Seton Swim & Dive Tradition on Display at Homecoming Invitational

Note to Seton Swimmer Ariana Aldeguer (FR) from All-Time Seton Swimming Great Katie Shipko (Haynes)

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, the celebration was bigger than most with 24 Seton Swimming alumni and Coaches hitting the water and many more joining us on deck.

The meet had a great feel of Christmas family joy for me personally with Mr. Paul Fifield playing a video on the big board of Kevin Koehr’s 2006 VISAA State Championship swim in 100 Back while Kevin’s wife, the former Eileen Heim (Seton Class of 2012) looked on while holding my beautiful granddaughter Ava Leigh Koehr (Seton Class of 2041).  It brought back so many memories of why I started coaching at Seton in the first place.  My joy was certainly enhanced by the 135 new Personal Records (PRs), particularly in Breaststroke and Butterly, as well as the countless first-time attempts at butterfly.

We had a great December this year.  At practice, we have successfully built every stroke and every wall from scratch, with all swimmers who were able to attend every practice.  We were also able to give nearly all our swimmers the opportunity to swim six (6) or more different individual events during the month.  That not only provided opportunities for everyone to hit multiple PRs, it has positioned us well to create the most competitive line-ups possible for the all-important Conference and Championship meets starting in January.

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 Swimming                       174                       Immanuel Christian          126

Seton Swimming                       189                       Trinity Christian                  119

Seton Swimming                       204                       Carmel School                      44

Seton Swimming                       224                       Williamsburg Christian       54

Seton Swimming                       230                       Fredericksburg Christian    40

Seton Swimming                       236                       Trinity Meadow View           27

Seton Swimming                       241                       Fresta Valley Christian        17

 

Girls

Trinity Christian                     168                        Seton Swimming                  141

Seton Swimming                       191                       Fredericksburg Christian   104

Seton Swimming                       225                       Trinity Meadow View            48

Seton Swimming                       228                       Immanuel Christian             51

Seton Swimming                       231                       Williamsburg Christian       36

Seton Swimming                       235                       Fresta Valley Christian        29

Seton Swimming                       240                       Carmel School                       28

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.

Trinity Christian has some superior female swimmers led by their superstar Allie Witdoeckt (SR) who won individual state championships in both 100 Free (51.02) and 100 Fly (55.46) last year.  Just prior to last season, Allie transferred from the Steward School who, led by her talents, beat us for the Girl’s VISAA Division II State Championship in 2022.  The Meet Program on Saturday said she was a junior, but fortunately for us, she’s actually a senior so our pain will end soon 😉

I know that Trinity Christian Coach Alyssa Knauf had a big smile on her face imagining what I was thinking when Kristen Womack (SR), Liz Klanderman (JR), Allie Witdoeckt (SR), and Audrey Schlieter (SO) went 1:53.67 and broke their team record in the Girls 200 Medley Relay.  Just in case I hadn’t noticed it on my own, I knew I could count on Mrs. Kathryn Klanderman to make sure I didn’t miss the message Coach Knauf was sending.  I definitely noticed Kathryn!

Our Alumni are Still Fast!

Every year at this time, I make a feeble attempt to contact some of the old Seton Swimming greats.  Anna Kenna and Kevin Koehr are both close by so they were able to join us for the Meet.  I missed Nevin Cook this year.  Nevin is married with children outside of Charlotte, NC I believe, and I was able to trade messages with Jameson Hill who is married and living outside of Atlanta, GA.  His pool records at Woodberry Forest from a decade ago were finally beaten so I wanted to send him the panels from their record board.

I’ve spoken with Nevin and Jameson as recently as last year, but the one former Seton great to whom I’ve had trouble connecting is Katie Shipko who holds both our team 500 Free and 200 Free records, from 1999 and 2000, respectively.  Today, she is Katie Haynes, she is in her early-40s, and she lives in Whitefish, Montana.  I told her that our little swimming prodigy, Ariana Aldeguer (FR), would likely break at least one of her 25-year-old records this season.

