Every year since 2010, we have used the last weekend before Christmas as a celebration of the traditions of Seton Swimming with a Homecoming Meet.  At that meet, we invite our alumni back to cheer and swim with us.  This year, we had 13 Swimming and Diving alumni and Coaches hitting the water and several more joining us on deck.

Besides the joy of Christmas and the opportunity to see so many of our old swimmers and divers, we had three (3) other things going on during the Meet.  First, we gave as many kids as possible the opportunity to show what they could do in Breaststroke and Butterfly.  Since Election Day, we have been methodically building every stroke and every wall (i.e., Starts, Turns, and Underwaters) with all six (6) practice groups, and this week, our focus was Breaststroke and Butterfly.

I was incredibly pleased by the level of improvement that I saw – 120 new Personal Records.  As I scanned down the results of 100 Fly, 100 Breaststroke, and the unique opportunity we were able to provide this week with 50 Fly, I was very impressed with the very high percentage of swims that were Personal Records.  In most of the heats, it was a Seton swimmer who was the “last one up”, and I loved watching so many long underwater glides in Breaststroke and so many “soft hands” in Butterfly.

Next, I have used our three (3) December Meets to try to get as many people as possible to swim as many different events as possible.  The goal of having as many kids as possible swim all eight (8) events before the end of the season has been more elusive than normal because of the number of kids who have been sick.  On Saturday, we had over 25 kids out for sickness (or vacation).  I hope everyone can get healthy over the Christmas holidays!

The final big thing that was happening in the background during this Meet was our swimmers starting to compete in earnest for spots on our championship Meet team and relays.  I have been mixing up the relays to offer the best possible opportunity for everyone to earn a spot on team for our upcoming trip to Loyola University in Baltimore for National Catholics on January 11th and 12th.

My more immediate focus, however, is our VCAC Conference Meet on January 4th which will decide the Regular Season Conference Championship in a Meet where each team is individually scored against each other team.  The Trinity Christian girls have once again come up with some strong new swimmers, so our girls are going to have to swim their best to beat them.

And if our boys want to win the VISAA Division II State Championship in February, we are going to have to be able to finish 100s and 200s.  I saw almost everyone at our first Christmas practice – we need that level of attendance to continue because we have some serious training to do to be ready.

Meet Scoring

For the most part, I was very pleased with the scoring, especially considering that I did our entries based on the developmental needs of individual swimmers rather than overall team competitiveness.  Our Boys, in particular, are looking really deep.

Here are how the scores turned out for us on Saturday:

Boys

Seton Swim & Dive                   196                       Trinity Christian                    85

Seton Swim & Dive                   213                       Trinity Meadow View           61

Seton Swim & Dive                   224                       Fredericksburg Christian   39

Seton Swim & Dive                   231                       Fresta Valley Christian        34

Seton Swim & Dive                   239                       Carmel School                        8

Girls

Seton Swim & Dive                 177                        Trinity Christian                 128

Seton Swim & Dive                   215                       Trinity Meadow View           72

Seton Swim & Dive                   222                       Fredericksburg Christian    53

Seton Swim & Dive                   226                       Fresta Valley Christian         67

Seton Swim & Dive                   240                       Carmel School                       45

Let the games begin between the Seton and Trinity Christian girls.  As it has been ever since Trinity Christian first entered our Conference for swimming for the ’15-’16 season, our Girl’s primary competition at the conference level will once again be them.

Last season was the first time in 29-years that we failed to win either the Regular Season Conference Championship or the Conference Championship Meet – thanks to Trinity Christian School.  We lost the regular season meet with a DQ of our girls 400 Free “B” Relay on the last event of the meet, and we lost the Conference Championship Meet by a single point with over 600-points scored.

Needless to say, I am not anxious for a repeat of that this year.

Our Alumni are Still Fast!

Every year at this time, I make a feeble attempt to contact some of the old Seton Swimming All-Americans.  Anna Kenna and Kevin Koehr are both close by so they were able to join us for the Meet.  I missed Nevin Cook and Jameson Hill again this year.  One day we’ll get them back, I hope.

