[Breeze]

2014 Georgia 14&Under Short Course Championships - RESULTS

Day 2

After the strong first day, I came into this one with high hopes…

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Bailey

100 Back : 39/14 – 1:11.86 (1:10.25/10) : (1:11.92) – Like the 200 back there are a number of girls ahead of Bailey that she has beaten regularly in the past. Hoping she’s able to really make a charge here and compete for a top 10 spot.


A little deep on the start, but not terrible…Strokes looked good from start to finish, and did challenge for a medal finishing 12 and dropping 2.64 seconds to post a 1:09.22

50 Fly : 43/18 – 32:16 (31.41/10) : (32.19) – Coach is really excited about Bailey’s new arm position in the fly. He thinks she's in a good position to improve, it could come down to her dive again…

A good dive and a strong swim - She dropped 1.31 seconds in a 50 to finish with a 30.85, which is excellent when she is already fast in the event, making this a bit of a surprise…the big surprise was her passing 8 other girls to get tenth in the prelims and qualify for the finals that evening…

400 IM : 38/11 – 5:40.47 (5:38.52/10) : (5:41.99) – Bailey’s breaststroke has to be tight for this event. If it is, she’ll do well…if not, she’ll fade back in the pack. In case you were wondering…to get in the top 3 and earn a medal Bailey would have to swim around a 5:26…

Bailey opened this race with a pedestrian 50 fly…finishing in 33.36…way off the time from the 200 IM, and from the 50 Fly earlier in the day. Obviously I didn’t expect a 30 or 31 second split but I though something in the mid 32s was likely, especially given that this was Bailey’s best stroke and I felt she’d want to take advantage of it. But the coach instructed her to not go out too hard…and by the time the 100 fly portion was finished she was still sitting on strong 1:10.63 split. Her back leg was good as she and a girl next to her began to pull away from the field. Bailey was in first in her heat at the turn for breast. I felt certain Bailey would fall behind on this leg, and was hoping she would stay close enough to catch the other girl in the freestyle. As it turned out, Bailey began to open a lead on the other girl, and it wasn’t because the other girl had a horrible breaststroke. Bailey, seemed to figured hers out. She posted two 50 splits both under 46 seconds, where she had been around or over 50 for both. All in all she swam the 100 breast in a 1:31.82, which would be a personal best for that stroke and without a dive…At the end of the breast Bailey was up by half a lap on the field and finished closer to three-quarters of a lap up after Free. She dropped 27.35 seconds, posted a 5:13.12, and finished fifth in state.

50 FLY FINALS – came in seeded tenth, dropped another 1.2 seconds in finals and ended up ninth in state…30.72
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Bear

200 Free : 42/12 – 2:17.19 (2:14.70/10) : (2:19.89) – Bear is in a really interesting spot here…he is several seconds behind the top 10, and couple seconds ahead of 13…He could get into the finals in this event, as I’ve seen him step up in big moments in the past. I just hope he doesn’t wear himself out trying to reach the finals (I’ve seen him do that in the past as well)…

Bear came into this event with a lot of confidence, after the 1000 the day before. He felt he could sprint this event the entire way…He opened with a 30.94, with his personal best 50 a 30.07, it’s was pretty obvious he was going to try. Second fifty was a 33.59, followed by a 34.25 and a 33.90. Coach was extremely pleased with this effort. Bear dropped 4.51 seconds and finished with a 2:12.68 and qualified for finals in ninth place.

200 Breast : 38/12 – 3:06.25 (3:05.54/10) : (3:06.61) – Call me a pessimist, but I don’t think Bear challenges for top 10 here. I just haven’t seen any consistency in his breast to think he’s going to drop time in this stroke. In fact, last time he raced it, he added a good bit of time. I suspect he’ll swim a 3:08/9…But just earning any Breast cuts was fantastic and I’m proud of him, because this stroke was a bad one for him until now…

I had few expectations on this race. I was more interested in how he would do because of how it would impact his 400 IM. If he could swim around a personal best, I felt is set up for Bear to have strong next race. As it turns out, he didn’t just swim around his personal best, he dropped 2.3 seconds to finish at a 3:03.93. He ended up losing ground to other swimmers and finished sixteenth, but it was a great swim regardless…

400 IM : 28/5 – 5:29.85 (5:27.64/3) : (5:40.25) – This is where I hope his breaststroke holds up. If he swims the 200 Breast well, I like his chances to challenge for a medal here. His confidence in the stroke will be high and he’ll want to get on the podium, and 2 seconds in a 400 IM is not much. Unfortunately, again, he won’t be lined up next to all the kids he’ll need to beat. Some will be in different heats as this is swum combined 11/12…

Opened with a 1:13.68 – 100 Fly – slightly faster than the 100 Fly from Friday, which was good in that his fly didn’t get worse, but concerning for the 200 fly on day 3. The fly kept him in a good spot, and his 1:17.28 back, caught and passed many swimmers around him. Then bear managed to stay under 48 seconds on both 50 fly splits and he closed with a 1:09.77 free. He dropped 13.66 seconds to finish at 5:16.19 and he ended up third earning his second medal of the weekend.

200 FREE FINALS – Came into this one seeded ninth, swam strong, improved his time almost exactly like Bailey by another .1 , but unlike Bailey he couldn’t move up, in fact, he couldn’t hold the ninth spot and had to settle for tenth…2:12.58