[Breeze]

Georgia Open "Last Chance Meet" - @ GaTech - 2/18/12 - 2/19/12

I don't think words can express the levels of emotion I experienced this weekend...from extreme highs to unbelieveable lows. Surprising in that, other than Brett's 200 Breast, there really wasn't much riding on this event. Sure additional cuts would be great, but they weren't pressing. Brett's was big because he would be able to compete at state with his siblings and he wouldn't be the only one of our group not to get a cut (not a completely accurate statement, Maddie's older sister Carmen doesn't have a cut either, but she is older and doesn't hang out as much with our kids unless all the families are together for dinner and she has no-one her own age to spend the time with).

To give you an overview of the entire weekend and what was involved...on Saturday we got up at 7 to get the kids ready, pack the car and feed the kids...we headed down to GaTech around 8:15 and walked into the facility around 9:15 A. M. We left that night at 8 P.M. On Sunday, we had to be there earlier so we awoke at 6, headed down around 7:15, arrived about 8:15 and left at 7:30...(long weekend, and also why I didn't supply details earlier)...

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Day 1

10+U 200 Yard Free

The day started with the 200 Free. Coming into this event I had high hopes for Bailey's chances. Only needing to improve 2 seconds over 200 yards, I felt she had a great chance of getting this one. Bear on the other hand, I didn't think he would be able to make his cut. I thought he could get the girls cut, but he'd need to be 3 full seconds faster than that to get the boys cut. As it turns out, because Bear entered the event with a NT for seeding he raced in the boys pool before Bailey who was in the fastest heat raced in the girls pool.

To give myself an idea of how the kids were doing in this race, I printed up the splits from Bailey's 200 at Auburn when she nearly got her cut. Those times were...

38.30
1:21.51 (43.21)
2:07.98 (46.47)
2:50.82 (42.84)

Bear starts off the 200 with an opening 50 of 37.25. My first thought is, "Off to a great start". but it is followed quickly by "He hasn't ever done this event before and he's going to run out of gas - he can't keep up this pace." The second fifty was 1:21.50. That means the second 50 was swum in 44.25, and his 100 time is only .01 faster than Bailey's time from Auburn. Now I'm thinking, "Ok, this is more of what I expected. I felt fatigue was starting to set in and he clearly had fallen into Bailey's pace," which of course puts him 4 seconds off the state cut time. In the 3rd 50, Bear picked up the pace significantly, finishing it in 43.54 and putting him at 2:05.04 for the race...this put him in striking distance of a cut, but he still needed to swim the final 50 around 41.5 or better, which is asking a lot at the end of a 200 yard race. As you can see above, when Bailey did it in Auburn she swam a closing 50 in 42.84, and Bailey is a faster freestyler than Bear...Watching the race, I could see Bear pick up his effort in the final 2 laps, the question was whether the increased effort was translating to increased speed. Often with fatigue in swimming, the athlete will increase the effort to go faster, only to find the times don't drop, due to poor form. As he was coming into the wall, I could tell he was going faster and he would be real close to the number...he touched and scoreboard read 2:46.15...

Thats a final lap in an amazing 41.11...The cut is 2:46.69...so good enough. Giving Bear his 3rd state cut. (interestingly, Bear has cuts in 50 fly, 100 back, 200 free...3 different strokes, 3 different distances).

Shortly after Bear finished Bailey hit the water, and it was pretty obvious early on that she wasn't swimming her best. Her initial 50 was 38.79, almost a half second slower than in Auburn. The next fifty was worse...she came in at 1:23.12, now a second and a half off her previous time. The 3rd fifty was 2:09.44 still a second and a half slower, and she finished at 2:52.54 just over a second and a half off. I believe her cold from earlier in the week really impacted this race, as she never seemed to get going in high gear and she was breathing much more often than usual.


11/12 100 Yard Breast

Brett did extremely well in this event, improving by 1.1 seconds to a 1:32.28. This time was also good enough for 10th in the event, which also qualified him for the A finals in the event (which was held that evening...which is why we stayed).

11/12 100 Yard IM

Brett looked real good in this one as well. His fly was strong,as he kept up with the rest of the pool, and his back looked better than it ever has, keeping him in contact with the rest of swimmers. On the breast leg, Brett went from 6th to 2nd, but he was unable to hold off the rest of the swimmers in the free and he finished 4th in his heat. His time was 1:28.53...a full 2 second improvement...

10+U 100 Yard IM

Coming into this meet, I felt this was Bear's best chance at a cut...and I had high hopes coming off his strong 200 (with reservations that he might still be fatigued). His fly leg was good, but on the back, he tried way to hard from the moment of pushing off the wall, where he tried to almost duplicate backstroke race start. He ended up over working and got up against the lane rope, which prevented him from getting the speed he needed. He did good considering those issues, posting a time of 1:29.17, but it wasn't a personal best...

11/12 50 Yard Free

Brett continued his strong meet, with another personal best 35.70 (improvement of almost .4 seconds). The best thing is his kick looked much stronger...

10+U 50 Yard Free

Bear swam first (because the boys pool was way ahead of the girls pool...he looked strong, especially with his kick, but he came in at almost exactly the same time as his personal best. 35.69 (only .04 slower...and only .01 faster than Brett - though we never tell the kids how they did in comparison to each other - sometimes it is just interesting to look at)

Bailey 2nd event was also the last event and heat of the morning session. So she swam first and last with nothing but sitting around in the middle. She did better in the sprint than the distance, but she didn't improve swimming a 34.19...

coming up...info on the evening session