It was the first time that I was able to see Kalli Dalrymple since I received a save-the-date mailing for her wedding next June.  Congratulations Kalli!  It’s wonderful to watch our kids grow up.

We were, however, still able to get a few more recent alumni like Stella Paradise and Peter Konstanty from the Class of 2024 to join us for some relays.  I was amazed how fast some of them still are:

  • Max Wilson (JR), Jonas Wilson (8), Joe Wilson, and Evan Wilson teamed up for a brothers’ relay had the fastest alumni relay of the day at 1:50.69. I supposed it helped that two of them were still in high school and Joe just graduated a couple of years ago 😉  Evan was a beast!
  • Anna Kenna, Kalli Dalrymple, Stella Paradise, and Maggie Gibbons also put together a relay that placed third overall. It was so much fun for me to watch those huge underwaters from Anna.  Stella is currently swimming at Ave Maria, so I was not surprised to see her rock a 27.67 50 Fly split.  Maggie and Kalli had big splits and big smiles reliving past glories from their high school years.

After the relays, we created some alumni heats of 50 Freestyle, and I saw some great swims:

  • Peter Konstanty and Evan Wilson swam Personal Records by .34 and .30 seconds respectively. Evan’s 24.65 was the fastest of the heat.
  • Coach Kevin Koehr proved that even 36-years olds can still go :25 in 50 Free.
  • Maggie Gibbons, Kalli Dalrymple, Stella Paradise, and Anna Kenna all had great swims with Anna’s 25.83 finishing just ahead of Stella’s 26.26.
  • John Konstanty never swam with his brother on the Seton team, but after watching him go 26.63, I could see that he could have had a great career with us.

And finally, prior to the swimming competition, we had some alumni divers join our diving competition:

  • Coach Ashley Keapproth displayed her Tennessee-High-School-State-Champion form with a score of 256.40 – pretty good for someone who last competed 20 years ago!
  • Coach Mick Fioramonti came within a single point of his high school PR. It was great having Mick back on the Boards.
  • Seamus Koehr, the founder of this iteration of the Seton Diving team, made an attempt to duplicate his younger brother Connor’s 6-dive program. The Beach-Boxer swimsuit somehow managed to impress the judges enough to give him the winning score.

We had several other alumni join us on deck at various points in the meet including Mary Pennefather, Caroline Griffin, and Amelie Halisky.  I really enjoyed seeing them too.  Caroline followed in her mother’s footsteps as an OB nurse, and Mary is coming off a basketball national championship at Christendom College last year.

Meghan Condon Does It Again!

Meghan Condon (FR) broke the team record for 6-Dives for the second time this season.  This time, she beat her own record from December 7th by exactly 10-points to score 175.20.  That’s the 6th highest score in the VISAA so far this season.

Here are some excerpts from the note that Coach Ashley Keapproth sent out to the Diving Team:

We continue to make fantastic progress toward our collective goals, and I am so excited about how much everyone is learning and improving. We have a lot to celebrate!

1) Special Congratulations. 

  • Congratulations to Meghan Condon (9) for breaking her own Seton diving record yesterday with a score of 175.20 –10 points higher than her last record! She had a great meet and many of the new dives she has been learning and paying off with high scores!
  • Congratulations with Anna Russo (12) and Jane Judge (9) who both learned new dives this week to complete their 11-dive lists and qualify for National Catholics.

2)  Meet Recap.  Great job to all of the divers who competed yesterday.  I was really pleased by the consistency of the team, especially on the girls side, as many of the divers did not earn less than a 4.  Many performed new dives in the meet as well!

