Swim Like A Champion (a real life journal)

[Breeze]

High School Meet - vs North Springs, Cambridge, & North Forsyth


This Friday night there is a high school meet. Brett will stay after school with the team, eat a pre-swim meal and take the bus to the aquatic center (seems a bit silly, but it is part of the experience of being on a high school team, and I think he's excited about it).This meet is a limited roster meet, where each team can only send 18 boy and 18 girls. Brett made the top 18 for South and he'll be swimming the following events:

Brett (14)

# 15 Male Open 500 Free 5:45.55Y
# 21 Male Open 100 Breast 1:14.51Y


No relay's for Brett this time around, which isn't surprising as the Swim Atlanta swimmers will be participating this time around.

[Breeze]

High School Meet - vs North Springs & Cambridge

So an item of Clean Up...North Forsyth didn't swim this meet. They were mentioned on the sign in and meet description, but for whatever reason they weren't there.

I'm still waiting on the official results, and will update this when (if) they become available.

South won this meet going away. More times than not the top 4 (which are the only ones that score in high school meets) all finished in the top 6 of the event, so the final score shouldn't be close. As for Brett...


Brett (14)

# 15 Male Open 500 Free 5:45.55Y - Brett did fine in this one. He finished second overall, a good 100 yards behind the winner a senior year round swimmer, but a good 25+ yards ahead of 3rd place. His official time I'm still waiting on, but it was about a second off of the seed time.


# 21 Male Open 100 Breast 1:14.51Y - Brett didn't get to swim this one. A swimmer from Cambridge was lined up to swim in Brett's lane. Brett tried to tell him he was in the wrong place, but the kid argued with Brett. Brett ran over and confirmed with his coach that the kid was wrong, ran back to tell him, but to no avail. The Cambridge swimmer swam in Brett's lane - and was promptly DQed for swimming in the incorrect lane. The kid was clearly supposed to swim in lane 3, as it was vacant during the race, but had Brett stepped into that lane, he'd have been DQed as well for swimming in the wrong lane. It was unfortunate, and Brett was very disappointed...but High School meets are not as well run as year round ones, and this was a learning experience for Brett.

[Breeze]

FINA Swimming Update

Just a quick update to report on a rule change:

FINA has announced a rules change to the breaststroke underwater pullout – the latest change to try and give officials a fighting chance, and athletes an even chance, at adhering to the ever-more-complex breaststroke rules.

In the vote, FINA approved a new interpretation of allowing the single dolphin kick on the pullout to come at any time before the first breaststroke kick. Previously, the rules required some separation of the hands before the first dolphin kick. The change will be effective immediately.

Initially, when the dolphin kick was added, most athletes did the dolphin kick clearly during the pull-down. That water became muddied, however, when many swimmers began doing the pullout while effectively still in a streamline – especially in Europe and South Africa, where swimmers were breaking World Records.

That pushed FINA to mandate separation of the hands, which created a very fine inspection of technique where swimmers would create a slight separation of hands, but remain effectively in a streamline.

Now, the rule allows the dolphin kick off of each wall to happen at any point prior to the breaststroke kick.

While that tweak in technique was slow to catch on in the United States, American high school rules already allowed this change beginning with the 2013-2014 season.

The rules still don’t require an underwater pullout at all, which has led some coaches to speculate on ways to take advantage. Specifically, for swimmers who are not primarily breaststrokers, some coaches we’ve spoken to have suggested that in a long event like the 400 IM, they might have their swimmers skip the pullout altogether and instead just do a single dolphin kick before coming up begin their above-water stroke.

[Breeze]

General Update

So we are currently in an unfortunate position with Brett. He hasn't done anything wrong, it's just a age/timing issue that is a hindrance to his performance, but it's frustrating all the same. I believe I've touched on the bases of this previously, but'll in case I haven't I'll do it again here, and define why it's a problem.

If you've been reading along for any length of time you know Brett started high school this year, even though he just turned 14. By starting high school, Gold moved him up to the Senior team practice schedule, which up until now has been great for him. His effort in practice and dedication have increased dramatically and we've seen some positive results.

However, the state cuts that I talk about regularly are broken up into two groups: Age Group State (for 14U) and Senior State (for over 14). This means about 99% of the kids Brett practices with are all only eligible for Senior State, whereas Brett still has another year of Age Group. This is a problem because Senior State is taking place right now (12/4 - 12/7 at GaTech) and Age Group State won't happen until mid February. So the team Brett is practicing with has been in a slow taper since the YSSC Meet in November, and currently are doing a heavy taper for the National Meet and State Meet Seniors. This means Brett is tapered as well, only he doesn't swim again until 12/13. This is way to long to try and hold a taper and quite possibly will adversely affect his times at what will ultimately be his only tapered meet for the season before the Age Group State (which he doesn't have a cut time for yet).

In the long run, it isn't a huge deal. Brett's best chance to get a cut will again be during long course in July, as he'll be close to 15 and hopefully bigger and stronger than he is right now. But the time in taper has unquestionably slowed his progress of development, especially in the distance frees where he could potentially challenge for cuts. We aren't terribly happy with the situation, but we didn't expect Brett to get a Short Course Cut anyway. We're just frustrated the team didn't make better plans ahead of time to avoid this situation. It shows a lack of organization on the part of the new head coach, and more concerning, especially for Brett, a tendency to focus only on the top swimmers.

[Breeze]

Marconi Transatlantic Invite - @ Cumming Aquatic Center 12/12-14



Bailey


#3 (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Medley (2:31.23Y ) – Should improve here. Time is from back in October…

#7 (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Free (28.63Y ) – Not sure…she should be faster in Free, but hasn’t been able to figure it out yet. This is an old time, but I don’t have a feel for this one.

#11 (d2/s2): G 11-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Also an October time, She should improve this one due to increased length and improved stamina

#19 (d2/s2): G 11-12 50 Back (32.37Y ) – This is a September time, if she doesn’t improve here, she’ll be disappointed.

#39 (d2/s2): G 11-12 100 Medley (1:11.79Y ) – Her best time is actually a 1:08.43 from GRPA State (which is USA Swimming Sanctioned to the time is official), obviously, she’ll improve on the seed time, and I expect a slight improvement in her PB as well.

#43 (d2/s3): G Open 500 Free (6:12.17Y ) – She should improve a bunch, as this time if from January of last year…but will she push herself?

#85 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Free (1:02.05Y ) – I don’t have a feel on this one. She should be approaching 60 seconds…but I’m not convinced she’ll even drop time in this one.

#91 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Back (1:08.58Y ) – Should drop time, but for some reason she hasn’t recently. I think she needs to sink her head in the water a bit to improve streamline.

#97 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Breast (1:25.03Y ) – Dropped last time out. She should drop again, because this isn’t a very good time…but I suspect we’ll see a very similar time.

#103 (d3/s5): G 10-12 200 Fly (2:23.72Y ) – Really wants to do well here. Overworked it last time out. Coach has also changed her stroke a little so she’s more productive with her arms. Could lead to a decent improvement or a hitch in the stroke and a slower time. Very interested for this one.

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Bear


#4 (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Medley (2:25.91Y ) – Time is from October and he dropped a bunch of time in the 400 IM last month. I expect a drop here, and maybe a significant one.

#8 (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Free (27.83Y ) – Don’t expect much here…I don’t think he has much left he can drop.

#44 (d2/s3): B Open 500 Free (5:27.76Y ) – I don’t know what he’s going to shoot for on splits, I’m very eager to see what the coach and he target and if he can pull it off.

#56 (d2/s4): B 10-12 200 Back (2:22.97Y ) – Time is from last month, I don’t expect much.

#72 (d2/s4): B 11-12 100 Fly (1:06.71Y ) – October time, and big improvement in 200 fly in November. He could drop here.

#78 (d2/s4): B 11-12 100 Medley (1:20.65Y ) – Very old time – like over a year old. Huge drop expected.

#108 (d3/s6): B Open 1650 Free (NT ) – Bear has already indicated he wants to try and swim the same splits he swam in the 1000 last month in this one…that means maintaining that split for another 650…if he can pull it off it will be amazing.

#114 (d3/s7): B 11-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – see the 50 Free…

#120 (d3/s7): B 11-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y ) – Similar to the sprint frees…just not sure how much time he has left to drop.

#134 (d3/s7): B 11-12 50 Fly (31.47Y ) – This is an interesting one…time is from October, and he’s dropped time in the other fly events recently, I’m just not sure if his stroke translates to a sprint for more time drops.

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Brett – (as I indicated in an earlier post, I think he’s been in taper too long and we might experience a poor meet this weekend because of it)

#2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:31.32Y ) – Time is from March, and he’s definitely improved, especially his fly. I’m thinking big drop

#6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (28.34Y ) – I expect a slightly slower time here. Last couple of times out his improved kick seems to have become less efficient. He’ll need to clean it back up to beat this time.

#14 (d2/s2): B 13-14 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) – Last two times he swam this he was 2:14s, I think it goes back to the kick I mentioned above, I expect a 2:14.

#22 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Back (1:12.19Y ) – Should improve, stroke is better. Needs more effort, I’m guessing we end up right around the seed time.

#30 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:15.70Y ) – New pullout could lead to improvement here (if he can execute the new form). He’s also shown flashes in this stroke that he’s starting to turn the corner a bit, but the pullouts are the big area where he can drop time.

#84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:01.16Y ) – see the 50 and 200 free write ups.

#90 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:28.59Y ) – See the 100 back. He really could drop a good bit of time if he’ll push, but I expect a similar time to the PB.

#96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – Pullouts again are key. Could drop a couple seconds with good ones.

#102 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:21.35Y ) – time is from October. His fly was getting much better, but this is one area (end of meet, fly – where he is already weak with stamina in this event) that the extended taper will probably kill him.

[Breeze]

Marconi Transatlantic Invite - RESULTS

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Bailey


#3 (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Medley (2:31.23Y ) – Nice improvement of almost 4 seconds, but honestly, I was thinking more like 6+ seconds. Back wasn’t as strong as I think it could have been with a split in the mid 38s, and the breast was poor in the upper 45s. She really should be (and I think has been) in the mid to low 44s in the breast. But the personal best 2:27.39 was a good swim regardless.

#7 (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Free (28.63Y ) – With a time of 28.45 you get an idea of why I was confused. This is sort of what I expected – just a minor change, only I wasn’t sure if it would be an improvement or a regression. This is still a work in progress she needs to get figure out.

#11 (d2/s2): G 11-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Terrible swim here for Bailey, and I’m back to scratching my head on what’s going on with her freestyle. She actually adds 3 seconds finishing in a 2:14.27

#19 (d2/s2): G 11-12 50 Back (32.37Y ) – She did improve dropping just over half a second and earning a state cut – 31.82.

