We’re all home after the treacherous trip to Charlottesville this past weekend with most of the private schools in the State of Virginia.
The Seton girls finished 15th and the boys finished 18th – but that doesn’t nearly tell the story. There were some incredible swims with many PRs (Personal Records).
We placed in 7 events:
9th Place
– 100 Backstroke – Kevin Koehr dropped over 2 seconds to win the consolation finals heat by almost a body length. For races this fast, 2 seconds is an eternity. It took a 58.22 for him to beat the Fredericksburg Academy swimmer for the first time this year. I know that his father must have been very proud.
10th Place
– Boys 200 Medley Relay – This was one of the highlights of the meet from me. We have lost to FA’s relay the last 4 times in a row. During the preliminaries, swimming in different heats, FA’s relay beat us by .02 seconds to set up a showdown in the consolation finals. They were seeded 1st and we were 2nd (9th and 10th overall). Kevin beat his guy handily, Casey held his own against a State finalist, and Bryan Morch swam the fastest 50 fly I’ve ever seen out of him. I think Bryan was the difference. Ray got in the water with a body length lead. It was over. A new Seton record by over 1 second. Our oldest swimmer in this relay is a sophomore – stand by!
– Girls 200 Free Relay – Katie and Jennifer Planchak, Meg Seale and Melissa Dunn came to play. To maintain their 10th place standing, they dropped their time over 1 second in the between the finals and the prelims. 3 of the 4 girls were under 27 seconds. All underclassmen – stand by again!
– Ray Bennett – 100 Free – Ray was 15th after prelims, which earned him a spot in the outside lane for the consolation finals. Lawrence Lauderdale must have been a truly excellent swimmer, but it was a bad night for his Seton records. In the finals, Ray shocked the field by jumping to 10th place with a new Seton record 51.90. I have the video – it’s worth watching.
Ray Bennett – 50 Free – Once again, Ray broke a Seton record (Lauderdale). A great swim in the finals moved him up from 13th in the morning session to 10th. 23.58 is pretty quick for 2 lengths of the pool.
13th Place
– Girls 200 Medley Relay – Joanie Pretz, Meg Seale, Katie Planchak and Jennifer Planchak were undefeated in conference meets this year, and three of them are coming back!
15th Place
– Katie Planchak – 50 Free – Katie (8th grade) broke Jennifer Kubelick’s 50 yards freestyle record with a time of 26.57 – she dropped her time over .5 seconds. Katie had a great swim in 100 Fly also where she dropped 3 seconds off of her previous best.
– Meg Seale – 100 Free – Meg is only a sophomore. I’m confident that Meg has the capability to be a top 8 finisher in next year’s meet.
– Boys 200 Free Relay – Ben Mann, Casey Rafter, Brian Morch and Ray Bennett. Every one of them was under 26 seconds, which is outstanding, particularly for Ben who normally swims distance events.
Besides these scoring swims, we had several other swims that were outstanding (remember, a 1 second drop in a 100 yard race is HUGE):
– John Pretz had an incredible meet, He dropped over almost 3 seconds in 100 backstroke and over 3 seconds in the 500 free. His times in these events are now fast enough to give me alot of flexibility next year. He is now capable of winning both of these events in alot of DAC meets.
– Ben Mann dropped 3 seconds in 200 Free. I’ve never seen him swim like this – it was a great way for him to go out.
– Caitlyn Harris had an exceptional meet. She dropped 2 seconds in 100 Fly and 4.5 seconds in 200 IM. She is already the reigning DAC Champ in 100 Fly.
– Joanie Pretz dropped 3.5 seconds in 100 Fly. It was a great swim. Joanie (and Laura Shaw) also showed us how much fun you can have with a digital camera!
– Bryan Morch has dropped a tremendous amount of time in 50 free this season. He dropped another .5 seconds this weekend.
– Melissa Dunn was fabulous in the 200 Free relay finals. She was equally good in 50 free where she dropped a whole second. She dropped over 1 second in 100 breast. Great job!
– Candace Wall dropped 2 seconds in 100 Breast. She been working hard for this one, trying to improve her stroke. It finally paid off for her.
It is very satisfying to coach a group of swimmers that perform like this. We brought 17 swimmers down to Charlottesville this year. I’m looking forward to increasing that number for next year’s trip to Tidewater.
Coach Koehr