what their kids could do than on winning. So, while the scores look favorable to them, I think it would be safe to consider them inside the margin of error. January 4th could go either way.
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. 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
Trinity Christian 164 Seton Swim & Dive 145
Seton Swim & Dive 201 Oakcrest 109
Seton Swim & Dive 216 Immanuel Christian 81
Seton Swim & Dive 230 Trinity Meadowview 46
Seton Swim & Dive 236 Williamsburg Christian 40
Seton Swim & Dive 238 Grace Prep 16
Seton Swim & Dive 244 Fresta Valley Christian 29
Seton Swim & Dive 246 Carmel School 36
Boys
Seton Swim & Dive 185 Immanuel Christian 117
Seton Swim & Dive 216 Trinity Meadowview 58
Seton Swim & Dive 236 Trinity Christian 17
Seton Swim & Dive 237 Williamsburg Christian 37
Seton Swim & Dive 238 Fresta Valley Christian 18
Seton Swim & Dive 239 Carmel School 14
Our Diving Team Continues to Shine
It was great to have Gus Kohlhaas (SR) back on the boards on Saturday. That rounds out a very strong boys’ team heading for the championship season with Connor Koehr (SR) and Jacob Oswald (SR). We will see who wants to be the 4th.
We have an opening for the 4th scorer on the girls’ side too. Meghan Condon (FR), Maria Miller (JR), and Rose Waldron (SR) should all be able to score at States – who wants to be that 4th scorer?
Our Diving team continues to prove to be a competitive advantage for us, and I am looking forward to maximizing that advantage during the championship season.
Here are some notes on the diving Meet from Coach Ashley Keapproth:
We are at the part of the season where our focus for group 1 is learning new dives to increase degree of difficulty, the focus for group 2 is learning new dives to get qualified for States, and the focus for groups 3 & 4 is learning new dives to round out a 6-dive list to compete in our meets. See a trend? Yes, we are all learning new dives! We will be in this phase until mid-January when we shift our focus to regularly practicing our full 11 dive list for our Championship season.
We have a lot to celebrate this week, so I would like to start our weekly update with a few highlights from last week.
Special Congratulations
- Congratulations to Clare Kay (7)who learned a full 11 dive list making her eligible to qualify for States next year as an 8th
- Congratulations also to Max Ashton (7) who learned a reverse dive, moved up to Group 2, and is now eligible to compete in our Saturday meets!
New Dives
Congratulations to the following divers who have recently learned new dives (and I apologize if I have missed any dives):
- Dom Sciscilo (6), Will Judge (6), Evan Wible (8), Jenny Baughman (8), Cessie Reyes (8), and Claire Judge (8) learned a back dive.
- Will Judge (6), Gus Halisky (6) and Grace Catabui (7) learned a front flip.
- Lauren Grinder (9), Betsy Arnold (9), Bella Nguyen (9), and Brian Orellana (9) learned an inward dive.
- Cecelia Kelly (9), Jane Judge (9), Clare Kay (7), Tom Waldron (10), John Witter (7), and Mary Catherine Hurley (12) learned an inward flip.
- Tom Waldron (10), Kenny Nguyen (10), Daniel Sokban (10), John Witter (7), Max Ashton (7), and Jane Judge (9) learned a reverse dive.
- Tom Waldron (10), Kenny Nguyen (10), and Daniel Sokban (10) learned a back flip.
- Clare Kay (7) and Tom Waldron (10) learned a front somersault with a full twist.
- Meghan Condon (9) learned a front double and inward one and a half somersault.
- Rose Waldron (12) learned a back one and a half somersault tuck.
- Connor Koehr (12) learned a back one and a half somersault pike. His father cannot wait to see it!
Meet Recap
Great job to all the divers who competed yesterday. Many performed new dives in the meet. Our senior boys swept 1-3, and our girls also made a strong showing. Some highlights:
- Connor Koehr (12) placed 1st with 210.65 points. His new twister, a reverse one and a half somersault, wowed the judges and the crowd.
- Gus Kohlhaas (12) returned from an injury that has kept him out all season and placed 2nd with 161.05 points, qualifying him for States. It’s great to have Gus back!
- Jacob Oswald (12) placed 3rd with 154.6 points. His inward flip was especially outstanding, earning 7s from the judges.