#39 (d2/s2): G 11-12 100 Medley (1:11.79Y ) – Didn’t swim as well here as I had hoped. She got a 1:09.28, so not far off of the PB time, but I think she can go 1:07 low with a good swim.

#43 (d2/s3): G Open 500 Free (6:12.17Y ) –Much better job of pushing…still didn’t have anyone really signaling her, but she managed to drop 23 seconds, finish with a 5:49.07, which also earns her a state cut. This also puts Bailey with a top 20 time in the state for 12 year olds (some of which already are 13 and some others will age up before State). Currently, the coach has indicated that Bailey won’t be swimming the 500 at State due to her problems eating in the mornings when fatigued. His hope is to keep her fresh and allow her to fuel each morning. But not sure if this swim, especially given that she can probably drop another 10 seconds with some signals, might change his mind.

#85 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Free (1:02.05Y ) – After the mediocre swim in the 50 and the poor swim in the 200, I wasn’t expecting much here. So she goes out drops 1.55 seconds, finishes at 1:00.50, only a half a second from going sub-60 (which is a state cut by the way). More head scratching on my part, but this time with fingers crossed hoping that this is an indication of a breakthrough.

#91 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Back (1:08.58Y ) – Dropped over a second to a 1:07.32, which is also a state cut.

#97 (d3/s5): G 11-12 100 Breast (1:25.03Y ) – Added over a second and a half to a 1:26.74. She’s got to get this stroke figured out for her IMs if nothing else…

#103 (d3/s5): G 10-12 200 Fly (2:23.72Y ) – Another subpar swim in this event for Bailey. She added a couple seconds finishing with a 2:25.86. However, just to give some context…while Bailey added quite a bit of time, she also won this event by a full lap. Second place was 20 seconds back.

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Summary

Bailey has had an interesting season so far. She's been very up and down. In this meet for instance she earned 3 state cuts, but she also added significant time in several events. I'm not sure what is going on with her right now, she's very difficult to project. I'm hoping this is mostly a focus thing, that will get corrected as we approach the State Meet in February. I think the meet in January will be a big one to get a read on where she is.

[Breeze]

Marconi Transatlantic Invite - RESULTS

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Brett

#2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:31.32Y ) – 2:31.12…an improvement, but just. This race concerned me immediately. His fly was a 34.76, which isn’t bad for him, but he typically swims that time in the first 50 of a 100 fly leg in a 400 IM. I was hoping he might go 33 mid or high. Also his Breast leg was almost a 42…which is his words was AWFUL. He looked sluggish, this had me very worried about the taper.

#6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (28.34Y ) – 28.61…better than I expected given his kick recently hasn’t been as good as it was earlier in the season.

#14 (d2/s2): B 13-14 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) – A 2:10.89 isn’t a personal best but it is 4 seconds better than the last two times he swam it. His back half splits were both over 34 seconds, indicating fatigue setting in on the longer race, something that obviously occurs, but probably shouldn’t to that level.

#22 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Back (1:12.19Y ) – 1:11.44, a drop of .75 seconds and a nice improvement for Brett. There’s clearly more there for him to drop, but it is a positive step.

#30 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:15.70Y ) – Quick start for Brett opening with a 34.7, but finished with a 39 mid. Brett was the fastest in his heat, and won it going away, which might have hurt his overall time. Regardless it was good enough to beat 2 guys in the fast heat, but he wasn’t happy because his friends Tommy and Riley both beat his time – 1:14.17

#84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:01.16Y ) – dropped .04…1:01.12…

#90 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:28.59Y ) – Added time finishing in a 2:30.06. I do believe after the improvement in the 100, we’ll see an improvement in the 200 down the road, I just don’t think he had the stamina to push on a 200…

#96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – Was racing Tommy and Riley in this one, and he wanted to beat them. He and Tommy were neck and neck in the opening 50 and 100, but then Tommy slowly pulled away with each stroke, as again we see the impact of the extended taper and Brett being unable to maintain his energy. He actually added time finishing in a 2:38.57. He did beat Riley…

#102 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:21.35Y ) – Improved his time with a 1:20.24, but it was a bad swim. He’s gone 1:18s swimming the fly at the beginning of a 400 IM. He should be around a 1:15 at this point. Being this was the last event of the meet, not sure if he was tired, didn’t want to do it, or still doesn’t believe in his fly stroke, but he can do much better than this time.

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Summary

The extended taper definitely hurt Brett. It was unfortunate because I think he would have shown steady improvement in this meet had it be handled better. I know that many of the parents on both sides (Senior State Qualifiers vs non-State Qualifiers) were unhappy with results and I expect that Gold will be getting an ear full on this. In fact, one family with 2 national championship qualifiers went so far as to say, this gets worked out or we’ll find somewhere else that can handle it…

[Breeze]

Marconi Transatlantic Invite - RESULTS




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Bear


#4 (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Medley (2:25.91Y ) – Dropped almost 2.5 seconds finishing with a 2:23.50 time

#8 (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Free (27.83Y ) – I was wrong…he dropped another .65 seconds, finishing at 27.18…this also gives him a sectional cut!

#44 (d2/s3): B Open 500 Free (5:27.76Y ) – The goal here was under 1:05 splits…which would be under a 5:25…he did it going 5:23.37 – this is a 13 year old state cut.

#56 (d2/s4): B 10-12 200 Back (2:22.97Y ) – Dropped over 2 seconds finishing with a 2:20.89. Moreover, he raced next to the defending state champion in this event, and had a lead on him in the first 100…falling off the pace just a bit in the back half.

#72 (d2/s4): B 11-12 100 Fly (1:06.71Y ) – About what I expected…dropped 1.67 seconds finishing in a 1:05.04. This one upset Bailey, as Bear is not swimming fly as fast as she is.

#78 (d2/s4): B 11-12 100 Medley (1:20.65Y ) – Huge drop expected and Bear delivered. He dropped 12.14 seconds finishing in a state cut time of 1:08.51. Bear swam this from the 3 of 5 heats because his seed time was so old. Meaning there was no one for him to really race. He blew away the field. In fact, he actually lapped a couple of the kids in the outside lane and he won his heat by over half a pool length. He also almost won the event, as he finished second only 1 second behind the winner. It was at this point his coach told us (and later him)…”Did you see that?” Ok, he’s not a distance swimmer, he’s just a swimmer, that boy has some sprint in him too…”

#108 (d3/s6): B Open 1650 Free (NT ) – Bear’s goal was to break 19 minutes…that means swimming 1:09s. He did the following:
1:04.76
1:08.34
1:07.61 (signaled him for circle swimming)
1:08.30 (signaled again for circle swimming)
1:08.56
1:08.74
1:08.48
1:09.19 (signaled to pick it up just a little)
1:09.13 (again signaled to pick it up just a little)
1:08.31
1:09.05 (signaled to pick it up)
1:07.28
1:08.34 (at this point the coach tells me he has a lot left, signal him to pick it up)
1:05.83
1:05.24
1:04:47
31.37 closing 50…

18:33.00

To put this swim in perspective here is some interesting information:

- This was an open event with 20 kids ranging in age from 11 to 18 (Bear being the second youngest). He finished sixth overall, beating 6 high schoolers.

- The 18:33.00 time is a 14 year old state cut

- This time is also only .21 seconds from a AAAA time

Unfortunately, this race also preceded the remaining races on his schedule, so fatigue certainly became a factor.

#114 (d3/s7): B 11-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – fought though this one and still amazingly in my opinion managed to swim sub-60 – 59.06

#120 (d3/s7): B 11-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y ) – This one really seemed to show his fatigue. He started out keeping up with the same state champ from the 200 back, but fell off the pace right at the 50 turn, and faded badly. Finished with a respectable, given the circumstances, 1:10 69.

#134 (d3/s7): B 11-12 50 Fly (31.47Y ) – So after the 1650 and the signs of fatigue in the 100 free and the 100 back, I didn’t expect much. This race stared off and at the 25 turn, Bear was tied with about 4 other kids. Coming down the home stretch, Bear and 2 others separated themselves from the pack. Coming into the wall Bear didn’t breath from outside the flags hoping to win the event. He came up .03 seconds short. But he did drop 1.47 seconds, earning a state and sectional cut with a time of 30.00

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Summary

So Bear appears to be heading into a different level of swimming from not only from Brett, but also potentially Bailey. While that is to be expected, I didn’t see it coming this quickly. Bear still looks soft with a decent amount of baby fat. He hasn’t hit that part of puberty where he builds a ton of muscle. Don’t get me wrong, he’s strong, but I think he still has a good bit of growing to do.

The coach is extremely pumped up about Bear and his chances at State. In fact he told us, ok, we have to keep him healthy and out of his own head (he has a tendency to be a bit of a hypochondriac – exaggerating pains – or at least not being able to differentiate between muscle pain, joint pain, and chest/asthma pain).

Now, there is a good possibility that he will flatline for a bit now, meaning there isn’t much more room for improvement. The taper for state and sectionals will be very important for him. I know he’s currently pumped up and working hard at practice, I have my fingers crossed this continues.

[Breeze]

General Update

I'm going to get an update on PB times with cut times posted to help you follow along.

[Breeze]

Swimming Article

Adding an interesting article I read today. I feel these articles provide a point of reference for the sport, and given that it this sport generally operates in obscurity, I thought it might be interesting if you are following along.


Do Elite Swimmers Peak Early?

Answer by Carly Geehr, former USA Swimming National Team Member


I'm going to assume you mean elite swimmers here, and not swimmers in general. Before I answer, I have to voice my disagreement with the assumption behind the question — that most elite swimmers peak young. Just look at the average age of the Olympic Teams over the past few quadrennia: A Demographic Shift: Ages of U.S. Olympic Swimmers. Swimmers now are going best times through their late twenties and early thirties. Yes, there are some swimmers who truly do peak very young (and they're seldom, if ever males) but by and large, the most successful swimmers enjoy long careers, far into their 20's, perhaps 30's, and in the very rare case (ahem, Dara Torres) beyond. As the question states, athletic abilities really do peak later than the teenage years.

I can definitely see how one would think that swimmers (particularly women) peak early, given the recent WRs broken by 16-year-olds, but just because you're breaking world records doesn't mean you're at your peak.Yes, you're faster than anyone else in the history of the world (wow!) but that in no way means you've gone and blown your whole God-given sports success allowance all in one go.

But to answer your question, I have a few reasons why athletes may "appear" to peak early — and I'm referring here to the United States, specifically, since that's where my relative expertise is.

Young athletes can rise to the top of the world heap. This mostly pertains to female swimmers, because men's swimming is much more of a power game - but swimming is one of those sports that isn't just about physical size and strength. For males, it's less often that you'll see a teenage phenom capable of competing with the world's best, but you do see it occasionally. Generally if you have great technique and endurance, things that you can really develop before you're ready to put any muscle on/hit a growth spurt, you can actually compete with the best (except in the truly power-dominated events). So, because of this, young athletes with the right blend of strengths can rise to the top, and in some cases break world records. But to echo what I said above, that doesn't necessarily mean they're peaking.

