Seton Swimming 15-0 This Weekend!

Letter to the Editor-WARF Experience-Dec14,07

I haven’t felt this much mojo for Seton Swimming since Kevin, Nevin, Bryan and Sean lead our boys to the State Championship two years ago.  Even then, it didn’t feel like it does this year.  Why?  How about more than 1 in 5 kids at Seton on the team?  How about our depth?  Back then, we had a few super-contributors leading the way.  Now, it is so much more of a team effort.  Everyone is getting faster – we had 140 Personal Records and three new Team Records this weekend alone!  Those just seems like such crazy figures.  Many swimmers are contributing to what is shaping up to be our best season ever!

It was big weekend of swimming for the Seton Swim Team – we went 15-0 in combined events at the WARF (Warrenton) on Friday night and at Freedom on Saturday.  On Friday night, we had our first conference meet against all 6 teams in the conference.  Both the boys and the girls cemented our 14^th straight conference title by sweeping the conference by wide margins.

On Saturday night, our girls crushed VSIS Division II rivals Peninsula Catholic and Stonebridge and our boys crushed Peninsula Catholic’s boys.  Unfortunately, PCHS was missing their two top swimmers – brothers who were at a USA swim meet.  Looking at the final scores, I don’t think it would have made the difference:

Here were the scores for the weekend.

Girls

SST      210            Highland                               66

SST      211            Fredericksburg Academy      64

SST      214            Fredericksburg Christian      55

SST      215            Wakefield                             46

SST      215            Quantico                              41

SST      219            Randolph-Macon Academy  21

SST      191            Peninsula Catholic                93

SST      193            Stonebridge                          78

Boys

SST      193            Fredericksburg Academy      77

SST      195            Randolph-Macon Academy  75

SST      205            Fredericksburg Christian      62

SST      211            Highland                               52

SST      220            Wakefield                             30

SST      220            Quantico                              27

SST      196            Peninsula Catholic                72

For the benefit of our Head Timer Recruiter (HTR) who told me I was “blowing smoke” about how competitive I told everyone the Peninsula Catholic and Stonebridge meet was going to be, here were the point totals for us and them at last year’s State Championship:

Girls

Stonebridge                 112 (7^th place overall, State Champion Division II)

Peninsula Catholic       108 (8^th place overall, State Runner-up Division II)

Seton                           56   (15^th place overall, 4^th in Division II but without Katie Planchak and Alex Doonis)

Boys

Seton School               55  (14^th place overall, 2^nd in Division II)

Peninsula Catholic       42  (16^th place overall, 3^rd in Division II)

Incredible Swims and More New Team Records

• One of the greatest things about Seton Swimming is that there is a place for swimmers of all levels, as long as they have heart.  I’m very proud of that fact, and I was repaid for that philosophy with one of the top 5 moments in my high school coaching career.  On Friday night, I watched Alex Harrill, a Junior transfer student and a beginning swimmer on our team, make his first attempt at the 500 Free.  As Alex began to tire, some members of our team began to gather on either end of his lane to cheer.  As Alex kept fighting to finish the race, the crowd grew larger until, almost literally, the entire Seton team was gathered at both ends of his lane.  The chants grew and grew until even the other teams were cheering.  With the entire pool cheering, Alex repaid all of us by never quitting!  Congratulations Alex – I’ll be talking about your swim for many years to come.
• Every time we have the good fortune to watch a swimmer of the caliber of Nevin Cook hit the water, we should all try to watch and learn.  On Friday night, Nevin broke two team records and on Saturday, he came very close to breaking another.  The first record was in a very fast heat of 50 Free when Nevin went :22.12 breaking his own record of :22.80.  That was a very impressive swim, but not as impressive as his butterfly, which is not normally one of his best strokes.  Since February 1, 1998, a swimmer named Lawrence Lauderdale (whom I would love to meet one day – Mr. Seltman?) set our team record for 100 Butterfly at :53.56.  With all of the great swimmers that have passed through Seton since then, no one has even come close to that time – until Nevin this weekend.  They don’t keep pool records at the WARF, but I’m quite confident that Nevin’s :53.15 is the fastest 100 Fly ever swum in that pool.  Nevin now holds all or part of 9 out of 12 boys team records for Seton.
• Sophomore Connor Cook had an amazing 100 Backstroke at the WARF when he went :56.93, and his stroke looked just great.  This, of course, is very fast, but let’s take a little time to put it in the perspective of great Seton swimmers.  Kevin Koehr was an All-America, State Champion and National Catholic High School champion.  On December 13^th of his sophomore year, about the same point as Connor in their respective swimming careers, Kevin went :57.55.  Connor’s swim was over a half second faster than Kevin’s.  I used to think that Kevin’s team record (:51.48) might stand for many years.  Now I’m not so sure.  As another point of reference, that swim would have placed 6^th at last year’s State Championship meet.  I’d say Connor has quite a future with Seton Swimming in backstroke.
• I hope you all got the chance to read the profile of Jessica Dunn in the Manassas Journal Messenger (I’d love some copies of both of the high school swimming previews if anyone has them).  They called her the “face of [the] Seton girl’s team”, and what a great representative of our school she is.  On Saturday, she broke her own 100 Backstroke record of 1:02.05 when she swam a very fast 1:00.82.  That would have placed 3^rd at last year’s state meet, and one of the times fastest than that was swum by a senior.  It’s just a matter of time for Jessie to break 1:00.  I think Jessie is looking pretty good for a big score at States toward a State Championship!