- John Witter (7) placed 6th with 114.35 points, setting a new personal record by nearly 10 points. He debuted an inward flip, which he learned in warmups.
- Tom Waldron (10) placed 8th with 106 points, and performed several dives he learned this week including an inward flip and a front somersault with a full twist.
On the girls’ side:
- Meghan Condon (9) placed 2nd with 155.00 points. She performed her inward one and a half somersault and front somersault with a full twist for the first time in a meet and has been working hard to step up her difficulty level.
- Rose Waldron (12) placed 4th with 148.75. Rose did an amazing back one and a half somersaults and has also been working hard to increase her difficulty.
- Maria Miller (11) placed 6th with 139.40 points. Maria performed a beautiful reverse dive, earning 6s from the judges.
- Elizabeth Francis (12) placed 8th with 121.65 points. She had a great meet and earned 6s from the judges on her front dive.
- Clare Kay (7) was 10th with 111.05 points, performing her inward somersault for the first time.
- Cecelia Kelly (9) was 11th with 109.80 points, performing her inward somersault for the first time and a beautiful inward dive.
- Jane Judge (9) was 12th with 105.95 points, performing her inward somersault for the first time and a beautiful back dive.
- Mary Catherine Hurley (12) was 13th and is working hard to make up for missed time after an injury kept her out of the water for much of the season.
82% of Our Backstroke Swims Were PRs
This week’s emphasis was backstroke, and the results showed. For the 72 total backstroke swims we had on Saturday, 59 of them were Personal Records!
Here are the backstroke Personal Records that we saw on Saturday:
- Walter Saffian (SR) by 32.55 seconds. Walter also dropped .64 seconds in 50 Free.
- Bella Vaughan (8) by 31.37 seconds, plus a .78 second drop in 50 Free.
- Joe Witter (FR) by 30.11 seconds. I was so pleased to see Joe fight through adversity to claim that PR.
- Briana Jolly (7) by 25.50 seconds together with another 4.59 second PR in 50 Free.
- Philip Saffian (8) by 21.52 seconds. He was initially DQ’d for a delayed turn, but that is only illegal in USA Swimming, not in high school, so we have corrected the results.
- Matthew Maranian (7) by 21.51 seconds plus a 2.51 second PR in 50 Free.
- Bethany Allen (6) by 19.93 seconds. She also dropped 6.26 seconds in 50 Free.
- James Reynolds (8) by 18.69 seconds, plus a .19 second PR in 50 Free.
- Veronica Bingham (8) by 17.57 seconds, plus a 1.19 second PR in 50 Free.
- Caroline Schroer (7) by 17.27 seconds.
- CJ Pennefather (6) by 16.43 seconds. It is great to see CJ continue to improve his strokes.
- John Goodman (FR) by 15.25 seconds.
- Avery Youngblut (6) by 14.88 seconds.
- Maggie Mikkelson (7) by 13.66 seconds. Maggie also dropped .82 seconds in 50 Free.
- Raffa De Micoli (FR) by 13.11. Raffa also cut 41.38 seconds in 200 Free.
- Evie Mayer (8) by 12.78 seconds.
- Eamon Haggerty (8) by 12.61 seconds, plus a 3.23 second drop in 50 Back leading off a relay.
- Annabelle Mikkelson (8) by 11.71 seconds.
- Grace Catabui (7) by 10.67 seconds.
- Katie Cooley (7) by 9.38 seconds.
- James Beltran (6) by 8.95 seconds.
- John Cooley (FR) by 8.95 seconds also.
- Dominic Henry (FR) by 8.85 seconds, together with a 1.28 second PR in 50 Free.
- Bella Nguyen (FR) by 8.37 seconds with a beautiful stroke. Bella also dropped 1.71 seconds in 50 Free and 1.53 seconds in 50 Back leading off a relay.
- Gianna Pillion (8) by 8.33 seconds plus a 2.50 second PR 50 Free and a .36 second PR in 50 Back leading off a relay.
- Ben Ellis (SO) by 7.87 seconds. Ben also cut .26 seconds from his 50 Free PR leading off a relay.
- Philip Nguyen (7) by 7.75 seconds.
- Clare Kay (7) by 7.51 seconds. Also, congratulations to Clare on her great first-ever attempt at 200 IM.