About a week later, imagine how pleased I was to find a note from Katie to Ariana in my PO Box.  I gave it to Ariana at school today:

Understandably, Katie was not able to fly in from Montana for our Meet, but we were still able to get alumni ranging from Kevin Koehr of the Class of 2006 up to Joe Wilson from the Class of 2023 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 1:56.69. I supposed it helped that two of them were still in high school and Joe just graduated last year 😉
• Anna Kenna, Kevin Geiran, Dominic Wittlinger, and Ben Ceol who were featured in the picture from 2017 that I posted above the Homecoming Meet information. They actually broke 2:00 on the strength of Anna’s lead-off backstroke and Ben Ceol’s 24.93 anchor leg.  You still have it Ben!
• Kevin Koehr, Seamus Koehr, Shane Koehr, and Céilí Koehr were right behind Anna’s team. The night before the race, Kevin asked me, “Dad, please don’t put me next to Anna Kenna again!”  Well, Mr. Konstanty did not receive the request, and the result was that Kevin and Anna were side-by-side in lanes 1 and 2.  Kevin was able to redeem his defeat at the hands of fellow All-American Anna at a prior Homecoming Meet by out-touching Anna this time by only .05 seconds.  Kevin’s mother couldn’t resist noting to me that young Connor beat them both 😉.
• The Coaches even got into the act with Coach Scott Kay, Coach Ross Palazzo, Coach Tara Judge, and Coach Jerry Zadnik. Coach Palazzo, a 2019 graduate of the University of Florida split 26.55 in 50 Breaststroke (if you can believe that), but the really unbelievable swim was Coach Judge who split 27.25!  You go girl!
• Jerry Dalrymple and Liam Kellogg formed a relay, but I missed who else was on it – unless they both just swam twice in which case, they did a really incredible time. Jerry beat his high school 50 Back PR by 4.43 seconds leading things off.
• Katie Albin, Mary O’Malley, Teresa Bingham, and Kalli Dalrymple took their turn in a Girls Medley Relay with some pretty good swimming, particularly Teresa’s 32.53 Fly split. Katie Albin actually beat her PR from high school in 50 Back!
• Kateri Mantooth, Mary Clare Waldron, Jillian Ceol, and Anne Konstanty put together a pretty good relay. I was able to have lunch with Kateri out at Notre Dame last fall and Anne is wrapping up her senior season swimming at Franciscan University.

Even Trinity Christian was able to put an alumni relay in the water.  I have fond memories of our Seton girls competing with Trinity alumni Amy Phillips, Anna Deatherage, Annalise Cornett, and Jenna Phillips.  I also saw Becca Klanderman and Ryan Hough.  It was particularly great to see Annalise back in the water.  The last time I saw her, she was winning the State Championship in 500 Free!

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

• Coach Ross Palazzo went 21.75 last year but age started catching up to him this year when the 27-year-old only went 22.68 😉.
• Coach Scott Kay broke his personal record from last year by .18 with a 26.60. Not bad for an old man over 40.
• Kalli Dalrymple crushed her high school 50 Free PR by 1.73 seconds. I looks like she’s going to age as well as her mother has.
• Coach Jerry Zadnik was actually DQ’d for a false start. Coach Zadnik!

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 229.50 – pretty good for someone who last competed 20 years ago!
• Mary Clare Waldron came within only 14.35 points of her high school PR for 6-dives in an attempt to make sure her little sister Rosie knows that she still holds the team record – for a while longer anyway 😉
• Seamus Koehr made an attempt to duplicate his younger brother Connor’s 6-dive program. The Beach-Boxer swimsuit did not impress the judges enough to give him higher scores.

The State Top-8 Diving Dual Face-Off

At last year’s State Championship Meet, two (2) boys’ diving teams emerged as the rising stars of the VISAA – Seton and Fork Union Military Academy (FUMA)  Five (5) of the top-8 finishers were from one of those two (2) schools.  My hope is to do much better than that this year.

The other thing that became clear to me is that the two best coaches in the VISAA are from those two (2) schools.  Seton, of course, has Coach Ashley Keapproth who no longer needs an introduction to readers of this blog.  Her talent and dedication to our kids at Seton are rarely surpassed.  Yet she volunteers to coach without even having a kid at Seton.  FUMA is coached by the VISAA Diving Coordinator, Samson Miller.  Samson is a 25-year old former University of Virginia diver who has already moved the needle for the FUMA program.

