Swim Like A Champion (a real life journal)

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Interesting to see Pinecrest fielding a team. (cause I know the gap in school sizes between them and the others)

edit to add (for those who are unfamiliar): I dare say that the senior class at the other schools is larger than the gr 9-12 population at Pinecrest.

Jon, you're absolutely right with regards to Pinecrest. Actually, to be honest you are understating the small size of the school. In fact, the entire PreK to 12th grade population is about the same as South's graduating class. Pinecrest has about 250 high school students, so at times when they have good swimmers that are in middle school they allow them to swim varsity. In all there were 27 swimmers on their team (for comparison purposes South is fielding 80+ after cuts), which is a pretty good number but a large majority of those are just there because the team doesn't cut swimmers. They pop up in quite a few county meets for convenience purposes I'm sure.

[Breeze]

Brett - College Swimming

This season has rejuvenated some of Brett's love of swimming. I believe there are several reasons for this:

1. He really does love swimming even if he isn't especially gifted
2. He is just swimming high school practices 3 times a week not 20 hours a week with Gold...and he is much happier with a bit a free time and more time to get homework finished
3. Because he's not on Gold he's not comparing himself to his friends (who are much better swimmers) and that allows him to simply enjoy the sport a not feel self conscious about his ability.

Brett is enjoying swimming so much that he emailed the coach from Emory and Henry College trying to set up a visit. I don't know that he'd go to school there, but he's interested enough to investigate it.

[Breeze]

Georgia Senior Short Course Championships @ GaTech - Dec 8-10

Bailey

# 9 (d1/s1): W Open 100 Fly (1:01.25Y Approved) - despite swimming poorly leading into state last year, Bailey just missed a personal best in this event. She's been stronger heading into State in 2017, I hope that translates into a PB swim. She could really use one!
# 17 (d2/s4): W Open 200 Fly (2:13.79Y Approved) - she hasn't been as close on this one in a while. If she can get within a second it'll probably be good, though she won't be happy with it.

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Bear

# 8 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (1:48.87Y Approved) - just dropped a couple of seconds in this one last month, so I don't expect a big drop here. If he can get in the 1:47s he will be doing good.
# 12 (d1/s1): M Open 400 Medley (4:18.88Y Approved) - this event has been very poor this year. Not sure why but his times in the 2 times he swam it were 10 full seconds off his personal best. He'll have to really be on to drop time in this event.
# 18 (d2/s4): M Open 200 Fly (2:00.22Y Approved) - another event that has been difficult for Bear this season so far. He's added several seconds over his personal best from Age Group state in February...I'd like to see him get under 2 minutes but I'm not expecting it.
# 26 (d2/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:52.63Y Approved) - He already swam a 4:51 at a high school meet untapered and coming directly out of his second practice of the day. He should drop here, if he doesn't he's going to be very upset.
# 36 (d3/s7): M Open 200 Medley (2:03.83Y Approved) - only swam this 1 time this season, so no idea what to expect. If his 400 is any indication though he might struggle to drop time.
# 38 (d3/s7): M Open 1000 Free (9:55.65Y Approved) - - hasn't swum this since he broke the team record, and he hasn't done the 1650 either. However, his 4:51 swim at the high school meet should be a sign that he's ready to drop time in the distance freestyles. I'd like to see him approach 9:50...but any drop will be good.

[Breeze]

Georgia Senior Short Course Championships - RESULTS


This was one of the strangest meets we've ever had. It ranks right up there with the Summer Long Course Championships in Savannah when the HazMat team was called out. Snow started falling early during the event, and continued coming down most of the day. This caused the meet organizers to move finals the first day up an hour, and to eventually move the start times for Saturday and Sunday back until about 1 PM and eliminate the prelim/finals aspect of the last 2 days of competition due to time constraints and concerns about the roads.