  • Meghan Condon (9) placed 1st  with 175.20 points, setting a new Seton and personal record!!! She had a great meet, and continues to increase her degree of difficulty with new dives!  
  • Rose Waldron (12) placed 2nd with 160.75, setting a new personal record!  Rose did an amazing front somersault with a full twist and reverse somersault, and had a consistently strong meet!
  • Maria Miller (11) placed 4th with 138.05 points, just shy of breaking her personal record. Maria performed a front double somersault for the first time in a meet, and is working hard to increase her difficulty. 
  • Cecelia Kelly (9) placed 5th with 132.50 points– a new personal record for Cecelia and 7.5 points away from the State qualifying score! She had a consistently strong meet, not earning below a 4 from any judge on any dive and had beautiful front and inward dives.
  • Elizabeth Francis (12) placed 6th with 126.70 points. She had a consistently strong meet, with beautiful front and inward dives.
  • Clare Kay (7) was 7th with 122.0 points.  She had a great back somersault and inward dive.
  • Jane Judge (9) was 8th with 117.70 points, earning high scores on her front and inward dives.
  • Anna Russo (12) was 9th with 111.60 points.  Her back dive and back somersault earned her high scores from the judges.
  • Lucy Herwick (8) was 9th with 106.60 points, setting a new personal record. Lucy has been working hard on her hurdle this season and it is paying off with increased height off the diving board!
  • Penny Kramer (10) was 10th with a score of 86.30 points and a new personal record!  Penny has been working really hard to learn enough dives to compete and we were so excited that she was able to dive in her first meet yesterday!

On the boys’ side:

  • Connor Koehr (12) placed 1st with 199.95 points.  After losing his balance in his hurdle on his first dive and failing the dive, he came back and performed his remaining dives well enough to still win the meet.  While one one ever wants to fail a dive in a meet, it takes composure and to push through and still make a strong showing.
  • Jacob Oswald (12) placed 3rd with 173.45 points — a season record for him and just off his personal record.  Jacob had a consistently strong meet and competed his double somersault and back one and a half with a half twist for the first time this season. He also did a great job as captain to help coach our younger divers in warm-ups.
  • Tom Waldron (10) placed 7th with 115.65 points, setting a new personal record and earning high scores on his front one and one half and inward somersault. Tom is only one dive away from  the 11 dive list that he needs to qualify for National Catholics and States!
  • Daniel Sobkan (10) placed 8th with 112.40 points, setting a new personal record by over 30 points.  The highlight of his meet was high scores on his  front one and a half somersault, a dive which he had just learned the day before. Daniel is also only a few dives away from the 11, and I have every expectation that he will qualify for state this year.
  • Max Ashton (7) placed 9th with 109.80 points.  Max did amazing in his first ever dive meet, and completed several new dives that he just recently learned. His back and reverse dives were amazing!
  • John Witter (7) placed 10 with 96.20  points.  John has a lot of talent for diving, and especially showed off his power, speed, and height on his reverse and inward somersaults.

3) National Catholics.  As in years past, eligibility to dive in the National Catholic Invitational in Baltimore January 11-12 is limited.  Divers will be eligible to attend National Catholics if they (1) have qualified for States this season or (2) are 8th grade and up and are regularly performing a full 11 by January 4.  To date, Connor, Gus, Jacob, Rose, Meghan, Maria, Jane, and Anna are eligible to attend National Catholics. I expect a few more divers will join them over the next few weeks.   

Our Top Seton Swimmers Showed They Could Compete

While we were still mixing up the events that everyone swam, and we had several top athletes out for Christmas vacation, but we had several swimmers that showed they are ready to compete at a very high level during the championship season:

