On Saturday, January 20, 2024, we held our 14^th Annual Northern Virginia Catholic High School Swimming and Diving Championship, and boy was it fast!  We hosted 280 athletes from every Catholic school in the northern half of Virginia (at least the majority that were willing to brave the cold) to compete is this highly spirited meet.

Never have both the boys’ and the girls’ championships come down to the last relay, but this year the meet was ridiculously close.  The boy’s meet winner won by only 2-points and the girl’s winner won by only 1.5-points!  My ears are still ringing.

Congratulations to St. Paul VI for bringing home the “Holy Grail” traveling trophy for the girls and to our very own Seton team who brought home the “Holy Grail” for the boys.  It was very special for me to watch our boys celebrate a mid-season championship meet by all jumping into the pool after the meet.  I was very pleased not to be a part of that part of the party. 😉

Wasn’t it great to have Fr. Noah Moray back to lead the opening prayer?  He’s been the chaplain at Bishop Ireton for the last 5-years, but prior to that, he was at All Saints and served as the unofficial chaplain of Seton Swimming.  I vividly remember him being on deck with us at 6:04 a.m. actively doing dryland and then participating in our practice with the team.

In part of because of the long-time friendships we have established with so many of these teams and coaches, and in part because of the faith that all the competitors shared, there was a real spirit about this meet that felt palpable.  Add all the pomp, circumstance, and high tech that Mr. John Kleb, Mr. Paul Fifield, Mr. Bill Dealey, Mr. James Hill, Mr. Hank Konstanty, and Mr. Mike Judge add to Seton meets these days, and it felt even better.

The other reason there was such a spirit to this meet was the level of participation by the parents of all these schools.  I mentioned it on the livestream several times, but I was indescribably pleased with the level of volunteerism I saw from the other teams.  The feeling of joy I experienced seeing so many officials and timers with the names of other schools on their shirts was heightened by recent experiences hosting other schools whose entitled parents preferred to sit in the stands and just watch Seton handle everything.

Our annual swim meet schedule has developed quite a nice cadence with every meet during the season having its own purpose and meaning.  It seems like every week I find myself writing that “this is my favorite meet of the year”, so I’ll try to back off a bit on the hyperbole, but I definitely had a great time hosting all these schools and coaching all of you this past weekend.

Wow, That Was a Fast Meet!

The level of competition was the highest we’ve seen all season so far (except for National Catholics), and it showed with four (4) new Meet Records, including one by Seton Freshman phenom Lionel Martinez (FR)!

The two (2) swimmers voted by the coaches as most representative of the quality of the competition at this year’s championship were our Swimmers of the Meet:

• Chase Garcia (JR), Paul VI
  • Three (3) Gold medals in 200 Free, 500 Free, and the 200 Medley Relay.
  • Set new meet record in 500 Free in a race with O’Connell star Paul Mullen (SO) that was probably the best race of the Meet.
• Elizabeth Bryan (SO), Oakcrest
  • Two (2) Gold medals in 200 IM and 100 Freestyle
  • Set new meet records in 200 IM
  • Elizabeth was also a double gold-medalist at National Catholics last week, so she has had quite a couple of weekends in the pool!

Another indication of the level of competition was the four (4) new Meet Records set on Saturday.

• Girls 200 IM, Elizabeth Bryan (SO), Oakcrest, 2:07.69
• Boys 100 Fly, Lionel Martinez (FR), Seton, 52.97
• Boys 500 Free, Chase Garcia, Bishop O’Connell, 4:36.72
• Boys 400 Free Relay, 3:17.89, Bishop O’Connell, Paul Mullen, Jermaine Worthen, Graham Rowan, Timmy Adye

A final indication of just how fast this meet was can be seen in the final scores.  Seton performed very well with the big win for the boys – and a 3^rd place finish for the Girls:

Boys

Seton Swim & Dive                               395

Bishop O’Connell                                    393

St. Paul VI                                                 365

Benedictine College Prep                     101

Bishop Ireton                                         Cancelled

Saint John Paul the Great                    Cancelled

Girls

St. Paul VI                                              401

Bishop O’Connell                               399.5

Seton Swimming                               365

Oakcrest                                               201

St. Gertrude                                        130.5

Bishop Ireton                                       Cancelled

Saint John Paul the Great                 Cancelled

Seton Was Led by A Small Group of “NoVa Catholic High School Champions”

This level of championship meet gave our team superstars a chance to shine, but what is remarkable is that out of the 24 total events in the Meet, we only took the gold medal in three (3) for the boys and one (1) for the girls – yet our boys still won!

