Swim Like A Champion (a real life journal) [Archive] - Page 3

Breeze

12-10-2014, 11:59 AM

Marconi Transatlantic Invite - @ Cumming Aquatic Center 12/12-14

Bailey

#3 (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Medley (2:31.23Y ) – Should improve here. Time is from back in October…

#7 (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Free (28.63Y ) – Not sure…she should be faster in Free, but hasn’t been able to figure it out yet. This is an old time, but I don’t have a feel for this one.

#11 (d2/s2): G 11-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Also an October time, She should improve this one due to increased length and improved stamina

#19 (d2/s2): G 11-12 50 Back (32.37Y ) – This is a September time, if she doesn’t improve here, she’ll be disappointed.

#39 (d2/s2): G 11-12 100 Medley (1:11.79Y ) – Her best time is actually a 1:08.43 from GRPA State (which is USA Swimming Sanctioned to the time is official), obviously, she’ll improve on the seed time, and I expect a slight improvement in her PB as well.

#43 (d2/s3): G Open 500 Free (6:12.17Y ) – She should improve a bunch, as this time if from January of last year…but will she push herself?

#85 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Free (1:02.05Y ) – I don’t have a feel on this one. She should be approaching 60 seconds…but I’m not convinced she’ll even drop time in this one.

#91 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Back (1:08.58Y ) – Should drop time, but for some reason she hasn’t recently. I think she needs to sink her head in the water a bit to improve streamline.

#97 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Breast (1:25.03Y ) – Dropped last time out. She should drop again, because this isn’t a very good time…but I suspect we’ll see a very similar time.

#103 (d3/s5): G 10-12 200 Fly (2:23.72Y ) – Really wants to do well here. Overworked it last time out. Coach has also changed her stroke a little so she’s more productive with her arms. Could lead to a decent improvement or a hitch in the stroke and a slower time. Very interested for this one.

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Bear

#4 (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Medley (2:25.91Y ) – Time is from October and he dropped a bunch of time in the 400 IM last month. I expect a drop here, and maybe a significant one.

#8 (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Free (27.83Y ) – Don’t expect much here…I don’t think he has much left he can drop.

#44 (d2/s3): B Open 500 Free (5:27.76Y ) – I don’t know what he’s going to shoot for on splits, I’m very eager to see what the coach and he target and if he can pull it off.

#56 (d2/s4): B 10-12 200 Back (2:22.97Y ) – Time is from last month, I don’t expect much.

#72 (d2/s4): B 11-12 100 Fly (1:06.71Y ) – October time, and big improvement in 200 fly in November. He could drop here.

#78 (d2/s4): B 11-12 100 Medley (1:20.65Y ) – Very old time – like over a year old. Huge drop expected.

#108 (d3/s6): B Open 1650 Free (NT ) – Bear has already indicated he wants to try and swim the same splits he swam in the 1000 last month in this one…that means maintaining that split for another 650…if he can pull it off it will be amazing.

#114 (d3/s7): B 11-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – see the 50 Free…

#120 (d3/s7): B 11-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y ) – Similar to the sprint frees…just not sure how much time he has left to drop.

#134 (d3/s7): B 11-12 50 Fly (31.47Y ) – This is an interesting one…time is from October, and he’s dropped time in the other fly events recently, I’m just not sure if his stroke translates to a sprint for more time drops.

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Brett – (as I indicated in an earlier post, I think he’s been in taper too long and we might experience a poor meet this weekend because of it)

#2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:31.32Y ) – Time is from March, and he’s definitely improved, especially his fly. I’m thinking big drop

#6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (28.34Y ) – I expect a slightly slower time here. Last couple of times out his improved kick seems to have become less efficient. He’ll need to clean it back up to beat this time.

#14 (d2/s2): B 13-14 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) – Last two times he swam this he was 2:14s, I think it goes back to the kick I mentioned above, I expect a 2:14.

#22 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Back (1:12.19Y ) – Should improve, stroke is better. Needs more effort, I’m guessing we end up right around the seed time.

#30 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:15.70Y ) – New pullout could lead to improvement here (if he can execute the new form). He’s also shown flashes in this stroke that he’s starting to turn the corner a bit, but the pullouts are the big area where he can drop time.

#84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:01.16Y ) – see the 50 and 200 free write ups.

#90 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:28.59Y ) – See the 100 back. He really could drop a good bit of time if he’ll push, but I expect a similar time to the PB.

#96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – Pullouts again are key. Could drop a couple seconds with good ones.

#102 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:21.35Y ) – time is from October. His fly was getting much better, but this is one area (end of meet, fly – where he is already weak with stamina in this event) that the extended taper will probably kill him.

Breeze

12-17-2014, 09:53 AM

Marconi Transatlantic Invite - RESULTS

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Bailey

#3 (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Medley (2:31.23Y ) – Nice improvement of almost 4 seconds, but honestly, I was thinking more like 6+ seconds. Back wasn’t as strong as I think it could have been with a split in the mid 38s, and the breast was poor in the upper 45s. She really should be (and I think has been) in the mid to low 44s in the breast. But the personal best 2:27.39 was a good swim regardless.

#7 (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Free (28.63Y ) – With a time of 28.45 you get an idea of why I was confused. This is sort of what I expected – just a minor change, only I wasn’t sure if it would be an improvement or a regression. This is still a work in progress she needs to get figure out.

#11 (d2/s2): G 11-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Terrible swim here for Bailey, and I’m back to scratching my head on what’s going on with her freestyle. She actually adds 3 seconds finishing in a 2:14.27

#19 (d2/s2): G 11-12 50 Back (32.37Y ) – She did improve dropping just over half a second and earning a state cut – 31.82.

#39 (d2/s2): G 11-12 100 Medley (1:11.79Y ) – Didn’t swim as well here as I had hoped. She got a 1:09.28, so not far off of the PB time, but I think she can go 1:07 low with a good swim.

#43 (d2/s3): G Open 500 Free (6:12.17Y ) –Much better job of pushing…still didn’t have anyone really signaling her, but she managed to drop 23 seconds, finish with a 5:49.07, which also earns her a state cut. This also puts Bailey with a top 20 time in the state for 12 year olds (some of which already are 13 and some others will age up before State). Currently, the coach has indicated that Bailey won’t be swimming the 500 at State due to her problems eating in the mornings when fatigued. His hope is to keep her fresh and allow her to fuel each morning. But not sure if this swim, especially given that she can probably drop another 10 seconds with some signals, might change his mind.

#85 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Free (1:02.05Y ) – After the mediocre swim in the 50 and the poor swim in the 200, I wasn’t expecting much here. So she goes out drops 1.55 seconds, finishes at 1:00.50, only a half a second from going sub-60 (which is a state cut by the way). More head scratching on my part, but this time with fingers crossed hoping that this is an indication of a breakthrough.

#91 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Back (1:08.58Y ) – Dropped over a second to a 1:07.32, which is also a state cut.

#97 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Breast (1:25.03Y ) – Added over a second and a half to a 1:26.74. She’s got to get this stroke figured out for her IMs if nothing else…

#103 (d3/s5): G 10-12 200 Fly (2:23.72Y ) – Another subpar swim in this event for Bailey. She added a couple seconds finishing with a 2:25.86. However, just to give some context…while Bailey added quite a bit of time, she also won this event by a full lap. Second place was 20 seconds back.

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Summary

Bailey has had an interesting season so far. She's been very up and down. In this meet for instance she earned 3 state cuts, but she also added significant time in several events. I'm not sure what is going on with her right now, she's very difficult to project. I'm hoping this is mostly a focus thing, that will get corrected as we approach the State Meet in February. I think the meet in January will be a big one to get a read on where she is.

Breeze

12-17-2014, 10:20 AM

Marconi Transatlantic Invite - RESULTS

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Brett

#2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:31.32Y ) – 2:31.12…an improvement, but just. This race concerned me immediately. His fly was a 34.76, which isn’t bad for him, but he typically swims that time in the first 50 of a 100 fly leg in a 400 IM. I was hoping he might go 33 mid or high. Also his Breast leg was almost a 42…which is his words was AWFUL. He looked sluggish, this had me very worried about the taper.

#6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (28.34Y ) – 28.61…better than I expected given his kick recently hasn’t been as good as it was earlier in the season.

#14 (d2/s2): B 13-14 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) – A 2:10.89 isn’t a personal best but it is 4 seconds better than the last two times he swam it. His back half splits were both over 34 seconds, indicating fatigue setting in on the longer race, something that obviously occurs, but probably shouldn’t to that level.

#22 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Back (1:12.19Y ) – 1:11.44, a drop of .75 seconds and a nice improvement for Brett. There’s clearly more there for him to drop, but it is a positive step.

#30 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:15.70Y ) – Quick start for Brett opening with a 34.7, but finished with a 39 mid. Brett was the fastest in his heat, and won it going away, which might have hurt his overall time. Regardless it was good enough to beat 2 guys in the fast heat, but he wasn’t happy because his friends Tommy and Riley both beat his time – 1:14.17

#84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:01.16Y ) – dropped .04…1:01.12…

#90 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:28.59Y ) – Added time finishing in a 2:30.06. I do believe after the improvement in the 100, we’ll see an improvement in the 200 down the road, I just don’t think he had the stamina to push on a 200…

#96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – Was racing Tommy and Riley in this one, and he wanted to beat them. He and Tommy were neck and neck in the opening 50 and 100, but then Tommy slowly pulled away with each stroke, as again we see the impact of the extended taper and Brett being unable to maintain his energy. He actually added time finishing in a 2:38.57. He did beat Riley…

#102 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:21.35Y ) – Improved his time with a 1:20.24, but it was a bad swim. He’s gone 1:18s swimming the fly at the beginning of a 400 IM. He should be around a 1:15 at this point. Being this was the last event of the meet, not sure if he was tired, didn’t want to do it, or still doesn’t believe in his fly stroke, but he can do much better than this time.

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Summary

The extended taper definitely hurt Brett. It was unfortunate because I think he would have shown steady improvement in this meet had it be handled better. I know that many of the parents on both sides (Senior State Qualifiers vs non-State Qualifiers) were unhappy with results and I expect that Gold will be getting an ear full on this. In fact, one family with 2 national championship qualifiers went so far as to say, this gets worked out or we’ll find somewhere else that can handle it…

Breeze

12-17-2014, 11:14 AM

Marconi Transatlantic Invite - RESULTS

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Bear

#4 (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Medley (2:25.91Y ) – Dropped almost 2.5 seconds finishing with a 2:23.50 time

#8 (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Free (27.83Y ) – I was wrong…he dropped another .65 seconds, finishing at 27.18…this also gives him a sectional cut!

#44 (d2/s3): B Open 500 Free (5:27.76Y ) – The goal here was under 1:05 splits…which would be under a 5:25…he did it going 5:23.37 – this is a 13 year old state cut.

#56 (d2/s4): B 10-12 200 Back (2:22.97Y ) – Dropped over 2 seconds finishing with a 2:20.89. Moreover, he raced next to the defending state champion in this event, and had a lead on him in the first 100…falling off the pace just a bit in the back half.

#72 (d2/s4): B 11-12 100 Fly (1:06.71Y ) – About what I expected…dropped 1.67 seconds finishing in a 1:05.04. This one upset Bailey, as Bear is not swimming fly as fast as she is.

#78 (d2/s4): B 11-12 100 Medley (1:20.65Y ) – Huge drop expected and Bear delivered. He dropped 12.14 seconds finishing in a state cut time of 1:08.51. Bear swam this from the 3 of 5 heats because his seed time was so old. Meaning there was no one for him to really race. He blew away the field. In fact, he actually lapped a couple of the kids in the outside lane and he won his heat by over half a pool length. He also almost won the event, as he finished second only 1 second behind the winner. It was at this point his coach told us (and later him)…”Did you see that?” Ok, he’s not a distance swimmer, he’s just a swimmer, that boy has some sprint in him too…”

#108 (d3/s6): B Open 1650 Free (NT ) – Bear’s goal was to break 19 minutes…that means swimming 1:09s. He did the following:
1:04.76
1:08.34
1:07.61 (signaled him for circle swimming)
1:08.30 (signaled again for circle swimming)
1:08.56
1:08.74
1:08.48
1:09.19 (signaled to pick it up just a little)
1:09.13 (again signaled to pick it up just a little)
1:08.31
1:09.05 (signaled to pick it up)
1:07.28
1:08.34 (at this point the coach tells me he has a lot left, signal him to pick it up)
1:05.83
1:05.24
1:04:47
31.37 closing 50…

18:33.00

To put this swim in perspective here is some interesting information:

- This was an open event with 20 kids ranging in age from 11 to 18 (Bear being the second youngest). He finished sixth overall, beating 6 high schoolers.

- The 18:33.00 time is a 14 year old state cut

- This time is also only .21 seconds from a AAAA time

Unfortunately, this race also preceded the remaining races on his schedule, so fatigue certainly became a factor.

#114 (d3/s7): B 11-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – fought though this one and still amazingly in my opinion managed to swim sub-60 – 59.06

#120 (d3/s7): B 11-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y ) – This one really seemed to show his fatigue. He started out keeping up with the same state champ from the 200 back, but fell off the pace right at the 50 turn, and faded badly. Finished with a respectable, given the circumstances, 1:10 69.

#134 (d3/s7): B 11-12 50 Fly (31.47Y ) – So after the 1650 and the signs of fatigue in the 100 free and the 100 back, I didn’t expect much. This race stared off and at the 25 turn, Bear was tied with about 4 other kids. Coming down the home stretch, Bear and 2 others separated themselves from the pack. Coming into the wall Bear didn’t breath from outside the flags hoping to win the event. He came up .03 seconds short. But he did drop 1.47 seconds, earning a state and sectional cut with a time of 30.00

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Summary

So Bear appears to be heading into a different level of swimming from not only from Brett, but also potentially Bailey. While that is to be expected, I didn’t see it coming this quickly. Bear still looks soft with a decent amount of baby fat. He hasn’t hit that part of puberty where he builds a ton of muscle. Don’t get me wrong, he’s strong, but I think he still has a good bit of growing to do.

The coach is extremely pumped up about Bear and his chances at State. In fact he told us, ok, we have to keep him healthy and out of his own head (he has a tendency to be a bit of a hypochondriac – exaggerating pains – or at least not being able to differentiate between muscle pain, joint pain, and chest/asthma pain).

Now, there is a good possibility that he will flatline for a bit now, meaning there isn’t much more room for improvement. The taper for state and sectionals will be very important for him. I know he’s currently pumped up and working hard at practice, I have my fingers crossed this continues.

Breeze

12-17-2014, 11:16 AM

General Update

I'm going to get an update on PB times with cut times posted to help you follow along.

Breeze

12-22-2014, 03:26 PM

Swimming Article

Adding an interesting article I read today. I feel these articles provide a point of reference for the sport, and given that it this sport generally operates in obscurity, I thought it might be interesting if you are following along.

Do Elite Swimmers Peak Early?

Answer by Carly Geehr, former USA Swimming National Team Member

I'm going to assume you mean elite swimmers here, and not swimmers in general. Before I answer, I have to voice my disagreement with the assumption behind the question — that most elite swimmers peak young. Just look at the average age of the Olympic Teams over the past few quadrennia: A Demographic Shift: Ages of U.S. Olympic Swimmers. Swimmers now are going best times through their late twenties and early thirties. Yes, there are some swimmers who truly do peak very young (and they're seldom, if ever males) but by and large, the most successful swimmers enjoy long careers, far into their 20's, perhaps 30's, and in the very rare case (ahem, Dara Torres) beyond. As the question states, athletic abilities really do peak later than the teenage years.

I can definitely see how one would think that swimmers (particularly women) peak early, given the recent WRs broken by 16-year-olds, but just because you're breaking world records doesn't mean you're at your peak.Yes, you're faster than anyone else in the history of the world (wow!) but that in no way means you've gone and blown your whole God-given sports success allowance all in one go.

But to answer your question, I have a few reasons why athletes may "appear" to peak early — and I'm referring here to the United States, specifically, since that's where my relative expertise is.

Young athletes can rise to the top of the world heap. This mostly pertains to female swimmers, because men's swimming is much more of a power game - but swimming is one of those sports that isn't just about physical size and strength. For males, it's less often that you'll see a teenage phenom capable of competing with the world's best, but you do see it occasionally. Generally if you have great technique and endurance, things that you can really develop before you're ready to put any muscle on/hit a growth spurt, you can actually compete with the best (except in the truly power-dominated events). So, because of this, young athletes with the right blend of strengths can rise to the top, and in some cases break world records. But to echo what I said above, that doesn't necessarily mean they're peaking.

Freakishly young swimmers get a disproportionate amount of attention/hype. It's a storyline people love, for some reason. "16-year-old dominates the world." Wow! It's more compelling than "26-year-old dominates the world."

The training:reward ratio for the sport is absurd. Training consists of spending hours staring at a black line on the bottom of the pool every day. (Or, I guess, if you're a backstroker, the sun) Consider that most kids start swimming around age 8, and that's a LOT of hours by the time you're in your 20's. Continuing to swim past college (another point, below) requires the financial support to do so. Either you've got a full-time job and a deep, genuine passion for the sport - which is rare - or the incredible opportunity to support yourself with your swimming as a professional. The latter is rare, although not as rare as it used to be even a decade ago. The "average world-class swimmer" doesn't live like the average NBA player. If the incentives were different, I think you'd see a LOT more swimmers sticking it out later in life. As it is, I'm really impressed with the number of post-graduates still swimming, and I have to think it's in part because of the assistance you can get from USA Swimming as a member of the National Team and the rise of very strong post-graduate programs around the country. In any case, after you're done with college, into your peak years as an athlete, it's really, really difficult to justify continuing. You might actually hit your peak as a swimmer in your late 20's, but if you can't continue in the sport due to financial reasons or just lack of resources (like a great post-grad program nearby), then your peak is artificially shifted forward a few years. If we're going back several decades, though, there wasn't a whole lot of support for college swimming, especially women's swimming. Once you got through high school, there just wasn't anywhere to go.

The NCAA. NCAA swimming is done in short course yards. All the international competitions that matter are done in long course meters. They're basically two different sports. So you spend 4 years focusing on dominating in short course (with brief 3-month summer interludes of long course competing) and, believe it or not, that turns most people into really great short course swimmers — with limited potential to extend their careers.You don't get sponsorships for winning NCAAs. You don't hear about the most successful college swimmers if you're not a college swimming fan (and if they aren't already on the world stage). You DO hear about the Olympic Gold Medalists and the World Record Breakers. There are certainly swimmers who compete at the highest levels in both college swimming and international competition, but they're actually quite rare. So, to the casual observer, I can see how it would appear that swimmers just kinda disappear when they hit college. There are some truly phenomenal college swimmers who just aren't as dazzling long course, where it "matters." Watch NCAAs and then come back and say that swimmers peak at 16!

Training environments necessarily change dramatically as you grow up. Here, I'm talking specifically about making the jump from a child prodigy to college and beyond. Some athletes who rise to prominence very young have a great relationship with their coach and club team, and then they have to make a decision when they graduate high school (or before). Go pro and give up swimming in college, or go to college and chance it with a new coach, new team, and totally new environment? You just never know what's going to work and what isn't. There was a slew of young female swimmers in the last decade who went pro in high school, and it went very poorly for them, curtailing what otherwise may well have been long and illustrious careers. This might be counter-intuitive, but there's a lot going on behind the scenes, and it's difficult to preserve what you had going on as a high schooler when you're older. The teenage stars who are able to keep performing at the highest levels find a training environment that works. It's a lot harder than it sounds.

Injuries happen. I talked about this a little bit here: 2012 Summer Olympics in London: What are the most common injuries in swimming? Injuries are certainly a factor in ending some careers prematurely — whether by an actual career-ending injury or by a condition that's worsened by swimming (backs and shoulders, I'm looking at you) that doesn't necessarily "force" swimmers into retirement, but "strongly encourages" it. As mentioned above, it's a LOT of hours of swimming. Some bodies weren't built to handle the day-in, day-out of the sport for decades. Mine sure wasn't. These days, though, lots of the older swimmers have figured out how to train in a sustainable way, so they can keep it up without getting injured. Pretty amazing.

So, I disagree that swimmers generally peak early, but there are some good reasons for the perception that they do. Plenty of factors conspire against keeping swimmers at the elite level throughout and after college. Some swimmers may indeed peak early, but there's usually something else going on behind the scenes.

Breeze

12-23-2014, 07:01 AM

Gold Team Update

Received the following in an email yesterday, figured I'd share...

1) Jackie Hill, one of our stand-out CM National swimmers was recently ranked number 1 in the nation for her age group in the 200 breast. Great job Jackie!

2) Joining Jackie were two more swimmers from the CM National Group, Katherine and Caroline Aikins, all of whom attended their first ever Senior National Championship in North Carolina. Another Gold swimmer, Lauren Case, of our WS site, was the 18-U National Champion in both the 100 and 200 butterfly.

3) CM greatly contributed to our strong performance at SR State. Gold scored the most points ever, finishing third overall, with the male high point winner, and the runner-up female high point winner.

4) Overall, Gold had the highest percentage of best times of the major teams in the meet, thanks in large part to the strong swims of our CM SR and National Groups. Thanks to Charles and his staff for their hard work to help make this happen!

4) We had a large number of outstanding swims at the Marconi Invite last weekend! With these last two meets uploaded to the USA database, Chattahoochee Gold ends the calendar year ranked 22nd in the country - our highest year end ranking ever! We still have a lot of work to do, but I believe we’re on our way to becoming the best team in the country!

Breeze

12-24-2014, 09:21 AM

Gold Practice Update

So the heater in the pool is broken again, apparently, the system will run for about a half an hour to an hour and then shut off. Because no one was at the facility over night the water temperature to dropped into the low 70s, and because the heater won't run consistently it never gets fully heated and barely makes an impact on the water temp before it shut off and the process has to restart.

It was so cold the coach actually pulled Brett out of the water on several occasions to allow him to warm up. In addition, he canceled the practice early for Brett and a very skinny older girl who was really struggling with the cold water.

After practice the coach found us and said he felt really bad for Brett. That with his build (read no body fat), he really couldn't handle the cold water well, and he felt like he was torturing the kid making him practice. He also informed us that it doesn't look like the facility will be able to get the heater repaired before the 29th. Also there will be no one present at the facility to manually restart the system, so he expects the water on Friday to be in the 60s - maybe even the low 60s. There is a distinct possibility the practice will be cancled.

RPI-Fan

12-24-2014, 09:24 AM

General Update

I'm going to get an update on PB times with cut times posted to help you follow along.

Looking forward to this. Seems like the young ones have dozens of cuts -- one in nearly every event.

Can you give a recap also on where they are as far as age groups and how they are already looking for state and sectional cuts at the next age group level, whenever the aging-up will happen?

Great read as always!

Breeze

01-02-2015, 09:52 AM

High School Meet - Holiday Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center

This is a big High School Meet the following schools will be competing:

Creekview
Flowery Branch
Grady
Holy Innocents' Episcopal
Lambert
Meadowcreek
Mount Pisgah Christian
North Atlanta
North Oconee
North Hall
Pinecreast Academy
South Forsyth
Wayne County

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Brett

Given all the time off for the high school team, making predictions here could be hard. Year round swimmers should stay close to their seeds, but non-year rounders who are fast, may experience a drop off due to time out of the water during the holiday. Brett will be swimming the following events:

500 Free - 5:45.55 - Seeded 5th - my guess is he adds time, due to being out of the water for exams and then the broken water heater. He's been good about going since Christmas, but I don't think he's gotten back into pre-taper shape yet. I think he'll end up 7th. The 6th seed is right on his heels and there is a strong swimmer who's name I recognize that is entered with a NT.

100 Breast - 1:14.51 - Seeded 15th - Did better this time recently, but I don't expect him to move up in seeding, as the 14th seed is a 1:13 low...

Breeze

01-02-2015, 10:58 AM

Personal Bests/Cut Times Update

Bailey

Here are her times compared to the State Cut standards up to age 14.

Stroke Time 12-cut 13-cut 14-cut
50 FR 28.45 27.49 26.69 26.39
100 FR 1:00.50 59.99 57.99 56.59
200 FR 2:11.27 2:11.89 2:04.39 2:01.99
500 FR 5:49.07 5:56.59 5:36.19 5:30.09
1000 FR 11:55.91 12:37.19 11:37.29 11:26.99
50 BK 31.82 32.09
100 BK 1:07.32 1:08.39 1:05.39 1:03.79
200 BK 2:26.53 2:28.59 2:20.69 2:18.49
50 BR 41.48 36.99
100 BR 1:25.03 1:19.29 1:14.79 1:14.09
200 BR 3:05.42 2:52.59 2:41.79 2:39.09
50 FL 29.71 30.39
100 FL 1:05.52 1:09.09 1:04.99 1:02.79
200 FL 2:23.72 2:45.39 2:29.19 2:21.69
100 IM 1:09.28 1:09.89
200 IM 2:27.39 2:28.89 2:21.49 2:18.99
400 IM 5:13.79 5:24.19 5:01.59 4:56.49

Note: Red times indicate a cut already achieved.

Breeze

01-02-2015, 11:27 AM

Personal Bests/Cut Times Update

Bailey

Here are Bailey's times compared to the Sectional Cuts and her Ranking in that event.

Stroke Time 12 Sec Cut 14 Sec Cut Rank*
50 FR 28.45 27.79 26.19 68
100 FR 1:00.50 59.89 56.59 37
200 FR 2:11.27 2:10.19 2:02.29 30
500 FR 5:49.07 5:43.99 5:24.99 23
1000 FR 11:55.91 12:12.29 11:15.49 8 / 50
50 BK 31.82 31.79 30
100 BK 1:07.32 1:08.69 1:03.89 26
200 BK 2:26.53 2:29.19 2:17.49 23
50 BR 41.48 36.19 144
100 BR 1:25.03 1:18.29 1:13.09 71
200 BR 3:05.42 2:51.19 2:37.69 62
50 FL 29.71 30.49 19
100 FL 1:05.52 1:08.49 1:03.29 16
200 FL 2:23.72 2:37.79 2:22.19 7 / 43
100 IM 1:09.28 1:08.69 19
200 IM 2:27.39 2:27.69 2:19.49 26
400 IM 5:13.79 5:11.89 4:52.39 15 / 97

Note: Red times indicate a cut already achieved

*Rank - should be read as State rank /Southern rank / National rank. However there are a few items that need to be explained. First is the way the database for swimming is set up. If you search for a ranking the database will allow you to filter based on event, age, time frame, and location. So when searching the current season, anyone that swam that event while the age of the filter (in our case 12) registers, even if they are no longer 12. This means there are several girls that are currently 13 ranked ahead of Bailey in the rankings noted above (for instance I believe 4 of the 6 girls ahead of Bailey in the 200 Fly are all 13 already).

Also the Southern ranking noted above isn't the same as the ranking for the Sectionals meet, as the Southern Zone is divided into multiple sections and we will only compete against the Eastern Section of the Southern Zone (ESSZ).

Breeze

01-02-2015, 12:20 PM

Personal Bests/Cut Time Updates

Bear

Bear's times compared to State Cut standards up to age 14.

Event Time 12 – Cut 13 - Cut 14 - Cut
50 FR 27.18 27.89 25.69 24.49
100 FR 58.56 1:00.39 55.69 52.09
200 FR 2:05.16 2:13.09 2:00.99 1:54.19
500 FR 5:23.37 5:58.29 5:27.59 5:11.89
1000 FR 11:07.79 12:59.89 11:19.39 10:59.89
1650 FR 18:33.00 22:00.00 18.59.89 18:35.89
50 BK 34.00 32.39
100 BK 1:09.18 1:08.99 1:03.49 1:00.49
200 BK 2:20.89 2:30.69 2:17.39 2:12.39
50 BR 41.62 37.29
100 BR 1:25.61 1:19.49 1:12.89 1:09.69
200 BR 3:01.57 2:55.89 2:38.29 2:31.49
50 FL 30.00 30.79
100 FL 1:05.04 1:10.99 1:03.29 59.59
200 FL 2:23.84 2:54.89 2:24.99 2:14.89
100 IM 1:08.51 1:09.99
200 IM 2:23.50 2:30.29 2:18.69 2:11.99
400 IM 5:00.98 5:25.59 4:54.09 4:43.09

Note: Red times indicate a cut already achieved

Breeze

01-02-2015, 01:21 PM

Personal Bests/Cut Time Updates

Bear

Bear's times compared to Sectional Cut standards.

Event Time 12 Sec Cut 14 Sec Cut Rank*
50 FR 27.18 27.49 24.59 31
100 FR 58.56 59.99 53.19 25
200 FR 2:05.16 2:09.99 1:54.69 18
500 FR 5:23.37 5:45.69 5:12.09 5 / 46
1000 FR 11:07.79 12.34.89 10.48.49 3 / 12 / 57
1650 FR 18:33.00 21.20.39 18.26.99 2 / 10 / 43
50 BK 34.00 32.09 52
100 BK 1:09.18 1:09.29 1:00.49 32
200 BK 2:20.89 2:29.69 2:10.79 8 / 55
50 BR 41.62 35.79 101
100 BR 1:25.61 1:17.69 1:09.29 66
200 BR 3:01.57 2:49.39 2:29.79 30
50 FL 30.00 30.89 23
100 FL 1:05.04 1:08.99 59.69 16
200 FL 2:23.84 2:34.99 2:16.09 4 / 45
100 IM 1:08.51 1:09.19 23
200 IM 2:23.50 2:29.79 2:11.79 16
400 IM 5:00.98 5:23.69 4:39.09 8 / 47

Note: Red times indicate a cut already achieved

*Rank - should be read as State rank /Southern rank / National rank. However there are a few items that need to be explained. First is the way the database for swimming is set up. If you search for a ranking the database will allow you to filter based on event, age, time frame, and location. So when searching the current season, anyone that swam that event while the age of the filter (in our case 12) registers, even if they are no longer 12. This means there are several boys that are currently 13 ranked ahead of Bear in the rankings noted above.

Also the Southern ranking noted above isn't the same as the ranking for the Sectionals meet, as the Southern Zone is divided into multiple sections and we will only compete against the Eastern Section of the Southern Zone (ESSZ).

Breeze

01-02-2015, 01:28 PM

Looking forward to this. Seems like the young ones have dozens of cuts -- one in nearly every event.

Can you give a recap also on where they are as far as age groups and how they are already looking for state and sectional cuts at the next age group level, whenever the aging-up will happen?

Great read as always!

Hope the updates above are what you were looking for. If you are interested in seeing something else, just let me know.

RPI-Fan

01-02-2015, 01:45 PM

Hope the updates above are what you were looking for. If you are interested in seeing something else, just let me know.

Very helpful and interesting. Quite a portfolio the young ones are putting together. It seems a foregone conclusion that for the foreseeable future they can swim everything except their very weakest events at the state and perhaps sectional level.

What do you think their strategy will be for those meets? Swim everytjingn, a few, or just a couple?

Breeze

01-02-2015, 02:00 PM

Very helpful and interesting. Quite a portfolio the young ones are putting together. It seems a foregone conclusion that for the foreseeable future they can swim everything except their very weakest events at the state and perhaps sectional level.

What do you think their strategy will be for those meets? Swim everything, a few, or just a couple?

We still have about 6 weeks before the state meet so I don't know yet what the plans will be in regards to what they swim. It is very possible that the coach protects certain events in hopes of a better finish, because it is possible for someone to have more cuts than they will be allowed to swim.

About the only thing I do know at the moment is the coach has already stated he won't have Bailey swim any of the distance freestyles. After watching her struggle to eat before the last day of the state meet in 2014, he understood the problem we face and that keeping her fresh and not allowing her to get overtired is important for her overall performances.

I promise I'll add details on what the plan is for the state meet when I find out.

Breeze

01-05-2015, 10:30 AM

High School Meet - Holiday Invite - RESULTS

So South girls finished second, the boys third, and with no divers the team ended up 3rd overall...(though I'm not sure the having divers would have had much of an impact). There were several year rounders unavailable for South because of a year round meet for Dynamo.

Brett

Brett did end up in 2 relays, the 200 IM and 200 Free, and he did ok in this meet. He didn't get any personal bests in his individual events, but he pulls a pretty tough schedule when he swims the events he had this time. Here is why...he starts off in the first event the 200 IM, then he won't swim again until event 15, which is the 500 Free and the middle of the meet. As soon as he gets out of the water for that race, he has to line up for the 200 Free Relay, allowing him about 5 minutes of rest before he has to do his sprint free. Then he gets about 20 minutes of backstroke races to rest before he swims his breast. Pretty tight windows...

Here is how he did:

200 Medley Relay - Brett swam the breast leg and he posted a respectable 34.77. Unfortunately, the backstroker swam a 44 second split and the team was way behind early.

500 Free - 5:45.55 - Seeded 5th - Finished 5th...so a good swim, really wasn't pushed as he ended up having to swim in the slower heat, so there was no one to push him. He beat the second place finisher in the heat by over a minute, and beat the 3rd place finisher by 2 and half minutes. With a time of 5:46.12...he right on the same time he's been swimming in this event all season (but he can go faster...I think a 5:35 is very possible).

200 Free Relay - Was supposed to lead off the relay, but ended up anchoring so he could get a few extra minutes to catch his breath. He ended up with a 28.22, and was the fastest split of the 4 kids in the relay (in fact, he beat one of the kids splits in the A relay).

100 Breast - 1:14.51 - Seeded 15th - He was looking to get a 1:15.35, managed a 1:15.51. Just off of that cut time, and he'll have 2 more chances to get it (though we don't know if he'll get to swim Breast again or not). He had a poor dive that put him behind and he never made it up.

When it was all said and done, Brett earned the 3rd most points for boys on the team, and the 8th most overall for South. Very productive day for him...but he was still disappointed about his Breast time.

Hopefully, he'll improve on that this weekend.

Breeze

01-08-2015, 10:40 AM

High School Swim Meet vs Forsyth Central & West Forsyth @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 1/10

Brett

#15 (d1/s1): B Open 500 Free (5:45.55Y )
#21 (d1/s1): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y ) - not really Brett's time...

Relay (Entered by Admin):
#1 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Medley Relay (Team B)
#17 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Free Relay (Team B) - Really wish the coach would put him in the 400 Free Relay so he'd get more time to rest following the 500 Free and before the 100 Breast...

Breeze

01-08-2015, 10:56 AM

Gold Grand Prix Meet 3 @ Cherokee Aquatic Center - 1/10

So you are reading this correctly...we have 2 meets on the same day, so the wife and I will have to divide and conquer. Brett will not participate in this one in favor of the high school meet listed above. Here are what the twins are swimming…

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

#311A (d1/s1): G 11-12 100 Fly (1:05.52Y ) – Looking for some improvement in the fly, she’s been pretty flat of late.

#319A (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Back (31.82Y ) – Not much to say here. I expect similar times to the seed.

#341A (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Breast (3:05.42Y ) – Coach has been working with her on the breast, I hope there is a decent improvement here.

#359A (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Should be below 2:10...so anything above that is a disappointment in my opinion.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

#314A (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Fly (2:23.84Y ) – He’s been swimming this one well, not sure he’ll drop time again.

#320A (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Back (34.00Y ) – This will be a very quick turnaround from the 200 Fly (read - he'll be racing within minutes of finishing the fly - almost like interval training), and I doubt he’ll be ready to roll when the gun goes off. However, the seed time is old, and I expect he could still do better, even fatigued.

#342A (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Breast (3:01.57Y ) – See Bailey’s write up…because they are in the same boat.

#354A (d1/s1): B 11-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – He wants to be in the 57s…

Breeze

01-09-2015, 12:21 PM

General Update

Both boys aren't feeling well. They both miss practice yesterday, and Bear stayed home from school today. Not sure how well either will swim tomorrow.

Breeze

01-13-2015, 10:08 AM

General Update

So the phone app I use to remember the kids' times is down. They are in the middle of upgrading the system, which may be having an impact. Regardless, until this is fixed, I don't think I'll be able to do the results wrap up.

Breeze

01-14-2015, 11:19 AM

High School Swim Meet – Winter Invitational - RESULTS

So this meet apparently evolved significantly from the time the schedule was released to the time the meet actually occurred. Originally, as noted above this was going to be a duel meet between 3 county teams. It ended up being a meet with 27 high schools in attendance.

This was a weird meet for Brett…I’ll explain below…

Brett

#1 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Medley Relay (Team B) – The meet started with Brett swimming the breast for the B medley relay team. He ended up swimming a split of 33.79, which would be a personal best if it wasn’t for the rolling start. Even if you add a .5 to the time, it would be a personal best. I thought this indicated he was going to have a good meet.

#15 (d1/s1): B Open 500 Free (5:45.55Y ) – I thought he might come out on this one and really post a good time. We had some discussions during the week about how he swims more than five 100s in practice on a 1:10 interval…and he makes the interval for all of them. This means he’s only swimming 5 seconds faster in the 500 than he does doing interval training in practice. However, he didn’t improve. In fact, this was the worst 500 he’s swum for the high school yet, posting a pedestrian 5:49.77. Still good enough for sixth place, but not a good swim. At this point I’m wondering if the poor swim was because he wasn’t feeling well and the longer event took its toll, or if he was saving himself for the 100 Breast.

#17 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Free Relay (Team B) – Almost immediately after swimming the 500, Brett had this relay. When his leg came up, he had a terrible dive (not sure why this keeps happening at this point in his swimming, but that’s another story), but as soon as he surfaced, it was obvious he was getting a good early grab on the water and really pumping the upper body. He finished with a split of 27.72, again a personal best if it had counted. Even if you add the .5 or so, it is still a PB – WITH THE BAD DIVE.

#21 (d1/s1): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y ) – Again, as a reminder the seed time is not Brett’s best. His best is a 1:15 mid in high school swimming and a 1:14 high in year round. He’s trying to get the 1:15:35 for the varsity letter cut…and – He didn’t. In fact, he swam poorly again – Finishing with a 1:16.13, again his worst swim for the high school this season. I had a good vantage point to watch this race, and it appeared to me that he was making the breaststroke and upperbody race, where it should be just the opposite. He admitted he was focused on the pull, and may have allowed his kick to lag a bit. He has to get back to the sharp snap kick that made him so good at Breast to begin with.

Not sure what was up with Brett – 2 excellent relay splits, 2 poor individual races. Hopefully, he’ll do better at the next, and his last high school meet in a couple of weeks.

Breeze

01-14-2015, 11:52 AM

Gold Grand Prix Meet 3 – RESULTS

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Bailey

#311A (d1/s1): G 11-12 100 Fly (1:05.52Y ) – She remains flat…Adding a 1.2 seconds and finishing in a 1:06.72. She did win this event going away…but she needs

#319A (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Back (31.82Y ) – Poor swim…added 1.39 seconds, finished second with a time of 33.21.

#341A (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Breast (3:05.42Y ) – Finally, a good swim…she dropped 6.33 seconds to post a personal best 2:59.09. Hopefully, this helps her confidence in breast and will improve her IMs.

#359A (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Horrible swim – added almost 8 seconds to her personal best time, finishing in a 2:19.06. Last time she swam that poorly in this even was Dec 2013…

Starting to get real concerned with Bailey’s progress this season…

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Bear

#314A (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Fly (2:23.84Y ) – So he didn’t drop time, and he didn’t add time either. Amazingly, he swam the exact same time as his seed, down to the hundredth of a second. 2:23.84.

#320A (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Back (34.00Y ) – Nice improvement, as I expected. 32.75, and I’m sure it would have been better with more time to rest between events. Just missed a state cut – but probably doesn’t matter because I doubt he’d swim it at state anyway.

#342A (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Breast (3:01.57Y ) – And like Bailey, who improved 6.33 seconds, Bear improved 5.07 seconds. Dropping to a 2:56.50 – this is less than a second from the state cut. Again not that he would swim it, but it could help his standing in the IMs.

#354A (d1/s1): B 11-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – Seems that his illness during the week finally caught up to him here. He added 3 seconds and finished with a 1:01.69.

Breeze

01-15-2015, 08:27 AM

Breeze

01-15-2015, 08:50 AM

General Update

So the Gold team at our pool has made an adjustment to the coaching rotation for the Senior team's practices. Initially, Coach Todd handled the entire National and Senior swimmers, which is around 40 kids. That's too many for one person to provide adequate instruction. The first solution was to add Coach Cassie to handle some of the Senior swimmers. We'll this didn't go over well as Coach Cassie is 4th in the hierarchy of team coaches at the Cumming Pool. Recently, the team adjusted the assisting coach and moved Coach Andy (yes, the twin's coach and Brett's coach last year), to handle the Senior lanes for the first part of practice (until his team hits the water). This is a MAJOR improvement in instruction level, and Brett is thrilled. In fact, last night Brett said he's gotten more instruction from Andy this week, than he's gotten all year up until now. Some of the items he was told just yesterday include:

- Increase your reach on the freestyle to the point your shoulder touches your cheek

- Kick from the hip in backstroke (this is an old one, but Brett needs the reminders)

- And tighten your core on Breaststroke streamline...

The Breaststroke one is interesting because it ties in with my post regarding his poor kicking in the high school meet a few posts up. Coach Andy told Brett that initially he also thought Brett's kick had gotten lazy, but now he thinks it is more about the change in the stroke that Brett put in where he goes from streamline legs when pulling to streamline upper body when kicking (which is what he should be doing, and I had an explanation of this back during the summer league season, right before the county championship meet I think). What Coach explained to Brett is basically this...previously in your stroke, you were kicking your hands forward, and because of the dive forward while kicking your abs where tight due to the effort of driving the upper body down and forward, but now your upper body is already extended when you kick, so your abs are loose which is causing some fluctuation in your body position (up/down and left/right). He wants Brett to tighten his abs during the kick phase of the stroke, then relax for the pull in order to get full range of motion.

Breeze

01-16-2015, 08:55 AM

SCAT Winter Invite @ GaTech - 1/17-18

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey – Because Bailey already has more cuts than she can swim, she’s been working hard through each practice as the coach isn’t allowing her even the small taper many of the other swimmers going for cuts get. With this in mind, I’ll need to lower my expectations…

#1 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) – Wants to go Sub60 and get a state cut in this one.

#9 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Back (1:07.32Y ) – The PB seed time is from December, but I believe she can go faster, just not sure it will be at this meet.

#13 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Fly (1:05.52Y ) – Again hoping for signs of improvement. She wants to go 1:03 at State in a few weeks…would like to see at least a slight drop this weekend to show she’s prepped for it.

#47 (d2/s3): G 12-12 50 Fly (29.71Y ) – Like the 100, looking for a drop. Bailey wants to get in the 28s at State for reference.

#51 (d2/s3): G 12-12 50 Free (28.45Y ) – This time is much too close to her 50 Fly, she should be faster. I know I’ve said that before, but this one is frustrating. We’ve seen some signs of improvement in the free, but she hasn’t turned that corner yet. She knows she should be in the 27s. I don’t expect that here because of the lack of rest…but hopefully she’ll challenge for a PB.

#63 (d2/s3): G 12-12 200 Back (2:26.53Y ) – Hasn’t swum it since November…could get a PB here even without the rest coming in.

#69 (d2/s3): G 12-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Nice…the 200 fly will be the last event of the weekend, without the benefit of rest coming in…I don’t expect much here. The only disappointing thing here is her PB is from October, she’s swum it twice since then and has added significant time (2+ seconds) each time. She wants to go under 2:10 at State.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear – Like Bailey, Bear is not getting any taper heading into this meet.

#2 (d1/s1): B 12-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – Bear will want a good swim in this one after his disappointing swim last week at the end of the meet.

#10 (d1/s1): B 12-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y ) – I think he can go faster than this. I think a 1:08 low is possible, but I don’t expect it at this meet.

#18 (d1/s1): B 12-12 50 Back (34.00Y ) – Real seed should be 32.75, and I think that is a little slow too…but if he swims in the neighborhood of his seed that will have been a good effort.

#52 (d2/s3): B 12-12 50 Free (27.18Y ) – Again anything 27 low will be a very good swim.

#56 (d2/s3): B 12-12 200 Fly (2:23.84Y ) – Just swam it last weekend…so I don’t expect much of a change here.

#66 (d2/s3): B 12-12 100 Breast (1:25.61Y ) – Hasn’t done this one since October, and he improved a good bit in the 200 Breast last week – so we may get an improvement here even with the fatigue of practice.

#70 (d2/s3): B 12-12 200 Free (2:05.16Y ) – See most of the rest of the write ups…Coach thinks this might end up being Bear’s sweet spot before all is said and done. He believes Bear can go even faster than his 2:05 seed time based on how he swims distances and how his sprints have improved but I don’t expect it this week, end of the meet with no rest coming in...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brett – Not tapering either…but obviously for different reasons from the twins.

#4 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Free (1:01.12Y ) – I want to see him get in the 60 second range…not sure his new upper body stroke (described in a post above) is ready for a sprint, but maybe.

#8 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Breast (1:14.17Y ) – An improvement here would be huge for his confidence

#16 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Fly (1:20.24Y ) – He should be able to go 1:18, given that he’s done that in a couple of 400 IMs, but I never know with this stroke what he’s going to do. He just doesn’t trust himself in this one and he’ll over breath and he’ll tighten up rather than relax and swim.

#46 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:31.12Y ) – He should improve here. He’s only done it once this season, his fly is better, and his 400 IM indicates this should be a much faster time.

#54 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 50 Free (28.34Y ) – Went 27.7 in the high school meet relay with a bad dive. I’d love to see a similar time in this one, but we’ll have to see how the new arm motion holds up in a sprint.

#58 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – See the 100 Breast

#68 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) – He’s really struggled to get back to his seed time. After he swam the 2:08, he swam this event 2 times in year round meets, and 1 time in a high school meet and the closest he’s come is 2 seconds off. I expect around a 2:11…

Breeze

01-21-2015, 03:32 PM

SCAT Winter Invite RESULTS

Bailey

#1 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) – Didn’t improve on the time from last month, but she came close, 1:00.68, which is showing some life. I do believe Sub60 is attainable soon - maybe the relay at State.

#9 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Back (1:07.32Y ) – Another add 1:08.01, but it is only fractional, and given my lowered expectations based on no taper, this is pretty good.

#13 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Fly (1:05.52Y ) – She improved…only just 1:05.51…this may seem insignificant because it is just .01, but considering she’s been in the 1:06s, and in fact was a 1:06 high just last month, this seems like a good sign heading into State in a few weeks.

#47 (d2/s3): G 12-12 50 Fly (29.71Y ) – Like most of her races so far she’s just off her PB – 29.82

#51 (d2/s3): G 12-12 50 Free (28.45Y ) – Here she got a personal best time of 28.23, and she looks like a 27 low split in a relay is a possibility now, accepting that she won’t be swimming this event at State.

#63 (d2/s3): G 12-12 200 Back (2:26.53Y ) – She did get the PB – even though she slipped terribly at the start. In fact, she was in last place for the first 50, but steadily closed on the field and ended up second overall in the event and only a second behind the winner. I’m sure the slip on the start cost her between 2 and 3 seconds. Final time was a 2:26.12.

#69 (d2/s3): G 12-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Like most of the events…close to her PB, which is saying something under the circumstances – 2:11.96

Overall there were no real bad swims for Bailey. If she didn’t get the PB, she was close. I think she is positioned to do well at State now…I don’t think she’ll blow doors on this one, and I don’t think she’ll medal, but I do think we’ll see several personal bests and maybe a few significant drops in time.

Breeze

01-21-2015, 04:03 PM

SCAT Winter Invite RESULTS

Bear

#2 (d1/s1): B 12-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – Bear got is good swim he was looking for. In fact, it was a personal best time of 58.49.

#10 (d1/s1): B 12-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y ) – looked good except for the walls. Way to tentative going into them. Cost himself a good bit of time 1:11.11

#18 (d1/s1): B 12-12 50 Back (34.00Y ) – Finished with a 33.13…exact same issues as the 100…

#52 (d2/s3): B 12-12 50 Free (27.18Y ) – Given that I said in the pre-race write up “anything 27 low will be a very good swim” So a 27.19….01 off a PB is pretty good indeed.

#56 (d2/s3): B 12-12 200 Fly (2:23.84Y ) – I was wrong…he dropped 2.4 seconds to finish 2:21.44 – Very strong swim.

#66 (d2/s3): B 12-12 100 Breast (1:25.61Y ) – Managed another real strong swim here dropping 1.64 seconds to finish with a 1:23.97

#70 (d2/s3): B 12-12 200 Free (2:05.16Y ) – Real poor swim here. I think the weekend races, meet consecutive weekends, and the lack of taper finally wore him out. He swam a 2:09.50…very unusual for him in what is basically a mid-distance Freestyle.

Bear looked good in this meet as well. In fact, he had a couple of nice improvements, which under the circumstances are pretty impressive.

Breeze

01-21-2015, 04:15 PM

SCAT Winter Invite RESULTS

Brett Breeze

#4 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Free (1:01.12Y ) – Got in the 60 second range…1:00.65. Nice swim here and it continues his slow improvement in this event.

#8 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Breast (1:14.17Y ) – Not only did he not improve, he added a good bit of time finishing with a 1:15.49.

#16 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Fly (1:20.24Y ) – Continues his slow improvement in this event. Opened the season with a 1:24.27 – he just swam a 1:18.17.

#46 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:31.12Y ) – Only a slight improvement, which was disappointing, but it was nice to see another drop 2:30.12.

#54 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 50 Free (28.34Y ) – 28.43 – and ok swim in this one, he stays in that mid 28 second range where he’s been all season.

#58 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – Really bad swim here…2:43.51. First time out of the 2:37 – 2:38 range in months. Really disappointed following this swim. Still looks to me like he’s too quick into the pull and isn’t getting much out of his legs. To me the lack of leg drive is combined with the elimination of the glide portion of the stroke, but we’ll see how the coaches address this moving forward.

#68 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) – Another bad swim, which leads me to believe that fatigue could be a major factor here and in the 200 breast. Finished with a 2:14.08.