- James Nguyen (7) by 7.20 seconds.
- Monica Irving (FR) by 7.11 seconds plus a huge 10.14 second PR in 100 Fly.
- Daniel Hurley (JR) by 7.01 seconds plus a 4.89 second drop in 50 Back leading off a relay.
- Brian Orellana (FR) by 6.62 seconds.
- Bella Gorman (7) by 6.39 seconds.
- JJ Cooley (JR) by 6.29 seconds. He also dropped 10.36 seconds in 200 Free.
- Daniel Kohlhaas (8) by 6.01 seconds.
- Gigi Gibaldi (SO) by 5.59 seconds.
- Lucy Herwick (8) by 5.59 seconds. Lucy also cut .60 seconds in 50 Free.
- Luke Pillion (SO) by 5.44 seconds. Luke also dropped .73 seconds in 50 Free.
- Jane Judge (FR) by 4.92 seconds plus a big 12.30 second PR in 200 IM.
- Meg Blanchette (SR) by 4.90 seconds.
- Emma Beltran (7) by 4.46 seconds. She also cut 1.44 seconds in 50 Free.
- Jack Herwick (FR) by 3.23 seconds, plus two (2) other PRs. Jack also cut 7.24 in 200 Free and .27 seconds in 50 Free leading off a relay.
- Sofia Kohlhaas (FR) by 3.23 plus a .32 50 Free PR.
- Mary Claire Osilka (JR) by 3.22 seconds. Mary Claire also had a big 4.92 second PR in 100 Fly.
- Aoife Haggerty (SO) by 3.21 seconds. She also dropped .37 seconds in 50 Free leading off a relay.
- Mia Nguyen (6) by 2.82 seconds plus a 2.93 second PR in 50 Free.
- Colette Kramer (JR) by 2.66 seconds.
- Maggie Schroer (FR) by 2.58 seconds. I was also quite pleased with her 10.00 second PR in 100 Fly. Once she adds a big kick, I think Maggie could get her 100 Fly time down to low 1:00s.
- Kyleigh Fifield (SO) by 2.34 seconds, plus a 1.78 second PR in 200 Free.
- Luke Fifield (8) by 2.21 seconds.
- Dominic Sciscilo (6) by 2.19 seconds. Dominic also dropped 10.12 seconds in 50 Back.
- Charlotte Meadows (8) by 1.15 seconds, plus a .30 second PR in 100 Free.
- Dominic Judge (SO) by .87 seconds. I was particularly pleased with Dominic 6.85 second PR in 200 IM.
- Adeline Youngblut (7) by .70 seconds.
- Will Judge (6) by .65 seconds.
- Rebecca Kramer (7) by .09 seconds.
- William Orellana (7) completed 100 Backstroke for the first time!
So Many Other PRs!
As I have said many times before, 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 – 129 new Personal Records. After three Meets (including Time Trials), that brings our season total up to 344, a remarkable amount of improvement for our team.
We have already heard about some of the swimmers who had massive Personal Records (PRs) in backstroke, but here a few other massive PRs that excited me:
- Jonas Wilson (FR) had two (2) amazing PRs. In the 200 Free, Jonas dropped 21.99 seconds, and in the 500 Free he dropped 52.80 seconds. His 500 Free time is now down to 6:45.26 which is an excellent time for a freshman.
- Michael Zahorchak (SO) has been showing great progress in practice, and that extended to his performance in the Meet on Saturday also. How about a 24.75 second PR in 200 IM and an 8.56 second PR in 100 Fly!?
- Patrick Kay (FR) was turning coaches’ heads on Saturday with some tremendous swimming. How about a 16.99 second PR in 200 Free, a 3.81 second PR in 100 Free leading off a relay, and a 1.20 second PR in 50 Back leading off a relay. His 100 Free time is now down to 56.36, a superior time for a freshman.
- Joe Borneman (SR) was on fire Saturday with a 9.54 second PR in 100 Breaststroke and a 2.06 second PR in 100 Fly, both times good enough to qualify for States and National Catholics.
- Joey Lynch (FR) had a massive PR in 500 Free, beating his previous best by 24.06 seconds. He also had a massive 7.85 second PR in 100 Fly.
- Paul Partridge (7) looked great in 200 IM and 100 Breaststroke, beating his previous PRs by 14.82 and 12.88 seconds, respectively.