Personal Records

Get yourself something cold to drink and sit in a comfortable chair because here we go with the rest of the 140 Personal Records set this weekend for Seton Swimming.  We spent this past week at practice relearning and refining our breaststroke, so I was particularly pleased with the high number of breaststroke PRs.  While breaststroke accounts for less than 10% of the swims in a meet, over 20% of our PRs were for breaststroke:

• Sarah Zapiain had 4 personal records in 500 Free by 21.93 seconds, 100 Back by 1.51 seconds, 50 Free by 1.34 seconds, and 100 Free by .29 seconds.  She’s only in 8^th grade, but you can see already she’s going to be one of the good ones.
• Bridget Wunderly saw some of her hard work pay off when she cut 26.87 seconds from her 500 Free and 2.09 seconds from her 100 Fly.
• Bernadette Wunderly improved in both 100 Breast and 100 Back, by 7.78 and .54 seconds respectively.
• Christian Vestermark had a huge PR in 100 Breast when he cut 7.78 seconds.
• Matthew Verry had two PRs, the first in 100 Back by 6.16 seconds and the second in 50 Free by 1.93 seconds
• Laura Talbott broke :27 in 50 Free for the first time with a .71 second PR leading off a 200 Free Relay
• Nicki Smith had a good weekend with 4 PRs.  Nicki cut 14.42 seconds from her 100 Breast on Friday and another .31 seconds on Saturday.  She also cut 1.03 seconds from her 100 Free, and .71 seconds from her 50 Free.  Her freestyle is looking longer than ever.
• Lexi Smith lowered her 100 Breast PR by 1.22 seconds
• Daniella Sinner cut .18 seconds from 100 Breast on Friday and then another .33 seconds on Saturday.  She also had a PR in 50 Free.
• Steven Shaw continues to improve.  This time, he dropped another .36 seconds in 50 Free
• Sister Krista Shaw also had a good weekend with her 2 PRs.  She cut 1.34 seconds from 200 IM and 2.09 seconds from 100 Back
• I’m didn’t think this was possible, but somehow John Ross managed to cut over 75 seconds (no typo) from his best 500 Free time last season!  In backstroke, he cut over 5 seconds on Friday and then another 8 seconds on Saturday.  As if that weren’t enough, John also cut 2.2 seconds in 50 Free.  Wow!  What a weekend!
• Joe Ross is flirting with a sub-26 second 50 Free.  On Friday, he lowered his time to :26.39, and then on Saturday, he lowered it to :26.00 – soooo close!  In 100 Free, he got within .33 seconds of breaking the 1:00 barrier.  Looks to me like, if he could eliminate the breaths inside the flags, he can break both of these marks.  I’m sure he can do it.
• Jonathan Rosato cut 17.74 seconds from 100 backstroke and another half second from 50 Free
• Cat Rogers is hungry to improve.  With careful attention to her stroke, she cut another 4.32 seconds in 100 Free and 1.36 seconds in 100 Breast
• Sam Quinan was looking good Friday when he led of a 200 Free relay with a 50 Free that was .55 seconds faster than ever before.  His breaststroke is also getting pretty competitive – he cut another 1.34 seconds.
• Peter Quinan continued his streak of a PR in every meet with 3 PRs this weekend.  On Friday, he cut 25.38 seconds in 100 Breast and 4.5 seconds in 50 Free.  Then on Saturday, cut 17.07 seconds in 100 Back.
• Michael O’Donohue is really starting to look good.  He lowered his 50 Free by 1.36 seconds, breaking :30 seconds for the first time.  He also cut an amazing 14.67 seconds in 200 Free and another .51 seconds in 100 Breast.
• Michael O’Donnell just continues to get better.  On Saturday, he cut over 5 seconds from his 100 backstroke and almost 7 seconds from his 100 Free while leading off a 400 Free relay.
