Thank you Highland School for running a great meet for us at the Fitch WARF in Warrenton on Saturday night. It was truly a great night for Seton as we outscored all comers and sealed another DAC Championship for both the boys and the girls. For our girls, it will be the 24th in a row starting with our first swim season in 1995.
I know I spent the vast majority of my time leading up to the meet focused on the Girls, but that was because the Girls were in the most jeopardy of losing. Without any individual superstars, our very deep group of strong Boys have proven that they are virtually unbeatable in the DAC this year. Depth wins, and that was shown in the scores where only FCS, scored even half of our points. So please forgive me for slighting you Boys. I love you!
My focus for the week was on the Girls because of the emergence over the past few years of an outstanding and well-coached team from Trinity Christian School. Prior to their emergence, I spent 15 years literally never even thinking about the score until the post-season – but TCS has made our team, and me as a Coach, better.
I’m very fond of the virtue of Meekness, and our rivalry with Trinity Christian has been an outstanding opportunity for both teams to practice that virtue. Meekness often connotes timidity or weakness, but that is not what it is about at all. Meekness is more about controlling your passions and directing them toward a good.
In competition, we live meekness when we compete in such a way that we make our opponent better. I know Trinity Christian has done that for us. Just look at how well all of our girls swam. If Trinity weren’t trying so hard to beat us, would you have been so driven to push the swimming gift that God gave you so hard?
In my own case, I know that Trinity Christian has made me and our other coaches better. Look at the renewed focus we placed on recruiting within the school prior to season that got us up to 77 swimmers (22% of the entire school). Look at the increased focus we have placed on stroke technique and our walls during practice where we added underwaters to our lesson plan. Look at the focus we’ve placed on the most difficult events knowing those are the most fruitful scoring opportunities for us. And look at the 16 or more hours I spent analyzing data and preparing our entries for this past weekend, sometimes in the back of a Chicago cab (literally in this case). If you want to see all of the TCS and Seton girls relay splits for the past two years, I can show them to you. If TCS weren’t trying so hard to beat us, would I have put in that much effort while traveling and dealing with some very difficult customer problems?
So trying to win is not merely compatible with the virtue of Meekness, it is required by the virtue of Meekness. Remember my definition of Meekness:
Christian Meekness in athletic competition is not capitulation or timidity.
Christian Meekness is the spiritual strength to help your competitors over the bar that you raised by winning.
- Coach Jim Koehr
Thank you Coach Andy Gingrich and the wonderful TCS Moms who have helped us all live this virtue in DAC competition.
Final Scores
On Saturday night, there were six (6) teams plus our girls from Renaissance Montessori School, all competing individually with one another. Seton outscored all of our opponents, including the local public school Fauquier High School.
Here’s the way the meet scores turned out for us at Seton:
Boys
Seton 173 Fredericksburg Christian 109
Seton 181 Fauquier High School 94
Seton 188 Wakefield School 75
Seton 204 Trinity Christian School 77
Seton 215 Highland School 43
Seton 229 St. Michael the Archangel 28
Girls
Seton 158 Trinity Christian School 121
Seton 181 Highland School 101
Seton 189 Fredericksburg Christian 79
Seton 190 Fauquier High School 91
Seton 203 Wakefield School 46
How Did Our Girls Win?
Trinity Christian has a very strong group of Girls – and very strong relays. Scoring the Psych Sheet (i.e. calculating the score if everyone swam their seed times) showed that the meet was going to be extremely close. The Psych Sheet actually had us tied after the 200 Free Relay, after which we were projected to pull away slightly to a small 11 point victory.
Our basic strategy was to:
- Try to steal one relay
- Get Anna Kenna lined up against as many of TCS’ top swimmers (especially Brook Williams and Annalise Cornett) as possible, and
- Use Personal Record swims to score as many 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place finishes as possible.