Freakishly young swimmers get a disproportionate amount of attention/hype. It's a storyline people love, for some reason. "16-year-old dominates the world." Wow! It's more compelling than "26-year-old dominates the world."

The training:reward ratio for the sport is absurd. Training consists of spending hours staring at a black line on the bottom of the pool every day. (Or, I guess, if you're a backstroker, the sun) Consider that most kids start swimming around age 8, and that's a LOT of hours by the time you're in your 20's. Continuing to swim past college (another point, below) requires the financial support to do so. Either you've got a full-time job and a deep, genuine passion for the sport - which is rare - or the incredible opportunity to support yourself with your swimming as a professional. The latter is rare, although not as rare as it used to be even a decade ago. The "average world-class swimmer" doesn't live like the average NBA player. If the incentives were different, I think you'd see a LOT more swimmers sticking it out later in life. As it is, I'm really impressed with the number of post-graduates still swimming, and I have to think it's in part because of the assistance you can get from USA Swimming as a member of the National Team and the rise of very strong post-graduate programs around the country. In any case, after you're done with college, into your peak years as an athlete, it's really, really difficult to justify continuing. You might actually hit your peak as a swimmer in your late 20's, but if you can't continue in the sport due to financial reasons or just lack of resources (like a great post-grad program nearby), then your peak is artificially shifted forward a few years. If we're going back several decades, though, there wasn't a whole lot of support for college swimming, especially women's swimming. Once you got through high school, there just wasn't anywhere to go.

The NCAA. NCAA swimming is done in short course yards. All the international competitions that matter are done in long course meters. They're basically two different sports. So you spend 4 years focusing on dominating in short course (with brief 3-month summer interludes of long course competing) and, believe it or not, that turns most people into really great short course swimmers — with limited potential to extend their careers.You don't get sponsorships for winning NCAAs. You don't hear about the most successful college swimmers if you're not a college swimming fan (and if they aren't already on the world stage). You DO hear about the Olympic Gold Medalists and the World Record Breakers. There are certainly swimmers who compete at the highest levels in both college swimming and international competition, but they're actually quite rare. So, to the casual observer, I can see how it would appear that swimmers just kinda disappear when they hit college. There are some truly phenomenal college swimmers who just aren't as dazzling long course, where it "matters." Watch NCAAs and then come back and say that swimmers peak at 16!

Training environments necessarily change dramatically as you grow up. Here, I'm talking specifically about making the jump from a child prodigy to college and beyond. Some athletes who rise to prominence very young have a great relationship with their coach and club team, and then they have to make a decision when they graduate high school (or before). Go pro and give up swimming in college, or go to college and chance it with a new coach, new team, and totally new environment? You just never know what's going to work and what isn't. There was a slew of young female swimmers in the last decade who went pro in high school, and it went very poorly for them, curtailing what otherwise may well have been long and illustrious careers. This might be counter-intuitive, but there's a lot going on behind the scenes, and it's difficult to preserve what you had going on as a high schooler when you're older. The teenage stars who are able to keep performing at the highest levels find a training environment that works. It's a lot harder than it sounds.

Injuries happen. I talked about this a little bit here: 2012 Summer Olympics in London: What are the most common injuries in swimming? Injuries are certainly a factor in ending some careers prematurely — whether by an actual career-ending injury or by a condition that's worsened by swimming (backs and shoulders, I'm looking at you) that doesn't necessarily "force" swimmers into retirement, but "strongly encourages" it. As mentioned above, it's a LOT of hours of swimming. Some bodies weren't built to handle the day-in, day-out of the sport for decades. Mine sure wasn't. These days, though, lots of the older swimmers have figured out how to train in a sustainable way, so they can keep it up without getting injured. Pretty amazing.

So, I disagree that swimmers generally peak early, but there are some good reasons for the perception that they do. Plenty of factors conspire against keeping swimmers at the elite level throughout and after college. Some swimmers may indeed peak early, but there's usually something else going on behind the scenes.

[Breeze]

Gold Team Update

Received the following in an email yesterday, figured I'd share...



1) Jackie Hill, one of our stand-out CM National swimmers was recently ranked number 1 in the nation for her age group in the 200 breast. Great job Jackie!

2) Joining Jackie were two more swimmers from the CM National Group, Katherine and Caroline Aikins, all of whom attended their first ever Senior National Championship in North Carolina. Another Gold swimmer, Lauren Case, of our WS site, was the 18-U National Champion in both the 100 and 200 butterfly.

3) CM greatly contributed to our strong performance at SR State. Gold scored the most points ever, finishing third overall, with the male high point winner, and the runner-up female high point winner.

4) Overall, Gold had the highest percentage of best times of the major teams in the meet, thanks in large part to the strong swims of our CM SR and National Groups. Thanks to Charles and his staff for their hard work to help make this happen!

4) We had a large number of outstanding swims at the Marconi Invite last weekend! With these last two meets uploaded to the USA database, Chattahoochee Gold ends the calendar year ranked 22nd in the country - our highest year end ranking ever! We still have a lot of work to do, but I believe we’re on our way to becoming the best team in the country!

[Breeze]

Gold Practice Update

So the heater in the pool is broken again, apparently, the system will run for about a half an hour to an hour and then shut off. Because no one was at the facility over night the water temperature to dropped into the low 70s, and because the heater won't run consistently it never gets fully heated and barely makes an impact on the water temp before it shut off and the process has to restart.

It was so cold the coach actually pulled Brett out of the water on several occasions to allow him to warm up. In addition, he canceled the practice early for Brett and a very skinny older girl who was really struggling with the cold water.

After practice the coach found us and said he felt really bad for Brett. That with his build (read no body fat), he really couldn't handle the cold water well, and he felt like he was torturing the kid making him practice. He also informed us that it doesn't look like the facility will be able to get the heater repaired before the 29th. Also there will be no one present at the facility to manually restart the system, so he expects the water on Friday to be in the 60s - maybe even the low 60s. There is a distinct possibility the practice will be cancled.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by Breeze

General Update

I'm going to get an update on PB times with cut times posted to help you follow along.

Looking forward to this. Seems like the young ones have dozens of cuts -- one in nearly every event.

Can you give a recap also on where they are as far as age groups and how they are already looking for state and sectional cuts at the next age group level, whenever the aging-up will happen?

Great read as always!

[Breeze]

High School Meet - Holiday Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center

This is a big High School Meet the following schools will be competing:

Creekview
Flowery Branch
Grady
Holy Innocents' Episcopal
Lambert
Meadowcreek
Mount Pisgah Christian
North Atlanta
North Oconee
North Hall
Pinecreast Academy
South Forsyth
Wayne County

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Brett

Given all the time off for the high school team, making predictions here could be hard. Year round swimmers should stay close to their seeds, but non-year rounders who are fast, may experience a drop off due to time out of the water during the holiday. Brett will be swimming the following events:

500 Free - 5:45.55 - Seeded 5th - my guess is he adds time, due to being out of the water for exams and then the broken water heater. He's been good about going since Christmas, but I don't think he's gotten back into pre-taper shape yet. I think he'll end up 7th. The 6th seed is right on his heels and there is a strong swimmer who's name I recognize that is entered with a NT.

100 Breast - 1:14.51 - Seeded 15th - Did better this time recently, but I don't expect him to move up in seeding, as the 14th seed is a 1:13 low...

[Breeze]

Personal Bests/Cut Times Update

Bailey

Here are her times compared to the State Cut standards up to age 14.

Stroke		Time		12-cut		13-cut		14-cut
50 FR		28.45		27.49		26.69		26.39	
100 FR		1:00.50		59.99		57.99		56.59	
200 FR		2:11.27		2:11.89		2:04.39		2:01.99	
500 FR		5:49.07		5:56.59		5:36.19		5:30.09	
1000 FR		11:55.91	12:37.19	11:37.29	11:26.99	
50 BK		31.82		32.09					
100 BK		1:07.32		1:08.39		1:05.39		1:03.79	
200 BK		2:26.53		2:28.59		2:20.69		2:18.49	
50 BR		41.48		36.99					
100 BR		1:25.03		1:19.29		1:14.79		1:14.09	
200 BR		3:05.42		2:52.59		2:41.79		2:39.09	
50 FL		29.71		30.39					
100 FL		1:05.52		1:09.09		1:04.99		1:02.79	
200 FL		2:23.72		2:45.39		2:29.19		2:21.69	
100 IM		1:09.28		1:09.89					
200 IM		2:27.39		2:28.89		2:21.49		2:18.99	
400 IM		5:13.79		5:24.19		5:01.59		4:56.49	

Note: Red times indicate a cut already achieved.

[Breeze]

Personal Bests/Cut Times Update

Bailey

Here are Bailey's times compared to the Sectional Cuts and her Ranking in that event.

Stroke		Time		12 Sec Cut	14 Sec Cut	Rank*
50 FR		28.45		27.79		26.19		68
100 FR		1:00.50		59.89		56.59		37
200 FR		2:11.27		2:10.19		2:02.29		30
500 FR		5:49.07		5:43.99		5:24.99		23
1000 FR		11:55.91	12:12.29	11:15.49	8 / 50
50 BK		31.82		31.79				30
100 BK		1:07.32		1:08.69		1:03.89		26
200 BK		2:26.53		2:29.19		2:17.49		23
50 BR		41.48		36.19				144
100 BR		1:25.03		1:18.29		1:13.09		71
200 BR		3:05.42		2:51.19		2:37.69		62
50 FL		29.71		30.49				19
100 FL		1:05.52		1:08.49		1:03.29		16
200 FL		2:23.72		2:37.79		2:22.19		7 / 43
100 IM		1:09.28		1:08.69				19
200 IM		2:27.39		2:27.69		2:19.49		26
400 IM		5:13.79		5:11.89		4:52.39		15 / 97

Note: Red times indicate a cut already achieved

*Rank - should be read as State rank /Southern rank / National rank. However there are a few items that need to be explained. First is the way the database for swimming is set up. If you search for a ranking the database will allow you to filter based on event, age, time frame, and location. So when searching the current season, anyone that swam that event while the age of the filter (in our case 12) registers, even if they are no longer 12. This means there are several girls that are currently 13 ranked ahead of Bailey in the rankings noted above (for instance I believe 4 of the 6 girls ahead of Bailey in the 200 Fly are all 13 already).

Also the Southern ranking noted above isn't the same as the ranking for the Sectionals meet, as the Southern Zone is divided into multiple sections and we will only compete against the Eastern Section of the Southern Zone (ESSZ).