Brett is a little too focused on the social portion of swimming, which is a frustrating thing in one way – because he isn’t doing what he needs to in order to post good swims (eating, drinking, focusing on what he needs to do during the swim). However, in other ways it is a true blessing, in that Brett was a kid that really struggled to make friends when he was younger. He was socially awkward and being physically small makes it even worse, so the fact that he has so many friends really makes me happy.

Breeze

01-22-2015, 10:02 AM

High School Meet - County Championships @ Cumming Aquatic Center 1/24

So this will be the end of Brett's High School Season. The only other meet is the State Championships, which he doesn't have a qualifying time for (by the way, the qualifying times are very similar to the Senior State times for year round swimmers, so I didn't expect him to get the cut time).

Here is what he'll be swimming:

Brett

#15 (d1/s2): B Open 500 Free (5:45.55Y ) - Could do better, but not expecting it.
#21 (d1/s2): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y ) - Not really his seed time, his best in high school is a 1:15 mid, and his best year round is a 1:14 low. Not sure what to expect in this right now as he swam his breast very poorly last few times out.

Relay:
#1 (d1/s2): B Open 200 Medley Relay (Team C) - I'm guessing he'll get the breast let, we'll see...
#17 (d1/s2): B Open 200 Free Relay (Team C) - Same quick turn around from 500 Free to this relay.

Breeze

01-22-2015, 12:45 PM

State Meet Update

So the order of events for the State Meet has been released:

Friday

200 IM
50 Free
200 Back
100 Fly
50 Breast
1000 Free

Saturday

200 Medley Relay
200 Free
100 Back
200 Breast
50 Fly
200 Free Relay
400 IM
400 Medley Relay

Sunday

400 Free Relay
100 IM
100 Free
200 Fly
100 Breast
50 Back
500 Free

All events except 500 Free, 1000 Free, 400 IM, 200 Breast/Fly/Back will be conducted as prelim/finals, requiring kids that qualify to swim in the morning prelims and again in the evening in finals. (the events listed in the exceptions will have the 20 fastest kids in those events, regardless of age, swim in the evening finals).

I’m noting this because it could play a part in what the coach decides to do with the twins and their events. He is already going to have some tough decisions determining what they should swim. For instance, Bear’s Friday schedule, doing a quick look it appears Bear would be seeded no worse than 8 in the 200 IM, 7 in the 200 Back, 8 in the 100 Fly and 2 in the 1000 Free, but he can only swim 3 events.

*Note: At least one of my kids has a qualification time in all events italicized above

Breeze

01-26-2015, 09:35 AM

High School Meet - County Championships Center - RESULTS

Brett

#1 (d1/s2): B Open 200 Medley Relay (Team C) – Nice Breast leg for Brett swimming a 34 low…

#15 (d1/s2): B Open 500 Free (5:45.55Y ) - Didn’t do better, in fact he added 5 seconds to finish with a 5:50.68, but it really didn’t matter. He came in seeded 10 and finished 10 several seconds ahead of 11 and several seconds behind 9.

#17 (d1/s2): B Open 200 Free Relay (Team C) - Another good split in the relay with a 27.8 with only about 10 minutes rest from the 500.

#21 (d1/s2): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y ) – So this was Brett’s last shot to meet the varsity letter cut standard of 1:15.35. He’d beaten this standard a couple of times already this season and he came up just an eye blink short a few weeks ago when he swam a 1:15.5. Unfortunately, he’s been really struggling with his breast and this meet was no exception. He opened with a 35 mid time in the first 50, which was not a good sign, and he came home to post a poor 1:16.88.

Brett’s failure to get the cut time was heartbreaking as he could really use some positive reinforcement from this sport he spends so much time working on. If the coach goes by the strict letter of the rules regarding earning a varsity letter, then Brett won’t get his. She might make an exception because Brett earned the tenth most points for all boys, despite the fact he missed 3 meets during the season, and he did yeoman’s work swimming the 500 in every meet he participated. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Overall, South finished 2nd in the county (even without the benefit of a dive team), losing to Lambert (who will challenge for a State Championship again this season). Next season South may be hard pressed to maintain second, as a number of solid male point earners, plus a Div 1 swimmer will be graduating, and it doesn't appear there are many kids in the pipeline ready to fill those shoes.

Just a quick follow up. Brett missed practiced on Friday because he was up studying for a test until after midnight on Thursday. To make up for this missed practice, we went to the pool on Sunday, and not only did he get a workout in, he really focused on areas where he was weak, including a good bit of fly, underwater strokes, backstroke starts, etc. I was really proud of him not only going, but using the time to address some areas where he needs work.

Breeze

01-27-2015, 09:17 AM

State Meet Update

So the coach has released the initial plan for the kids at State. In his research on what events to put the kids in, his primary source of information was the top 10 times from the 2014 meet. He basically took the times at the meet and compared it to the seed time the kids have going into the events. While this is helpful, we have noticed a few things that we will be discussing with him before their schedule is actually finalized. Also, it looks like Bailey and Coach Andy have already talked about making a change that isn't noted in the schedule below, but will probably occur (I'll add details on that moving forward)

Here are what they are currently scheduled to swim:

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Bailey

#1B (d1/s1): G 12-12 200 Medley (2:27.39Y)
#9B (d1/s1): G 12-12 200 Back (2:26.12Y)
#13B (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Fly (1:05.51Y)
#33B (d2/s4): G 12-12 100 Back (1:07.32Y)
#41B (d2/s4): G 12-12 50 Fly (29.71Y)
#49B (d2/s4): G 12-12 400 Medley (5:13.12Y)
#71B (d3/s7): G 12-12 100 Medley (1:09.28Y)
#79B (d3/s7): G 12-12 200 Fly (2:23.72Y)
#85B (d3/s7): G 12-12 50 Back (31.82Y)

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Bear

#2B (d1/s1): B 12-12 200 Medley (2:23.50Y)
#14B (d1/s1): B 12-12 100 Fly (1:05.04Y)
#20B (d1/s1): B 12-12 1000 Free (11:07.79Y)
#30B (d2/s4): B 12-12 200 Free (2:05.16Y)
#42B (d2/s4): B 12-12 50 Fly (30.00Y)
#50B (d2/s4): B 12-12 400 Medley (5:00.98Y)
#76B (d3/s7): B 12-12 100 Free (58.49Y)
#80B (d3/s7): B 12-12 200 Fly (2:21.44Y)
#90B (d3/s7): B 12-12 500 Free (5:23.37Y)

Breeze

01-28-2015, 08:56 AM

State Meet Update - Bailey

Ok, following up on the events so far here is what I can gather:

Bailey is in an absolutely loaded age group, which will make it hard for her to even earn points. I did a bit if research to determine where she stands in the events in question. It's a difficult process because I need to eliminate the kids that are going to age up into the 13/14 group before State, but I also have to identify the 11 year olds that will be 12 in mid-February as well. After completing my research, I have an estimate on the Event Rank coming into the meet, listed next to the event. The rank is not the seed, as we'll have to wait and see who actually swims the event, but it gives us a good reference point for discussion and strategy.

On the first day, she was originally schedule to swim the following:

200 Mdly (2:27.39Y) - Ranked 23
200 Back (2:26.12Y) - Ranked 17
100 Fly (1:05.51Y) - Ranked 14

However, the plan for day 1 is still up in the air. Bailey, surprisingly, expressed disappointment at not being put in the 1000. She apparently wants to swim it, in order to drop the 2 seconds needed for a Sectionals Cut. Ironically, the coach really wanted to put her in that event, because he felt she could earn some points, but he remembered the impact it had on her last year and didn't want to push it. The two have talked and I believe, based on the fact that Bailey wants to swim the 1000, and she has a chance to earn points by swimming that event, that the coach will put her in it. Now, I'm not sure which event he'll drop. Bailey indicated that she should drop the 200 Back, but I'm not sure that is the right play. In the 200 Back, currently, she is about 4 seconds from 10th place (which is the last spot that actually earns points). That's a good bit of time, but at State it isn't unusual to see significant drops. Moreover, she only has 6 people between her and a top 10 finish. In the 200 IM, she's 23rd, and shes 5+ seconds from the 10th seed. I'm not sure what Coach Andy will do, we'll have to wait and see. Just for reference here is how she stacks up in the 1000 Free:

1000 Free (11:55.91) - Ranked 10

In Day 2 this is what we are looking at:

100 Back (1:07.32Y) - Ranked 20
50 Fly (29.71Y) - Ranked 19
400 Mdly (5:13.12Y) - Ranked 11

So, despite the fact Bailey is a REALLY good flyer, she's way out of it in the 50. It would take a monumental drop for her to even sniff the top 10. In the 400 IM though, she'll be in the B final (because the top 20 times regardless of age get to swim finals in the event). She also could make the top 10 here - it could all come down to her breaststroke leg, which is improving, just don't know if it has improved enough.

The last day Bailey has her best change to finish top 10. Here is the schedule:

100 Mdly (1:09.28Y) - Ranked 18
200 Fly (2:23.72Y) - Ranked 6
50 Back (31.82Y) - Ranked 27

Again, Bailey has a top 20 time in the 100 IM, but it won't be good enough to score. Her 200 fly, like the 400 IM will be swum at finals, and she should stay in the top 10. To earn a medal, she'd need to cut 3 full seconds to swim the same time as the girl seeded third (not counting any improvement that swimmer might have).

Note: The relays have not be added into this schedule yet, as we are awaiting official word, but Bailey is the top 12 year old on the team and will undoubtedly be swimming fly in both the medleys and probably leading off both of the free relays.

Breeze

01-28-2015, 01:58 PM

State Meet Update - Bear

I went through the same routine with him to determine event rank, and here is what I've come up with:

Day 1, he is currently scheduled to swim the following:

200 Mdly (2:23.50Y) - Ranked 8
100 Fly (1:05.04Y) - Ranked 9
1000 Free (11:07.79Y)- Ranked 2

Like Bailey though, I'm not sure this is what he'll ultimately end up swimming. While the rankings look good for all 3 events, the 200 back is also on the first day. To determine which events to enter the kids in, Coach Andy looked at their times and compared them to the times that scored in 2014. In which case, the events listed above make since. However, the 200 back appears to be much slower coming into this year than last, and Bear is actually ranked 3rd. I believe that he will be switching either the 200 Medley or the 100 fly for the 200 back, just not sure which one. For point of reference, here is Bear's 200 Back:

200 Back (2:20.89)- Ranked 3

In Day 2 Bear has the following:

#30B (d2/s4): B 12-12 200 Free (2:05.16Y) - Ranked 9
#42B (d2/s4): B 12-12 50 Fly (30.00Y) - Ranked 14
#50B (d2/s4): B 12-12 400 Medley (5:00.98Y) - Ranked 3

If Bear is going to earn a medal on Saturday, he'll need to swim his breast leg well in the 400 IM. If he does that, 3rd place is certainly possible.

Day 3, is a big day for Bear:

#76B (d3/s7): B 12-12 100 Free (58.49Y) - Ranked 15
#80B (d3/s7): B 12-12 200 Fly (2:21.44Y) - Ranked 1
#90B (d3/s7): B 12-12 500 Free (5:23.37Y) - Ranked 2

2 more chances to earn medals. While he is seeded first in the 200 fly, it is very possible there are several fast kids who got their cuts in the event early, and just haven't swum it again, meaning we could see some significant drops in time from swimmers down lower in the rankings. Regardless though, he's possitioned in a good spot for both the 200 fly and 500 free.

I haven't listed relays for Bear either, but like Bailey, he'll most likely swim the fly in both medleys and he'll probably swim the 3rd leg in the free relays. Unlike Bailey, all 4 of Bear's relays will have a decent shot at finishing in the top 3 and earning a medal.

Breeze

02-03-2015, 12:18 PM

Brett Update

With the State Meet coming up, there will be a good bit of information on the twins, but none on Brett. Given that his short course season is for all intents and purposes over (1 more meet in April), I thought I’d take a second to look back on it.

While Brett didn’t have massive improvements this season, the increased workload, and his commitment to going to practice, even when he has to get up at 4:30 three days a week, did have a payoff. In the 2013-2014 season, Brett managed six BB Times, in 2014-2015 he has 7. While that doesn’t sound like a huge improvement it is misleading, and here is why. Last year, Brett’s BB times were in:

200 Free
500 Free
1000 Free
1650 Free
200 Breast
400 IM

This year he earned his BB times in:

100 Free
200 Free
1000 Free
100 Breast
200 Breast
200 IM
400 IM

That’s 3 new events that he didn’t have BB times in from last year (100 Free, 100 Breast, 200 IM). The reason he doesn’t have BB times in the 500 Free and the 1650 is because he didn’t swim them this year. One unfortunate aspect of the coaching change on the Senior Team, is that Coach Todd doesn’t push the kids to swim all the events the way Coach Neil did. I have no doubt, based on last year’s times, and the fact Brett has BB times in the 200 and the 1000 that he would have earned BB times in the events he failed to swim this season. If he had earned those two BB times, he'd have 9 total, that's a significant jump in 1 year.

Clearly, he still has work to do, but this is a positive sign, and I continue to hope that he’ll grow and develop into a competitive swimmer. I honestly believe he can get some of his times into the A range on the motivational scale (Distance Frees, Breast, and IMs). I don’t expect it during long course, but maybe he can get one by next season, and if he continues to work hard a few by fall of 2016.

*Note: I believe I’ve mentioned this previously, but when I refer to BB or A times, I’m using the USA Swimming National Motivational Times.

Breeze

02-06-2015, 09:02 AM

General Update

So just a bit of fun information. The twins came home from practice the other day pretty excited (especially Bear). It seems that Doc Blanchard's (Mr. Inside, Heisman Winning RB for Army in 1946) great granddaughter will be swimming with them starting next week.

Oh, and this girl's mother, apparently had Olympic Trial cuts as a swimmer...When she joins and I learn her name I'll add it here along with her times if you are interested.

So the mother spoke to the team last night...and she was a pretty dominate swimmer for about a 3 year period, including holding several records. Here is an article on the her in case you are interested.

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2012/aug/23/legendary-norcross-swimmer-headed-for-another/

*Note: Her daughter, who isn't a year round swimmer yet, will start after Spring Break, when the current team isn't in peak shape.

Breeze

02-09-2015, 09:32 AM

High School Swimming - State Meet Results

Even though Brett didn't qualify, I figured I'd take a minute to fill in the state meet results just to provide some closure on that season:

In the Georgia 6A Clasification:

Women

Lambert - Won the State Championship by 78 points in a dominating effort (3rd year in a row, I believe)
South - Finished 16th
West - Finished 19th
North - Finished 31st

Men

Lambert - Finished 8th
South - Finished 16th
North - Finished 21st
West - Finished 26th

In the 1A to 5A Meet:

Women

Central - Finsihed 38th
Pinecrest - Finished 48th

Men

Central - Finished 28th
Pinecrest - DNQ

As for South, they had the following top 10 finishes:

Boys 200 Medley Relay
Bayley Frierson (Gold Swimmer) - 200 Free - Finished 7th
Blake Atmore (the guy who signed to swim at UGA at the beginning of the season) - 100 Fly - 4th
Bayley Frierson - 500 Free - 3rd place
Blake Atmore - 100 Back - 3rd place

Breeze

02-09-2015, 01:42 PM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship @ Georgia Tech – 2/13-2/15

The initial psych sheet has been released, so now we have a better idea of where the twins will be seeded. Here is how things currently breakdown:

Bailey

200 IM – 17
100 Fly – 15
1000 Free – 9
100 Back – 24
50 Fly – 21
400 IM – 13
100 IM – 20
200 Fly – 4
50 Back – 34

Bear

200 IM – 9
200 Back – 5
1000 Free – 2
200 Free – 13
50 Fly – 17
400 IM – 3
100 Free – 17
200 Fly – 2
500 Free – 3

I’ll get more in detail as we get closer to the event. If you have any questions or are curious about anything (stroke, another swimmer, etc.) just ask.

Breeze

02-09-2015, 02:48 PM

General Update

So Brett started feeling bad this weekend. Just took him to the doctor and he has strep. Now we have to try and keep the twins from getting it right here before State...

Breeze

02-10-2015, 09:53 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship @ Georgia Tech – 2/13-2/15

The State Meet Dinner is tonight, so we'll find out about relays. As I mentioned before I expect Bailey and Bear to both be on the A relays in all 4 cases. In the Medley's I expect they will both swim fly, and in the frees I expect Bailey to lead off and Bear to go 3rd.

Breeze

02-11-2015, 08:19 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship @ Georgia Tech – 2/13-2/15

So my assumptions were right...both kids will be in all 4 "A" relays, and both will swim the Fly legs in the medley relays. I'll break down how the relays look shortly.

Breeze

02-11-2015, 11:38 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship - 11/12 Girls Relay Overview

Now that the relay announcements are official, I’ll take a minute to breakdown the kids in the relays and their outlook for the State Meet.

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Girls 200 Medley Relay

C. Salmon - Back
Julia K. - Breast
Bailey - Fly
Reagan - Free

I’m pretty sure none of Bailey’s teammates have been mentioned before in this thread, so there is very little point of reference for you. Here is what I can tell you:

C. Salmon – backstroke personal best – 31.94
A few years back Gold hired a coach away from Atlanta Swim Academy (ASA) to run one of the other facilities, and when he came over several girls followed him. I don’t know for sure that Salmon was one of them, but the timeline fits. She’s improved a great deal this season, so much so, that I didn’t even have her earmarked as someone to watch for making this relay team. She is currently seeded 38 in the 11/12 50 yard backstroke.

Julia K – breaststroke personal best – 35.03
Julia is another former ASA swimmer that moved over with her coach. Unlike Salmon, she was immediately noticeable, as she was strong swimmer the day she joined. Julia is a smaller girl, even smaller than Bailey, but she and Bailey compare favorably. Bailey is generally slightly faster than Julia in 100 Back and Free, but Julia is slightly faster in the 50s of those same strokes. Bailey is obviously much stronger in the fly, but Julia is much stronger in the breast. Julia is currently seeded 8 in the 11/12 50 yard breaststroke.

Bailey – butterfly personal best – 29.71
Just adding this for single point of reference (obviously you could look it up above, but figured this would be easier). Currently seeded 21 in the 11/12 50 yard butterfly.

Reagan – freestyle personal best – 28.75
Reagan is a swimmer that has bounced around between teams. She joined Gold (her third team) at the start of the short course season. She swims with Bailey at the Cumming facility, and she’s been slowly working her way into the established group of girls that Bailey hangs out with. She is a sweet girl, but her parents are bit more protective than the rest of the group, which makes it hard for her to fit in from a time and activity standpoint. Plus she’s a little less mature because of the coddling, which is also currently a hindrance to fitting in. However, I think it is just a matter of time before she’s one of the gang. One more note that might be interesting to you - Reagan apparently has a crush on Brett (of course Bailey comments, “Don’t get too excited, Reagan has a crush on a lot of the boys on the team”). Reagan just missed out on being the breaststroker in this relay. Unfortunately, her seed time isn’t good enough to swim the 50 Free in the state meet.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – as a whole, the Gold relay is mediocre. Their seed time will probably be somewhere around a 2:05.43. Coming into the 2014, that seed time would have put them 9. For point of reference, Last year’s A team, which finished 7, came in with a 2:03.90, and finished with a 2:01.72. Last year’s B team came in with a 2:06.37 and finished with a 2:05.16 (finished 10 overall).

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Girls 200 Free Relay

Bailey – 28.23
Julia – 28.19
Jordan – 28.93
Reagan – 28.75

Jordan
The only name here that wasn’t introduced above is Jordan, and I have to admit I don’t know much about her. She has an older sister, Taylor, who was making huge improvements last year, but she’s 13. Jordan is only 11 and she’s on the Sectionals team (not Sectionals Advance where Bailey and Bear swim), so I don’t have any information on her from the kids. I can tell you that she is swimming a full 9 events at State, so this is a name I’ll expect to hear more of moving forward.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – on the whole, this team is very poor. Of the 4 girls swimming this event, none met the 12 year old cut time of 27.49. Only Jordan will be swimming this event at State, because she did reach the cut time for 11 year olds. Their overall seed time will be around a 1:54.10, which would have placed them 13 last year. The A team from 2014, which finished 5, came in with a 1:49.50, and the B team came in with a 1:54.58. So this years A team doesn’t even reach the pre-event status of the B team from last year.

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Girls 400 Medley Relay

Salmon – Back – 1:07.89 – currently seeded 27 in the individual 100 back
Julia – Breast – 1:16.59 – currently seeded 8 in the individual 100 breast
Bailey – Fly – 1:05.52 – currently seeded 15 in individual 100 fly
Reagan – Free – 1:01.90 – DNQ in the 100 Free

These names undoubtedly look familiar. It’s the exact same kids and they are swimming the same strokes in the 400 as they swam in the 200.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – As you’ve probably guessed, Bailey’s relay team isn’t going to be very good here either. Seed time looks like it will fall around a 4:31.90. For reference – in 2014 that would have put them 8. Last year’s A was a 4:27 coming in, and the B was a 4:33.

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Girls 400 Free Relay

Bailey – 60.50
Julia – 61.93
Reagan – 61.90
Sarah B – 63.04

Sarah B
Unfortunately, I can provide no insight on this swimmer, other than the fact she is 11. She is one of the many that I’m totally clueless about.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – Like the 200 Free Relay, none of the girls actually got the 100 Free cut time for 12 year olds, and just like the 200 Free, the fourth girl, this time Sarah, did get the cut for 11 year olds and will swim it at the meet. Combined seed time looks like a 4:07.37. Would have placed them 10 in 2014. In fact the B team was 10 with a seed time of 4:07.79.

*Note: Relays are subject to change at any time.

Breeze

02-11-2015, 02:51 PM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship - 11/12 Boys Relay Overview

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Boys 200 Medley Relay

Nicklas Bohn - Back
Griffin. - Breast
Bear - Fly
Nate – Free

Here is a quick breakdown of Bear’s teammates:

Nicklas Bohn – backstroke personal best – 30.56
Nicklas is a kid that has been mentioned previously in this thread. I did a quick search and found a reference to him as Bohn back at post 309. He’s a good kid, who is having an extremely strong season. In fact, he’ll be one of Bear’s main competitors during the weekend. Though they practice together Nicklas doesn’t really hand out with Bear and their group, he identifies more with the next group of boys who are 11 or just turning 12. Nicklas is one of the best backstrokers in the State, having won at least 1 State Championship in one of the back events last year. The interesting thing here is his seed time of 30.56. He swam that time way back in September, which might lead you to believe he could go much faster than that now, but he swam it again in January and failed to be his personal best. I’m hoping the swim in January was hindered by the team ramping up for the State meet, and that with a taper he’ll go much faster. The interesting thing is that Nicklas isn’t swimming this event at State. His personal best time would be good enough to seed him 13 as-is, but he is instead focused on more distance events.

Griffin – breaststroke personal best – 35.65
I’m not sure if Griffin has been mentioned previously. He’s another great kid, and he’s one we interact with from time to time. In fact, Griffin was on one of Bear’s GRPA State Relay over the Summer. I looked back and his name wasn’t mentioned in the write ups, which tells me I’m going to need to start being more detailed for posterity and reference purposes moving forward. Griffin is one of the kids that I was referencing above when describing the kids that Nicklas identifies with. Griffin just did get the breaststroke leg in this relay, beating out second place by a couple tenths of a second, and Bear is very happy about that (more on this later). Even though Griffin is just 11, he’s seeded 15 in the 11/12 - 50 Breaststroke.

Bear – butterfly personal best 30.00
Bear’s best time seeds him 17 in the 11/12 – 50 fly.

Nate – freestyle personal best – 25.36
I looked back through the thread and didn’t see a mention of Nate anywhere, which surprised me (and again points our the fact I need to be more detailed). He’s a kid that swims at one of the other facilities, but Bear likes him a lot and they interact regularly during meets. We initially met Nate during our first Sectionals Meet in Greensboro a few years back. He’s become an extremely strong swimmer, especially in the Freestyles. In the 50 Free Nate’s time is good enough to seed him 4.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – As you can tell from the individual seeds, the outlook for the boys is much brighter than the girls. In fact, I calculate the A team’s seed time to be around a 2:01.57. Last year’s A team, which consisted of Bear’s buddies Tommy and Riley as well as Nate as an 11 year old, came in with a seed time of 2:02.71 – and managed to swim a 2:00.03 and finish 4. Because it looks like this team will be seeded high, and have a shot to medal, I’ve done some preliminary research into both Swim Atlanta and Dynamo, and from what I can tell the Swim Atlanta A team will come in with an amazing 1:55.08, and the B team should be around 2:02.96. As for Dynamo, their A team calculates to 1:56.82, and the B team 2:02.55. So the race for the Bronze could be VERY INTENSE! Glad we have Nate as anchor trying to swim down the other Freestylers…

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Boys 200 Free Relay

Nate – 25.36 – seeded 4
Nicklas – 26.28 – not swimming but would be around 9
Bear – 27.18 – not swimming but would be 23
Jack A – 27.39 – seeded 27

Jack A
Three of the names above are the same as the 200 Medley Relay (and they will be the same throughout in case you were wondering), Jack A is the only new one. Jack is another up the kids that Nicklas hangs out with. In this case Jack comes from a swim family. His two sisters are on the National Team for Gold and will be looking at good Division 1 scholarships. Jack has just started to hit his stride in swimming, improving significantly the past year plus. In the 50 Free for instance, he started the season with a 29.96, and his 27.39 time is from December. I’m hoping he’ll be able to drop more time following the taper. My only concern here is that he’s not in Bear’s group for workouts and I never hear his name mentioned in practice. I’m assuming he’s going regularly, if not, he won’t touch his personal best.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – The seeds listed again give you pretty good insight into this team’s chances. Last year the A Relay (again containing Tommy, Riley, and Nate) came in with a seed time of 1:48.95 and ended up swimming a 1:44.96, finishing third and earning the bronze medal. This year, Bear’s team will come in with seed time around 1:46.21. Again with the impressive seed time, I’ve looked into the two juggernaut teams to see how they will probably line up. Swim Atlanta’s A Team looks like it will come in with a 1:47.18 and the Dynamo A Team appears to be a 1:46.31. Relays are hard to predict because there are a number of variables in place that influence the result, but again, Bear’s relay will have a shot to medal.

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Boys 400 Medley Relay

Nicklas Bohn – Back - 1:03.75 – currently seeded 5
Grant M – Breast – 1:16.86 – currently seeded 14
Bear – Fly – 1:05:04 – not swimming the event – would be seeded around 11
Nate – Free – 53.29 – currently seeded 1

Grant M
Grant M has been mentioned in this thread in the past, but he was referred to as Grant 2. I really like most of the kids that Bear swims with, however, this isn’t one of them. A few years ago, Bear really tried to befriend Grant, but it didn’t work out. Grant was high maintenance, disrespectful, mean, and completely self-absorbed. Earlier in the 200 Medley I commented that Bear was very happy Griffin slipped into the Breast leg, that’s because Bear doesn’t want Grant on his relay, and it isn’t a personal thing, where Bear doesn’t like Grant and that’s why he doesn’t want to swim with him. If Grant is the fastest swimmer, and the team can count on him, then Bear’s all for him swimming. However, the team counting on him is the part that is concerning. For reference…during one of the state meets recently, Grant was beaten in his breaststroke event. Shortly after that race he was supposed to swim in a medley relay. He ended up swimming, but his 100 split was OVER 7 SECONDS SLOWER THAN HIS PERSONAL BEST!!! He clearly didn’t want to race that event, and so he didn’t try, screwing it up for the other 3 kids he was swimming with. I was in the stands at the time, and it was obvious he had mailed it in. This is one of those cases where I hope one of the other Breaststrokers on the Gold team beats him in the 100 Breast race so they’ll change the relay.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – The strong core of Nate, Nicklas, and Bear again has this relay positioned to compete for a medal. There seed time coming in should be around a 4:18.94, a good 10 seconds or so faster than the 2014 A team, who finished in fourth with a time of 4:23.72. The Swim Atlanta team looks like it will be a 4:10.89 with the B team looking like a 4:24.09. Dynamo looks like a 4:18.41 with the B team a 4:26.23. Again it’s going to be a tight a fun event for the Gold relay.

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Boys 400 Free Relay

Nate – 53.29 – seeded 1
Nicklas – 56.75 – seeded 8
Bear – 58.49 – seeded - 17
Andrew – 59.74 – not swimming this event, but would be seeded around 27

Andrew
This is another kid that I pull really hard for. He is a great kid with a super personality, and his dad is an extremely nice guy, who’s always very complementary of Bailey and Bear. Andrew is a smaller kid, that works very hard. Most of his events are the more difficult ones (distance frees, 400 IM, 200 fly). He came on strong with the sprints late to get on this relay. The 100 Free falls after the 400 Free relay, so it isn’t likely he’ll lose his spot, but if Jack A has a strong meet, and especially if he has a strong 50 free and 200 free relay, the coaches might make the switch.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – So the seed time for the relay looks like it’ll be about 3:48.00. For point of reference, the State Record in this event is a 3:40. I don’t expect this team to drop 8 seconds and challenge the state record, but it does illustrate how strong they are. However, the Gold team isn’t a shoe in to even win the event. Swim Atlanta’s A team will be seeded with a 3:48.08 and Dynamo’s A team is coming in around a 3:52.66. Another exciting race to look forward to!

*Note: Relays are subject to change at any time.

Breeze

02-12-2015, 09:07 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship @ Georgia Tech – 2/13-2/15

So the final psych sheet has been released and there are few changes to report (though I have to admit most of the changes are from me taking the time to remove 11 year old's seeded above the twins out of the count)

Bailey

200 IM – 16
100 Fly – 14
1000 Free – 12
100 Back – 21
50 Fly – 19
400 IM – 12
100 IM – 20
200 Fly – 4
50 Back – 27
200 Medley Relay - 10
200 Free Relay - 13
400 Medley Relay - 8
400 Free Relay - 11

Bear

200 IM – 8
200 Back – 4
1000 Free – 2
200 Free – 10
50 Fly – 12
400 IM – 3
100 Free – 13
200 Fly – 2
500 Free - 3
200 Medley Relay - 3
200 Free Relay - 2
400 Medley Relay - 3
400 Free Relay - T1

Breeze

02-12-2015, 10:17 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship -General Update

So Coach Andy wants Bear to do his first shave tonight. Bear's been a little reluctant to do it, but last night I think the excitement of the meet has caught up to him and he's now on board with the suggestion.

Breeze

02-13-2015, 06:55 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group Championships - Day 1 : Morning

Some quick notes:

- 99 Gold Swimmers Total Qualified for the Meet
- Bear is shaved - didn't like doing it...will have to see how he likes it after warm ups
- Bailey struggled to eat again...not good it is just the first morning
- Bear's new competition suit is real tight...so much so he's uncomfortable
- Seth is dealing with a head cold
- Tho she won't admit it...Bailey is very anxious...hopefully she can covert that to energy during races

Breeze

02-13-2015, 04:13 PM

2015 Georgia Age Group Championships - Day 1 Finals

Not going to go into detail now because it is too hard on the phone. ..but here are a few quick notes

- Bear made finals in the 200 im
- Bear will also swim 200 back tonight
- Bailey got in 100 fly finals
- Griffin (mentioned in relay discussion) dropped 1.5 sec on 50 breast
- Jack A (relay discussion too) dropped .4 in 50 free

Breeze

02-15-2015, 07:36 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group Championship - Day 2 Review / Day 3 Preview

Sorry for no update yesterday, phone wouldn't hold a charge...

Day 2 Review

- Twins had greatv swims across the board
- Bear's 400 IM was an amazing race
- Relays were dramatic...and frustrating

Day 3 Preview

- Bailey's strong showings in 100 and 50 fly has her excited about her chances in 200 Fly
- Bear is determined to swim strong in both his big events today
- Relays should be exciting...Bailey's team has seriously out performed seed...and Bear and Nate are killing their frees so far this meet.

Breeze

02-16-2015, 07:13 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group Championship - Conclusion Quick Thoughts

This meet was exactly why I decided to write this dynasty. The emotions were up and down and the swings could occur in a matter of minutes (especially on Sunday). Unfortunately, I don't think I can adequately explain in text the drama/excitement of the weekend. I have video of almost all the events and I'll see if I can post them somewhere. This would allow you to watch them, before I do the breakdowns.

Breeze

02-16-2015, 08:11 AM

Dynasty Update

I haven't been sharing videos and pictures as much as I should, but we don't participate in Facebook, and trying to manage a list of people who has access to view the images seemed a bit burdensome. However, I think we are getting to a point where it really should be part of this experience. Unfortunately, because we've never had any need to post/share images I'm not to familiar with the pro's and con's of the different sites that offer this service. I figured I'd start with Google+, so I set up a new Gmail account to try and manage this away from my personal inbox. If you are interested in viewing the images and pictures posted I guess add the following account to your group - or tell me what account to add to my group (not sure how this part works)...

[email protected]

Please let me know your account name on here, as I'm not really interested in allowing the world to view a bunch of young kids swimming in tight bathing suits.

If Google+ isn't a good solution, I'm open for suggestions, and if the interest isn't there for access, then that's fine I'll just do the write ups for my own journal.

Breeze

02-16-2015, 03:25 PM

Dynasty Update

I uploaded the first race of the weekend. Bailey's 200 IM, and it appears to be working. I'll start uploading the others shortly...

Breeze

02-17-2015, 03:50 PM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship – Day 1 Preliminaries

Writing this up, basically as things occurred:

#1 Girls 11-12 200 IM

Bailey – 2:27.39 : Seeded 16 – Bailey opened the meet with an improvement in the 200 IM. It wasn’t as much of a drop as I would have liked to see, but she did manage a personal best time of 2:26.54. She opened with a very quick 29.94 split in the fly, which was one of the 5 or 6 fastest splits of all the girls in the event. However, her back time was a pedestrian 37.31, and her breast was a poor 46.53 (was hoping for better here as she had been showing signs of possibly swimming this leg in the low 45s). All in all in was nice to see the drop in time, and the solid start to the meet, and her effort was good enough to move up to 14 in the standings.

#2 Boys 11-12 200 IM

Bear – 2:23.50 : Seeded 8 – In the prelims, Bear’s fly was a solid 30.49…I was expecting a little better time from that leg, if I’m being honest, and I was a bit concerned that his fly was going to be off a bit at this meet. He followed that leg up with a back in 35.83 and a breast of 43.59, which was very strong for him. He closed in 30.56. He dropped a total of 3 seconds to finish with a personal best time of 2:20.47, and he was 9, so he qualified for finals that evening.

#13 Girls 11-12 100 Fly

Bailey – 1:05.51 : Seeded 14 – I didn’t really touch on this race in my pre-event write up, mostly because I knew she would swim it. What I wasn’t so sure of was her chances of making finals. 14 seed is a tough spot. That puts quite a few swimmers between you and the 10 spot…so it typically takes a very good swim to get in, and given that Bailey had been flat for a while in this event, I didn’t know if she would be able to do it. However, as the race started Bailey was staying right with the middle of the pool. In fact, at the turn she was in first place by an eye blink. She wasn’t able to hold on over the back half, but finished third in her heat less than a second behind first and only .01 out of second. Her final time was a 1:03.96 and I felt given her finish and time she had a strong change of making finals. We sweated out 2 more heats and finally learned that she was 8 and swimming again that evening.

#19 Girls 11-14 1000 Free (note: event swam 11-14, but scored by age)

Bailey – 11:55.91 : Seeded 12 – The coach was looking for Bailey to hold it around 1:10 splits so she could go under 11:50 with cushion and get the Sectional Cut in this event. Bailey allowed me to do the counting for her, and here is how she did:

100 – 1:05.84
200 – 1:10.21
300 – 1:09.76
400 – 1:09.34
500 – 1:10.94
600 – 1:10.27
700 – 1:11.37
800 – 1:11.86
900 – 1:10.66
1000 – 1:08.75

FINAL – 11:39.00

This was a nice improvement…and it allowed her to climb into 9th place and earn a couple points for the team.

#14 Boys 11-14 1000 Free (note: event swam 11-14, but scored by age)

Bear – 11:07.79 : Seeded 2 – So for basically the first time Bear wasn’t swimming this event just based on time. He was in the heat with the top seeded swimmer (Brendan). They weren’t next to each other due to other swimmers in different age groups getting in between them, but we were able to watch him, and our instructions were to not let him get away especially early where Bear has a tendency to come off his pace a bit. The race started and pretty quickly Brendan established himself his opening 100 was an amazing 59.48 compared to Bear’s 1:04.28. So immediately Brendan opened up almost a 5 second lead. This is where it gets a bit tricky with strategy. I expected Brendan to open much faster than Bear. His stroke is more fluid and he’s a faster sprinter than Bear (honestly, he’s arguably the fastest 12 year old swimmer – sprinter or otherwise in the state). In addition, many good sprinters start out fast for the first 50 before settling into their distance pace, whereas Bear tends to hit his pace earlier and maintain it longer. While Bear is capable of swimming sub 60 on a regular basis, I didn’t expect him to here. I was hoping for a 1:02 high, but I let it ride…not signaling him to pick it up yet. Here is how the race went: (note: the # indicates a signal for a slight increase in pace, and the ! is a signal to really pick it up)

Yards Brendan Bear Diff
100 59.48 1:04.28 -4.8
200 1:04.64 1:05.94 -6.1 closer split happy about that - #
300 1:05.24 1:05.60 -6.46 starting to worry about disconnection - !
400 1:05.97 1:04.46 -4.49 first split in our favor
500 1:06.80 1:04.51 -2.66 huge split for us, half body behind at midpoint
600 1:06:13 1:03.75 -.28 basically a dead heat at this point
700 1:04.82 1:04.02 +.52 Bear has the lead – but Brendan picking it up - !
800 1:03.72 1:04.30 -.06 200 to go – dead heat - !
900 1:03.61 1:03.88 -.33 Still a dead heat – 100 for championship - !!!

1000 1:02.41 1:02.54 -.46 UGH…half a second in a 1000 – are you kidding

Total time 10:43.28

He ends up with a silver medal!!!

Breeze

02-18-2015, 09:49 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship – Day 1 Finals

We return to the pool at 5 PM for warm ups, and the meet starts about 6:15. Here are the results from the evening session.

#2 Boys 11-12 200 IM

Bear – 2:20.47 : Seeded 9 – The race starts, and again Bear’s fly is solid with a 30.31 split. Then Bear goes a 35.56 is back, and he basically matches his teammate Nicklas (who is a top State backstroker, and swimming right next to him). I believe this is more to do with Bear being stronger and willing to push more, as Nicklas was about a full second off from the morning split in the backstroke leg, and Bear was down a fraction of a second from earlier in the day. In the Breast leg, swam a 42.28, a very nice time for him in what is his weakest stroke – in fact, he was faster in that split than 4 other swimmers, something that would have been unthinkable coming into this season. He closed the race with a 30.82 free. His overall time was another personal best of 2:18.97, dropping about a second and a half from the morning. He also beat Nicklas this time, moving up a spot to finish 8th.

#10 Boys 11-12 200 Back

Bear - 2:20.89 : Seeded 4 – The 200 back was one of the events that wasn’t swum prelim/finals for the 12 and under age group. Basically, the 20 fastest times swim in the evening, which is why this wasn’t part of the prelim write up. While Bear came in seeded fourth, we didn’t expect him to finish that high. His backstroke turns are a bit weak, and with the drops that occur during the State Meet we expected him to fall back some, we just wanted him to get a top 10 finish and earn some points. The race basically played out exactly how we expected, with Bear swimming a solid time of 2:21.06. Unfortunately, not a personal best, but only .17 off of it, and with the fatigue from the 1000 in the morning, plus the 200 IM twice, the slight increase really wasn’t unexpected. The time was good enough for 10th.

#13 Girls 11-12 100 Fly

Bailey – 1:03.96 : Seeded 8 – We were thrilled that Bailey even made finals in this event. However, she felt that she could have won her heat and was setting a goal in this race to get her time down under 1:03.00. She opened with a 29.10 (a drop of .4 from the morning), and she brought it home in 33.60. Final time - 1:02.70; Which was also good enough to climb 2 more spots in the standings and finish 6th overall.

Points earned on the day

Bear – 13
Bailey - 7

Breeze

02-18-2015, 02:30 PM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship – Day 2 Preliminaries

#25 Girls 12&U 200 Medley Relay

Gold A Relay - 2:05.42 : Seeded 10 – The race started and Salmon on the back, opened with a 31.73, which was only the 11th best time in that leg out of the 23 teams and Gold found themselves in last place in their heat (but honestly, the split was a personal best for Salmon, so not a bad swim). Julia took off on the breast, and it became pretty obvious, pretty quickly, she was going to outswim her seed time of 35.03, and she did, by about 2 seconds, posting a 32.93 leg, and moving the team up from 10th in the heat to 5th. Bailey dove in, and she swam a strong 28.61 split, but she was out-touched at the wall by a girl who left a fraction of a second behind her. The freestyler swam a 27.81 and held on to the 6th spot. 2:01.08 was the time, a huge improvement over the seed time and a huge improvement from 10th to 6th. Also the time actually beats the 2014 A team, and I wouldn’t have guessed that was possible coming in.

#26 Boys 12&U 200 Medley Relay

Gold A Relay – 2:01.57 : Seeded 3 – This was a tightly seeded event, with Gold 3rd but 2 other teams were less than a second behind. The race started with Nicklas in back getting a poor start. The poor start put him behind several of the teams that were seeded close to Gold. He caught and passed a couple teams in the middle of the pool, but when his leg finished Gold A sat in 4th. The breaststroker Griffen was slow off the blocks in the transition, but he maintained 4th. Bear swam his leg in 29.65, but was unable to close, in fact, he lost ground to the 3 leaders and to the 5th place team, as all of those flyers swam under 28 seconds. The anchor, Nate, was extremely strong, trying to swim down the teams ahead of him. He closed with a 23.96, but he couldn’t catch the team in third, so they had to settle for fourth with a time of 1:56.35. However, the team in 3rd was disqualified because the breaststroker left early, and so Gold A got the bronze medal after all – They also got the Gold Team Record for this event.

#30 Boys 11-12 200 Free

Bear - 2:05.15 : Seeded 10 – This was a real quick turnaround for Bear. He probably had less than 20 minutes rest. Not that the 50 fly he swam was so taxing, but doing a 200 sprint while still recovering isn’t ideal. Of course my worrying was for nothing. Bear opened with a 28.57 (basically the same time as his personal best coming into this weekend), the followed it up with a 31.16. The back half was comprised of 30.77 and 30.55. He finished with a 2:01.05 and was seeded 5th headed to finals that night.

#33 Girls 11-12 100 Back

Bailey – 1:07.32 : Seeded 21 – In this event, it looked like Bailey was at a practice session. Slow deliberate arm rotations…long efficient, but effort could have been better. She actually added a bit of time finishing with a 1:08.44. Because she came in seeded 21st, I don’t think there was any urgency for this swim, and with the 50 fly up next, I suspect, though she hasn’t admitted it, that she was conserving something for that race. She ended up in 23rd place.

#41 Girls 11-12 50 Fly

Bailey – 29:71 : Seeded 19 – I mentioned in the pre-event write up “It would take a monumental drop for her to even sniff the top 10.” Well…Bailey started this race with her typical too deep dive. However, she did manage to surface in contention anyway. At the turn she was running about 8th, but after the turn she managed to get up to 5th - awesome quickness on the flip and really strong underwaters. She ended up finishing the heat in 4th with a time of 28.82. She wanted to get under 29 and she did. This also makes her fly personal best almost identical to her free personal best. When all the heats were finished, she ended up – 11th. So it was a monumental effort, but it came up just short.

#42 Boys 11-12 50 Fly

Bear – 30.00 : Seeded 12 – Bear’s 50 fly looked exactly like the fly he swam in the 200 IM, and the fly he swam in the 200 Medley Relay - strong and steady, but not quick. He finished with a 30.06, adding a fraction of a second, and slipping to 14th overall.

#49 Girls 11-12 400 IM

Bailey - 5:13.12 : Seeded 12 – Bailey’s strong swimming so far, had her pumped up about possibly getting top 10 in this event. She started with the fly leg and she went 1:06.78. Honestly, this is slower than I would have expected. Then her backstroke was reminiscent of her back in the 200 IM or the 100 Back, long and deliberate for a split of 1:16.44. At this point I felt she had no shot at the top 10. Her breast was typical 1:32.32, then she closed with a 1:09+ freestyle. This ends up being a huge improvement of around 9 seconds, but it seemed she left something in the pool. The swim time of 5:04.66 was good enough for 11th, but she just missed 10th by .27 seconds.

#45 Girls 12&U 200 Free Relay

Gold A Team – 1:54.10 : Seeded 13 – Because the Gold team was seeded 13, they didn’t make the fast heat and were forced to swim against some pretty poor teams. Ultimately, this could have negatively impacted them if they allowed themselves to be influenced by the competition, rather than just swimming their fastest race. The race started with Gold sending their 4th swimmer to the blocks first. She swam a 28.27, which was about .6 seconds faster than her previous personal best. The rest of the team followed with all of them swimming low 27s…they won their heat going away, and as it turns out, they beat over half the pool in the fast heat as well. Their time of 1:50.05 was good enough for 6th…a big jump up from the seed spot of 13th.

#46 Boys 12&U 200 Free Relay

Gold A Team – 1:46.21 : Seeded 2 – This was another tight one coming in with 6 teams within a couple seconds of each other. Nicklas led off and swam a strong 26.06, and the team is in basically a dead heat with 2 other teams for second. Bear was second and he swam a strong 26.37, which put the team in a tight 3rd, only half a second out of second but only .2 ahead of 3rd place. The 3rd swimmer was Jack A, who posted a time of 26.66, but the team lost ground to two teams, but they only lost 1 spot as one of the lead teams clearly put their two best swimmers out front and their 3rd leg fell way off the pace. The anchor for Gold, Nate dove in 4th place, only an eye blink out of 3rd and about a full second out of 2rd place, and 2.5 seconds out of first, but he immediately started chewing into their lead. The 3rd place team was quickly left behind and the only question would be if Nate had enough pool to reel in the leaders. At the end of the race Gold posted a 1:43.27, basically 1 second behind first and second, as the race was decided by only .06. The time while only good enough for a bronze medal, did break the Gold Team Record for this event.

Breeze

02-19-2015, 10:38 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship – Day 2 Finals

#50 Boys 11-12 400 IM

Bear – 5:00.98 : Seeded 3 – This session started off with the 400 IM, which was a surprise to everyone. , given that the first race listed in the heat sheet was event #29…caught us a little off guard and caused a problem for Bear, but more on that later. The race started out with the Fly and when that opening 100 ended, Bear was in second place after a split of 1:04.83. In the backstroke leg, bear swam another good split of 1:13.31, but he slipped back to third about a second behind second place, heading into his weakest stroke – breast. Bear did an excellent job fighting to stay in contact with the leaders. He managed to swim the 100 breast split in 1:24.39 – for point of reference his personal best in the 100 breast is a 1:23.97. Unfortunately, despite his strong breast, Bear found himself a distant 4th…around 3 seconds out of 3rd and 3.5 out of second (first place was a runaway at this point). Bear was so far behind when the freestyle started that the announcer stated that Brendan (mentioned earlier in the 1000 free) was going to win the event, but that there was a great battle for second between the two swimmers Bear was trailing. Bear was a complete afterthought. At the end of the first 50 in the free leg, Bear had closed to 2 seconds behind 2nd place, and 1.8 behind 3rd – and he was charging. As Bear was heading into the final turn the announcer recognized the charge, and started yelling , and Bear is coming on strong…heading down the stretch with every stroke Bear ate into the 2nd and 3rd place swimmers lead. As they reached for the wall here were their times:

Bear Quinn David H
4:42.92 4:42.67 4:42.46

So Bear’s charge came up just short – missing third by .25 seconds and second by .46 seconds. It was amazing to watch. Bear’s final 100 in the 400 free was an unbelievable 1:00.65 – which was a good 2 full seconds faster than any other swimmer in the pool and over 3 seconds faster than the 2nd and 3rd place finishers.

#30 Boys 11-12 200 Free

Bear – 2:01.05 – Seeded 5th – Remember above when I said the switching of the 400 IM to the first event of the evening really impacted Bear. Well the second event of the evening was the 200 Free. After his furious charge to try and earn a medal, Bear got about 15 minutes to rest before he hit the pool again for this event. It was unfortunate, because the fatigue was obvious. He did manage to go Sub60 in the opening 100, but fell off to a 1:03 back half, settling for a 2:03.33 and 9th place. If he had more time to recover he would have had a good chance to hang on to 5th, might have challenged for 4th, and probably would have done no worse than 6th.

#65 Girls 12&U 400 Medley Relay

Gold A Team – 4:23.86 – Seeded 8th – Salmon started off the backstroke again, and she swam a 1:07.08, which was a personal best time, but still put the relay way behind the top teams. In fact, the Gold A team found themselves in 8th. Julia in breast did a 1:13.61 and moved the team up to 6th. Bailey’s split in the fly was a 1:03.56, which put them in 5th. Then the freestyler held on closing in a 59.61. The team finished 5th with a time of 4:23.86, a nice jump from the pre-race seed. Also the time was much faster than last year’s Gold A team.

#66 Boys 12&U 400 Medley Relay

Gold A Team – 4:18.94 : Seeded 3rd – Nicklas started off in the back and swam a very strong 1:03.32. When he got to the wall, the team was solidly in second place, over a second up on the 3rd place team. The second in the water was Grant 2. In the preview of this event, I noted the concern with Grant swimming this leg, due to his history of mailing in his swims, and hoping that Griffin would get moved into this slot before the race. Well the change wasn’t made, despite the fact that Griffin beat Grant in the 50 and 200 Breasts earlier during the meet – and the failure to make that change was huge. In Grant’s defense, he didn’t mail in the swim, rather he tried way to hard, overworking the stroke and going no-where. He finished with a time of 1:17.02 and the team fell all the way to a 5th. In fact, on the strength of Griffins 1:13.32 split the Gold B team was in 6th and only .4 seconds behind the A team. Bear managed a 1:04.83 split in the fly – still 5th, but with a good 2.5 second lead on the Gold B team. Then Nate hit the water for the free leg, and just like the 200 Medley, he immediately began eating into the lead. By the first 50, he was already in a dead heat for 4th and only .6 from 3rd. He blew by both of those teams in the back half and was closing hard on second place, only getting out-touched by .4 seconds. So Gold’s A team took another bronze with a time of 4:17.59 – and they broke another Gold Team Record.