The first part of that strategy was the most exciting – the top swimmers always make a big difference in the outcome of the point-heavy relays in any swim meet, but on Saturday night, it was the third part of that strategy that actually made the biggest difference. It is no overstatement to say that everyone who swam a scoring race made an important contribution to this victory. Our depth is our great strength.
Let me show you what I mean by reviewing our plan for each event and comparing it to what actually happened:
Girls 200 Medley Relay
The meet started off with the most exciting event of the night. On paper, Seton had no right to win any of the relays. I knew that we would be fine with 2nd and 3rd in all of the relays. Recall that relays are scored 10, 5, 3 points so 2nd and 3rd place finishes would still get us 8 points. We could easily recover from a 10-8 event.
But I knew if we could steal one relay to take 1st and 3rd, that 10-8 score would reverse to 13-5 – a 10 point swing. Added to the 11 point advantage that we were starting with, I knew it would be very difficult for TCS to overcome.
With Caroline Griffin swimming so well, I calculated that our medley relay would actually be faster with Anna Kenna swimming Fly (thanks for the hint on that one Mrs. Griffin). TCS entered their relays with no names, which is perfectly legal gamesmanship, so I had no way to know which two relays were going to contain Brook Williams. I gambled on the 200 Medley and it paid off.
Caroline Griffin was sick but she still split 30.70. That kept her reasonably close to top TCS swimmer Annalise Cornett, who I’ve never seen swim backstroke. Mary Heim gained slightly on TCS’s top breaststroker with her PR breaststroke split of 35.81, and handed off the relay to Anna Kenna who left the blocks about 1.5 body lengths behind.
After Anna’s normally incredible start and underwater, she surfaced only a half body length behind, hit the wall first, powered another 12 meters underwater and gave Mary Pennefather a 1.5 body-length lead. When I looked up at the scoreboard, I could barely believe what I saw for her split – 26:05! To put that split in perspective, at last year’s VISAA State Medley Relay Finals, only three girls swam faster – and Butterfly is not even one of Anna’s two best strokes!
When Mary Pennefather hit the water and swam the first few strokes, I knew it was over. No smile, no emotion – like a basketball player who needs to hit a three with 5 seconds left – she very calmly split a PR 26.59, a half second faster than ever before.
The end results were a 1:59.15, a time that was nearly 7 seconds faster than our best Medley relay time all season, and a Coach who was not in complete control of his emotions 😉
We had stolen our relay from TCS.
Our “B” Relay of Kalli Dalrymple (1.52 second PR split), Annie Cuccinelli, Emily Flynn (.63 second PR split) and Therese Pechie (.56 second PR split) also had an inspired swim and took the three (3) 3rd place points.
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 8 | 10 | 13 | 5 |
| Meet Score | 8 | 10 | 13 | 5 |
Girls 200 Freestyle
On the Psych Sheet, we were projected to get 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th, which would win the event overall, but we once again exceeded the plan.
It started with Julia Rowzie’s .72 second PR to hold her 2nd place seed, but Katharine Rowzie and Anne Konstanty were not happy with their 4th and 5th place seeds. After Katharine dropped 3.90 seconds and Anne dropped 5.63 seconds, they both jumped over TCS’s 3rd seed to take 3rd and 4th place – that was a killer.
With Ellie Flook’s 6th place finish after her 1.26 second PR, we went four-for-four on Personal Records and scored huge with 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th place. At this point in the meet, we were supposed to be behind, but we found ourselves way ahead.
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 15 | 14 | 17 | 12 |
| Meet Score | 23 | 24 | 30 | 17 |
Girls 200 IM
This was an event where Trinity Christian had entered a very strong line-up, with three of their top swimmers in the event. Had I not chosen to use Anna Kenna in this event, TCS would have placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd which of course would have been huge for them.
Fortunately, even with TCS’ great Brook Williams in the event, Anna cut 1.62 seconds from her PR to go a very fast 2:13.61 to take a crucial 1st place. (Anna’s time was very close to Jessica Dunn’s 2008 team record of 2:11.80).