• Maggie Murphy lowered her 100 Breast PR by 1.44 seconds and her 50 Free PR by .25 seconds.
• Monica Mosimann had three PRs.  She cut over 2 seconds in 50 Free, over 2 seconds in 100 Back, and almost 2 seconds in 100 Breast
• James Mosimann had a very nice breaststroke on Saturday, and it was no surprise that he improved his time by 5.74 seconds.  He also cut 3.36 seconds from 100 Back and 2.06 seconds from 50 Free
• Meghan Morch is having a breakout season this year.  This weekend, she lowered her best 200 IM time by 5.59 seconds and her best 100 Back time by .65 seconds.
• Peter Mooney had a 3 PR weekend.  He cut 3.94 seconds in 100 Back and 1.89 seconds in 50 Free.  Then, while leading off the 200 Free relay, he cut another .23 seconds from his 100 Free.
• Andrew Minarik has to be one of the most improved swimmers on our team.  Every time I put him in an event that he hasn’t swum since last season, he drops tons of time.  This weekend he had 5 PRs.  I gave him a shot 200 Free, where he dropped 31 seconds from last season, and 100 Back, where he dropped 23 seconds.  He lowered his 50 Free by.60 seconds on Friday and another 1.42 seconds on Saturday.  As if that were enough, he cut his 100 Breast by .19 seconds also.
• Few people work as hard in practice as Kimberley Melnyk, and it shows in her results.  This weekend, she cut 1.73 seconds in the 200 IM, 1.76 seconds in the 100 Fly and .20 seconds in 100 Free.  I’m looking for her to break 1:00 before the season is done.
• Lea Mazzoccoli had a nice weekend.  Lea lowered her 200 Free PR by .13 seconds on Friday and another .01 seconds on Saturday.  She also cut her already very fast butterfly by .60 seconds when she went 1:04.53.
• Sarah Locke had a great swim in the 500 Free on Saturday.  She lowered her PR by 12.03.  She also got a PR on Friday in 100 Breast by 8.18 seconds
• Rachel Lambrecht’s 100 Breast is starting to get very fast, and this weekend, it got .32 seconds faster.  She also dropped her 50 Free by .19 seconds.
• David Lambrecht cut .32 seconds in 100 Breast and 2.91 seconds in 50 Free
• Senior Kate Kosten joined us for the first time this season, and she’s starting to see some results.  Kate lowered her 100 Breast PR by 2.91 seconds and her 50 Free PR by 1.25 seconds
• Sean Koehr just rocked in the 50 Free on Friday night, improving his PR to :23.83.  The way he is improving, I think he may have a :22 high relay split in him before his career ends.
• Sophomore Daniel Koehr is having a real breakout season.  Like Sean, he doesn’t swim USA, but he is still dropping time nearly every time he touches the water.  Daniel cut over 11 seconds from his 100 Breast to go 1:10.56, he cut 1.22 seconds in 100 Free to go 56.25, and he cut .21 seconds in 50 Free to break :25 seconds for the first time.
• Brendan Koehr dropped 1.34 seconds in 100 Free and .60 seconds in 100 Back.  Brendan has really improved a lot so far this season.
• Christian “Rocky” Kleb looked great in his breaststroke when he lowered his 100 Breast time by 5.34 seconds.  Rocky also cut another 2.46 seconds in his 100 Free.
• Kelsey Kleb improved again in the 500, cutting over 4 seconds from her previous PR.
• Patrick Kenna is getting fast.  On Friday, he cut .82 seconds from 100 Free and then, on Saturday, he cut another .81 seconds.  He broke 1:00 for the first time on Saturday!  Patrick also cut 1.60 seconds in 100 Breast and .32 seconds in 50 Free.
• Mary Kate Kenna continues to show her versatility as a swimmer.  This weekend, she lowered her 200 Free by 2.17 seconds and her 200 IM by .31 seconds.