  • Ariana Aldeguer (FR) took 1st place overall in both the 200 Free and 100 Back and would have taken 1st in just about anything she could have swum. Ariana has proven time and time again that she can compete at a high level in any of the eight (8) individual high school events.  I have a good supply of the letter “a” in my storage closet so I can update the record board this year with her name.
  • Joe Borneman (SR) is establishing himself as a leader in the water with another exceptional performance on Saturday. He cut 18.40 seconds from his 200 IM PR and 7.46 seconds from his 100 Back PR.  Joe has become a great 4-stroke swimmer who can compete in all eight (8) events and all three (3) relays.
  • Max Wilson (SR) is another one who has come back this season and established himself as a leader in the water. He is always leading his lane in practice, and the results of his work ethic are showing on Saturdays.  On this particular Saturday, Max dropped 2.56 seconds to go 2:17.76 in 200 IM, and he dropped .73 seconds to go 1:05.60 in 100 Fly.
  • Connor Koehr (SR) is a force for Seton as a both a swimmer and a diver. We know he will likely score in all three of our “A” relays plus diving, but I’m looking for an individual swimming event for him in the non-State meets.  200 IM is on the candidate list after an early-season 3.33 second PR.
  • Isabella McCook (SO) is proving to be a wonderful new addition to the Seton team. She has already emerged as one of our top swimmers with a 2:07.24 200 Free (a 4.95 second PR) and a 5:37.35 500 Free.  She also is giving me medley relay options after her 31.37 second split in 50 Back.  There is so much with which to be impressed by Isabella, but one simple thing is the consistency of her walls.  Some of the other coaches and I were just marveling at the first Christmas practice as we watched her breakout of each turn without taking a breath on the first stroke – every time.
  • Clara Condon (SR) had some good early season swims in 100 Free and 100 Breaststroke. With some strong Christmas training and then more hard work in January, I’m looking forward to seeing what Clara can do in February.
  • Liam Halisky (SR) is slowly working himself back into the condition necessary to compete successfully in the post-season. On Saturday, he got to within 1.65 seconds of his 100 Free PR.  I watched him work hard at Christmas practice, and I think he knows he has some more hard work ahead of him if he wants the results we all want for him.
  • Elodie Brox (SR) is getting back into shape for those post-season sprints, and I was pleased to see progress on that front during her 200 IM where she swam a 13.32 second PR.
  • Drew Nguyen (SR) had a great swim in 100 Fly with a 3.10 second drop to go 1:10.25. I was pleased to see him at Christmas practices, because with some hard conditioning work over the next four (4) or five (5) weeks, I think Drew can be a significant scorer for us once again this season.
  • Sophia Halisky (FR) showed her desire to score with us in February during the 500 Free with her 11.86 second PR.
  • Betsy Arnold (FR) is showing signs of becoming a key player on our championship squads later this season. Her 17.61 second PR in 100 Fly was one such sign, along with a 7.54 second PR in 100 Back.  Her times will be competitive on the conference level going forward.
  • Anastasia Garvey (JR) came within .08 seconds of breaking the 1:00 barrier in 100 Free after 1.07 second PR. She also had good early-season swims in 100 Back and 100 Fly as she works to find a spot on the post-season varsity team.  I don’t think it is question of whether or not she is on the team as much as where her many strengths will be the most useful to our championship efforts.
  • Greg Bauer (JR) is working to find his place on our post-season team. On Saturday, he took great advantage of his opportunity to swim the 200 Free with an 8.69 second PR.  He also cut .31 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
  • Haley Fifield (SR) had some good early season swims in 100 Free and 100 Fly. I can’t wait to see what she can do after some hard work over Christmas and in January.
  • Lucy Cunningham (SR) was right on her PRs for both 200 IM and 100 Free, which is a great sign given that we are still in December. I think she’s ready to jump back into the 500 and score points against Trinity Christian for us.
  • Patrick Kay (FR) is going to be one to watch out for. He has been so impressive this year so far, and that continued on Saturday with a big 6.07 second PR in 100 Fly and an even bigger 6.79 second PR in 100 Breaststroke.  His 100 Fly time is down to 1:05.88 and his 100 Breaststroke time is down to 1:13.20, both excellent times for a freshman.
  • Daniel Sokban (SO) didn’t just rock his 6-dive PR by 31.90 points, he also got down to 55.33 in 100 Free after another .11 second PR in 200 Free.
  • Philomena Kay (SO) dropped another 1.35 seconds in 100 Fly and had a good early-season swim in 200 IM. With continued focus on her stroke technique, I’m looking forward to seeing what she can do.
  • JJ Cooley (JR) is emerging as a potential post-season threat after his massive 39.05 second PR in 500 Free and his 11.14 second PR in 200 Free.
  • Lucia Bingham (SR) had good early season times in 200 IM and 100 Back as she works toward a spot on the post-season team.
  • Kyleigh Fifield (SO) became one of our individual qualifiers for the National Catholic team after a .16 second PR in 50 Free. She also cut 2.74 seconds in 100 Free.
  • Michael Zahorchak (SO) has shown me that he can be great with continued refinement of his stroke technique. Even without fully utilizing the benefits of a more refined technique, he still managed to drop 8.11 seconds in 50 Back, 7.64 seconds in 500 Free, and .75 seconds in 200 Free.  His times are getting pretty competitive.  I’m excited for Michael’s future on the team.
  • Jack Herwick (FR) is rapidly emerging as a threat at the conference level even though he is only a freshman. His 8.10 second PR in 200 IM got him below 2:30 for the first time, and his 2.78 second PR in 100 Breaststroke got him below 1:20 for the first time.  Both of those are very competitive times for a freshman.
  • Dominic Judge (SO) is another young swimmer who is emerging as a key player in our upcoming championship run. I was very pleased with his 7.79
  • Avila Mantooth (FR) is moving up my reports so fast, that she is starting to find herself on scoring relays for the first time. Her 100 Fly PR by 4.05 seconds and her 100 Breaststroke PR by 2.44 seconds are moving her toward scoring individually also.
  • William Sokban (SR) continues to work at the most difficult events in order to best help the team. He had good early-season swims in both the 100 Fly and the 500 Free on Saturday.
  • Rose Waldron (SR) has certainly found a scoring home on the diving board, but her 100 Breaststroke swim on Saturday would have placed 3rd overall if I didn’t have to enter her as exhibition because of event participation limits.