Total Points Earned

Bailey - 7
Bear - 21

Breeze

02-20-2015, 09:18 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship – Day 3 Prelims

#67 Girls 12&U 400 Free Relay

Gold A Team – 4:07.73 : Seeded 11 – Again, because the A team is seeded 11th, they didn’t get to swim in the fast heat. Instead, they entered their heat as the top seed, with very little competition. The opening swimmer, Reagan posted a 1:01.82 – which was the 12th fastest opening leg in the meet. Julia went second and was sub60, finishing at 59.54 – which put the team ahead in their heat, and 8th overall on time at the midway point. The slowest swimmer of the 4 went 3rd, and she only managed a 1:03, but held on to 8th. Bailey closed the relay with a sub60 swim of 59.21 – which was also 8th total. Combined the team swam a 4:03.82, and again significantly outperformed their seed.

#68 Boys 12&U 400 Free Relay

Gold A Team – 3:48.00 : Seeded T1 – The Gold A Team, came into this relay already having earned 3 bronze medals and 3 team records. They were seeded T1, and where hoping for a better result this time out, as the Gold Team was clearly better at 100s than at 50s. The coaches for Gold, after having watched Nate try and close in the last 3 relays, decided they needed to switch up the order so as to not put too much pressure on him. They elected to have him lead off instead. Then the discussion came down to Bear vs Nicklas as the anchor. Coach Andy told the rest of the coaches, Bear will swim his best race no matter where you put him, but Nicklas does better when he’s challenged – so decision made – Nicklas is the anchor. The order ended up being Nate, Bear, Andrew, and Nicklas, and the irony of this change is – Swim Atlanta also changed their order as well. They front loaded their relay with their 2 best swimmers, hoping to disconnect and get the Gold swimmer to think they wouldn’t be able to make up the ground. Here is how it went:
Nate and Quinn (same Quinn that beat Bear in 400 IM) immediately separated themselves from the field. At the turn for the 50, Nate was up by .3, and third was already a full second back. At the end of the 100 things here were the splits:

Nate – 53.32 Quinn – 54.15

Bear was next up, and he opened with a 26.75 in the first 50…but the Swim Atlanta swimmer posted a 25.92 0 so the teams were tied with a split of 1:20.07. On the back 50, Bear lost a bit more time Here are the splits and the overall times:

Bear – 56.49 (1:49.81) Swim Atlanta – 54.85 (1:49.00)

Down by a little under a second, Andrew, the slowest of the 4 swimmers dove in. He’s more of a distance swimmer, so I was afraid that we might fall a good bit behind now. In the first 50 of the 3rd leg Andrew lost another .8 when he posted a 27.46 to SAs 26.75, but in the back half he closed some and the race was look like this:

Andrew – 57.66 (2:47.47) Swim Atlanta – 57.29 (2:46.29)

Nicklas had a 1.18 second deficit to make up when he hit the water. He was clearly closing on the Swim Atlanta anchor, and at the 50 turn of the 4th leg the deficit was almost cut in half as it was down to .57 seconds. Nicklas opened with a 26.80 to Swim Atlanta’s 27.55. The question was could he make up another .59 or did he wear himself out on the opening leg chasing?

Nickas – 55.46 (3:42.93) Swim Atlanta – 57.27 (3:43.56)
Gold wins Gold!!! And they not only broke the team record, they destroyed it by 8 full seconds.

#71 Girls 11-12 100 IM

Bailey – 1:09.28 : Seeded 20 – This was a pretty indifferent effort from Bailey. Her fly was good, not great, her back was deliberate, and a 100 IM is an all-out sprint, there should have been more effort. The breast was pretty good for her, but she couldn’t close on the Free and ended up adding a fraction of the second to her PB – 1:09.33 – and she finished 18th. I do believe there were 2 problems with this race. 1 – she hasn’t swum it in quite a while and she isn’t use to the pacing. 2 – she’s seeded 4th in the 200 Fly, she wants a medal, and she knew she wasn’t going to make finals in this event, even with a great swim, so there was a bit of conserving energy going on.

#76 Boys 11-12 100 Free

Bear – 58.49 : Seeded 13 – Bear looked real strong in this one, keeping up with the swimmers in the middle of the pool in his heat. He finished with a personal best 57.33 and in 9th. So he’ll earn points in this event and he’ll be swimming it in finals.

#85 Girls 11-12 50 Back

Bailey – 31.82 : Seeded 27 – Pretty good swim…a personal best despite the fact the arm rotation was too slow for this sprint. Again, I think it gets back to the second problem mentioned in the 100 IM. Her final time 31.35, and she finished 23rd.

Breeze

02-20-2015, 10:37 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship – Day 3 Prelims

Opps missed one…

#90 Boys 11-12 500 Free

Bear – 5:23.37 : Seeded 2 – In this event, Bear was right next to the top seed, guess who – Brendan, and the 3rd seed, Nate, was on the other side of the top seed. Bear went into this event wanting to beat Brenden and pay him back for the out-touching that occurred on day 1 in the 1000 Free. The coach said, to keep in contact with Brendan early. Like the 1000 Brendan opened really strong with a 58.88. Nate was second at this point with a 59.31. Bear was actually 5th at the 100 turn with a split of 1:01.69. I signaled Bear to pick it up a little and he did, closing on the leaders after he posted a 1:03.77 to Brendan’s – 1:04.20, and Nate’s – 1:05.17. At this point in the race Bear was in 3rd and the top 3 began to separate from the field. 3rd hundred Bear had another strong split of 1:03.38, but Brendan split 1:03.66, so almost no gain there. Nate swam a 1:04.97 and Bear slipped by him into 2nd. Bear lost ground on Brendan in the 4th hundred – coming into the wall 3.25 seconds back, but maintaining about a second lead on Nate. Here I got worried, and so did Coach Andy…we were both afraid Nate was going to sprint the last 100, and Bear wouldn’t be able to do much about it. As it turns out…Nate did pick it up in the final split going 1:03.15, but Bear swam a 1:02.50, posting a final time of 5:16.25 and earning another silver medal.

Breeze

02-23-2015, 12:31 PM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship – Day 3 Finals

#76 Boys 11-12 100 Yard Free

Bear – 57:33 : Seeded 9th - Our evening of swimming started with Bear’s 100 Free, which created a problem – because the very next event was the 200 fly, where Bear was seeded 2nd. Given that the 100 Free and the 200 Fly were back to back, and Bear would have no time to recoup following this sprint, the Gold coaches told Bear to throw the race. They told him that he was coming in seeded 9th, had just gotten a personal best in prelims, and he could swim the best race of his career and still end up 9th or 10th, and that he’d be better off throwing this one, finishing 10th and saving himself for the 200 Fly. Bear wasn’t real pleased with this, and it took multiple conversations to convince him of this logic. He said he didn’t want to mail it in, and he felt if he was going to mail it in, he should have scratched to give someone else a chance to swim it. However, the coaches finally got through to him, and explained that he had earned the spot, and settling for a lower point total wasn’t uncommon in the sport, that it happens in pretty much every big meet at some point. So Bear swam it and finished with a 1:02.21 and in 10th place. In case you are wondering, a good swim and Bear might have had a shot at 7th.

#79 Girls 11-12 200 Fly

Bailey – 2:23.72 : Seeded 4th – This was the last race of the meet for Bailey, and also her best chance at a medal. She was very eager to earn a medal here, especially after watching Bear perform so well. Working in Bailey’s favor was the fact one of the top swimmers in the state, and the #1 seed in this event had to withdraw due to bronchitis. This opened the door for Bailey to get a spot on the podium. In the opening 50 Bailey looked strong, as she made the turn in second place. At the 100 turn, Bailey was basically in a dead heat for second. At the 125 turn, she had fallen back a bit as the girl she was tied with made a strong move during that split…she was in a solid third heading into the wall for her turn to swim the last 50:

When she stopped!!! She was breathing basically every stroke, and her turnover was much faster than it had ever been, as she was on a pace to go 2:18 (which would have been a senior cut), this caused her to hyperventilate. She was crushed, but handled it like a champ – no tears, no lashing out, just a resigned attitude of I missed an opportunity. I was heartbroken for her, as she really has to battle some very big girls to try and get into medal contention, and this was looking like a race she would get on the podium for.

#80 Boys 11-12 200 Fly

Bear – 2:21.44 : Seeded 2nd – All the drama that occurred with Bailey took place right in front of Bear who was stretching and prepping for his turn in the 200 fly. This concerned me a bit, as I was afraid it might psych him out a bit. Brendan, who had beaten Bear in the 500 and 1000 Free swam this event in the morning using a long course time, and he posted a very strong 2:17.42, putting even more pressure on Bear’s swim. In the opening 50 Bear’s 30.81 was 5th into the wall in his heat, and behind the time posted by Brendan. The second 50 was stronger as Bear posted a 34.37, but he was still 4th, and only a fraction of a second ahead of Brendan’s time. However, one of Bear’s best traits is the ability to push…and he swam the 3rd 50 in 34.9…the fastest of all swimmers in this event – by a considerable margin. He blew by the 2nd and 3rd place swimmers and found himself just under a second behind the leader. As they reached the wall for final 25 bear was still charging. He lost some ground on the turn, but came up strong and continued to push…

Bear closed with the fastest 50 split of anyone in the race, closing with a 34…the leader closed with a 34.61…and the race finished like this:

Bear – 2:14.08 Anthony - 2:13.92

So Bear was out-touched for Gold again…this time by .16. So Bear earns his 3rd individual silver medal to go along with his 3 bronze and 1 gold relay medals.

Total Point Earned

Bear - 41
Bailey - 7

Breeze

02-24-2015, 09:23 AM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship - Summary

So this meet went about like I expected.

Bailey did well, but she definitely needs to clean up some stuff moving forward if she wants to be more competitive and I feel really sorry for her in the 200 Fly, as she was very excited about her opportunities there.

Bear on the other hand had an extremely strong meet, winning 7 total medals. (3 bronze and 1 gold relay medals, and 3 silver individual medals). Plus he was just out-touched by about .5 seconds in the 1000 for gold, by around .16 for gold in the 200 Fly, and he was only about .25 from bronze and less than .5 from silver in the 400 IM). Those races were extremely exciting to watch, as Bear charges to the wall.

I’ve posted a couple videos on Google+ and I’ll post more if anyone is interested. (Here is a link to…Bailey's 200 IM (https://plus.google.com/108433437547089604472/posts/Dwj8XJb4UqY) – not sure how this works, given that I limited access to it, but we’ll see).

Now the twins are prepping for the Southeastern Sectional Meet. I’ve been doing some research into that meet and I think I’ll have some interesting things to pass along, but I want to get closer to the event before I go to the trouble of doing a write up.

Brett is prepping for Northern Divisionals (a week after Sectionals, so twins might swim 1 day at that event). He’s missed quite a few days due to weather cancelling morning practices, sickness (just got over strep), and homework, but apparently reports are his fly is really starting to come around. FINGERS CROSSED…

Breeze

02-24-2015, 01:52 PM

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship - General Information

Couple items to report:

- The award ribbons given out for places 4th through 10th say Long Course State Championship on them. Not sure how this happens, but it is disappointing as it skews the whole award. Plus long course awards are a different color scheme

- Bear is still missing 2 of his medals (Relay Gold, and 500 Free Silver). He was originally missing 3, but 1 was found. The coach isn't confident they will turn up. Again not sure where the mistake is here, but given the info from the first bullet, I'm betting it is with the award team from the meet.

If for some reason Bear's medals don't turn up, I guess I'll be going to the Georgia Swimming organization to try an get them to reorder medals for him. Bear's pretty depressed by this...

Breeze

02-26-2015, 02:29 PM

General Update

So we had a scary moment last night. The kids went to morning practice without issue. Spent the day at home because the schools were closed due to concerns about the weather. The snow/ice rolled in around 4, and came down pretty steady most of the afternoon and into the event. At about 8, we were getting ready for dinner, and Bailey was fixing her baked potato, when she passed out. She stumbled backwards into the fridge, then fell to her knees and hit her head on the floor pretty hard right by the temple.

If you've been reading along for a while, I'm guessing I've mentioned her propensity to do this. It happened several times when she was younger, and we believe it is related to her problems eating early in the morning, especially when she is tired. She hasn't actually blacked out in a while, but she did pull herself out of a race at one of the Grand Prix meets because she felt she might.

When she came to, she sat down to eat and of course reported she had a headache. Which, after banging your head on the floor is to be expected. Then she reported blurry vision in the eye next to the temple she bumped. That was pretty concerning, but the vision cleared in about 5 minutes, so we just noted it. We figured everything was ok until she vomited about half a hour later, and then a second time about 15 minutes after that. At this point we figured she had a concussion and I was going to need to take her to the ER, in the middle of a wintry mix with ice on the roads.

We called the pediatrician before leaving, and after a long discussion, his opinion was the entire thing was caused from her being dehydrated. So we were to give her 2 tablespoons of watered down Gatorade every 20 minutes for the next 4 hours (did I mention it was about 10 PM at this point - and I got up at 4:30 AM and she got up at 5:00 AM).

It was a long night, but she seems fine today, and hopefully, this has illustrated, albeit in a rather painful way, the need to stay hydrated. Maybe she'll actually listen now when I tell her she needs to drink something.

On doctor's orders, Bailey will miss practice today in order to fully recover (she's not happy about it, but maybe this will also reinforce the need to hydrate).

Breeze

03-02-2015, 12:20 PM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals – GaTech – 3/12-3/15

So Coach Andy emailed us the events that the kids are currently scheduled to swim at Sectionals. At this meet, kids can swim up to 3 events a day, but no more than 8 individual events in total. Here is what the schedule currently looks like:

Bailey

400 IM
50 Fly
200 Back
100 Fly
50 Back
200 Fly
100 Back
200 IM

200 Free Relay – A Team
200 Medley Relay – A Team

Not surprisingly, Bailey is all Fly, Back and the longer IMs. I was a bit surprised to find out Bailey will have 2 relays. I didn’t think four 11-12 year old girls actually had Sectional Cuts (and it is possible they don’t, because the event is local, they may be bringing girls in just for the relay). I’m going to assume the relay will be the same girls from state – Julia, Reagan, and probably Jordan, but I’ll clear this up when I know more.

Bear

1000 Free
200 Free
100 IM
100 Fly
100 Free
500 Free
200 Fly
200 IM

200 Free Relay – B Team
200 Medley Relay – B Team

As for Bear, he’s got some problems because of the schedule. Coach would like for him to swim the 400 IM, but it is swum the first day along with the 1000 Free, and there is basically no way to swim both competitively. The coach has him in the 1000 because it is his better event right now, and he’s only 3 seconds from a team record, and the coach really wants him to break that record. Also, the 1650 is the last day of the meet. Right now Bear isn’t scheduled to swim it, because it is unclear if the event will be scored 11-12s and 13-14s, or if it will be scored 14 and unders. Once that is determined Bear’s schedule may change.

Also surprisingly, Bear is currently on the B relay for both Free and Medley. When I found that out, I was shocked…so I looked into it. Basically, it all comes down to a mistake in the entries at the state meet. I don’t think I noted this in my state write-up, because I figured it would get corrected and there would be no fallout…but during the 200 Free Relay, Bear’s A team swimmers where listed under the B Team results and vice versa. So the leadoff leg on the B team was credited with Nicklas’ 26.03 time…which is not only faster than Bear, it is close enough to Nate, that it shuffled the Medley relay moving Nate to the fly leg, and giving the kid who erroneously is credited with Nicklas’ time the free leg. It is extremely frustrating, and I have pointed out the error to Bear’s coach. Hopefully it will get fixed, because this change not only aces Bear out of two strong relays, it will cost Gold over 2 seconds and probably several spots in the standings and points for the team.

Breeze

03-04-2015, 11:05 AM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals – GaTech – 3/12-3/15

So we heard from Coach Andy last night, and yes, as expected the 1650 will be scored 11-12s and then 13-14s. So we were left with the dilemma of “what should Bear swim”. Adding a short sprint to a schedule isn’t a really big deal, but adding a 1650 takes some major thought. In our (coach and my) discussion we basically determined that if Bear wanted to swim the 1650, that we needed to make sure it was the last thing he did for the weekend. That after his tough schedule, the 1650 was likely to completely tax his system and prevent him from swimming well after that event. This meant that we’d have to make sure that Bear’s seed time in the 200 fly wasn’t automatically going to place him in finals. Also we had to determine what event he would need to drop, and after some discussion about the 100 Fly, and the 100 Free, it became pretty obvious the right choice would be the 200 IM. It is scheduled for Sunday with the 200 Fly and the 1650, so no need to tax him further on the last day. Coach wasn’t terribly thrilled about him not swimming either of the Ionger IMs, but he felt that was going to be the best bet.

So at practice Coach Andy pulled Bear aside and talked with him about his options, and as you probably guessed Bear wants to do the 1650. In fact, he wants to get the team record in that event, which is a 17.41.20. Bear’s PB, in case you are wondering is 18:33.00 swum in December. Given that Bear did want to swim the 1650…here is what happens:

Bear’s seed time in the 200 Fly has been adjusted by adding 10 seconds, which will insure he swims in the morning. This is going to be interesting because my initial peeks into the potential seeds indicate Bear has a strong chance of being top 10. The only problem is that he does better chasing a rabbit (as noted by his strong finishes at State), and in this arrangement all the speed will have to come from him, because he should be faster than those he’ll swim against. Also he will be dropping the 200 IM.

The Psych Sheet is supposed to be out early next week, and I believe we’ll have 1 last chance to make a change to his schedule after that is posted. It will be very interesting to see how he stacks up against the best from the Southeast.

Breeze

03-06-2015, 12:58 PM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals – GaTech – 3/12-3/15

The Psych Sheet is out, so I now have a better grasp on what we’ll be looking at for Sectionals. A couple of items before I get into what the kids will be swimming. As you may recall in my past write ups for big meets I talk about how differences between kids gets compressed, and a good or bad swim can significantly impact the place of the swimmer. This is even a bigger factor in this meet, where 1 second can make a 20+ spot difference in where a kid finishes (I’ll try to illustrate that a bit with the write up). Also, in this meet, medals are awarded for top 10 finishes in individual events, and top 3 finishes for relays.

With that said, here is where things stand:

Day 1

#3 Girls 11-12 400 IM
Bailey – 5:04.66 : Seeded 26 – Bailey is middle of the pack in this event. We’ve talked a bit, and she realizes she needs to improve her non-fly strokes, but obviously that improvement isn’t going to take place before this race. However, an improvement of 1 second would give her shot to finish in the top 20.

#6 Boys 11-14 1000 Free
Bear – 10:43.28 : Seeded 2 (56) – The seeding in this one may seem a bit odd, but remember it is being swum 14U, so the seeding in the parentheses is overall, the regular seed is where he is for 12U. If you are wondering he is 8+ seconds behind the top seed coming in, and about 13 seconds ahead of the 3rd place swimmer. While this seems like a bunch of time on both ends, the distance swims can have wide swings in time, so hopefully Bear is feeling good and can post a strong time. Remember, he is also going for the Gold Team Record here…he needs to cut about 3 seconds to get it.

Day 2

#8 Boys 11-12 200 Free
Bear – 2:01.05 : Seeded 18 – Bear’s time right now places him in line to make the B finals in this event. However, this is one of those tightly bunched events. An improvement of 2 seconds could put Bear in the A final…but a poor swim, and he could end up outside of the top 20. I expect he’ll end up about where he is seeded.

#15 Girls 11-12 50 Fly
Bailey – 28.82 : Seeded 29 – A good seeding in this even for Bailey. This is one of those races where her small size really hurts, and with a good swim, she could challenge for the B final. Currently she’s only a half second behind the girl seeded 20th, and a better dive could speed her up a half second.

#20 Boys 11-12 100 IM
Bear – 1:08.51 : Seeded 79 – This is a funky race for Bear. He hasn’t swum this race since December, and his Breast has improved significantly since then. In fact, if you take his 200 IM from State (a much more taxing event) and cut the time in half it comes to a 1:09.4…so he could drop a couple seconds easy, and a 1:06.5 would be seeded 39…

#23 Girls 11-12 200 Back
Bailey - 2:26.12 : Seeded 55 – Bailey didn’t swim this one at State, so it’s been a couple months. Hopefully, she’ll drop some time, but based on the fact she didn’t drop time in the back events at State, I’m not sure she will.

#27 Girls 11-12 200 Free Relay
Gold Team A – 1:55.70 : Seeded 26 – This relay will be towards the bottom of the standings, which really isn’t terribly surprising given that none of the girls on the relay team even has a state cut in the 50 free. Not sure who will be on the relay or what order they will swim, and I don’t think I’ll know until the day of, or even after the event, as there is no banquet for Sectionals to announce this information.

#28 Boys 11-12 200 Free Relay
Gold Team A – 1:43.52 : Seeded 5 – I’m going to assume the Gold team actually fixes their issues (noted in a thread above) and gets the relays correct. Bear’s relay is seeded 5th, but they are only .5 from second…this one could be very exciting. It will also be exciting to see if they switch the 200 Free like they did the 400 free at State, having Nate lead off and seeing if anchoring and chasing motivates Nicklas into a better swim.

Day 3

#37 Girls 11-12 100 Fly
Bailey - 1:02.70 : Seeded 16 – As you can see, as the fly races get longer, Bailey’s form helps to overcome some size limitations. Hopefully, she’ll iron out the problems with going deep on her dive to improve her time a bit and she’ll be able to make the B final. I’d say she has a shot at the A final, because the 10th spot is only 1 second faster, but the 10th spot is also a Georgia swimmer who is one of the superstars in the sport, so I honestly don’t expect Bailey to challenge for that spot.

#38 Boys 11-12 100 Fly
Bear – 1:05.04 : Seeded 38 – Again, this is an event Bear didn’t swim at State, so his seed time goes back to December. I would expect he’ll drop time here…especially since his relay splits at state were faster (event taking into account the rolling start). I could easily see a 1:04 low or 1:03 high…which might be good enough to sneak into the B final

#42 Boys 11-12 100 Free
Bear – 57.33 : Seeded 37 – Hard to get a read on this one. Bear won’t challenge for anything here, and unfortunately, he’ll probably miss the heat with a bunch of kids he knows and would like to race, but I’m sure he’ll push and he could drop some time, but a top 30 finish would be good.

#49 Girls 11-12 50 Back
Bailey - 31.35 : Seeded 74 – Bailey could improve here, she managed to drop some time at State, but she can go faster. She needs to clean some stuff up and increase her effort.

#54 Boys 11-12 500 Free
Bear - 5:16.25 : Seeded 6 – Bear is going to want to challenge for a top 3 in this race…the top seed is way down at a 5:06 and second is around a 5:11, so I don’t think he’ll touch those times, but 3rd and 4th are 5:15 lows, and 5th is only .1 faster. This one could get very interesting…especially with some strong kids right on his heals...

#57 Girls 11-12 200 Medley Relay
Gold Team A – 2:02.31 : Seeded 19 – This is a much more respectable seed for Gold, and it speaks to the strength of Bailey’s fly and Julia’s breast. They still are middle of the pack at best, and they’ll get stuck in an outside lane in their heat, but it could be tight and with good swims they might sneak up on a couple of teams.

#58 Boys 11-12 200 Medley Relay
Gold Team A – 1:57.27 : Seeded 11 – This is strange, as the boys that should be in the relay (again assuming Gold gets their errors figured out) are the same ones that swam at State – and there they managed to post a 1:56 low, so not sure where this seed time comes from. Regardless, Gold will do good to get into the top 10. It would also be nice to see them lower their team record time.

Day 4

#71 Girls 11-12 200 Fly
Bailey - 2:23.72 : Seeded 12 – This is an extremely interesting one. Bailey is seeded 12 with the top 10 getting medals. Remember that Bailey desperately wanted one at State but failed to finish this race, due to hyperventilating, and she was in a position to finish 3rd. This time she’ll need to beat a couple of people seeded above her, but had she finished this race during the state meet, even with a poor final split she’d have dropped 3 seconds. Given a ballpark time of 2:20, she could be as high as 7th coming into this. The one big problem she will have, is she won’t be in the A heat with the rest of the fast girls, so she’ll have to post a fast time and hope it holds up (which might be better anyway – as it might reduce the pressure and maybe allow her to relax and not over breath again). I really have my fingers crossed on this one – as it would be a real boost to her self-confidence.

#72 Boys 11-12 200 Fly
Bear – 2:24.08 : Seeded 17 – This is another funny one…in an earlier post I outlined how things in this meet were going to change in order to give Bear his best chance to do well in this race and the 1650. We’ll in order to insure Bear would be swimming this race in Prelims before the 1650, the coach added 10 seconds to his seed time, and that worked, as Bear will be swimming with the fastest non A final kids. However, Bear’s real time of 2:14.08 would have seeded him 3rd, with a good 2 second lead on 4th. Hopefully, he’ll pull away from the field in his 200 fly heat and his time will stand up and he’ll end up with another top 3 medal.

#81 Girls 11-12 100 Back
Bailey – 1:07.32 : Seeded 72 – Bailey failed to drop time in this race at State. She should drop time, in fact, if she doesn’t it’ll be disappointing, but her Back has been off a bit, and she still needs to increase effort on the back. I’m just guessing here, but I’d say if she does well in the 200 fly earlier in the day, she’ll do well here, if she doesn’t do well in the fly, she’ll not do well here either.

#85 Girls 11-12 200 IM
Bailey 2:26.54 : Seeded 64 – If her breast improves this time will drop. Also like the 100 back, based on how she does in the 200 fly, it will impact my expectations.

#88 Boys 11-14 1650 Free
Bear – 18:13.00 – Seeded 3 (52) – This is the other end of the 200 fly equation noted above. Again this is swum 14 U, so Bear’s real seed is 52, and 3rd for 12Us. However, the coach dropped his seed time by 20 seconds hoping to get him into a faster heat - his real seed time should be 18:33 (as he hasn’t swum this since December). Even with the 18:33 time he’d be 3rd in this event for 12 and unders. The top 2 swimmers in this event come in with times of 18:08 and 18:10…so Bear could be in striking distance. Unfortunately, he won’t be swimming in the heat with those two kids – they will be 1 heat after him (unless the coach fudges his time again). Bear wants to break the team record here too, but it’ll take a herculean effort to do that, he’ll have to drop 45 seconds from his real 18:33 time. To beat the team record he’ll need to hold 1:04s for the entire race…

Breeze

03-09-2015, 10:33 AM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals – GaTech – 3/12-3/15

The final Psych Sheet has been released. There were a couple of changes, they are noted below:

Day 2

#15 Girls 11-12 50 Fly
Bailey – 28.82 : Seeded 28 – A good seeding in this even for Bailey. This is one of those races where her small size really hurts, and with a good swim, she could challenge for the B final. Currently she’s only a half second behind the girl seeded 20th, and a better dive could speed her up a half second.

#20 Boys 11-12 100 IM
Bear – 1:08.51 : Seeded 81 – This is a funky race for Bear. He hasn’t swum this race since December, and his Breast has improved significantly since then. In fact, if you take his 200 IM from State (a much more taxing event) and cut the time in half it comes to a 1:09.4…so he could drop a couple seconds easy, and a 1:06.5 would be seeded 39…

Day 3

#42 Boys 11-12 100 Free
Bear – 57.33 : Seeded 38 – Hard to get a read on this one. Bear won’t challenge for anything here, and unfortunately, he’ll probably miss the heat with a bunch of kids he knows and would like to race, but I’m sure he’ll push and he could drop some time, but a top 30 finish would be good.

Day 4

#85 Girls 11-12 200 IM
Bailey 2:26.54 : Seeded 65 – If her breast improves this time will drop. Also like the 100 back, based on how she does in the 200 fly, it will impact my expectations.

Still no confirmation on the relays being corrected.

Breeze

03-10-2015, 11:12 AM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals – GaTech – 3/12-3/15

Just a quick note: I looked into boys 11-12 400 IM because it is Bear's other strong event, which he isn't swimming because it's not only the same day as the 1000, it is back to back with that event, and he preferred to swim the 1000. Had he elected to swim the 400 IM, he'd be seeded 5th, only 2 seconds from 2nd place. I really wish the scheduled were more accommodating, I'd really like to see him swim the 400 IM again.

Breeze

03-12-2015, 08:44 AM

High School Swimming

Finally some good news for Brett. Last night was the high school swim banquet, and Brett did receive his varsity letter! He was 1 of about 5 Freshman to earn a varsity letter.

Breeze

03-12-2015, 04:19 PM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals

Going for the team record in the 1000...fingers crossed

Breeze

03-13-2015, 06:36 AM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals

Going for the team record in the 1000...fingers crossed

Ok...gotta do one of those splits write ups with the spoiler tag...which is to hard to do on the phone.

Breeze

03-17-2015, 02:12 PM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals - RESULTS

Day 1

#3 Girls 11-12 400 IM
Bailey – 5:04.66 : Seeded 26 – Bailey’s 400 IM was an interesting race. She opened with a 1:04.62 fly leg, which given her personal best is a 1:02 seemed a bit off, so I was afraid we were about to see a pedestrian swim, even if she was way out in front of her heat already. However, her backstroke looked much stronger than it has in a while and he posted under a 1:15 and remained in first through the entire 100. Then came the dreaded Breaststroke, it still wasn’t good, but she held the lead through the first 25, and managed to swim both splits in the 46 low range. Then she closed with a 1:08 low freestyle; totaling a 5:00.18, over a 4 second drop in time. However, she only managed to move up a couple spots, finishing 24th.

#6 Boys 11-14 1000 Free
Bear – 10:43.28 : Seeded 2 (56) – So with two goals in mind, Bear set out in this race to earn a top 3 finish and get the Gold Record, which would require a swim of 10:40.77. Bear was told by his coach to try and hold 32s…and he told me he was going to try and get him to actually stay below 32.2s (or 1:04.40/100) in order to make sure he gets the record.

Here are Bear’s splits

100 - 1:02.22 - Opening 100 is always ahead of time, so this isn’t surprising
200 - 1:04.95 (2:07.17) - Already behind his time, signaled at 150 to pick up pace a little
300 - 1:04.18 (3:11.35) - Back on pace
400 - 1:04.59 (4:15.94) - Back off pace slightly
500 - 1:04.46 (5:19.93) - Still slightly off
600 - 1:04.43 (6:24.39) - Still off
700 - 1:04.69 (7:29.08) - Off again, just barely…but still slipping

What you can't see b/c I'm posting 100 splits is that - with all these slight
misses on pace, one of the 50s is good typically around a 31 low, but the
other is not - usually a 32 mid

800 - 1:03.85 (8:32.93) - Back under for the split, and in a good position now…
900 - 1:04.77 (9:37.70) - Slipping back…said he thought he was going to puke after his 850 turn, which caused a slow down on this split

needs to close in a 1:03.07 to tie record!!!

It was going to be a tall order asking Bear to go basically swim 63 seconds at the end of a 1000…but that’s basically what he was going to have to do…at the:

950 turn – he went a 32.58…and that .18 really was a problem…now Bear was sitting on a time of 10:10.28

He sprinted the last 50 hard, and managed to post a 30.55…and amazing finish, which added up to:

10:40.83

.06 from the record. This is so hard to even comprehend. This number is so small, he actually could have gotten this time by getting off the blocks at the start of the race a hair faster.

This left us with a couple of ideas after the race. Coach Andy was initially suggesting that Bear go for the team record in this event, by setting it up in the 1650, going our hard and getting the record, and then doing his best to hold on for the last 650. He also suggested trying to swim it at Northern Divisionals.

So that was half the battle. As for the place finish. The top seed ran away from the pack, posting an amazing 10:29.89. Second place, ended up being a sleeper…as I indicated in the pre-race write up there can be significant drops due to the distance, and not knowing how long it has been since they last swam the race. In this case, the kid came in with a time on the cut, managed to drop 1:07.66 seconds and post a 10:38.33…

Then there was Conner. Conner, is actually the swimmer that beat Bear in the 1500 at Long Course in 2014 to get the bronze. Conner wasn’t in Bear’s heat, so he didn’t get to go head to head and adjust his swim accordingly.

Conner started out with the following splits:

100 - 1:00.43 - Well ahead of Bear (1.8 seconds), but not surprising Bear’s opening split was one of the slowest
200 - 2:04.23 - Opening the lead a bit more on Bear – (~2.9 seconds)
300 - 3:08.57 - Now leading Bear’s time by around 2.8 seconds
400 - 4:13.10 - 2.74 seconds up now
500 - 5:17.75 - 2.18 seconds up
600 - 6:22.33 - 2.06 seconds as Bear’s time keep slowly eating into Conner’s
700 - 7:27.59 - 1.49…as this is getting tight with 300 yards to go
800 - 8:32.69 - .24 – if they were side by side you couldn’t tell who was winning
900 - 9:37.53 - .17 – Who’s going to have the better kick

Conner’s 950 split had him at a 10:09.54 – as he opened his lead on Bear, back to .74

Then in the last 50 Conner swam a 31.33 to Bear’s 30.55 – I’ll pause here for a second in case you want to do the math:

Bear gets 3rd by .04 seconds

Breeze

03-18-2015, 10:02 AM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals - RESULTS

Day 2 - Prelims

#8 Boys 11-12 200 Free
Bear – 2:01.05 : Seeded 18 – Following Bear’s tough swim the night before, he was a bit sore that evening, so he lathered up with Aspercream and took some Advil. I was a bit concerned he’d be fully loose for this one because of the soreness, but I probably shouldn’t have been. Bear does a great job of taking care of himself, and doing good warm downs. He opened his race with a strong 28.15 split, then followed it up with a 30.07 (58.22), and in the back half he went 31.50 and 31.06 to close with a 1:02.56, and a total time of 2:00.78. This swim was good enough for a tie for 14th seed and a spot in the B finals.

#15 Girls 11-12 50 Fly
Bailey – 28.82 : Seeded 28 – Didn’t really shallow out the dive, but she was soooo close to pulling off a strong underwater, in fact, she was only a few feet from a strong breakout. As it turned out, she added a faction of time to her seed finishing in a 28.90, which placed her 35th overall. This was disappointing to her. She didn’t expect to make the B finals, but she was expecting an improvement in this race. In fact, the lack of improvement bothered her for a while and from her comments, threatened to undermine her confidence in the fly moving forward.

#20 Boys 11-12 100 IM
Bear – 1:08.51 : Seeded 81 – In the pre-race write up I mentioned a couple second drop would be attainable, and a 1:06.5 would be seeded 39th coming into the event. I guess I was a bit prophetic, as Bear swam a 1:06.44…unfortunately, that time was only good enough for 46th

#23 Girls 11-12 200 Back
Bailey - 2:26.12 : Seeded 55 – Bailey’s back start was excellent here, and after breaking out, she really had strong efficient pulls. She also appeared to be working harder than I’ve seen in the back in a while. She could still increase the turnover a bit and she’d see more time drops, but even without the increase stroke rate, she opened with a 1:08.42, only about 1 second over her 100 Back personal best. She finished in the 1:10 middle and posted a final time of 2:18.93. That’s a huge drop and she climbed all the way to 17th.

#27 Girls 11-12 200 Free Relay
Gold Team A – 1:55.70 : Seeded 26 – Bailey led off this relay, and she swam a 27.86, which is a personal best, and because she had the leadoff cold start it is an official time. The rest of the team managed splits of 28.82, 29.54, and 27.00. They finished with a 1:53.22, an improvement from the seed time, and they were in 25th place (out of 28 teams).

#28 Boys 11-12 200 Free Relay
Gold Team A – 1:43.52 : Seeded 5 – The team did switch the relay order to match the order from the 400 Free at State. However, while Nate is an awesome freestyler, regardless of distance, he is much better in the 100 and 200 frees than he is in the 50s. He opened the relay with a strong 24.69, and Gold was in first, with 2 teams less than .5 seconds back, and 3 more less than a second back. Bear was second, and he swam a strong 26.13, but the team slipped to 3rd – less than .75 from 1st. The 3rd swimmer only managed a 26.55, and the team slipped back to 4th, with 2 swimmers on their heels. Nicklas went 25.92 but lost ground to another two teams, and the boys ended up in 6th. They did however break their own team record from state by going 1:43.29.

Breeze

03-18-2015, 12:41 PM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals - RESULTS

Day 2 - Finals

#8 Boys 11-12 200 Free
Bear – 2:01.05 : Seeded T14 – Bear came into this race, really focused on having good turns. Problem was, he was so focused he says he lost count on the laps. He probably did, given his splits look like this:

28.32
30.54
32.49
30.54

That 3rd split is a full second over what he did in the morning and the major portion of his swim being about a second slower overall with a time of 2:01.87. After re-watching the video he appears to reach for the wall on the 150 turn as if he's about to touch the timing pad, when he sees the kid next to him flip, so he flips and continues on, but he's lost all momentum at that point and he falls off the pace a good bit. He finished 19th…

Breeze

03-19-2015, 02:01 PM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals - RESULTS

Day 3 - Prelims

#37 Girls 11-12 100 Fly
Bailey - 1:02.70 : Seeded 16 – Bailey opened this race with a very slow 29.23…a full second above her personal best. She closed pretty well with a 33.91, but she failed to swim a personal best coming up about .4 off (1:03.14). She was again unhappy with her fly swim and really starting to lose confidence. However, she did finish 18th, which qualified her for finals, and I kept emphasizing that she'd get another shot at the race that evening and she should focus on swimming that one well.

#38 Boys 11-12 100 Fly
Bear – 1:05.04 : Seeded 38 – My prediction of a 1:04 low or 1:03 high was pretty good as he swam a 1:04 on the nose. However, it wasn’t good enough to get him into the B final. He finished 27th.

#42 Boys 11-12 100 Free
Bear – 57.33 : Seeded 38 – Opened with a 27.68, pretty close to his personal best on record, and then he swam a strong 28.88 back half to finish in 56.56. A pretty big drop and he managed to finish 27th.

#49 Girls 11-12 50 Back
Bailey - 31.35 : Seeded 74 – Good back swim earlier in the meet, gave me hope this would be a strong swim for Bailey. She could have worked the arms a bit faster, but she did get a personal best time of 31.04 and she moved up to 56th.

#57 Girls 11-12 200 Medley Relay
Gold Team A – 2:02.31 : Seeded 19 – Courtney was doing back again, and she managed a 31.42 to open, but the team was trailing most of the pool by then end of her swim. Julia swam a nice 33.72 split followed by Bailey’s split of 28.71 moved the team up to about 6th in the heat, but the freestyler lost a bunch of ground when she only managed to swim slightly faster than Bailey’s fly, posting a 28.11. They improved on their seed time, which I’m pretty sure was their time from State going 2:01.96, but they didn’t move up in the standings, settling for 19th.

#58 Boys 11-12 200 Medley Relay
Gold Team A – 1:57.27 : Seeded 11 – So this relay was the same 4 kids from State, but not in the same order. In a real surprise the team flipped Nate and Bear, having Nate do the fly and Bear do the freestyle. The team was in the second to fastest heat, coming in tied for 11th seed with another team only a couple tenths behind. The race completely illustrated how close these 3 teams were as Gold opened with a Nicklas’ 29.44, and things were really tight across the heat with splits ranging from 28 lows to 30 highs. Griffin in breast swam a 33.12, and at this point the team was 3rd in the heat with 2 teams an eye blink behind and two more teams only 1 second back. Nate’s fly split was an extremely strong 27.81, putting Gold second in the heat by a fingernail. Bear dove in, and blistered his split, going a 25.88 – passing the team that had the lead and beating them by .04. The team ended up 10th overall with a team record breaking time of 1:56.25.

Breeze

03-19-2015, 02:25 PM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals - RESULTS

Day 3 - Finals

#37 Girls 11-12 100 Fly
Bailey - 1:02.70 : Seeded 18 – From the start Bailey appeared stronger in this race than she was in the morning. Her opening split of 28.91 was a good third of a second faster. Back half remained strong, and she cleaned up a few things as well to drop more time going 33 low rather than 33 high. Overall she swam a personal best 1:02.07, and moved up to 13th overall. This caused a full 180 in the confidence level, and all of sudden she was quietly excited about her chances in the 200 fly. Also, I managed to point out to her, had she swum the 1:02.07 from finals in prelims, she would have made the A final, and earned a medal. Hopefully, this accomplished 2 things : First- I hope it further improved her confidence level, because she would realize how close she was to the A final and that she’s capable of getting there, and second – I hope it illustrated to her the need to clean up her races at all times, so she can maximize her efficiencies and improve her times.

#54 Boys 11-12 500 Free
Bear - 5:16.25 : Seeded 6 – Bear swam this even in the finals because he was seeded in the top 10, and this was done as a timed finals event with the 10 fastest swimming at night. Bear opened this race a bit faster than he normally does going out in a 1:00.45. I believe he went a bit faster because he knew this would be a fast race coming in, and he saw how quickly the rest of the heat went out. Even with the increased pace, Bear made the 100 turn last in the heat (and actually behind several other swimmers that swam earlier in the day). Again, this isn’t a surprise based on Bear’s style. After the 200 split Bear had moved up to 8th. However, despite the fact Bear was holding basically 31 high fifties for most of the rest of the race, he could only reel in 1 other swimmer, finishing 7th overall (earning his second ESSZ Medal). He did manage a personal best 5:14.54, which he was happy about, but Nate beat him this time around…which he was disappointed with, but not surprised by, given how well Nate had been swimming and how strong his freestyle had been.

Note: Bailey was actually quite funny after this evening, telling Bear he needed to give her one of his medals, that he didn't need anymore. It sounds kind of petty written here, but it was actually delivered in a cute, teasing way, which was nice to see from Bailey, as she at an age where she can be quite difficult.

Breeze

03-20-2015, 11:04 AM

2015 ESSZ Age Group Sectionals - RESULTS

Day 4

#71 Girls 11-12 200 Fly
Bailey - 2:23.72 : Seeded 12 – This was the big race for Bailey…she was excited going in, knowing she had a chance to get top 10 and earn a medal. As I mentioned in the pre-race write up, I was concerned that Bailey wouldn’t have any competition in her heat and that might slow her down…well – the race started and Bailey was in first after the first 50, but only .22 seconds ahead of second place. After the second 50 she was second in the heat with a 1:04.04, .07 behind. At this point it became obvious Bailey and the other girl were going to battle the entire way. At the 3rd 50 Bailey was sitting on a 1:40.02 now .27 seconds back. Bailey tried to make a move on the next 25, and she actually pulled slightly ahead, but she lost the lead on the turn, when the other girl’s underwaters were much better. Bailey was unable to real her in and she ended up losing the heat by 1 second. She did manage to post a 2:17.54. This is obviously a personal best…it exceeds what I expected she’d be able to do, it would have been good enough to earn 3rd place at State had she been able to finish that race, and it is a Senior Cut…meaning she’s earned the minimum time to swim against the 15-18 year olds in their State Meets (by the way, it wasn’t mentioned earlier, but she also earned her Senior Cut in the 100 Fly). Unfortunately, she finished 2nd in her heat, which means her time will have to beat 2 people in the evenings fast heat in order for her to get into the top 10. That is a bit concerning…

#72 Boys 11-12 200 Fly
Bear – 2:24.08 : Seeded 17 – Bear, like Bailey didn’t get to run away with his heat. At least not early. He opened with a 30.49, and Conner (yes the same kid from the 1000 that Bear just barely beat) had a 30.63. At the 100 Bear’s lead over Conner was less than half a second. In the 3rd 50 Bear started to pull ahead and he finished strong opening up a several second lead over Conner, and winning his heat. He ended up adding less than a second from his true personal best time of 2:14.08, when he posted a time of 2:14.94. However, unlike the uncertainty I felt with Bailey’s swim, I was pretty confident Bear’s time would hold up and he’d end up with a top 10 finish and another medal. We’d just need to wait and see how high his finish would be.

#81 Girls 11-12 100 Back
Bailey – 1:07.32 : Seeded 72 – Bailey’s improvement in the 50 and big improvement in the 200 had me expecting more of the same in this race. And she didn’t disappoint, dropping to a personal best time of 1:06.84. I do believe she can go faster, with quicker arm rotation or not…but after the 200 fly and towards the end of a 4 day meet – this was a very nice effort. She ended up 67th.

#85 Girls 11-12 200 IM
Bailey 2:26.54 : Seeded 64 – With improved back and her breast starting to come around, I was hopeful for another strong swim…but it wasn’t to be. Bailey really appeared spent, opening with a 29.97 fly, followed by a poor 37.54 back. The ultimately finished the race in 2:27.21. Interestingly, Bailey wasn’t the only one feeling the effects of a long weekend. While she added about .75 seconds…she also moved up to 57th in the overall standings.

#88 Boys 11-14 1650 Free
Bear – 18:13.00 – Seeded 3 (52) – So even before this race started the Coach told him to not worry about the team record in the 1650, or the 1000 either. He wanted to take the pressure off and allow Bear to just swim his race. Prior to Bear swimming we watched the two top seeds go and we noted that they swam the following times 17:57.15, and 18:16.50. Coach and I felt Bear would be the 18:16 time for sure, and the coach said he felt the 17:57 was attainable and he was going to signal accordingly. Here are his splits:

100 - 1:10.64
200 - 2:07.04
300 - 3:12.13
400 - 4:17.23
500 - 5:22.80
600 - 6:28.64
700 - 7:33.98
800 - 8:39.39
900 - 9:44.64
1000 - 10:50.10 – at this point Bear is 4 seconds ahead of pace for 1st
1100 - 11:56.12 – holding 4 second lead
1200 - 13:01.52 – holding 4 second lead
1300 - 14:06.97 – holding
1400 - 15:12.81 – holding
1500 - 16.18.42 – holding
1600 - 17:23.42 – 3 second lead
1650 - 17:53.78 – closed in a 30.36 after swimming 1600 yards

For perspective – last year during Bear’s 11 year old short course season, his personal best for a 50 free was 30.11.

Obviously, this is a personal best and put Bear in first place. But Conner (yes the kid from the 1000) was still to swim. We were concerned based on how close he was to Bear in the 1000…and as soon as the race started we realized we were right to be concerned. Conner immediately started churning out 50s between 31 high and 32 low, which put him well ahead of Bear (who was turning 32 mids). We watched for signs of fatigue, but after the midway point he was still going 32 lows and an occasional 32 mid. We resigned ourselves to the fact Bear wasn’t going to get a Gold. His time did hold up for all the remaining 11/12 year olds and he took home the silver.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At this point we headed home, and we had to keep an eye out for the results of the 200 flys to see how the kids ended up. We were only watching the live result times, so we don’t have any information on how the racers looked, but here is how things turned out.

#71 Girls 11-12 200 Fly
Bailey’s time from earlier in the day was a 2:17.54, but she was also 2nd in the clubhouse. WE knewo there were at least 4 girls she absolutely wasn’t going to beat, because their times put them in the top 20 in the nation. So that left 6 swimmers that Bailey might beat in this heat, and 5 spots in the top 10 that she might fall into. As it turned out – comparing times, Bailey’s opening 50 put her ahead of all 6 of the other girls (in fact it put her ahead of 2 of the 4 with national times). In the second 50 she maintained her lead on the rest of the field, and 1 of the top 4 girls. After the 3rd 50, Bailey was still holding off the 5 non-elite girls, she was close to 1, only .25 back, but the 4 top swimmers were all separating from her time. In the end…Bailey’s time held on to beat 5 of the girls that were in the A final that weren’t national level swimmers, and she finished 7th overall. Earning her medal!!!

#72 Boys 11-12 200 Fly
As I said in the write up above, I felt Bear’s time was going to hold up. After seeing the results – I wish he had an opportunity to swim in the fast heat. The winner of the race swam a 2:08.21, and ran away from the field, but the next times were:

2:13.24
2:13.41
2:13.51

Given Bear’s heart and fight, I expect if he had been in this race (without the fatigue of the 1650), he’d have been challenging all of those times. As it was they were only about 1.5 seconds faster, and Bear had no-one close to him after the 100 turn in his heat. While seeing that race would have exciting, I was thrilled with how this turned out – Bear got second in the 1650, and 5th in the 200 fly, earning his 4th medal of the meet.

Breeze

03-20-2015, 11:19 AM

2015 TWS Northern Divisional Meet – 3/20 - 3/22 @ Mt. View Aquatic Center

Bear – only planning to swim on Saturday. He isn’t worried about his swims, and is just doing it to hang out with his friends. Seed times do not take into account his swims at ESSZ Sectionals.

#24 (d2/s2): B 11-12 100 Free (57.33Y )
#36 (d2/s2): B 11-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y )
#42 (d2/s2): B 11-12 50 Fly (30.00Y )

Brett – Not sure what to expect from Brett. It has been quite a while since he’s had a year round meet. He’s also been fighting off a cold the last few days so really unsure what we’ll see…

#8A (d1/s1): B 13-14 500 Free (5:55.14Y )
#26 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Free (1:00.65Y )
#34 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Breast (2:37.34Y )
#40 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Back (2:28.59Y )
#86 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:14.17Y )
#92 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Back (1:11.44Y )
#104 (d3/s5): B 13-14 50 Free (28.34Y )

Breeze

03-25-2015, 11:14 AM

2015 TWS Northern Divisional Meet - RESULTS

Bear

#24 (d2/s2): B 11-12 100 Free (57.33Y ) - Bear’s real personal best is a 56.56…in prelims he swam a 56.98, and qualified 4th for finals.

#36 (d2/s2): B 11-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y ) – Swam a good 1:07 mid in this race, but was DQed. Not exactly sure why. Asked his coach, and his coach never received the official reason from the officials. He believes, as I do, that it was failure to initiate the turn…which while his turns weren’t sharp, they were ok, and the call of failure to initiate is pretty ticky-tack.

#42 (d2/s2): B 11-12 50 Fly (30.00Y ) – Swam a 30.08 in prelims and qualified for 4th in finals.