A big part of the formula was our depth, as I will discuss below, but the rest of the formula is one that we will use to make a run at our 11^th and 12^th VISAA Division II State Championships on February 13^th and 14^th:

1. Score big in Diving, particularly with the boys who we hope can take four (4) in the top-8 places at States.
2. Load up the relays to take advantage of the double points
3. Score individually with Lionel Martinez (FR) and Ariana Aldeguer (FR)

This three-part formula, added to our depth, was the key to our great showing on Saturday:

• Score Big in Diving
  • Congratulations to Connor Koehr (JR) who is the 2024 NoVa Catholic High School Champion in 1-meter Diving.
    • This is the 2^nd year in a row for Connor.
  • Couple Connor’s victory with 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th place by Mick Fioramonti (SR), Jacob Oswald (JR), and Max Gonzalez (SR), respectively, and you’ll see that we scored 49 of our 395-points in just the one diving event!
  • On the girls’ side, we placed four (4) divers in the top-10 including Rose Waldron (JR) in 6^th, Maria Miller (SO) in 8^th, Elizabeth Francis (JR) in 9^th, and Meghan Condon (8) in 10^th.
  • After the meet, Coach Ross Palazzo told me that “we should put Coach Keapproth’s name on that trophy!” After States Ross, after States – she’s not done yet. 😉
• Load Up the Relays for the Double Points
  • Congratulations to our Boys 200 Free Relay of Lionel Martinez (FR), Liam Halisky (JR), Connor Koehr (JR), and Michael Brox (JR) who are the 2024 NoVa Catholic High School Champions!
    • This was a smoking fast relay that beat our season-best time previously by more than 2-seconds.
    • All the boys swam well, particularly Lionel Martinez’s 22.59 lead-off and Michael Brox’s 22.66 anchor, but the difference maker on Saturday was Connor Koehr (JR) who cut another .3 from his PR 50 Free Relay split to go 23.33 on the 3^rd leg, giving Michael a lead over O’Connell and PVI that he was not going to relinquish.
  • Our Boys 200 Medley Relay of Connor Koehr (JR), Drew Nguyen (JR), Lionel Martinez (FR), and Michael Brox (JR) swam well and took the Bronze-medal.
    • Lionel Martinez (FR) was the standout here with a 23.72 split in 50 Fly (not a typo).
  • But when everything was on the line at the end of the Meet, it was our Boys “A” and “B” 400 Free Relays that came through to score just enough points to hold off the final run by those powerhouse USA swimmers from O’Connell.
    • Our “A” Relay took the Bronze-medal with Daniel Sokban (FR), Max Wilson (JR), Joe Borneman (JR), and Drew Nguyen (JR).
      • Max Wilson (JR) and Drew Nguyen (JR) both swam lifetime best relay splits, by .23 seconds and .22 seconds, respectively.
      • I was particularly pleased with Drew Nguyen (JR) who swam his heart out after having just swam 100 Breaststroke in the event immediately prior. Before the meet, I had told Drew that this was a test for States where I may be asking him to the do that 100 Breaststroke-400 Free Relay double.  Drew passed with flying colors!
    • Our “B” Relay had to deliver the 20-points that came with a 5^th place finish, and Liam Halisky (JR), Thiago Martinez (8), Jack Herwick (8), and Peter Konstanty (SR) delivered for Seton.
      • I was particularly pleased with 8^th grader Jack Herwick (8) who split 57.55, a lifetime best by 1.14 seconds. It is great to know that I can count on Jack to deliver in the clutch.
• Score Individually with our Freshman Phenoms
  • Lionel Martinez (FR)
    • Lionel did something on Saturday that has never been done by a Seton swimmer – he broke a NoVa Catholic Meet Record!
      • His 52.97 in 100 Fly beat the prior decade-old record set back in 2014 by Andrew Dunne of Benedictine.
      • Naturally, that swim in 100 Fly was a .52 second PR and made him the 2024 NoVa Catholic High School Champion.
    • Lionel also found himself in one of the fastest heats in the entire meet, the Boys 200 Free and took the Bronze-medal with a 2.98 second PR, 1:48.95
  • Ariana Aldeguer (FR)
    • Ariana dominated the 200 Free with her .12 second PR, 1:57.87 to take the Gold-medal and become a 2024 NoVa Catholic High School Champion.
      • Our team record in 200 Free is 1:55.74, set by the great Katie Shipko in February 2000. I think this is just a matter of time.
    • She also found herself in a heat of 100 Free with the eventual Swimmer of the Meet and took the Silver-medal handily.

