Last Saturday, we welcomed a reduced number of teams in what turned out to be a great meet, particularly for the rival girl’s teams from Seton and Trinity Christian. The temperature was above freezing and the roads were only wet, but that kept several teams from attending the meet. After the fact, I’m sure they realized what they missed.
Congratulations to Trinity Christian’s girls, who beat our Seton girls in a tight meet. Their fastest girls were faster than our fastest girls, but we are much deeper with a number of rising stars that are swimming competitive times. Without four (4) of our top scoring swimmers, the psych sheet showed them winning, and they held serve with some great individual efforts. (That metaphor was for Coach Heim ;-))
This year, the Athletic Directors decided that our January 6th meet is the one that will count in determining the Conference Championship. With Anna, Katharine, Isabelle and Elizabeth healthy and back in action, I’d say we have a chance to defend our girl’s streak of 23 straight DAC Conference Championships. I know the very strong Trinity girls are going to do everything they can to end that streak though, so we’re going to need to keep working hard between now and then. Even with Anna Kenna, it is going to take some outstanding swimming from us to top their very fast girl’s relays.
When an individual competitor from another team has an outstanding day, I occasionally feel the need to highlight their performance. Jenna Phillips, a freshman from Trinity Christian School, had just such a day. I started to get the feeling that things might not go our way when she touched out all four of our swimmers in the 200 Free by .06 seconds to allow TCS to take both first and second. Then in the 100 Free, she cut 1.83 seconds from her PR to once again out-touch all four of our swimmers by only .05 seconds, but this time it was for third place. That was the backbreaker and Jenna yielded the hammer. It was great day for Jenna Phillips of Trinity Christian.
Final Scores
There were no VISAA Division I teams in this week’s meet so we were swimming a group of school’s our size. Except for our close loss with Trinity Christian, we faired quite well:
Here’s the way the meet scores turned out for us at Seton:
Girls
Trinity Christian 152 Seton 130
Seton 212 Wakefield 47
Seton 217 HEARTS Sea Lions 19
Seton 219 Fresta Valley Christian 46
Boys
Seton 164 Wakefield 97
Seton 186 Trinity Christian 89
Seton 218 Fresta Valley Christian 46
Seton 219 HEARTS Sea Lions 14
Great Seton Performances from Saturday
There were a lot of very fine swims on Saturday from scoring swimmers who really made an impact on the outcome of the meet.
Here are some of the boys who had the biggest impact for Seton. It was great to see that our younger swimmers are already having a big impact:
- Shane Koehr (SO) was our highest scoring individual male swimmer on Saturday. His 2.22 second PR in 200 Free took him to a strong 1st place finish. He followed that up with a strong swim in the 500 Free where he took 3rd place overall. Shane also did a great job replacing an injured David Flook leading off the “A” Medley relay. He split 30.69 in the lead-off 50 Backstroke, lowering his PR by .67 seconds.
- Jerry Dalrymple (SO) had two (2) second place overall finishes including a 1.99 second PR in 200 IM and a strong swim in 100 Free. Jerry’s best swim though may have been his anchor leg on our “B” Medley Relay where he split 25.20. That was a very impressive time given that his flat-start PR is 27.05.
- Jack Santschi (FR) continues to show that he can be a dominant swimmer in the future for Seton. On Saturday, he took first place in 100 Fly after a 2.02 second PR. His 1:06.14 is very, very good for a freshman. Jack also dropped 5.67 seconds in 100 Back to go 1:13.01 and take 5th overall – just .16 seconds ahead of a TCS Junior. Combined with relays that took 1st and 2nd, Jack was a big-timer scorer
- Drew Dalrymple (SO) had a tremendous swim in 100 Back, cutting 2.29 seconds from his PR and taking 2nd place overall. I really enjoyed seeing how much his stroke has improved. Drew also took 6th place overall in 50 Free.
- Jacob Alsup (SO) has been showing me a lot in practice during his first year on the team so I wanted to see what he could do in the 500 Free. My intuition was rewarded by a 1st place 6:30.50 swim. Jacob is a very strong swimmer with a great feel for the water, so I was also not surprised to see him drop 1.46 seconds in 50 Free to go 26.11. Later in the meet, during the 200 Free Relay, he went even faster in 50 Free, splitting 25.90. Then, to wrap up, Jacob led off one of our 400 Free Relays with a PR 59.25 100 Freestyle. I wish we had Jacob sooner – he’s going to score a lot of points for Seton in the DAC!