#48 Boys 11-12 200 Yard Free Relay – Well, if you’ve been following along recently, you are probably aware of the swimmer Brendan from the State Meet about a month ago. Well, he was swimming in this meet, along with many other top swimmers from the Marietta Marlin’s team. Whereas, Nate, the horse on Bear’s relay didn’t swim, obviously, you can probably guess what happened. Gold finished 2nd…

As you can see, even though Bear is coming off of the biggest meet of his life, he still maintained strong swims close to his personal bests.

DAY 1 – FINALS

#24 (d2/s2): B 11-12 100 Free (56.98) – Swam better in Finals going a 56.61…but only managed 4th place in what was a tight one for 2nd through 4th.

#42 (d2/s2): B 11-12 50 Fly (30.08) – At the turn in this one Bear was in second, but he had a mediocre turn, and lost ground. He finished 4th with a time of 30.10. His biggest disappointment wasn’t failing to get in the top 3. He really wanted to go under 30 seconds in what will be his last 50 fly that really matters.

Brett –

#8A (d1/s1): B 13-14 500 Free (5:55.14Y ) – swam a 5:51.48…which is ok. His real personal best from high school was a 5:45, and honestly he should be sub 5:30 at the very least, but better than his old seed time.

DAY 2

#26 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Free (1:00.65Y ) – In this race, I timed him (no scoreboard for the boys pool, so we didn’t get official results until much later in the day, and I had him at 59.8 – so sub60, and the manual lane timer had him a 59 low…unfortunately, the official time had him a 1:00.09. Still a personal best.

#34 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – Still struggling with his breast as he only managed a 2:45.45. However, even in the open event, swimming against 15 to 18 year olds, he managed to make the B final seeded 18th.

#40 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Back (2:28.59Y ) – Long, slow, deliberate strokes still…and time reflects it as he swam similar times to the last several 200 back races. 2:29.95.

DAY 2 – FINALS

#34 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Breast (2:45.45) – We talked a bit before this race, and I told him after his recent growth it seemed to me that his timing was off, and that he might want to go back to his more natural stroke of kicking his hands forward in order to get his rhythm back. He tried it in warm ups but he didn’t feel comfortable with it. However, during the race it became obvious pretty quickly that it helped – he was swimming much faster than he had been, and other than pullouts (which were better but still not good enough), he was doing well. He ended up with a 2:39.90 – not his personal best, but much closer than he’s been in months. This excited him a good bit…

DAY 3

#86 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:14.17Y ) – The Breast from the finals on Saturday carried over to Sunday morning. Brett was strong and fast, finishing with a 1:14.58, almost getting a personal best, and coming closer than he had in months. This also qualified him for the B finals.

#92 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) – See the 200 Back – The first 25 looked like he was going to pick up the pace, but then he settle in and finished with a time in his typical ballpark – 1:12.06.

#104 (d3/s5): B 13-14 50 Free (28.34Y ) – More of the same from Brett. Finished 28.76 with NO underwater work off the dive or turn – with a little effort underwater he’d have had a personal best.

#110 Boys 13-14 Medley Relay – Brett managed to get on the B medley relay team. Obviously he was swimming the Breaststroke. He swam a good leg, coming in on my hand time at about 35.15. This was a good time, but with a rolling start I was expecting him to be in the 34s…The team did good for being the B team, finishing 5th overall.

DAY 3 – FINALS

#86 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:14.58) – Whatever he figured out on Saturday night, he lost on Sunday night. This was an ugly swim, and it was obvious early. He went back to his pre-fix times coming in at a poor 1:17.76. To make matters worse, he lost to a CRC Teammate that he had never lost to before. He was pretty upset about this one, but honestly it isn’t surprising. It is tough to change a stroke, and not have lapses where you go back to the way you’ve been practicing for months. Hopefully, he uses this as motivation and doesn’t let it discourage him.

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Brett - Post Race Wrap-up

This was in my opinion a very disappointing meet for Brett. He hadn't swum a meet in quite a while, and he was poised to at very least to get a few personal bests, and he only managed to get 1. Honestly, I am very pleased with the life he showed in his breaststroke races (unfortunately, it ended on a bad note with his time in the 100 Breast finals). However, the consistent times and no effort to change his approach was frustrating.

Brett's in a bad position right now, as the new coach doesn't provide much feedback. He's a coach that believe in internal motivation - and Brett is a kid that needs constant reminders and queues on what he's doing wrong. The two don't mesh. We've told Brett that what he's currently doing isn't working, and that his results should illustrate that. That he needs to make changes in practice and really focus (tough for a highly ADHD kid) on making improvements and changes, and that without them, he wasn't going to improve.

He said he would do it...we'll be keeping an eye on it to see.

Breeze

04-03-2015, 09:19 AM

Gold Team Update

So there have been some big changes for Gold at our pool. To express what they are it is probably easiest if I simply post the announcement from the team:

Dear Cumming Chattahoochee Gold Swimming Families,

This email is to let you know about some staff changes that we have coming up at the Cumming Pool. After much consideration, we have decided not to renew Coach Todd’s contract for next year. His last day on deck is today, April 2, 2015.

I know that everybody likes him, and finds him to be a reasonable, responsible person, but to put it simply, the last few months have shown that we need more focused leadership. Coach Andy Eaton will assume the position of Head Coach at Cumming. Andy has an excellent track record during his time coaching with Gold, including a successful season serving as interim head coach last summer. Andy brings the right combination of coaching and management skills to the head coach position. Before Gold, Andy was captain of a DIII national championship team. After college, Andy had a successful business career, implementing IT projects for Accenture and later owning a successful online business. Most importantly, he's expressed a strong desire to restore the program back to the tight ship we want it to be. Andy interned under Neil, who interned under me, and I'm confident he will run the kind of program that makes Gold an exceptional team.

The plan for the coaching coverage will be similar to last summer, with Andy responsible for National, Senior, and High School. Through long course, he will write practices for the Sectionals Group, be on deck for Sectionals as much as possible, and develop a replacement for that position.
Please help me welcome Coach Andy to his new responsibilities, and in wishing Coach Todd good luck in his future endeavors.

I post blurbs in this thread from time to time covering a number of topics, and I don’t recall if I got into any specifics regarding Coach Todd, but at this point, I should probably take a minute to provide some background information.

Let me start by saying the Coach Todd is a GREAT guy. He’s extremely personable, kind, and friendly. He also has an incredible background as a swim coach, having coached 2 Olympians, and one of his former swimmers is the #2 recruit in the State. However, he is also very laid back and unorganized (in fact, having talked to him numerous times, I suspect he’s ADD). As part of his laid back nature, his philosophy for coaching involved swimmers being internally motivated to be great, which for this sport especially has quite a bit of merit. Problem is, he provided no external discipline. Kids were cheating left and right at practice, getting out of the pool, and generally goofing off, and he didn’t crack down. This led to a considerable amount of frustrations, initially from the National Team parents then it trickled down to the Senior families.

Moreover, Coach Todd messed up the taper (which I believe I covered earlier) before State for the older kids, had swimmers in wrong events and age groups, and his swimmers didn’t perform well at any of the big meets, including some highly regarded swimmers that are being recruited by some large Div 1 teams. He was also criticized by numerous families for not providing enough feedback to the swimmers. (Understand, I do believe some of the frustration on the parents side of things stemmed from the change in philosophy. Neil was a big disciplinarian, so the switch to Coach Todd was a complete 180).

On a personal level this is huge. We were already wrestling with what to do with Brett for next year, because Coach Todd’s style doesn’t work for Brett. While Brett was a champ getting up at 4:30 three days a week and going to practice, that dedication didn’t automatically translate to improvement. Brett’s only natural stroke is Breast, and without more supervision and direction he simply churned laps at practice, and Coach Todd allowed him to do that. In fact, we were also considering what to do with the twins in 2016 when they would be moving up to the Senior/National team. We weren’t thrilled about them swimming for Todd, as we’ve seen to many talented swimmers go backwards this season.

Our only concern now will be, “who takes Andy’s place on Sectional next year?” Coach Andy said he’ll have pretty high standards when looking for a new Sectionals Coach. Also working in our favor is that fact that both of Andy’s kids will still be on the Sectionals Team next year, so he’ll have a vested interest in finding someone good.

Breeze

04-14-2015, 01:44 PM

Gold Team Update

Didn't take long to find a replacement for the Sectionals and Sectional Advanced teams (twins group). Here is the announcement email:

This message is to welcome Coach Ryan L’Roy to the Gold coaching staff at Cumming! Ryan will be taking over as lead coach of Sectionals and Sectionals Advanced. He will also assistant coach during National/Senior/HS practice and help with precomp. He has over 10 years of coaching experience, including working as a head age group coach for SwimAtlanta and as a head coach in Minnesota. He's coached several Junior Nationals swimmers and has had multiple top 10 nationally ranked swimmers. His full bio is included below.

Ryan’s start date is 4/20. The plan is to take the time to properly transition him into his new role. I’ll work with him closely over the next several weeks to bring him up to speed with our program and culture, and to ensure a smooth transition. Please don’t hesitate to ask me questions. In addition, Coach Pat is visiting Cumming to meet with parents to answer any questions about our most recent changes (and anything else) on Thursday, April 16 at 6:00. We’ll meet in the conference room next to the pool deck.

Coach Andy

Ryan L’Roy Bio:

Ryan swam competitively for Tualatin Hills Swim Team in Beaverton, Oregon from the age of 7 until he moved on to swim at the University of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003. Ryan was an Oregon Zone Team member, as well as Junior National and Senior National qualifier during his swimming career. At the University of Minnesota, Ryan was a member of 3 Big Ten Championship Teams and received both the Hardest Worker award as well as the Jerry McCaul award.

Ryan graduated with a degree in History from the University of Minnesota in 2003. He began his coaching career at TWIN Cities Swim Team in Minnetonka, MN where he coached numerous state qualifiers, State Champions, High Point award winners and Junior National qualifiers.

In 2007 Ryan became the Head Age Group Coach at Roswell location of SwimAtlanta. During his tenure, he coached multiple Ga State Finalists, State Champions, State Record Holders and nationally ranked swimmers. Ryan was an Assistant GA Zone Coach in 2009 and the following year (2010) fulfilled the role of Head Zone Coach when the team placed 2nd at the Southeastern Zone Championships.

Ryan was most recently the Head Coach for TWIN Cities Swim Team in Minneapolis, MN where he began in the spring of 2011 and led the program for the past 4 years. The team grew from 50 swimmers to over 130 swimmers under his watch. While with TWIN Cities Swim Team Ryan ran all aspects of the program and was the Senior Group coach. Under his tutelage, the team produced numerous state finalists, sectional qualifiers, Grand Prix finalists, an Olympic Trial qualifier, Masters World record holder, and a second place finish at the 2015 Spring Sr. LSC Championship meet.

Ryan now lives in Cumming, GA with his wife who was a collegiate swimmer at the University of Tennessee and their 19 month old twins.

Breeze

04-16-2015, 09:36 AM

General Update

So it looks like Bailey and Seth are "dating" again. This is the second time (not sure if I mentioned it earlier). They don't really date because up until now, they don't really do anything alone as they are always with the group of swimmers. We'll see how this progresses through the Summer...

Breeze

04-21-2015, 10:01 AM

Gold Grand Prix Meet 4 @ Cherokee Aquatic Center - 4/25

The 4th and final Gran Prix Meet for Gold, and the last short course race of the year-round season.

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Bailey
#419A (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Back (31.35Y )
#425A (d1/s1): G 11-12 100 Back (1:07.32Y )
#433A (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Breast (41.48Y )
#447A (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Free (28.23Y )

Bear
#406A (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Fly (30.00Y )
#426A (d1/s1): B 11-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y )
#434A (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Breast (41.08Y )
#454A (d1/s1): B 11-12 100 Free (57.33Y )

Brett
#412B (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:18.17Y )
#426B (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Back (1:11.44Y )
#440B (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:14.17Y )
#454B (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Free (1:00.65Y )

Breeze

04-22-2015, 03:59 PM

Breeze

04-28-2015, 01:43 PM

Gold Grand Prix Meet 4 - RESULTS

Kids still aren't in shape following time off for Spring Break, and this is pretty much just an intramural meet, so I didn't expect much:

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Bailey
#419A (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Back (31.35Y ) - Back looked like it was slow motion - very reminiscent of Brett's stroke - 34.03
#425A (d1/s1): G 11-12 100 Back (1:07.32Y ) - Looked like a longer version of the 50 - 1:12.84
#433A (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Breast (41.48Y ) - Was hoping for some improvement because there is room to improve in this stroke, but no...42.31
#447A (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Free (28.23Y ) - Couldn't drop time here either, but did keep it reasonably close - 29.09.

Bear
#406A (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Fly (30.00Y ) - close to his PB with a 30.38...
#426A (d1/s1): B 11-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y ) - Actually got a pb with a time of 1:08.78
#434A (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Breast (41.08Y ) - Another PB here with a nice improvement to 38.28. It's been a while since he swam the 50 breast so this one wasn't a complete surprise.
#454A (d1/s1): B 11-12 100 Free (57.33Y ) - Added here - 59.06

Brett
#412B (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:18.17Y ) - 1:20.85 - disappointed, was hoping due to the time between racing this event he'd drop, but at least he didn't add a ton of time like some did.
#426B (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) - Added, but actually attacked this race better than he usually does. If he was in better shape, I believe he'd have dropped a couple seconds. 1:13.74
#440B (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:14.17Y ) - Looked pretty good, added time swimming 1:16.41, but he's swum that time or slower recently when he was in shape.
#454B (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Free (1:00.65Y ) - Managed like Bailey to stay reasonably close to his PB - 1:01.41

Breeze

05-01-2015, 09:55 AM

2015 Citizen Kane Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 5/1 - 5/3

This is the kickoff for the long course season (even though the kids haven't practiced in a long course pool yet, and won't until the end of May). Again, I don't expect much from the kids in this meet, due to still being out of shape, not practicing in a long course pool, and having just had a meet last weekend.

Bailey

# 1 Girl 13 & Over 200 Medley 2:45.66L
# 5 Girl 13 & Over 50 Free 33.40L
# 9 Girl Open 800 Free 10:36.92L
# 11 Girl 13 & Over 100 Free 1:13.16L
# 13 Girl 13 & Over 200 Fly 2:43.08L
# 17 Girl 13 & Over 100 Back 1:19.50L
# 23 Girl 13 & Over 400 Free 5:13.89L
# 45 Girl 13 & Over 200 Free 2:34.79L
# 47 Girl 13 & Over 100 Breast 1:37.77L
# 49 Girl 13 & Over 200 Back 2:46.59L
# 53 Girl 13 & Over 100 Fly 1:15.59L

Bear - isn't feeling well...so he could struggle this weekend.

# 2 Boy 13 & Over 200 Medley 2:54.40L
# 6 Boy 13 & Over 50 Free 33.32L
# 10 Boy Open 800 Free 10:22.19L
# 14 Boy 13 & Over 200 Fly 2:46.48L
# 18 Boy 13 & Over 100 Back 1:24.79L
# 20 Boy 13 & Over 200 Breast 3:37.24L
# 24 Boy 13 & Over 400 Free 4:58.55L
# 46 Boy 13 & Over 200 Free 2:25.08L
# 48 Boy 13 & Over 100 Breast 1:42.02L
# 50 Boy 13 & Over 200 Back 2:54.36L
# 54 Boy 13 & Over 100 Fly 1:21.19L

Brett - he's getting a new training routine, which I'll detail after this meet is over, but because of his new approach, I don't have a feel for how he'll do in a race.

# 2 Boy 13 & Over 200 Medley 3:01.33L
# 6 Boy 13 & Over 50 Free 34.75L
# 12 Boy 13 & Over 100 Free 1:14.79L
# 18 Boy 13 & Over 100 Back 1:27.60L
# 20 Boy 13 & Over 200 Breast 3:09.71L
# 24 Boy 13 & Over 400 Free 5:28.07L
# 46 Boy 13 & Over 200 Free 2:37.73L
# 48 Boy 13 & Over 100 Breast 1:30.09L
# 50 Boy 13 & Over 200 Back 3:02.36L

Breeze

05-05-2015, 11:12 AM

2015 Citizen Kane Invite - RESULTS

Note: I missed most of the meet Friday (I didn’t get home from work in time to see, so I’m going on second hand reports, and on Sunday I had to time a lane, limiting my ability to watch the kids and provide feedback.
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Bailey – Bear has been complaining recently that EVERYONE has been cheating at practice (except Tommy and him of course)…including Bailey. The wife watched practice recently and was shocked by how much cheating was taking place, and she did confirm that Bailey was right in the middle of it with the rest of the team. I believe this is because they have a new coach and they are pushing their boundaries, and he hasn’t locked it down yet…but I suspect he’ll be doing it soon. Regardless, this cheating combined with the fact the swimmers still aren’t in shape from Spring Break, combined to really cause Bailey’s performance to suffer…

# 1 Girl 13 & Over 200 Medley 2:45.66L – 2:48.80 – not a terrible swim for her, keeping it within a respectable range of her best time.

# 5 Girl 13 & Over 50 Free 33.40L – Managed a drop 32.26 – so maybe she won’t be that far off this meet afterall.

# 9 Girl Open 800 Free 10:36.92L – Added a bunch of time in this one - 10:53.85 – but it is a distance event that being out of shape becomes more obvious the longer the race goes.

# 11 Girl 13 & Over 100 Free 1:13.16L – Another nice drop in the Free from last year, down to a 1:10.37

# 13 Girl 13 & Over 200 Fly 2:43.08L – DNF – once again Bailey psyched herself out of this race (in my opinion). She said she wasn’t feeling well even before starting, but I’m pretty sure she was just making an excuse. She finished the 100 at a good pace, but then climbed out and didn’t attempt to finish the back 100…very disappointing for someone who identifies themselves as a butterflyer (and someone who finished top 10 at the Sectional Meet in the 200 Fly…)

# 17 Girl 13 & Over 100 Back 1:19.50L – Added a bit of time – 1:20.47 – Start was great though, so that is a good sign.

# 23 Girl 13 & Over 400 Free 5:13.89L – Another longer swim another big add in time – 5:22.79…

# 45 Girl 13 & Over 200 Free 2:34.79L – With a drop in this one, she managed personal bests in the 50, 100 and 200 Free, but added a bunch of time in the 400 and 800 Frees – not sure how to explain that other than out of shape (or potentially lack of effort because in her mind she was more out of shape than she really was). - 2:34.64

# 47 Girl 13 & Over 100 Breast 1:37.77L – Ugly adding of 4 seconds…1:41.29…was hoping her slight improvements might hold up, but she still has a long way to go in this stroke.

# 49 Girl 13 & Over 200 Back 2:46.59L – Another poor swim in a longer race – 2:53.01…

# 53 Girl 13 & Over 100 Fly 1:15.59L – Added here as well – 1:16.33…I do believe some of the time adds at the end of the last day are carryover fatigue…

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Bear

# 2 Boy 13 & Over 200 Medley 2:54.40L – Bear starts off his weekend with a huge improvement – dropping 13.5 seconds in this race – 2:40.82

# 6 Boy 13 & Over 50 Free 33.32L – Drops 3 seconds in this one, and now will be looking to go under 30 seconds – 30.24

# 10 Boy Open 800 Free 10:22.19L – Another almost 17 second drop, finishing in 10.05.37, he wants to be in the 9 minute range by state, and I think he’ll get there easily.

# 14 Boy 13 & Over 200 Fly 2:46.48L – Started this race real strong, back half really was a struggle though…did drop time posting a personal best 2:39.00

# 18 Boy 13 & Over 100 Back 1:24.79L – went a 1:19.49, but was out on a much faster pace in the opening 50…so I think there is more time to drop in this one before the season is over.

# 20 Boy 13 & Over 200 Breast 3:37.24L – Bear’s breast has been improving a bunch, as I noted during short course season, this race illustrated just how much. From last year when he was in pique shape, to the opening of this season he dropped 19 seconds, 3:18.23

# 24 Boy 13 & Over 400 Free 4:58.55L – Strong swim…lacked his explosive back half but still did well – 4:54.66

# 46 Boy 13 & Over 200 Free 2:25.08L – Dropped 5 seconds 2:20.28

# 48 Boy 13 & Over 100 Breast 1:42.02L – Like the 200 showed a good improvement – 1:35.69

# 50 Boy 13 & Over 200 Back 2:54.36L – Again, the back half of this 200 he fell off pace a good bit, something that will be cleaned up before state – still swam a 2:46.43

# 54 Boy 13 & Over 100 Fly 1:21.19L – dropped about 6 seconds to finish out a meet of all personal bests – 1:15.22

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Brett – So Brett has a new training routine, I’ll get into details in a post after this one, but suffice it to say, that Brett was instructed to ignore his times, and focus on being long with his strokes…

# 2 Boy 13 & Over 200 Medley 3:01.33L – Didn’t get to see it, but being long in his stroke must have helped as he dropped over 8 seconds – 2:52.67

# 6 Boy 13 & Over 50 Free 34.75L – Managed to drop in this event as well, though not as fast as he had hoped I’m sure – 32.41

# 12 Boy 13 & Over 100 Free 1:14.79L – Was much longer in his reach then he has been recently in this one, and he posted a personal best time of 1:11.43

# 18 Boy 13 & Over 100 Back 1:27.60L – Nice long strokes, and a good turnover in the first 50 (faded back half), but posted a 1:24.42. I actually counted his strokes (coach is working on getting his stroke counts down by having longer reach and more efficient pulls) on the back half of the 100 – and he did 45 (unfortunately, I lost count on the opening 50)

# 20 Boy 13 & Over 200 Breast 3:09.71L – Much better in this one – Good dive and pullout, then nice long strokes, that had him really challenging the lead swimmers. I was able to count is strokes in this one, and he had 24 on the dive lap, followed by 27 and 28…but as I mentioned, he was really challenging the leaders in this race, and in that last 50, he tried to race them. His stroke got quick and choppy and his efficiently went out the window. He ended up doing 35 strokes on the last lap, a significant increase as you can tell. It was obvious he was overworking, and it was obvious that it was killing him, as he slowly lost grown with each stroke. He still managed a personal best 3:09.35, but had he stayed long, I believe we were looking at a 3:07 low.

# 24 Boy 13 & Over 400 Free 5:28.07L – Stroke started out good here, but got choppy. He would see coach signaling him to get long, and he’d correct, only to fall back into bad habits. Ultimately it cost him, as he added time in this one – he finished with a 5:33.47

# 46 Boy 13 & Over 200 Free 2:37.73L – On Sunday the Free approach was better, as he stayed long for most of the race and finished with a 2:34.07

# 48 Boy 13 & Over 100 Breast 1:30.09L – Was excited to see how he’d do in this one, after his strong start on the 200 Breast. Unfortunately, when the race started he immediately got into his short quick rhythm. Coach wasn’t pleased, but he did manage a personal best anyway – 1:29.43

# 50 Boy 13 & Over 200 Back 3:02.36L – Strong start, faded back half, but still got a personal best 2:57.27

Breeze

05-06-2015, 12:02 PM

Brett Update

As I mentioned in the write up for the Citizen Kane meet, Brett has a new practice routine. In fact, his practice instructions are unique to him so much so, that he isn’t even doing the same workout as the rest of the team.

Here is how this whole thing evolved. If you’ve been reading for a while, you may recall during short course of 2013/14 Brett was really starting to make some progress in his off strokes (non-Breast), especially in the distance freestyles. He was making so much progress Coach Andy felt he’d have a legitimate shot at getting a State Cut in the distance frees sooner rather than later. However, during long course of 14, Brett felt he had a great shot at a Breast cut, and seemed to regress a bit on the other strokes due to being too focused on his Breast time. That was followed by the Coach Neil disaster/departure, which was deflating to Brett because he really liked swimming for Neil. Combine that with the arrival of Coach Todd and his hands off approach, and Brett floundered badly, so badly that according to Coach Andy – His strokes have completely fallen apart.

Now, for all intense and purposes, he’s starting over. The coach wants him to work on long strokes and reducing his stroke count, rather than speed and time. In fact, Coach Andy believes part of the reason Brett’s strokes deteriorated was due to his attempts to keep up in practice with a faster lane (which Brett elected to swim in because Coach Todd at least paid marginal attention to that lane, whereas he completely ignored the other 2 lanes, which is probably where Brett belonged). Now Brett is to ignore interval training to the point where he’ll get in trouble if he actually beats the interval. He’s expected to get lapped on a regular bases, and he’s to ignore all of that and just work on form.

Brett’s actually excited about this, and I think it is the right approach for sure. Will it work, I don’t know. It won’t hurt that’s for sure, and his improved times with only a couple of days of long stroke practice indicated it will, but we’ll have to wait and see.

FrogMan

05-06-2015, 02:04 PM

dang, didn't realize it's been two years since I last posted in here... :(

I started reading, then got swamped and stopped but all this time I kept receiving the notifications that you had updated the thread and I always meant to come back to read a bit more and follow your kids. I wasn't even sure if all three were still swimming, I only knew you had posted something so at least one was still into it. ;) Great to see that all three are still very active and from what little I've read in the last page, all progressing nicely. :)

My son Matthew turned 11 in January and with it, entered the age group levels of competition, with preliminaries and finals at most meets. Before that, he was in what we call around here "Provincial Development" or with meets being done with only timed finals and no medals being awarded but ribbons given if a swimmer beat his previous best time in the event.

I don't even remember how deep I went about how it's done around here and I must admit, I probably knew VERY little about the world of swimming two years ago as he was only 9 and had almost two years of under age group swimming to do before the "real" meets would start.

I'm going back to read partly from the start and hopefully can come back and chat with you about your kids and were my son is now. I'll only say he's starting to give us goosebumps, dang I love seeing him swim. :)

With that tease, I'll go back to reading.

silly question that just occured to me, your pools are in yards, right? When you say "50 free" that's a 50 yards race, right?

I'm asking because our pools are in meters and I was mentally comparing times at about the same age between Matthew and Brett...

later!

FM

Breeze

05-06-2015, 03:55 PM

Breeze

05-07-2015, 08:38 AM

FM,

Figured I'd go ahead and post Brett's PBs from his 11 year old long course. (interestingly, his 11 year old long course season is when we moved him over to Gold)...

Stroke Course Age Time Swim Date
50 FR LCM 11 38.68 7/7/2012

100 FR LCM 11 1:29.17 7/7/2012

200 FR LCM 11 3:13.87 7/7/2012

50 BK LCM 11 47.45 7/7/2012

100 BK LCM 11 1:45.10 6/16/2012

50 BR LCM 11 47.72 6/16/2012

100 BR LCM 11 1:44.22 7/7/2012

100 BR LCM 11 1:44.22 6/16/2012

200 BR LCM 11 3:37.50 7/18/2012

50 FL LCM 11 46.96 4/28/2012

50 FL LCM 11 46.96 4/28/2012

200 IM LCM 11 3:32.07 7/7/2012

FrogMan

05-07-2015, 11:22 AM

That's a very interesting fact about SC/LC. Also didn't realize when you'd get to LC, it would all be in meters.

When comparing, in fact, I said Brett but I think what triggered the thought of yards vs meters was comparing to Bailey's first times in your thread when she was competing in 10U and I realized she was 9 or so and soooo much faster than Matthew ;) It was in the short course season of course so once converted the times made a bit more sense.

Thanks for Brett's times, here's a link to Matthew's times over at SwimRankings.
Swimrankings, Switzerland (http://www.swimrankings.net/index.php?page=athleteDetail&athleteId=4761717)

Pretty much all meets in Quebec use their software so all his times are in there. Not sure if I cas sort/filter by what age he was when he did a PB but seeing how he is 11 years and about 4 months old, we probably can compre most of them. I went ahead and pulled his PB as they stand now. Matthew has done a grand total of 3 timed events on a long course and they all happened a couple weeks ago in his biggest meet so far (will get into it eventually). As I said before, short course for us is 25 meters and kiddos under 11 don't do long course around here. In fact, even for kids over 11 in the intermediate kind of competition levels, I don't see separate short course and long course seasons around here (will also eventually talk about it). I know he's got a long course meet around the end of the month but then he's got a short course meet around the end of June...

To make it easier to compare, I pulled his PB and added them next to Brett's times. If only one time is present, it's a LC time. If there are two times, the first one is a 25m SC time and the second one is converted by using the utility found at Swimming World http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/results/conversions.asp

Stroke Course Age Time Swim Date
50 FR LCM 11 38.68 7/7/2012 36.83

100 FR LCM 11 1:29.17 7/7/2012 1:23.23/1:24.13

200 FR LCM 11 3:13.87 7/7/2012 3:07.55/3:08.55

50 BK LCM 11 47.45 7/7/2012 49.33/50.03

100 BK LCM 11 1:45.10 6/16/2012

50 BR LCM 11 47.72 6/16/2012 48.87/49.47

100 BR LCM 11 1:44.22 7/7/2012 1:44.50/1:46.00

200 BR LCM 11 3:37.50 7/18/2012

50 FL LCM 11 46.96 4/28/2012 35.53

200 IM LCM 11 3:32.07 7/7/2012 3:13.48/3:17.08

Did I ever tell you that our boy is a fly beast? ;) Amazes everyone that he swims faster doing fly than he does doing freestyle, lol!

He's also got a PB of 1:30.39 on the 100 fly on a long course. It's always amazing to see him get out in front in a medley but then he gets semi-destroyed in back which is really his worst style, heh :)

Gotta go, I'll post back at some time about his recent meet, where he's at and a bit about how competitive swimming is structured in Quebec, if you're interested.

FM

Breeze

05-07-2015, 12:17 PM

Awesome input...nice to hear. Your son is a bit like Bailey - her fly isn't faster than her free, but it's really darn close.

Looks like Matthew has some good times...I'll peak in on the site you provided from time to time...

By the way, 1 piece of information I think you'll find interesting given that you are in Canada:

You may recall that during the State Meet, Bear's 400 Free Relay team won the Gold Medal, and in my write up prior to the event I talked about the kids on the relay teams...3 of them were always the same (Nate, Nicklas, and Bear), well the 4th kid on that Gold Medal Relay - Andrew (13) is a dual citizen, and his dad told me last weekend that he has already received 1 cut time that would allow him to swim in the Canadian National Championships. Now in order to actually compete in the meet, a swimmer must have 3 cuts, but he's close on several others, so one of Bear's teammates might be swimming in your National Championships at the end of the Summer.

Note: If you want to find my write up on Andrew it's here: http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=83008&page=11

FrogMan

05-07-2015, 02:03 PM

I'm still reading from the start, I'll eventually get to Andrew but that is very interesting indeed. Crazy coincidence, our oldest son, also named Andrew, also has dual citizenship. ;)

At the time of my first posting in this thread, I was just starting to learn about cut times in Canada and more specifically in Quebec. Was learning but not really paying much attention to what was needed since I knew it wouldn't matter for another couple years anyway since they don't really apply until a kid turns 11.

The "Federation de Natation du Quebec" (FNQ) is the governing body for swimming in Quebec. They act right under Swimming Canada and rule over swimming competitions and such in Quebec. Prior to this season or was it last season, anyway back in 2013, there was three levels of cuts that Matthew could aspire to when he'd turn 11: Provincial development, P1, P2.

At the time, IIRC, he needed two provincial development cuts in order to be allowed to compete in that level of meets but my memory is kinda vague about it since they changed it since that time.

Now, the old provincial development cut is now called "A", P1 is now AA and P2 is now AAA. There's also a Quebec Cup cut but a kids needs to be 12-13 (different age for boys and girls) in order to enter and the times are so outrageous we've not even started looking at it ;)

I've included the FNQ standard times for both boys and girls, in both short and long course. What you see on the left are for kids 10 and under and mostly for Regional development. Actually have never really seen a kid be blocked from competing at that level.

For a kid to be allowed to compete at a certain type of meet, A, AA or AAA, he needs to have three cuts of that level in at least two different styles.

Matthew has had his 11/12 A standards for a little while now. He then got his first cut in November in his second time ever competing in a 100 fly. He followed that up with a cut in 100 breast in December and had many other close call in free but could never seem to improve his free enough to make a cut. As you can see from the time sheets, other than free, no 50 event qualify for a cut other than free or else he would probably have had his 50 fly easily. He finally got his third cut about two weeks ago with a 7 seconds improvement in his 200 IM. The meet that'll happen around the end of June that I mentioned before is a AA meet. Had he not got his third cut recently, he would have needed to get it at the end of the month or else he'd have had to sit that one out. I think the one at the end of the month (long course one) is a A-AA-AAA meet which means you only need you A cuts in order to be allowed to compete...

On top of the Quebec Cup cuts, there are the National Championships cuts as you mentioned. A kid from our club got a couple of those in that last meet.

My understanding is that once a standard is achieved, it's good forever. For example, unless they change the standard before he turns 13, Matthew already has one cut at the age 13 level. His 100 fly time of 1:30.39 in long course is good enough to meet the standard of 1:32.75.

Hope this kind of makes sense.

FM

FrogMan

05-07-2015, 02:19 PM

As for Matthew, he's developping nicely. He's weak in free and back but pretty strong in fly (there's an understatement) and surprisingly convincing at times in breaststroke. At other times, he can get out of it, not enough to get DQed but enough to slow himself down a bit and look more average than anything.

He's a tall kid and has yet to really develop muscle control which is kind of his downfall in free and back. He often wobbles from side to side in free with very long, kinda slow strokes. The same can be said for him while doing backstroke, where his head bobbles and he can look almost vertical at times.

When doing fly, he's very energetic, has got a GREAT kick and just needs to grow up a bit and gain some endurance before he can take on a 200m event. He has so far refused to even enter one.

As for endurance and I would say mental toughness, his young age kinda shows as he can start a 200 event (IM or free are the only ones he's entered so far) strong, then have two slowish middle 50 splits, then finish super strong in the last 50, showing he has yet to learn how to pace himself or even block out fatigue...

FM

Breeze

05-07-2015, 03:07 PM

Thanks for the times and the explanation, it's a very similar process down here for big meets, so nothing you explained seems peculiar.

Your experiences with Matthew are very common in the sport. Growth can really cause havoc with a kid's strokes...and tall kids are impacted in a more pronounced way (we don't really have the tall issue, but we've had problems with growth in the past). The reluctance to swim longer events is normal, and holding back when he actually does swim them is also typical, but once he figures it out, it becomes really awesome. You talked about loving to watch him swim, wait until you start seeing him gut out a 200 fly, 400 IM, or distance free. Also, once he starts embracing those races, I suspect two things will happen - 1, he'll get those cuts pretty quickly, and 2 - his sprints will quickly start to improve as well.

I'll be interested to hear how he's doing, please keep me informed.

FrogMan

05-07-2015, 04:37 PM

Matthew has had his 11/12 A standards for a little while now. He then got his first cut in November in his second time ever competing in a 100 fly. He followed that up with a cut in 100 breast in December and had many other close call in free but could never seem to improve his free enough to make a cut. As you can see from the time sheets, other than free, no 50 event qualify for a cut other than free or else he would probably have had his 50 fly easily. He finally got his third cut about two weeks ago with a 7 seconds improvement in his 200 IM. The meet that'll happen around the end of June that I mentioned before is a AA meet. Had he not got his third cut recently, he would have needed to get it at the end of the month or else he'd have had to sit that one out. I think the one at the end of the month (long course one) is a A-AA-AAA meet which means you only need you A cuts in order to be allowed to compete...

FM

I realize now that this was kind of unclear. Matthew has had his A times for a little while now, the other cuts I mention here are all AA cuts.

FM

Breeze

05-08-2015, 08:36 AM

Gran Prix Series Update

The results have been announced for the Gran Prix Series. As you've probably realized, if you've been following along, I'm a serious stat junkie, and because of that I did a good bit of research to try and determine where the twins were going to end up.

As I expected Bear finished 2nd overall behind just Nate, which was an excellent result for him. He even managed to beat one of the two boys that turned 13 right after the start of the series (they swam as 12 year old due to being 12 at the start of the series. The second boy referenced, failed to swim all 12 events and was disqualified from the final standings)

From my calculations, I thought Bailey was going to finish 3rd, but as it turns out she won for the 11/12 girls. I was pleasantly shocked but confused by this result. I was convinced there were at least 2 girls that had beaten her (both, like mentioned in Bear's piece above were actually 13 for most of the series). Here is what I believe happened...the way the scoring worked was - each kid received points based on where they finished in the event. So 1 point for first, 2 points for second, etc., and the lowest point total when all 12 events are added wins. When the totals over the 4 events were calculated, I believe the coaches threw out any results from swimmers that failed to complete all 12 events, and thus were ineligible to win. This way those kids didn't skew results for swimmers that were eligible. This would also explain how Bailey ended up winning. She finished 3rd and even 4th in a couple of events, but she was beaten by girls that would fall into the group that was ineligible.

So you might be wondering what the kids win...

Bear gets - Movie Tickets
Bailey gets - Dinner with the coaches (she's so thrilled - she would have rather finished 4th and gotten a new swim bag...:rolleyes:)

Breeze

05-11-2015, 03:19 PM

Breeze

05-14-2015, 10:37 AM

Summer League - CRC Time Trials

The Summer League kicks off on Friday (5/15) with the team's time trials. It will be a very interesting meet for a number of reasons:

- Bailey and Bear are on the young end of the age group this time around so they will both be battling to get onto the A relays

- Tommy has joined the boys 13/14 team, which will make it that much more difficult for Brett and/or Bear to get on the A relay

Just some quick notes on the team.

- There are 8 year round girls in Bailey's age group, which will probably make them the deepest team in all of Summer League. So deep in fact, that all 8 could end up on the State Team

- There are 6 year round Boys (counting my two) in the 13/14 boys...my guess is two will move up to swim with the 15/18 age group in relays because that team is very light in numbers and talent.

I'm not sure how this is going to play out, but if I had to guess I'd say when county rolls around:

- Bailey will be on the B Free relay as the 5th fastest girl out of the 8
- Bailey will be on a A Medley in the Fly leg
- Bear will be on the A Free Relay, but Brett won't (and I expect he swims 15/18)
- Brett will be on the A Medley in Breast, and Bear won't (and I expect him to be the flyer on the 15/18 Medley)

Breeze

05-18-2015, 09:56 AM

Summer League - CRC Time Trials - RESULTS

Note: no blocks were used, thus resulting in slower overall times

Bailey

50 Free - This was going to be a really tight race, with 6 girls all having similar times swimming at once. The start of the race was as expected, and Bailey was in a tight battle for the 4th spot, but coming out of the turn she fell off the pace and cruised into the finish over a second back. She finished 6th with a time of 30.37, well off her personal best time (even without blocks). I asked her what happened, and she informed me, she hit the bottom coming out of her turn (not surprising as she goes deep off walls in year round meets, due to her strong underwater work), and once that happened, she lost so much ground to the field, she backed off and just finished the race.

50 Back - Awesome start for Bailey (even without the blocks to get good leverage on the start). She was out fast, but before she could get to the wall, a couple of girls caught her. She finished 4th and actually added time from last year...33.23

50 Breast - Bailey managed to get 5th, even though she came in with the 8th fastest time. It wasn't a great swim at 41.29, but it was pretty good for her.

50 Fly - Honestly, I do believe that Bailey may have held back a bit in the 3 earlier races, knowing she was going to have a showdown in this one with Caroline and Kate. And it lived up to the hype. Bailey, Caroline, and Kate were neck and neck the whole way. In fact, Bailey was probably 3rd at the turn, but she came home strong and won the event with a 30.44. Caroline finished 30.55, and Kate was a 30.68.

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Brett

50 Free - Brett's strokes were much longer and they definately looked better, but he only managed to get 6th - 29.16

50 Back - decent race -36.27, still 6th...but better than he's been swimming recently.

50 Breast - The big one for Brett...and I was super proud because he stayed longer with his strokes despite the fact he was chasing early. He finished 3rd overall (behind Tommy and Riley), but he was within about 1.5 seconds - 35.85 - but it isn't a personal best time.

50 Fly - His fly continues to look better, only managed 6th - 37.39, which is a slight improvement for him.

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Bear

50 Free - An ok swim for Bear, managed a 27.61, which put him 4th in the event (and that was as good as he was going to be able to do even if he had cranked out a PB swim).

50 Back - 32.42 time is slightly off his time for last year...finished 4th. A Bit disappointing that he wasn't able to beat Tommy in this one, as back is Tommy's weak stroke.

50 Breast - 39.71 - a good swim for Bear, but not nearly as good as his recent year round swims in Breast. Finished 6th, as expected.

50 Fly - Suprisingly, Bear only managed a 5th place finish in this stroke. I though he might be able to pull 3rd, but Seth (who's fly has improve a bunch, and Alex, who has finally started to put the year round swimming thing together) both beat him by about a second. Bear posted a 30.90.

Breeze

05-21-2015, 10:43 AM

General Update

A couple of things to update that involve (at least tangentially) my kids…one is a Gold Team correction in the newsletter, the other is strange teen drama…

Let’s start with the update:

Gold puts out a newsletter (generally) twice a month, and in the March issue the team highlighted the swimmers that were top finishers at the Age Group State Meet, and in April they did the same thing for the Sectionals Meet. The only problem was, Bear was overlooked in both write-ups, despite the fact that he had several top 3 finishes. We were a little irritated and emailed the team to let them know of the oversight. We were interested in getting anyone into any trouble, and we really didn’t want them to do anything about it (because Bear doesn’t even read the newsletter, so he didn’t care), we just wanted to make sure the team was aware that Bear swam for Gold so he wasn’t overlooked in the future.

Well the May newsletter came out yesterday, and they have a small correction section highlighting Bear’s accomplishments as well as a picture of him on the podium with his medal. Kinda cool. If you’re interested, you can see it here… Gold Swim Team » News (http://goldswim.com/news) (just look for the May 1st Newsletter)

Now the second update is strange, and I don’t think it will be easy to convey how strange (regardless of how much I write). I’ve kept you pretty informed with my kids, while also trying to provide a taste of what was happening within their group of friends in order to provide you some perspective of other things going on in their lives. This will probably get confusing because it involves a few of the friends, and I doubt I’ve provided enough context up until now for all of this to register with the impact it has had on us. But anyway – here goes…

I believe I’ve mentioned a few times that Bailey and Seth have dated (such as it is). They’ve been on again/off again numerous times and most recently, they’ve started to show interest in each other again (personally I really wish they’d give it a rest for a while, but doesn’t look like I’ll get my wish).

Another of the boys in the group is Riley. You don’t hear a lot about him because he is a bit odd. He’s a good looking, big kid. In fact, he’s pretty close to my size right now. However, despite the fact that he’s big and mature physically for his age, he really struggles to fit in, to the point that he felt bullied in public school for 6th grade and is now home schooled. Also, the boys get together pretty much every weekend to do something, but Riley is almost never involved. He typically is the first to leave the pool, and he isn’t comfortable in crowds (apparently, even crowds that are his friends). This withdrawal has, in my opinion, gotten much worse recently, but it was always just anti-social in nature – until now.

Last night at practice, Riley texted Seth asking him to meet him upstairs at the pool. Seth asked Tommy and Bear if they got the same message, but they didn’t. So Seth, Tommy, and Bear went upstairs to meet with Riley. When they got there, Riley said he only wanted to talk with Seth, so they went into the bathroom. When they came out Seth told the other boys that Riley had choked (like a sleeper hold choke) and threatened him, saying the he was “not to touch Bailey”, and apparently he threatened to tell the coaches that he was sexually harassing Bailey if he didn’t listen.

Seth was fine, but he was shocked on 2 levels – First, his comment was “Why would you think I was harassing Bailey” and second, “Why’d you grab me, you know you could have just texted me!”

This is extremely strange to me. While I’ve had suspicions that Riley liked Bailey for a while (and Bear confirmed that he thinks Riley has liked Bailey for about 3 years), he has never once said or done anything to actually confirm those suspicions. In fact, the opposite is true, he’s flirted pretty heavily with several of the other girls on the team, and even indicated he’d ask one of them out (though he never did to my knowledge). I’m really not sure where this is coming from – my best guess is jealousy, but Seth and Bailey have gone out at least 2 times before – so why now? Was he really trying to protect Bailey – and if so why – it’s not like they are close friends or even spend any time together – where did the fraternal instinct come from?

My biggest hope is that this incident isn’t a symptom of a much larger issue. I like Riley, and I’ve said for a while that I felt he needed therapy to help address his social anxiety issues. Maybe this action will be the thing that gets that ball rolling, and it ends up being nothing more than teen angst for a boy that has troubles with interactions.

At this point the fallout of his actions are to be determined. It is very possible he could be suspended for a period of time. I’ll update that when I know more.

Breeze

05-22-2015, 10:24 AM

General Update

So the teen drama I reported on earlier was so much more involved than I initially realized. I’m not going to get into too much detail on this because I don’t want to embarrass anyone, but essentially here is what happened.

Apparently, the Seth / Bailey relationship was a bit more volatile than I realized. They like each other, but Bailey was uncomfortable with Seth’s constant touching, and wanted him to stop. She had told him so, but probably not definitively enough. She was afraid to tell her mom and me about it because we are such good friends with Seth’s mother. She also didn’t want to tell her brothers because they are tight with Seth. Instead she turned to Riley, who as I mentioned is part of the group, but not so close that Bailey would see him as being too friendly with Seth to do anything. She explained (and exaggerated a bit) what was happening and that she wanted it to stop. So Riley actually was doing the right thing, he just chose to do it in the wrong way. I’m not sure why he felt that level of intervention was necessary, but I have to admit, as the father here, there is a considerable amount of comfort knowing that Bailey not only has 2 brothers that will stick up for her, but friends willing to put their neck out as well.

Ultimately, there was a lot of discussion with Seth, Riley, and Bailey about how to handle these things, what they did wrong, and that it is important to move forward. At this point I don’t believe there will be any suspensions.

Breeze

05-27-2015, 09:19 AM

CRC Summer League - Week 1 vs Grand Cascades

So we start the season against the evil empire...Fun :rolleyes:

Here are what the kids will be swimming:

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Bailey

# 9 Girls 13-14 200 Medley Relay A (Fly)

# 53 Girls 13-14 100 IM 1/2 1:10.65Y

# 73 Girls 13-14 50 Fly 1/2 30.24Y

# 83 Girls 13-14 200 Free Relay B (1)

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Bear

# 10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay B (Back)

# 32 Boys 13-14 100 Free 1/2 1:03.00Y

# 44 Boys 13-14 50 Back 1/2 32.30Y

# 84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay A (2)

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Brett

# 10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay A (Breast)

# 54 Boys 13-14 100 IM 1/2 X 1:15.91Y

# 64 Boys 13-14 50 Breast 1/4 33.00Y

# 84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay B (1)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course the weather is calling for rain...so we may not get any of this meet in...

Breeze

05-29-2015, 08:34 AM

CRC Summer League - Week 1 vs Grand Cascades

RAINED OUT!!!

Scheduled to be made up Tuesday, June 16th...

Breeze

06-01-2015, 08:28 AM

General Update

Got a Summer Meet on Thursday and an out of town year round meet this weekend. I'll be adding the write ups for both shortly...

Breeze

06-01-2015, 09:38 AM

CRC Summer League - Week 2 at Aberdeen

So a match up with one of our 2 biggest rivals is this Thursday. The last 3 times we have had a Thursday meet the winner has pulled out the victory by only a few points.

Here is what the kids are currently scheduled to swim:

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Bailey

# 9 Girls 13-14 200 Medley Relay A Fly

# 63 Girls 13-14 50 Breast 1/5 41.29Y - No idea why they have her swimming this event!!!

# 73 Girls 13-14 50 Fly 1/5 30.24Y

# 83 Girls 13-14 200 Free Relay B 1

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Bear

# 10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay B Back

# 32 Boys 13-14 100 Free 1/1 1:03.00Y

# 54 Boys 13-14 100 IM 1/5 1:14.12Y

# 84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay A 2

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Brett

# 10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay A Breast

# 54 Boys 13-14 100 IM 1/1 1:15.91Y

# 64 Boys 13-14 50 Breast 1/3 33.00Y

# 84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay B 1

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The team put together a strange line up for this week (like Bailey in Breast). For instance, with the boys, there are 6 year round swimmers, and 6 events. Each kid can swim 2 events for points...pretty easy math here...2 year round swimmers in each event. Only that isn't what they have. They have only Brett doing Breast and only Seth doing back. I'd suggest changes in the lineup but I don't think it's worth the hassle at this point in the season. However, these entries are subject to change...

FrogMan

06-01-2015, 02:15 PM

Matthew had a meet this past weekend and it made me think of you and your kids. I wanted to post about it all weekend but just had no time for myself. I'll be back later on this evening with some more for you. :)

Also gotta read that whole drama thing, that looked pretty intense!

FM

FrogMan

06-01-2015, 08:39 PM

Good to see that the whole drama seems to have been resolved, or at least, it seems to have some sort of positive ending.

So yeah, Matthew had his first long course meet over the weekend. We don't have short and long course seasons and long course meets are few and far between. There's also the fact that Matthew is so new at competing at the age group level that he just never had an opportunity to do a long course meet.

Anyway, meet schedule was Friday evening, Saturday morning and evening and Sunday morning. Some of the events on Friday from finals by time but some were preliminaries with finals to be swum on saturday evening. Same for Saturday morning and then Sunday morning all events were finals by time.

Matthew had two events on Friday (200 IM, 100 breast), two more on Saturday morning (100 fly, 100 free), all four being preliminaries that could lead to finals on Saturday evening, and then two more on Sunday morning (50 fly and 50 free).

He was also told he would swim one of the laps for the 4x50 medley relay but he didn't know which at the time. That turned out to be the fly lap, in the 11-12 age group relay team.

Before that meet, he had done a grand total of three long course races so far.

He ended up having a great meet, making all four possible finals on Saturday evening, improving two of the three times he had already set while setting his base times for future long course meet (entered with "no time") and finally winning a bronze medal for the 50 fly which was a timed final. All of this while competing with kids born in 2003 and even 2002 while he was born in 2004. Basically, he was often the only or one of the few 11 year old in most finals he swam in the 11-12 age group.