Top Scorers

This meet was scored as a championship meet with twelve (12) places scored, and per the scoring rules, relays scored double.  Even with a meet this fast, Lionel Martinez (FR), Ariana Aldeguer (8), and Divers Connor Koehr (SO) and Mick Fioramonti (SR) were not our only athletes who shined through at or near the top.  Here are two other Seton athletes with top-3 finishes – look at what grade one of them is in – very cool:

• Connor Koehr (JR) showed his versatility by also scoring big in swimmer. Connor took a Bronze-medal in 100 Backstroke.
• Thiago Martinez (8) won the Bronze-medal in 500 Free behind the two-fastest male swimmers in the whole meet. His time of 5:30.70 is superior for an 8^th  He also took 4^th place in 200 IM.

You might be thinking, “Wow! We won and that’s it for top-3 finishers?”

Yep.  Our boys won this meet by scoring all our official entries in the top-12 for ten (10) of the twelve (12) events.   For the other two events, we got three (3) and two (2) into the top-12 respectively.  Like the VCAC Regular Season Championship on January 6^th, this was a case where everyone mattered.

Top-12 Finishers

Here are the other Seton athletes that performed well enough to score in the Top-12:

• Michael Brox (JR) had two (2) great swims in 100 Free and 200 Free where he scored in 4^th and 6^th, respectively.
• Clara Condon (JR) scored in 5^th twice, in the 200 IM and in 100 Fly.
• Haley Fifield (JR) took 5^th place in 100 Back, moving up from the 6^th seed, but her best swim was in 100 Fly where she dropped 6.11 seconds and just barely missed scoring in 12^th
• Andrew Nguyen (JR) looks like he has broken through over the past two (2) weeks. He showed me that he has learned to embrace discomfort with his swim in the 400 Free Relay immediately after his 5^th place finish in 100 Breaststroke.  He also showed me when he dropped another 1.12 seconds in 200 Free.  All of you seem to talk like the 500 Free is the most difficult event, but as a former swimmer myself, I know that, swum properly, 200 Free is really the most difficult.  Great job Drew!
• Max Wilson (JR) has been a difference maker all year. His work ethic has caught my eye this year, so I was so pleased to see him swim a 6.35 second PR in 500 Free and a 3.57 second PR in 200 IM.  He took 6^th place in both events and scored and additional 1-point above his seeds.
• Stella Paradise (SR) took 6^th place in 50 Free and 7^th place in 500 Free. Now that is versatility!
• Luke Mantooth (SR) dropped .32 seconds in 100 Breaststroke to take 6^th. He also scored in 8^th with a good swim in 200 IM.
• Rosie Waldron (JR) didn’t just take 6^th in Diving, but she also took 10^th in 100 Breaststroke.
• Greg Bauer (SO) had a great swim in 100 Breaststroke, dropping 2.07 seconds to score in 7^th Coming into the meet, Greg was seeded in 10^th, which means he scored 4-points more than he was supposed to.  We won by 2-points.  Greg was a difference maker.
• Patrick Kay (8) has been really starting to catch my attention. When I’m doing entries for Meets, I’m looking at a variety of reports with swimmers listed fastest to slowest, and I’ve noticed how rapidly Patrick Kay has been moving up on those reports.  That’s why is didn’t surprise me to see him score in 7^th place for both the 200 IM and 500 Free.  His 500 Free was a 3.64 second PR.  He also swam a .85 second PR in 100 Free leading off a relay.
• Elodie Brox (JR) took 7^th in 100 Breast and 8^th in 50 Free.
• Joe Borneman (JR) took 7^th in 100 Fly and 9^th in 200 Free. His 200 Free was a 1.24 second PR.
• Liam Halisky (JR) swam hard in the 50 and 100 Free, taking 7^th and 11^th place, respectively.
• William Sokban (JR) jumped into the difficult 100 Fly and 500 Free and delivered for Seton. In 100 Fly he dropped 3.21 seconds to score in 8^th and in 500 Free he dropped 3.55 seconds to also score in 8^th.  He was seeded in 11^th for 100 Fly which means he scored 3-points more than he was supposed to.  William was another difference maker this weekend.  I also enjoyed seeing his 1.83 second PR in 50 Back leading off a relay.
• Daniel Sokban (FR) continues to impress all of us coaches. This week, he impressed us with a 4-PR performance.  In 50 and 100 Free, he dropped .38 seconds and 4.33 seconds, respectively, which resulted in finishes of 8^th place and 10th place, respectively.  He also dropped another .29 seconds in 50 Free leading off a relay (24.75) and 4.43 seconds in 100 Free leading off a relay (56.10).
• Anastasia Garvey (SO) had two (2) good swims in 100 Back and 100 Fly, scoring in 8^th and 11^th, respectively.
• Sophia Halisky (8) is starting to find her place on the team with an 8^th place scoring swim in 100 Breaststroke after a .17 second PR. She came into the meet seeded in 11^th.  Sophia also swam a 1.33 second PR in 50 Back leading off a relay and a .50 second PR in 100 Free.
• Dominic Judge (FR) held his 8^th place seed in 100 Backstroke to score 5-points. He also cut 1.52 seconds in 100 Fly.
• Peter Konstanty (SR) showed me a lot of heart on Saturday. Not only was his 400 Free Relay swim crucial to our victory, he also dropped .76 seconds to take 9^th in 100 Breaststroke and .27 seconds to take 11^th in 100 Fly.
• Philomena Kay (FR) showed her versatility by taking 9^th in 500 Free and 11^th in 100 Breaststroke.
• Luke Partridge (FR) made the most of his first opportunity to swim at NoVa Catholics. His .52 second PR in 100 Back jumped him up from the 10^th seed to a 9^th place finish, resulting in one (1) additional point for our team.
• Giselle Hill (SO) scored in 10^th and 11^th place in the difficult 200 IM and 500 Free, respectively. Her 500 Free was a .33 second PR.  I really appreciate how I can use Gigi in pretty much any event if I need her there.
• Jack Herwick (8) did more than just swim well in a relay, he also took 11^th place in 100 Back scoring 2-points. Remember that our margin of victory was 2-points.  Jack also swam a 1.27 second PR in 100 Free.
• Maggie Schroer (8) took 11^th place in a very fast 100 Freestyle event.
• Kyleigh Fifield (FR) took 12^th place in 500 Free.
• Maggie Gibbons (SR) leaned in to the difficult 200 Free and scored in 12^th