I had a brainstorm earlier in December to have our first-ever Diving dual meet where we brought the best of Seton and best of FUMA together for a mano-on-mano face-off on the boards followed by pizza at Carini’s in Nokesville.  My idea was for them to get to know each other – and then begin to push each other.  Like a super-team, my hope is that they will encourage each other to get better, and then together, take all top-8 spots at the upcoming VISAA State Championship.  That’s a bit of a stretch goal, I know, but big goals and big results usually go together.

The result of my brainstorm was the 1^st Annual State Top-8 Diving Dual Face-Off.  In the meet, our top five (5) boys and FUMA’s top five (5) faced-off for a 6-dive and 11-dive competition.  Just like States, we re-seeded the diving order after five (5) dives (Preliminaries) and eight (8) dives (Semi-Finals) to build some excitement – it worked.

We scored two (2) events – the 11-dive score, of course, but we also took the scores after six (6) dives and used that to score a 6-dive event.  The result was a very close victory by the Seton boys:

Seton Boys Diving                             121

Fork Union Boys Diving                   115

The leader of the Seton team was Connor Koehr (JR) who took first place overall and broke two Seton team records in the process:

• 6-Dives – 231.10, breaking his own record of 230.45 set earlier in December
• 11-Dives – 385.60, breaking Joe Duran’s 2013 record of 351.15

Both Connor’s 6-dive and 11-dive scores are the highest scored posted so far this season in the entire VISAA, and his 11-dive score was a 48.65-point Personal Record (PR).  Last year at the State Championship, Connor took 5^th place, only 0.70 points behind the top FUMA diver.  Last Friday night, he beat that same FUMA diver by 31.60.  Thank you, Coach Keapproth – it was certainly a good night for Connor.

Our other boys also had good nights and gained valuable experience competing in this format:

• Mick Fioramonti (SR) took 3^rd place with a Personal Record score of 265.30, beating his score from States last year by 45.00 points.
• Jacob Oswald (JR) took 6^th place while destroying his score from States last year by 67.60 points! At last year’s States, he missed the cut after the Semi-Finals, but with the score he posted, he’s not going to miss the cut this year!
• Max Gonzalez (JR) took 7^th place on the strength of his from double somersault and front 1 and half somersault.  On his one and half, he scored 7, 6, and 7.  Those flashes of brilliance show me that, if Max decides he is willing to put the work in to be great, he can be.
• Gus Kohlhaas (JR) took 9^th place, also crushing his State Championship Meet score from last year – by 67.70 points.

Looking at last year’s State Championship results, all five (5) of our boys’ scores would have finished in the top-16, but we can only score four (4).  And let’s not forget Philip Gomez (JR) who showed last week that he can now do 11-dives.  Who’s it going to be boys?

The next day, at our Homecoming Invitational, we hosted another diving meet with Trinity Christian School, and that gave our female divers a chance to shine:

• Rose Waldron (JR), Maria Miller (SO), Meghan Condon (8), and Elizabeth Francis (JR) took 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th behind one (1) Trinity Christian diver.
• Elodie Brox (JR) performed all 6-dives and beat her PR by 20.30 points.
• Claire Kay (6) beat her 6-dive PR by 1.50 points.
• Anna Russo (JR) is only one (1) dive away from a complete 6-dive program, and she beat her PR by 20.80 points with those five (5) dives.
• Jane Judge (8) is up to three (3) dives now and more than doubled her previous best score.
• Grace Catabui (6) competed with two (2) dives, including the difficult-to-learn back dive and nearly doubled her Personal Record.
• Penny Kramer (FR) competed with her two (2) best dives, including a front flip, and beat her PR by 3.00 points.

I will also note that Max Gonzalez (JR) had a PR on Saturday too, beating his previous best 6-dive score by 3.37 points.

I am so encouraged by the progress of our Diving team under Coach Keapproth.   Diving could definitely make the difference for a Boy’s VISAA Division II State Championship and a Girl’s VCAC Conference Championship.  Let’s keep working hard in the gym divers!