The head coach of our club took care of coaching him for most of the evening on Saturday and it was kinda cool to see them interact together in a way we had never really seen before. I mean, it's not like the head coach was avoiding him, but Matthew usually is coached by the coach of the 11-13 team but she was out of town this weekend. Even then, on Friday evening and Saturday morning, he was coached by another assistant. Following the finals night, we went to eat dinner at Subway and while we were waiting in line, Matthew looked kinda proud to tell me that the head coach had told him he was considered a good prospect because he was one of only two 11 year to make the final at the 200 IM. Kiddo is making us proud, and working hard too. He was also spent after that evening. :)

Since we don't have many long course meet, there were some funny moments. Matthew had done his three LC times about a month ago, and he had some especially good times for his 50 and 100 fly. On the other hand, some 13, 14 and 15 year swimmers of our club had not done any 50 or 100 fly in LC in a long while, probably since they were maybe 11 for some of the 13 year old. This meant that for his preliminary heat in the 50 fly, he was swimming next to a 13 yo kid from our club that he almost idolizes for how good he is with his fly because they had about the same entry time. :D No need to tell you that Matthew got smoked. I wasn't there to see it but my wife told me it was pretty cool to see the older kid fist bump Matthew just prior the both of them got on the blocks. :D

FM

Breeze

06-02-2015, 09:38 AM

FrogMan

Great update...looks like Matthew is doing extremely well! Moments like the fist bump you mentioned are one of the great things about swimming. For the most part the kids understand the dedication it takes to be a swimmer and they really support each other. It makes for some pretty cool moments...

In fact, Bear had one during the Summer League Time Trials. In the fly race, Alex (who is about 6') was racing next to Bear, and Alex, as I think I mentioned, has improved dramatically in the last few months. In the sprint he was able to out-touch Bear. His first reaction was an "I beat you" exultation...to which Bear responded with a double high five.

Breeze

06-03-2015, 08:55 AM

2015 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational - 6/6-7 - @ UWF Aquatic Center (Pensacola)

Here are the events the kids will be swimming at the year round meet this weekend:

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Bailey

# 49 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Free (2:34.64L )
# 57 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:43.08L )
# 61 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Back (1:19.50L )
# 65B (d2/s3): G 13-14 400 Free (5:13.89L )
# 83 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Free (1:10.37L )
# 87 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Back (2:46.59L )
# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Medley (2:45.66L )
# 99C (d3/s5): G 13-14 800 Free (10:36.92L )

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Bear

# 50 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Free (2:20.28L )
# 58 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:39.00L )
# 62 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Back (1:19.49L )
# 66B (d2/s3): B 13-14 400 Free (4:54.66L )
# 84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:10.52L )
# 88 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:46.43L )
# 96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:40.82L )
# 100C (d3/s5): B 13-14 1500 Free (19:25.98L )

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Brett

# 50 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Free (2:34.07L )
# 54 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:29.43L )
# 62 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Back (1:24.42L )
# 66B (d2/s3): B 13-14 400 Free (5:28.07L )
# 84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:11.43L )
# 88 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:57.27L )
# 92 (d3/s5): B 13-14 50 Breast (42.38L )
# 96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:52.67L )

Breeze

06-04-2015, 07:39 AM

CRC Summer League - Week 2 at Aberdeen

Meet Update - Bailey's events have changed...update below.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 9 Girls 13-14 200 Medley Relay A Fly

# 43 Girls 13-14 50 Back 1/5 31.70

# 73 Girls 13-14 50 Fly 1/5 30.24Y

# 83 Girls 13-14 200 Free Relay B 1

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The coach came to her senses (with a little prodding from me)...and she moved Bailey from Breast to Back...

Breeze

06-08-2015, 10:39 AM

CRC Summer League - Week 2 at Aberdeen - RESULTS

As is usual with Aberdeen, this ended up being an extremely fun meet…
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 9 Girls 13-14 200 Medley Relay A Fly – The girls dominated the relay winning going away. Bailey looked a little sluggish, but still opened a lead on her leg.

# 43 Girls 13-14 50 Back 1/5 – team switched her to back and she came in 4th. Start was excellent, effort seemed lacking. Time was a pedestrian 32.22.

# 73 Girls 13-14 50 Fly 1/5 30.24Y – Again Bailey’s start was awesome, but she seemed sluggish after that. She ended up getting out touched by her teammate Kate…she swam a 30.01…

# 83 Girls 13-14 200 Free Relay B 1 – Extremely strong anchor leg allowed her to pass the Aberdeen B team, which had a good 10 yard lead on her before she hit the water.

*Note: some of the sluggishness I believe was due to the fact she had just finished practice only a couple of hours prior to this meet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay B Back – Swam with the B relay, and in the back (opening leg of the relay, he kept it close to both A teams)…didn’t matter though, as his relay faded back quickly in the Breast leg.

# 32 Boys 13-14 100 Free 1/1 1:03.00Y – Bear managed to go Sub60…but he finished 3rd behind teammates Riley and Seth. It was actually silly that all 3 were in that event, as only 2 can score. The 3 teammates swept the finish and were the only ones to go sub60.

# 54 Boys 13-14 100 IM 1/5 1:14.12Y – Again Bear had to compete with Riley and this time with Brett. Bear managed to finish 3rd with a 1:08.84. It was a good swim, but he lacked some effort for a sprint IM.

# 84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay A 2 – Bear’s relay dominated once again. Tommy led off an opened up a big lead, Bear stretched it with the second leg, and Seth opened up a full lap lead. The anchor was supposed to be Riley but Alex was swapped in last second (more on that with Brett’s write up), and the team swim won going away.

*Note: Bear also had practice just a couple of hours prior to the start of the meet.
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Brett

# 10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay A Breast – Brett’s breast leg looked very strong and he took a slight lead and really opened it up…that lead was just stretched on the following legs.

# 54 Boys 13-14 100 IM 1/1 1:15.91Y – Brett finished 4th, but he looked much stronger and he dropped a couple of seconds.

# 64 Boys 13-14 50 Breast 1/3 33.00Y – The strong breast from the relay was replicated in the individual event, and Brett won this one going away. His time was a 34 mid.

# 84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay B 1 – So after watching the team waste Bear and Alex on the B medley relay for 13/14s, I suggested moving Brett and Alex up to swim with the two 15/18 boys in the Free, and the team made the adjustment. Brett led off, as the two strong year round 15/18 boys wanted to chase down the other team…Brett swam a very respectable leg, staying within a body length of both Aberdeen teams. In fact, I figure he swam around a 27 flat. Alex was scheduled to go second, but as I mentioned in Bear’s write up, the team swapped Alex and Riley when they saw the lead that the 13/14s already had…so Riley went second here, and he was able to close the gap after Brett’s leg and actually hand off a small lead to the 3rd swimmer. From there the 3rd and 4th swimmers just opened the lead and the 15/18 relay won.

*Note: Brett’s Thursday practice is an early morning one…
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall the team did ok…the final score was:

Aberdeen – 405
CRC – 395

So for the 4th year in a row the meet between our two teams was decided by 20 points or less. Had the team put together a more sound lineup, we would have more than made up the 10 points we lost by in this meet.

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Breeze

06-09-2015, 01:25 PM

2015 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational - RESULTS (Pensacola)

The wife and I didn't not attend this meet (with the exception of Bear's 1500, which I counted for)...so all I have are times and thoughts...no observations.

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Bailey

400 Meter Medley Relay - A Team - Bailey jump in the Fly leg of this event...wasn't happy with her time (~1:15)...the team finished 4th

# 49 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Free (2:34.64L ) - dropped almost a second to a 2:33.70

# 57 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:43.08L ) - Finished, but it was ugly. Coach's wife told us she hung on every wall...2:45.53

# 61 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Back (1:19.50L ) - Added half a second to 1:20.03

# 65B (d2/s3): G 13-14 400 Free (5:13.89L ) - Added almost 9 full seconds...terrible swim 5:22.85

# 83 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Free (1:10.37L ) - dropped a fraction of a second 1:10.32

# 87 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Back (2:46.59L ) - another extremely poor event adding almost 6.5 seconds - 2:53.00

# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Medley (2:45.66L ) - continuing the poor performance adding 4.5 - 2:50.23

# 99C (d3/s5): G 13-14 800 Free (10:36.92L ) - closed out the meet with an embarassing swim - adding almost 13 seconds...10.49.28

Bailey swam so poorly she got a talking to from the head coach (Andy)...not sure what all was said, but he wasn't happy. I believe Bailey is allowing her friends to influence her practice routine, mental state, and confidence in a negative way. Bailey is in a position she should be pulling away from a host of teammates, but instead she's backing up. She's going to be in for a rude awakening when State rolls around.

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Bear

400 Meter Medley Relay - B Team - Bear got the Fly leg on the relay team. Swam a 1:15...

# 50 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Free (2:20.28L ) - dropped just over 2 seconds for a 2:18.15 (wondering if this might be good enough to get on the 13/14 - 800 meter free relay)

# 58 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:39.00L ) - managed a half second drop 2:38.49

# 62 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Back (1:19.49L ) - added 4.7 seconds...1:24.17

# 66B (d2/s3): B 13-14 400 Free (4:54.66L ) - Dropped almost 11 seconds for a 4:43.66

# 84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:10.52L ) - Dropped nearly 6 seconds...1:04.64

# 88 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:46.43L ) - Dropped 2.7 seconds, which was conforting after the poor 100 back the day before. 2:43.67

# 96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:40.82L ) - This one wasn't good...coach said he looked tired through the whole race - 2:48.44...

# 100C (d3/s5): B 13-14 1500 Free (19:25.98L ) - was concerned following the 200 medley that he was out of gas, but he did manage a good (not great) swim...18.53.09. Coach expects Bear will be able to go 18 minutes low by the end of the season.

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Brett

400 Meter Medley Relay - Brett earned the breast spot on the relay, and he swam a good 1:27.09.

# 50 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Free (2:34.07L ) - Dropped almost 7 seconds - 2:27.19

# 54 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:29.43L ) - Swam a similar time to the relay split - 1:27.36...another personal best.

# 62 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Back (1:24.42L ) - Added a couple of seconds in this one - 1:26.88

# 66B (d2/s3): B 13-14 400 Free - Didn't swim this for some reason...

# 84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:11.43L ) - dropped 2.4 seconds 1:09.03

# 88 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:57.27L ) - Another 2.4 second drop - 2:54.95

# 92 (d3/s5): B 13-14 50 Breast (42.38L ) - 40.56 personal best time

# 96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:52.67L ) - Added about 5 seconds 2:57.00...disappointing following a great meet, but not terribly surprising

Breeze

06-10-2015, 06:17 AM

2015 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational - RESULTS (Pensacola)

Did find out one interesting bit of information last night. The kids were talking about the meet, and both Bailey and Bear explained that during their backstroke (Bailey's 200 and Bear's 100) they hit the bottom on the start. Apparently, the pool was only 4' 2" deep at the start, and they both hit their backs coming off the blocks. This prevented them from getting a good breakout and thus slowed their times down significantly.

Breeze

06-11-2015, 06:47 AM

CRC Summer League - Week 3 at Creekstone

Big meet tonight. Creekstone has quite a few very strong year round swimmers. CRC should win due to depth, but it'll be close.

Here are what the kids are swimming

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Bailey

#9 Girls 13-14 200 Medley Relay (3) 2:01.16 1/3
#43 Girls 13-14 50 Back 31.70 1/1
#73 Girls 13-14 50 Fly 30.01 1/1
#83 Girls 13-14 200 Free Relay (3) 1:54.06 1/1

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Bear

#10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay (3) 2:12.10 1/4
#44 Boys 13-14 50 Back 32.30 1/1
#54 Boys 13-14 100 IM 1:08.84 1/1
#84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay (2) 1:43.39 1/3

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Brett

#10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay (2) 1:54.76 1/3
#22 Boys 13-14 50 Free 29.16 1/1
#64 Boys 13-14 50 Breast 33.00 1/3
#84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay (1) 1:58.89 1/1

*Note: Tommy broke his foot yesterday, and will miss this meet. Still waiting on results to determine what else he might miss.

Breeze

06-12-2015, 06:38 AM

CRC Summer League - Week 3 at Creekstone - RESULTS

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Bailey

#9 Girls 13-14 200 Medley Relay (3) 2:01.16 1/3 - Did a fantastic job in the fly leg, staying with a girl that is one of the top 14 year old flyers in the state. Our girls relay went on to win the heat

#43 Girls 13-14 50 Back 31.70 1/1 - - 32.58 - awesome start, ok swim...

#73 Girls 13-14 50 Fly 30.01 1/1 - 30.06 - basically the same swim as last week

#83 Girls 13-14 200 Free Relay (3) 1:54.06 1/1 - Bailey did the leadoff leg, so I got a look at her against two of the top freestylers in the county swimming the our A the Creekstone's A - she was about a half a body length behind, which should be around a 28 flat. That's good, should be better based on her strong fly time, but still good...might be good enough to sneak into the Free Relay for the Forsyth County team at state (need to be top 12 for the swimmers committed to State - typically that means top 15).

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Bear

#10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay (3) 2:12.10 1/4 - Bear actually did the Free leg, and Riley moved to Fly. The team was DQed for a swimmer leaving early so Bear costed. Had they not been DQed they would have won by a full pool length.

#44 Boys 13-14 50 Back 32.30 1/1 - Great start - similar swim 32.69.

#54 Boys 13-14 100 IM 1:08.84 1/1 - 1:09.39, good swim, coasted to 2nd in the heat, well behind teammate Riley and well ahead of Creekstone's swimmer.

#84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay (2) 1:43.39 1/3 - The first swimmer in the relay (Seth) went out hard initially, but was already coasting back half. Alex swam hard, and Bear and Riley coasted to the win, about a full lap up on the opponent.

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Brett

#10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay (2) 1:54.76 1/3 - Brett's breast leg looked labored a bit, and given that Brett said he was very sore from practice it isn't all that surprising.

#22 Boys 13-14 50 Free 29.16 1/1 - Brett nearly missed this race, and when I say nearly missed, I'm not exaggerating. In fact, if our team hadn't had a special needs girl in the heat just before Brett he would have missed it. As it was, he only made it when the starter was telling the swimmers to step up to the block, and he had to borrow some girls pink goggles because he didn't have time to get his...he swam poorly posting a 29. Disappointing following his strong swim in the relay last week.

#64 Boys 13-14 50 Breast 33.00 1/3 - Another tight labored swim, he also got a little coppy with the stroke in the first 25. Ended up losing to Alex...posted a poor 36 second swim.

#84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay (1) 1:58.89 1/1 - Better free in the relay than he swam in the individual, but it didn't matter...the B team was DQed because one of the swimmers left during a rain delay and didn't return, so they had to substitute in a kid that had already swum in the 11/12 relay.

Breeze

06-12-2015, 07:37 AM

Swim With Dad - @ GaTech - 6/13

We will be swimming just the Saturday of this meet. We are only swimming 1 day because we will miss 1 day of the meet in a couple of weeks in order to swim at the Summer League Forsyth County Championships.

Here is what the kids are swimming...

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Bailey

# 21 (d1/s2): G 13 & Over 200 Breast (3:39.79L ) - Bailey should improve here...not because she's gotten great at breast, but because she was so bad last year...

# 27 (d1/s2): G 13 & Over 50 Free (32.26L ) - Not sure what to expect here. She seems to be getting better with her freestyle, but she also has been swimming poorly.

# 36 (d1/s2): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (5:50.13L ) - With her poor results recently, I don't have high expectations here. Which is a shame because this is one of the strokes she could earn a state cut in (new State Cuts have been released, and they are much harder to achieve...I'll post the updated cuts soon)

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Bear

# 28 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 50 Free (30.24L ) - Bear's going to want to go sub30 here. He could do it, he's swimming well and according to the coaches (both Ryan and Andy), he's been killing it at practice.

# 34 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:20.28L ) - He dropped a bunch of time in this last weekend, so I don't expect much here. In fact, his actually time is a 2:18.15.

# 37 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (5:51.08L ) - I expect Bear will do well here. Given he's been swimming so well, and he hasn't done this event this year, I expect a decent drop in time. Plus this is one of the tough races that is right in his wheelhouse.

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Brett

# 22 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 200 Breast (3:09.35L ) - Brett swam real well last weekend, and his Breast appears to be getting back to his pre-choppy stage, so I expect he'll have a decent improvement here.

# 34 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:34.07L ) - Don't know about improvement here, because like Bear he just dropped last weekend. His PB is actually a 2:27...I don't think he'll improve on that.

# 37 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (6:11.31L ) - I don't know what to expect here. Individually, Brett is improving in fly significantly, breast seems to be getting back to normal. Back is solid, and Free is improving, so it would be reasonable to expect a good drop. Maybe 10 seconds or so, but unlike Bear, who thrives the tougher the race gets, Brett seems to go into conservation mode, and he never really fully pushes himself.

Breeze

06-15-2015, 11:10 AM

Swim With Dad - RESULTS

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Bailey

# 21 (d1/s2): G 13 & Over 200 Breast (3:39.79L ) - Dropped this event...

# 27 (d1/s2): G 13 & Over 50 Free (32.26L ) - She swam a personal best 31.90...coach told her she was too tight which was forcing her head down and creating drag. He wants her to relax more on her freestyle swims...

G 13 & Over 200 Free (2:33.70L ) - Added in place of the 200 Breast - after dropping about a second last weekend, Bailey managed to drop over 6 seconds this weekend. She finished with a personal best 2:27.07

# 36 (d1/s2): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (5:50.13L ) - Bailey was hoping to get a state cut here...she started out with a strong fly of just a faction over 1:15...but then she really slowed down. Coach says it's fatigue, he's been working them hard and with a meet last weekend, summer swim and this meet, her body just couldn't respond again. Time 5:56.20

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Bear

# 28 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 50 Free (30.24L ) - Bear wasn't able to drop, but pretty much match his time coming in - 30.40

# 34 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:20.28L ) - Couldn't drop here either, though I didn't really expect him to after the huge drop last weekend. 2:21.02

# 37 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (5:51.08L ) -He looked sluggish and tired swimming this event. In fact, the coach actually laughed during Bear's 100 Free leg at the end. Usually, Bear kicks it into high gear to charge to the wall. There was no high gear left. He did manage to drop a bunch of time, but that was more to do with the time off between swimming this race...5:43.16

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Brett

# 22 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 200 Breast (3:09.35L ) - Better swim. Still a bit inconsistent. Coach says he needs to pull more with his lats and less with his tricept. Coach also indicated to me that Brett's kick has never been the same since he hurt his knee last year...not sure why...did manage a personal best - barely - 3:08.53

# 34 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:34.07L ) - Didn't expect much here after last weeks good swim of 2:27.19...his stroke stayed long, but speed wasn't there. 2:33.46...

# 37 (d1/s2): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (6:11.31L ) - Sluggish swim all the way around - 6:19.28

Breeze

06-15-2015, 01:22 PM

General Update

The Summer League County Championship Meet is coming up and as usual I'm helping the team with the lineups. In my search for data to set up trends I found a couple of images from 2008, thought I'd post them for fun...

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rdTbd2ITj6M/VX8MgpkI9sI/AAAAAAAAAFE/ypsYylzDK5s/w640-h480-no/n_a%2B%25281%2529.jpg

That's Brett in the front row middle, and Bear front row left end.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1xQ1ho1ptk4/VX8MqMix8qI/AAAAAAAAAFo/-9c8Tj6Bu0s/w640-h480-no/n_a.jpg

Brett again on the front row...

Breeze

06-15-2015, 01:32 PM

General Update

Here's one the Coach Andy put together...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-akSFRzGxgVs/VX8Zv6fwvlI/AAAAAAAAAGw/0SSUVgSrbIk/w426-h533/CHF4QUCXEAAa62F.jpg

Here's the lineup:

Red shirt in back face not visable - Alex
Blue Shirt with Football - Tommy (who broke his foot the other day, ending what was likely to be a big Summer State Championships)
White Shirt and Frisbee - Brett
Green Shirt - Bear
Grey Nike Shirt - Seth
Gray team shirt - Riley

Breeze

06-16-2015, 07:05 AM

CRC Summer League vs Grand Cascades (make up meet)

Tuesday night make up and their are some changes this week. Some parents are starting to hound the coach, who is, I'm guessing, a 20 year old college student. They want their kids on the A relay...and they are being a pain to the coach in order to get these changes. It's disappointing, but not surprising. Here my kids line up.

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Bailey

#9 Girls 13-14 200 Medley Relay (3) 2:02.59 1/4
#43 Girls 13-14 50 Back 31.70 1/2
#73 Girls 13-14 50 Fly 30.01 1/2 - this could be extremely exciting - 4 girls who all come in with times between 29.2 and 30.1...
#83 Girls 13-14 200 Free Relay (1) 1:57.33 1/2

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Bear

#10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay (3) 1:54.76 1/4
#32 Boys 13-14 100 Free 58.93 1/2
#54 Boys 13-14 100 IM 1:08.84 1/4
#84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay (3) 1:47.32 1/4

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Brett

#10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay (3) 2:07.05 1/2 (this is the B relay - Brett's Personal Best time of 33 is still faster than the person they replaced him with, but the change was made anyway - not typically the way our team handles things)
#44 Boys 13-14 50 Back 36.27 1/2
#64 Boys 13-14 50 Breast 33.00 1/4
#86 Boys 15-18 200 Free Relay (3) 1:41.62 1/4

Breeze

06-17-2015, 11:02 AM

CRC Summer League vs Grand Cascades (make up meet)

So we lost as expected, but only by 100 points this time around - much better than it has been...and had we taken the time to put our swimmers in their best strokes to maximize points we could have been around 80 back...

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Bailey

#9 Girls 13-14 200 Medley Relay (3) 2:02.59 1/4 - The relay won going away, but Bailey lost a little ground on her stroke, this was concerning heading into a tight 50 fly race.
#43 Girls 13-14 50 Back 31.70 1/2 - hit the bottom of the pool on the start, cruised into a 3rd place finish, which given the competition was probably where she would have ended up anyway - 33.40
#73 Girls 13-14 50 Fly 30.01 1/2 - awesome race, 3 of the 4 girls came into the wall at the same time...Bailey won by a fingernail...29.48. Third place as 29.81, and forth was 30.49...
#83 Girls 13-14 200 Free Relay (1) 1:57.33 1/2 - Bailey led off the B relay, and was first to the wall at the end of the first leg, beating the A leadoff swimmer for our team and Grand Cascades. The lead was just a fraction...but it was a strong swim regardless.

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Bear

#10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay (3) 1:54.76 1/4 - Team won going away...Seth provided a decent lead in back that the team just pressed until they won by 8 seconds.
#32 Boys 13-14 100 Free 58.93 1/2 - Great swim...he chased Riley all the way to a second place finish in the heat, well ahead of GCs first swimmer - 58.29
#54 Boys 13-14 100 IM 1:08.84 1/4 - fantastic race with a Gold Teammate...they were stroke for stroke through the back. In the breast the GC swimmer (who will be shooting to win Breast in county) opened up a bit of lead. Bear chased him down in free and came up just .2 second behind. - 1:05.61
#84 Boys 13-14 200 Free Relay (3) 1:47.32 1/4 - Blow out win...

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Brett

#10 Boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay (3) 2:07.05 1/2 - Brett ended up doing the back...no idea how he swam, I was looking for him to swim 15/18, and didn't expect they'd ever stick him in the back on the B relay. Bear says he did good...they beat GCs B team, so must have done ok.
#44 Boys 13-14 50 Back 36.27 1/2 - Much better swim here...still could have worked a bit harder, and didn't trust his count into the walls but dropped a couple seconds anyway...34.63
#64 Boys 13-14 50 Breast 33.00 1/4 - Much better swim here than he's been doing usually...he was leading early, lost some time going into the wall...was neck and neck with Alex and the GC boy mentioned in Bear's IM write up, but lost ground coming into the finish. Ended up third by less than a second from 1st and .2 from Alex. - 34.47
#86 Boys 15-18 200 Free Relay (3) 1:41.62 1/4 - swam 15/18...stroke looked SO MUCH BETTER - but team was way behind before Brett ever hit the water on the second leg. In fact, they were so far behind...he (like the rest of the team) ran from about 20 feet back and dove in when the previous swimmer hit the wall. It's obviously not legal, but as the place judge from GC said to me..."It's not legal, but it is awesome!" - in case you are wondering...the official let it slide.

Breeze

06-18-2015, 07:32 AM

CRC Summer League vs Polo Fields

This will be our last regular season Summer meet…we are skipping next Thursday because it falls in the middle of the short taper Gold is doing for a year round meet next weekend.

Here is what the kids will be swimming:

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Bailey

200 Yard Medley A Relay (3) – two of the girls who are normally on the A Relay are out of town so this will be a much tighter race than it usually is. Bailey is still in the Fly leg.
50 Yard Back (31.70)
50 Yard Fly (29.48)
200 Yard Free A Relay (3) – Bailey moves up to the A Free relay with the absences mentioned above

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Bear

200 Yard Medley A Relay (4) – They have him listed in the back, but he’ll do the Free…(don’t know why the team organizers can’t seem to get this lineup correct)
50 Yard Free (27.61)
100 Yard IM (1:05.61)
200 Yard Free A Relay (3)

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Brett

200 Yard Medley A Relay (2) – Brett is back in the A relay this week despite losing to Alex in the breast by an eye blink on Tuesday. Not sure why the switch this time or on Tuesday for that matter.
50 Yard Back (34.63) – Again, not sure why they put him in this event…but hopefully he’ll improve again
50 Yard Breast (33.00)
200 Yard Free B Relay (4)

Breeze

06-18-2015, 09:14 AM

CRC Summer League vs Polo Fields

There has been a slight change to Bailey schedule.

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Bailey

200 Yard Medley A Relay (3) – two of the girls who are normally on the A Relay are out of town so this will be a much tighter race than it usually is. Bailey is still in the Fly leg.
50 Yard Back (31.70)
50 Yard Fly (29.48)
200 Yard Free A Relay (3) – Bailey moves up to the A Free relay with the absences mentioned above

Note: Bailey will also be swimming the 50 Free tonight as an exhbition. She is swimming this event to get an updated time in hopes of getting into the A Free Relay at County...intially the team was planning to use the 4 fastest times from the 50 event at county for the free relay, but the order of events is different during the county meet and the free relay is moved up and swum ahead of the individual 50 free.

Breeze

06-19-2015, 02:03 PM

CRC Summer League vs Polo Fields

The meet was rained...no stormed out. The storm rolled in about the same time warm up were to start. It go so bad the kids had to be packed into the basement area of the clubhouse, our starters tent and the electronic starting system attached to it were blown into the pool. The tent over the PA/Sound system was blown out of the pool area and the equipment was ruined. Trees were knocked down, power was knocked out, and generally things were a huge mess...

So that's our summer league, with the excpetion of the County Championships on 6/27...

Breeze

06-22-2015, 12:11 PM

General Update

So this is the weekend over the summer where we end up swimming in two different meets. On Friday and Sunday we will swim with Gold and on Saturday we will be swimming in the Forsyth County Championships for CRC. I'll be posting the events and information on the races shortly, but wanted to give you a heads up because they are going to overlap and I didn't want to confuse anyone.

Breeze

06-23-2015, 08:50 AM

2015 Gold International Meet - @ Cumming Aquatic Center 6/26 - 6/ 28

This will be our last year round meet before the State Championships in July...

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Bailey

# 5 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Breast (1:37.77L ) - First time swimming this in a while...should improve, but won't get the state cut.

# 9 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:15.59L ) - She's apparently been swimming 1:15 intervals in practice (even the end of practice). Coach is looking for a nice drop here. Maybe something in the 1:13 range

# 13 (d1/s1): G 13-14 400 Medley (5:50.13L ) - disappointing swim in this last meet. Should do better this time around.

# 73 (d3/s7): G 13-14 200 Back (2:46.59L ) - another event that with a little more effort she could see a decent drop in.

# 81 (d3/s7): G 13-14 200 Medley (2:45.66L ) - hasn't touched her best time from last year yet...

# 85 (d3/s7): G 13-14 800 Free (10:36.92L ) - starting to do a bit better on the distance stuff...but still hasn't embraced it, so not sure what to expect.

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13-14 200 Free (2:18.25L ) - would like to see a drop here, Bear currently sits 5th for Gold in this event, if he can get top 4 he can swim on the A 800 Free Relay...won't be easy though, has to be Seth or Riley...

# 10 (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:15.22L ) - only swam it once, back in may when he was out of shape. Could see a small drop here...

# 14 (d1/s1): B 13-14 400 Medley (5:43.16L ) - a nice drop in this just a couple weeks ago...I don't expect any improvement this time around.

# 74 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Back (2:43.67L ) - Had a drop in this in Florida...so not sure what to expect this time around.

# 82 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:40.82L ) - Could improve here...best time is from back in May.

# 86 (d3/s7): B 13-14 800 Free (10:05.37L ) - Given his recent practice routines, I expect Bear will improve here. Coach has had Bear doing a lot of long sets in preparation for distance events. Hopefully, those sets pay off and don't have him worn out right now.

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Brett

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13-14 200 Free (2:27.19L ) - Been swimming Free so much better, but unfortunately came home with a sore shoulder last night. Hopefully, it won't hinder him this weekend.

# 6 (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:27.36L ) - could improve if he stays long and snaps the kick and pull each stroke...

# 14 (d1/s1): B 13-14 400 Medley (6:11.31L ) - I would love to say he will improve in this...and he should with a greatly improved fly form, and swimming free better, but I'm just not confident, especially with the bad shoulder.

# 74 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Back (2:54.95L ) - His back in Summer league showed some promise with an increase in effort. If he can carry that over, he'll drop time here...

# 82 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:52.67L ) - See 400 IM

# 86 (d3/s7): B 13-14 800 Free (11:05.60L ) - Don't know if Brett has embraced this yet...and honestly, right now I'd be surprised if he actually swam it. I expect they will shelve him because of the shoulder. No reason to risk anything as this will be Brett's last year round meet of the season.

Breeze

06-25-2015, 08:25 AM

CRC Summer League County Championships @ GaTech - 6/27

Just a quick reminder, while time is important here...what we are really looking for is a top 3 finish in order to earn a medal and a spot on the County All-Star team (note: it is possible to make the county team finishing outside of the top 3 if some of the swimmers who finished ahead elect not to swim at the state meet)

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Bailey

#9 Girls 13/14 200 Medley Relay A Team (fly) - The relay team comes in seeded 2nd, but they beat the top team head-to-head during a Thursday meet. The anchor freestyler for CRC isn't swimming in this meet, so this will be a very close race

#21 Girls 13/14 50 Freestyle (exhibition) - 28.47 (12th Seed) - Bailey is only swimming this in an effort to get on one of the free relays for the state meet. To get on one of the relays they must be in the top 12 (of those going to state)...and she's sitting on 12th. However, this is an old time. I'm hoping for a 27 high, which will give her a shot at the top 8 and the B relay team.

#43 Girls 13/14 50 Backstroke - 31.70 (7th Seed) - disappointing seed here. I really wish she was in IM...even with this old time, there is pretty much no shot to get in the top 3, and all the girls seeded in front of her are all going to State in this event.

#73 Girls 13/14 50 Fly - 29.48 (2nd Seed) - This time is not Bailey's PB, so she has a shot to win the event. She'll have to beat her old friend Maddie to do it. (note: there is a faster seed but they are exhibitioning so they can't win the event).

#83 Girls 13/14 200 Free Relay B team (4) - Bailey is scheduled to swim the anchor on the B team...they are seeded 11th...the A team is seeded 3rd. It'll be interesting to see where Bailey ends up in the 50 Free, I won't be surprised if she has 1 of the top 4 times.

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Bear

#10 Boys 13/14 Medley Relay A team (Free) - The boys medley is seeded 1st heading into the County meet.

#22 Boys 13/14 50 Freestyle (exhibition) - 27.61 (14 Seed) - Bear is in a good position to make it on a free relay. Not every swimmer in front of him is going, so with a good swim he should make the top 12.

#32 Boys 13/14 100 Freestyle - 58.29 (4th Seed) - Bear is 4th seed, behind Gold and CRC Teammates Riley and Seth, as well as former Gold Teammate and Brett's good friend Hunter. Seth can't swim at state (swimming out of his county of residence), so if Bear can old off a couple of challengers, he could get the 3rd spot for State.

#54 Boys 13/14 100 IM - 1:05.61 (3rd Seed) - Bear is in a tight one here...the top 5 are all separated by less than 1 second. Can he at least hold on to that 3rd spot...or could he charge for the win...going to be fun.

#74 Boys 13/14 50 Fly - (exhibition) 30.90 (6th Seed) - Exhibitioning here, hoping to make a medley for state, but being seeded 6th, makes it unlikely. His PB is actually a 30.00, which would put him 5th...but everyone in front of him is going to State...so not likely.

#84 Boys 13/14 200 Free Relay A team (2) - The team is seeded second, but they beat the top seed in a head to head Thursday race...so should be exciting.

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Brett

#10 Boys 13/14 Medley Relay A team (Breast) - same relay as Bear's above...hopefully they can win it all...

#54 Boys 13/14 100 IM - 1:13.13 (6th Seed) - Brett is the first swimmer outside of the top 5 mentioned in Bear's write up. I know he's capable of going under 1:10...but I think he'll settle in and finish around his seed time.

#64 Boys 13/14 50 Breaststroke - 34.47 (3rd Seed) - The amazing thing about this race is the top 3 times, were all from the same race against GC earlier this season. The one where Brett was outtouched by the GC swimmer and Alex. Could be a re-run of that race (though someone could come from back in the pack to win). I've been thinking about this one a bunch...and I believe this will probably be Brett's last chance to ever win an individual medal. Next sesason he moves up to swim with 15-18 year olds...obviously it will take a while before he'll be able to compete with some of the older kids, and by the time he gets there, some of the extremely strong breaststrokers currently 2 years younger will mostly likely beat him when they reach that 15-18 range. I'm really rooting for him to do something special here...

#86 Boys 15/18 200 Freestyle Relay - A Team (1) - Moved Brett and 2 other 13/14s up to swim the 15/18 relay in order to get some points. They are likely to finish last

CRC TEAM OUTLOOK - overall it looks like CRC will probably finish 3rd, though my projections show us only having about a 150 point lead on 4th (way behind 2nd)...so a few DQs might be very costly.

Breeze

06-30-2015, 09:42 AM

2015 Gold International Meet – DAY 1 PRELIM RESULTS

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Bailey

# 5 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Breast (1:37.77L ) – She only managed to swim a 1:38.58, surprising as her Breast is getting better. It’s apparent to anyone watching that her stroke is much more explosive than it used to be…not sure why it isn’t faster.

# 9 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:15.59L ) – As expected she was in the 1:13 range…in fact a 1:13.21.

# 13 (d1/s1): G 13-14 400 Medley (5:50.13L ) – Swum only at finals…

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13-14 200 Free (2:18.25L ) – stroke looked sluggish and he looked tired. Only managed a 2:20.82

# 10 (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:15.22L ) – a pretty good swim this time around, but not good enough to get the new harder state cuts. 1:14.32.

# 14 (d1/s1): B 13-14 400 Medley (5:43.16L ) – Swum only at finals…

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Brett

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13-14 200 Free (2:27.19L ) – disappointing 2:31.90 in prelims…stroke looks better, effort doesn’t.

# 6 (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:27.36L ) – Moments of good looking strokes, intermixed with poor form and choppy rhythms…1:28.64

# 14 (d1/s1): B 13-14 400 Medley (6:11.31L ) – Swum only at finals…

Breeze

06-30-2015, 09:54 AM

2015 Gold International Meet – DAY 1 FINALS RESULTS

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Bailey

# 5 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Breast (1:37.77L ) – In finals she did manage a personal best…not as good as I had hoped, but it’s a start 1:36.78

# 9 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:15.59L ) – Couldn’t quite get another drop, but swam an almost identical time from the morning – 1:13.23

# 13 (d1/s1): G 13-14 400 Medley (5:50.13L ) – Continues to struggle with this event…did manage to get a personal best…but she should be stronger than this based on her short course season…5:47.79.

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13-14 200 Free (2:18.25L ) - In finals Bear struggled even more with this race adding another 2 seconds to finish 2:22.47. This didn’t bode well for this meet or the Forsyth County Championships…

# 10 (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:15.22L ) – another bad swim for Bear…no only didn’t get a personal best, he added over a second from his seed time…1:16.50…again thing s look pretty bleak for his chances at County.

# 14 (d1/s1): B 13-14 400 Medley (5:43.16L ) – Only managed a fractional improvement of .27 seconds. 5:42.89. Bear is looking absolutely worn out…probably related to the distance focused practices he’s doing during the week.

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Brett

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13-14 200 Free (2:27.19L ) – Much better swim in the finals, in fact 5 seconds better than prelims and a personal best time of 2:26.94.

# 6 (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:27.36L ) – Poor swim – 1:30.13. Form still a work in progress and it was better than it’s been for a while, but effort was lacking again, and I believe it was because he was saving his energy for the 400 IM.

# 14 (d1/s1): B 13-14 400 Medley (6:11.31L ) – Breathed every stroke on the fly leg, which never allowed him to get on top of the water and generate the type of propulsion needed to move fast. This held him back significantly, but he still managed to drop almost 5 seconds – 6:06.58

Breeze

06-30-2015, 11:06 AM

CRC Summer League County Championships – RESULTS

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Bailey

#9 Girls 13/14 200 Medley Relay A Team (fly) – The race started with the CRC backstroker finishing in dead heat for second about 1.2 seconds behind the leader. MK was the breaststroker and she took over the race, handing Bailey a nice 1.4 second lead. Bailey swam a pedestrian 29.6 to the competitions 28.5…but the anchor still had a .2 second lead and pulled away to win county…(I’ll post a picture shortly)…County Champions

#83 Girls 13/14 200 Free Relay B team (4) – Moved this to indicate the actual order the event was swum…Completely indifferent effort from Bailey here. The team’s slot was pretty much determined before she hit the water. Bailey wasn’t going to chase down the team ahead and no one was going to catch her from behind. The team finished 8th in state. Not bad for a B team.

#21 Girls 13/14 50 Freestyle (exhibition) - 28.47 (12th Seed) – Terrible dive puts her behind the 8 ball early…swims hard but only manages a time of 28.36. I knew at the time this wasn’t a good swim and it was going to put her on the cusp of making the free relay. As it turns out she finished in a tie for 12th. Typically, this would be plenty good enough to make the team, but for the second time in 2 years all of the first 11 girls elected to go to state…so Bailey had to have a swim off at the end of the meet. As poor as this swim was for Bailey it was still a full second faster that 1 of the girls on a CRC A Free Relay...

#43 Girls 13/14 50 Backstroke - 31.70 (7th Seed) – Horrendous dive…completely killed any chance she had. Not sure why she can’t clean this up as it is like a broken record. Her underwaters were good or she would have been embarrassingly bad…33.65 – 8th place

#73 Girls 13/14 50 Fly - 29.48 (2nd Seed) – An extremely tight race…Bailey’s dive wasn’t great here either, but she managed to stay in touch with the field. Unfortunately it was such a fast field her time of 29.59 was only good enough for 5th. With two exhibitioning, she at least made the State Team as the C fly representative, but at this point it doesn’t look good for her chances to make a relay…

#21 Girls 13/14 50 Freestyle (exhibition) - Swim Off – After a 5 minute delay Bailey raced a tall girl named Ashley for the right to be on the C Free Relay at State. The race was, as you would expect close...it was also fast...Bailey had a much better dive, and at the turn they were neck and neck. Bailey was a tiny bit behind, and it appeared to be mostly due to arm reach...Bailey was closing and she finished the swim off in a time of 27.79...unfortunately Ashley came home in a 27.64. Had Bailey swum this time initially she would have been 7th overall...

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Bear

#10 Boys 13/14 Medley Relay A team (Free) – The race started with Seth in back, and he finished his leg in second place about a half second behind the leaders. Brett was next…and he quickly caught the leader and eventually handed Riley a little over a second lead. Riley swam a fantastic fly leg and Bear brought it home in a 25.42…for the county championship. In fact, the team won by 5 full seconds…and missed the county record by .2. County Champions

#84 Boys 13/14 200 Free Relay A team (2) - Moved to put the event in the correct order it was swum – Seth also opened the Free Relay and immediately handed off a lead of a half second. Bear was second to go, and he handed Alex a 2.5 second lead…that lead continued to stretch and the CRC 13/14 Boys won their second county championship…this one by 3.3 seconds. County Champions

#22 Boys 13/14 50 Freestyle (exhibition) - 27.61 (14 Seed) – Bear had a very good swim…finishing in 26.04. Unfortunately, that swim was only good enough to get him in 9th place forcing him to swim on the C Free Relay…

#32 Boys 13/14 100 Freestyle - 58.29 (4th Seed) – Another strong swim for Bear…surprising given how poorly he looked the day before at the year round meet. He powered home with a time of 56.90. That was only good enough for 4th place (which is where I expected him to finish), so no medal, but Seth, who beat him, isn’t going to state so Bear slides into the 3 spot on the county team, and he should have a good shot at top 8 at state and a GRPA state medal.

#54 Boys 13/14 100 IM - 1:05.61 (3rd Seed) – Extremely tight field, so tight Bear basically swam his seed time 1:05.89, and only managed to finish 4th…but he was less than a second from 2nd place.

#74 Boys 13/14 50 Fly - (exhibition) 30.90 (6th Seed) – Good, not great swim…30.80, ended up 7th (which probably isn’t going to get him on a medley relay)

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Brett

#10 Boys 13/14 Medley Relay A team (Breast) – See Bear’s Relay above.

#86 Boys 15/18 200 Freestyle Relay - A Team (1) – Brett swam the anchor, I believe so the one true 15/18 swimmer on the relay could race his friends in the leadoff leg….by the time Brett hit the water is was all over but the crying. I manually timed him and had his split at a 27.78…that was encouraging.

#22 Boys 13/14 50 Freestyle (exhibition) – 29.16 (14 Seed) – Think I missed this one in my pre-race write ups. It was going to be hard for Brett to make a Free Relay, but my hope was he would swim a 27 high…like he did in the relay, but unfortunately a bad turn did him in. He only managed a 28.23…that wasn’t going to get him on a free relay.

#54 Boys 13/14 100 IM - 1:13.13 (6th Seed) – I told Brett before this race to try and limit his breathing on the fly and he might be surprise how much better he does. Surprisingly, he did…he only breathed 4 times in the fly leg and that set him up for a good 1:11.33 time and a strong 6th place in this event.

#64 Boys 13/14 50 Breaststroke - 34.47 (3rd Seed) – Brett had a very good dive and an early lead…I don’t get to say that often. At the turn the top 3 were all neck and neck…Brett had a good turn, but faded coming home. He ended up in 3rd place with a personal best time of 34.09…about a second behind second place and about 1.2 seconds behind teammate Alex…

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CRC TEAM RESULT – The team finished 3rd in County as expected…but it was closer than it should have been. The team leadership is having serious discussions about how to help address some weaknesses that cropped up this season. For posterity sake, I’ll post my comments to the leadership later.

Breeze

07-01-2015, 07:54 AM

CRC Summer League County Championships – RESULTS

Following their swims for CRC at the County meet it was obvious all 3 had made the State Team. Bear will be the 3rd representative in the 100 Free, Bailey will be the 3rd representative in the fly, and Brett will be the 3rd representative in the Breast.

All 3 made relays as well.

Brett is on the C Medley
Bailey is on the C Medley
Bear is on the C Free

All 3 relays are pretty strong too. I researched them compared to other relays the county fielded since 2011, and here is how they stack up:

Bear's C Free Relay is the strongest C Relay the county has fielded since 2011. In fact, they are over a full second faster than the next fastest C relay. In the past 4 years the Forsyth Tide C Free Relay has made finals (and thus medal) twice. Given their fast built time and the fact the C relay has medaled in the past, I believe Bear has a decent chance of getting into finals.

Brett's C Medley is extremely fast for a C team. In fact they are faster than the B teams from 2011 and 2012. Obviously they are the fastest C relay the county has fielded in the timeframe of my research. The C team medaled in 2011...(along with the B team, which was slower than this team). Given that, and the fact their built time of 1:59.67 is typically good enough for 6th, I think they have a good shot to make finals as well.

Bailey's C Medley, like Brett's is extremely fast for a C team. They are also faster than several B teams. In fact they are faster than the B team from 2011, 2013 and the Bronze Medal winning B team from 2014. I'd say they not only have a shot at a medal, but might challenge for 3rd.

Individually:

Bear's 100 Free time is typically good enough to make finals.

Brett's 50 Breast time is probably going to be right on the cut for the top 8, just hope he's on the right side of it this time around (he was 9th last year and he was 9th a few years back)

Bailey's time is also going to be right on the cut for finals. However, if she's able to return to her 28 low swims from Short Course State, she should make finals easily. In fact, a 28 low may be good enough to finish top 3, but her 29 middle isn't a shoe in....

Breeze

07-02-2015, 08:10 AM

2015 Gold International Meet – DAY 2 PRELIM RESULTS

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Bailey

# 73 (d3/s7): G 13-14 200 Back (2:46.59L ) – Bailey continued her stagnant performances. She managed a personal best, but just barely – 2:46.41. This was good enough to get into the B final.

# 81 (d3/s7): G 13-14 200 Medley (2:45.66L ) – Added a bunch of time 2:49.01, she was pretty frustrated after this one…she did make the B final again.

# 85 (d3/s7): G 13-14 800 Free (10:36.92L ) – Bailey was hoping to get the cut in this one. Needed to drop about 6 seconds. Instead she added 20+ seconds…10:59.14.

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Bear

# 74 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Back (2:43.67L ) – After the poor first day at this meet on Friday and the good effort on Saturday, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Bear. He started the meet out adding 3 seconds…2:46.83 – did make finals though

# 78 B 13-14 100 Free (1:04.64) – Bear dropped the 800 free and replaced it with this event because he already has the 800 Free State Cut, but he was 1.25 seconds off this cut. Unfortunately, he continued to struggle adding time – 1:05.22, and at this point it looked like his day was going to be poor. Got into finals…

# 82 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:40.82L ) – like the events earlier in the day, Bear added time, finishing with a 2:43.50. – Did make finals

# 86 (d3/s7): B 13-14 800 Free (10:05.37L ) – DROPPED

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Brett

# 74 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Back (2:54.95L ) – like his siblings, Brett added time in the prelims – 2:57.26, but he made finals.

# 82 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:52.67L ) – Finally a time drop…not a big one, but better than all the adding we’ve been seeing. 2:51.27…(made finals)

# 86 (d3/s7): B 13-14 800 Free (11:05.60L ) – I expected a drop here, just because Brett’s Free is more efficient than it has been in a while. But what I failed to remember, was the fact that Andy had been working hard with Brett at the end of short course in 2014, and he was starting to develop an efficient stroke for distance free. So while he’s improved dramatically, it’s more over his recent chopping stroke he developed under Coach Todd. Ultimately, he did end up improving, as he dropped about 5 seconds – 11:00.40

Breeze

07-02-2015, 02:16 PM

2015 Gold International Meet – DAY 2 FINALS RESULTS

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Bailey

# 73 (d3/s7): G 13-14 200 Back (2:46.59L ) – Better effort in the back at finals…she managed to drop a couple of seconds to a personal best time of 2:44.24

# 81 (d3/s7): G 13-14 200 Medley (2:45.66L ) – Did much better than the disappointing 2:49 from prelims, but failed to get a personal best. Finished with a 2:47.11…

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Bear

# 74 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Back (2:43.67L ) – After his poor swims in the morning I wasn’t expecting much. The backstroke started and Bear quickly fell off the pace. He looked sluggish and tired. However, most of that perception was due to watching him compared to the field. Bear was swimming 13 and Up…and he was in the A final, so he had quite a few 16 and 17 year old swimmers, including those on the Gold National Team in the pool with him. He was actually moving quite quickly as was obvious when he finished in a time of 2:36.75, a drop of 10 seconds from the prelims and 7 seconds from his previous personal best. Bear was eligible to swim this event at Long Course State because of a converted Short Course Time, but it became irrelevant because this was below the require cut mark.

# 78 B 13-14 100 Free (1:04.64) – Bear came into the B Final on the 100 Free as the 3rd seed in a tight heat. Right before his race, his buddy Seth swam in the A final and went a 1:03.33…his mother made a comment about his time being off a little and my response was Bear would take a 1:03.33…the race started and my hope was Bear would win the heat. If he could win the heat he would put himself in a good position to post a solid time. At the turn Bear was neck and neck with the other top seeds in his heat, but he slowly started to pull away. As it turns out he did win the heat, he also swam a 1:03.33 exactly!!! Which by the way is .06 below the state cut, so Bear earned another cut on the day.

# 82 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:40.82L ) – After two strong swims, I was looking forward to this one. Bear was the top seed in this event and he didn’t disappoint. His fly leg was strong, followed by a much better back that he used to open a lead. Surprisingly, he not only held his lead in breast he actually widened it on the next closest pursuers. The came home strong in the free and finished in a personal best time of 2:35.54 – Also another state cut…

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Brett - During the break between prelims and finals I talked with Brett and tried to convince him to put forth more effort in his races. I pointed out how his extra effort in the IM at County helped his time and that while he did limit his breathing in the 200 IM during prelims, especially early in the race, that in the last 12 meters he was breathing every stroke again. Plus I told him that he can’t back off in the back stroke. I explained that he was positioned for some nice swims with more effort…and to go out keep your good form, but work hard.

# 74 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Back (2:54.95L ) – The talk obviously had an impact, because Brett’s effort in the 200 back finals was significantly better than I’ve seen from him in so long I don’t recall. He was in the B final, but he kept up with the center of the pool and finished with a respectable 2:48.98…a Huge drop from his seed time and his time from prelims. He left the pool and his conversation with Coach Andy with a big smile on his face…nice to see that again.

# 82 (d3/s7): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:52.67L ) – I guess the strong back carried over because in the IM he again put forth much more effort. He did a better job of not breathing often on the fly leg…then pushed on the Back much better than he had earlier in the day. Closed hard on the field in the breast, and even managed to out duel another swimmer on the free leg. He dropped a ton of time even from his personal best earlier in the day – 2:47.84, and Again he was all smiles after the race - Extremely pumped up. Hopefully, it will carry him through and he’ll have something solid to build from next season.

