Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Swim Like A Champion (a real life journal)

Breeze · 06-25-2012, 01:47 PM

Summer Swim League - County Champoinships (@ GaTech)

In order to accomodate everyone that participates at the County Championships, the meet is divided into 2 parts...11 & overs and 10 & unders, so lucky me, I got to stay there the entire day.

Brett

So Brett and I got up early and caught a ride with a teammate down to Tech. We didn't want to get the twins up early and force them to sit at the meet all morning with nothing to do, as we wanted them as fresh and prepared as possible.

Medley Relay
The meet started with the Medley Relays...Brett was swimming the breaststroke leg for his team, but it was irrelevant as they are so bad. They did manage to beat 1 team, and 1 team was DQed for the anchor leaving the blocks early, so they finished 11th out of 13.

50 Free
Brett exhibitioned the 50 free next. I didn't expect him to do much here as his form is better, but he still needs to learn how to use that form to create speed. He swam a personal best of 35.51, which is nice, but isn't nearly good enough to get him on a free relay.

100 IM
In this race, Brett came in seeded 9th, so he was in lane 1...he started off with the fly and he did a nice job staying with the boy in lane 2 (this is the same boy, JB, that beat him by .04 in the county breaststroke champoinships last year, and beat him by .06 in the breaststroke at the beginning of this season). In the backstroke Brett lost a bit of ground but was still within a body length. On the Breast brett caught JB and passed him, opening up a lead of about 3/4th of a body. He held this lead for about 2/3rds of the free leg, but lost it at the wall and was out-touched by .1 second. He did swim a personal best time of 1:26..35, but still ended up 9th.

50 Breast
Brett came into this event also seeded 9th, and again in lane 1. However, 2 of the kids seeded in front of him were exhibitioning so they are not considered in the overall placing. Brett dove in a looked strong, pulling away from the boy in lane 2, who's seed time was 1.5 seconds faster. At the turn, Brett and JB (yes, same kid), who was in lane 9 on the other end of the pool were about dead even. On the back half though, Brett pulled away and finished with a personal best time of 41.72, JB finished with a 43.01. Brett is credited with 6th place overall. As he beat 2 people seeded ahead of him (But 1 was an exhibitioner - so wasn't going to affect Brett's standing in the event anyway).

The interesting thing here is...3 of the boys that finished ahead of Brett didn't exhibition anything in the meet. This may be an indication that they aren't planning on attending the State Meet in late July (of course it could also be that they are typical Breaststrokers who only like to swim Breast and Free and didn't see a point in swimming anything else). If for some reason all three of these kids don't go to state, Brett would get the nod as the 3rd Breaststroke representative and swim the C 11/12 boys medley relay.

Free Relay
Brett's Free Relay team is just as bad as their Medley team...they finished 10th out of 12 teams...
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Bear

Medley Relay
Bear's relay teams came in at a bit of a disadvantage, in the Medley relay their Breaststroker who isn't pretty, but he's tall and pretty fast, and their freestyler who isn't a world beater but can swim a 16.2 25 free, didn't participate. So the team plugged in two other swimmers. A 9 year old, Ian, that had looked pretty strong in free in the previous weeks (though his times weren't reflecting the improved technique), and a kid, Sean, that had been on vacation for 2 weeks and hadn't even been to practice since the first meet of the season. The big guy Riley started the race with the back, but he slipped on the start and that put the team in a bit of a hole. It was a shame actually, as Riley is a very strong back stroker, but in this instance the team was 5th after the first leg. The breaststroker was Sean, and he did an adequate job, maintaining his position in the standings and getting to the wall in 5th place. Bear then took the fly leg, and from the moment he hit the water he was flying. He ate up ground with every stroke and got to the wall in 2nd place...an impressive swim. This left Ian, who was not the typical free anchor. But he performed extremely well, holding off all comers and finishing 2nd...

25 Free
Bear's next swim was the 25 Free exhibition. And it started with a false start. Luckily Bear heard it, stopped and returned to the bulkhead quickly (due to Tech being a long course pool, to make is short course, bulkheads are added so the pool will be 25 yards. 10 and Unders when they swim 25s, go off of the bulkheads so they swim towards the electronic touch pads), while the officials rounded up the rest of the swimmers. Unfortunately, because he returned to the bulkhead quickly, he also dripped all over his starting point, and when the restart occurred - he slipped - BAD. He managed to swim a 16.02, but he lost to 2 kids he outswam earlier in the season...He ended up 13th overall. This is 1 swimmer outside of those that automatically qualify to swim in the free relays at state. We are in wait and see mode to determine if anyone that beat him isn't going...