[Breeze]

Personal Bests/Cut Time Updates

Bear

Bear's times compared to State Cut standards up to age 14.

Event		Time		12 – Cut	13 - Cut	14 - Cut
50 FR		27.18		27.89		25.69		24.49
100 FR		58.56		1:00.39		55.69		52.09
200 FR		2:05.16		2:13.09		2:00.99		1:54.19
500 FR		5:23.37		5:58.29		5:27.59		5:11.89
1000 FR		11:07.79	12:59.89	11:19.39	10:59.89
1650 FR		18:33.00	22:00.00	18.59.89	18:35.89
50 BK		34.00		32.39		
100 BK		1:09.18		1:08.99		1:03.49		1:00.49
200 BK		2:20.89		2:30.69		2:17.39		2:12.39
50 BR		41.62		37.29		
100 BR		1:25.61		1:19.49		1:12.89		1:09.69
200 BR		3:01.57		2:55.89		2:38.29		2:31.49
50 FL		30.00		30.79			
100 FL		1:05.04		1:10.99		1:03.29		59.59
200 FL		2:23.84		2:54.89		2:24.99		2:14.89
100 IM		1:08.51		1:09.99			
200 IM		2:23.50		2:30.29		2:18.69		2:11.99
400 IM		5:00.98		5:25.59		4:54.09		4:43.09

Note: Red times indicate a cut already achieved

[Breeze]

Personal Bests/Cut Time Updates

Bear

Bear's times compared to Sectional Cut standards.

Event		Time		12 Sec Cut	14 Sec Cut 	Rank*
50 FR		27.18		27.49		24.59		31
100 FR		58.56		59.99		53.19		25
200 FR		2:05.16		2:09.99		1:54.69		18
500 FR		5:23.37		5:45.69		5:12.09		5 / 46
1000 FR		11:07.79	12.34.89	10.48.49	3 / 12 / 57
1650 FR		18:33.00	21.20.39	18.26.99	2 / 10 / 43
50 BK		34.00		32.09				52
100 BK		1:09.18		1:09.29		1:00.49		32
200 BK		2:20.89		2:29.69		2:10.79		8 / 55
50 BR		41.62		35.79				101
100 BR		1:25.61		1:17.69		1:09.29		66
200 BR		3:01.57		2:49.39		2:29.79		30
50 FL		30.00		30.89				23
100 FL		1:05.04		1:08.99		59.69		16
200 FL		2:23.84		2:34.99		2:16.09		4 / 45
100 IM		1:08.51		1:09.19				23
200 IM		2:23.50		2:29.79		2:11.79		16
400 IM		5:00.98		5:23.69		4:39.09		8 / 47

Note: Red times indicate a cut already achieved

*Rank - should be read as State rank /Southern rank / National rank. However there are a few items that need to be explained. First is the way the database for swimming is set up. If you search for a ranking the database will allow you to filter based on event, age, time frame, and location. So when searching the current season, anyone that swam that event while the age of the filter (in our case 12) registers, even if they are no longer 12. This means there are several boys that are currently 13 ranked ahead of Bear in the rankings noted above.

Also the Southern ranking noted above isn't the same as the ranking for the Sectionals meet, as the Southern Zone is divided into multiple sections and we will only compete against the Eastern Section of the Southern Zone (ESSZ).

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Looking forward to this. Seems like the young ones have dozens of cuts -- one in nearly every event.

Can you give a recap also on where they are as far as age groups and how they are already looking for state and sectional cuts at the next age group level, whenever the aging-up will happen?

Great read as always!

Hope the updates above are what you were looking for. If you are interested in seeing something else, just let me know.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by Breeze

Hope the updates above are what you were looking for. If you are interested in seeing something else, just let me know.

Very helpful and interesting. Quite a portfolio the young ones are putting together. It seems a foregone conclusion that for the foreseeable future they can swim everything except their very weakest events at the state and perhaps sectional level.

What do you think their strategy will be for those meets? Swim everytjingn, a few, or just a couple?

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Very helpful and interesting. Quite a portfolio the young ones are putting together. It seems a foregone conclusion that for the foreseeable future they can swim everything except their very weakest events at the state and perhaps sectional level.

What do you think their strategy will be for those meets? Swim everything, a few, or just a couple?

We still have about 6 weeks before the state meet so I don't know yet what the plans will be in regards to what they swim. It is very possible that the coach protects certain events in hopes of a better finish, because it is possible for someone to have more cuts than they will be allowed to swim.

About the only thing I do know at the moment is the coach has already stated he won't have Bailey swim any of the distance freestyles. After watching her struggle to eat before the last day of the state meet in 2014, he understood the problem we face and that keeping her fresh and not allowing her to get overtired is important for her overall performances.

I promise I'll add details on what the plan is for the state meet when I find out.

[Breeze]

High School Meet - Holiday Invite - RESULTS

So South girls finished second, the boys third, and with no divers the team ended up 3rd overall...(though I'm not sure the having divers would have had much of an impact). There were several year rounders unavailable for South because of a year round meet for Dynamo.

Brett

Brett did end up in 2 relays, the 200 IM and 200 Free, and he did ok in this meet. He didn't get any personal bests in his individual events, but he pulls a pretty tough schedule when he swims the events he had this time. Here is why...he starts off in the first event the 200 IM, then he won't swim again until event 15, which is the 500 Free and the middle of the meet. As soon as he gets out of the water for that race, he has to line up for the 200 Free Relay, allowing him about 5 minutes of rest before he has to do his sprint free. Then he gets about 20 minutes of backstroke races to rest before he swims his breast. Pretty tight windows...

Here is how he did:

200 Medley Relay - Brett swam the breast leg and he posted a respectable 34.77. Unfortunately, the backstroker swam a 44 second split and the team was way behind early.

500 Free - 5:45.55 - Seeded 5th - Finished 5th...so a good swim, really wasn't pushed as he ended up having to swim in the slower heat, so there was no one to push him. He beat the second place finisher in the heat by over a minute, and beat the 3rd place finisher by 2 and half minutes. With a time of 5:46.12...he right on the same time he's been swimming in this event all season (but he can go faster...I think a 5:35 is very possible).

200 Free Relay - Was supposed to lead off the relay, but ended up anchoring so he could get a few extra minutes to catch his breath. He ended up with a 28.22, and was the fastest split of the 4 kids in the relay (in fact, he beat one of the kids splits in the A relay).

100 Breast - 1:14.51 - Seeded 15th - He was looking to get a 1:15.35, managed a 1:15.51. Just off of that cut time, and he'll have 2 more chances to get it (though we don't know if he'll get to swim Breast again or not). He had a poor dive that put him behind and he never made it up.

When it was all said and done, Brett earned the 3rd most points for boys on the team, and the 8th most overall for South. Very productive day for him...but he was still disappointed about his Breast time.

Hopefully, he'll improve on that this weekend.

[Breeze]

High School Swim Meet vs Forsyth Central & West Forsyth @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 1/10

Brett

#15 (d1/s1): B Open 500 Free (5:45.55Y )
#21 (d1/s1): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y ) - not really Brett's time...


Relay (Entered by Admin):
#1 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Medley Relay (Team B)
#17 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Free Relay (Team B) - Really wish the coach would put him in the 400 Free Relay so he'd get more time to rest following the 500 Free and before the 100 Breast...

[Breeze]

Gold Grand Prix Meet 3 @ Cherokee Aquatic Center - 1/10

So you are reading this correctly...we have 2 meets on the same day, so the wife and I will have to divide and conquer. Brett will not participate in this one in favor of the high school meet listed above. Here are what the twins are swimming…

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Bailey

#311A (d1/s1): G 11-12 100 Fly (1:05.52Y ) – Looking for some improvement in the fly, she’s been pretty flat of late.

#319A (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Back (31.82Y ) – Not much to say here. I expect similar times to the seed.

#341A (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Breast (3:05.42Y ) – Coach has been working with her on the breast, I hope there is a decent improvement here.

#359A (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Should be below 2:10...so anything above that is a disappointment in my opinion.

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Bear

#314A (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Fly (2:23.84Y ) – He’s been swimming this one well, not sure he’ll drop time again.

#320A (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Back (34.00Y ) – This will be a very quick turnaround from the 200 Fly (read - he'll be racing within minutes of finishing the fly - almost like interval training), and I doubt he’ll be ready to roll when the gun goes off. However, the seed time is old, and I expect he could still do better, even fatigued.

#342A (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Breast (3:01.57Y ) – See Bailey’s write up…because they are in the same boat.

#354A (d1/s1): B 11-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – He wants to be in the 57s…

[Breeze]

General Update

Both boys aren't feeling well. They both miss practice yesterday, and Bear stayed home from school today. Not sure how well either will swim tomorrow.

[Breeze]

General Update

So the phone app I use to remember the kids' times is down. They are in the middle of upgrading the system, which may be having an impact. Regardless, until this is fixed, I don't think I'll be able to do the results wrap up.

[Breeze]

High School Swim Meet – Winter Invitational - RESULTS

So this meet apparently evolved significantly from the time the schedule was released to the time the meet actually occurred. Originally, as noted above this was going to be a duel meet between 3 county teams. It ended up being a meet with 27 high schools in attendance.

This was a weird meet for Brett…I’ll explain below…

Brett

#1 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Medley Relay (Team B) – The meet started with Brett swimming the breast for the B medley relay team. He ended up swimming a split of 33.79, which would be a personal best if it wasn’t for the rolling start. Even if you add a .5 to the time, it would be a personal best. I thought this indicated he was going to have a good meet.

#15 (d1/s1): B Open 500 Free (5:45.55Y ) – I thought he might come out on this one and really post a good time. We had some discussions during the week about how he swims more than five 100s in practice on a 1:10 interval…and he makes the interval for all of them. This means he’s only swimming 5 seconds faster in the 500 than he does doing interval training in practice. However, he didn’t improve. In fact, this was the worst 500 he’s swum for the high school yet, posting a pedestrian 5:49.77. Still good enough for sixth place, but not a good swim. At this point I’m wondering if the poor swim was because he wasn’t feeling well and the longer event took its toll, or if he was saving himself for the 100 Breast.

#17 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Free Relay (Team B) – Almost immediately after swimming the 500, Brett had this relay. When his leg came up, he had a terrible dive (not sure why this keeps happening at this point in his swimming, but that’s another story), but as soon as he surfaced, it was obvious he was getting a good early grab on the water and really pumping the upper body. He finished with a split of 27.72, again a personal best if it had counted. Even if you add the .5 or so, it is still a PB – WITH THE BAD DIVE.