• Jonathan Jacobeen had 5 PRs this weekend!  On Friday, he cut almost 12 seconds in the 500 Free and then, on Saturday, he cut another 6.81 seconds (and scored 3 points for the team).  Jonathan also cut nearly 21 seconds in 100 Breast, nearly 7 seconds in 50 back leading off a relay, and nearly 1 seconds in 50 Free.
• Megan Hoffer was a happy camper with her 3 PRs.  Megan cut .53 seconds in 50 Free, 1.09 seconds in 100 Breast, and 7.98 seconds in 200 Free.
• Eileen Heim lowered her 50 Free time by 2.41 seconds.
• David Harris is one of the few swimmers I can literally put in any event.  This weekend, he swam 100 Back and got faster by .96 seconds.
• Alex Harrill didn’t just have a great 1^st-time 500 Free.  He also had 3 PRs.  Alex cut 15.86 seconds from 100 Breast, 24.45 seconds in 100 Back, and .16 seconds in 50 Free.
• Casey Flanagan had a nice 100 Backstroke, lowering her PR by .96 seconds
• Vincent “Catfish” Dunn lowered his 50 Back time leading off the medley relay by 2.80 seconds and he lowered his 100 Fly by 6.37 seconds.
• I think Alex Doonis may be our 200 Freestyler for the future.  This weekend, she cut another .59 seconds in the event.
• Lauren “the machine” Donohoe (I think Sean Koehr’s nickname for her is starting to stick) continues to get better at the freestyle events.  This weekend, she had PRs in the 50 Free (by .31 seconds on Friday and by another .29 seconds on Saturday), in the 200 Free (by .97 seconds), and in the 500 Free (by 5.65 seconds).  In the 50 Free, Lauren broke :26 seconds for the first time ever.
• Alex Cummings did some nice work in the 500, lowering her best time by over 25 seconds.
• Shaina Crowhurst is developing well.  This weekend she lowered her 100 Breast PR by over 22 seconds and her 50 Free PR by 1.71 seconds.
• Matt Crowhurst is showing the determination that I’ve seen from him on the Lacrosse field.  He continues to improve rapidly.  This time, he cut over 10 seconds from 100 Free and over 3 seconds from 50 Free.
• Katee Corkery learned some Breaststroke this week and improved her PR by .18 seconds.
• Eileen Corkery dropped her 100 Back PR by another .41 seconds
• Nevin Cook cut another .26 seconds from his 100 Free.  His time of :48.84 (after morning practice at QDD) was within .15 seconds of the Kevin Koehr’s team record.
• 7^th grader Keeley Cook cut 2.25 seconds in 100 Breast and 1.28 seconds in 50 Free.  She’s very close to breaking the :30 second barrier in 50 Free.
• Connor Cook was crazy good this weekend.  Not only did have that great swim in backstroke, he cut his 50 back medley relay lead-off leg by 1.42 seconds, his 200 IM by 1.94 seconds and his 100 Fly by 1.73 seconds.  When you are as fast as Connor, these big improvements are harder to come by.  In the 200 IM on Friday night, Connor nearly lapped the field.
• Michael Collins is catching on to the Breaststroke.  On Saturday, he cut almost 10 seconds from his PR.
• Carolyn Claybrooks is on the brink of breaking 1:00 in 100 Freestyle after she cut another 1.3 seconds from her PR.  She also had a big PR in 100 Back, lowering her best time by 5.50 seconds.
• Monica Byers had a hat trick with 3 PRs this weekend.  She cut 9.24 seconds in 200 Free, 1.98 seconds in 100 Back, and .06 seconds in 50 Free.
• David Basinger broke :27 in 50 Free for the first time with a .53 second PR.  He also cut 1.19 seconds in 200 IM.
• Lucy Bennett broke 7:00 in the 500 Free for the first time when she cut 2 seconds from her PR on Saturday.  That PR was set the night before after she cut almost 5 seconds from her best time.  It was a good weekend’s work for Lucy.