Then a sick Caroline Griffin had a courageous swim to take 5th, and a very sick Elizabeth Caron decided to just try to finish in order to get the two (2) points for 6th place. I told her that all she had to do was finish to score, but she pushed it nonetheless and even with her flu symptoms, she came within 10 seconds of her PR.
An event that could have been a disaster for us, proved to be easily overcome.
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 11 | 15 | 13 | 15 |
| Meet Score | 34 | 39 | 43 | 32 |
Girls 50 Free
This was an event in which I expected us to do quite well, and quite well we did. With 14 girls under :31 and 8 girls under :30, Seton can always field a strong set of entries for the 50 Free.
But we would need to. If we exclude Anna Kenna, the Trinity Christian has five (5) girls who are faster than our fastest sprinter. Fortunately, only one of them was entered, so Mary Pennefather (.50 second PR), Mary Heim (.31 second PR), Isabelle Luevano and Julia Rowzie were able to take 2nd, 3rd, 4th AND 5th.
That was A LOT of points. A meet that was supposed to be very close at this point was trending strongly our way:
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 18 | 11 | 18 | 11 |
| Meet Score | 52 | 50 | 61 | 43 |
Girls 100 Butterfly
I was betting that Brook Williams was going to swim 100 Free, but the TCS coach entered her here instead. No one was going to beat her that wasn’t named Anna, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t win the event.
On the Psych Sheet, TCS was supposed to get both 1st and 2nd, but Emily Flynn and Ashley Cackett were not going to let that happen. Emily’s 5.95 second PR and Ashley’s .02 second PR jumped them both over TCS’s 2nd seed to get 2nd and 3rd for Seton. That was another 4 point swing for us.
Kalli Dalrymple took 5th with a strong swim. As I was reviewing the results, I saw that Therese Pechie was actually DQ’d for non-simultaneous arms after her hand hit the lane line. I’m not sure I would have made that call, but fortunately, it didn’t make the difference. Therese’s butterfly has improved so much this season, that I know she’ll be scoring a lot of points in this event over the rest of the season.
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 14 | 14 | 14 | 12 |
| Meet Score | 66 | 64 | 75 | 55 |
Girls 100 Freestyle
This was another event where we were very fortunate to have Anna Kenna entered, but TCS entered three of their top sprinters. Without Anna swimming for Seton, TCS would have had the potential to get 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
Anna’s victory by almost 6 seconds surprised no one, but did TCS then get 2nd, 3rd and 4th? NO! Isabelle Luevano rocked with a 1.09 PR to jump up from her 5th seed to 4th. With Mary Pennefather’s 6th place finish, Seton actually tied this event when we were expected to lose it.
At this point, when the meet was supposed to be tied, almost everything that could have gone Seton’s way, was going Seton’s way.
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 13 | 15 | 14 | 14 |
| Meet Score | 79 | 79 | 89 | 69 |
Girls 500 Freestyle
This is an event where I always expect to do well, even when TCS entered one of the very best swimmers, Annalise Cornett, who no one was going to beat except our Anna.
You’ve all been reading about Anne Konstanty in the 500 free over the past year and a half, and every time I write something about her, I’m describing a big Personal Record. Well here we go again: after dropping another 9.35 seconds, Anne too 2nd place.
She was followed in 3rd and 4th place by Katharine Rowzie and Katie Albin, and the combination was enough to win the event.
After Elizabeth Caron’s courageous swim with the flu in 200 IM, I knew we had enough of a lead so I told her to sit it out. Elizabeth is a tough kid with a lot of heart.
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 15 | 13 | 15 | 13 |
| Meet Score | 94 | 92 | 104 | 82 |
Girls 200 Freestyle Relay
Now that I could see who TCS had entered into this relay, I started to get worried about them getting both 1st and 2nd. Their “A” relay was loaded, and they had some very fast kids on their “B” relay also.