#21 (d1/s1): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y ) – Again, as a reminder the seed time is not Brett’s best. His best is a 1:15 mid in high school swimming and a 1:14 high in year round. He’s trying to get the 1:15:35 for the varsity letter cut…and – He didn’t. In fact, he swam poorly again – Finishing with a 1:16.13, again his worst swim for the high school this season. I had a good vantage point to watch this race, and it appeared to me that he was making the breaststroke and upperbody race, where it should be just the opposite. He admitted he was focused on the pull, and may have allowed his kick to lag a bit. He has to get back to the sharp snap kick that made him so good at Breast to begin with.

Not sure what was up with Brett – 2 excellent relay splits, 2 poor individual races. Hopefully, he’ll do better at the next, and his last high school meet in a couple of weeks.

[Breeze]

Gold Grand Prix Meet 3 – RESULTS

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Bailey

#311A (d1/s1): G 11-12 100 Fly (1:05.52Y ) – She remains flat…Adding a 1.2 seconds and finishing in a 1:06.72. She did win this event going away…but she needs

#319A (d1/s1): G 11-12 50 Back (31.82Y ) – Poor swim…added 1.39 seconds, finished second with a time of 33.21.

#341A (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Breast (3:05.42Y ) – Finally, a good swim…she dropped 6.33 seconds to post a personal best 2:59.09. Hopefully, this helps her confidence in breast and will improve her IMs.

#359A (d1/s1): G 11-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Horrible swim – added almost 8 seconds to her personal best time, finishing in a 2:19.06. Last time she swam that poorly in this even was Dec 2013…

Starting to get real concerned with Bailey’s progress this season…

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Bear

#314A (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Fly (2:23.84Y ) – So he didn’t drop time, and he didn’t add time either. Amazingly, he swam the exact same time as his seed, down to the hundredth of a second. 2:23.84.

#320A (d1/s1): B 11-12 50 Back (34.00Y ) – Nice improvement, as I expected. 32.75, and I’m sure it would have been better with more time to rest between events. Just missed a state cut – but probably doesn’t matter because I doubt he’d swim it at state anyway.

#342A (d1/s1): B 11-12 200 Breast (3:01.57Y ) – And like Bailey, who improved 6.33 seconds, Bear improved 5.07 seconds. Dropping to a 2:56.50 – this is less than a second from the state cut. Again not that he would swim it, but it could help his standing in the IMs.

#354A (d1/s1): B 11-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – Seems that his illness during the week finally caught up to him here. He added 3 seconds and finished with a 1:01.69.

[Breeze]

General Update

So just a bit of fun information. The twins came home from practice the other day pretty excited (especially Bear). It seems that Doc Blanchard's (Mr. Inside, Heisman Winning RB for Army in 1946) great granddaughter will be swimming with them starting next week.

Oh, and this girl's mother, apparently had Olympic Trial cuts as a swimmer...When she joins and I learn her name I'll add it here along with her times if you are interested.

[Breeze]

General Update

So the Gold team at our pool has made an adjustment to the coaching rotation for the Senior team's practices. Initially, Coach Todd handled the entire National and Senior swimmers, which is around 40 kids. That's too many for one person to provide adequate instruction. The first solution was to add Coach Cassie to handle some of the Senior swimmers. We'll this didn't go over well as Coach Cassie is 4th in the hierarchy of team coaches at the Cumming Pool. Recently, the team adjusted the assisting coach and moved Coach Andy (yes, the twin's coach and Brett's coach last year), to handle the Senior lanes for the first part of practice (until his team hits the water). This is a MAJOR improvement in instruction level, and Brett is thrilled. In fact, last night Brett said he's gotten more instruction from Andy this week, than he's gotten all year up until now. Some of the items he was told just yesterday include:

- Increase your reach on the freestyle to the point your shoulder touches your cheek

- Kick from the hip in backstroke (this is an old one, but Brett needs the reminders)

- And tighten your core on Breaststroke streamline...

The Breaststroke one is interesting because it ties in with my post regarding his poor kicking in the high school meet a few posts up. Coach Andy told Brett that initially he also thought Brett's kick had gotten lazy, but now he thinks it is more about the change in the stroke that Brett put in where he goes from streamline legs when pulling to streamline upper body when kicking (which is what he should be doing, and I had an explanation of this back during the summer league season, right before the county championship meet I think). What Coach explained to Brett is basically this...previously in your stroke, you were kicking your hands forward, and because of the dive forward while kicking your abs where tight due to the effort of driving the upper body down and forward, but now your upper body is already extended when you kick, so your abs are loose which is causing some fluctuation in your body position (up/down and left/right). He wants Brett to tighten his abs during the kick phase of the stroke, then relax for the pull in order to get full range of motion.

[Breeze]

SCAT Winter Invite @ GaTech - 1/17-18

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Bailey – Because Bailey already has more cuts than she can swim, she’s been working hard through each practice as the coach isn’t allowing her even the small taper many of the other swimmers going for cuts get. With this in mind, I’ll need to lower my expectations…

#1 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) – Wants to go Sub60 and get a state cut in this one.

#9 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Back (1:07.32Y ) – The PB seed time is from December, but I believe she can go faster, just not sure it will be at this meet.

#13 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Fly (1:05.52Y ) – Again hoping for signs of improvement. She wants to go 1:03 at State in a few weeks…would like to see at least a slight drop this weekend to show she’s prepped for it.

#47 (d2/s3): G 12-12 50 Fly (29.71Y ) – Like the 100, looking for a drop. Bailey wants to get in the 28s at State for reference.

#51 (d2/s3): G 12-12 50 Free (28.45Y ) – This time is much too close to her 50 Fly, she should be faster. I know I’ve said that before, but this one is frustrating. We’ve seen some signs of improvement in the free, but she hasn’t turned that corner yet. She knows she should be in the 27s. I don’t expect that here because of the lack of rest…but hopefully she’ll challenge for a PB.

#63 (d2/s3): G 12-12 200 Back (2:26.53Y ) – Hasn’t swum it since November…could get a PB here even without the rest coming in.

#69 (d2/s3): G 12-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Nice…the 200 fly will be the last event of the weekend, without the benefit of rest coming in…I don’t expect much here. The only disappointing thing here is her PB is from October, she’s swum it twice since then and has added significant time (2+ seconds) each time. She wants to go under 2:10 at State.

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Bear – Like Bailey, Bear is not getting any taper heading into this meet.

#2 (d1/s1): B 12-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – Bear will want a good swim in this one after his disappointing swim last week at the end of the meet.

#10 (d1/s1): B 12-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y ) – I think he can go faster than this. I think a 1:08 low is possible, but I don’t expect it at this meet.

#18 (d1/s1): B 12-12 50 Back (34.00Y ) – Real seed should be 32.75, and I think that is a little slow too…but if he swims in the neighborhood of his seed that will have been a good effort.

#52 (d2/s3): B 12-12 50 Free (27.18Y ) – Again anything 27 low will be a very good swim.

#56 (d2/s3): B 12-12 200 Fly (2:23.84Y ) – Just swam it last weekend…so I don’t expect much of a change here.

#66 (d2/s3): B 12-12 100 Breast (1:25.61Y ) – Hasn’t done this one since October, and he improved a good bit in the 200 Breast last week – so we may get an improvement here even with the fatigue of practice.

#70 (d2/s3): B 12-12 200 Free (2:05.16Y ) – See most of the rest of the write ups…Coach thinks this might end up being Bear’s sweet spot before all is said and done. He believes Bear can go even faster than his 2:05 seed time based on how he swims distances and how his sprints have improved but I don’t expect it this week, end of the meet with no rest coming in...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Brett – Not tapering either…but obviously for different reasons from the twins.

#4 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Free (1:01.12Y ) – I want to see him get in the 60 second range…not sure his new upper body stroke (described in a post above) is ready for a sprint, but maybe.

#8 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Breast (1:14.17Y ) – An improvement here would be huge for his confidence

#16 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Fly (1:20.24Y ) – He should be able to go 1:18, given that he’s done that in a couple of 400 IMs, but I never know with this stroke what he’s going to do. He just doesn’t trust himself in this one and he’ll over breath and he’ll tighten up rather than relax and swim.

#46 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:31.12Y ) – He should improve here. He’s only done it once this season, his fly is better, and his 400 IM indicates this should be a much faster time.

#54 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 50 Free (28.34Y ) – Went 27.7 in the high school meet relay with a bad dive. I’d love to see a similar time in this one, but we’ll have to see how the new arm motion holds up in a sprint.

#58 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – See the 100 Breast

#68 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) – He’s really struggled to get back to his seed time. After he swam the 2:08, he swam this event 2 times in year round meets, and 1 time in a high school meet and the closest he’s come is 2 seconds off. I expect around a 2:11…

[Breeze]

SCAT Winter Invite RESULTS


Bailey

#1 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) – Didn’t improve on the time from last month, but she came close, 1:00.68, which is showing some life. I do believe Sub60 is attainable soon - maybe the relay at State.

#9 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Back (1:07.32Y ) – Another add 1:08.01, but it is only fractional, and given my lowered expectations based on no taper, this is pretty good.

#13 (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Fly (1:05.52Y ) – She improved…only just 1:05.51…this may seem insignificant because it is just .01, but considering she’s been in the 1:06s, and in fact was a 1:06 high just last month, this seems like a good sign heading into State in a few weeks.

#47 (d2/s3): G 12-12 50 Fly (29.71Y ) – Like most of her races so far she’s just off her PB – 29.82

#51 (d2/s3): G 12-12 50 Free (28.45Y ) – Here she got a personal best time of 28.23, and she looks like a 27 low split in a relay is a possibility now, accepting that she won’t be swimming this event at State.

#63 (d2/s3): G 12-12 200 Back (2:26.53Y ) – She did get the PB – even though she slipped terribly at the start. In fact, she was in last place for the first 50, but steadily closed on the field and ended up second overall in the event and only a second behind the winner. I’m sure the slip on the start cost her between 2 and 3 seconds. Final time was a 2:26.12.

#69 (d2/s3): G 12-12 200 Free (2:11.27Y ) – Like most of the events…close to her PB, which is saying something under the circumstances – 2:11.96

Overall there were no real bad swims for Bailey. If she didn’t get the PB, she was close. I think she is positioned to do well at State now…I don’t think she’ll blow doors on this one, and I don’t think she’ll medal, but I do think we’ll see several personal bests and maybe a few significant drops in time.

[Breeze]

SCAT Winter Invite RESULTS


Bear

#2 (d1/s1): B 12-12 100 Free (58.56Y ) – Bear got is good swim he was looking for. In fact, it was a personal best time of 58.49.

#10 (d1/s1): B 12-12 100 Back (1:09.18Y ) – looked good except for the walls. Way to tentative going into them. Cost himself a good bit of time 1:11.11

#18 (d1/s1): B 12-12 50 Back (34.00Y ) – Finished with a 33.13…exact same issues as the 100…

#52 (d2/s3): B 12-12 50 Free (27.18Y ) – Given that I said in the pre-race write up “anything 27 low will be a very good swim” So a 27.19….01 off a PB is pretty good indeed.