Other Great Swims and Fun Happenings

• I was very pleased with how we looked during the national anthem, especially Friday night!  Everyone was in a straight line with their hand over the heart singing.  The Zapiain sisters and Krista Shaw did a very nice version of the anthem on Friday, and Joe Ross showed us his artistic side on Saturday.  Kelsey Klebcalled Friday’s performance during the anthem, “one of the best moments I’ve seen.”  I like to hear that.  Respect for this great country of ours should be a lifelong habit for all of us.
• I also enjoy watching Joe Ross lead the cheers – as if he needs a megaphone 😉  Great job Joe.
• One measure of team depth of how we do on relays.  During Friday’s conference meet, our girls got 1^st and 2^nd in all three relays, and our boys got 1^st and 2^nd in the medley and 1^st place in the other two relays.  On Saturday, both the boys and girls got at least 1^st and 3^rd in every relay event.  Relays score 1^st thru 3^rd as 10-5-3 points.  If we get 1^st and 3^rd, we win the event 13-5.  If we get 1^st and 2^nd, we win the event 15-3.  Relays are key, which is why I swam Jessica Dunn in 3 relays and 1 individual event on Saturday.  It was a good thing too.  In the girls medley relay on Saturday, Meghan Morch hit the water for the anchor leg 2 body lengths behind and pulled it out with a :25.79 split.  Without Jessie’s :29.27 on the front end, even a split like Meghan’s would not have been enough.
• It sure was fun for me to have some of our alumni swimmers back in the water for the 200 Medley relay!  Former team captains and Seton record holders, Kevin Koehr, Bryan Morch and Ray Bennett came back to swim against our current boys medley relay.  We were hoping to get Casey Rafter, another team captain and former record from 4 years ago to swim the breaststroke leg so that Bryan could swim his best stroke, butterfly, and Ray could take up his old spot on the relay anchor leg.  When we somehow lost Casey, former Seton graduate and son of our HTR, Nathan Minarik, jumped into the race.  Both Kevin and Bryan currently swim in college, but did you see Ray swim butterfly!?  He rocked!  And great job Nathan, for swimming in your very first swim meet on short notice.
• The alumni relay did a reprise during the 200 Free relay.  Kevin Koehr led off in a sprint to the death race with Nevin Cook, who led off our “A” relay.  I’m not sure we actually found out who was faster since Nevin swam a 7,000 yard practice the morning of the meet and Kevin slipped a little on the start, but Kevin won round #1 with a :22.10 versus Nevin’s :22.30.  They will have plenty of opportunity to sort this one out when Nevin joins Kevin on the Virginia Tech H2okies swim team next season.  I’m so excited that the front half of Seton’s record holding medley relay will also be the front half of the H2okie Medley.
• I think Jonathan Rosato is going to be a butterflier in the future.  It’s true – I saw his swim it Friday night as part of his first-ever attempt at the 200 IM, and he definitely has some potential here.  I was also excited to see him working with Brendan Koehr before the meet on Saturday on his starts.  They are also getting much better.
• First year swimmer and junior, Matt Crowhurst, is swimming the best I’ve seen from him so far this season.
• Peter Mooney had a very nice body roll going on his backstroke, and Rocky Kleb was doing a nice body dolphin on this breaststroke.
• During the medley relay on Friday night, David Harris had a great butterfly leg, and Alex Harrill had a great finish to out-touch a swimmer from FA.
• When Andrew Minarik was swimming the 200 Free on Friday night, Brendan Koehr said that “he looks long”.  That’s what he’s supposed to look like!
• Catfish Dunn has a great race in the 200 Free on Friday, out-touching a good FA swimmer right at the end by only .11 seconds.
• Lauren “the Machine” Donohoe and Mary-Kate Kenna both had a good 200 Free on Friday.  I can really see the Machine working on her breathing to the right side.  It looked a lot better during the first half of the race before she got tired.  More work in practice will be required to make the fix permanent, but she’s well on her way.
• Meghan Morch was really paying attention to our breaststroke work in practice last week – did you see it?  It was beautiful!  Great glide, good body dolphin, and very fast.  During Friday’s 200 IM, it looked like her strongest leg – that has not always been the case with Meghan’s IM.  As much as anyone on the team, I think Meghan is having a real break-out season so far.
• 7^th grader Shannon Kerns tackled the 200 IM for the first time and did a great job.  Shannon is going to be a very good swimmer for us.
• Both Matt Crowhurst, Michael O’Donohue and Peter Mooney broke :30 for the first time in 50 Free.  They were all pretty pumped up about it.  7^th grader David Lambrecht broke :40 for the first time also.  Nice work David.
• FCS has a great sprint freestyler that we’ve been racing against for several years now, but she was no match for Jessica Dunn.  I was watching her swim with several of our other freestylers.  One thing that makes Jessie’s stroke unique is how long her pull is.  When her hand exits the water well below her hips, her arm is straight.  This allows her to hold on to the water for as long as possible and get the most out of each stroke.