25 Back
Bear's next swim was the 25 back. He attempted this event last year, but he slipped on the start and ended up way back in the standings. Had he swum his typical time he'd have been 4th or 5th last year, and would have made the State team due to people not going. This year he came in with the 2nd seed time...and he looked good in practice leading up to the race. The race started and Bear - Slipped...

By the time he got going he was a full 2 body lengths behind the rest of the field. He swam hard, and actually passed 4 guys, but he ended up 6th (got credit for 5th because 1 person exhibitioned). He swam a 19.23. The boy that ended up second in this race was one that Bear raced during the regular season, and beat bad, even though Bear got into the ropes about 2/3rds of the way down the pool...very disappointing...for his sake.

25 Fly
Bear's last chance to make the state team outright is in the fly. In this case, he doesn't slip on the dive, but he does go a tad bit deap, which puts him a little behind at the start. But, once he surfaces, he starts blowing by people He ends up running out of pool and has to settle for 3rd, but he was clearly going much faster than the boy that finished 2nd. Bear's time was a 17.00. So Bear makes the county team, will swim 25 fly, and will probably be on the C medley relay

Free Relay
Bear's relay team, with all their normal pieces was seeded 3rd. The race started with Bear at leadoff, and he was the first to finish his leg. The second swimmer was Ian, and he was able to open a bit of a lead on the 2nd and 3rd place teams. The 3rd swimmer lost some ground and the top 3 teams pretty much came off the wall together, but Riley, the anchor brought it home and Bear's team takes the gold in this event...
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Bailey

Medley Relay
The girls medley relay was very frustrating. I was asked pretty early on to help make sure that we had people swimming the right events this year. And pretty much from the start I told the coaches for the 9/10 girls medley relay you will be much faster if you put Bailey in the Fly and Reese in the Breast. Moreover, my opinion was proven out during the season, as the best time recorded by the girls came with this configuration. It was easily 2.5 seconds faster than any other combination, but during the meet Bailey swam Breast and Reese swam fly. Bailey urged Reese to switch with her, but Reese replied "We don't need to switch, I'm faster than you in both strokes to it won't matter..." ...(more on this later)...(of course Reese's parents realized they were not configured right too and were upset). Well the team swam their typical 1:12.xx time in this configuration and finished 4th, out of the medals. Alternating the swimmer to right set up, and based on time they would have taken 2nd pretty easily...

25 Free
Bailey continues to struggle getting speed in the free. She swims a 16.04 and is currently sitting at 14th, out of the free relays. From looking at the names in front of her, it is doubtful 2 girls won't be going to state, so she'll probably miss out on the free relays...

100 IM
Bailey raced the IM against a very tough group. In the fly leg, she was even with the other 4 good swimmers. In the backstroke she lost a little ground but not much...unfortunately, when she did the turn, she did a touch and go, and failed to do a pullout...3 of the other 4 good swimmers all did their pullout and they opened a body length lead on her that she couldn't make up and she ended up 4th...so 1 spot away from the automatic bid to state. Time 1:23.63...

25 Fly
Bailey like, Bear comes into her final race, needing to get into the top 3 just to make state, and as I detailed previously, this is a star studded cast of swimmers. The race began with Isabella false starting, but it not being caught by the start (an terrible mistake...the entire stands saw it and a gasp went up when they weren't called back). Making matters worse, Isabella is one of the swimmers with a better seed time than Bailey, so she's already beind at the start. The entire field in this one is tightly bunched, but Bailey appears to be moving up...they get to the wall, and Bailey is 2nd...16.23. The overall winner was 16.22 -

And Miss "I'm better than you in both strokes" Reese finished 3rd at 16.33 and has now lost to Bailey twice in this race this season...Because Bailey was so close to the girl that won, and because that girl also won backstroke, Bailey will probably end up on the A medley at state and Kayla (the winner) will swim the Back leg...

Free Relay
Bailey led off here and did a nice job, as she was second at the end of the leg. Reese swam next and lost ground back but held 2nd. Jordan went next and lost 2nd barely, and the anchor Cameron wasn't quite able to swim down the other team. So Bailey's free relay settles for 3rd...