#56 (d2/s3): B 12-12 200 Fly (2:23.84Y ) – I was wrong…he dropped 2.4 seconds to finish 2:21.44 – Very strong swim.

#66 (d2/s3): B 12-12 100 Breast (1:25.61Y ) – Managed another real strong swim here dropping 1.64 seconds to finish with a 1:23.97

#70 (d2/s3): B 12-12 200 Free (2:05.16Y ) – Real poor swim here. I think the weekend races, meet consecutive weekends, and the lack of taper finally wore him out. He swam a 2:09.50…very unusual for him in what is basically a mid-distance Freestyle.

Bear looked good in this meet as well. In fact, he had a couple of nice improvements, which under the circumstances are pretty impressive.

[Breeze]

SCAT Winter Invite RESULTS


Brett Breeze

#4 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Free (1:01.12Y ) – Got in the 60 second range…1:00.65. Nice swim here and it continues his slow improvement in this event.

#8 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Breast (1:14.17Y ) – Not only did he not improve, he added a good bit of time finishing with a 1:15.49.

#16 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Fly (1:20.24Y ) – Continues his slow improvement in this event. Opened the season with a 1:24.27 – he just swam a 1:18.17.

#46 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:31.12Y ) – Only a slight improvement, which was disappointing, but it was nice to see another drop 2:30.12.

#54 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 50 Free (28.34Y ) – 28.43 – and ok swim in this one, he stays in that mid 28 second range where he’s been all season.

#58 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Breast (2:37.34Y ) – Really bad swim here…2:43.51. First time out of the 2:37 – 2:38 range in months. Really disappointed following this swim. Still looks to me like he’s too quick into the pull and isn’t getting much out of his legs. To me the lack of leg drive is combined with the elimination of the glide portion of the stroke, but we’ll see how the coaches address this moving forward.

#68 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:08.68Y ) – Another bad swim, which leads me to believe that fatigue could be a major factor here and in the 200 breast. Finished with a 2:14.08.

Brett is a little too focused on the social portion of swimming, which is a frustrating thing in one way – because he isn’t doing what he needs to in order to post good swims (eating, drinking, focusing on what he needs to do during the swim). However, in other ways it is a true blessing, in that Brett was a kid that really struggled to make friends when he was younger. He was socially awkward and being physically small makes it even worse, so the fact that he has so many friends really makes me happy.

[Breeze]

High School Meet - County Championships @ Cumming Aquatic Center 1/24

So this will be the end of Brett's High School Season. The only other meet is the State Championships, which he doesn't have a qualifying time for (by the way, the qualifying times are very similar to the Senior State times for year round swimmers, so I didn't expect him to get the cut time).

Here is what he'll be swimming:


Brett

#15 (d1/s2): B Open 500 Free (5:45.55Y ) - Could do better, but not expecting it.
#21 (d1/s2): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y ) - Not really his seed time, his best in high school is a 1:15 mid, and his best year round is a 1:14 low. Not sure what to expect in this right now as he swam his breast very poorly last few times out.

Relay:
#1 (d1/s2): B Open 200 Medley Relay (Team C) - I'm guessing he'll get the breast let, we'll see...
#17 (d1/s2): B Open 200 Free Relay (Team C) - Same quick turn around from 500 Free to this relay.

[Breeze]

State Meet Update

So the order of events for the State Meet has been released:

Friday

200 IM
50 Free
200 Back
100 Fly
50 Breast
1000 Free


Saturday

200 Medley Relay
200 Free
100 Back
200 Breast
50 Fly
200 Free Relay
400 IM
400 Medley Relay


Sunday

400 Free Relay
100 IM
100 Free
200 Fly
100 Breast
50 Back
500 Free

All events except 500 Free, 1000 Free, 400 IM, 200 Breast/Fly/Back will be conducted as prelim/finals, requiring kids that qualify to swim in the morning prelims and again in the evening in finals. (the events listed in the exceptions will have the 20 fastest kids in those events, regardless of age, swim in the evening finals).

I’m noting this because it could play a part in what the coach decides to do with the twins and their events. He is already going to have some tough decisions determining what they should swim. For instance, Bear’s Friday schedule, doing a quick look it appears Bear would be seeded no worse than 8 in the 200 IM, 7 in the 200 Back, 8 in the 100 Fly and 2 in the 1000 Free, but he can only swim 3 events.

*Note: At least one of my kids has a qualification time in all events italicized above

[Breeze]

High School Meet - County Championships Center - RESULTS

Brett

#1 (d1/s2): B Open 200 Medley Relay (Team C) – Nice Breast leg for Brett swimming a 34 low…

#15 (d1/s2): B Open 500 Free (5:45.55Y ) - Didn’t do better, in fact he added 5 seconds to finish with a 5:50.68, but it really didn’t matter. He came in seeded 10 and finished 10 several seconds ahead of 11 and several seconds behind 9.

#17 (d1/s2): B Open 200 Free Relay (Team C) - Another good split in the relay with a 27.8 with only about 10 minutes rest from the 500.

#21 (d1/s2): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.50Y ) – So this was Brett’s last shot to meet the varsity letter cut standard of 1:15.35. He’d beaten this standard a couple of times already this season and he came up just an eye blink short a few weeks ago when he swam a 1:15.5. Unfortunately, he’s been really struggling with his breast and this meet was no exception. He opened with a 35 mid time in the first 50, which was not a good sign, and he came home to post a poor 1:16.88.

Brett’s failure to get the cut time was heartbreaking as he could really use some positive reinforcement from this sport he spends so much time working on. If the coach goes by the strict letter of the rules regarding earning a varsity letter, then Brett won’t get his. She might make an exception because Brett earned the tenth most points for all boys, despite the fact he missed 3 meets during the season, and he did yeoman’s work swimming the 500 in every meet he participated. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Overall, South finished 2nd in the county (even without the benefit of a dive team), losing to Lambert (who will challenge for a State Championship again this season). Next season South may be hard pressed to maintain second, as a number of solid male point earners, plus a Div 1 swimmer will be graduating, and it doesn't appear there are many kids in the pipeline ready to fill those shoes.

Just a quick follow up. Brett missed practiced on Friday because he was up studying for a test until after midnight on Thursday. To make up for this missed practice, we went to the pool on Sunday, and not only did he get a workout in, he really focused on areas where he was weak, including a good bit of fly, underwater strokes, backstroke starts, etc. I was really proud of him not only going, but using the time to address some areas where he needs work.

[Breeze]

State Meet Update


So the coach has released the initial plan for the kids at State. In his research on what events to put the kids in, his primary source of information was the top 10 times from the 2014 meet. He basically took the times at the meet and compared it to the seed time the kids have going into the events. While this is helpful, we have noticed a few things that we will be discussing with him before their schedule is actually finalized. Also, it looks like Bailey and Coach Andy have already talked about making a change that isn't noted in the schedule below, but will probably occur (I'll add details on that moving forward)

Here are what they are currently scheduled to swim:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

#1B (d1/s1): G 12-12 200 Medley (2:27.39Y)
#9B (d1/s1): G 12-12 200 Back (2:26.12Y)
#13B (d1/s1): G 12-12 100 Fly (1:05.51Y)
#33B (d2/s4): G 12-12 100 Back (1:07.32Y)
#41B (d2/s4): G 12-12 50 Fly (29.71Y)
#49B (d2/s4): G 12-12 400 Medley (5:13.12Y)
#71B (d3/s7): G 12-12 100 Medley (1:09.28Y)
#79B (d3/s7): G 12-12 200 Fly (2:23.72Y)
#85B (d3/s7): G 12-12 50 Back (31.82Y)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

#2B (d1/s1): B 12-12 200 Medley (2:23.50Y)
#14B (d1/s1): B 12-12 100 Fly (1:05.04Y)
#20B (d1/s1): B 12-12 1000 Free (11:07.79Y)
#30B (d2/s4): B 12-12 200 Free (2:05.16Y)
#42B (d2/s4): B 12-12 50 Fly (30.00Y)
#50B (d2/s4): B 12-12 400 Medley (5:00.98Y)
#76B (d3/s7): B 12-12 100 Free (58.49Y)
#80B (d3/s7): B 12-12 200 Fly (2:21.44Y)
#90B (d3/s7): B 12-12 500 Free (5:23.37Y)

[Breeze]

State Meet Update - Bailey


Ok, following up on the events so far here is what I can gather:


Bailey is in an absolutely loaded age group, which will make it hard for her to even earn points. I did a bit if research to determine where she stands in the events in question. It's a difficult process because I need to eliminate the kids that are going to age up into the 13/14 group before State, but I also have to identify the 11 year olds that will be 12 in mid-February as well. After completing my research, I have an estimate on the Event Rank coming into the meet, listed next to the event. The rank is not the seed, as we'll have to wait and see who actually swims the event, but it gives us a good reference point for discussion and strategy.

On the first day, she was originally schedule to swim the following:

200 Mdly (2:27.39Y) - Ranked 23
200 Back (2:26.12Y) - Ranked 17
100 Fly (1:05.51Y) - Ranked 14

However, the plan for day 1 is still up in the air. Bailey, surprisingly, expressed disappointment at not being put in the 1000. She apparently wants to swim it, in order to drop the 2 seconds needed for a Sectionals Cut. Ironically, the coach really wanted to put her in that event, because he felt she could earn some points, but he remembered the impact it had on her last year and didn't want to push it. The two have talked and I believe, based on the fact that Bailey wants to swim the 1000, and she has a chance to earn points by swimming that event, that the coach will put her in it. Now, I'm not sure which event he'll drop. Bailey indicated that she should drop the 200 Back, but I'm not sure that is the right play. In the 200 Back, currently, she is about 4 seconds from 10th place (which is the last spot that actually earns points). That's a good bit of time, but at State it isn't unusual to see significant drops. Moreover, she only has 6 people between her and a top 10 finish. In the 200 IM, she's 23rd, and shes 5+ seconds from the 10th seed. I'm not sure what Coach Andy will do, we'll have to wait and see. Just for reference here is how she stacks up in the 1000 Free:

1000 Free (11:55.91) - Ranked 10


In Day 2 this is what we are looking at:


100 Back (1:07.32Y) - Ranked 20
50 Fly (29.71Y) - Ranked 19
400 Mdly (5:13.12Y) - Ranked 11

So, despite the fact Bailey is a REALLY good flyer, she's way out of it in the 50. It would take a monumental drop for her to even sniff the top 10. In the 400 IM though, she'll be in the B final (because the top 20 times regardless of age get to swim finals in the event). She also could make the top 10 here - it could all come down to her breaststroke leg, which is improving, just don't know if it has improved enough.