Personal Records

97 Personal Records – another very strong total.  That brings our Seton season total to 971 PRs!  Last year at the this point in the season we had 906 total PRs, and we ended last season with 1,130.  Can we break 1,200 this year?

That high total is yet another data point that proves our basic coaching thesis at Seton Swimming, “The fastest way to make a high school swimmer faster is to get them doing the strokes right.”

Here are the Personal Records that were swum at Saturday that I have not previously mentioned (I think I’ll start with the Seton Family Homeschool Team and then the Z’s this time):

• Caroline Schroer (6) cut 5.38 seconds in 100 Free, .88 seconds in 100 Breast, and .49 seconds in 50 Free leading off a relay.
• James Nguyen (6) dropped .43 seconds in 50 Free and .39 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
• Joseph Minarik (SR) has figured out Breaststroke! And it showed with his 28.85 second Personal Record.
• Maggie Mikkelson (6) beat her previous best in 100 Back by 2.94 seconds.
• Audrey Mayer (6) was awfully excited after her swims, and she deserved to be. How about a 26.34 second PR in 100 Free and a 4.67 second PR in 50 Free?!
• Claire Kay (6) is showing she can do it all. Besides her 3.10 second PR in 100 Back and her 2.91 second PR in 50 Free, but she also had a 17.35-point PR in Diving.
• Katie Cooley (6) conquered 100 Fly for the very first time. I was very proud of you Katie.
• Jonas Wilson (8) cut another .50 seconds in 50 Free.
• Walter Saffian (JR) had a big day with three (3) big PRs. In 100 Free he dropped 6.49 seconds, in 50 Free from a flat start he dropped 1.87 seconds, and in 50 Free leading off a relay he dropped another .98 seconds.
• Evan Rodriguez (JR) had a huge PR in 100 Back, beating his previous best by 4.77 seconds.
• James Reynolds (7) looked better than ever in 100 Free, and it showed with a huge 8.97 second PR.
• Brian Orellana (8) had another big week for PRs with an 18.45 second drop in 100 Back and a 1.91 second drop in 50 Free.
• Kenneth Nguyen (FR) crushed his 100 Free PR by 1.77 seconds.
• Bella Nguyen (8) lowered her 50 Free PR by another .17 seconds.
• Annabelle Mikkelson (7) dropped .31 seconds in 50 Free.
• Evie Mayer (7) shared the joys of massive levels of improvement with her sister. I was so pleased to see her drop 35.92 seconds in 100 Back and 3.06 seconds in 50 Free.
• Joey Lynch (8) has jumped onto my radar recently with his continued improvement. It wasn’t just his 1.56 second PR in 100 Free or his .61 second PR in 50 Free leading off a relay.  He was also his 41.68 second 50 Breaststroke relay split which was almost 4-seconds faster than his previous best of 45.58.
• Penny Kramer (FR) cut 3.53 seconds in 100 Free.
• Colette Kramer (SO) beat her previous 100 Free PR by .50 seconds.
• Daniel Kohlhaas (7) had a huge drop in 100 Breaststroke – 12.47 seconds! He also dropped .93 seconds in 50 Free.
• Cecilia Kelly (8) improved her PR diving score by 17.70-points.
• Patrick Judge (FR) continues to improve rapidly. It was great to see him drop another 3.42 seconds in 100 Free and another .10 seconds in 50 Free.