Breeze

07-06-2015, 09:47 AM

General Update - Bailey

Shortly after the International Meet and the County Championships, I had to pick the kids up from practice, and I was very disappointed to learn that Bailey was slacking off at dryland. I had heard reports of Bailey cheating at practice (along with basically everyone not named Tommy or Bear), and we talked to her about that, and things seemed to have improved. However, in this case, Bailey and her friend Maryann were more than 5 minutes late to the dryland portion of practice (and to add insult to injury she didn't even have her shoes on when she arrived). Then when they started running, Bailey, who is faster than most of the boys on the team, jogged at practically walking speed so she could hang out with Maryann (who isn't a runner at all).

I was extremely upset by this. Unfortunately, I was also not surprised. Maryann is the Bailey's lone friend still on the Advanced Sectionals team; the rest have been moved up to Seniors, and Maryann is extremely lazy and puts forth as little effort as possible. I knew she would be a bad influence on Bailey, and I warned her about it months ago, but Bailey didn't listen. Instead, she has adopted this attitude of "why does it matter, I'm going to be too small to be a good swimmer anyway"...I told her if that was her attitude that I'd just save my money and I'd pull her out of the sport, and that if she wanted to keep swimming she needed to put forth more effort. We'll see how that goes.

This may also explain why Bailey has seemed to plateau this season, when I was expecting she might make a big move to set herself apart from the large group of girls with similar times...

Breeze

07-08-2015, 09:42 AM

2015 Georgia Long Course State Championships - Update

The first Psych Sheet for the State Meet has been released, and here is what the twins are swimming and how they are currently stacking up:

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Bailey

100 Fly (1:13.21) - 21st
400 IM (5:47.79) - 21st
200 Fly (2:43.08) - 13th
200 Back (2:42.79) - T35th

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Bear

1500 Free (18:53.09) - 4th
400 IM (5:38.79) - 21st
200 Fly (2:38.49) - 14th
100 Free (1:03.33) - 31st
200 Back (2:36.75) - 17th
200 IM (2:35.54) - 19th
400 Free (4:43.76) - 6th

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Breeze

07-10-2015, 06:17 AM

CRC Summer League

Meant to post this picture earlier...but forgot I had it...

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-FGq-CspQRW0/VZ-pFrDsPWI/AAAAAAAAAH0/1vC3q1hMSmQ/w740-h927-no/countychamps2015.png

13/14 Medley Relay County Champs

Pictured: MK (breast), Bailey (fly), Rayley (free), Caroline (back)

Breeze

07-14-2015, 05:55 AM

2015 Georgia Long Course State Championships - Update

The State Dinner was last night and it was announced that Bear will swim the following relays:

13/14 Boys 200 Free B Relay
13/14 Boys 400 Free B Relay
14U Boys 800 Free B Relay

Bailey failed to make a relay team, and she was pretty upset about it. Could still make it on one, if she beats some teammates in the fly races during state (assuming the fly event is before the relay).

Breeze

07-16-2015, 05:45 AM

2015 Georgia Long Course State Championships - Update

1500 Free (18:53.09) - 5th - Bear's 1500 Meter race is today. He comes in seeded 5th, after finishing 4th the last two years. He's hoping to earn a medal this time around, but the Long Course Season is tough for the twins, as they are really young for the age group. I don't know what Bear's target time is because we haven't really discussed it, but from a few comments he's made, I believe he wants to go uner 18 minutes. I dont' think he'll be able to do that, but I do expect a decent drop in time this afternoon.

Breeze

07-20-2015, 10:29 AM

2015 Georgia Long Course State Championships - Day 1 RESULTS

1500 Free (18:53.09) - 5th - Bear's 1500 was a disappointment. His new coach (Ryan), had been working on his distance swims getting him ready for state, and he felt Bear should be able to hold 1:13s...unfortunately, he never hit that pacing. In fact, he looked sluggish and tired almost immediately. He did manage to drop over 10 seconds which typically would be considered good, but he was passed in the standings by several swimmers and ended up 7th. His final time - 18:42.57...

Bear was also disappointed after this swim. We aren't sure what happened, but I suspect it may have something to do with his extended warm up period and nerves. To explain further, Bear's coach thinks that Bear needs extended warm ups to really get loose (Coach Andy also held this belief so this isn't something new)...but this time, his extended warm up was about 1200 yards over and above the typical distance. I'm not sure that isn't too much, but I think Bear had so much nervous energy he felt tight and that the extra laps were needed. Also the pool deck, which is normally warm, was cold, and Bear didn't take his Parka to keep his muscles warm. So he did all that extra warm up only to get chilled before hitting the water.

Breeze

07-21-2015, 06:27 AM

2015 Georgia Long Course State Championships - Day 2 RESULTS

Bailey

100 Fly (1:13.21) – 22nd (https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108433437547089604472/albums/6173942897905021777/6173942896298250322)– was hoping to go under 1:11, which was an ambitious goal given her best coming in was a 1:13. She also had a second goal, to beat the 2 Gold girls that had faster seed times than her in order to get on the B Medley Relays. She didn’t get the first goal as she posted a 1:11.69, but that is still a drop of over 1.5 seconds, so a great swim. She did accomplish the second goal, as her time earned her the spot on the relays and she ended up 13th. To illustrate how fast the 13 year old girls are...Bailey's time, which was 13th for 13 year old girls, would have also been 13th for 14 year old girls. Also the top 4 times in the finals, were all 13 year old girls.

400 IM (5:47.79) - 21st – Opened with a good 1:14 low fly leg, but followed it up with a pretty pedestrian 1:28.19 back…improved over the last time she swam it, but still not where it needs to be. Her breaststroke improved by 2 seconds (and she actually passed someone on this leg – I don’t know the last time I’ve seen that happen) from the last time she swam it, but fatigue really hit her and her free was off by over a second coming home. All in all she dropped 3.51 seconds posting a personal best 5:44.28 and finishing 21st.

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Bear

200 Free Relay (1:58.25) – 13th (https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108433437547089604472/albums/6173956700874718449/6173956701264853074)– Bear split a 29.25 / 50 free and the team dropped 4.42 seconds from the seed time (1:53.83), but they failed to move up in the standings, finishing 13th.

400 IM (5:38.79) – 22nd (https://youtu.be/EgtBQ1TBy5w)– opened with a 1:15.14 fly, pretty good as his sprint fly isn’t nearly as quick as Bailey’s so being off a bit there isn’t terrible. He followed that up with a solid if unspectacular 1:27.00 back. Then he completely blew me away…he swam a very strong 1:36.12 breast leg. This is a huge improvement over his typical times in the 1:42 range. Then he closed with a 1:10.36 freestyle, also 4 seconds faster than he swam it just a few weeks ago at the Gold Invitational Meet. Obviously, you can tell from the write up this was a huge time improvement. It ended up being a drop of over 10 seconds at 5:28.62. It also moved him up to 16th place.

Breeze

07-21-2015, 02:50 PM

2015 Georgia Long Course State Championships - Day 3 RESULTS

Bailey

200 Fly (2:43.08) - 13th - (https://youtu.be/NeJZmusOTn4) Bailey was hoping to get into the top 10 here with a big improvement...she got the big improvement, but didn't get top 10. In fact she ended up 12th. Her time 2:39.32 a drop of over 3 seconds. The interesting thing here is...if Bailey had swum against 14 year olds instead of 13 year olds, she would have been 8th and in finals.

200 Medley Relay (2:16.41) - 8th - Bailey was moved into this event following her strong swim in the 100 fly the day before. She left at almost the same time as the Gold A flyer, and kept up with her most of the way, ended up falling behind by about 1 body length. The team improved on seed time but still finished 8th. 2:15.36

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Bear

200 Fly (2:38.49) - 14th (https://youtu.be/MTBiumpxB8g) - Bear came in seeded 14th, and this was a throwback race for him, as he trailed for the first 100, but in the back half, he started chasing down the swimmers around him, and he ended up passing his entire half of the pool in his heat, dropping over 4 seconds in the process and finishing with a personal best 2:34.45. Good enough for 10th and a spot in the evening finals.

100 Free (1:03.33) - 31st - Swam basically his seed time, adding just a whisker of time 1:03.93, he ended up 31st.

800 Free Relay (~9:05.00) - 11th - Seth, Riley, Bear, and Jon swam this relay together. Bear managed a 2:16 low split and the team dropped quite a few seconds off of their seed time finishing in 8:59.17 and in 8th place...

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Bear - Finals

200 Fly (2:34.45) - 10th - there was pretty much no shot of catching 9th place, as the swimmers seed time was a good 4 seconds faster than Bear. Bear also couldn't improve on his time, but he swam a very similar one...2:35.00

400 Free Relay - (~4:12.20) - 11th - Bear, Seth, Mason, and Jordan combined in this relay. Bear managed to go 1:02.70 in his split and he swam down the leaders during his leg (2nd) and even passed one of the team ahead of him. The team finished with a 4:10.83 and in 9th place.

Breeze

07-22-2015, 12:23 PM

2015 Georgia Long Course State Championships – Day 4 RESULTS
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Bailey

200 Back (2:42.79) - T35th – A slow and deliberate effort on Bailey’s part here. I was a little disappointed she didn’t push harder. Ended with only a slight increase in time 2:43.24, and she moved up to finish in 29th place

400 Medley B Relay – (4:55.76) – 9th – Bailey got the fly leg in the 400 Medley Relay. She swam an ok 1:13 split, but it didn’t matter, the Freestyle anchor left early and they were DQed. That same swimmer left early on the 400 Free A Relay and caused that team to be DQed as well…

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Bear

200 Back (2:36.75) - 17th – Bear’s 200 back was extremely slow and deliberate…in fact, he completely loss connection to the field and was way behind early. It was a painful thing to watch as he added almost 12 seconds to finish at 2:46.05 and he dropped to 31st place.

200 IM (2:35.54) - 19th – The IM was even worse than the back…Bear’s opening fly leg looked stiff and forced and he never seemed to get going. He appeared worn out as he was swimming. Here he added 12.56 seconds finishing 31st again and posting a time of 2:48.10.

After this race the coach came up to ask us what was up with Bear and what we should do to try and get him turned around. I again believe that the cumulative effect of the extra warm up, plus his already standard extra long warm downs just took a toll. Bear admitted when I talked with him that he was a bit sore…so we gave him a Tylenol and told him to stretch.

400 Free (4:43.76) - 6th – Was really hoping Bear would have a good swim here so he could end on a good note. He opened this race and he looked much better than he had earlier in the day. He opened with an ok 1:08.8 split and followed it up with a 1:13…but came back strong with a 1:11.8 and a 1:09.5 to finish with a personal best 4:43.05. He ended up 11th overall.

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Breeze

07-23-2015, 07:02 AM

Summer League - GRPA State Championships @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 7/25

The GRPA State is this Saturday, and all 3 kids qualified. This will be the last swim of the season for the twins, but Brett has one last long course meet on Sunday in Atlanta.

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Bailey

14U 200 Yard Medley Relay - FCT C Team- Fly Leg (2:06.53) - 8th seed - - Bailey's relay is actually really strong for a C team. In fact, it is so strong it is faster than the B team from last year which finished 3rd at this meet. For some reason the field in this years meet is much stronger than last year, so she won't be finishing 3rd, but being seeded 8th, puts her relay in the last spot for finals, and I expect they will improve on their seed time.

14U 50 Yard Fly - (29.59) - 12th - Her seed time here is the time she swam at County, and not her personal best. She'll need to get top 8 to make finals, which is possible, but she'll need to get down into the mid 28 second range, which is close to her PB. It could be very close.

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Bear

14U 100 Yard Freestyle - (56.90) - 6th - seed time here is close to his personal best, and based on the 6th seed and the fact that the 8th seed is a couple of seconds back, finals looks like a pretty good possibility for Bear.

14U 200 Yard Free Relay - FCT C Team (1:47.73) - 7th - Again another strong C team from the county. This is the fastest C team that the county has fielded since 2011 (research doesn't go back any further). Seeded 7th indicates they have a good chance at making finals (if they don't get DQed. Poor Bear has a bad history of relay DQs at this meet).

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Brett

14U 200 Yard Medley Relay FCT C Team- Breast Leg - (2:03.03) - 9th - Brett's relay is also pretty strong for a C team. In fact it is faster than a couple of B teams from recent years, but they are seeded 9th, which means this will be a nip/tuck affair. Holding my breath they get in the top 8 so he can get another state medal.

14U 50 Yard Breaststroke - (34.09) - 15th - - Last year Brett's time was about 2.6 seconds slower in this very same event, and he came in seeded 11th, and finished in 9th, first alternate for finals and an individual medal. This year, swimming much faster he comes in 15th...could he make finals, Yes...but he'll need to go low 33s to even have a shot. Certainly capable, but not likely.

Breeze

07-24-2015, 08:45 AM

Georgia LC Invite @ GaTech - 7/26

This is prelim / finals event and Brett is the only one of my 3 swimming it. He'll only swim Sunday because he'll swim the GRPA State Meet on Saturday.

Brett

200 Breast - (3:08:53) - 5th - I'm very hopeful Brett will get a big improvement here. He's really struggled with his Breaststroke for over a year now...

100 Back - (1:24.42) - 6th - dropped abunch of time in the 200 back last month, hopefully can do the same in the 100 on Sunday

400 Free - (5:28.07) - N/A - has had a decent drop through the season in teh 200...his seed time is over a year old. Hoping we can get another PB and end the season on a good note.

Breeze

07-26-2015, 07:51 AM

Georgia LC Invite @ GaTech - 7/26

We ended up punting on this meet. We were in the hot sun all day Saturday with the GRPA State Meet and Brett managed to get pretty badly sunburned even with sun screen on. We felt those circumstances were not conducive to him swimming well, and the whole point of this meet was to give him confidence heading into next short course season.

Breeze

07-27-2015, 02:27 PM

Summer League - GRPA State Championships - PRELIM RESULTS

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Bailey

14U 200 Yard Medley Relay - FCT C Team- Fly Leg (2:06.53) - 8th seed (https://youtu.be/EYyYSY2XViw)- A pretty good swim from the C team, Bailey's split was a ok 29.5...the team dropped around 3.5 seconds and finished prelims in 7th place.

14U 50 Yard Fly - (29.59) - 12th (https://youtu.be/Z2Smnna0sS4) - Bailey managed to drop an eyeblink here and she finished with a 29.22. However, it was only good enough to finish 11th.
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Bear

14U 100 Yard Freestyle - (56.90) - 6th (https://youtu.be/Oj3ALudfazs) - Bear looked real strong in his prelim swim. He managed to stay close to his buddy Riley and he finished with a 55.73...good enough to stay in 6th place.

14U 200 Yard Free Relay - FCT C Team (1:47.73) - 7th (https://youtu.be/z1cGXjSg7PY) - Bear's relay was a little stressful. One of the swimmers, who only made this race, didn't show up until right before the team was to hit the pool. He was so late that Brett had suited up and prepared to swim in his place. The team manged to drop a little time on their seed, but they slipped to 8th, still good enough to make finals. Bear's split was a 25.71, better than 3 of the 4 B team swimmers (though the leadoff leg split would have been close to Bear if you factor in the rolling start).

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Brett

14U 200 Yard Medley Relay FCT C Team- Breast Leg - (2:03.03) - 9th (https://youtu.be/H0pXeVTwZVI) - Unfortunately for Brett, the backstroker that was supposed to be in this relay elected not to do this meet, and his replacement was about 3 seconds slower...that really hurt their chances. In fact, after that change was factored in, this C team was only not faster than some B teams, they weren't even the fastest C team of the last several years. This medley started off good with the backstroker keeping pace with the middle of the pool, but into and out of the turn, he completely lost connection. Brett swam an ok 34 mid split. The flyer and the freestyler didn't make up much ground and the team finished 10th...out of finals.

14U 50 Yard Breaststroke - (34.09) - 15th - (https://youtu.be/oyIpHLtm0Sk) - Brett's pullout in this one was really good...but he seemed to have about 4 or 5 strokes through the race that just didn't have the explosion he needed. He did post a slight improvement with a 33.97...but it was only good enough for 11th.

Breeze

07-27-2015, 02:51 PM

Summer League - GRPA State Championships - FINALS RESULTS

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Bailey

14U 200 Yard Medley Relay - FCT C Team- Fly Leg (2:02.64) - 7th seed (https://youtu.be/TD1-xc6fYs0)- A really good swim for this team again...they managed to drop more than a second from prelims, and Bailey went a 28.55, and they were able to move up to a 6th place finish.

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Bear

14U 100 Yard Freestyle - (55.73) - 6th (https://youtu.be/TD1-xc6fYs0) - Bear battled all the way to the end, and ended up improving on his seed time, finishing in a 55.48...and holding on to 6th place.

14U 200 Yard Free Relay - FCT C Team (1:46.99) - 8th (https://youtu.be/cSbUW3rdzBc) - Bear's relay swam well again, dropping almost a second from the morning swim, and Bear swam a fantastic 25.19. This time he was faster than all 4 of the B team swimmers and even if you give the max leadoff leg the benefit of the rolling start, he wasn't going to beat Bear's time. Of course, Bear was racing the lane right next to him coming into the wall, as he wanted to move the team up to 7th, which he did.

Breeze

07-27-2015, 04:19 PM

General Update

You may remember from a couple years ago posts regarding one of the boys friends, Jack. He's the one that moved to St. Louis about a year ago. He is an exceptional swimmer, but his time had been split between swimming and hockey. Well apparently that is no longer the case. There was a big article on him in the St. Louis paper...thought you might be interested in it for reference:

Jack Dolan (http://m.stltoday.com/sports/high-school/boys-swimming/dolan-an-emerging-star-among-local-swimmers/article_6529f8ea-334b-11e5-96e4-ff090401436a.html?mobile_touch=true)

Breeze

08-05-2015, 10:41 AM

General Update - Time Progressions - Bailey

I figured I'd take a minute to post time progressions for the kids...

50 Free
2015 27.86
2014 28.45
2013 30.19
2012 34.15
2011 33.96
2010 37.33

100 Free
2015 1:00.68
2014 1:00.50
2013 1:06.62
2012 1:11.71
2011 1:15.86
2010 1:27.33

200 Free
2015 2:11.96
2014 2:11.27
2013 2:25.43
2012 2:44.23

500 Free
2014 5:49.07
2013 6:21.40

1000 Free
2015 11:39.00
2014 11:55.91
2013 13:16.14

50 Back
2015 31.04
2014 31.82
2013 35.20
2012 38.25
2011 39.63
2010 42.83

100 Back
2015 1:06.84
2014 1:07.32
2013 1:13.41
2012 1:26.02
2011 1:25.66

200 Back
2015 2:18.93
2014 2:26.53
2013 2:37.83

50 Breast
2014 41.48
2013 45.14
2012 44.34
2011 45.48
2010 50.66

100 Breast
2014 1:25.03
2013 1:32.28
2012 1:34.77
2011 1:38.21

200 Breast
2015 2:59.09
2014 3:05.42
2013 3:20.06

50 Fly
2015 28.82
2014 29.54
2013 32.16
2012 36.57
2011 39.44
2010 43.37

100 Fly
2015 1:02.07
2014 1:05.52
2013 1:12.63

200 Fly
2015 2:17.54
2014 2:23.72
2013 2:44.95

100 IM
2015 1:09.33
2014 1:08.43
2013 1:17.43
2012 1:22.96
2011 1:26.11
2010 1:35.73

200 IM
2015 2:26.54
2014 2:27.39
2013 2:38.58
2012 2:54.77

400 IM
2015 5:00.18
2014 5:13.12
2013 5:40.47

Note: These are short course times, and the 2015 short course regular season basically ended in January with only State and Sectional swims after that...so still a lot of time to improve on 2015 times.

Breeze

08-05-2015, 11:15 AM

General Update - Time Progressions - Bear

I figured I'd take a minute to post time progressions for the kids...

50 Free
2015 27.19
2014 27.18
2013 30.11
2012 32.46
2011 35.78
2010 39.27

100 Free
2015 55.48
2014 58.56
2013 1:04.28
2012 1:11.90
2011 1:18.05
2010 1:33.76

200 Free
2015 2:00.78
2014 2:05.16
2013 2:22.79
2012 2:35.48

500 Free
2015 5:14.54
2014 5:23.37
2013 6:20.64
2012 6:41.65

1000 Free
2015 10:40.83
2014 11:07.79
2013 12:28.33

1650 Free
2015 17:53.78
2014 18:33.00

50 Back
2015 32.75
2014 34.00
2013 37.18
2012 38.64
2011 40.48
2010 45.45

100 Back
2015 1:11.11
2014 1:09.18
2013 1:19.79
2012 1:22.00
2011 1:26.43

200 Back
2015 2:21.06
2014 2:20.89
2013 2:37.58

50 Breast
2014 41.62
2013 41.08
2012 47.21
2011 46.70
2010 57.56

100 Breast
2015 1:23.97
2014 1:25.61
2013 1:28.46
2012 1:38.34

200 Breast
2015 2:56.50
2014 3:01.57
2013 3:06.25

50 Fly
2015 30.06
2014 30.00
2013 38.44
2012 39.66
2011 39.76
2010 44.41

100 Fly
2015 1:04.00
2014 1:05.04
2013 1:24.14
2012 1:26.59

200 Fly
2015 2:14.08
2014 2:23.84
2013 2:44.47

100 IM
2015 1:06.44
2014 1:08.51
2013 1:20.65
2012 1:23.80
2011 1:26.94
2010 1:40.94

200 IM
2015 2:18.97
2014 2:23.50
2013 2:38.98
2012 2:52.71

400 IM
2015 4:42.92
2014 5:00.98
2013 5:29.85

Note: These are short course times, and the 2015 short course regular season basically ended in January with only State and Sectional swims after that...so still a lot of time to improve on 2015 times.

Breeze

08-05-2015, 11:23 AM

General Update - Time Progressions - Brett

I figured I'd take a minute to post time progressions for the kids...

50 Free
2015 28.43
2014 28.34
2013 31.07
2012 34.38
2011 36.32
2010 36.92

100 Free
2015 1:00.09
2014 1:01.12
2013 1:04.83
2012 1:11.85
2011 1:18.35
2010 1:23.41

200 Free
2015 2:14.08
2014 2:08.68
2013 2:20.68
2012 2:34.09

500 Free
2015 5:51.48
2014 5:55.14
2013 6:09.02

1000 Free
2014 12:00.71
2013 12:30.73

50 Back
2015 33.97
2014 34.57
2013 36.88
2012 39.50
2011 43.79
2010 46.10

100 Back
2015 1:14.58
2014 1:14.17
2013 1:20.01
2012 1:26.58
2011 1:33.28
2010 1:42.83

200 Back
2015 2:29.95
2014 2:28.59
2013 2:37.54
2012 2:58.13

50 Breast
2015 33.97
2014 34.57
2013 36.88
2012 39.50
2011 43.79
2010 46.10

100 Breast
2015 1:14.58
2014 1:14.17
2013 1:20.01
2012 1:26.58
2011 1:33.28
2010 1:42.83

200 Breast
2015 2:39.90
2014 2:37.34
2013 2:45.48
2012 3:17.53
2011 3:18.94

100 Fly
2015 1:18.17
2014 1:20.24
2013 1:29.94
2012 1:31.56

200 IM
2015 2:30.12
2014 2:31.12
2013 2:40.70
2012 3:00.71

400 IM
2014 5:02.68
2013 5:46.86

Note: These are short course times, and the 2015 short course regular season basically ended in January with only State and Sectional swims after that...so still a lot of time to improve on 2015 times.

Breeze

08-13-2015, 10:41 AM

General Update

Just a bit of interesting information. Following Long Course State there were several big swim meets for the elite swimmers (Zones, Jr. Nationals, & Futures). One of the kids Brett has raced against (especially when he was younger), Liam Bell, earned an Olympic Trial cut at one of those meets. He's the only 14 year old male to get an Olympic Cut this season...

Breeze

08-17-2015, 11:12 AM

General Update

Practice starts today for the short course 2015-2016 season...

Breeze

10-12-2015, 11:27 AM

General Update

The new season has started, in fact there was already a meet but we elected to skip it because it wasn’t a sanctioned meet and it was only 2 weeks before the one we will be swimming this weekend.

There have been a number of changes for the swimming in the state of Georgia. The biggest being that no longer will the state meet separate 11 and 12s and 13 and 14 year olds into individual age groups. This has a huge impact on Bear, as his chances of getting a medal at the state meet as a 13 are now practically non-existent, whereas if he was swimming against just 13 year olds, he would likely be in line to win up to 5 medals. Apparently, the change was made to increase the competition in the finals. Currently, in the age specific finals, there are very few close races, the hope is that by combining the age groups, some of the elite younger age swimmers will challenge the older swimmers to perform better, and the younger swimmers will benefit from tougher competition as well. The problem with this thinking is that you’ve just eliminated numerous medals winners by cutting the number of medals handed out in half.

As for an update on the kids…

Brett – while his swimming has been mediocre, since he is a Sophomore in high school and he is adamant about wanting to swim in college, he has created a swimming profile on two major recruiting websites. Surprisingly, there are already a handful where his breaststroke would be in the top 3 of the team. It appears this fact has motivated him a bit, so hopefully he picks up on some of his improvement from the end of long course and summer league to drop time this season. In my opinion, one of the biggest keys for him this season will be to embrace the distance freestyles. His stroke is getting much longer and more efficient, and while this should help his sprints, he’s still just 5’ 6” and 115 lbs., so being a free sprinter is out of the question.

Bailey – Bailey’s group of friends has been split up due to age differences this season…as MK, Ainsley, the two Maddies all started high school so they moved up to the Senior team (where Brett is). After her disappointment at Short Course State last year she was very determined coming into this season. She really wants to improve a bunch and her dedication at practice has been much better. She used to cheat a good bit, but that has almost completely stopped. In fact, she’s so much more dedicated she’s becoming irritated at practice with her 1 remaining friend Maryann because she doesn’t put forth enough effort. Bailey’s biggest goal of the season is to go sub60 in the 100 Fly. I’d like to see her breaststroke improve so her IMs would be more competitive, and I’d like to see her freestyle improve so it falls more in line with what someone with her times in fly typically swim in free.

Bear – continues to do what he does…which is work hard and do things the right way. He’s still doing well at practice…and he’s busting his butt to keep up with Tommy (who is now 6’ with a size 13 shoe at 14 years old). Tommy is shooting to break the team’s 200 fly record, and Bear’s goal is to beat Tommy’s record next season. Bear is also shooting to get the team’s 1000 & 1650 records by the time he’s 14. For this season, like Bailey, I’d like to see the breast improve a bunch so his IMs become more competitive, and we were seeing some of that last season. I’d also like to see him improve his turns. The underwaters are pretty good, but the turns are too slow and often crooked, leading to circle swimming.

FrogMan

10-13-2015, 02:08 PM

hey there, I'm back again ;) Now that we've closed the dojo, I'm finding myself with a bit more time on my hands for mundane stuff, or maybe I should say, to live life, simply. This includes going to see Matthew's swim training and eventually, not miss one of his swim meet. Because yes, he is still swimming. We don't really do year round swimming around here. After his last meet in late June that coincided with his last week of school, he went into vacation mode, playing soccer as is summer sport. He attended a one week swimming camp in July in Laval University in Quebec City and he really enjoyed it. They worked more on technique than on pure training, sometimes using video sessions to see what needed to be worked on. Ever since he started his new season back on the week of Labor day, we have seen huge improvement on his swimming as a whole. This camp has probably made him realize a few things but we've also seen an attitude change. He's grown over Summer, matured I could say. He's now one of the leaders in the 11-12 age group, one of the older kids, being 11 and a half, and he's acting like it. His coach is also telling us about how he is now listening and trying to correct things he's being told about.

He's already cut his previous 50 free time (done in a meet) by a bit over 2 seconds, around the end of a training session no less. This had not only him but even his coach pretty excited. She almost came running to us at the end of the session to tell us about his time.

Us, we love seeing him swim and if he can improve, that is great :)

I'll try to follow as you post and not get too much behind this time around :)

FM

Breeze

10-14-2015, 09:51 AM

Gold Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center – 10/16-18

Given their hard training to start the season I'll be surprised if they are able to improve on a bunch of their tapered time from last year...but...

Bailey

# 1 : G Open 200 Medley (2:26.54Y ) – if her breaststroke has improved she could drop some here
# 3 : G Open 50 Free (27.86Y ) – interested in this one…hoping to see some improved times in an event that has been pretty flat for her for over a year. An improvement here might be an indication of a good season.
# 7 : G Open 500 Free (5:49.07Y ) – she should improve here, just because she’s older, stronger, and she hardly every swims this race
# 41 : G 13-14 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – sort of a cross between the 50 and 500..
# 47 : G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.84Y ) – need to start seeing some improvement in this one too…was good in this early last year, but plateaued at the end of the season and through long course. I expect more of the same this weekend.
# 53 : G 13-14 200 Breast (2:59.09Y ) – says she’s doing much better in this stroke, so fingers crossed.
# 59 : G 13-14 100 Fly (1:02.07Y ) – could she challenge 60 seconds already…don’t think so but 1 minute high is possible
# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:17.54Y ) - I believe her fly has improved, but I also believe this strenuous event, late on the schedule, with hard training will lead to a tired swim and a time very similar to the seed.
# 107 : G 13-14 100 Breast (1:25.03Y ) – see 200 Breast
# 113 : G 13-14 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) – another key event…but this time I suspect if there is a drop it will be small

Bear

# 2 : B Open 200 Medley (2:18.97Y ) – says breast times in practice are much improved, if so, he could drop a decent amount.
# 4 : B Open 50 Free (27.18Y ) – he went 26es in Summer League - maybe he can do that this weekend
# 8 : B Open 500 Free (5:14.54Y ) – I expect he’ll push to get below 5:10...don't know if his body is rested enough to do that yet this season
# 42 : B 13-14 200 Free (2:00.78Y ) – wants to break 2 minute 200…
# 48 : B 13-14 100 Back (1:08.78Y ) – need to start dropping time in this one - but I don't expect it yet
# 54 : B 13-14 200 Breast (2:56.50Y ) – this will be an interesting race based on times reported from practice…
# 60 : B 13-14 100 Fly (1:04.00Y ) – haven’t heard much about his fly…so no idea what to expect
# 96 : B 13-14 200 Fly (2:14.08Y ) – he’ll grind for sure, but again, can’t guess on a time
# 102 : B 13-14 200 Back (2:20.89Y ) – see 100 back
# 108 : B 13-14 100 Breast (1:23.97Y ) – see 200 breast
# 114 : B 13-14 100 Free (56.56Y ) – he’s hoping to outswim some of his teammates (Griffen, Jack, Nicklas)…to do so, he’ll need to be 55 low at least. I’m thinking fatigue on last swim of last day will prevent that.

Brett

# 2 : B Open 200 Medley (2:30.12Y ) – based on how he finished last year, if he’ll limit his breathing in the fly leg, he’ll drop some time
# 4 : B Open 50 Free (28.34Y ) – could get in the 27s
# 8 : B Open 500 Free (5:51.48Y ) – should swim this much better…not sure what to guess, but his stroke is much improved especially for distance swims
# 44 : B Open 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) – again, with improved stroke could see a drop…just not sure how much
# 50 : B Open 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) – steady improvement on this one through the last few seasons …if he’ll just add more effort he’ll drop again
# 56 : B Open 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – thinks he’s figured out some of his issues in this stroke over the last year and a half. Hope he’s right, he really needs a good breast swim to get his confidence back up
# 62 : B Open 100 Fly (1:18.17Y ) – should drop…and could drop a bunch if he limits his breathing...will probably have a good idea how much after watching the 200 IM Friday night
# 100 : B Open 200 Back (2:28.59Y ) – the longer he swims back the more his deliberate stroke seems to work…so I’m not sure he’ll drop a bunch here as he's performed better in this one in the past.
# 106 : B Open 100 Breast (1:14.17Y ) – see 200 breast. Would like to see him around 1:12 for high school as that is the varsity letter time required.
# 112 : B Open 100 Free (1:00.09Y ) – Come'on Sub60

Breeze

10-21-2015, 12:54 PM

Gold Invite - RESULTS

Bailey

Day 1
# 1 : G Open 200 Medley (2:26.54Y ) – Breast was better, but was sluggish and added 2 seconds – 2:28.54
# 3 : G Open 50 Free (27.86Y ) – No improvement, in fact added about a second – 28.67
# 7 : G Open 500 Free (5:49.07Y ) – Looked extremely sluggish and had an extremely poor swim adding almost 10 seconds – 5:58.78

Coach was not pleased with Bailey after the meet. He told her she swims faster in practice and she needs to do better in meets even if they aren’t big meets…

Day 2
# 41 : G 13-14 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Like the 50 and the 500 she added time – 2:14.04
# 47 : G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.84Y ) – Another add – 1:09.56
# 53 : G 13-14 200 Breast (2:59.09Y ) – Basically matched her seed time – 2:59.26
# 59 : G 13-14 100 Fly (1:02.07Y ) – Another add, coaches wife (who’s was also a college swimmer said her form still looked extremely good) – 1:06.25

Day 3
# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:17.54Y ) – looked good early, but faded bad…2:27.78
# 107 : G 13-14 100 Breast (1:25.03Y ) – Finally a drop…1:23.72, and had she not waited so long on the streamline portion of the stroke would have dropped another couple seconds.
# 113 : G 13-14 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) – another add…1:02.33

Bailey was extremely disappointed following this meet. This is the first time she’s had a meet this poor. We aren’t sure what the underlying cause was…some parents indicated that she might be reaching the stage in swimming where time drops don’t occur except when the swimmer is tapered, and they stated that it happened to their daughters when they turned 13. I hope not, because that would typically indicate the swimmer is finished growing, and I hope Bailey will get a couple inches taller before she’s fully grown. It could also be a result of increased effort in practice and her body not fully recovering from that to race. We just aren’t sure what the problem was at this point and we’ll be watching closely going forward.

Bear

Day 1
# 2 : B Open 200 Medley (2:18.97Y ) – improved breast help lead him to a 2 second drop…2:16.75
# 4 : B Open 50 Free (27.18Y ) – Got the 26 low – 26.16, but that wasn’t good enough to beat some of the teammates he wanted to beat.
# 8 : B Open 500 Free (5:14.54Y ) – Fell a little off the pace in the 3rd 50, and I failed to recognize how far off the pace he was…only signaling him to pick it up a little. This got him behind the clock and he worked hard to catch up, but didn’t make it. – 5:18.35

Day 2
# 42 : B 13-14 200 Free (2:00.78Y ) – looked tired and sluggish in this one – 2:07.10.
# 48 : B 13-14 100 Back (1:08.78Y ) – over reaching with his arms, a little deliberate – especially at the walls but still managed to swim right at his seed time – 1:09.09
# 54 : B 13-14 200 Breast (2:56.50Y ) – Pullouts were amazing…so interesting to watch Bear excel in the pullouts where Brett struggles with them. It makes the race so different. Bear was getting to the middle of the pool on most of his underwaters. That helped him to drop a bunch of time – 2:48.23
# 60 : B 13-14 100 Fly (1:04.00Y ) – started out good, faded late – 1:04.98

Day 3
# 96 : B 13-14 200 Fly (2:14.08Y ) – Managed to drop time in an extremely fast heat – 2:13.93
# 102 : B 13-14 200 Back (2:20.89Y ) – Identical to the 100 back and like the 100 back almost matched his seed time - 2:21.03
# 108 : B 13-14 100 Breast (1:23.97Y ) – Pullouts here were even better than the 200…leading to a very strong 1:17.09.
# 114 : B 13-14 100 Free (56.56Y ) – Nothing left for this race…like the 200 free he just looked out of gas – 59.01.

Brett

Day 1
# 2 : B Open 200 Medley (2:30.12Y ) – went out hard on the fly leg and managed an ok 35 second split. Back was his typical 38, but breast was slow for him. He admitted he was tired from going out hard on the fly and he couldn’t catch his breath (I think this is because he doesn’t do a good job of blowing the carbon dioxide out of his lungs between breaths). Managed to almost match his personal best though – 2:30.97
# 4 : B Open 50 Free (28.34Y ) – Got into the 27s – 27.76
# 8 : B Open 500 Free (5:51.48Y ) – strokes looked so much stronger and better this time out…he dropped a bunch of time finishing with a 5:38.45. Coach was pleased with this effort, but told Brett he could go much faster still and to keep working on building his endurance and learning how to pace himself rather than allow others pace to influence him (he was influenced in this one by a swimmer next to him, who had an early lead, but Brett caught him and rather than swim around him, he settled into that swimmers pace for about 100 yards before finally leaving him behind).

Day 2
# 44 : B Open 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) – With improvement in the 50 and 500 I expected improvement here and I wasn’t disappointed. Brett dropped 3+ seconds, 2:05.30…and again I think he’ll be able to go faster once he learns to push just a little more.
# 50 : B Open 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) – Took it out much harder than normal, which was great, but the increased effort caused him to serpentine through the lane, creating drag and slower times. – 1:13.56. If he cleans up the form with that effort, he should be able to drop time.
# 56 : B Open 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – After a good start to the meet, this was a disappointing swim for him. He added time finishing in 2:41.28. I was concerned this might lead to a letdown performance the rest of the meet.
# 62 : B Open 100 Fly (1:18.17Y ) – started out strong, again with a 35 opening 50, but back half really was slow, breathing every stroke and getting stiff, which prevents good transition. Finished in a disappointing 1:20.27

Day 3
# 100 : B Open 200 Back (2:28.59Y ) – surprisingly, Brett was able to maintain form and increase effort a little in this race to get a new personal best time of 2:25.98. I didn’t expect the drop here because he been ok in this race, so this was a nice surprise.
# 106 : B Open 100 Breast (1:14.17Y ) – was really concerned about this one. Brett desperately needed an improvement in a breaststroke race…and he managed to get it – 1:13.32. I also counted about 4 relatively unproductive strokes heading into the final turn and 1 at about the 85 yard mark. If he cleans those up, he’ll drop more time.
# 112 : B Open 100 Free (1:00.09Y ) – blew right by 60…58.56…

Breeze

11-02-2015, 02:29 PM

2015 Cranberry Classic @ Birmingham Crossplex – 11/6-7

The travel meet for the kids is this weekend, and they will be on a bus Saturday morning heading to Birmingham. The wife and I won’t be attending so all I’ll be able to do is report on times and any comments from friends or coaches. It’s hard to predict how this will play out…travel meets are always hard, but with the team stepping off the bus on Saturday and racing just a few hours later, I’m not at all sure how the travel will impact them. Also, you just never know how well they will take care of themselves (food, sleep, water, etc.)

Bailey
# 45 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:02.07Y ) – still wanting to get down to 60 seconds, but based on her last meet and the fact that the coach has flat out stated that he won’t be tapering her (or Bear for that matter) until age group state; if she can get close to a personal best she would be doing real well – especially given that she’ll be racing not long after stepping off the bus.
# 49 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Breast (1:23.72Y ) – coach told her she was a little delayed in initiating the pull phase of the stroke, but that the rest of her stroke looked pretty good. If she increases the turnover she could drop another couple of seconds here.
# 57 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Medley (2:26.54Y ) – should get faster with the improved breast alone, but the question is faster than what – in this case I’ll say her last time out.
# 65 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Back (2:18.93Y ) – she’s feeling better about her backstroke form right now
# 111 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:17.54Y ) – I think the wear and tear of practice, but what is likely to be a long night with little rest (sleeping in a hotel room with 3 other girls isn’t a recipe for success) will lead to a poor swim here.
# 115 (d3/s5): G 13-14 50 Free (27.86Y ) – she needs to improve, but I’m not expecting much
# 127 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.84Y ) – see 200 back
# 131 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – again, her freestyle is better, but I just am not expecting much given how hard she works at practice and the whole impact of the travel meet.

Bear
# 46 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:04.00Y ) – was on pace to drop time a few weeks back, but had a terrible last turn and struggled home, adding almost 1 second. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a drop (assuming he doesn’t have to take Dramamine on the bus…if he does that, his entire Saturday will probably be shot).
# 58 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:16.75Y ) – dropped last time out…I don’t expect another drop.
# 66 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Back (2:20.89Y ) – has to start going hard into the walls, until he does that he’ll lose time on every turn, even with his strong underwater work.
# 70 (d2/s3): B Open 1650 Free (17:53.78Y ) – First time out on this one, and I don’t expect an improvement. If he can get under 18 minutes, he will have done extremely well. No taper can really make the distance swims burn, and he’ll have someone doing his numbers that won’t signal him with the detail he’s use to.
# 112 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:13.93Y ) – managed a drop in this last time, so I don’t expect one this time around.
# 118 (d3/s5): B Open 50 Free (26.16Y ) – could drop here…he’s gone faster in the past…but a 1650 the night before and a 200 fly the event before make me feel that he’ll be toast by the time this one goes off.
# 128 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Back (1:08.78Y ) – see 200 back
# 132 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Free (2:00.78Y ) – wants to go under 2 minutes, but I don’t think he’ll get close in the last race of the travel meet.

Brett
# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Breast (1:13.32Y ) – hope he can manage another drop…
# 60 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Medley (2:30.12Y ) – could drop here with the stronger fly, especially if he doesn’t run out of gas in the breast like he did last meet.
# 68 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Back (2:25.98Y ) – personal best last time, means he probably adds this time around
# 70 (d2/s3): B Open 1650 Free (20:11.76Y ) – if his mind is right for this one and he goes after it, he could drop over a minute…
# 118 (d3/s5): B Open 50 Free (27.76Y ) – there is more time to be had here…I think he can go mid 26s…but I don’t think it happens in this race.
# 122 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – I hope he at least gets close to this time
# 130 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) – he should drop here, if he’ll just approach it like he did his 200 last meet, he’ll drop.
# 134 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Free (2:05.30Y ) – has had a couple strong 200 frees in practice recently, reporting he’s managed 2:02s…I don’t think he gets there, especially at the end of a long meet, but he might drop…

Breeze

11-03-2015, 09:20 AM

General Update

One of the girls from Swim Atlanta, who also swims for CRC, Caroline E., is moving over to Gold. She's dealt with shoulder issues for about 2 years now and is looking for better instruction to hopefully elminate the pain and allow her to continue to swim. She was not originally part of Bailey crew, but Bailey is very happy to have her on the team right now. Caroline is a 9th grader, which means she will eventually move up to the Senior team (where Brett is), so I'm not sure how long she will swim with Bailey's group. It'll be a while though, as she's been out of the water for a couple months and it'll take a good bit of time before she can get her stamina up to handle the yards the Senior team swims (especially given that fatigue creates poor form and poor form created the shoulder pain in the first place).

FrogMan

11-05-2015, 11:37 AM

Breeze

11-05-2015, 12:48 PM

That's Birmingham AL, right? If so, as per google maps, that's about a couple hours of driving, maybe a bit more by bus, right? Looks like Quebec to Montreal for us...

are they taken in charge by the team or are they on their own in terms of meals and such?

So far, the couple times Matthew has had to travel, wether we attend the meet or not, he travels with the team by bus and they stay at one hotel and all eat together at the hotel. We are charged one global fee for the meet, hotel stay and the meals and we only have to provide him breakfasts for the 2-3 days he's out there and they usually grab a Subway sub on their way back home to eat in the bus (included in the fee).

So the way your team handles it is about the same as ours. 1 fee for the weekend, we just send money for snacks and any extra drinks they might want. Everything else is covered (I think they stay somewhere with a free breakfast)

Let me know if you're interested in times and I'll find a couple minutes to post them...

Always interested in information. And congrats to Matthew on the bronze medal!!!

FrogMan

11-05-2015, 02:06 PM

They might have swapped the free breakfast in order to get some sort of rebate on lunch and dinner in our case. It's not that big a deal to give him enough to eat breakfast for 2-3 days as he can go on days on end simply eating 5-6 mini croissants for breakfast with a yogurt. A whole bag will last him way more than 2-3 days ;)

And if you travel to attend an out of town meet, do your kids stay with you in your room or with other swimmers in a block reserved for the club?

For us, the whole team stays together. We usually get a chance to talk with him at some point over the weekend, and we've got him a cheap cell phone (Samsung S3) so he can text/call us if he needs anything, but otherwise, he stays with his buddies.

As for time, I realized it would be even easier to point you to the online results, duh. ;)

These are the results for all the swimmers in his club, with many clickable lin throughout the page:
Swimrankings, Switzerland (http://www.swimrankings.net/index.php?page=meetDetail&meetId=590586&clubId=89099)

I have also attached a screenshot of his own section of results so you can find him by last name too ;) Columns are: event, final/elimination, medal is any, placement in race, FINA points (I think), type of course (25m SC in our case), entry time, a % of improvement by a funky formula explained at the bottom of the page, and finally date entry time was achieved.

As you can see, these were all pretty nice drops, on times that had been done if not at the very end of the season, then not a very long time ago. Remember when comparing that all our short course swims are done in a 25m pool.

Finally, going through the aforementioned clickable links, I just realized that his 100 fly time is the 2nd best in the province this season among 11yo kids, and the 17th best time in Canada so far this season, again among 11 yo. Yeah, I know the season is REALLY young but still, this makes me extremely proud! :D

FM

Breeze

11-06-2015, 03:14 PM

FrogMan

11-06-2015, 07:26 PM

That fly time is impressive...it looked really strong so I did a conversion on it and then looked up the time to see how it compares to down here. His time converts to around a 1:13.58...that would not only be good enough to qualify for state...that time is typically top 15 in the state for 11 year olds. In fact, Bear swam a 1:13.90 when he was 11 and he finished 13th.

Sounds like he's in for a strong season...

:D :D :D

we've been pretty stoked with the start of his training this season and as I said, we were happy it translated so well to times in this first meet. He's among the front runners when training in his 11-13 yo group and while last year he would be kind of happy to be in the middle, this year, he wants to lead the group when swimming laps.

We have this program around here where kids will practice a sport 4 or even 5 afternoons a week while having slightly longer mornings. They then become student-athletes. That program is in fact not only for sport but also for language (intensive English in our case) and art. Andrew (our oldest son) was in English for 5 years before he got involved in hockey and had an opening to switch to the school-hockey program where he played hockey MON/TUE/THU/FRI and had regular school the rest of the time, including the whole day on Wednesday.

I'm explaining all this to say that Matthew has been in intensive English for the last three years because we believe that English as a second language is of utmost importance for his future, but he has already committed to moving to the swimming team as a student-athlete next year. Andrew's hockey program wasn't the really high development one as Andrew started playing kinda late but the swimming one is recognized one for development of athletes. This means that the swimming program train five afternoons a week. So starting in September 2016, Matthew will be either swimming or doing a dryland training five days a week plus Saturday morning.

He has matured a lot this Summer. In May, he was saying he wanted to do another year of English but I think getting better made him want to be even better. We told him about his placement in the province and at the national level for 11 yo yesterday evening and this morning, kiddo had set his alarm 30 minutes early and he was doing pushups and running up and down the stairs when my wife went to wake him up. He really is almost absurdly competitive. :)

For me, I want him to do well, but I'm not the overly aggressive type. I really enjoy seeing him swim though, and overall, seeing him improve.

I'll keep you posted as his season goes on :)

FM

Breeze

11-06-2015, 08:40 PM

I'll keep you posted as his season goes on :)

FM

Looking forward to the updates

FrogMan

11-06-2015, 09:07 PM

Looking forward to the updates

as a sign a slowly maturing, he's started talking about maybe doing a 200 fly at some point this season, but more realistically, he should do a 400 free at his next meet, a distance he's only done twice so far. He got DQed in his second attempt, swimming over the rope to the other lane as they were swimming two per lane. That was a bit hectic for him and he got confused out of one turn...

Since that race, back in December of 2013, he has not swum the 400 free competitively... Wow, almost two years, I had not realized it had been this long...

He is most definitely a sprinter though. Still, it'll be interesting to see how he does in the 400 free.

FM

Breeze

11-09-2015, 12:11 PM

2015 Cranberry Classic – RESULTS

Bailey
# 45 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:02.07Y ) – did much better than 3 weeks ago, finished in a 1:04.34…if she can keep this time around 2 seconds of her PB she’s probably in good shape to drop time at state.
# 49 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Breast (1:23.72Y ) – I didn’t get to see this race, so I don’t know if she improved her timing from streamline to pull phase, but she did drop more time – 1:22.00
# 57 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Medley (2:26.54Y ) – another swim that improved from 3 weeks ago…2:27.93
# 65 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Back (2:18.93Y ) – This was a very bad swim for Bailey…first time she’s done this event this season and she added a bunch of time, finishing in 2:27.17.
# 111 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:17.54Y ) – not a great swim, but much better than 3 weeks ago when she went 2:27…This time she managed a 2:20.27, and coach was much more pleased with her form and swim.
# 115 (d3/s5): G 13-14 50 Free (27.86Y ) – found out this turn around was very quick, as Bailey was in the second to last heat of the fly and in the middle of the heats for the free. Only managed a 29.03
# 127 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.84Y ) – almost identical to a Gold Invite – 1:09.42 No word yet on if the coach thinks something is wrong with her backstroke.
# 131 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – out of gas and sore (apparently, very little room to warm down), only managed a 2:15.88

Bear
# 46 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:04.00Y ) – continues to hang around his PB – 1:04.45
# 58 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:16.75Y ) – added a bunch of time…fly and breast were the biggest strokes where adds occurred. 2:21:35
# 66 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Back (2:20.89Y ) – again a pretty poor swim for Bear – 2:23.88
# 70 (d2/s3): B Open 1650 Free (17:53.78Y ) – Very disappointing effort for Bear. He did state that he forgot to take his inhaler before the race (not sure how that happens at this point, but it did). Added 20+ seconds, which may not be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, since distance times can vary significantly…18:21.62
# 112 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:13.93Y ) – added time again, 2:17.02
# 118 (d3/s5): B Open 50 Free (26.16Y ) – similar to his personal best – 26.26
# 128 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Back (1:08.78Y ) – said his walls were much better, something was better as he got his lone personal best of the weekend – 1:06.35
# 132 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Free (2:00.78Y ) – swam ok for final race with the same fatigue, soreness that my other two were experiencing – 2:02.72

Brett
# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Breast (1:13.32Y ) – Brett did manage another drop 1:12.60
# 60 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Medley (2:30.12Y ) – Based on time, the fly was much better, resulted in a PB time of 2:26.36
# 68 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Back (2:25.98Y ) – This one wasn’t good – 2:29.50
# 70 (d2/s3): B Open 1650 Free (20:11.76Y ) – said he was extremely sore even before this race…his inability to warm down well hampering him – 20.14.34. I don’t think the coach was very pleased with this result.
# 118 (d3/s5): B Open 50 Free (27.76Y ) – got another personal best – 27.07.
# 122 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – Huge improvement here, in fact his time of 2:34.31 – is a 3 second drop from his previous personal best, a time that was over a year old…and more importantly it was 5 to 9 seconds faster than what he had been swimming this race in recently.
# 130 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) – like the first day of racing, after a couple of drops, his results started sliding…did manage to stay close to his personal best – 1:12.54
# 134 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Free (2:05.30Y ) – not a good swim, especially after his results 3 weeks ago – 2:10.55 – said he was worn out and sore again.