Mary Pennefather, Julia Rowzie and Caroline Griffin held us within 2.28 seconds at the 150 mark, but even Anna Kenna would not be able to make up that much ground on Annalise Cornett. She would have had to split 23.34, so when she slipped going for a particularly aggressive start, I quickly realized that it was fine – her only hope was a particularly aggressive start.
Our “B” Relay of Isabelle Luevano, Anne Konstanty, Katharine Rowzie and Mary Heim ended up beating the TCS “B” Relay by nearly 10 seconds, so my fears there were not realized.
We ended up in 2nd and 3rd, right as I expected. For the meet overall, we were now far ahead of where I expected. Rather than being tied, we were up by 20 points, with two very strong events for Seton coming up.
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 |
| Meet Score | 102 | 102 | 112 | 92 |
Girls 100 Backstroke
In this event, we were seeded 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, a result that would have been outstanding for us, but Caroline Griffin was not happy with that. Even though she was sick, she was able to jump ahead of TCS’s top seed take 1st!
With Ellie Flook (1.55 second PR), Emily Flynn, and Therese Pechie (.03 second PR) taking 3rd, 4th and 5th, this became our highest scoring event of the night.
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 18 | 11 | 20 | 9 |
| Meet Score | 120 | 113 | 132 | 101 |
Girls 100 Breaststroke
For the final individual event, I already expected us to do quite well, and we once again exceeded those expectations.
Mary Heim was seeded 2nd by 2.34 seconds in a rematch from December 9th. She had a great swim, taking lead at the 50 and cutting her PR by .36 seconds, but it wasn’t enough to make up that big a gap. She ended up taking 2nd by only 1.26 seconds, effectively cutting the gap in half. Teresa Klanderman from TCS is a freshman, so Mary is going to have several more chances at her this season and next.
Katie Albin and Ashley Cackett beat the TCS swimmer they needed to, but it was Annie Cuccinelli who jumped up to score more than expected. Annie’s .90 second PR jumped her from the 6th seed to 5th, meaning that Seton once again got 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th.
You don’t have to get 1st if you can take the next four places!
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 17 | 11 | 18 | 10 |
| Meet Score | 137 | 124 | 150 | 111 |
Girls 400 Free Relay
The safe thing to do at this point would have been to tell our girls just to have safe starts, but I wasn’t about to do that. All of them were ready to race so I wanted to see what they could do.
The plan once again was to take 2nd and 3rd, with a hope of stealing first, but with Laurel Schmidt and Brook Williams at the end of their relay, and without Anna Kenna entered, that would have been a real long shot.
In the end, Katharine Rowzie, Isabelle Luevano, Julia Rowzie and Emily Flynn, led by Julia and Emily’s PR splits, powered our “A” relay to their best time of the season.
Our “B” Relay of Anne Konstanty, Ashley Cackett, Ellie Flook and Therese Pechie easily took 3rd.
Relay strategy is going to continue to be a highlight of our Girl’s meets with TCS. We have a lot of good swimmers, but we only have a couple that can hang with TCS’s top girls so where we use them will always be a fun chess match between me and Coach Gingrich.
| Projected | Actual | |||
| Seton | TCS | Seton | TCS | |
| Event Score | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 |
| Meet Score | 145 | 134 | 158 | 121 |
So we were able to extend a projected victory to 11 points to an actual victory by 37 points.
Looking back at the meet, our strategy worked perfectly:
- We stole one relay,
- Anna Kenna negated big possible events for TCS in the 200 IM and 100 Free, and
- Loads of Personal Records got us 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, or something close to that, several times over the course of the meet.
This was the story our victory over a very strong and well-coached TCS team: Breakout performances by our leaders and personal records by the rest of the team made the difference.
Of the 11 events, we exceeded beat our seeds times and met our seeds 5 times. There was not a single event where we did not at least meet our seeds – amazing.