- Justin Fioramonti (SO) continues to shine this year, this time in the difficult 200 Free and 100 Fly where he placed 5th His 200 Free was his most impressive swim with a huge 6.73 second PR. Just also cut another .48 seconds in 100 Free.
- Alex Ceol (SR) was hurting a bit, but that didn’t stop him from dominating the 100 Free with a 1st place by more than 2 seconds.
- Timmy Kelly (FR) was super in his 200 Free. After dropping a huge 22.28 seconds, he jumped up to 6th place ove all. Timmy also swam a 3.12 second PR in 100 Back and a 1.93 second PR in 50 Back leading off a medley relay.
And here are some of the girls who made a big impact for Seton:
- Caroline Griffin (SO) showed me she was having a good day from the very first time she hit the water leading off our “A” medley relay. Her backstroke looked very smooth and strong, and my impression was confirmed when I saw that she had just cut .86 seconds from her 50 Back PR. She followed that up with two strong early season times during her 2nd place finish in 100 Back and her 4th place finish in 200 IM. Caroline was Seton’s highest scoring female, and both of her individual swims were strong enough to qualify her for States and National Catholics too.
- Mary Heim (JR) had two big PR swims in 200 Free and 100 Breast, finishing 4th and 3rd In the 200 Free, she cut 5.13 seconds and in 100 Breast, she cut 2.03 seconds. Her 100 Breaststroke was a very exciting race between her and TCS’ top breaststroker. We haven’t gotten to breaststroke in practice yet, but we will have time to work on it prior to their January 6th rematch. Knowing Mary’s work ethic, I’m anticipating a different outcome next time.
- Mary Pennefather (8) can do a lot more than shoot a basketball. Her 50 Free on Saturday was 27.57, a .73 second PR that was fast enough to meet the cut for National Catholics. That time is almost a whole second faster than her best time prior to Seton, and it was within .01 seconds of taking 1st Mary also had a strong first-time attempt at 100 Back.
- Teresa Bingham (8) asked me if she could swim the 500 Free, and I am so happy that I listened. In her first attempt at the event, she went 7:33.18 and took 6th place overall! In addition, Teresa swam a .25 second PR in 50 Free to take 3rd place overall, and she led off a medley relay with a 2.23 second PR in 50 Back. It was certainly an impactful day for Teresa.
- Anne Konstanty (SO) had two huge PRs on Saturday. In 500 Free, she cut another 32.43 seconds to go 6:32.85. That was good enough for 4th place overall. In the 200 IM, she cut 11.73 seconds to take 8th I remember last season when it seemed like Anne dropped 30 seconds in the 500 every time she swam. How long can she keep doing that?
- Ashley Cackett (SR) fought off a headache to take 3rd in 100 Fly and 5th in 500 Free. I really appreciate Ashley’s versatility. I always know that I can count on her to score in the meet’s most difficult events.
- Therese Pechie (JR) has found a new home in 100 Fly, where she is really starting to shine. How about a 10.49 second PR to take 4th place overall?! Therese also cut 2.58 seconds in 200 Free to take 5th place overall.
- Katie Dealey (SO) also tackled both 100 Fly and 500 Free in the same meet taking 5th and 7th overall, respectively. In 100 Fly, she cut a whopping 5.27 second PR and in the 500 Free, she cut .11 seconds. A big source of improvement for Katie is her underwaters off of each wall. It is swims like these that are going to help us beat TCS on January 6th
- Ellie Flook (FR) has really come on strong in her first year on the Seton team, and the rapid pace of improvement she’s showing is very encouraging. On Saturday, Ellie took 4th place in 100 Back after dropping 2.06 seconds! She also took 6th in 100 Free after dropping .47 seconds.
There Were So Many Other Personal Record Swims
I’ve already mentioned numerous Personal Records, but here are the rest of the 62 PRs that I have not yet had an opportunity to highlight. Oddly enough, we had exactly 62 PRs last week too:
- Liam Kellogg (FR) continues to shine this season. I was so pleased with his 200 IM after he lowered his PR by 12.84 seconds.