120 Total Personal Records for 100 Swimmers and Divers

With 121 this week, our total for the first half of the season is now 464 Personal Records!  I’ve always said that the fastest way to get faster is to do the stroke right, and we see the evidence of that every single week.  Some of the Personal Records that I saw on Saturday were absolutely stunning – there’s no other way to get that level of improvement with conditioning alone.

Can you tell that we’ve been working on Breaststroke and Butterfly as you look down this list?   One indication is our 75.3% Personal Record Rate for Breaststroke and Butterfly:

  • Evie Mayer (8) had the largest PR of the Meet with her 38.00 second drop in 100 Breaststroke. She also dropped .95 seconds in 100 Free.
  • Walter Saffian (SR) cut more than half a minute (34.64 seconds) from his 100 Breaststroke PR.
  • Siobhan Maher (7) showed massive improvement in 100 Breaststroke, lowering her PR by 32.52 seconds. She also showed massive improvement in 50 Fly with a 9.29 second PR.
  • Gianna Henry (7) improved her 100 Breaststroke by more than 30-seconds (31.63 seconds), and he improved her 50 Free by 3.01 seconds.
  • Avery Youngblut (6) had a remarkable day with a 30.85 second PR in 100 Breaststroke and a 1.08 second PR in 50 Free.
  • Dominic Henry (FR) cut a whopping 30.71 seconds from his 100 Breaststroke PR.
  • Eamon Haggerty (8) dropped almost a full 30-seconds in 100 Breaststroke with his 29.72 second PR. He also dropped 13.34 seconds in 50 Fly.
  • Philip Saffian (8) had two remarkable swims, dropping 27.25 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and 8.32 seconds in 50 Fly.
  • James Beltran (6) never looked better in 100 Breaststroke, and it showed in his 22.80 second PR. He also cut another 1.71 seconds from his 50 Free PR.
  • Angela Andreu (FR) cut 21.45 seconds from her 50 Fly PR! I can’t wait to see what she can do in 100 Breaststroke once she gets her kick legal.
  • John Goodman (FR) has shown remarkable improvement under Coach Jeremy Kleb and Coach Briana Shillingburg so far this season. I was very pleased to see his 18.98 second PR in 100 Breaststroke and his 1.98 second PR in 50 Free.
  • James Reynolds (8) crushed his 100 Breaststroke PR by 13.86 seconds and his 50 Fly PR by 6.33 seconds.
  • Anne Dusek (FR) got on my radar with her continued big improvements. How about a 13.82 second PR in 100 Fly for the freshman?!
  • Gianna Pillion (8) had a great swim in 100 Breaststroke where she dropped 12.85 seconds.
  • Katie Cooley (7) dropped 11.91 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and 5.64 seconds in 100 Fly. Those are big drops Katie!
  • Mia Nguyen (6) continues to get better in the freestyle events, this time by 11.36 seconds in 100 Free.
  • Luke Pillion (SO) dropped 10.78 seconds from his 100 Breaststroke PR and .08 seconds from his 50 Free PR leading off a relay.
  • Veronica Bingham (8) had a massive 10.73 second PR in 100 Fly. She also dropped 1.20 seconds in 50 Fly.
  • CJ Pennefather (6) is getting the benefit of listening more closely to Coach Hurley, and two (2) of those benefits were a 10.36 second PR in 100 Breaststroke and a 4.70 second PR in 50 Fly.
  • Daniel Hurley (JR) was all smiles after a great first-time swim in 100 Fly and a 10.18 second PR in 100 Breaststroke.
  • Bethany Allen (6) continues to shine with Coach Kleb. She dropped a huge 9.37 seconds in 100 Breaststroke on Saturday.
  • Jonas Wilson (FR) looked good during his 6.02 second PR swim in 100 Fly.
  • Katie Bauer (FR) has such beautiful strokes, so I was not surprised that she cut .39 seconds in 100 Breaststroke, but I was very pleased to see her cut 8.50 seconds in 500 Free and .73 seconds in 50 Back leading off a relay.
  • Evan Wible (8) had a great swim in 100 Back, dropping 8.73 seconds.
  • Clare Kay (7) had a big 8.09 second PR in 100 Fly.
  • Adeline Youngblut (7) had a big drop in 100 Breaststroke, cutting 5.99 seconds.
  • Philip Nguyen (7) did a great job in 100 Free, beating his previous best by 5.08 seconds.
  • Madelyn Fioramonti (7) had a big 4.65 second PR in 100 Breaststroke. She also dropped 6.86 seconds in 50 Back leading off a relay.
  • Monica Irving (FR) made her father proud with her 6.70 second PR in 100 Breaststroke and her .55 second PR in 100 Fly.
