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South Pole Meet Results
Brett
Day 1
200 Free - I know I've said this before, that the coaches have told Brett his hard work was about to start paying off. And they were right. Brett came into this event with a 2:47.61...and left with a 2:34.09...that is faster than both Bailey and Bear. This was a HUGE improvement (@13.5 seconds) and he left the pool completely pumped up. He ran over to his coach with a beaming smile on his face. He actually managed to finish 8th out of 47 swimmer...in a freestyle event. His splits...
36.07
39.46 (1:15.99)
40.01 (1:55.54)
38.16 (2:34.59)
The real cool thing was, for the first time in a long time, I saw Brett race the stroke. Brett wanted to beat the kid next to him, and he did it...he trailed early, but held on and out worked him in the last 50. That was good to see...
Also it was good to see that the opening 100 for this race 1:15.99 was almost exactly the same as Brett's best 100 free time coming into this meet 1:15.93, which led me to believe he'd have a very good 100 Free later...
200 Back - a first time every swim for Brett, and he looked good. Actually, he looked better in the long back than the sprint backs because his long deliberate stroke looks more at home...he did the following splits...
42.79
45.80 (1:28.94)
44.97 (2:13.56)
44.57 (2:58.13)
I was pleased he broke 3 minutes. He managed to finish 11th out of 25, which isn't terrible either, especially for a kid that hated backstroke not that long ago. In fact, as recently as October he set a personal best in the 50 back with a 42.77...and when you look at his splits for a whole 200 it becomes pretty obvious how much better he's gotten and how quickly.
200 Breast - Brett was seeded high in this event, and was pumped up for it. When the race started he was quickly into 2nd place, behind a kid that was about 2x his size. Brett trailed early, but by the 75 turn he was beginning to close, only to fall behind again coming off the walls. This process continued until the 150 turn, where Brett was able to stay closer, he then took the lead at the 175 turn and pulled away down the stretch. He posted a solid 3:03.xx. This ended up begin good enough to win the event initially. Which was Brett's first ever outright win in a year round event. He was pumped. However, he was once again DQed for 1 hand touch on the last turn. In the video it looks like he may have anticipated the touch, and done a pitter patter rather than 2 hands simultaneously. This is aggrevating to me, and heart breaking to Brett.
However, interestingly Brett's victory would have only lasted 24 hours. The next day during a 200 Race, they allowed a swimmer to do the 200 Breast, and he beat Brett's time. Not sure what that was about (other than allowing the kid to get a cut time for State), but because it didn't impact Brett I didn't pursue it.
100 Fly - Brett scratched. He was too upset over the DQ to race. His energy was sapped and he was crushed. He wasn't with me, and it wasn't my decision to allow it. He was sitting with the coaches. He had to do a punishment swim for the scrach on Monday, but in all honesty that was probably for the best...
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100 Free - Brett's strong 200 translated to a strong 100 and he opened with a 34.43 (personal best in a 50 free is 34.38) and he closed with a 37.4 to finish with a personal best 1:11.85 and a 4 second improvement. Again the pumped up feeling from yesterday returned...
100 Back - The strong efforts from Saturday returned and Brett improved by 4.5 seconds posting a 1:24.03, and he left some time in the pool by gliding to far on each of the turns...
100 Breast - DECK ENTERED - after the DQ in the 200 Breast, the coach had us put him in the 100 to get his confidence back. He almost missed the race because he was confused by the lane timer as to whether he was supposed to be there or not. He ended up jumping up on the blocks and diving in almost immediately. He finished 6th overall with a personal best time of 1:26.58.
50 Fly - After the strong 100 fly performances just a few weeks ago, I hoped this would show major improvement, and it did...about 1.6 seconds of improvement and in a 50 that can be a bunch. He finished with a personal best time of 38.41.
So he ended up with 6 PB, 1 DQ, and 1 Scratch
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