• I really enjoyed the excitement on Megan Hoffer’s face when she finally broke :33 seconds in 50 Free.  “I’ve been trying for 3 years!”
• Monica Mosimann’s freestyle is starting to look like one you’d see on a video showing you how to do it.  Big improvement for Monica.  It was particularly good for someone who just completed a 2.5 hour car ride from Manassas to Warrenton 😉
• Kimberley Melnyk won the 100 Fly Friday night on the finish – she reached harder than the FA girl.  Sometimes you can win just by wanting it more.  Leslie Zapiain looked like she was having some fun during that race also.
• Daniel Koehr just rocked in his 1^st place swim during 100 Free.  His very fast start had him in front from the beginning, and his 50 split (to his feet) was his PR in 50 Free!  Now that is how you swim a 100 yard race – it’s an all out sprint.  30 minutes later, Daniel led off our 200 Free relay against a very fast kid from RMA (they led off with their #1 guy).  Dan had is usual great start, gave our team the lead, and broke :25 for the first time.  It was a great night of swimming for Daniel Koehr.
• David Lambrecht was just super in his very first 500 Free on Friday night.  It was his first time ever, and if you wanted to know what “ready” looks like, all you had to do was watch him before the race.  He was behind the blocks, cap and googles in place, at least 4 heats before the race.  When it was his turn, he dove in and chugged it out.  His splits throughout the race were very even, until the end, when he really picked it up.  Great job David!
• Steven Shaw also swam his very first 500 Free on Friday.  Had he been eligible to score, he would have placed 6^th overall!
• At the end of Alex Cummings’ 500 Free on Friday, I thought for sure she was going to catch the girl from FCS.  On the 15^th length, she blew past the Highland swimmer and seemed to be picking up speed.  That same form served her well in the 200 on Saturday.
• John Ross had a really fine split during his leg of the 200 Free relay – :32.92.  I can’t wait to give him a chance to earn a PR from a standing start.  He also did a nice job keeping his head down in Breaststroke on the medley relay
• James Mosimann’s backstroke was looking much better on Friday, and his breaststroke was looking really good on Saturday.
• Peter Mooney had a nice start and swim in the backstroke.  Once we add a fast turn, he’ll be unstoppable.
• Lea Mazzoccoli and Lauren “the Machine” Donohoe had great breaststroke swims.  Lea beat FCS’ top swimmer on the 2^nd turn – it was over after that.  The Machine was very excited with her race afterwards – she told me that she hasn’t dropped in 2 years.  I always say, the fastest way to get faster is to do the stroke properly.  Good work Machine.  Keeley Cook also had a good looking breaststroke in that race with a very nice body dolphin.
• Brendan Koehr had a great start leading off one of our 400 Free relays.
• On Saturday, Christian Vestermark did some nice work in the 200 Free, pulling ahead a PCHS swimmer in the last 25 yards to claim 4^th.
• Cat Rogers just seems hungry to get better – I can see real improvement in the way she swims freestyle.
• David Basinger had a great 200 IM on Saturday, taking 1^st place.  Daniel Koehr gave him a really good race, but David pulled it out at the end.
• I messed up the seeding and had Mary-Kate Kenna in the 2^nd heat of 200 IM.  Her time ended up taking 2^nd place by only .39 seconds.  I know, with the heart I’ve seen MK show in a race, had I put in the lane next to the PCHS girl, she would have won.  MK made up for the loss in 100 Breaststroke when she crushed the field right from the start.
• Nevin Cook came within .15 second of Kevin Koehr’s 100 Free record, even after swimming a USA practice that morning.  Looks to me like it is just a matter of time.
• I hate to keep mentioning the Machine, but as I go thru my notes, I keep finding great things that she did.  This time, it was in the 200 Free relay on Saturday.  Lauren swam the 3^rd leg of our relay.  Our #2 swimmer touched behind PCHS’ #2 swimmer, but by the time the Machine surfaced off her start, she had almost a body length lead.  She only in 9^th grade – wait until she gets a little taller!
• Kate Kosten sprinted her leg of the 200 Free relay with almost no breaths.  Now that is how you swim a 50 Free – great work Kate!
• Hannah Lowell’s turnover on the end of one of our 200 Free Relays was as good as I’ve ever seen it.  Coach Ross thinks the hard kicking made the difference.  I agree.
• In the 100 Backstroke on Saturday, Bridgett Wunderly was racing the Stonebridge team captain and out-touched her right at the end by .13 seconds.
• Did you know that Peter Quinan has at least one PR in every meet this year?
• I could really tell that Megan Hoffer and Eileen Heim were paying attention in practice this past week.  Their breaststrokes looked great.
• The most improved part of Alex Doonis’ race this season is her starts.  Not only is she quick off the blocks, but she is great underwater.  Once we pick up that turnover, we’ll be really rollin’.
• Monica Byers did a nice job bringing on her kick in the 200 Free
• Rachel Lambrecht had a good, quick turn from back to breast in Saturday’s IM