Our Top Seton Swimmers Showed They Could Compete

While we were still mixing up the events that everyone swam, we had several swimmers that showed they are ready to compete at a very high level during the championship season:

• Ariana Aldeguer (FR) took 1^st place overall in both the 200 Free and 100 Fly. 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.
• Lionel Martinez (FR) is another swimmer that can compete with anyone in all eight (8) individual events. On Saturday, he showed that in the 200 Free and 100 Back where he took 2^nd overall in both with two PRs – by 1.58 seconds and .88 seconds, respectively.  His 1:51.93 in 200 Free and 56.71 in 100 Back are the fastest on the team, by a lot.
• Gigi Hill (SO) took 1^st place overall in 100 Free with a .84 second PR. She also took 5^th while trying out 100 Breaststroke for the first time this season.  Her Breaststroke time was a 1.96 second PR.
• Michael Brox (JR) took 3^rd in the 200 IM with a 4.89 second PR. He also took 4^th in the 500 Free.
• Haley Fifield (JR) has been jumping up on my lists when I do meet entries. On Saturday, she took 3^rd in 100 Free and dropped 4.08 seconds in 200 Free.
• Maggie Gibbons (SR) ventured out of her comfort zone to 100 Fly and took 3^rd overall after a 3.52 second PR. She also took 5^th in 200 Free.
• Connor Koehr (JR) can score in more than just diving. He also scored in 3^rd place overall in his first attempt this season in the 500 Free.  He dropped 7.87 seconds in the event and is very close to breaking 6:00.
• Max Wilson (JR) is having a breakout season. On Saturday, he scored in 4^th place overall twice in 50 Free and 100 Breaststroke.  In 100 Breaststroke, he also cut 3.10 seconds from his previous best time.
• Liam Halisky (JR) rocked his 100 Free in 56.19, 1.49 seconds faster than his previous best, and that earned him a 4^th place finish, overall.
• Anastasia Garvey (SO) showed her versatility by scoring in 4^th place overall after a 1.08 second PR in 200 IM. Her time was good enough to qualify for National Catholics.  She also cut another .63 seconds from her 100 Back PR.
• Philomena Kay (FR) beat her PR in 100 Breaststroke by 1.94 seconds to take 4^th overall, and she beat her PR in 200 IM by 3.13 seconds to take 5^th I can’t wait to see what she can do if we can get her into skate position on every stroke freestyle.
• Clara Condon (JR) took 5^th place in 50 Free with a time very close to her PR. She also took 9^th place overall in 200 Free with a great mid-season swim.
• Joe Borneman (JR) has been killing it this season. I was so pleased with his 36.29 second PR in 200 IM, a time that earned him 5^th place overall.  Joe also dropped 1.61 seconds in 100 Back to take 7^th overall and .05 seconds in 100 Free leading off a relay.
• Thiago Martinez (8) is still young but doesn’t swim like it. His 57.48 in 100 Free earned 5^th place overall, and his .42 second PR in 50 Free took 7^th
• Jack Herwick (8) is new to the team, but he is leaving his mark. His first-ever attempt at 100 Fly was good for 5^th place overall.  He also cut 11.25 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and 1.51 seconds in 50 Back leading off a relay.
• Madelyn Zadnik (SR) had a strong swim in 100 Fly where she placed 6^th. She also dropped 1.80 seconds from her 100 Back PR.
• Greg Bauer (SO) is working hard to find a home on the post-season Varsity team, and his 6^th place finish in the 500 Free with a 19.97 second PR surely did a great deal for his cause. He also dropped 19.81 seconds in 200 Free which opens up yet another opportunity for him.
• Elodie Brox (JR) cut 10.02 seconds from her 200 Free PR and took 6^th place overall. She also cut nearly a full minute (57.98 seconds) in the 500 Free and took 7^th place overall.
• Peter Konstanty (SR) had a great swim in 100 Free to score in 6^th place, and his 1.69 second Personal Record earned him 7^th in 200 Free.
• Patrick Kay (8) dropped 8.22 seconds in 100 Fly and 7.58 seconds in 100 Back to score in 6^th place overall in both events.
• Luke Partridge (FR) is finding his way on the Varsity team during his first season at Seton after a 6^th place finish in 100 Breaststroke and a 10^th place finish in 50 Free.
• Kyleigh Fifield (FR) continues to get better, and it is showing up in the scoring for Seton. She took 6^th place overall in 50 Free after a 1.32 second Personal Record.  She also dropped 2.99 seconds in 50 Back leading off a relay and .26 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
• Luke Mantooth (SR) tried a couple of new events. He dropped 7.23 seconds in 200 Free and 8.76 seconds in 100 Back.
• Daniel Sokban (FR) continues to impress me. His 8.72 second PR in 200 IM and his 9.01 second PR in 100 Back were great examples of why.