The last day Bailey has her best change to finish top 10. Here is the schedule:

100 Mdly (1:09.28Y) - Ranked 18
200 Fly (2:23.72Y) - Ranked 6
50 Back (31.82Y) - Ranked 27

Again, Bailey has a top 20 time in the 100 IM, but it won't be good enough to score. Her 200 fly, like the 400 IM will be swum at finals, and she should stay in the top 10. To earn a medal, she'd need to cut 3 full seconds to swim the same time as the girl seeded third (not counting any improvement that swimmer might have).

Note: The relays have not be added into this schedule yet, as we are awaiting official word, but Bailey is the top 12 year old on the team and will undoubtedly be swimming fly in both the medleys and probably leading off both of the free relays.

[Breeze]

State Meet Update - Bear

I went through the same routine with him to determine event rank, and here is what I've come up with:


Day 1, he is currently scheduled to swim the following:

200 Mdly (2:23.50Y) - Ranked 8
100 Fly (1:05.04Y) - Ranked 9
1000 Free (11:07.79Y)- Ranked 2

Like Bailey though, I'm not sure this is what he'll ultimately end up swimming. While the rankings look good for all 3 events, the 200 back is also on the first day. To determine which events to enter the kids in, Coach Andy looked at their times and compared them to the times that scored in 2014. In which case, the events listed above make since. However, the 200 back appears to be much slower coming into this year than last, and Bear is actually ranked 3rd. I believe that he will be switching either the 200 Medley or the 100 fly for the 200 back, just not sure which one. For point of reference, here is Bear's 200 Back:

200 Back (2:20.89)- Ranked 3


In Day 2 Bear has the following:

#30B (d2/s4): B 12-12 200 Free (2:05.16Y) - Ranked 9
#42B (d2/s4): B 12-12 50 Fly (30.00Y) - Ranked 14
#50B (d2/s4): B 12-12 400 Medley (5:00.98Y) - Ranked 3

If Bear is going to earn a medal on Saturday, he'll need to swim his breast leg well in the 400 IM. If he does that, 3rd place is certainly possible.


Day 3, is a big day for Bear:

#76B (d3/s7): B 12-12 100 Free (58.49Y) - Ranked 15
#80B (d3/s7): B 12-12 200 Fly (2:21.44Y) - Ranked 1
#90B (d3/s7): B 12-12 500 Free (5:23.37Y) - Ranked 2

2 more chances to earn medals. While he is seeded first in the 200 fly, it is very possible there are several fast kids who got their cuts in the event early, and just haven't swum it again, meaning we could see some significant drops in time from swimmers down lower in the rankings. Regardless though, he's possitioned in a good spot for both the 200 fly and 500 free.

I haven't listed relays for Bear either, but like Bailey, he'll most likely swim the fly in both medleys and he'll probably swim the 3rd leg in the free relays. Unlike Bailey, all 4 of Bear's relays will have a decent shot at finishing in the top 3 and earning a medal.

[Breeze]

Brett Update

With the State Meet coming up, there will be a good bit of information on the twins, but none on Brett. Given that his short course season is for all intents and purposes over (1 more meet in April), I thought I’d take a second to look back on it.

While Brett didn’t have massive improvements this season, the increased workload, and his commitment to going to practice, even when he has to get up at 4:30 three days a week, did have a payoff. In the 2013-2014 season, Brett managed six BB Times, in 2014-2015 he has 7. While that doesn’t sound like a huge improvement it is misleading, and here is why. Last year, Brett’s BB times were in:

200 Free
500 Free
1000 Free
1650 Free
200 Breast
400 IM

This year he earned his BB times in:

100 Free
200 Free
1000 Free
100 Breast
200 Breast
200 IM
400 IM

That’s 3 new events that he didn’t have BB times in from last year (100 Free, 100 Breast, 200 IM). The reason he doesn’t have BB times in the 500 Free and the 1650 is because he didn’t swim them this year. One unfortunate aspect of the coaching change on the Senior Team, is that Coach Todd doesn’t push the kids to swim all the events the way Coach Neil did. I have no doubt, based on last year’s times, and the fact Brett has BB times in the 200 and the 1000 that he would have earned BB times in the events he failed to swim this season. If he had earned those two BB times, he'd have 9 total, that's a significant jump in 1 year.

Clearly, he still has work to do, but this is a positive sign, and I continue to hope that he’ll grow and develop into a competitive swimmer. I honestly believe he can get some of his times into the A range on the motivational scale (Distance Frees, Breast, and IMs). I don’t expect it during long course, but maybe he can get one by next season, and if he continues to work hard a few by fall of 2016.


*Note: I believe I’ve mentioned this previously, but when I refer to BB or A times, I’m using the USA Swimming National Motivational Times.

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by Breeze

General Update

So just a bit of fun information. The twins came home from practice the other day pretty excited (especially Bear). It seems that Doc Blanchard's (Mr. Inside, Heisman Winning RB for Army in 1946) great granddaughter will be swimming with them starting next week.

Oh, and this girl's mother, apparently had Olympic Trial cuts as a swimmer...When she joins and I learn her name I'll add it here along with her times if you are interested.

So the mother spoke to the team last night...and she was a pretty dominate swimmer for about a 3 year period, including holding several records. Here is an article on the her in case you are interested.

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/new...d-for-another/


*Note: Her daughter, who isn't a year round swimmer yet, will start after Spring Break, when the current team isn't in peak shape.

[Breeze]

High School Swimming - State Meet Results

Even though Brett didn't qualify, I figured I'd take a minute to fill in the state meet results just to provide some closure on that season:

In the Georgia 6A Clasification:

Women

Lambert - Won the State Championship by 78 points in a dominating effort (3rd year in a row, I believe)
South - Finished 16th
West - Finished 19th
North - Finished 31st

Men

Lambert - Finished 8th
South - Finished 16th
North - Finished 21st
West - Finished 26th


In the 1A to 5A Meet:

Women

Central - Finsihed 38th
Pinecrest - Finished 48th

Men

Central - Finished 28th
Pinecrest - DNQ

As for South, they had the following top 10 finishes:

Boys 200 Medley Relay
Bayley Frierson (Gold Swimmer) - 200 Free - Finished 7th
Blake Atmore (the guy who signed to swim at UGA at the beginning of the season) - 100 Fly - 4th
Bayley Frierson - 500 Free - 3rd place
Blake Atmore - 100 Back - 3rd place

[Breeze]

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship @ Georgia Tech – 2/13-2/15

The initial psych sheet has been released, so now we have a better idea of where the twins will be seeded. Here is how things currently breakdown:

Bailey

200 IM – 17
100 Fly – 15
1000 Free – 9
100 Back – 24
50 Fly – 21
400 IM – 13
100 IM – 20
200 Fly – 4
50 Back – 34


Bear

200 IM – 9
200 Back – 5
1000 Free – 2
200 Free – 13
50 Fly – 17
400 IM – 3
100 Free – 17
200 Fly – 2
500 Free – 3

I’ll get more in detail as we get closer to the event. If you have any questions or are curious about anything (stroke, another swimmer, etc.) just ask.

[Breeze]

General Update

So Brett started feeling bad this weekend. Just took him to the doctor and he has strep. Now we have to try and keep the twins from getting it right here before State...

[Breeze]

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship @ Georgia Tech – 2/13-2/15

The State Meet Dinner is tonight, so we'll find out about relays. As I mentioned before I expect Bailey and Bear to both be on the A relays in all 4 cases. In the Medley's I expect they will both swim fly, and in the frees I expect Bailey to lead off and Bear to go 3rd.

[Breeze]

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship @ Georgia Tech – 2/13-2/15

So my assumptions were right...both kids will be in all 4 "A" relays, and both will swim the Fly legs in the medley relays. I'll break down how the relays look shortly.

[Breeze]

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship - 11/12 Girls Relay Overview

Now that the relay announcements are official, I’ll take a minute to breakdown the kids in the relays and their outlook for the State Meet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Girls 200 Medley Relay

C. Salmon - Back
Julia K. - Breast
Bailey - Fly
Reagan - Free

I’m pretty sure none of Bailey’s teammates have been mentioned before in this thread, so there is very little point of reference for you. Here is what I can tell you:

C. Salmon – backstroke personal best – 31.94
A few years back Gold hired a coach away from Atlanta Swim Academy (ASA) to run one of the other facilities, and when he came over several girls followed him. I don’t know for sure that Salmon was one of them, but the timeline fits. She’s improved a great deal this season, so much so, that I didn’t even have her earmarked as someone to watch for making this relay team. She is currently seeded 38 in the 11/12 50 yard backstroke.

Julia K – breaststroke personal best – 35.03
Julia is another former ASA swimmer that moved over with her coach. Unlike Salmon, she was immediately noticeable, as she was strong swimmer the day she joined. Julia is a smaller girl, even smaller than Bailey, but she and Bailey compare favorably. Bailey is generally slightly faster than Julia in 100 Back and Free, but Julia is slightly faster in the 50s of those same strokes. Bailey is obviously much stronger in the fly, but Julia is much stronger in the breast. Julia is currently seeded 8 in the 11/12 50 yard breaststroke.

Bailey – butterfly personal best – 29.71
Just adding this for single point of reference (obviously you could look it up above, but figured this would be easier). Currently seeded 21 in the 11/12 50 yard butterfly.

Reagan – freestyle personal best – 28.75
Reagan is a swimmer that has bounced around between teams. She joined Gold (her third team) at the start of the short course season. She swims with Bailey at the Cumming facility, and she’s been slowly working her way into the established group of girls that Bailey hangs out with. She is a sweet girl, but her parents are bit more protective than the rest of the group, which makes it hard for her to fit in from a time and activity standpoint. Plus she’s a little less mature because of the coddling, which is also currently a hindrance to fitting in. However, I think it is just a matter of time before she’s one of the gang. One more note that might be interesting to you - Reagan apparently has a crush on Brett (of course Bailey comments, “Don’t get too excited, Reagan has a crush on a lot of the boys on the team”). Reagan just missed out on being the breaststroker in this relay. Unfortunately, her seed time isn’t good enough to swim the 50 Free in the state meet.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – as a whole, the Gold relay is mediocre. Their seed time will probably be somewhere around a 2:05.43. Coming into the 2014, that seed time would have put them 9. For point of reference, Last year’s A team, which finished 7, came in with a 2:03.90, and finished with a 2:01.72. Last year’s B team came in with a 2:06.37 and finished with a 2:05.16 (finished 10 overall).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Girls 200 Free Relay

Bailey – 28.23
Julia – 28.19
Jordan – 28.93
Reagan – 28.75

Jordan
The only name here that wasn’t introduced above is Jordan, and I have to admit I don’t know much about her. She has an older sister, Taylor, who was making huge improvements last year, but she’s 13. Jordan is only 11 and she’s on the Sectionals team (not Sectionals Advance where Bailey and Bear swim), so I don’t have any information on her from the kids. I can tell you that she is swimming a full 9 events at State, so this is a name I’ll expect to hear more of moving forward.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – on the whole, this team is very poor. Of the 4 girls swimming this event, none met the 12 year old cut time of 27.49. Only Jordan will be swimming this event at State, because she did reach the cut time for 11 year olds. Their overall seed time will be around a 1:54.10, which would have placed them 13 last year. The A team from 2014, which finished 5, came in with a 1:49.50, and the B team came in with a 1:54.58. So this years A team doesn’t even reach the pre-event status of the B team from last year.