• Clare Judge (7) is right there with her brother. She dropped 20.55 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
• Elizabeth Hurley (8) took full advantage of her opportunity to swim 500 Free with a 4.84 second PR.
• Orla Haggerty (JR) cut .53 seconds in 100 Free and .11 seconds in 50 Free leading off a relay.
• Lauren Grinder (8) improved her PR Diving score by another 8.08-points.
• Jack Gregory (SR) rocks! His 19.48 second PR in 100 Free was outstanding!  He also cut 2.86 seconds in 50 Free.  I’m going to miss having Jack on the team when he graduates.
• Veronica Gonzalez (8) beat her previous best in 100 Breaststroke by 2.37 seconds.
• Philip Gomez (JR) is one to keep an eye on. As a first-year Diver, his level of improvement has been very impressive.  On Saturday, he broke 100-points for the first time with a 18.25-second PR Diving score.
• Gigi Gibaldi (FR) dropped 8.69 seconds in 100 Back.
• Luke Fifield (7) got the “opportunity” to swim 100 Breaststroke against the top swimmers in the entire Meet. After missing his heat, Mr. Seltman found a space for him in the center lane of the fast heat.  He didn’t win, but he did drop 3.00 seconds!  Luke also dropped 2.05 seconds in 50 Free.
• Ben Ellis (FR) had two (2) PRs on Saturday. In 100 Free he cut 3.76 seconds, and in 50 Free he cut 1.73 seconds.
• Charlie Dusek (SO) was very excited by his 3.76 second PR in 100 Breaststroke and his 1.73 second PR in 50 Free. Great work Charlie!
• Rosie DeWolf (7) had a big drop in 50 Free, beating her previous best by 2.95 seconds.
• JJ Cooley (SO) lead off a medley relay with a .11 second PR in 50 Backstroke.
• Meg Blanchette (JR) looked great in 100 Free, and it showed in her .79 second PR.
• Veronica Bingham (7) beat her previous best in 50 Free by 1.14 seconds.
• Rachel Baughman (7) improved her best 6-Dive score by 8.25 seconds.
• Jenny Baughman (7) dropped 2.00 seconds in 100 Free and .98 seconds in 50 Free.
• Molly Bauer (JR) had a big PR in 50 Free, beating her previous best by 1.28 seconds.
• Katie Bauer (8) looked amazing in 100 Back during her 4.27 second PR.
• Betsy Arnold (8) crushed her previous PR in 100 Breaststroke by 5.52 seconds.
• Sage Armstrong (FR) had two (2) big PRs including a 5.78 second drop in 100 Back and a .68 second drop in 50 Free.
• Angela Andreu (8) cut another 1.61 seconds in 50 Free.

Positioning to Win Some Championships

We have some big goals ahead of us in February.

For the Girls, we are settling for nothing short of victory in the VCAC Conference Championship Meet and our 7^th VISAA Division II State Championship.  If we pull it off, it would be our 11^th overall.

I’m expecting our big competition at States to be the Cape Henry Collegiate School and North Cross.   If our Girls win at States, I’d expect that it will be on the strength of our three (3) relays plus individual points scored by Ariana Aldeguer (8) and our Divers.  That means you can all count on all our top swimmers swimming all-three relays except for Ariana.