And here are the other swimmers who had PRs this past weekend:
- Angela Andreu (FR) dropped 5.80 seconds in 100 Free.
- Greg Bauer (JR) had a tremendous lead-off leg for our 400 Free Relay, beating his previous best 100 Free time by .82 seconds.
- Katie Bauer (FR) cut .64 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
- Molly Bauer (SR) completed the Bauer Family trifecta with a huge 16.08 second PR in 200 Free.
- Annie Dusek (FR) dropped 3.60 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and .66 seconds in 50 Free.
- Anastasia Garvey (JR) had a great swim in 200 Free, beating her previous best by 1.38 seconds.
- Chiara Gonzalez (7) dropped another 2.52 seconds in 50 Free.
- Addi Hadro (7) beat her previous PR by 1.76 seconds in 50 Free.
- Orla Haggerty (SR) came back to the pool after her triumphant off-Broadway debut to swim a 1.96 second PR in 100 Free and a .48 second PR in 50 Free.
- Liam Halisky (SR) rocked his 100 Breaststroke swim with a 2.64 second PR.
- Sophia Halisky (FR) lowered her 50 Free PR by another .26 seconds.
- Connor Koehr (SR) crushed his previous best in 100 Fly by 5.37 seconds.
- Avila Mantooth (FR) looked great in 500 Free and 200 IM, beating her previous best times by 12.07 and 9.03 seconds, respectively.
- Julia Maranian (FR) cut another .64 seconds in 50 Free.
- Aidan McCardell (JR) swam a 1.79 second PR in 50 Free.
- William Sokban (SR) cut .04 seconds in 50 Free.
- Jane Vaughan (6) dropped 1.89 seconds in 50 Free.
- Rose Waldron (SR) lowered her 200 IM PR by 1.31 seconds and her 100 Fly PR by 5.94 seconds. I can’t wait to see what Rosie can do in 200 IM now that she knows that it is well within her capability.
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 and 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 the following swimming qualifiers so far:
- For National Catholics:
- Joe Borneman (SR)
- Connor Koehr (SR)
- Max Wilson (SR)
- Lionel Martinez (SO)
- Daniel Sokban (SO)
- Thiago Martinez (FR)
- Clara Condon (SR)
- Elodie Brox (SR)
- Haley Fifield (SR)
- Anastasia Garvey (JR)
- Gigi Hill (JR)
- Ariana Aldeguer (SO)
- Isabella McCook (SO)
- Maggie Schroer (FR)
- Betsy Arnold (FR)
- Girls 200 Medley Relay, both A and B
- Boys 200 Medley Relay, A only
- Girls 200 Free Relay, A only
- Boys 200 Free Relay, A only
- Girls 400 Free Relay, A only
- Boys 400 Free Relay, A only
- For States:
- Joe Borneman (SR)
- Connor Koehr (SR)
- Max Wilson (SR)
- Lionel Martinez (SO)
- Thiago Martinez (FR)
- Clara Condon (SR)
- Ariana Aldeguer (SO)
- Isabella McCook (SO)
- Girls 200 Medley Relays, both A and B
- Boys 200 Medley Relays, both A and B
- Girls 200 Free Relay, both A and B
- Boys 200 Free Relay, A only
- Girls 400 Free Relay, both A and B
- Boys 400 Free Relay, both A and B
I expect these lists to get longer, particularly for the relays where I hope to qualify both A and B Relays for Seton in every boy’s and girl’s relay event.
Divers will be eligible to attend National Catholics if they:
- have qualified for States this season or
- are regularly performing a full 11-dive list by January 4.
To date, the following Divers have met at least one of these qualifications:
- Connor Koehr (SR)
- Gus Kohlhaas (SR)
- Jacob Oswald (SR)
- Rose Waldron (SR)
- Maria Miller (JR)
- Meghan Condon (FR)
Our Annual Homecoming Meet
Next Saturday, 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.
If you know of alumni, please ask them to e-mail me so I can get as many alumni entries done beforehand as possible. If they show up with a suit and goggles, I’ll definitely 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 have finalized the schedule. We will have 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.
I have been very pleased with your performances so far this season. We’ve got one more December meet on Saturday. Expect to swim something different in our last December meet.
See you at practice,
Coach Jim Koehr