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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)

Code:

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 - !!!

Spoiler

02-17-2015, 03:50 PM	#558
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	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) Code: 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 - !!! Spoiler Code: 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!!! Last edited by Breeze : 02-18-2015 at 08:33 AM.