06-25-2012, 01:47 PM	#110
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Summer Swim League - County Champoinships (@ GaTech) In order to accomodate everyone that participates at the County Championships, the meet is divided into 2 parts...11 & overs and 10 & unders, so lucky me, I got to stay there the entire day. Brett So Brett and I got up early and caught a ride with a teammate down to Tech. We didn't want to get the twins up early and force them to sit at the meet all morning with nothing to do, as we wanted them as fresh and prepared as possible. *Medley Relay* The meet started with the Medley Relays...Brett was swimming the breaststroke leg for his team, but it was irrelevant as they are so bad. They did manage to beat 1 team, and 1 team was DQed for the anchor leaving the blocks early, so they finished 11th out of 13. *50 Free* Brett exhibitioned the 50 free next. I didn't expect him to do much here as his form is better, but he still needs to learn how to use that form to create speed. He swam a personal best of 35.51, which is nice, but isn't nearly good enough to get him on a free relay. *100 IM* In this race, Brett came in seeded 9th, so he was in lane 1...he started off with the fly and he did a nice job staying with the boy in lane 2 (this is the same boy, JB, that beat him by .04 in the county breaststroke champoinships last year, and beat him by .06 in the breaststroke at the beginning of this season). In the backstroke Brett lost a bit of ground but was still within a body length. On the Breast brett caught JB and passed him, opening up a lead of about 3/4th of a body. He held this lead for about 2/3rds of the free leg, but lost it at the wall and was out-touched by .1 second. He did swim a personal best time of 1:26..35, but still ended up 9th. *50 Breast* Brett came into this event also seeded 9th, and again in lane 1. However, 2 of the kids seeded in front of him were exhibitioning so they are not considered in the overall placing. Brett dove in a looked strong, pulling away from the boy in lane 2, who's seed time was 1.5 seconds faster. At the turn, Brett and JB (yes, same kid), who was in lane 9 on the other end of the pool were about dead even. On the back half though, Brett pulled away and finished with a personal best time of 41.72, JB finished with a 43.01. Brett is credited with 6th place overall. As he beat 2 people seeded ahead of him (But 1 was an exhibitioner - so wasn't going to affect Brett's standing in the event anyway). The interesting thing here is...3 of the boys that finished ahead of Brett didn't exhibition anything in the meet. This may be an indication that they aren't planning on attending the State Meet in late July (of course it could also be that they are typical Breaststrokers who only like to swim Breast and Free and didn't see a point in swimming anything else). If for some reason all three of these kids don't go to state, Brett would get the nod as the 3rd Breaststroke representative and swim the C 11/12 boys medley relay. *Free Relay* Brett's Free Relay team is just as bad as their Medley team...they finished 10th out of 12 teams... ----------------------------------------------- Bear *Medley Relay* Bear's relay teams came in at a bit of a disadvantage, in the Medley relay their Breaststroker who isn't pretty, but he's tall and pretty fast, and their freestyler who isn't a world beater but can swim a 16.2 25 free, didn't participate. So the team plugged in two other swimmers. A 9 year old, Ian, that had looked pretty strong in free in the previous weeks (though his times weren't reflecting the improved technique), and a kid, Sean, that had been on vacation for 2 weeks and hadn't even been to practice since the first meet of the season. The big guy Riley started the race with the back, but he slipped on the start and that put the team in a bit of a hole. It was a shame actually, as Riley is a very strong back stroker, but in this instance the team was 5th after the first leg. The breaststroker was Sean, and he did an adequate job, maintaining his position in the standings and getting to the wall in 5th place. Bear then took the fly leg, and from the moment he hit the water he was flying. He ate up ground with every stroke and got to the wall in 2nd place...an impressive swim. This left Ian, who was not the typical free anchor. But he performed extremely well, holding off all comers and finishing 2nd... *25 Free* Bear's next swim was the 25 Free exhibition. And it started with a false start. Luckily Bear heard it, stopped and returned to the bulkhead quickly (due to Tech being a long course pool, to make is short course, bulkheads are added so the pool will be 25 yards. 