Trinity Meadow View Moves Toward the Championship Season

We had a couple new team records on Saturday!  Congratulations to:

• Sydney Arllen (SO), 1:15.56 in 100 Breaststroke, breaking Aine Maloney’s previous record of 1:15.97
• Elijah Soto (SO), 1:53.44 in 200 Free, breaking his own previous record of 1:58.11.

I was very pleased with all the performances I saw on Saturday from our Tempest swimmers:

• Levi Soto (8) made me very proud on Saturday. Not only did he beat his Personal Record in 50 Free by 3.58 seconds, but he also swam 100 Free for the first time in 1:05.67.  Now that he knows he can do it, I bet he can be even faster when we get all four (4) eligible boys in one place to get our last two (2) State relay cuts.
• Joseph Thiede (7) had an incredibly good afternoon with a 30.23 second PR in 200 Free and a 2.21 second PR in 100 Breast. He’s only in 7^th grade, so we can use him in the championship meets until next season, but I can already see that he can be a force to be reckoned with if he keeps working at this sport.
• Elijah Soto (SO) showed what can happen when you take the 200 out like you mean it. His first 50-split was 25.32 and that great lead-off resulted in a 3.58 second PR.   His 1:53.44 would have made the Consolation Finals at States last year.  Elijah, the 200 Free could become your best event if you want it badly enough.
• Sydney Arllen (SO) went 1:15.56 in 100 Breaststroke and clarified my upcoming decision on who to use for the Breaststroke leg of our Medley Relay.  Her swim was a 4.19 second PR and good enough to get her the State cut in the event.
• Lauren Kelley (SO) continues to prove that she can do any event for the Tempest. On Saturday, she cut 1.68 second in 100 Breaststroke, and just prior to that event, she swam an excellent time of 1:07.39 in 100 Fly.
• Reagan Mazanec (FR) had two (2) big PRs on Saturday. In 100 Breaststroke she dropped 3.98 seconds, and in 200 Free she dropped 2.39 seconds.
• Sophie Blankenstein (JR) was all smiles after her first-ever attempt at the 200 IM. Sophie also dropped 1.34 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
• Charlotte Mazanec (SO) looked great in her first-ever attempts at 200 IM and 100 Breaststroke.
• Lizzie Neal (FR) also looked great at her first-ever competition in 200 IM and 100 Breaststroke. In 100 Breaststroke, she went 1:24.87 which I’m sure would have been a Personal Record had I had a previous time against which to compare it.

Our Tempest State Championship team is starting to take shape.  Nothing is final, but if we had to go to States today, here’s what it would look like:

• For the girls, it looks like Lauren Kelley (SO), Sydney Arllen (SO), Aine Maloney (JR), and Reagan Mazanec (FR) will be competing in all three (3) relays plus one (1) individual event.
• For the boys, we have both the 200 Free and 400 Free relays qualified with Elijah Soto (SO), Eamon Schrock (FR), Shane Monroe (JR), and Levi Soto (8), and if we can get all four (4) of them at a meet at the same time, I’m very confident that we can get qualified for the 200 Medley too.
  • Elijah Soto (SO) has also qualified for every individual event except 100 Breaststroke (which I hope to rectify on January 13^th) so he’ll be able to compete in one (1) other individual event.
  • Shane Monroe (JR) and Eamon Schrock (FR) have qualified for the bonus 50 Free, an event in which they are eligible to compete because they have qualified in a relay.

I’ve posted a draft of our Tempest State Championship Meet entries under Meet Information for planning purposes.  I’ve assumed we’ll qualify a Boys Medley Relay for now, but we have some work to do to figure out the best order.