  • Lucy Herwick (8) had a great swim in 100 Breaststroke, beating her previous best by 4.32 seconds. He also cut an even bigger 6.67 seconds in 50 Fly.
  • James Nguyen (7) is going to be a great little swimmer, I can already tell, which I why I was not surprised at all by his 6.48 second PR in 100 Breaststroke.
  • Rebecca Kramer (7) has come a long way already this season, and it showed with her dramatic 6.41 second improvement in 100 Breaststroke and her 2.87 second improvement in 50 Fly.
  • Joe Witter (FR) is rapidly figuring out this swimming thing. I was so pleased to see him beat his previous best in 100 Free by 2.81 seconds and his previous best in 50 Free by .61 seconds.
  • JJ Garvey (8) is starting to realize his significant potential. I really enjoyed his 6.04 second PR in 100 Fly, his 4.94 second PR in 100 Back, and his 1.83 second PR in 50 Back leading off a relay.
  • Dominic Sciscilo (6) looked better than ever in 50 Fly with a better than ever time by 5.46 seconds.
  • Emma Beltran (7) continues to show great improvement. In 100 Breaststroke she improved by 5.32 seconds and in 50 Back leading off a relay she improved by 3.99 seconds.
  • Maggie Mikkelson (7) cut 5.22 seconds in 50 Fly and 4.05 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
  • Bella Nguyen (FR) looked better than ever during her 5.03 second swim in 100 Breaststroke.
  • Jane Judge (FR) didn’t just look good on the diving boards, she also looked good between the lane ropes. She had PRs in all of her swims including a 4.84 second PR in 100 Fly, a 2.68 second PR in 100 Breaststroke, and a .20 second PR in 50 Free leading off a relay.
  • Aoife Haggerty (SO) beat her previous best in 100 Breaststroke by 4.67 seconds. A two-hand touch on Fly would have yielded a second PR on the afternoon also.
  • Thomas Goodman (7) cut another 4.44 seconds in 50 Free. As he learns to keep his face in the water while he swims, I’m expecting even bigger drops in the future.
  • Lily Waldron (FR) is quietly having an impressive season, and that continued on Saturday with a 4.32 second drop in 100 Breaststroke and a 3.57 second drop in 100 Fly.
  • Annabelle Mikkelson (8) showed great improvement in 100 Breaststroke with a new PR by 4.18 seconds.
  • Charlie Dusek (JR) had a big PR in 100 Breaststroke, dropping 4.07 seconds. He also made a great first attempt at 100 Fly.
  • Cora Kramer (SO) looked great in her 100 Breaststroke and 50 Fly swims, beating her previous PRs by 3.97 seconds and 1.64 seconds, respectively.
  • Paul Partridge (7) continues to look like he’s going to be a good one for Seton, and that continued with his 3.75 second PR in 100 Fly on Saturday.
  • Meg Blanchette (SR) looked great in Fly, cutting 3.49 seconds from her 100 Fly PR.
  • Julia Maranian (FR) looked great during her 3.41 second PR swim in 100 Free.
  • Mariana Bingham (SO) cut 3.10 seconds from her 100 Breaststroke PR.
  • Grace Catabui (7) dropped another 3.09 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
  • Colette Kramer (JR) had her best-ever swim in 50 Fly, swimming it 2.79 seconds faster than ever before. He also swam 100 Breaststroke .95 seconds faster than ever before.
  • Luke Fifield (8) got back to practice in time to get some good work on Breaststroke and Butterfly, and it showed with PRs of 2.52 seconds and 2.24 seconds, respectively.
  • Jane Vaughan (6) had a nice swim in 100 Free, beating her previous best by 2.51 seconds.
  • Penny Kramer (SO) dropped 1.49 seconds in 50 Fly.
  • Gabby Russo (SO) cut 1.17 seconds in 100 Free and .38 seconds in 50 Back leading off a relay.
  • Molly Bauer (SR) used her big kick to drive her to a .69 second PR in 100 Breaststroke.
  • Will Judge (6) had an amazing day competing for the first time in both the 500 Free and the 200 IM in the same Meet. I was very proud of that kid on Saturday.
  • Charlotte Poullath (7) missed Time Trials so she couldn’t get a PR, but I bet her swim on Saturday was a big improvement for her.
  • Gigi Gibaldi (SO), John Cooley (FR), Charlie Dusek (JR), Daniel Hurley (JR), Annabelle Mikkelson (8), Bella Nguyen (FR), Luke Pillion (SO), and Charlotte Meadows (8) all swam great times in their first-ever attempts at 100 Fly.