- Ben Ceol (SR) took the opportunity to swim something other than sprint freestyle and made the most of it with a great 2.01 second PR swim in 100 Back.
- Kalli Dalrymple (SR) had a great swim in 200 IM, lowering her PR by 7.83 seconds to take 9th place overall. Kalli also had a very strong swim in 100 Free, coming within .50 seconds of her PR in only the 2nd meet of the season.
- Joseph Rowzie (8) rocked his 100 Free, dropping 3.16 seconds to go 1:14.56
- Matthew Kelly (JR) took 5th overall in 100 Breaststroke after a 1.46 second PR. I’m looking forward to working on his stroke this coming week.
- Mary Pechie (7) continues to show serious improvement in her first year on the team. On Saturday, lowered her 100 Back PR by 1.72 seconds and her 50 Free PR by 1.48 seconds.
- Mary Ostrich (JR) is doing well this season. On Saturday, she cut another .66 seconds from her 50 Free PR.
- Gemma Flook (7) is still young, but her times are already competitive – and getting more competitive. In 100 Back, she cut 3.44 seconds to go 1:21.74 and in 50 Free, she cut 1.36 seconds to go 32.13.
- Theresa Dwane (SO) was all smiles after her 12.53 second PR in 100 Back. That was a very big drop!
- Ellie Moore (7) had a huge 11.78 second PR in 50 Free. Great swim Ellie!
- Ceili Koehr (8) had a tremendous swim in 50 Free, cutting 5.11 seconds from her PR
- Emily Flynn (8) has really improved her walls this season, and it showed in her 100 Free where she cut .91 seconds from her PR
- Annie Cuccinelli (SO) is already showing a lot of improvement during her first year on the team. On Saturday, she cut a whopping 7.91 seconds in 100 Back and another .36 seconds in 50 Free leading off a medley relay.
- Addie-Quinn Kammerdeiner (7) lowered her 50 Free PR by 10.50 seconds!
- Sophia Zadnik (8) swam her 100 Back 11.11 seconds faster than ever before!
- Virginia Hartung (FR) had a great lead-off leg for one of our medley relays, lowering her 50 Back PR by 9.14 seconds.
- Dominic Hartung (SO) has figured out backstroke, and it showed in his 6.04 second PR
- Amelie Halisky (7) was smiling big after her 7.80 second PR in 100 Back.
- Joey Dealey (7) was super in his 100 Back. I was so pleased to see him lower his PR by 4.57 seconds.
- Brian Geiran (7) had two PRs on Saturday, including a 1.18 second drop in 50 Free and a .09 second drop in 100 Back.
- Maddie Given (8) had a great swim in 50 Back leading off a medley relay. She lowered her PR by 5.49 seconds!
- Catherine Griffin (7) was really listening in practice, and it showed with her 10.52 second PR in 100 Back. Nice swim Cat!
- Moira Haggerty (7) showed tremendous improvement this season. On Saturday, she dropped 1.12 seconds in 50 Free.
- Patrick Hartung (7) lowered his 100 Back PR by 1.19 seconds.
- Mack Myers (8) cut another .61 seconds from her 50 Free PR
- Christian Ceol (SO) had a .76 second PR in 50 Back leading off a medley relay
- Simon Seoh (8) has been a nice addition to the team this season, and I was pleased to see his potential in breaststroke on Saturday. Even before we’ve worked on the stroke, he lowered his PR by .22 seconds.
Swimmers from Renaissance Montessori Swimming Well
We had two swimmers in the water from our sister school, Renaissance Montessori, and both of them continue to show strong improvement:
- Lucy Garvey (8) is a very strong swimmer who had two swims on Saturday that were faster than the VISAA State qualifying times. In the 500 Free, Lucy cut 19.19 seconds to go a very fast 6:08.20, and in 200 IM, Lucy cut 5.99 seconds to go 2:31.97. Those are very fast times for an 8th grader! During her 200 IM, Lucy was particularly strong on her last 50 when she jumped up to 3rd. She placed 2nd overall in the 500 Free. If RMS were a member of VISAA, Lucy would be going to States with us.