I’ve always said that if we swim Personal Records, the winning will take care of itself. This past weekend, was just another great example of that.
Congratulations to the Seton Girls!
Top Scorers for the Seton Boys
And congratulations to the Seton Boys also. We are a very deep team with great balance. We don’t rely on superstars, we rely on a large number of contributing swimmers, all doing their best toward a personal record.
Our balance is evident in a quick review of our Boys 50 Free times. We have 19 boys with a 50 Free PRs less than :30 seconds. Most teams don’t even have 19 boys. Of those 19 boys, 10 of them can swim 50 Free in under :27 seconds. It is difficult for DAC teams to compete with that kind of depth.
On Saturday night, we had a bunch of great performances from our scoring boys. Here are top scoring performers in the meet:
- Alex Ceol (SR) had a tremendous swim in 100 Fly, taking 2nd overall, beating all DAC competition including FCS’ Noah Ross, cutting .60 seconds from his PR and qualifying for States! Alex took 3rd place overall in 200 Free.
- David Flook (SO) has been fighting injury, but that didn’t stop him from taking 1st place overall in 100 Back, and 4th overall in 200 IM.
- Jacob Alsup (SO) continues to get better. In the 500 Free, he cut 15.02 seconds from his PR to take 3rd place overall. He’s starting to figure out how to get “long and strong” with a “quiet head”. Once he perfects, who knows how fast he’ll go. Jacob had a strong swim the 200 Free taking 4th place overall, and he had a great split in the 400 Free Relay where he went .44 seconds fastest than ever before.
- Jack Santschi (FR) had a strong 3rd place swim in 100 Free and an 11th place swim in 50 Free. Jack, when you breath to your right, make the breath quicker and keep one google in the water.
- Jerry Dalrymple (FR) took 4th place overall twice, once in 100 Fly and once in 500 Free. Incredibly, this was the first time I have ever given Jerry the chance to swim 100 Fly, but after a 1:05.29, I guarantee that it won’t be the last! Jerry also cut his best 50 Fly split in the medley relay by .15 seconds.
- Felix Seoh (SR) is a first year swimmer as a senior, but he is really doing well. In 100 Breast, he cut 2.25 seconds to take 5th place overall. Felix now has the 2nd fastest 100 Breaststroke time on the team. He also went 33.52 in 50 Breaststroke in a medley relay which is again the 2nd fastest split on the team. Finally, in 50 Free in a 200 Free Relay, Felix split 25.51, .05 seconds faster than ever before.
- Simon Seoh (8) had a great swim in 100 Back, cutting .79 seconds from his PR to take 5th. He also cut another 1.53 seconds from his 50 Free PR.
- Christian Ceol (SO) had two PR swims, scoring big with both of them. In the 500 Free, he took 9th place overall after a 21.79 second PR (he went exactly 7:00.00), and it 200 Free, he took 6th place overall after a 5.75 second PR.
- Justin Fioramonti (SO) cut his 500 Free PR once again, this time by 5.66 seconds, to take 6th place overall. He also swam a .33 second PR in 50 Back leading off a medley relay.
- Kevin Geiran (SR) took 6th place twice in 100 Free and in 100 Back.
- Shane Koehr (SO) had an awesome meet that included a 13.91 second PR in 200 IM and a 11.54 second PR in 100 Fly. In both events, it was clear that Butterfly has finally clicked for young Shane. Shane also cut .08 seconds in 50 Free leading off a 200 Free relay.
- Seamus Koehr (SR) scored in 6th place overall in 100 Breaststroke and in 7th place overall in 200 IM. In the IM, Seamus had a fun race (at least for me ;-)) against his brother Shane.
- Drew Dalrymple (SO) took 8th overall in a very competitive 50 Free and was part of the 1st place overall 400 Free Relay.
- Ben Ceol (SR) took 7th overall in 100 Free and 10th overall in a very competitive 50 Free
- Liam Kellogg (FR) has been fighting an ankle injury, but that didn’t stop him from placing 8th overall in 200 Free and in 100 Breaststroke.