Note: Brett has a bad cough and is running a fever this morning (Monday), so that probably helps explain the lack of stamina later each day of the meet

Breeze

11-10-2015, 12:27 PM

General Update

I mentioned during the general update to start the season that Brett has a swimming profile on a couple of recruiting websites. Originally, his times brought up about 112 teams where he would fit in the top 3 or 4 swimmers in any given stroke (typically breast). His improvements over the last 2 meets have caused that list to grow to 125 teams, and more importantly, he is also registering higher on many of the teams that were previously listed.

I'm not sure how this will ultimately play out, and I don't know that there will even be a school that has a spot for him when the time comes, but it's interesting to follow right now.

We've been trying to schedule a trip to a few schools where his times seem to fit well, but our schedule hasn't allowed it so far. Will post whenever we take the trip.

Breeze

11-18-2015, 10:37 AM

High School Meet - vs Central (and others) - 11/20 @ Cumming Aquatic Center

The start of the high school season is Friday. Brett will swim the following:

Brett

# 15 (d1/s1): M Open 500 Free (5:45.55Y )
# 21 (d1/s1): M Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y )

Relays have been posted:

# 1 M Open 200 Medley Relay B - (not sure what stroke)
# 17 M Open 200 Free Relay B

(Note: Times listed are based on best times while swimming for the high school team only.)

Breeze

11-23-2015, 01:42 PM

High School Meet - vs Central (and others) - RESULTS

Brett

# 1 M Open 200 Medley Relay B - Did the breaststroke, and swam a 34.32 split, not great but ok.

# 15 (d1/s1): M Open 500 Free (5:45.55Y ) - Didn't manage to get to his personal best from earlier this year (5:38), but did go a 5:40.85...

# 17 M Open 200 Free Relay B - This race was literally about 10 minutes after his 500 free...Brett did the leadoff leg and managed to exactly tie his personal best in a 50 free - 27.07. Obviously this means 2 things...First, he has to go harder in the 500 free. If he goes as hard as he should in a 500 free race there is no way he should be able to match his personal best in a 50 free less than 10 minutes later (heck he should probably still be breathing hard). Second, even though he didn't race the 500 free as hard as he should, given that he tied his personal best with little rest indicates his 50 free should probably be faster than 27.07...

# 21 (d1/s1): M Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y ) - this event was about 10 minutes after the relay...and he was toast...only managed a 1:15.74

These high school meets are not an evironment where Brett will probably do extremely well. There is too much going on, and it is more of a fun atmosphere that's just too distracting for him. However, he really loves it, so if he stays close to his personal bests, then he's doing really well...

Also, the SFHS girls look like they are going to be extremely strong...as there are a large number of swimmers that already have state cuts after just 1 race.

Breeze

11-23-2015, 02:48 PM

High School Meet - vs Central (and others) - RESULTS

Brett was photographed during the meet (Bailey was too, but that's beside the point). If you are interested you can see him here:

Brett is 3 down and 4 across (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kkphgejs3mgvk4m/AAAImzBZ_yREp2DO3vgNAjlha?dl=0)

If you are wondering Bailey is in the group of girls 2 down and 2 across

FrogMan

11-30-2015, 11:57 AM

Hey, Matthew had his second meet of the season this past weekend and what a meet he gave us!!! He was entered in 7 events (50, 100, 200m free, 100 breast, 50 & 100 fly, 200 IM) over three days. Friday was in the evening while both Saturday were preliminaries in the morning with finals in the evening. Once it was all said and done, he's come out of it with two silver medals (50 and 100m fly) and 7 time improvements, 5 of those coming on events he had already improved on just last month. We are beyond ecstatic with these results to be honest.

His 50 fly medal happened on Saturday evening and that was already quite something. Then he swam his 100 fly preliminary yesterday morning and I wasn't there to see as our oldest son played hockey at the same time. My wife texted me something like "1:24, his best was 1:21 but he still should be in the final as there were only 10 entries in the 11-12 age group". I texted back something about it being pretty much his only "bad" performance of the weekend and she said she didn't know what went wrong as she was filming. Finaly, turned out the timing didn't register correctly, they went to manual timing and his time was adjusted to 1:22.15, the 2nd best of his age group. The best had a preliminary time of 1:19 or so, a solid three seconds better than Matthew.

Fast forward to the evening's finals. Matthew shot out like a freaking bullet and led by one full second after the first 50. The other kid would eventually pass him before the turn for the last 25m and Matthew finished second in a time of 1:18.63, an amazing 3 seconds improvement over the already great time he posted just a month ago. The wife and I were just shocked. That time is a AAA provincial standard time, his first.

Kid is happy, coach is happy, parents are happy. A great weekend overall.

Here's a link to the meet's results if you wanna take a look:
Invitation provinciale A-AA-AAA (NSH) - SPLASH Meet Manager 11 (http://www.natation-nsh.com/images/stories/comp_nov_2015/index.html)

FM

FrogMan

11-30-2015, 12:01 PM

as for other finals, he made tehe 50 free final, posting a 32.91 in the final, and the 100 brest final where he went slighlty slower in the final than in the preliminary. His 100 breast preliminary time was 1:42.63, a 2 seconds improvement over a time that dated back from quite a while.

he dropped a solid 3 seconds on his 50 fly time, from 36 something to 33.84 in the preliminaries then posted 33.85 in the final on his way to his silver medal. Not taking into account the meets that could have happened this weekend, this would be the best time in the povince among kids aged 11.

FM

Breeze

11-30-2015, 12:16 PM

Not taking into account the meets that could have happened this weekend, this would be the best time in the povince among kids aged 11.

FM

Fantastic...love reading this...

Breeze

12-02-2015, 12:21 PM

General Update - Brett

This thread was initially created to record the kid's progress as year round swimmers, but it became obvious pretty early on that swimming is more than simply being in the pool. Due to the dedication required, it is in many respects a lifestyle that is impacted by numerous external forces. I've hinted at a few and even documented items on occasion when I felt the situation might require it. Unfortunately, I'm at a situation right now that is heavily impacting the family.

Brett is really struggling in school right now. The wife and I are extremely concerned and we aren't exactly sure what the underlying problem is. His study habits have never been strong, due to the fact he could get good grades without putting forth too much effort. But now, he's seems almost incapable of studying. He's aware his grades are slipping, and he goes to study, only for us to find him distracted wasting time on the Internet.

I am extremely frustrated, and I've been hard on him (quite honestly, probably too hard), but at the same time I feel bad for him. He's a young 10th grader (would be in 9th if I had my way), who is taking senior level Math at an accellerated rate, he's in advanced Chemestry (which he isn't crazy about) and he's fighting to get through German 2, all while swimming 16+ hours a week. He has little to no free time, and he's constantly tired, but his schedule requires that kind of commitment. He absolutely doesn't want to stop swimming, and I don't want him too, as it is his lone sport and his basis for a social life, but I'm struggling with what to do. I've gone so far as to look into the possiblity of pulling him out of school and letting him retake 10th grade next year.

To make matters worse, I'm not sure if the problem is a "want to" or "can't help it". If you've been reading along for a while, you know that Brett is probably the single most obstinate person I've ever met, and he's also likely the most ADHD person I've ever laid eyes on. This makes it difficult to determine if the problems are focus related or desire related. We've talked with his doctor and we are going to use Intuniv in the evenings to see if that helps. The doctor doesn't believe increasing his vyvance is going to help. We are also keeping an eye on depression and sleep disorders (which you'd think we could determine from asking Brett, but so far he hasn't been forthcoming on that front).

This situation is currently killing me emotionally and quite literally physically (as my blood pressure has probably increased significantly). There is part of me that understands that I should back off and let him flounder to learn his lesson, but that would destroy his GPA and probably eliminate any hope he has of swimming in college (no JUCOs in the area have swim teams). Right now I'm trying to balance helping him get through this (whatever "this" is) while not destroying our relationship moving forward. This is unquestionably the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with in my life...

FrogMan

12-02-2015, 02:09 PM

that is a heartbreaking situation :(

FM

Breeze

12-03-2015, 09:54 AM

High School Meet vs Lambert - 12/4 @ Cumming Aquatic Center

Brett

# 3 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (2:08.68Y )
# 15 (d1/s1): M Open 500 Free (5:40.85Y )

Relay (Entered by Admin):

# 1 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Medley Relay (Team A)
# 17 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free Relay (Team B)

If you look closely you'll notice that Brett is on the A medley and the B free relays. This weekend is Senior State, so several of the older and better swimmers will be competing at the year round meet. This opens the top spots for other swimmers and Brett is one that is sliding into those relays.

Breeze

12-07-2015, 10:53 AM

High School Meet vs Lambert - RESULTS

Brett

On Thursday night, when he came home, Brett told us his knees and shoulders were hurting. In fact, they were hurting bad enough he took some ibuprofin before practice Thursday night and only did kick sets. Because it is a general aches and pain and because it is in both shoulders and knees it is probably growing pains combined with fatigue and not an injury. However, it was definately bothering him, as his performance was poor - so poor I'm not going to bother to post his times. They were no where close to his personal bests - in fact he added significant time across the board. We gave him Saturday off, and he doesn't have morning practice for the next couple of weeks, so hopefully, he'll bounce back quickly...

Breeze

12-09-2015, 10:03 AM

FrogMan

12-09-2015, 11:58 AM

High School Meet vs Tallulah Falls @ Ruby Fulbright 12/11

Brett

Brett's shoulders and knees appear to be much better following a few days off over the weekend.

that's good to read! Is it me or you never posted the results for his previous HS meet? Or maybe I don't understand your reporting...

Matthew has his third meet of the season this weekend. Not sure what to expect in terms of improvement only two weeks removed from his last meet. One thing's for sure, barring a DQ, he should set at least one time as he will swim the 400 IM for the first time on Saturday... :eek:

Friday evening: prelims 50 free & 200 IM
Saturday (morning: prelims 100 breast + 400IM (final by time)) (evening: finals 50 free, 200 IM and 100 breast
Sunday (morning: prelims 50 fly & 100 free) (evening: finals for both)

FM

Breeze

12-09-2015, 01:40 PM

that's good to read! Is it me or you never posted the results for his previous HS meet? Or maybe I don't understand your reporting...

Hey FM,

Sorry, I though I had noted that his performance at the high school meet was so poor I wasn't going to bother posting his results. Must have dreamed that part of the write up. I've updated it above now...

Good luck to Matthew this weekend...

Breeze

12-10-2015, 02:59 PM

High School Meet vs Tallulah Falls @ Ruby Fulbright 12/11

Brett

Brett's shoulders and knees appear to be much better following a few days off over the weekend. Hopefully, it will lead to better swims this weekend (Friday at this meet, and Saturday and Sunday at a year round meet). Unfortunately, this is a travel meet, well up into the Georgia mountains. I'm doubtful Brett's mind will be in the right place for this one. Also, the wife and I won't be going, so I won't have any insight on how he did, unless he or some one else passes it along.

# 5 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (2:08.68Y )
# 25 (d1/s1): M Open 500 Free (5:40.85Y )

Relay (Entered by Admin):

# 1 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Medley Relay (Team C)
# 27 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free Relay (Team C)

Brett's relays were cancelled. There are going to be 16 teams at this meet, and it will probably last over 6 hours. To speed things up, each team will only be allowed to swim 2 relays (thus Brett's C relays have been dropped). Because this meet is scheduled to run so long, and the trip home from the meet will be several hours, Brett is likely to not getting home from this meet until 2 A.M., and he has warm up for a year round meet a 6:30 the next morning. This isn't setting up to be a good year round meet for Brett...I may be driving up to the meet to pick him up so he can leave a little early (but I'm not going to make him leave. If he wants to stay with his friends and ride the bus back as part of the experience, then I will let him)

Breeze

12-10-2015, 03:02 PM

Last Step on the Moon Spectacular @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 12/11-12/13

Bailey

# 1 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 50 Free (27.86Y )
# 5 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:26.54Y )
# 9 (d1/s1): G 11 & Over 500 Free (5:49.07Y )
# 13 (d2/s2): G 13-14 200 Free (2:11.27Y )
# 21 (d2/s2): G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.84Y )
# 35 (d2/s2): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:17.54Y )
# 41 (d2/s3): G 11 & Over 400 Medley (5:00.18Y )
# 83 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Free (1:00.50Y )
# 89 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Back (2:18.93Y )
# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Breast (2:59.09Y )
# 101 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:02.07Y )

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (26.16Y )
# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:16.75Y )
# 10 (d1/s1): B 11 & Over 500 Free (5:14.54Y )
# 14 (d2/s2): B 13-14 200 Free (2:00.78Y )
# 22 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Back (1:06.35Y )
# 36 (d2/s2): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:13.93Y )
# 42 (d2/s3): B 11 & Over 400 Medley (4:42.92Y )
# 84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (56.56Y )
# 90 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:20.89Y )
# 102 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:04.00Y )
# 108 (d3/s6): B 11 & Over 1650 Free (17:53.78Y )

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brett

# 16 (d2/s2): B 15 & Over 200 Free (2:05.30Y )
# 32 (d2/s2): B 15 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y )
# 42 (d2/s3): B 11 & Over 400 Medley (5:02.68Y )
# 82 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 100 Free (58.56Y )
# 94 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 200 Breast (2:34.31Y )
# 100 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:18.17Y )

Breeze

12-11-2015, 08:21 AM

Last Step on the Moon Spectacular - UPDATE

I wanted to take a second to report that not only will I not see Brett's high school meet tonight, I will also miss the twins Gold meet, so I'll have very little insight into their Friday swims when I record the outcomes. The reason I'm going to miss the Gold meet is that I'm going to head up into the mountains to pick Brett up from his meet. Brett's last event is about 2/3rds of the way through the meet, so once he finishes that swim he can leave. Given that he'll be getting up early Saturday morning for the second day of the Gold meet, he requested I pick him up and take him home so he can get more sleep. I figure he'll get home about 2 hours earlier than if he road the bus, so I figure that's worth the effort (and a very mature decision for him).

I do feel bad, by going to get Brett I won't be available to do Bear's numbers in the 500...but he seemed ok with that (not happy, but ok).

FrogMan

12-11-2015, 12:57 PM

Hey FM,

Sorry, I though I had noted that his performance at the high school meet was so poor I wasn't going to bother posting his results. Must have dreamed that part of the write up. I've updated it above now...

Good luck to Matthew this weekend...

ggood luck to your kids too. :)

We learned something interesting yesterday. The meet this weekend is expected to have about a thousnd swimmers all in all. It's got a part 10 and under and one that's 11 and up. Because of this, Matthew's coach told my wife that the 11-12 finals will be split in 2, finals for 11yo and finals for 12yo. Matthew being 11 years, 11 months old, he is in a really good spot to bring in a few medals. Yeah, for fly he's seeded among the top of the 11-12 category but for some other events, he was seeded like 10 to 13th so just borderline to make the final. Now, as an 11yo, he comes in seeded at 3rd to 5th in most events. Really looking forward to this meet. :) Will keep you posted!

FM

Breeze

12-11-2015, 01:04 PM

Quick Update

So through this thread I know I've posted several times how abnormally difficult Bailey's age group in this state is. I now have a perfect way to illustrate it.

Just last weekend the Georgia Senior State Short Course Championships took place. This is the meet State Meet for any swimmers over 14. Bailey actually qualified to swim at this meet, but her coach didn't want her too, and we agreed seeing little to no benefit trying to compete in this meet and the Age Group State Meet in February. While Bailey didn't compete, several from her age group did, and here is how they ended up:

Girls 100 IM

Addie Rose (14) - 2nd overall
Addie F (14) - 5th overall
Courney (14) - 19th overall
3 more in the top 40

Girls 100 Breast

Addie F (14) - 2nd overall
Addie Rose (14) - 6th overall
Jade (14) - 11th overall
Courtney (14) - 25th overall
Katherine (13) - 29th overall
1 more in the top 40

Girls 200 Free

Tristen (13) - 2nd overall
Abby (14) - 6th overall
Anna (13) - 9th overall
Samantha (13) - 26th overall
3 more in the top 40

Girls 100 Fly - one of Bailey's strong events

Tristen (13) - 2nd overall (only losing to a 27 year old)
Jade (14) - 3rd overall
Addie Rose (14) - 4th overall
Tori (13) - 9th overall
Anna (13) - 19th overall
1 more in the top 40
So...with the exception of a 27 year old, the top 3 flyers in the State are all 14 or under - no wonder Bailey can't medal)

Girls 400 IM - another of Bailey's strong events

Jade (14) - 1st
Addie F (14) - 6th
Abby (14) - 9th
Elly (14) -15th
Samantha (13) - 16th
5 more in the top 30

Girls 200 Fly - another of Bailey's strong events

Addie Rose (14) - 1st
Tristen (13) - 2nd
Jade (14) - 3rd
Tori (13) -14th
Abby (14) - 23rd
Rylee (14) - 29th
2 more in the top 40
Again top 3 are all in Bailey's age group

Girls 50 Free

Tristen (13) - 5th
Jazzy (13) - 6th
Anna (13) - 13th
Chantal (14) - 20th
2 more in the top 40

Girls 200 Breast

Addie F (14) - 4th
Courtney (14) - 15th
Jade (14) - 21st
2 more in the top 40

Girls 100 Back

Savannah (14) - 7th
Caroline (14) - 8th
Addie Rose (14) - 13th
Elly (14) - 14th
Sarah Grace (13) - 17th
Eliza (14) - 23rd
Rachel (13) - 25th
2 more in the top 40

Girls 200 Back

Elly (14) - 2nd
Savannah (14) - 6th
Caroline (14) - 8th
Sarah Grace (13) - 13th
Hannah (13) - 14th
Taylor (13) - 20th
Rachel (13) - 23rd
Samantha (13) - 25th
4 more in the top 40

Girls 100 Free

Anna (13) - 8th
Jazzy (13) - 11th
Mady (14) - 23rd
KC (13) - 26th
Elly (14) - 30th
(Tristen qualified 1st in this event, but scratched it at finals for some reason)

I'm not going to do the distance swims and most of the girls above elected not to swim the 200 IM, so I'll skip that one as well. However, given the places these girls finished for an open competition, it's pretty obvious how strong Bailey's age group is...

In fact, I expect some of these girls will be at Olympic trials this year. They won't make the team...but they will probably be at trials...

Coffee Warlord

12-11-2015, 02:05 PM

I'm sure I've asked before, but to avoid digging through threads...are the high school times on meters or yards?

Breeze

12-11-2015, 02:13 PM

I'm sure I've asked before, but to avoid digging through threads...are the high school times on meters or yards?

High school times are yards, just like the short course year round times...

Coffee Warlord

12-11-2015, 03:06 PM

Your little post about him starting to struggle sorta hit close to home to me as well - while I didn't have the ADHD troubles, I fully remember the ungodly workload back in High School, with advanced classes, swimming, (and in my case, working a few hours a week). I honestly don't have a god damn clue how I survived. My own folks did put an enormous amount of pressure on me with all that going on, and yeah..free time? What's that? It was harsh. Don't really know you, don't know your kid, so I won't presume to offer any advice (frankly, I'm not sure what my advice would BE, either). I feel for you and the boy, though. I been there. I probably had it a touch easier 'cause I never had to study to actually get good grades, but, yeah, I lived a lot of that.

Coffee Warlord

12-11-2015, 03:13 PM

That aside, the SWIMMING opinion I'd offer if he really wants to swim in college...given his times, breaststroke clearly looks like his best event. Probably the best place for him to focus.

Though, I'm gonna be very curious to see where his times are in his Junior year. My 500 and 200 times were roughly on par with his my Sophomore year, and at the start of my Junior year, I had some enormous drops right out of the gate. I was also reallllly young for that grade level. So who knows what his best event will be next year.

Breeze

12-11-2015, 03:37 PM

Hey CW,

Thanks for chiming in and feel free to offer advice at any time. I am open to suggestions, and I'm smart enough to realize that there has to be a better way to handle this than the way I'm currently doing it. I'm just struggling to find it.

There are a couple of schools where Brett's times fit in ok, and given he has a couple more years and probably 3 inches and 30 lbs of growth left to go, I think he'll have somewhere to swim if he really wants to, and he does his leg work ahead of time to build relationships with the schools and coaches. As soon as he starts the process of contacting schools I'll make sure to keep this thread updated with that information.

Breeze

12-14-2015, 05:16 PM

High School Meet vs Tallulah Falls @ Ruby Fulbright 12/11

Brett

# 5 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) - went a 2:07.14, which is good enough for his varsity letter. He now has 2 varsity lettering times...so as long as he gets 1 more high school practice in, he will letter again.

# 25 (d1/s1): M Open 500 Free (5:40.85Y ) - added time, swimming a 5:49.82, pretty mediocre swim, but he won the event easily, and he said he didn't want to go too hard and mess up his minor taper he had for the year round meet...

As it turns out, Brett elected to stay at the meet and ride home on the bus. This caused him to get to bed late Friday night...he was in bed a little after 1 o'clock. It probably wasn't a wise decision for swimming purposes, but he had fun with his friends and that's important too...

Breeze

12-15-2015, 03:55 PM

Last Step on the Moon Spectacular - RESULTS

Brett

Brett had his first flat meet of the year...up until now he's posted several personal bests at meets, but not this time. However, for the most part he didn't swim terribly, in fact, most times were in the neighborhood of his personal best. Not sure how much staying at the high school meet on Friday and getting to bed late impacted his overall performance, but regardless here is how he did:

# 16 (d2/s2): B 15 & Over 200 Free (2:05.30Y ) - looked good, much better than he looked in the high school meet a week before. Didn't quite get a personal best finishing in 2:05.80

# 32 (d2/s2): B 15 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y ) - Good swim, was just off his personal best pace on both 50s resulting in a slight add - 1:13.35

# 42 (d2/s3): B 11 & Over 400 Medley (5:02.68Y ) - Fly looked so much better, but unfortunately it was slower than it has been recently. Not sure the disconnect, other than he probably doesn't swim/race fly enough. His 100 fly was around a 1:18...his best has been in the 1:14s...so that 4 seconds cost him overall. He finished at 5:07.00

# 82 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 100 Free (58.56Y ) - just off again - 59.24

# 94 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 200 Breast (2:34.31Y ) - like the 100 breast was slightly behind on all splits. The biggest gap was the last 50, where he seemed to shorten up a bit, probably from fatigue - 2:35.63

# 100 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:18.17Y ) - Was hoping he'd at least go his 1:14 or 1:15 he's done a couple of times in the 400 IM, but he didn't. Like the 400 IM earlier in the meet, the form was better, just slow...1:19.58

FrogMan

12-16-2015, 09:06 AM

Matthew had a very good meet even though they decided not to do the split 11 & 12 year old age groups for finals. He improved his time on all his events except the 50 free. Considering most of his current best were done only two weeks ago, I think this qualifies as a very good meet :)

He even swam his first ever 400m IM in what I felt was a pretty good time in 6:28.55. He came in 5th out of 10 in the 11-12 category but first among 11 yo kids.

He only had one fly event on his plate for the weekend and he made the most of it, qualifying for his only final of the meet in it. He came out of the 50m fly preliminaries with the top seed, then improving his previous best of 33.84 (again done only two weeks ago) with a solid 33.70. That was on Sunday morning. That 33.84 was already the best this season in Quebec so 33.70 was just improving on that.

In the event final on Sunday evening, he cut another whopping 0.61 second off that best time, posting a very nice 33.09 but was beat by the second seeded kid, a 12 yo, with a time of 32.82.

Results for his meet have not been added to the Swimrankings database yet and another kid has temporarily pushed his 33.84 down to 2nd place but he will take that spot back once the times are in. If it all stands as is right now, his 33.09 would be the 5th best time this season in the country for kids 11 years old.

Here's a video of his 50 fly final :)
50 fly final, silver medal151213 - YouTube (https://youtu.be/9vxGcBpx1o0)

FM

Breeze

12-16-2015, 10:21 AM

Here's a video of his 50 fly final :)
50 fly final, silver medal151213 - YouTube (https://youtu.be/9vxGcBpx1o0)

FM

Man that's a pretty stroke...and very technical...breathing every 3, not breathing on the breakout or off the wall...VERY NICE! (wish I could get my kids to embrace the details like that!)

FrogMan

12-16-2015, 11:20 AM

Man that's a pretty stroke...and very technical...breathing every 3, not breathing on the breakout or off the wall...VERY NICE! (wish I could get my kids to embrace the details like that!)

thanks :) I'm not the swimmer in the house, mommy is, so I just watch him swim and I marvel at how amazing it looks. :D

He still needs to work on his turns but he knows it, and he could take advantage of his underwater kick off the wall. He can go the full 25m underwater in dolphin kick.

He has definitely been picking up on details this season, and not only on his fly. His other styles are getting better too. I just love to see him improve from meet to meet... Very much looking forward to the big meets he'll have in April and June...

FM

Breeze

12-16-2015, 02:06 PM

Last Step on the Moon Spectacular - RESULTS

Bailey

Bailey's times are slowing starting to creap back up to her personal bests. It's been a long process this season, but for the most part, she was in the ballpark on many of her swims this time out.

# 1 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 50 Free (27.86Y ) - Just missed a personal best...27.92

# 5 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:26.54Y ) - She got a personal best...and given it was in an IM, that's a good sign because all strokes are involved - 2:24.70

# 9 (d1/s1): G 11 & Over 500 Free (5:49.07Y ) - Not a great swim, she really needs to learn how to races these types of events better - 5:52.84

# 13 (d2/s2): G 13-14 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) - Added about 1.5 - 2:12.77

# 21 (d2/s2): G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.84Y ) - Another close swim - 1:07.37

# 35 (d2/s2): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:17.54Y ) - started out looking really good, but got short with the stroke and popped up to breath too quickly at the end, which killed her forward pull...only managed a 2:20.45

# 41 (d2/s3): G 11 & Over 400 Medley (5:00.18Y ) - after improvement in 200 IM, was hopeful here...but it wasn't a good swim. 5:06.11

# 83 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) - like the 50 and the 200, just off her best - 1:01.63

# 89 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Back (2:18.93Y ) - This was probably Bailey's one really bad swim of the meet. She appeared to take it out too slow and never got up to speed. 2:26.21

# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Breast (2:59.09Y ) - Check this out...not just a drop, a BIG drop - 2:51.55. Now she had it to drop, and I've been saying for a while her breaststroke was looking better...just glad the time improvement finally showed up.

# 101 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:02.07Y ) - Some of the same quick pop up issues as I saw in the 200, plus poor dives and turns...1:04.34

Breeze

12-16-2015, 04:18 PM

Last Step on the Moon Spectacular - RESULTS

Bear

Bear had his best meet of the season so far...

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (26.16Y ) - Personal best year round time (he still swam faster in Summer League last year) 25.94. He was only mildly pleased, he wants a low 25 or 24 second time.

# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:16.75Y ) - Fly was a little slow, back was about the same, breast wasn't nearly as strong as it has been recently, and he didn't have that fire on the free leg...result 2:22.14

# 10 (d1/s1): B 11 & Over 500 Free (5:14.54Y ) - Got a drop...just barely...did come from several body lengths back on the last 100 to pass several of his friends. 5:14.21

# 14 (d2/s2): B 13-14 200 Free (2:00.78Y ) - Below the 3 minute mark, and by a bunch - 1:57.43

# 22 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Back (1:06.35Y ) - Nice to see a drop in this one. Walls were much better - 1:05.73

# 36 (d2/s2): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:13.93Y ) - A little stiff, but effort was there - 2:15.64

# 42 (d2/s3): B 11 & Over 400 Medley (4:42.92Y ) - Some similar issues in this one to the 200 IM...plus the turn around from the 200 fly to the 400 IM was way too short...4:48.27

# 84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (56.56Y ) - with improvement in the 50 and the 200 was looking for a drop here, and Bear didn't disappoint - 55.03

# 90 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:20.89Y ) - Got a drop and, it was really the last 50 before he really got his stroke going. Coach was pleased with the last 50, and if he can keep up that pace and form, he'll probably be looking at another drop next time out. - 2:18.94

# 102 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:04.00Y ) - 1:05.49...some is just off a bit on his fly...need to get it worked out over the next 2 months before state.

# 108 (d3/s6): B 11 & Over 1650 Free (17:53.78Y ) - Bear's goal coming in was to swim a 17:45. Here is how he did:

100 - 1:02.06
200 - 1:06.33 (2:08.39) - coach had me signal him to pick it up on the back 50 in this 100.
300 - 1:04.60 (3:12.99) - coach ok now
400 - 1:04.49 (4.17.48)
500 - 1:05.16 (5:22.64)
600 - 1:03.96 (6:26.60) - coach jumping up and down after this split
700 - 1:04.04 (7:30.66) - coach clapping hard, cheering/urging him on
800 - 1:04.56 (8:35.22)
900 - 1:04.34 (9:39.56)
1000 - 1:03.98 (10:43.54) - coach clapping again - important to note personal best 1000 is 10.40.83 - he close to that with 650 more to go
1100 - 1:02.71 (11:46.25) - Coach literally says WOW! on this split
1200 - 1:04.13 (12:50.38) - at this point the 18yo leader is catching Bear to lap him
1300 - 1:03.27 (13:53.56)
1400 - 1:03.46 (14:57.11) - coach going nuts...
1500 - 1:04.12 (16:01.23) - 18yo leader finally passes Bear
1600 - 1:02.44 (17.03.67)
1650 - 29.61 (17.33.28)

Came home in 29.61...that is the same pace he bascally swims his 200 Free...

This is the fastest 1650 for 13/14 year olds in the 2015/16 season currently on record in the State of Georgia. We know there are 2 or 3 really strong distance guys who will probably beat this time before state, but it is still a nice feather in his cap.

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Breeze

12-17-2015, 11:33 AM

General Update

So this is midterm week and with Brett's grades on the boardline between good and mediocre, he's been trying to really focus on school. This focus has kept him out of the pool all week, but so far it is working with scores of 96, 93, 88, 88, and even his German midterm grade was an 86...(really pleased about that one)

Hopefully, the time out of the pool doesn't hamper him too much.

Breeze

12-17-2015, 01:36 PM

High School Swimming Update

Brett's high school meet this Friday was cancelled. No reason was given, but the hosting team was Central, and their coach is a bit flaky. She probably forgot to do something required by the GHSSA to get the meet sanctioned.

Breeze

12-18-2015, 07:35 AM

High School Swimming Update - Follow Up

So an interesting turn of events in regards to the meet that was cancelled. A few of the Gold Team families that we are friends with swim for Central, and one of them texted us last night to ask about the meet. Apparently, they aren't aware that we got the message the meet was cancelled. In fact, they have received their heat sheets telling all the swimmers which events, heats, and lanes they will be in.

It's going to be very interesting to hear how this plays out...It was supposed to be a Tri-meet, I'm going to be curious to see if it was just cancelled for South, or if Central shows up and they are basically "scrimmaging" against themselves.

Breeze

12-22-2015, 07:03 AM

General Update

So Brett's nearly week off from swimming for exams really impacted his stroke. The coach sent us a picture of Brett's freestyle and even though it was a still shot, it was obvious how sloppy he had become. The body line is crooked, the legs are way to far apart, the breathing is mistimed...

Amazing how quickly a stroke can deteriorate.

Breeze

01-04-2016, 05:45 PM

General Update

For one of Brett's Christmas presents we got him a spot in a Breaststroke clinic at the University of Tennessee. We went on the 2nd, and he got some really good insight...

1. In one of the stations the coaches were getting video on the swimmers and with Brett here is how he reported that station:

Coach (who was actually a current swimmer on the team) "You're a breaststroker aren't you?"
Brett, "Yeah, how'd you know?"
Coach, "Because your ankles are all effed up..."

The coach went on to explain that Brett's ankles were actually over extended to point of going past perpendicular, thus causing him to lose some of his leverage with his kick. He added some more advanced things for Brett to work on flatter back, tighter core during the lunge phase, the tight/loose timing of the muscle groups

2. One of the sections was designed to teach the kids to bring the hips forward, don't drop the knees and set up the kick by flexing the hamstring. For Brett he was more specifically told to anquer the arms at the pull and then bring the hips to his hands not pull the hands to the hips.

3. One drill was designed to teach a strong kick and it was executed by having the swimmers layout on the water about 15 feet from the wall, do one skull stroke and one full stroke and try to get all the way to the wall. Brett was extremely good at this, and he was moved back several times to increase his distance. The coach at that station (UT assitant head coach) said, "That was extremely impressive, but because you are so good at this, you are going to struggle with the rest of the camp" This was because the remander of the camp was on tempo training and his strong kick requires more time to execute.

4. During tempo training Brett did struggle, and this explains why his Breaststroke has been so flat. He's been trying to get faster by going faster, and the coaches at this event told him that is a counter productive way to approach the stroke given his strong kick. The coaches were looking to get the kids down to 1 stroke / second...where Brett, when doing his stroke correctly was running more around 1.5. The top female and male breaststrokers on the team (both with a legit shot to swim in the 2016 Olympics) pulled him aside and told him that he needs to focus on his kick. That in all honestly, he should probably almost not pull at all, simply use the arms as a way to anquer for the hip move and then as quickly as he can transition into his kick and lunge allowing the legs to be 80% of his stroke. They did tell him that because of his stroke, he would probably not be as effective in a 100 but he could be extremely strong in a 200...

Ultimately, the clinic was an extremely good experience for Brett. His stroke looked much stronger and more consistent during laps at the end of the camp. He got some good feedback and was really pumped up during the ride home. Hopefully, he will remember the tidbits they left with him and he can find a way to continue to repeat the instructions in his normal Gold Practices.

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Bear also took part in the breaststroke clinic. While Breast is his weakest stroke, he felt he could get some improvement that would help him in the long run. Bear didn't have the same interaction with the coaches, which isn't surprising given Bear's breast and the uniqueness of Brett's and how the coaches wanted to let him know the best way to swim the stroke moving forward. Bear did have a good time, and did say that he had some stuff to work on that were different than what he was currently doing. Bear never really swam hard during the laps at the end, so hard to tell if he improved much, but he seems to have taken the instruction to heart and we'll see when he races it next if he's able to execute any of it.

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Bailey didn't go to the clinic but she might be impacted by it anyway. Coach Andy went onto the deck to watch, ask questions of the coaches, and get some insight into how to better teach the strokes (his kids attended several sessions not just breaststroke). One of the things Andy noticed was how the UT top female breaststroker swims...she uses a lot of undulation (which isn't exactly how UT teaches the stroke, but because of her body type the undulation occurs naturally), which isn't the important part...what is important is the upkick on the stroke. When she brings her legs up to prepare for the breaststroke kick, she basically executes a fly upkick, generating a bunch of porpulsion. In fact her upkick appears to generate more momentum that her down kick. Given Bailey's strong fly kick, Andy is thinking about trying to teach this approach to Bailey and Bear....

Breeze

01-08-2016, 04:05 PM

High School Meet - Quad Meet @ Cumming Aquatic Center 1/8

High school swimming starts back up tonight...

Brett

#7 - Boys 50 Free (29.15) - PB is actually low 27
#13 - Boys 100 Free (1:01.44) - This is way off of Brett's PB, but he typically doesn't get PBs in high school meets

Relays

#1 - Boys 200 Medley Relay (1) - Doing the backstroke??? No good backstrokers after the A team is filled...
#17 - Boys 200 Free Relay (1) - I believe this is the D relay, which frustrates Brett and is why he is swimming the sprint Frees tonight.

If you've been reading along for any period of time, I'm sure you realize that Brett is far from a sprinter in anything, and Freestyle isn't his strongest stroke. However, in order for him to move up the pecking order for Free Relays he has to get a faster time on record. Thus he's swimming both of the sprint frees tonight. I hope he does well, as he had an extremely hard practice Thursday night (a looooong fly set), and he was sore last night.

This is actually a little silly given that Brett is a year round swimmer and could supply his new personal best times to the coach, but for some reason after your freshman year, she won't accept any year round times. The times have to be swum as part of South Forsyth or they don't count. Which would be fine, except each kid can only swim 2 events, so how can the coach have a feel for a swimmers ability with such little info available.

Breeze

01-11-2016, 03:17 PM

High School Meet - Quad Meet RESULTS

Brett

Had his typical high school swims...but he had fun as numerous girls on the team were heavily flirting with him (including getting thrown in the pool several times).

#7 - Boys 50 Free (29.15) - Hit is 28.41 time, which I think was his personal best for quite a while last season.
#13 - Boys 100 Free (1:01.44) - didn't get sub 60, 1:00.99...

Relays

#1 - Boys 200 Medley Relay (1) - no idea what his split was, the race wasn't recorded by leg.
#17 - Boys 200 Free Relay (1) - according to the reports Brett swam a 28.84...but I don't know if the entered order matched the order they swam in...

Breeze

01-14-2016, 02:02 PM

High School Meet - Etowah HS Invitational - 1/16/16 @ Cherokee Aquatic Center

Travel meet for the team this Saturday...

Brett

# 3 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (2:07.14Y )
# 13 (d1/s1): M Open 100 Free (1:00.99Y )

Relay (Entered by Admin):

# 23 (d1/s1): M Open 400 Free Relay (Team B)

Because this meet is on Saturday, Brett will probably go to Gold practice in the morning before swimming for South. This means his times will probably be pretty pedestrian...

Breeze

01-15-2016, 11:01 AM

General Update - Bailey

This morning (1/15), Bailey went to the doctor, and he confirmed that she is basically finished growing. He said she might grow a little more, but it won't be significant. This corresponds directly to her flat performance in swimming. She's no longer benefiting from getting bigger and stronger. She was very disappointed to hear the news, as she realizes that good swimmers are typically tall. Thus her upside isn't as high as she would have liked. There is still plenty of room for improvement through breath control, turns, dives, strength training, but no more easy drops...

Breeze

01-20-2016, 12:14 PM

High School Meet - Etowah HS Invitational - RESULTS

Overall not a good meet for Brett. Still think he's trying to get back in shape following his missed week of practice during exams.

Brett

# 3 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (2:07.14Y ) - 2:10.95
# 13 (d1/s1): M Open 100 Free (1:00.99Y ) - 1:01.07

Relay (Entered by Admin):

# 23 (d1/s1): M Open 400 Free Relay (Team B) - Brett did go a 59.57 split in the relay. Fastest of the 4 swimmers

Breeze

01-20-2016, 12:30 PM

General Update

Brett got sick on Monday so he missed practice Monday and Tuesday. Unfortunately we are getting sleet now so practice is canceled tonight (Wednesday). This is bad timing considering Brett was just starting to get his form back and there is a Gold meet this weekend.

Also Bailey is showing signs of catching whatever Brett had.

Breeze

01-21-2016, 04:55 PM

Breeze

01-22-2016, 10:43 AM

High School Meet - Forsyth County Championship @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 1/23

Brett

# 3 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Free (2:07.14Y )
# 21 (d1/s1): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y )

Relay (Entered by Admin):

# 1 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Medley Relay (Team C)
# 23 (d1/s1): B Open 400 Free Relay (Team C)

Because Brett was sick a couple days and missed school he is having to miss practice again to get caught up and prepared for a couple of big tests. It doesn't bode well for his chances this weekend.

School was cancelled today, which by rule means all sporting events must be cancelled as well. This meet was rescheduled for Monday after school. Brett will now deck enter at the Gold meet tomorrow (assuming it is not cancelled as well)

Breeze

01-23-2016, 09:29 AM

Winter Kick Off @ GaTech - 1/23-24

This is a big meet for the twins as it will most likely be their last chance to ear a state cut before the meet in February (as the coach probably won't let them swim in the last chance meet).

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Bailey

# 3 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Fly (2:17.54Y ) - Got this cut, just need a drop heading into State for confidence
# 9 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 100 Back (1:06.84Y ) - needs a drop of 3 seconds to get this cut, not likely in a 100...but it is possible.
# 11 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) - needs a 7 second drop for the cut, so this one isn't going to happen
# 13 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (5:00.18Y ) - Got this cut, just looking for improvement like the 200 fly
# 44 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 100 Fly (1:02.07Y ) - Has this one as well, but wants to get this down into a 60 second swim range.
# 46 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:24.70Y ) - another 3 second drop to earn another cut...this one is much more likely than the 100 back.
# 48 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) - 2.5 seconds off the cut. Given Bailey's track record in the Free I don't expect this one, but it is within range.
# 50 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 200 Back (2:18.93Y ) - Have this cut...looking for a confidence building swim.

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Bear

# 4 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Fly (2:13.93Y ) - Got this one, like Bailey looking for a good swim for confidence.
# 10 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Back (1:05.73Y ) - 1.5 seconds off the cut time. Could get it but will need to charge the walls on turns.
# 12 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Free (1:57.43Y ) - Bear's free has been really strong ever since he embraced the distance swims.
# 43 (d1/s2): X 11 & Over 1650 Free (17:33.28Y ) - THIS SWIM WAS CANCELLED DUE TO A SCHEDULE CHANGE BECAUSE OF THE WEATHER
# 45 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 100 Fly (1:04.00Y ) - Bear doesn't have this one. As his personal best time is from State last year - that's a bit disappointing as his fly still looks strong, he's just not sprinting it as well as he did last year. He only needs about a .7 drop to get the cut. He should do it.
# 47 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:16.75Y ) - maybe the breast clinic at Christmas will lead to a drop here.
# 51 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Back (2:18.94Y ) - Needs another 1.5 second drop to get this cut. Again it could come down to walls.
# 55 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 500 Free (5:14.21Y ) - Easily has this one and I'm confident this isn't close to what his personal best could be. With a good swim I believe he could be below 5:10...

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Brett

Brett was scheduled to swim in the high school meet on Saturday (noted above), but not that it's rescheduled for Monday, Brett will deck enter whatever we can get him into.

# 47 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:26.36Y ) - with improved Breast and if he can limit breathing in fly, he could drop, but lack of practice I'm guessing he runs out of gas and adds about 4 or 5 seconds.
# 53 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y ) - Interested to see if Brett can execute on what he learned from the clinic into an improved time.
# 55 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 500 Free (5:38.45Y ) - Should improve here, but given his lack of practice I don't expect it.

Note: Given the poor condition of the roads, limited parking (as they aren't letting people in the parking deck because of ice issues) and the fact that the only cuts we are shooting for on Saturday are the backs, which isn't likely for Bailey and isn't necessary for Bear to have a full load at State, we are contemplating not making the trip...

Breeze

01-27-2016, 12:31 PM

Winter Kick Off - RESULTS

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Bailey

# 3 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Fly (2:17.54Y ) - Didn’t swim well posting her typical 4 second add – 2:21.85. Her stroke looked much different, deeper pulls, more undulation than normal, and she confirmed that the coach is changing her stroke.

# 9 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 100 Back (1:06.84Y ) - unbelievably, she exactly tied her personal best 1:06.84

# 11 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) - Another typical add of a couple seconds 2:13.93

# 13 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (5:00.18Y ) – 5:09.50 – held back too much in the fly, and her breast was back to a 45 second split.

# 44 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 100 Fly (1:02.07Y ) - her time is still in the 1:04s, which it has been most of the season – 1:04.94

# 46 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:24.70Y ) – 2:28.56

# 48 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) - – Add – 1:02.12…

# 50 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 200 Back (2:18.93Y ) - Worst swim of the meet – 2:26.72

Another bad meet for Bailey…disappointing, bordering on depressing and that’s from my vantage point. She is ultra-competitive so it has to be killing her inside.

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Bear

# 4 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Fly (2:13.93Y ) - Got a slight drop down to 2:13.41

# 6 (d1/s1) B 13 & Over 50 Free (25.94) – This event was added after the 1650 was dropped. Bear needed a drop of about .4 seconds to get the cut. He had Brett raced in this one and Bear finished with a time of 25.50 and earned another cut.

# 10 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Back (1:05.73Y ) - excellent start, hard charging first 25, great turn, but then he seemed to hit a wall and everything slowed down. He was really long underwater on the start and turn and he thinks he ended up anaerobic too quickly, which caused him to lose his energy. 1:06.01

# 12 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Free (1:57.43Y ) - This was a terrible swim. It was obvious early he was off. He looked sluggish and limped home to a 2:04.29

# 43 (d1/s2): X 11 & Over 1650 Free (17:33.28Y ) - THIS SWIM WAS CANCELLED DUE TO A SCHEDULE CHANGE BECAUSE OF THE WEATHER

# 45 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 100 Fly (1:04.00Y ) - Great swim here for Bear, first time in a while his sprint free has dropped. He finished with a 1:02.18 and another cut.

# 47 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:16.75Y ) – 2:18.56…Breast split was typical 42 range, but not terrible compared to some of his friends who are pretty good in breast that only managed high 41 second splits.

# 51 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Back (2:18.94Y ) - Not a great swim…2:21.91

# 55 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 500 Free (5:14.21Y ) - Set a goal of 5:10. Coach wanted him out faster, and he definitely was…but he couldn’t get the 5:10 time. Did manage a drop as he finished in 5:12.43. Coach thinks at state with taper, he’ll get below 5:10.

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Brett

#6 (d1/s1) B 13 & Over 50 Free (27.07) – Raced Bear, and got behind right from the dive as Brett was too deep for his underwaters and he came up short and about 2 body lengths back. Managed to stay about that same distance for the whole race and finished in 27.52. Not bad considering his time out of the pool.

#8 (d1/s1) B 13 & Over 200 Breast (2:34.31) – Brett’s breast looked much more powerful that it has in quite a while. He ended up just off his personal best with a 2:35.74, which leads me to believe if he were in better shape he would have dropped time

#12 (d1/s1) B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:05.30) – Didn’t expect much here. Back to back 200s for a kid not in peak shape doesn’t add up to a good performance. He only managed a 2:12.21…

# 47 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:26.36Y ) - Fly leg was in the 33s where it is typically in the 35s…and his back was a pretty strong 36.4 (better than Bailey and only about a half second off Bear)…he finished with a great swim and personal best time of 2:23.02

# 53 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y ) - Terrible dive ruined this swim, and when I say terrible that may not be descriptive enough to explain how bad the dive was…something strange happened. He clearly went very deep, but he came up really short and almost vertical with little to no forward momentum. I know he was jazzed about this race and maybe he over worked the dive and rushed the pullout…but for whatever reason he was several body lengths behind from the moment he surfaced. 1:14.38…

# 55 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 500 Free (5:38.45Y ) - Didn’t expect much here with him out of shape and got about what I expected – 5:46.32

Breeze

01-27-2016, 05:10 PM

High School Swimming - Forsyth County Championships - Pictures

Pictures from the County Championship Meet (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/edenfeht3jhv4r4/AAAkKb8G9SJCVyLeTyEgkn07a?dl=0)

If you are interested, you can find Brett in the following images:

29 - far right of the picture
50
126
127
159

Breeze

02-02-2016, 01:02 PM

High School Meet - Forsyth County Championship - RESULTS

Brett

# 3 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Free (2:07.14Y ) - typical Brett high school swim - 2:10.75
# 21 (d1/s1): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y ) - same as the 200 very typical of his times in high school meets - 1:13.92

Relay (Entered by Admin):

# 1 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Medley Relay (Team C) - breast split was 34.36
# 23 (d1/s1): B Open 400 Free Relay (Team C) - Ended up swimming with the B relay and managed a 58.24 split...

Breeze

02-04-2016, 10:43 AM

Famous Last Words @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 2/5 - 2/7

This is the last chance meet before Age Group State. Bear will not be swimming because he already has a full plate for the state meet. Brett will compete, not in hopes of getting a cut, but because this will be his only meet in February. Bailey will swim a few events in hopes of adding a couple of more events to her State schedule

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Bailey

# 1 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:24.70Y ) - Needs a 3.2 second drop...
# 5 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 50 Free (27.86Y ) - Needs a 1.2 second drop
# 117 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.84Y ) - Needs a 1.5 second drop.

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Brett

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:23.02Y ) - just dropped time in this one a few weeks ago...don't expect another drop.
# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (27.07Y ) - been swimming 27.5s recently, I figure he'll be about that again.
# 44 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 100 Free (58.56Y ) - I believe he can get into the 57s with a good swim.
# 50 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 200 Back (2:25.98Y ) - his back has gotten better, this is a broken record, but if he'll push himself he could drop time.
# 62 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:18.17Y ) - Should drop time because his fly is better. The 33 to open the 200 IM last month illustrates that. Just don't know how good a shape he's in yet.
# 70 (d2/s3): B Open 500 Free (5:38.45Y ) - Again, could easily drop here IF HE'S IN GOOD ENOUGH SHAPE. I expect him to finish around a 5:42
# 112 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 200 Free (2:05.30Y ) - Been around 2:10 in High School swims, I think around 2:07 is likely.
# 120 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) - This is a really old time, he should drop...
# 128 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y ) - Who knows...late in the meet doesn't give me confidence he'll have energy left to drop time.
# 138 (d3/s5): B Open 400 Medley (5:02.68Y ) - See 100 Breast...