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 Jeff Rouse Swim & 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 Seton qualifiers for National Catholics, so far:

  • Swimming
    • Joe Borneman (SR)
    • Connor Koehr (SR)
    • Lionel Martinez (SO)
    • Thiago Martinez (FR)
    • Daniel Sokban (SO)
    • Max Wilson (SR)
    • Ariana Aldeguer (SO)
    • Betsy Arnold (FR)
    • Elodie Brox (SR)
    • Clara Condon (SR)
    • Haley Fifield (SR)
    • Kyleigh Fifield (SO)
    • Anastasia Garvey (JR)
    • Giselle Hill (JR)
    • Philomena Kay (SO)
    • Isabella McCook (SO)
    • Maggie Schroer (FR)
  • Diving
    • Connor Koehr (SR)
    • Gus Kohlhaas (SR)
    • Jacob Oswald (SR)
    • Rose Waldron (SR)
    • Meghan Condon (FR)
    • Maria Miller (JR)
    • Jane Judge (FR)
    • Anna Russo (SR)

The eligibility rules for National Catholics are much less stringent than the rules for States.  For instance, the Seton team qualifies an “A” and/or “B” relay – as a team – and then we are free to line up the fastest versions of those relays.  At States, each individual on the relay must have actually swum on the qualifying relay during the season.  Another example of a difference in the qualification rules is that, for National Catholics, if you are qualified for the Meet at all, you can swim up to two (2) individual events.  That is definitely not true for States.

And here is where Seton currently stands on individual qualifiers for the VISAA State Championship Meet:

  • Swimming
    • Joe Borneman (SR)
    • Connor Koehr (SR)
    • Lionel Martinez (SO)
    • Thiago Martinez (FR)
    • Max Wilson (SR)
    • Ariana Aldeguer (SO)
    • Clara Condon (SR)
    • Isabella McCook (SO)
  • Diving
    • Connor Koehr (SR)
    • Gus Kohlhaas (SR)
    • Jacob Oswald (SR)
    • Rose Waldron (SR)
    • Meghan Condon (FR)
    • Maria Miller (JR)
    • Jane Judge (FR)
    • Anna Russo (SR)

I hope to qualify both A and B Relays for Seton in every boy’s and girl’s relay event, so the list of attendees at States will get longer.

