The Tradition of Excellence continued last Friday night as Seton swept Emmanuel Christian and Fauquier High School. Both the boys and girls won solidly. You may not realize it, but Fauquier High School has 1600 students and a USA team within their school boundaries. Look out North Stafford!
Here were the final results:
Boys
SST 194 ECS 59
SST 160 FHS 118
Girls
SST 221 ECS 31
SST 167 FHS 116
Just prior to the meet, we announced this year’s captains. They are:
Boys Girls
Casey Rafter Jen Planchak
Ray Bennett Meg Seale
I’ve seen some real leadership potential out of these swimmers, and I hope see more of it realized throughout the season. I already saw it in evidence on Friday. I was particularly impressed with the way Jen Planchak was helping out the younger swimmers.
For those of you who are new to the team, we keep close track of Personal Records (PRs). Improving yourself is what swimming is all about, so that is our definition of Excellence. Fortunately, swimming provides an easy way to measure it.
I was amazed at the number of PRs we had considering that we’ve only been in the water 3 weeks. The following people had PRs Friday night:
Kevin Koehr 200 Free 2:08.23 by over 5 seconds
Chris Fletcher 200 Free dropped 22 seconds! He will be moving over a few lanes in practice
Sean Koehr 200 Free dropped 17 seconds!
Gina Garzione 200 IM 4 seconds faster
Jeremy Krug 50 Free and I know he can go even faster
Jen Planchak 50 Free 27.59 that’s fast!
Jessica Dunn 50 Free 27.26 that’s fast!
Melissa Dunn 50 Free 28.43 We have no shortage of good sprinters, do we.
Megan Hoffer 50 Free by over 3 seconds
Bryan Morch 100 Fly 1:01.16 I think he can go under a minute
Dan Quinan 100 Free great swim!
Jeremy Krug 500 Free dropped half an hour. I hope he likes this event – he can be really good at it
Kimberley Melnyk 500 Free 6:29.59
Chris Fletcher 100 back His second PR
Sean Koehr 100 Breast His second PR also – dropped 6 seconds
Melissa Dunn 100 Breast Second PR – her time is getting very fast
Katie Hoffer 100 Breast Excellent swim!
We will be having a great season if the list is this long every week.
Last year, we brought a large squad to States. We already have an excellent start on this year’s list of qualifiers. For those new to the team, to attend the State Championships in Newport News, you must be in 8th grade or above and beat a qualifying time. The following swimmers have met these criteria after the first meet:
Boys
Ray Bennett 50 and 100 Free
Kevin Koehr 100 Back and 200 Free
Bryan Morch 100 Fly
Casey Rafter 50 Free and 100 Breast
Nevin Cook 200 IM
Girls
Jessica Dunn 50 and 500 Free What a combination!
Melissa Dunn 50 Free and 100 Breast
Caitlin Harris 200 IM and 100 Fly
Kimberley Melnyk 200 and 500 Free
Jen Planchak 50 and 100 Free
Katie Planchak 200 IM and 100 Free
Meg Seale 200 Free and 100 Breast (also qualified in 150 free 😉
There are several other swimmers who are close to the qualifying times including Haley Moya, Mary-Kate Kenna (7th grade!), and Candace Wall. Effort in practice will lead to success for these and others.
Caitlyn Harris told me she wants to qualify in every single event. I’ll make sure she gets the chance. I just love that type of attitude.
For the first time this year, we plan to attend the National Catholic Meet at Villanova University in Philadelphia (Mrs. Morch, can we get some hotels?). The qualifying times are very fast, but I expect to take 8 or 10 swimmers up with me. So far, we’ve qualified in the following events:
Girls 200 Medley Relay
Girls 400 Free Relay
Kevin Koehr 100 Back
Ray Bennett 50 Free
Caitlin Harris 100 Fly
Jessica Dunn 50 Free
Melissa Dunn 50 Free
Jen Planchak 50 Free
I’m looking forward to increasing the size of our National Team. Katie Planchak was just .32 off the 200 IM time and that isn’t even her best event. Meg is close in 100 Breast – her best time crushes the cut. The relays that go will be set based solely on who has the fastest times. That will be determined just before we go.
While I enjoy watching fast times, I enjoy watching people who show lots of heart even more. It is impossible to mention all of the great swims, but here are a few other swims that impressed me:
- Have you ever seen someone swim 50 Free with more heart than Mark Manley? Pat Gott came close.
- Billy and Katie Corkery are great additions to Seton and to our team. Billy really showed me alot in 200 IM and his leg of the 200 Free relay. Katie came out of no where to claim 5th in 100 Free.
- Had I any idea how fast Haley Moya could swim, she would have been official and placed 5th in a very competitive 50 Free event. Haley, you’ve been promoted to the lane with Jessica Dunn, Kimberley Melnyk and the gang.
- Erin Mulhern told me she couldn’t swim. I guess we found out differently, huh Erin?
- Soibhain Campbell’s 100 backstroke really caught my eye. Not only could I see she was trying to do some of the things we had talked about in practice, she clearly gave the race her best effort. With some more work on her stroke, I can see great times in her future.
- Stephanie Melnyk made up a half a body length in the last 10 yards and lost a super close race by .01 seconds. That is how you finish! Those of you who swim in her lane, know that this is how she swims every day.
- Megan Morch sure was impressive. She was hanging with Caitlin Harris in 100 Fly, and Caitlin was last year’s DAC champ. I’m not sure Megan has a weak stroke. I can’t wait to try her in 200 IM.
- It’s going to be fun watching Kristin Rafter improve. I saw some promising things.
- Chris Fletcher – consider yourself discovered. You have some talent for this sport. See you in the middle lanes for practice this coming week – you’ve been promoted – and I’ll be running your practice personally.
- Ray under :51, Kevin under :57, Bryan under 1:00 and Casey under 1:09. All possible with serious effort in practice. See you Monday men – be ready. Coach Mulhern will be waiting – and so will I.
Our next meet is Saturday, December 6th against North Stafford at the Freedom Center. So that we don’t have to ask the other team to take the first warm-up at the last minute, please plan to arrive by 1:45.
Friday was a great way to start the season. Swimming isn’t really about swimming. It is about pushing yourself to excellence – it is about getting the most out of God’s gifts. As I’ve said many times before, Excellence is not merely compatible with Catholicism, it is REQUIRED by Catholicism. I was very pleased with what I saw.
Coach Koehr