The format for States splits the events across Friday and Saturday with the 200 Medley Relay on Friday and the 200 and 400 Freestyle Relays on Saturday.  Preliminaries are in the morning, and then the top-16 qualifiers swim off in the Finals at night.

States is a blast, and swimming at night is an experience that I still remember after almost 45 years.  Let’s go to States and “come back at night”!

We Had Some Unbelievable Personal Records on Saturday

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.  See if you can tell that we’ve been working on Breaststroke and Butterfly as you look down this list:

• Penny Kramer (FR) had the biggest single drop in the Meet with her 88.05 second Personal Record in 200 Free. That is nearly a minute and a half!
• Colette Kramer (SO) was right behind her sister with a 75.56 second drop in 200 Free, a 44.15 second drop in 100 Breaststroke, and a 1.77 second drop in 50 Free.
• Cora Kramer (FR) rounded out the big day for the Kramer sisters with her own 19.70 second drop in 200 Free plus a 7.70 second drop in 100 Breaststroke.
• Rose Waldron (JR) cut 62.89 seconds from her 200 Free PR and 5.59 seconds from her 500 Free PR.
• Jack Gregory (SR) cut an amazing 38.76 seconds from his PR in 100 Breaststroke.
• Camila Quispe (7) had a great swim in 100 Breaststroke, beating her previous best by 35.39 seconds.
• Meg Blanchette (JR) needed to leave early from the Meet to babysit so she took advantage of the opportunity swim the 500. And boy did she take advantage.  How about a 30.78 second PR!  She also cut 3.29 seconds from her 50 Fly PR.
• Maggie Schroer (8) may have just had her best day as a Seton swimmer. How about a 32.50 second drop in 500 Free and a 28.96 second drop in 200 Free?
• Walter Saffian (JR) didn’t surprise me a bit when I watched him drop 24.25 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and 11.37 seconds in 50 Fly.
• Aidan McCardell (SO) looked better than ever in 100 Breaststroke, and it showed in his time – a 19.63 second Personal Record.
• John Cooley (8) showed amazing improvement in 100 Breaststroke, beating his previous best time by 18.42 seconds.
• Evan Wible (7) had some pretty good swims on Saturday. In 100 Breaststroke he cut 15.59 seconds, and in 50 Free he cut 6.30 seconds.
• Annie Dusek (8) lowered her PR in 100 Breaststroke by 14.15 seconds.
• Gabriella Russo (FR) crushed her 100 Fly PR by 13.55 seconds resulting in a pretty good time of 1:17.91.
• Katie Bauer (8) dropped 15.02 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and 13.99 seconds in 100 Fly.
• Evan Rodriguez (FR) had two (2) big PRs. He dropped 12.07 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and 6.52 seconds in 50 Fly.
• Gigi Gibaldi (FR) cut 11.90 seconds from her 100 Breaststroke PR.
• Sophia Halisky (8) cut 11.24 seconds in 50 Back leading off a relay and 11.92 seconds in 100 Back. He also cut 9.51 seconds in 100 Free leading off a different relay and 8.70 seconds in 100 Fly.  That was four (4) huge PRs in the same meet for Sophia!
• Lucy Herwick (7) dropped 11.25 seconds from her 100 Breaststroke PR.
• Caroline Schroer (6) looked great during her 10.05 second PR swim in 100 Breaststroke and her 6.23 second PR swim in 50 Fly.
• Jane Judge (8) beat her old 100 Fly PR by 10.01 seconds. Jane also had a big 2.06 second drop in 50 Free.
• Katie Cooley (6) somehow managed to beat her previous PR in 100 Breaststroke by 9.52 seconds. She also beat her previous PR in 100 Fly by 3.96 seconds.
• Noemi Rodriguez (FR) beat her 100 Fly PR by 9.53 seconds and her 100 Breaststroke PR by 3.06 seconds.
• Maggie Mikkelson (6) had two (2) big PRs. In 100 Breaststroke she dropped 9.14 seconds, and in 50 Fly she dropped 7.38 seconds.
• Aoife Haggerty (FR) also had two (2) big PRs when she cut 8.90 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and 7.81 seconds in 100 Free.