- Samantha Wong (JR) tried 100 Free on Saturday and cut more than 50 seconds from her previous personal best. She also cut 1.26 seconds in 50 Free. It is so great to see Sam trying so hard to improve.
Other Great Things I Saw on Saturday
Not every good swim is a PR, in part because it is so early in the season and in part because sometimes we don’t have a previous time against which to compare. Here are some of the other swims that caught my eye on Saturday:
- Seamus Koehr (SR) had a very good looking backstroke during his 200 IM. And as the anchor of the Boys 200 Free Relay, he had a great 50 Free to hold off the TCS relay.
- Moira Haggerty (7) had her googles come off during the 200 Free Relay and she did exactly what you are supposed to do – just keep going. It was great to see her not stop to fix them.
- Mary Pennefather (8) was super on her leg of our “A” 200 Free Relay. She hung tough with a top TCS Junior.
- Addie-Quinn Kammerdeiner (7) was rolling her shoulders wonderfully during her 100 Backstroke
State and National Catholic Qualifiers
We have two championship meets where, in order to be eligible to participate, you have to meet a qualifying time standard during the current season.
The VISAA State Championship is February 16-17, 2018 at the Jeff Rouse Swim and Sports Center in Stafford, VA. We’ve even rented a beautiful house for team gatherings and meals between sessions. It should be a great time for everyone eligible to participate.
Here are the individual State Meet qualifiers after this weekend:
- Anna Kenna – 200 IM, 50 and 500 Free
- Caroline Griffin – 200 IM and 100 Back
Here are the relays that have hit the cut:
- Boys “A” 200 Medley Relay
- Girls “A” 200 Medley Relay
- Boys “A” 200 Free Relay
- Girls “A” 200 Free Relay
- Boys “A” 400 Free Relay
- Girls “A” 400 Free Relay
I will not list names for these relays because it is impossible to tell who will actually swim. You are eligible for me to enter you on a relay at States if you have swum on that relay during the season when it hit the cut, but that doesn’t mean I will be able to actual enter you to swim. We go to States to try to bring home a State Championship or State Runner-up. If I feel like we have a legitimate shot at one of those titles, it would not be unusual for me to use some of our top swimmers in 3 relays and only one individual event because relays score so many points. Time – and your times – will clarify this situation for all of us.
The National Catholic High School Championship is at Loyola University in Baltimore on January 20th-21st with prelims in the morning on January 20th and finals on Sunday, January 21st. We also have a meet that afternoon, so depending on how many girls qualify, we’ll have to discuss later how we are going to handle that.
Here’s who has qualified for National Catholics so far:
- Anna Kenna – 200 IM, 50 and 500 Free
- Caroline Griffin – 200 IM and 100 Back
- Mary Pennefather – 50 Free
And here are the relays that have hit the National Catholic cut. Once again, I will not attempt to project the line-ups for these relays yet:
- Girls “A” 200 Medley Relay
- Girls “A” 400 Free Relay
An eligibility report for both meets is posted under Meet & Team Information.
Final Notes
There’s been so much to say, but let’s wrap it up with some final notes:
- On Monday, we are going to start Breaststroke. By Christmas break, I hope to build each of those stokes from scratch plus the related turns. I’d also like to have a practice where Coach Reid Owen comes back and teaches us some techniques specific to sprinting, but that may have to wait until the beginning of January.
- We had a number of disqualifications in Backstroke on Saturday. Remember that, unless you are doing a proper backstroke flip turn, you have to stay on your back until you touch the wall. That is also true on the finish, where many of the DQs occurred.
- On the day before New Year’s Eve, December 30th, we’ll have our annual Cystic-Fibrosis swim-a-thon. Thanks again to the Given family for running it again. I’ll pass on more information as I get it.
- Our next meet is our annual Homecoming Meet on Saturday, December 16th at the Central Park.
- If you know alumni who would like to swim in a exhibition relay, please let them know about the meet and then let me know.
- Our warm-up is at 1:00 p.m. so please be on deck ready to stretch before 12:39 p.m.
See you Monday morning,
Coach Jim Koehr