- Matthew Kelly (JR) had a PR swim in 100 Back, lowering his best time by .82 seconds to take 10th place overall. Matthew also took 8th overall in 100 Free.
- Jeremy Kleb (SO) lowered his 50 Back PR by 1.15 seconds leading off a medley. He also took 9th place overall in 200 IM and 10th place overall in 100 Fly. It is great to be able to count on Jeremy to score in the most difficult events.
- Tim Kelly (FR) looked great in 100 Breaststroke, particularly with the way he reached to the wall for a 10th place overall finish.
More Personal Records!
I’ve already mentioned most of our 55 Personal Records from Saturday night, but here are the rest:
- Lucy Garvey (8), from our sister school Renaissance Montessori, was super in both 100 and 200 Free. In 100 Free, she cut 1.94 seconds from her PR to 1:03.08, a very fast time for an 8th And in 200 Free, she cut 3.15 seconds to go a very fast 2:19.34. Those times were good enough for her to take 4th and 5th overall, respectively.
- David Catabui (SR) had two really big PRs. In 200 Free, he cut a whopping 15.45 seconds and in 50 Free, he cut .81 seconds. He’s now under :30 seconds in 50 Free for the first time.
- Maggie Kleb (8) swam her 100 Back right in front of me in lane 8 so I had an up close and personal view of her 16.19 second PR! It was fun to watch Maggie.
- Connor Given (SR) was great on Saturday! How about a 3.82 second PR in 50 Free and a 1.15 second PR in 100 Back!
- Ruthie Hartung (SR) looked really good on Saturday night with two really big PRs. In 100 Free, she cut 2.35 seconds and in 50 Back leading off a medley relay she cut 2.20 seconds.
- Virginia Hartung (FR), that was an awesome 100 Backstroke. An 11.31 second PR is huge!
- Mack Myers (8) hasn’t swum competitively before, but you would never know it. In 200 Free, she lowered her PR by 4.77 seconds and came within a hair of breaking 3:00. Then she tried 100 Fly for the very first time and was excellent!
- Addie-Quinn Kammerdeiner (7) has developed a beautiful freestyle, and she is continuing to swim freestyle better with each try. On Saturday, she cut 5.16 seconds in 100 Free and .41 seconds in 50 Free!
- Amelie Halisky (7) had a huge drop in 100 Free, lowering her PR by 3.84 seconds. She also cut .43 seconds from her 50 Free PR.
- Nathan Luevano (7) is going to be a good one, I can see it already. His 100 Free time dropped another 2.07 seconds and his 50 Free time dropped another .38 seconds. Both of his times in these events are excellent for a 7th
- Ben Dealey (SR) looked great in 100 Breaststroke cutting another 1.86 seconds from his PR. His finish was great in a super tight race with his teammate Tim Kelly
- Theresa Dwane (SO) continues to improve during her first year on the team. I was very pleased to see her cut a whole 1.5 seconds from her 100 Free PR.
- Brian Geiran (7) is getting faster. His 50 Free is now .61 seconds faster than ever before.
- Joey Dealey (7) lowered his 100 Free PR by another .27 seconds.
- Gemma Flook (7) looked very good in her 50 Free where she lowered her PR by .20 seconds
- Maddie Given (8) cut another .01 seconds from her 50 Free PR.
- Ellie Moore (7) didn’t get a PR, but that was because she was trying 100 Free for the very first time. I was so pleased to see her take on the challenge and conquer it!
- Sam Wong (JR) from our sister school Renaissance Montessori also tried an event for the first time and conquered her fears. Nice job with that 100 Breaststroke Sam – I knew you could do it.
State and National Catholic Qualifiers
We have two championship meets where, in order to be eligible to participate, you have to meet a qualifying time standard during the current season.