For Diving, to qualify you must be able to do 11 Dives from all five (5) categories and demonstrate that you scored at least 2.5 on each one of them.  Plus, you have to have scored at least 140.00 in a 6-Dive Meet or 200.00 in an 11-Dive Meet.  The Divers that have qualified so far are:

Opportunities to Improve

Saturday was our 4th Meet of the season counting Time Trials, and I am still seeing several opportunities to improve.  We have already talked about all of these many times, but let’s go through them one more time in the hopes that I will never have to mention these again:

  • We should be in full uniform for the National Anthem
    • I know we have discussed this one before
    • I looked down the line before the National Anthem on Saturday and saw kids with no shorts on, wearing pajama pants, or even wearing soccer shorts.
    • We have provided every swimmer and every diver with a team shirt and team shorts. That is our uniform, and that is what we wear on deck.
      • Could you imagine wearing your swimming shorts at your soccer game? Me neither.
    • No one should miss their event
      • Incredibly, we still have swimmers who are missing their events.
      • At least we can say that one skipped their event without talking to me first this past weekend. That’s an improvement.
    • Our team area is on the deck, not in the stands
      • The stands are for bags, the deck is for butts. The only time I should see you in the stands during the Meet is if you are getting in or out of your uniform before or after your event.
    • Everyone should be in the Team area, ready for the post-Meet handshake, at the start of the 400 Free Relay
      • I counted only 63 Seton swimmers in the handshake line at the end of the Meet.
      • Unless you have permission to leave early from me personally, you should be in our team area in your uniform at the start of the 400 Free Relay.
      • And everyone should be participating in the post-meet handshake.

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 has announced her expectations for attendance over the break in a communication directly to the Diving Team.

We make a conscious trade-off in Seton Swimming to spend November and December focusing on technique, which means we have not been focusing on conditioning.  Christmas is when we start to rectify that, so it is very important that you attend as many of the Christmas practices as possible.  We must be able to finish 100s and 200s if we are going to compete for championships.

I’m pleased to say that our first Christmas practice last Monday was well-attended.  We swam almost 3,500 yards, so it was a good work-out.

Three more practices left from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for swimming and 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. for Diving on:

  • 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

Cystic Fibrosis Swim-a-Thon

If you look under Meet Information, you will see some details on our annual New Year’s Eve Cystic Fibrosis Swim-a-thon, including how to set up your fundraising page and which fundraising team you are on.

  • By now, your team captain should have contacted you. If they haven’t, contact them.
  • Everyone who is in town should plan to swim, but even if you are out of town on New Year’s Eve, you can help us raise money.
    • The Johns Hopkins folks have made it really easy:
      • Find the instruction page under Meet Information
      • Click on the link to register yourself and join your assigned team
      • Send a few e-mails with that same link to family and friends asking for a modest sponsorship
    • If everyone does a little, we should be able to break $10,000 this year which would mean that we would break $100,000 in total fundraising since we began this event!

Here’s where the Team Standings are as of the morning of December 26th:

  • Team Clara                              $805
  • Team Trinity Meadow View $400
  • Team Liam                              $400
  • Team Michael                         $300
  • Team Connor                          $252
  • Team William                          $205
  • Team Molly                              $180
  • Team Haley                              $150
  • Team Jacob (Diving)               $100
  • Team Elodie                              $15

Individually, the leaders are:

  • Clara Condon                    $650
  • Charlotte Meadows         $400
  • Lauren Kelly (TSMV)        $175
  • Molly Bauer                       $160
  • Jack and Lucy Herwick   $150
  • Addi Hadro                       $150
  • Sean Kelley (TSMV)         $125
  • Meghan Condon             $100
  • Sydney Arllen (TSMV)    $100
  • Dominic Judge                $100

This is a good start, but we still have some work to do here.  Many hands make light work, so if everyone does just a little, we should be able to get there.

We’ve had a highly successful first half of the season.  We need to continue to work through Christmas break so we can be ready to start competing for championships in January.

See you at practice,

Coach Jim Koehr

 

 

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