New Championship Meet Qualifiers

I haven’t reported on our new championship meet qualifiers since right after our first meet, so here’s a list of the new qualifiers over the past two weekends:

• Connor Cook got the National Catholic cut in 100 Fly.  He’s qualified for 5 of the 8 individual events for Catholic Nationals and 7 of 8 events for States
• David Basinger broke thru in 200 IM for National Catholics.  That is his first championship cut ever!  See you at Villanova David.
• Daniel Koehr got the State cut in 100 Breaststroke.  He now has the State cut in 3 events.
• Carolyn Claybrooks got the State cut in 100 Free and just missed the National Catholic cut, for now.   That was her 3^rd championship cut.
• Kimberley Melnyk added the 100 Fly cut for both States and National Catholics.  Kim has 5 National Catholic cuts and 4 State cuts now.
• Meghan Morch got the 200 IM cut for both States and National Catholics.  Meghan now has 3 National Catholic cuts and 2 State cuts
• Laura Talbott added a 50 Free cut to her 5 other States cuts.  She also 5 cuts for National Catholics
• Bridgett Wunderly broke thru the 500 Free cut for States.  She has 3 State cuts and 2 National Catholic cuts now.
• The other members of our championship teams so far:

o       Nevin Cook – 8 States and 8 National Catholic cuts

o       Sean Koehr – 2 State and 2 National Catholic cuts

o       Catfish Dunn – 1 State cut

o       Lauren Donohoe – 5State and 4 National Catholic cuts

o       Alex Doonis – 6 State and 5 National Catholic cuts

o       Mary-Kate Kenna – 4 State and 6 National Catholic cuts

o       Lea Mazzoccoli – 6 State and 6 National Catholic cuts

o       Danielle Smith – 1 State cut

That’s 13 swimmers for our National Catholic Team and 17 swimmers for our State Team.  I’d like to grow that number a bit in January.

Lessons Learned

• Some of the pads at Freedom were very slippery and caused some of our swimmers trouble on backstroke starts and turns.  This is not the kind of thing you want to learn right before they say “take your mark”.  During warm-up, make sure you do some starts and turns in the lane(s) in which you are scheduled to swim so you know what to expect.