The VISAA State Championship is February 16-17, 2018 at the Jeff Rouse Swim and Sports Center in Stafford, VA. We’ve even rented a beautiful house for team gatherings and meals between sessions. It should be a great time for everyone eligible to participate.
Congratulations to Alex Ceol! Alex became the first male individual State Qualifier for Seton with his 1:00.98 in 100 Fly.
So here are the individual State Meet qualifiers after this weekend:
- Anna Kenna – 100 Fly, 200 IM, 50, 100, 200 and 500 Free
- Caroline Griffin – 200 IM and 100 Back
- Alex Ceol – 100 Fly
Here are the relays that have hit the cut:
- Boys “A” 200 Medley Relay
- Boys “A” 200 Free Relay
- Boys “A” 400 Free Relay
Our Boys “B” 200 Medley also came within .18 seconds of qualifying also.
- Girls “A” 200 Medley Relay
- Girls “A” 200 Free Relay
- Girls “B” 200 Free Relay
- Girls “A” 400 Free Relay
- Girls “B” 400 Free Relay
Our Girls “B” 200 Medley also came within 1.32 seconds of qualifying also.
I will not list names for these relays because it is impossible to tell who will actually swim. You are eligible for me to enter you on a relay at States if you have swum on that relay during the season when it hit the cut, but that doesn’t mean I will be able to actual enter you to swim. We go to States to try to bring home a State Championship or State Runner-up. If I feel like we have a legitimate shot at one of those titles, it would not be unusual for me to use some of our top swimmers in 3 relays and only one individual event because relays score so many points. Time – and your times – will clarify this situation for all of us.
The National Catholic High School Championship is at Loyola University in Baltimore on January 20th-21st with prelims in the morning on January 20th and finals on Sunday, January 21st. This past weekend was the final opportunity to qualify, so I will publish our entries very shortly.
Here’s who has qualified for National Catholics so far:
- Anna Kenna – 100 Fly, 100 Back, 200 IM, 50, 100, 200 and 500 Free
- Caroline Griffin – 50 Free, 200 IM and 100 Back
- Mary Pennefather – 50 Free
And here are the relays that have hit the National Catholic cut. Once again, I prepare the line-ups for these relays shortly. Note that Anna Kenna was part of all three (3) of these qualifying relays, and she won’t be able to swim three (3) relays at National Catholics – we may have to pick two:
- Girls “A” 200 Medley Relay
- Girls “A” 200 Free Relay
- Girls “A” 400 Free Relay
An eligibility report for both meets is posted under Meet & Team Information.
Final Notes
Here are some final thoughts:
- Our meet on January 13th is at the Freedom Center. Once again, we are hosting the Northern Virginia Catholic High School Invitational Championship. The meet announcement is posted, but here are the key times you need to know:
- Diving Warm-ups start at 1:00 p.m. so we need to be set up prior to then
- Our team needs to be in the corridor outside of the pool stretching by 2:19 p.m.
- Our warm-up is the first warm-up and it starts at 2:45 p.m.
- We do not have any formal timer assignments for Seton, but we will still need timers to fill in for schools that don’t deliver their volunteers.
- On the weekend of January 20th, we have two meets:
- National Catholic High School Championship at Loyola Baltimore
- Only a very limited number of qualifiers will attend.
- I will post a draft of our entries shortly
- Seton Winter Invitational at Central Park
- I’ll be coming back from Baltimore after morning prelims to be with the team.
- I hope Mrs. Griffin is planning to come back with me to help run the meet 😉
- On January 27th, we’ll be hosting our Annual Junior Varsity Invitational at the Fitch WARF in Warrenton.
- That will be the last meet of the season for more than half the team
- After that, we will not have any more meets that allow exhibition swimmers.
- I will publish the post season “Varsity” team after our January 20th
- National Catholic High School Championship at Loyola Baltimore
This past weekend was a great way to come off of Christmas break, but now it is time to get back to work.
See you Monday morning,
Coach Jim Koehr