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Girls 400 Medley Relay

Salmon – Back – 1:07.89 – currently seeded 27 in the individual 100 back
Julia – Breast – 1:16.59 – currently seeded 8 in the individual 100 breast
Bailey – Fly – 1:05.52 – currently seeded 15 in individual 100 fly
Reagan – Free – 1:01.90 – DNQ in the 100 Free

These names undoubtedly look familiar. It’s the exact same kids and they are swimming the same strokes in the 400 as they swam in the 200.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – As you’ve probably guessed, Bailey’s relay team isn’t going to be very good here either. Seed time looks like it will fall around a 4:31.90. For reference – in 2014 that would have put them 8. Last year’s A was a 4:27 coming in, and the B was a 4:33.

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Girls 400 Free Relay

Bailey – 60.50
Julia – 61.93
Reagan – 61.90
Sarah B – 63.04

Sarah B
Unfortunately, I can provide no insight on this swimmer, other than the fact she is 11. She is one of the many that I’m totally clueless about.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – Like the 200 Free Relay, none of the girls actually got the 100 Free cut time for 12 year olds, and just like the 200 Free, the fourth girl, this time Sarah, did get the cut for 11 year olds and will swim it at the meet. Combined seed time looks like a 4:07.37. Would have placed them 10 in 2014. In fact the B team was 10 with a seed time of 4:07.79.


*Note: Relays are subject to change at any time.

[Breeze]

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship - 11/12 Boys Relay Overview

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Boys 200 Medley Relay

Nicklas Bohn - Back
Griffin. - Breast
Bear - Fly
Nate – Free

Here is a quick breakdown of Bear’s teammates:

Nicklas Bohn – backstroke personal best – 30.56
Nicklas is a kid that has been mentioned previously in this thread. I did a quick search and found a reference to him as Bohn back at post 309. He’s a good kid, who is having an extremely strong season. In fact, he’ll be one of Bear’s main competitors during the weekend. Though they practice together Nicklas doesn’t really hand out with Bear and their group, he identifies more with the next group of boys who are 11 or just turning 12. Nicklas is one of the best backstrokers in the State, having won at least 1 State Championship in one of the back events last year. The interesting thing here is his seed time of 30.56. He swam that time way back in September, which might lead you to believe he could go much faster than that now, but he swam it again in January and failed to be his personal best. I’m hoping the swim in January was hindered by the team ramping up for the State meet, and that with a taper he’ll go much faster. The interesting thing is that Nicklas isn’t swimming this event at State. His personal best time would be good enough to seed him 13 as-is, but he is instead focused on more distance events.

Griffin – breaststroke personal best – 35.65
I’m not sure if Griffin has been mentioned previously. He’s another great kid, and he’s one we interact with from time to time. In fact, Griffin was on one of Bear’s GRPA State Relay over the Summer. I looked back and his name wasn’t mentioned in the write ups, which tells me I’m going to need to start being more detailed for posterity and reference purposes moving forward. Griffin is one of the kids that I was referencing above when describing the kids that Nicklas identifies with. Griffin just did get the breaststroke leg in this relay, beating out second place by a couple tenths of a second, and Bear is very happy about that (more on this later). Even though Griffin is just 11, he’s seeded 15 in the 11/12 - 50 Breaststroke.

Bear – butterfly personal best 30.00
Bear’s best time seeds him 17 in the 11/12 – 50 fly.

Nate – freestyle personal best – 25.36
I looked back through the thread and didn’t see a mention of Nate anywhere, which surprised me (and again points our the fact I need to be more detailed). He’s a kid that swims at one of the other facilities, but Bear likes him a lot and they interact regularly during meets. We initially met Nate during our first Sectionals Meet in Greensboro a few years back. He’s become an extremely strong swimmer, especially in the Freestyles. In the 50 Free Nate’s time is good enough to seed him 4.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – As you can tell from the individual seeds, the outlook for the boys is much brighter than the girls. In fact, I calculate the A team’s seed time to be around a 2:01.57. Last year’s A team, which consisted of Bear’s buddies Tommy and Riley as well as Nate as an 11 year old, came in with a seed time of 2:02.71 – and managed to swim a 2:00.03 and finish 4. Because it looks like this team will be seeded high, and have a shot to medal, I’ve done some preliminary research into both Swim Atlanta and Dynamo, and from what I can tell the Swim Atlanta A team will come in with an amazing 1:55.08, and the B team should be around 2:02.96. As for Dynamo, their A team calculates to 1:56.82, and the B team 2:02.55. So the race for the Bronze could be VERY INTENSE! Glad we have Nate as anchor trying to swim down the other Freestylers…

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Boys 200 Free Relay

Nate – 25.36 – seeded 4
Nicklas – 26.28 – not swimming but would be around 9
Bear – 27.18 – not swimming but would be 23
Jack A – 27.39 – seeded 27

Jack A
Three of the names above are the same as the 200 Medley Relay (and they will be the same throughout in case you were wondering), Jack A is the only new one. Jack is another up the kids that Nicklas hangs out with. In this case Jack comes from a swim family. His two sisters are on the National Team for Gold and will be looking at good Division 1 scholarships. Jack has just started to hit his stride in swimming, improving significantly the past year plus. In the 50 Free for instance, he started the season with a 29.96, and his 27.39 time is from December. I’m hoping he’ll be able to drop more time following the taper. My only concern here is that he’s not in Bear’s group for workouts and I never hear his name mentioned in practice. I’m assuming he’s going regularly, if not, he won’t touch his personal best.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – The seeds listed again give you pretty good insight into this team’s chances. Last year the A Relay (again containing Tommy, Riley, and Nate) came in with a seed time of 1:48.95 and ended up swimming a 1:44.96, finishing third and earning the bronze medal. This year, Bear’s team will come in with seed time around 1:46.21. Again with the impressive seed time, I’ve looked into the two juggernaut teams to see how they will probably line up. Swim Atlanta’s A Team looks like it will come in with a 1:47.18 and the Dynamo A Team appears to be a 1:46.31. Relays are hard to predict because there are a number of variables in place that influence the result, but again, Bear’s relay will have a shot to medal.

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Boys 400 Medley Relay

Nicklas Bohn – Back - 1:03.75 – currently seeded 5
Grant M – Breast – 1:16.86 – currently seeded 14
Bear – Fly – 1:05:04 – not swimming the event – would be seeded around 11
Nate – Free – 53.29 – currently seeded 1

Grant M
Grant M has been mentioned in this thread in the past, but he was referred to as Grant 2. I really like most of the kids that Bear swims with, however, this isn’t one of them. A few years ago, Bear really tried to befriend Grant, but it didn’t work out. Grant was high maintenance, disrespectful, mean, and completely self-absorbed. Earlier in the 200 Medley I commented that Bear was very happy Griffin slipped into the Breast leg, that’s because Bear doesn’t want Grant on his relay, and it isn’t a personal thing, where Bear doesn’t like Grant and that’s why he doesn’t want to swim with him. If Grant is the fastest swimmer, and the team can count on him, then Bear’s all for him swimming. However, the team counting on him is the part that is concerning. For reference…during one of the state meets recently, Grant was beaten in his breaststroke event. Shortly after that race he was supposed to swim in a medley relay. He ended up swimming, but his 100 split was OVER 7 SECONDS SLOWER THAN HIS PERSONAL BEST!!! He clearly didn’t want to race that event, and so he didn’t try, screwing it up for the other 3 kids he was swimming with. I was in the stands at the time, and it was obvious he had mailed it in. This is one of those cases where I hope one of the other Breaststrokers on the Gold team beats him in the 100 Breast race so they’ll change the relay.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – The strong core of Nate, Nicklas, and Bear again has this relay positioned to compete for a medal. There seed time coming in should be around a 4:18.94, a good 10 seconds or so faster than the 2014 A team, who finished in fourth with a time of 4:23.72. The Swim Atlanta team looks like it will be a 4:10.89 with the B team looking like a 4:24.09. Dynamo looks like a 4:18.41 with the B team a 4:26.23. Again it’s going to be a tight a fun event for the Gold relay.

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Boys 400 Free Relay

Nate – 53.29 – seeded 1
Nicklas – 56.75 – seeded 8
Bear – 58.49 – seeded - 17
Andrew – 59.74 – not swimming this event, but would be seeded around 27

Andrew
This is another kid that I pull really hard for. He is a great kid with a super personality, and his dad is an extremely nice guy, who’s always very complementary of Bailey and Bear. Andrew is a smaller kid, that works very hard. Most of his events are the more difficult ones (distance frees, 400 IM, 200 fly). He came on strong with the sprints late to get on this relay. The 100 Free falls after the 400 Free relay, so it isn’t likely he’ll lose his spot, but if Jack A has a strong meet, and especially if he has a strong 50 free and 200 free relay, the coaches might make the switch.

Gold’s A Relay Outlook – So the seed time for the relay looks like it’ll be about 3:48.00. For point of reference, the State Record in this event is a 3:40. I don’t expect this team to drop 8 seconds and challenge the state record, but it does illustrate how strong they are. However, the Gold team isn’t a shoe in to even win the event. Swim Atlanta’s A team will be seeded with a 3:48.08 and Dynamo’s A team is coming in around a 3:52.66. Another exciting race to look forward to!

*Note: Relays are subject to change at any time.

[Breeze]

2015 Georgia Age Group State Championship @ Georgia Tech – 2/13-2/15

So the final psych sheet has been released and there are few changes to report (though I have to admit most of the changes are from me taking the time to remove 11 year old's seeded above the twins out of the count)

Bailey

200 IM – 16
100 Fly – 14
1000 Free – 12
100 Back – 21
50 Fly – 19
400 IM – 12
100 IM – 20
200 Fly – 4
50 Back – 27
200 Medley Relay - 10
200 Free Relay - 13
400 Medley Relay - 8
400 Free Relay - 11


Bear

200 IM – 8
200 Back – 4
1000 Free – 2
200 Free – 10
50 Fly – 12
400 IM – 3
100 Free – 13
200 Fly – 2
500 Free - 3
200 Medley Relay - 3
200 Free Relay - 2
400 Medley Relay - 3
400 Free Relay - T1