For the Boys, we need to win the VCAC Conference Championship Meet, and then we need to take our shot at the VISAA Division II State Championship.   If we swim like I know we can, I’d expect a victory at VCAC Champs, but after the girl’s result on January 6^th, I am taking nothing for granted.

Then, we are going to have to beat Trinity Christian and Immanuel Christian again if we have a chance to take our 5^th Boys VISAA Division II State Championship.  I already talked about the formula: our Divers are going to have to place four (4) in the top-8, all three (3) of our relays are going to have to score, and Lionel Martinez (FR) will need to score individually.   That means you can count on all of our fastest boys swimming all three relays, with the possible exception of Lionel.

The battle for spots on the Boy’s Relays continues to be fierce.  Here are the fastest 50 Free splits among the Boys through NoVa Catholics:

1. Lionel Martinez           22.59 (was 23.19)
2. Michael Brox                22.66
3. Liam Halisky                23.26
4. Connor Koehr              23.33 (was 23.63)
5. Joseph Borneman       23.67
6. Andrew Nguyen          23.97
7. Daniel Sokban             24.61
8. Max Wilson                  24.66 
9. Luke Mantooth           25.14 (was 25.24)
10. Thiago Martinez          25.23

To repeat from last week, this could get very interesting for reasons beyond the fact that we still have several Meets to change this rank order of sprinters

• Will Lionel swim two (2) individual events?
  • States is all about scoring the maximum possible number of points.
  • When we get closer, the coaches are going to have to look at times across the State and determine if Lionel is worth more points in all three (3) relays or in two (2) individual events.
• Connor can’t swim in Saturday Prelims, but he can swim in Saturday Finals
  • The Boys Diving Preliminaries is during the Saturday morning Swimming Preliminaries, so if Connor has one of the top-4 splits going into States, the 5^th fastest swimmer will swim in Prelims on the Relay
  • But after Prelims, we’ll look at the splits one more time and take the four (4) fastest for the season. If no one knocks Connor off the relay in Prelims, he’ll swim for Seton on the Relay in Finals.
  • Of course, a lot can happen between now and then given that Connor is the 4^th fastest by only .34 seconds right now.

While we are at it, let’s look at the current standings for 100 Free splits among the boys because there was some movement there too:

1. Lionel Martinez           49.20
2. Michael Brox                51.42
3. Connor Koehr              52.97
4. Andrew Nguyen          53.21 (was 53.43)
5. Joseph Borneman      53.84
6. Max Wilson                  54.90 (was 55.13)
7. Daniel Sokban             55.47
8. Thiago Martinez         55.68
9. Liam Halisky                56.19
10. Peter Konstanty         57.95

The Rest of the Season

We are hosting one final meet before we must cut the team down to just the Varsity swimmers:

• VISAA Junior Varsity Invitational on January 27^th at the Freedom Center (NOT the WARF in Warrenton)
  • All swimmers who are in 9^th grade and below will be entered in this meet unless I hear from you that you cannot make it.
  • I also plan to enter non-Varsity upperclassmen to give you one final chance to have some fun swimming 50s, but you won’t be able to score.
  • Upper-class Varsity swimmers should plan to come and help cheer or time.
  • I’ll be posting entries for this Meet by Monday I hope.

After the JV Invitational, the remaining meets for the year will not allow any exhibition swimmers.   Those meets are:

• VISAA Division II Invitational Championship on Saturday, February 3^rd at the Freedom Center
• VCAC Conference Championship on Saturday, February 10^th at the Freedom Center (NOT the Fitch WARF in Warrenton)

I will be limited for these final two (2) championship meets to four (4) entries per individual event and two (2) entries per relay event.  At most, that takes 16-18 boys and 16-18 girls, not counting Divers.

So, what I will do is prepare a draft of our entries for the Division II Invitational, lining up the team to be as competitive as possible.  If you are on that entry list, you will be on the Varsity team.

I will post the members of this season’s post-season Varsity team in the next few days. 

If you are not a Varsity swimmer or Diver, then this is your last week of the season.  On Thursday for the last half of practice, the Captains will be running some fun relays and other games.  This will be the final non-Varsity practice of the season.

Everyone should plan to come to practice on Thursday, including swimmers who normally practice on Wednesday/Friday.  There will be no practice on Friday.

Final Notes

On so many levels, I was very pleased with what I saw on Saturday.

For most of you, this is the last week of the season, but for the rest of you, we have one month left.  Let’s go get some more championships.

See you at 6:04 a.m.  Come ready for the final push.

Coach Jim Koehr