10 and Unders when they swim 25s, go off of the bulkheads so they swim towards the electronic touch pads), while the officials rounded up the rest of the swimmers. Unfortunately, because he returned to the bulkhead quickly, he also dripped all over his starting point, and when the restart occurred - he slipped - BAD. He managed to swim a 16.02, but he lost to 2 kids he outswam earlier in the season...He ended up 13th overall. This is 1 swimmer outside of those that automatically qualify to swim in the free relays at state. We are in wait and see mode to determine if anyone that beat him isn't going... *25 Back* Bear's next swim was the 25 back. He attempted this event last year, but he slipped on the start and ended up way back in the standings. Had he swum his typical time he'd have been 4th or 5th last year, and would have made the State team due to people not going. This year he came in with the 2nd seed time...and he looked good in practice leading up to the race. The race started and Bear - Slipped... By the time he got going he was a full 2 body lengths behind the rest of the field. He swam hard, and actually passed 4 guys, but he ended up 6th (got credit for 5th because 1 person exhibitioned). He swam a 19.23. The boy that ended up second in this race was one that Bear raced during the regular season, and beat bad, even though Bear got into the ropes about 2/3rds of the way down the pool...very disappointing...for his sake. *25 Fly* Bear's last chance to make the state team outright is in the fly. In this case, he doesn't slip on the dive, but he does go a tad bit deap, which puts him a little behind at the start. But, once he surfaces, he starts blowing by people He ends up running out of pool and has to settle for 3rd, but he was clearly going much faster than the boy that finished 2nd. Bear's time was a 17.00. So Bear makes the county team, will swim 25 fly, and will probably be on the C medley relay *Free Relay* Bear's relay team, with all their normal pieces was seeded 3rd. The race started with Bear at leadoff, and he was the first to finish his leg. The second swimmer was Ian, and he was able to open a bit of a lead on the 2nd and 3rd place teams. The 3rd swimmer lost some ground and the top 3 teams pretty much came off the wall together, but Riley, the anchor brought it home and Bear's team takes the gold in this event... ---------------------------------------------- Bailey *Medley Relay* The girls medley relay was very frustrating. I was asked pretty early on to help make sure that we had people swimming the right events this year. And pretty much from the start I told the coaches for the 9/10 girls medley relay you will be much faster if you put Bailey in the Fly and Reese in the Breast. Moreover, my opinion was proven out during the season, as the best time recorded by the girls came with this configuration. It was easily 2.5 seconds faster than any other combination, but during the meet Bailey swam Breast and Reese swam fly. Bailey urged Reese to switch with her, but Reese replied "We don't need to switch, I'm faster than you in both strokes to it won't matter..." ...(more on this later)...(of course Reese's parents realized they were not configured right too and were upset). Well the team swam their typical 1:12.xx time in this configuration and finished 4th, out of the medals. Alternating the swimmer to right set up, and based on time they would have taken 2nd pretty easily... *25 Free* Bailey continues to struggle getting speed in the free. She swims a 16.04 and is currently sitting at 14th, out of the free relays. From looking at the names in front of her, it is doubtful 2 girls won't be going to state, so she'll probably miss out on the free relays... *100 IM* Bailey raced the IM against a very tough group. In the fly leg, she was even with the other 4 good swimmers. In the backstroke she lost a little ground but not much...unfortunately, when she did the turn, she did a touch and go, and failed to do a pullout...3 of the other 4 good swimmers all did their pullout and they opened a body length lead on her that she couldn't make up and she ended up 4th...so 1 spot away from the automatic bid to state. Time 1:23.63... *25 Fly* Bailey like, Bear comes into her final race, needing to get into the top 3 just to make state, and as I detailed previously, this is a star studded cast of swimmers. The race began with Isabella false starting, but it not being caught by the start (an terrible mistake...the entire stands saw it and a gasp went up when they weren't called back). Making matters worse, Isabella is one of the swimmers with a better seed time than Bailey, so she's already beind at the start. The entire field in this one is tightly bunched, but Bailey appears to be moving up...they get to the wall, and Bailey is 2nd...16.23. The overall winner was 16.22 - And Miss "I'm better than you in both strokes" Reese finished 3rd at 16.33 and has now lost to Bailey twice in this race this season...Because Bailey was so close to the girl that won, and because that girl also won backstroke, Bailey will probably end up on the A medley at state and Kayla (the winner) will swim the Back leg... *Free Relay* Bailey led off here and did a nice job, as she was second at the end of the leg. Reese swam next and lost ground back but held 2nd. Jordan went next and lost 2nd barely, and the anchor Cameron wasn't quite able to swim down the other team. So Bailey's free relay settles for 3rd... Last edited by Breeze : 06-25-2012 at 02:38 PM.