Breeze

02-10-2016, 04:03 PM

Famous Last Words @ RESULTS

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Bailey

# 1 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:24.70Y ) - came close to a personal best posting a 2:24.82...other than her personal best from December her times in this event have been 2:27 high or worse, so a big improvement.
# 5 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 50 Free (27.86Y ) - 28.47...
# 117 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.84Y ) - still needs to increase rotation here in my opinion. Didn't get cut, did get personal best - 1:06.72. Hopefully, 2 good swims indicates she's rounding into shape and with a taper for state she'll see some good results.

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Brett

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:23.02Y ) - not a good swim 2:28.48. Mom said she knew he wasn't going to swim well as soon as he stepped on the blocks. He was slow to grasp the whistle commands and seems distracted, which isn't surprising given he was at school most of the day and his ADHD makes focusing in the evening tough.
# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (27.07Y ) - 27.77...making this the 4th free 50 of the year with all 4 times between this one and his personal best.
# 44 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 100 Free (58.56Y ) - 59.17 - slight improvement over his December swim, but still no personal best. However, coach said he was pleased with the swim, because he wanted Brett to stay long with his stroke not matter the time, and Brett did that.
# 50 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 200 Back (2:25.98Y ) - Got a personal best barely 2:25.49 - I was hoping for better, but apparently he was right where the coach was hoping he'd be.
# 62 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:18.17Y ) - Another minor drop on a PB...1:17.99 - it was sluggish and deliberate, but the form was miles better than it has been.
# 70 (d2/s3): B Open 500 Free (5:38.45Y ) - only managed a 5:46.51...so similar to his high school swims. I still believe the high school meets create bad habits for Brett
# 112 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 200 Free (2:05.30Y ) - 2:07.51 - looked really strong in spurts, but couldn't maintain. Did stay really long with his stroke though.
# 120 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) - 1:11.76, close to a PB...I felt it should have been better. If he'll learn to keep legs straight on kick he'll drop several seconds immediately.
# 128 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y ) - Poor time - 1:14.89 - really fell off in the second 50, which would indicate fatigue.
# 138 (d3/s5): B Open 400 Medley (5:02.68Y ) - Fatigue was clearly present - 5:09.23

After the meet, the coach unsolicited found the wife and told her that he needed to come to Brett's defence. He said don't worry about the times, Brett was doing exactly what I wanted him to do, and that he had a much better meet than it appeared. He also said Brett has really been killing practice and he's excited about seeing where Brett can go from here.

Breeze

02-15-2016, 09:34 AM

2016 Georgia Short Course Age Group State Championship - General Update

This is state meet week. Kids are starting to taper (which will mean a ton of extra energy around the house), and we are preparing a menu to make sure they are properly fueled. Unfortunately, due to changes in the structure of the meet, Bailey and Bear will have no shot at medaling this time around (I believe I explained this earlier in the season, but if you'd like clarification let me know and I'll explain it again).

I will post their schedules soon, right now I'm waiting for last minute qualifiers to be entered in the psych sheet so I can pass along more accurate information.

Breeze

02-16-2016, 09:40 AM

General Update - Brett

Brett will be missing several practices over the next few weeks including:

Friday - 2/19
Saturday - 2/20
Saturday - 2/27
Wednesday - 3/2

The first 3 are because Brett is taking Lifeguard training. He is hoping to get a job at the aquatic center over the Summer. The final one is because we've signed him up for Driver's training. He's been too reluctant to drive with me (mostly because he isn't comfortable that if he screws up I can do anything in time to help). So the driver's training is in a car that the instructer has his own brake pedal. He seems much more relaxed with that arrangement.

Breeze

02-18-2016, 10:00 PM

2016 Georgia Age Group State Championships @ GaTech - 2/19 - 2/21

I did a poor job of setting this up this year. Probably because my work schedule has been so tight, and because the wife and I both just bought new cars so my free time to get online and analyze the races was limited. Plus the fact that neither of the twins has a shot at a medal took some of the eagerness associated with the meet away.

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Bailey

# 11A (d1/s1): G 13-13 200 Back (2:18.93Y ) - 58 / 23 - starting to show some improvement in this stroke, so I hope we can get a drop.
# 15A (d1/s1): G 13-13 100 Fly (1:02.07Y ) - 33 / 9 - still seeded in the top 10 for her age group in the fly...and that counts the 13 year old girls that were in the top 15 for the open races back in Dec...
# 49A (d2/s4): G 13-13 400 Medley (5:00.18Y ) - 43 / 18 - this is mostly about her breaststroke leg, but honestly she'll need to push the backstroke hard to get a PB
# 75A (d3/s7): G 13-13 200 Fly (2:17.54Y ) 23 / 8 - again top 10 in this event, and no drop during the season...that illustrates how strong her fly was last year...

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Bear

# 4A (d1/s1): B 13-13 200 Medley (2:16.75Y ) - 56 / 14 - with a good swim Bear could get in the top 10 for 13 year olds...
# 16A (d1/s1): B 13-13 100 Fly (1:02.18Y ) 48 / 14 - was actually surprised to see he was 14th for 13 year olds...expected he'd be closer to 20...that drop in the last meet really moved him up a bunch.
# 20C (d1/s1): B 13-13 1000 Free (10:40.83Y ) - 14 / 3 - Bear is still seeded 3rd in this event, and his time is from last year at this meet. Bear swam the 1650 twice during the season but he didn't swim the 1000...not sure what to expect. I know the coach wants him under 10:30...
# 34A (d2/s4): B 13-13 200 Free (1:57.43Y ) - 35 / 8 - another top 10 with 3 guys seeded right in front of him. Even the way medals were done last year, he wouldn't have a shot at the top 3...but a good swim could get him in the top 5.
# 50A (d2/s4): B 13-13 400 Medley (4:42.92Y ) - 35 / 4 - could get top 3 with a good swim.
# 72A (d3/s7): B 13-13 100 Free (55.03Y ) - 45 / 17 - hoping he can drop time and get down into the 54s
# 76A (d3/s7): B 13-13 200 Fly (2:13.41Y ) 30 / 6 - another strong event for Bear...the tougher the event the better he does...
# 86A (d3/s7): B 13-13 500 Free (5:12.43Y ) - 31 / 4 - This is an interesting race...sprinters can hold on, distance guys have to push themselves to go faster splits...Bear needs to push harder in this one...last time out was a good approach, hopefully he can take it out fast again, and hold on...with a taper we could be looking at a drop.

Breeze

02-18-2016, 10:05 PM

2016 Georgia Age Group State Championships - General Update

The way 13/14 finals will work this season is:

A final - top 10 swimmers regardless of age (excluding scratches)
B final - 11th thru 20th swimmers regardless of age (excluding scratches)
C final - the next 10 fastest 13 year olds (excluding scratches)

The reason I'm posting this is that Bear's coach has already told him that he will probably have him scratch some of his C final swims to save himself for other races...

Breeze

02-18-2016, 10:08 PM

2016 Georgia Age Group State Championships - Bear Update

So Bear just finished his second ever shave, and as soon as he walked out of the bathroom he stated, "The human body is meant to have hair on it..."

Not a real fan of shave/taper meets yet...:)

Breeze

02-23-2016, 02:31 PM

2016 Georgia Age Group State Championships - DAY 1 PRELIM RESULTS

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Bailey

# 11A (d1/s1): G 13-13 200 Back (2:18.93Y ) - 58 / 23 - Bailey slipped badly on the start of the race, which really impacted her, but she swam hard, made up ground on the field and ended up swimming a personal best 2:17.77. This is a full second drop with a slip start. A good start probably means she drops another second or maybe more as her underwaters were strong...

# 15A (d1/s1): G 13-13 100 Fly (1:02.07Y ) - 33 / 9 – looked strong early. Dive was still too deep, but underwaters were stronger so they didn’t kill her like they have recently. Coming down the stretch she faded a bit, but she still managed a personal best 1:01.62. She was hoping to get in the 60 second range, but this improvement still got her in the 13 year old final that night…she ended up 29th overall in prelims…

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Bear

# 4A (d1/s1): B 13-13 200 Medley (2:16.75Y ) - 56 / 14 – Bear opened the event with a strong statement…posted a 28.25 split in the fly leg, followed by a good 33.11 back. In breast, he was visibly stronger and his time of 40.70 indicated that. He finished with a free leg in the mid 28 second range for a total time of 2:10.52…a drop of 6.2 seconds and he climbed to 47th overall and 8th for 13 year olds heading into finals.

# 16A (d1/s1): B 13-13 100 Fly (1:02.18Y ) 48 / 14 – ended this race in a time of 1:00.07. Was extremely disappointed he didn’t go sub60, and he was first alternate for the 13 year old final so he didn’t get a second shot to beat that time at finals.

# 20C (d1/s1): B 13-13 1000 Free (10:40.83Y ) - 14 / 3 - Bear had high expectations for this race. As I indicated the coach wanted him under 10:30, which means he needed to maintain 1:03 splits to get that time. Here is how it went:

100 split – 59.12 (normal open split is faster than pace goal…actually was slower than coach wanted)
200 split – 1:03.31 : (2:02.43) - (immediately above pace – coach not happy – signaled pick it up a little)
300 split – 1:03.12 : (3:05.55) - (again above – another signal to pick it up a little)
400 split – 1:02.60 : (4:08.15) - (looks like he got the message)
500 split – 1:01.94 : (5:10.09) – (5:10 opening 500 is strong – PB actually)
600 split – 1:01.49 : (6:11.58) – (obviously feeling good picking up pace on his own)
700 split – 1:00.66 : (7:12.24) – (coach going nuts at this point)
800 split – 1:01.07 : (8:13.31) – (coach had me signal him to go hard the last 200!)
900 split – 1:00.26 : (9:13.57) – (blistering this race at this point with 100 left)
1000 split – 59.73 : (10:13.30) – (yes he went sub60 in the last 100 of a 1000 where his total time was 10:13)

Bear’s swim was really unbelievable. I expected a drop, I didn’t expect a 27.53 second drop, even if the seed time was from last year. His time was so good he finished 7th overall (including 14 year olds) and he was the fastest 13 year old in the state. This time was so fast that Bear not only got his Senior cut (15&Over) but he got is Senior Sectional cut. This is significant because it gives Bear the cut time required to be on the Gold “National” team. We probably won’t put him on that team next year as a high school Freshman, but when he’s a Sophomore he’ll probably move into that group. He also becomes the first in his group of friends to get this cut time.

Breeze

02-23-2016, 02:40 PM

2016 Georgia Age Group State Championships - DAY 1 FINAL RESULTS

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Bailey

# 15A (d1/s1): G 13-13 100 Fly (1:01.62 ) – this race was very similar to the one in the morning. She was out in a 28 and change and back in a 32 in change finished with another personal best time of 1:01.25. This was another good swim and a 3rd personal best in a row. She still wanted to be in the 60 second range, and is planning to push hard to get there for Sectionals in a few weeks. This swim was significant because it moved Bailey back into the B medley relays.

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Bear

# 4A (d1/s1): B 13-13 200 Medley (2:10.52Y ) – Bear’s fly looked really sluggish, and his split time of 29.35 supports that observation…we felt that he was simply out of gas from his 1000…but his back was still 33 low and his breast was better at 39 high, and his free was much better from the morning as he came home in 27.87…posting another personal best time 2:10.22

Breeze

02-24-2016, 10:42 AM

2016 Georgia Age Group State Championships – Day 2 PRELIM RESULTS

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Bailey

# 29 (d2/s4): G 14U 200 Medley Relay (1:59.25Y ) - 9 – Bailey’s strong fly from the first day got here into this relay. Unfortunately, we weren’t made aware in advance and we didn’t see her actually race this one (we were watching the 14U boys at that time). The results indicate Bailey’s 50 split was a strong 28.12, so she must have done pretty well. All in all the team came in at 1:55.49, 3.76 seconds under their seed time.

# 49A (d2/s4): G 13-13 400 Medley (5:00.18Y ) - 43 / 18 – Bailey started this out with what for her was a very conservative fly leg, finishing in 1:04.79…I would have expected something in the 1:02 high or 1:03 low range. Her back was a 1:14 high, and her breast, while not great was under 1:30…in the free Bailey actually came from behind to pass a couple of people, which is something we haven’t seen much of recently. She finished the free leg in a 1:06.60, much better than she’s done in a while. She ended up with a personal best time of 4:55.19. She also climbed all the way to 12th for 13 year olds.

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Bear

# 34A (d2/s4): B 13-13 200 Free (1:57.43Y ) - 35 / 8 – There was no hangover from the 1000 on day 1, as Bear posted a Personal Best 1:52.78, to open day 2. That’s a drop of 5.28 seconds, and it earned him a spot in finals that night.

# 50A (d2/s4): B 13-13 400 Medley (4:42.92Y ) - 35 / 4 – after Bear’s strong 200 IM on day 1 (especially his improved breast), I was interested to see how this would play out. He was out strong with a 1:02.00 fly leg, followed by a very good 1:09 low back. In his heat, he was swimming against 3 teammates. Two 14 year olds from another pool, and Nicklas, who is an exceptional natural swimmer that is in Bear’s training group. After the fly leg, Bear was well back of the two older boys, and after the back leg, Bear was 4th. However, in the Breast things changed. Bear managed a 1:18.95 split with both 50s under 40 seconds. This effort looked much more like Brett than the Bear of old. Bear passed both of the older boys and basically hit the wall for the free leg in a dead heat with Nicklas. Once the Free started, it was no contest. Nicklas even said, “We started the free, and I looked over and Bear was gone. I was like, ‘What just happened?’”. Bear’s free leg was a 58.81, and his total time ended up at 4:28.92. That was good enough to win the heat, and for him to finish 2nd out of all the 13 year olds

Breeze

02-24-2016, 03:51 PM

2016 Georgia Age Group State Championships – Day 2 FINALS RESULTS

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Bailey

# 29 (d2/s4): G 14U 400 Medley Relay (4:12.11) - 9 – Bailey’s swim on Friday also earned her the right to swim in the 400 Medley as well. Here she wasn’t pleased with her swim. She only managed a 1:02.16, and that was disappointing to her (though honestly I thought it was pretty good, and with her in one of the outside lanes and all the turbulence of the swimmers diving and going back and forth, it was probably a lot better swim than she gives herself credit for). The team finished with a time of 4:11.68

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Bear

# 34A (d2/s4): B 13-13 200 Free (1:52.78Y ) (https://plus.google.com/108433437547089604472/posts/Wr54vcYCcke) – Bear had another strong swim at finals, he was a bit disappointed because his effort to close on the leader came up just short and he finished 2nd in his heat, but he still posted another personal best time of 1:52.15

Breeze

02-25-2016, 02:42 PM

2016 Georgia Age Group State Championships – DAY 3 PRELIM RESULTS

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Bailey

# 75A (d3/s7): G 13-13 200 Fly (2:17.54Y ) 23 / 8 – Bailey opened her 200 fly with a 1:04.98…which is pretty slow. I know that she has another 100 to go, but I expected her to be more in the 1:03 middle range. This split had me concerned. However, in the back half she managed a 1:10.09 for a personal best time of 2:15.07. That about a 2.5 second drop, and it was not only good enough to make the 13 year old final, she actually managed to get 20th place, so that put her in the B final with 13 and 14 year old girls.

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Bear

# 72A (d3/s7): B 13-13 100 Free (55.03Y ) - 45 / 17 - slow off the blocks here, which is a problem in a sprint free. He fought back and ended with a personal best 53.72. He wanted a swim in the 52s and was disappointed he didn’t get it. He also ended up as the 1st alternate in the 13 year old finals, so he didn’t get a second opportunity in this race.

# 76A (d3/s7): B 13-13 200 Fly (2:13.41Y ) 30 / 6 – out in a 1:03.05 and brought it home in a 1:06.99 for a 2:10.04. Actually tied for 21st overall, and was supposed to have a swim off with a 14 year old to be first alternate in the B final, but instead simply allowed the other swimmer to have that spot and Bear settled for first seed in the 13 year old final.

# 86A (d3/s7): B 13-13 500 Free (5:12.43Y ) - 31 / 4 - Bear’s goal her was to go under 5 minutes. After swimming the back half of the 1000 in 5:03, I felt this was very attainable, but the coach told him…while you were swimming 1:00.3s in the 1000…to get down to 1:00 it’s going to hurt more, you are going to have to push through it…

100 split – 57.52 – nice opening for Bear
200 split – 1:01.28 : (1:58.50) – it was obvious he was slowing so he got signaled to pick it up a bit.
300 split – 1:00.94 : (2:59.74) – only .26 ahead of his pace with 200 to go…going to be tight.
400 split – 1:00.59 : (4:00.33) – over his goal time, shaking the numbers hard as I can
500 split – 59.38 : (4.59.71) – he did it…a 500 under 5 minutes…

He was 15th overall, but he was the fastest 13 year old in the state…

Breeze

02-26-2016, 09:21 AM

2016 Georgia Age Group State Championships – DAY 3 FINALS RESULTS

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Bailey

# 75A (d3/s7): G 13-13 200 Fly (2:15.07Y) (https://plus.google.com/108433437547089604472/posts/YSFtE1j65R8) – Bailey opened the finals with a faster first 100 (1:14.28), but she was unable to hold that pace and fell off in the back half finishing just over her time from the morning posting a 2:15.50. While this was the only swim over the weekend that wasn’t a personal best, it also isn’t surprising…two 200 flys is a lot, and Bailey isn’t the biggest or strongest girl in the pool. However, while this wasn’t a personal best, Bailey came into this race as the last seed. She ended up beating 2 girls in the heat and finishing 18th overall…not bad.

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Bear

# 76A (d3/s7): B 13-13 200 Fly (2:10.04 ) (https://plus.google.com/108433437547089604472/posts/QDuLwvhbfNt) – Bear was the top seed for this race, but when the race started he was quickly behind 3 other swimmers. I was concerned that he was completely out of gas, but his opening 100 was a 1:02.49…so actually better than he went out in the morning. In the back half especially the last 50 he really started closing, even after gagging on water coming off the wall at the 150 turn. He was several body lengths back, and started charging hard. He closed hard passing 2 guys and ending up getting just out-touched at the wall to win the heat. He still posted another personal best 2:09.11…in case you are wondering – he was out-touched by .4 seconds.

Breeze

03-03-2016, 09:50 AM

General Update - Brett

Brett passed his lifeguard certification and he will be turning in his job application to the Cumming Aquatic Center today. Not bad for a 15 year old to hold all the certifications required to be a lifeguard.

Breeze

03-04-2016, 09:54 AM

2016 ESSZ Age Group Championships @ GaTech - 3/10 - 3/13

The first psych sheet for the Sectional Meet has been released. Here is what the twins are currently look at:

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Bailey

#17 Girls 13-14 100 Yard Butterfly (1:01.25) : 59th/20th - wanting to get down into the 60 second range...

#39 Girls 13-14 200 Yard Butterfly (2:15.07) : 38th/12th - just looking to drop some more time...

#59 Girls 14U 400 Medley Relay A Team - currently Bailey is on the A Relay, it is still subject to change, but pretty pleased to see her representing the team on the fast relay at the southeastern sectional race.

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Bear

#6 Boys 11-14 1000 Yard Freestyle (10:13.30) : 15th/5th - After his huge drop at State, I'd be surprised if the needle moves much here. but 15th overall in the Southeast, and 5th for 13 year olds is amazing.

#10 Boys 13-14 200 Yard Freestyle (1:52.15) : 40th/6th - again don't expect much improvement, but proud of his current ranking.

#22 Boys 13-14 400 Yard IM (4:28.92) : 31st/7th - hoping his Breast stays strong so he can stay in the top 10...

#26 Boys 14U 400 Free Relay B Team - Bear earned the right to swim on the B relay...

#40 13-14 200 Yard Butterfly (2:09.11) : 35th/8th - he wants to get much better in this one. Was a bit disappointed in his state swims. He's been talking below 2:05...I think that's asking a lot...but we'll see.

#56 Boys 13-14 500 Yard Freestyle (4:59.71) : 28th/5th - Don't expect a drop here...it would be nice if he could do it, especially since he's already announced he's going for the team record next year, a drop would just get him that much closer...but simply being in this spot is fantastic.

#84 Boys 13-14 200 Yard IM (2:10.22) : 82nd/14th - If he keeps improving in breaststroke he could drop some time, but I don't see him getting in the top ten 13 year olds...he'd need to drop a good bit to move that high.

#88 Boys 11-14 1650 Yard Freestyle (17:33.28) : 14th/2nd - The 1650 isn't offered at State so Bear hasn't gotten to swim it tapered in a long time...unfortunately it is also the last individual event in a schedule that includes a bunch of grueling races. Not sure what to expect, but this is another team record Bear is going for next season - so fingers crossed.

*Note: Bear is also currently in line to swim on the 800 Free Relay A team...however that swim is right before the 1000...not sure if they will replace him to save his strength for the distance swim or if they'll have him race it. That relay they haven't announced yet. Will fill it in once I know more.

Breeze

03-07-2016, 08:54 AM

General Update - Olympic Trials

This past weekend the Senior Sectional Meet (the 15 & Over version of the meet the twins are swimming in this weekend) took place. Because this is an Olympic year the Senior Sectional Meet was done in a long course pool to give swimmers another opportunity to get a trials cut. So far I am aware of 2 swimmers that we compete against on a regular basis that earned cuts:

Liam Bell (15) - the boy that has dominated breaststroke in Brett's age group qualified for the Olympic Trails.

Tristan Ulett (13) - the girl that basically dominates everything in Bailey's age group will also be swimming at trials.

I don't expect they will make any finals (I believe there are 4 rounds of finals)...so even if you watch the trials you may not get an opportunity to see them swim, but it might be something to keep an eye on during trials as one of those interesting little side notes.

Note: Also Gold swimmer Lauren Case (who just signed with University of Texas), qualified in several events.

As we get closer to trials, I'll list all the Gold swimmers and any other swimmers my kids go against that will be competing at the trials (assuming it gets announced).

Breeze

03-08-2016, 09:41 AM

Northern Divisionals @ Mt. View Aquatic Center - 3/11 - 3/13

In additional to the Southeastern Sectional meet, we have the Northern Divisional meet this weekend too. We are going to be rather busy...

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Bailey - because Bailey only has a couple of swims at Sectionals, and because she is going to be tapered (assuming the second taper in only a few weeks takes)...she wants to swim a few events to try and get cuts for next year.

# 79 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) - her freestyle has started to show some improvement, and her endurance for mid-distance races also has started to improve. If the taper takes, I would expect a small drop here.

# 91 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.72Y ) - she should drop in this one if she doesn't slip on the start and the taper works.

# 103 (d3/s5): G 13-14 50 Free (27.86Y ) - see above. This is a dead sprint, but with improved stroke, she might get 27 low...

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Brett - Brett went through a stretch recently where he was doing extremely well in practice, but school work, lifeguard training, and extra ab work, really limited his practices recently...so not sure how good he's done over the last several weeks...

# 22 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Medley (2:23.02Y ) - with his improved fly he drop here...especially if he has the strength to go hard back half.

# 34 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Breast (2:34.31Y ) - fingers crossed he can get the timing right on this one and get a drop.

# 40 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Back (2:25.49Y ) - should be faster, if he'll just go hard and keep the legs straight on the kick.

# 88 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.60Y ) - see 200 breast.

# 94 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) - see 200 back.

# 114 (d3/s5): B Open 1650 Free (20:11.76Y ) - I don't think he's in good enough shape here to do really well, but he should drop some time...

Breeze

03-10-2016, 07:40 AM

General Update

I have added a few videos from the State Meet (links in the write up for the swim in the video).

I do have one more I'd like to link, but no good place to put it...

400 IM (https://plus.google.com/108433437547089604472/posts/bqcFihdd4aq)

Bailey's 400 is first in the video but before she finishes Bear starts. So the video focuses on Bailey (second lane from bottom of the pool) then as soon as she finishes it swings over to Bear (3rd lane from the top of the pool).

Note: be warned...this is two 400 IM swims, so the video is 8 minutes long...

Breeze

03-10-2016, 07:44 AM

High School Swimming - Year End Banquet

The high school swim banquet is tonight. Brett will get his sophomore varsity letter (chevron) tonight.

Breeze

03-14-2016, 03:33 PM

2016 ESSZ Age Group Championships - DAY 1 RESULTS

Bear

#6 Boys 11-14 1000 Yard Freestyle (10:13.30) : 15th/5th - After a 27 second drop just a few weeks ago, my expectations here were pretty low. In fact, I would not have been surprised if he added time. Here is how the swim went:

100 - 57.22
200 - 1:01.31 (1:58.53)
300 - 1:00.97 (2:59.50)
400 - 1:01.37 (4:00.87)
500 - 1:01.37 (5:02.24) - Yes opening 500 is a 5:02 - his personal best from state was a 4:59, and he still has 500 more to go
600 - 1:02.06 (6:04.30)
700 - 1:00.99 (7:05.29)
800 - 1:02.43 (8:07.72)
900 - 1:01.27 (9:08.99)
1000 - 1:00.28 (10.09.27)

Dropped just over 4 seconds and finished 13th overall, and 3rd for 13 year olds...

Note: Gold elected not to field the 800 Free Relay...

Breeze

03-15-2016, 09:34 AM

2016 ESSZ Age Group Championships - DAY 2 RESULTS

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Bailey

#17 Girls 13-14 100 Yard Butterfly (1:01.25) : 59th/20th - Bailey was unable to improve her time from state, she ended up swimming 1:01.55, adding .3. Interestingly, her back half 50 was the exact same split as her back half 50 from State. She was disappointed she didn't drop, but she was ok with the swim given that it was basically just an eye blink off her personal best.

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Bear

#10 Boys 13-14 200 Yard Freestyle (1:52.15) : 40th/6th - Not a great swim from Bear here...he looked sluggish and he ended up adding almost 2 full seconds 1:54.13. The added time dropped him to 12th for 13 year olds.

#22 Boys 13-14 400 Yard IM (4:28.92) : 31st/7th - This was an interesting race for Bear...he started off the fly and he was off of his pace from State just slighly, until his last fly to fly turn, which was terrible and ended up putting him almost a full second off his time from a few weeks earlier. However, on the back he managed to post a faster split from state, but overall he was still about .5 seconds off. His breast was fractionally slower, so he hit the freestyle needing a big swim to get a personal best time...and he did. He finished with basically a 58 flat and posted a 4:28.79. Bear ended up the 8th place 13 year old...

#26 Boys 14U 400 Free Relay B Team - Bear's relay split was a pedestrian 53.64...to me his swims this day clearly showed the effects of a hard day one...

Breeze

03-15-2016, 03:15 PM

2016 ESSZ Age Group Championships - DAY 3 RESULTS

I was not present for most of this meet, as I took Brett to the Northern Divisional Meet that morning. I did get to Georgia Tech in time to see Bailey's relay and to do the numbers for Bear's 500 Free. So some of these write ups are based on comments from the wife, kids, and coaches, as well as the final times posted

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Bailey

#39 Girls 13-14 200 Yard Butterfly (2:15.07) : 38th/12th - Bailey was looking to drop time, and he definately managed it. Swimming a very strong back half that saw Bailey pass several other swimmers she went on to post a personal best time of 2:13.79. This swim got her all the way to 23rd overall and she was 7th for 13 year olds.

#59 Girls 14U 400 Medley Relay A Team - Bailey's fly split in the relay was around a 1:02.4...but honestly, she had one of the worst relay starts I've ever seen. I told her that it looked like she and the breaststroker were having a conversation before she decided she needed to dive in. I believe her time in the water was probably a 1:01 high...not that it mattered the relay team wasn't anywhere near contention.

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Bear

#40 13-14 200 Yard Butterfly (2:09.11) : 35th/8th - Bear's race started and almost immediately the report was he looked very heavy in the water. This is the wife's way of saying that he seemed to lumber through the water. In other words, working really hard but not terribly efficiently. However, by the time it was all said and done - he fought his way to another personal best time 2:08.75, and a 29th place finish overall, and 6th for 13 year olds.

#56 Boys 13-14 500 Yard Freestyle (4:59.71) : 28th/5th - When I asked Bear his goal here, his comment was "anything under 5 minutes would be good." Not a typical response from him, but he admitted he was tired and he wasn't sure he was going to be able to drop. The coach wanted him out between 27.5 and 28 low, and he accomplished that with around a 27.8. He wanted his second 50 to be under 30 so his opening 100 would be around a 58...here he was a 58 high, so immediately I had to signal him to pick it up a little. Unfortunately, he was unable to respond. His next split he has slipped slightly further off pace, and again the following split. At which point it was obvious he probably wasn't going to go sub 5. He ended up with a time of 5:03.61, which isn't as good as his back half in the 1000 from state or his opening 500 in the 1000 just two day before. He was extremely disappointed with this swim, but I wasn't terribly surprised. This was the type of swim I was hinting at in the pre-event write ups.

With Bear struggling with fatigue, with the clocks Springing forward an hour, with warm up being at 7:30 - which would require him to get up at 5:15 or so to eat and travel to the venue, and with Bear's first race at the end of the schedule, the wife called the coach to find out if he could show up late to warm ups. The coach understood, and because Bear is such a hard worker, and a swimmer that takes care of his business, the coach was ok with this arrangement. In fact, he even suggested Bear scratch the 200 IM in favor of saving him for the 1650...so Bear was able to sleep in before the Sunday schedule

Breeze

03-16-2016, 09:06 AM

2016 ESSZ Age Group Championships - DAY 4 RESULTS

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

#84 Boys 13-14 200 Yard IM (2:10.22) : 82nd/14th - NS - Bear did scratch this event in hopes of putting together a good 1650 and finishing the meet on a high note.

#88 Boys 11-14 1650 Yard Freestyle (17:33.28) : 14th/2nd - Bear wanted to hold splits under 32 seconds...or in other words under 1:04...here is how he did:

100 - 58.58
200 - 1:03.22 (2:01.80)
300 - 1:03.59 (3:05.39)
400 - 1:03.72 (4:09.11)
500 - 1:03.64 (5:12.75)
600 - 1:01.82 (6:14.57)
700 - 1:02.61 (7:17.18)
800 - 1:03.08 (8:20.26)
900 - 1:03.02 (9:23.28)
1000 - 1:03.87 (10:27.15)
1100 - 1:02.19 (11:29.34)
1200 - 1:02.82 (12:32.16)
1300 - 1:02.96 (13:35.12)
1400 - 1:02.12 (14:37.24)
1500 - 1:02.95 (15:40.19)
1600 - 1:02.22 (16:42.41)
1650 - 30.03 (17:12.44)

So a drop of almost 21 seconds. Bear ends up 12th overall, but surprisingly 4th overall...setting the stage for a big race next year when Bear is 14.

Breeze

03-16-2016, 02:40 PM

Northern Divisionals - PRELIM RESULTS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 79 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) - After having a good 200 fly earlier in the day, Bailey was talking about swimming a 2:06 at dinner. The next day in prelims she swam 2:06.18...and easily qualified for finals, which she would swim later that night.

# 91 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.72Y ) - Another good swim for Bailey as she drops time posting a personal best 1:05.15, again qualifying for finals later that night.

# 103 (d3/s5): G 13-14 50 Free (27.86Y ) - surprisingly, after dropping a good bit of time in the 200 free, she failed to drop time in the 50 free...adding the slimmest of time - 27.91. I really expected to see a drop after her strong 200, but it was a good swim and she qualified for finals here too...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brett

# 22 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Medley (2:23.02Y ) - fly looks Soooo much better, but unfortunately, he added time 2:26.61. This made me concerned that the time out of the pool was going to be a major factor. When strokes look better but time is worse, it typically means stamina isn't there.

# 34 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Breast (2:34.31Y ) - another poor swim, 2:38.91...but it was good enough to make finals.

# 40 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Back (2:25.49Y ) - after two poor swims on day 1, I didn't hold much hope for the 3rd and final swim of the prelims. The stroke here was still very deliberate, but he continued his slow improvement in this stroke. Dropping time for a personal best 2:23.76

# 88 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.60Y ) - really bad swim to start day 2...1:16.77. This time wasn't even as good as his opening 100 in the 200 breast described above, or his 200 breast from finals on day 1 (described below). In fact it was so poor he didn't even qualify for finals.

# 94 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) - he missed this event. It is a shame, with the improvement in the 200 back, he was probably going to drop here as well, but unfortunately he was in a pool with no scoreboard and no announcer, and he was so intent on warming down that he missed his race.

# 114 (d3/s5): B Open 1650 Free (20:11.76Y ) - Brett's 1650 was interesting...he opened with a conservative 1:06...then dropped to 1:11, 1:12, 1:13, and it looked like he was going to settle into 1:14 splits...as the next two 100s were both 1:14s. Then a strange thing happened - he dropped down into the 1:12s, and he never swam slower...in fact he had two 1:11 splits. This is from basically from the 600 yard mark to the end. He ended with a 20+ second improvement 19:50.66. Interestingly, if I take Brett's opening 300 and closing 700, his 1000 time would be about 11:55.5...which is almost 5 seconds better than his personal best in the 1000...in a race he swan an extra 650 when he wasn't in peak shape. Going to be interesting to see if he'll use this to start embracing distance swimming and approaching the races with a plan rather than simply diving in and swimming until he reaches the end.

Breeze

03-16-2016, 02:45 PM

Northern Divisionals - FINALS RESULTS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 79 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) - She was hoping to get into the 2:04, didn't get there, but did have another personal best swim 2:05.69

# 91 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Back (1:06.72Y ) - Couldn't improve on the morning swim, but only added a fraction of time - 1:05.72. I found out after the meet that she got a cramp during this race.

# 103 (d3/s5): G 13-14 50 Free (27.86Y ) - cramp was still really bothering her when she swam this race, so she wasn't as explosive as she would have liked 28.24

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brett

# 34 (d2/s2): B Open 200 Breast (2:34.31Y ) - after his 2:38 swim in the morning he rebounded a bit in the evening. His turns were awful which hurt his time, and he clearly started tiring in the last 50, but he was a good bit faster than the mroning 2:36.22

Breeze

03-17-2016, 12:37 PM

Short Course Season Review

The 2015/16 short course season has now come to an end. I figured I'd take a moment to look back at the performance of each of the kids, how they did, where they stand and provide some reflection on what to expect in long course and the following short course season.

----------------------------------------------------

Brett

2015/16 Overview

This was a very up and down season for Brett. He started out the season on fire...in the very first meet he posted personal bests in 6 out of 10 swims, some of them significant improvements in time. Then he followed that first meet up with 4 out of 8 personal bests at the second meet. He looked to be progressing toward a big season. However, his improvements seemed to stall after that, and I'm not convinced that High School Swim isn't a negative influence on his performance. Swimming for South started right before the 3rd meet of the season, and from the 3rd meet on, Brett's improvements were few and far between. As I've written here before (maybe numerous times), Brett's focus isn't on swimming when he's doing high school meets. He's focused on socializing, which is ok with me, but unfortunately, I believe this leads to socializing becoming the major focus in year round meets too. This is something I'll have to plan to discuss with him before the start of the next short course season.

Also impacting his improvement was the need to focus on school. Brett struggled in several of his classes, especially towards the end of the first semester and then again a few weeks into the start of the second semester. This caused him to miss too many practices in Decemeber and February to be in peak shape. According to all reports his focus and effort in practice improved this year, so maybe we'll see him finally start to realize some of his potential. He also seems more willing to consider challenging himself in the distance freestyles, which may offer him a better chance to get a state cut. He's also hinted at wanting to get stronger, and may finally be willing to put in extra work with resistance bands, chin ups, and other exercises.

Here is basically how he progressed:

Stroke 2014/15 2015/16 Diff
50 Free 28.34 27.07 (-1.27)
100 Free 1:00.09 58.56 (-1.53)
200 Free 2:08.68 2:05.30 (-3.38)
500 Free 5:51.48 5:38.45 (-13.03)
1000 Free DNS
1650 Free 20:11.46 19:50.66 (-20.80)

100 Back 1:14.58 1:11.76 (-2.82)
200 Back 2:29.95 2:25.49 (-4.46)

100 Brst 1:14.58 1:12.60 (-1.92)
200 Brst 2:39.90 2:34.31 (-5.59)

100 Fly 1:18.17 1:17.99 (-.18) (but should be much faster with improved stroke)
200 Fly DNS

200 IM 2:30.12 2:23.02 (-7.1)
400 IM 5:02.68 5:07.00 (+4.32) (old time, I know he can go faster, just needs to do it)

Obviously, some of the time improvements listed above are quite good, and I don't want to down play that part of this. However, there is more time there to be dropped, and the inconsistency of his swims is another frustrating factor.

Long Course Outlook

I'm not sure what to expect during long course season. Currently Brett is grinding to get out of his Sophomore year with decent grades, which to me indicates he'll end up missing enough practices that it won't be insignificant, and will ultimately impact him, especially initially. Moreover, the long course season is very compressed, so not sure if he does miss a decent number of practices until school is out that he will have time to put together the training required to really improve. Brett will also be working as a lifeguard, and learning to drive so he can get his license in August. These will obviously be distractions. Another wild card is summer swim team. We are still debating if we want to get involved in that distraction as well. Countering that is his improved effort and focus, as well as what seems to be more desire to get better. I'm going to predict a very similar long course sesason to Brett's short course we just completed. Quite a few good swims that will move the needle on his personal bests (of course the times coming in are a year old so we should see some decent drops no matter what)...but inconsistent results with up and down swims across all strokes. If he gets anything from this long course season, I hope it is a mindset and a preparation for a much bigger Short Course in 2016/17.

Short Course 2016/17 Outlook

This is a long way off, and predicting Brett's mindset 10 minutes from now is often difficult, nearly 6 months from now is probably impossible. However, I get a sense from him that he really wants to improve now. As I mentioned he seems to want to start developing a plan on distance swims rather than simply churning laps. His practices have improved and the coaches seem genuinely excited about his new focus. With that in mind, combined with the fact that Brett should be finished with German (which is kicking his ass), accelerated math (which is one of the toughest classes at an already difficult high school), and Chemistry (which he just plan doesn't like), maybe his stress over school and his grades will settle in and allow him to focus on, dedicate himself to, and enjoy his swim training. I believe Brett could be in for a bid short course this season, and he'll need it if he legitimately wants to swim in college. I don't think he'll earn a state cut, but I do think he could put himself in striking distance on several events, and that will be huge progress.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

2015/16 Overview

This was a long a difficult season for Bailey. During her medical check up, she learned from the doctor that she was probably finished growing, that she might edge up slightly but she probably won't add another inch to her height. This is someting a swimmer at 5' 2" who races fly doesn't really want to hear. She's already competing against girls that are 5'6" or bigger (some topping 5'9")...which makes her job to compete that much tougher. She also had a season with almost no personal bests at all...in fact coming into state she had only 6 PB swims in total, 3 in breast (and let's be frank, there's still a lot of time she can drop in breast), 1 in 200 IM (which was probably impacted by the improved breast), and a couple of late season backstroke improvement swims. Moreover, in a bunch of her events, she wasn't just adding time, she was adding 4+ seconds. I believe there were a number of contributing factors for this. First, she has stopped growing, so no more easy drops just because you are getting stronger. Second, she lost ALL of her good training parters. Her friends that were improving all started high school this year, which moved them up to the senior group, leaving Bailey with just 1 friend, who's not a good practicer and who's been struggling as a swimmer for 2+ years now. Third, she needed to learn how to work harder on her own. And finally, the coach worked on adjusting several of her strokes, which will invariably lead to slower times until the new stroke is ingrained. Thankfully, she had good swims at the end of the season meets (State, Sectionals, Divisionals). This really saved her season.

Here is how she progressed:

Stroke 2014/15 2015/16 Diff

50 Free Did not improve (improvement in 200 indicates this will drop soon)
100 Free Did not improve (improvement in 200 indicates this will drop soon)
200 Free 2:11.96 2:05.69 (-6.27)
500 Free Did not improve
1000 Free DNS
1650 Free DNS

100 Back 1:06.84 1:05.15 (-1.69)
200 Back 2:18.93 2:17.77 (-1.16)

100 Brst 1:25.03 1:22.00 (-3.03)
200 Brst 2:59.09 2:51.55 (-7.54)

100 Fly 1:02.07 1:01.25 (-.82)
200 Fly 2:17.54 2:13.79 (-3.75)

200 IM 2:26.54 2:24.70 (-1.76)
400 IM 5:00.18 4:55.00 (-5.18)

Bailey's best stroke is fly, and her times are very strong, in the top 10% of the nation. In fact, coming into this season she held AAAA times which is the top 5.5%, so expecting big drops when you are already in that elite area isn't reasonable. However, there is time to be dropped in the other strokes and that is where she needs to improve moving forward.

Currently, Bailey is ranked 208th in the nation in the 200 fly for 13 year olds, and she's just over 400 in the 100 fly. Using a USA Swimming point system formula based on swims across all strokes, Bailey is 691st ranked 13 year old in the nation, 152nd in the zone, 16th in the Southeastern Section, and she's the top 13 year old performer on Chattahoochee Gold.

Long Course Outlook

This long course season will be interesting to watch. Bailey's freestyle at Northern Divisionals indicates that she's starting to get that stroke figured out. She also started making in roads with her back as the season came to a close. In addition, the head coach has indicated that Bailey (along with several other swimmers), may move up to seniors before the Summer. If this happens the practice level will increase significantly, going from 6000 to 6200 yards on a hard day to around 8200 to 8500 on a normal day. This could lead to improved strength. This will also reunite her with her preferred training partners, which also could have positive effects on her swimming. I believe regardless of the timeframe of the move up, Bailey will have a good final long course age group season. Bailey, is currently so focused on having a good long course, that she has voted to skip Summer Team. This seems to be a good omen from my perspective. If she wants to have a good season so bad she'll throw away a goof around with your friends meet, I'm guessing that means she'll be working hard at practice everyday as well.

Short Course 2016/17 Outlook

Bailey has indicated she wants to have a strong final Age Group State swim next year. She wants to get back into A finals of the fly swims, and she wants to challenge for finals in some other races. She's already hinted a doing additional exercises, knowing that if she isn't going to get taller/bigger, she will need to get stronger. She's also setting some goals to earn her senior cuts so when she's out of age group she'll already be qualified to swim state.

-----------------------------------------------------

Bear

2015/16 Overview

Bear's season, unlike Bailey who really struggled, he seemed to improve significantly across the board. Even his breaststroke looks to be miles better than it was at the start of the season. Bear swam himself to another level, climbing into the time ranges many of his 14 year old friends were swimming. Moreover, Bear in effect, won 2 state championships for 13 year olds, only getting robbed of his medal and recognition by the administrative changes in the way the event was run this year. Bear has some pretty lofty goals for 2016/17, which I'll touch on below, but his season this year certainly set him up to be able to make a run at those heights.

Here is how Bear did during the season, and the numbers will speak for themselves:

Stroke 2014/15 2015/16 Diff

50 Free 27.19 25.50 (-1.69) – time is old, but didn’t swim this event late
100 Free 55.48 53.72 (-1.76)
200 Free 2:00.78 1:52.15 (-8.63)
500 Free 5:14.54 4:59.71 (-14.83)
1000 Free 10:40.83 10:09.27 (-31.56)
1650 Free 17:53.78 17:12.44 (-41.34)

100 Back 1:11.11 1:05.73 (-4.38)
200 Back 2:21.06 2:18.94 (-2.12)

100 Brst 1:23.97 1:17.09 (-6.88)
200 Brst 2:56.50 2:48.23 (-8.27) – another old time

100 Fly 1:04.00 1:00.07 (-3.93)
200 Fly 2:14.08 2:08.75 (-5.33)

200 IM 2:18.97 2:10.22 (-8.75)
400 IM 4:42.92 4:28.78 (-14.14)

Bear's season saw him finish 46th nationally in the 1000 for 13 year olds. He was also 55th in the 1650. Ironically, exactly like Bailey, Bear is 208th in the 200 fly. He also has 3 other swims inside the top 200 in the nation. This illustrates how big his season was. Hopefully, he'll continue to build on this progress. Using the same point system that placed Bailey above, Bear is 301 nationally, 76th in the zone, 8th in the Southeastern Section, and 3rd on the team (actually second as 1 of the boys above has aged up at this point).

Long Course Outlook

Ironically, I have quite a few concerns about this long course season. Not from a stand point of how Bear will swim (I'm sure he'll work hard and do extremely well), but ultimately, how this season will play out and how that will impact his self confidence. Given Bear's strong short course, he is desperately wanting to tryout for the Georgia Zone team. It is a really cool situation, where only a small handful of kids earn the right to represent Georgia in the Zones meet at the end of the Summer. The kids that are selected get a bunch of cool stuff: (Georgia Zone team swim bag, zone team tee-shirts, goggles, tech suits, etc.). They get exposed to elite level meet atmosphere and coaching, and there are a few kids on the team that have made it recently and he wants that experience. Problem is - he won't make the team. You have to remember that the team takes very few people (like 8 per age group), and Bear will turn 14 just 3 months before he'll be competing for a spot. To make matters worse, the distance swims don't earn an automatic berth. 4 of the 8 spots will be filled by the winners of the 4 stroke sprints...leaving Bear to compete for 1 of 4 spots, and his weakness is the short sprints. Meaning he'll probalby fail to earn many (or any) points in swims that are less than 200 yards, and there are a bunch of them, which is a lot of points handed out to other swimmers. Bear will have to earn high points in all his swims to have any shot, and in addition to the 13 year olds he competes against in short course, he'll inherit many 14 year olds who will age up after zones. My biggest fears are that he goes for zones, puts too much pressure on himself and swims poorly (we've seen that happen with his friend Riley), or he tries, swims well, doesn't earn a spot and he starts to question his ability.

Short Course 2016/17 Outlook

Assuming nothing catastrophic happens following long course. Bear has set himself up for a huge 2016/17 short course. He's positioned to compete for championships in the distance freestyles and the 500, with top 3 finishes possible in all the hard events. Moreover, he's got a shot to be on some very strong relays (similar to his position when he was 12 and earned 8 state medals). Also, he's in a very good position for top finishes in the Sectional meet next year as well. He could bring home more than 10 medals between the two meets next year. In addition, Bear has positioned himself to compete for Gold Team records in the 200, 500, 1000, and 1650 freestyles, and his coach has already announced the 1000 record is going down next year. Bear is very excited about these challenges, and he's already started his chin up routine to get stronger through the Summer. We will be adding band work, rowing, planks, etc. soon.

Note: I'm not going to guarantee that the math above is accurate - I did it in my head

Note: I have a spreadsheet that shows how close the kids are to important cut times, I'll try to figure out how to format that so I can post it here

Breeze

03-18-2016, 12:03 PM

Time Standards - Update

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

The tables below will give you a perspective on where Bailey stands in short course compaired to the cuts she'll be trying to achieve next season. If you have any questions let me know...

<html><TABLE BORDER="2" WIDTH="50%" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="3">
<TR>
<TH>Freestyle</TH>
<TH>50</TH>
<TH>100</TH>
<TH>200</TH>
<TH>500</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Personal Best</TH>
<TH>27.86</TH>
<TH>1:00.50</TH>
<TH>2:05.69</TH>
<TH>5:49.07</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group State</TH>
<TH>26.39</TH>
<TH>56.59</TH>
<TH>2:01.99</TH>
<TH>5:30.09</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group Sectionals</TH>
<TH>26.19</TH>
<TH>56.59</TH>
<TH>2:02.29</TH>
<TH>5:24.99</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior State Cut</></TH>
<TH>25.79</TH>
<TH>56.29</TH>
<TH>2:01.29</TH>
<TH>5:22.39</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior Sectional Cut</TH>
<TH>24.89</TH>
<TH>54.29</TH>
<TH>1:56.99</TH>
<TH>5:10.89</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>High School State Cut</TH>
<TH>26.50</TH>
<TH>58.50</TH>
<TH>2:07.00</TH>
<TH>5:40.00</TH>
</TR>
</TABLE>

<TABLE BORDER="2" WIDTH="50%" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="3">
<TR>
<TH>Backstroke</TH>
<TH>100</TH>
<TH>200</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Personal Best</TH>
<TH>1:05.15</TH>
<TH>2:17.77</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group State</TH>
<TH>1:03.79</TH>
<TH>2:18.49</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group Sectionals</TH>
<TH>1:03.89</TH>
<TH>2:17.49</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior State Cut</></TH>
<TH>1:04.19</TH>
<TH>2:18.19</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior Sectional Cut</TH>
<TH>1:00.89</TH>
<TH>2:10.99</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>High School State Cut</TH>
<TH>1:06.00</TH>
<TH>N/A</TH>
</TR>
</TABLE>

<TABLE BORDER="2" WIDTH="50%" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="3">
<TR>
<TH>Butterfly</TH>
<TH>100</TH>
<TH>200</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Personal Best</TH>
<TH>1:01.25</TH>
<TH>2:13.79</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group State</TH>
<TH>1:02.79</TH>
<TH>2:21.69</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group Sectionals</TH>
<TH>1:03.29</TH>
<TH>2:22.19</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior State Cut</></TH>
<TH>1:03.29</TH>
<TH>2:18.79</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior Sectional Cut</TH>
<TH>59.99</TH>
<TH>2:11.59</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>High School State Cut</TH>
<TH>1:05.00</TH>
<TH>N/A</TH>
</TR>
</TABLE>

<TABLE BORDER="2" WIDTH="50%" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="3">
<TR>
<TH>Individual Medley</TH>
<TH>200</TH>
<TH>400</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Personal Best</TH>
<TH>2:24.70</TH>
<TH>4:55.19</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group State</TH>
<TH>2:18.99</TH>
<TH>4:56.49</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group Sectionals</TH>
<TH>2:19.49</TH>
<TH>4:52.39</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior State Cut</></TH>
<TH>2:20.09</TH>
<TH>4:50.99</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior Sectional Cut</TH>
<TH>2:12.79</TH>
<TH>4:40.59</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>High School State Cut</TH>
<TH>2:24.00</TH>
<TH>N/A</TH>
</TR>
</TABLE></html>

Note: Cut times are subject to change
Note: High School cuts must be swum in a high school meet during the season.

(sorry for all the extra space in the code box...not sure how to get rid of it)