135 Total Personal Records for 93 Swimmers

There were loads of other Personal Records on Saturday also.  With 135 this week, our total for the first half of the season is now 636 Personal Records!  I always say that “if we swim Personal Records, the winning takes care of itself”.  That continues to be the key to Seton’s success in the water:

• Jonas Wilson (8) dropped 5.59 seconds in 200 IM and 1.30 seconds 100 Breaststroke
• William Sokban (JR) lowered his 100 Breaststroke PR by 2.88 seconds.
• Briana Shillingburg (JR) beat her PR in 100 Breaststroke by 8.25 seconds.
• James Reynolds (7) cut 4.16 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
• Allison Quispe (SO) beat her previous best time in 100 Butterfly by 4.07 seconds and in 100 Breaststroke by 3.65 seconds.
• Brian Orellana (8) lowered his 50 Free PR by 5.54 seconds.
• Kenneth Nguyen (FR) beat his 100 Breaststroke PR by 7.79 seconds and his 100 Fly PR by 5.38 seconds.
• Bella Nguyen (8) dropped 5.38 seconds in 100 Breaststroke
• Mary Catherine Munsell (SO) cut 1.81 seconds in 50 Fly and 1.27 seconds in 100 Free.
• Annabelle Mikkelson (7) cut 6.85 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and 2.91 seconds in 50 Fly.
• Julia Maranian (8) beat her previous best in 100 50 Free by 1.94 seconds.
• Avila Mantooth (8) swam her best-ever 100 Fly, beating her PR by 2.13 seconds.
• Joey Lynch (8) dropped 5.21 seconds in 100 Breaststroke
• Dominic Judge (FR) swam PRs in both 100 Fly (by 2.31 seconds) and 100 Breaststroke (by 2.74 seconds).
• Clare Judge (7) beat her 50 Free PR by 1.72 seconds.
• Elizabeth Hurley (8) had a .99 second PR in 50 Back leading off a medley and a .70 second PR in 200 IM.
• Orla Haggerty (JR) was 1.20 seconds faster than ever before in 50 Back leading off a medley relay
• JJ Garvey (7) had PRs in both 100 Breaststroke and 50 Fly, by 1.82 seconds and .65 seconds, respectively.
• Luke Fifield (7) continues to improve. This week he dropped 4.04 seconds in 100 Breaststroke and 3.64 seconds in 50 Fly.
• Rosie DeWolf (7) lowered her 50 Free PR by 1.55 seconds.
• Lucy Cunningham (JR) swam three (3) PRs on Saturday. In 50 Back leading off a medley she cut 2.51 seconds, in 50 Free she cut .29 seconds, and in 100 Free leading off a relay she cut 1.05 seconds.
• JJ Cooley (SO) lowered his 100 Breaststroke PR by .86 seconds.
• Caroline Brand (FR) dropped 7.10 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
• Joel Bookwalter (7) cut 7.05 seconds in 50 Fly and 4.23 seconds in 100 Breaststroke.
• Mariana Bingham (FR) beat her previous best in 100 Breaststroke by .48 seconds.
• Lucia Bingham (JR) cut 1.71 seconds in 100 Back.
• Jenny Baughman (7) looked great in 100 Breaststroke and 50 Free, beating her PRs in the events by 5.61 seconds and .92 seconds, respectively.
• Molly Bauer (JR) dropped .52 seconds in 50 Fly.
• Betsy Arnold (8) had PRs in both 100 Fly, by 3.79 seconds, and 50 Back leading off a relay, by 2.65 seconds.
• Angela Andreu (8) had her best-ever swim in 100 Free, beating her previous best by 2.48 seconds.
• Jed Albin (SR) looked strong in 50 Back leading off relay when he swam a 1.68 second PR.

Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone

As with our other meets in December, I like to push some of our kids outside their comfort zone and give them the opportunity to see if they can score with the Varsity team at some point in the future in events like 100 Fly, the 200 IM or Free and the 500 Free.  Here are some of the kids who learned about a little about handing their quite natural feat of new events:

• Meg Blanchette (JR) – 500 Free and 50 Fly
• John Cooley (8) – 50 Fly
• Brian Orellana (8) – 100 Breaststroke
• Paul Partridge (6) – 100 Fly and 100 Breaststroke
• Mary Clare Osilka (SO) – 100 Fly
• James Nguyen (6) – 50 Fly
• John Cooley (8) – 50 Fly
• Aidan McCardell (SO) – 50 Fly
• Jack Gregory (SR) – 50 Fly
• Monica Irving (8) – 50 Fly
• Veronica Bingham (7) – 50 Fly
• Bella Nguyen (8) – 50 Fly
• Lucy Herwick (7) – 50 Fly
• Malia Buser (SO) – 50 Fly and 100 Breast
• Clare Judge (7) – 100 Breast
• Angela Andreu (8) – 100 Breast
• Rosie DeWolf (7) – 100 Breast
• Penny Kramer (FR) – 100 Breast and 200 Free
• Eamon Haggerty (7) – 100 Breast
• Veronica Gonzalez (8) – 200 Free

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 13-14, 2024 (aka “National Catholics”)
• The VISAA State Swimming & Diving Championship at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center in Christiansburg, VA on February 16-17, 2024. (aka “States”)

Seton will go to both these meets and Trinity Meadow View will only go to 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:

• Lionel Martinez (FR)
• Michael Brox (JR)
• Joe Borneman (JR)
• Ariana Aldeguer (FR)
• Stella Paradise (SR)
• Clara Condon (JR)
• Elodie Brox (JR)
• Giselle Hill (SO)
• Maggie Gibbons (SR)
• Philomena Kay (FR)
• Anastasia Garvey (SO)
• Girls 200 Medley Relay, both A and B
• Boys 200 Medley Relay, A
• Girls 200 Free Relay, A
• Girls 400 Free Relay, both A and B

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.

For Diving at National Catholics, Coach Keapproth is planning to bring all of the divers who have qualified for States plus any diver that can successfully complete nine (9) dives out of all five (5) categories.  As of today, that list looks like:

• Connor Koehr (JR)
• Mick Fioramonti (SR)
• Jacob Oswald (JR)
• Gus Kohlhaas (JR)
• Max Gonzalez (JR)
• Philip Gomez (JR)
• Rose Waldron (JR)
• Meghan Condon (8)
• Elizabeth Francis (JR)

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

• Lionel Martinez (FR)
• Thiago Martinez (8)
• Connor Koehr (JR)
• Ariana Aldeguer (FR)
• Stella Paradise (SR)
• Clara Condon (JR)
• Boys and Girls 200 Medley Relays, both A and B
• Girls 200 Free Relay, A only
• Boys 200 Free Relay, both A and B
• Girls 400 Free Relay, both A and B
• Boys 400 Free Relay, A and B

I expect this list to get longer, particularly for the relays where I hope to qualify both A and B Relays for Seton in every boy’s and girl’s relay event.

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:

• Connor Koehr (JR)
• Mick Fioramonti (SR)
• Jacob Oswald (JR)
• Gus Kohlhaas (JR)
• Max Gonzalez (JR)
• Rose Waldron (JR)

Christmas Break Practices

Traditionally, every Christmas Break, we have practices at the Freedom Center for the Varsity swimmers who will be competing in the key Conference and Championship meets starting in January.

There will not be a clear delineation of who is and who is not on the Varsity team, so for the purposes of Christmas practices, if you are entered as a scoring swimmer in one of the December meets, then I expect that you will attend as many of the Christmas practices as possible.  In general, this means all of Groups 1 and 2.  Practice for Group 3 is completely optional.

Swim practices will be from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. (stretching at 8:39) on:

• Friday, December 21^st
• Wednesday, December 27^th
• Friday, December 29^th (starts at 9:30 instead of 9:00 but still ends at 10:30)
• Tuesday, January 2^nd

Diving practices – for those training for States only – are on the same days from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. (stretching at 10:15 a.m.).

We’ll keep the normal Friday afternoon practice schedule for Friday, December 22^nd for all Groups.

If you are in town, please plan on being on deck by 8:39 a.m. on those days.  I’m sure that Trinity Christian will be working hard too.

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 set up your fundraising page
    • Send a few e-mails to family and friends asking for a modest sponsorship
  • If everyone does a little, we should be able to break $10,000 this year.

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