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Bailey

# 9 (d1/s1): W Open 100 Fly (1:01.25Y Approved) - Bailey was able to get a personal best, but it wasn't as much of a drop as she would have liked. She only managed to drop .16 seconds to a 1:01.09. I tried telling her that it was good get a best time regardless of how small the improvement, but she only begrudgingly agreed I was right...

# 17 (d2/s4): W Open 200 Fly (2:13.79Y Approved) - after only a slight increase in the 100, I didn't expect much here and while she swam better than she has been in this event for quite a while, she only managed a 2:15.03, which is about 1.25 seconds off her personal best...

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Bear - let me start by saying that my preview write ups were my honest assessment of what I expected Bear to do and let me admit that I grossly underestimated the impact of his taper...

# 8 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (1:48.87Y Approved) - Bear opens his meet by swimming a personal best 1:45.91...and he goes from 67th seed to 36th place and qualifies for the D final...

# 12 (d1/s1): M Open 400 Medley (4:18.88Y Approved) - In the 400 IM he opened with a 57 second fly, followed by a 1:04.58 second back a pretty solid leg only 4 seconds off his personal best in the second leg. The breast leg was also about 4 seconds off his personal best at 1:15.34, and he finished strong in 54.56. Combined he swam a 4:11.59 and moved from 33 seed to 16th and earned a spot in the B final.


Finals was not a good one for Bear. Due to the weather he was late getting something to eat, and he didn't get a good warm up in. All this resulted in a 200 Free time of 1:48.62 and a 400 IM time of 4:20.93. I can't really tell you how he felt about that evening, because we didn't even stay for the 400 IM swim. We left him with the coach and headed home because it was dark, still snowing and we were concerned about the roads.


# 18 (d2/s4): M Open 200 Fly (2:00.22Y Approved) - After his bad swims at finals there was a moments hesitation that he might not be as sharp on the second day but he started by going 1:57.01 here for a nice 3 second drop.

# 26 (d2/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:52.63Y Approved) - This was probably the event I was most interested in seeing after his shocking personal best in a high school meet after two practices the same day and no taper. I originally thought under 4:50 would be good. After his early meet I felt 4:45 was probably a better goal and that is what he was hoping for, but in this event he had a teammate that had a better 500 time than he did and he was wanting to just race. So we let him race with understanding that he'd get signaled if he fell below a 4:45 pacing. I never moved the counter. He was out strong at his coaches suggestion, opening with a 53.11 (basically the same sprint time he had a high school meet a few week earlier). Then he road 57 mids and closed with a 56.3 to finish in 4:41.77. That swim took him from 39th seed to 12th place. And if you were wondering his friend swam a 4:41.63.

# 36 (d3/s7): M Open 200 Medley (2:03.83Y Approved) - Just like the 100 fly last year that preceded the 1000 free, Bear scratched the event...

# 38 (d3/s7): M Open 1000 Free (9:55.65Y Approved) - - After the strong 500 free the coach was very excited about this one. Again we were going to signal if he fell below 9:45 pacing and again I didn't move the counter until the last 100 when I shook it urging him to give it his all not because he was off pace...he opened this time in a 54, then stayed between 58 lows and and 59 lows the rest of the way. At the 500 mark he was sitting on a 4:48.88, which was faster than he had ever swum a 500 prior to the previous day. He finished the race in 9:41.74, almost exactly 5 minutes above his 500 time...this time his swim moved him from 10th to 5th overall. He also beat one of Gold's top distance swimmers Parker, who was the one on social media that dubbed Bear the future of Gold distance swimming 3 years ago...

Gold A 800 Free Relay - coming off of his strong 200 Free on the first day, Bear was moved into the A team relay. He swam a very similar time to his PB 1:45.97...only this time it was with a rolling start. He admits he took it out too fast and it cost him a bit. However, the swimmer after him went a 1:46.16 and they quickly faded from contention.

This was a significant meet for Bear because he has improved so much that he's only a couple of seconds off NCSA cuts (a first level national cut) in a number of events (I'll outline that information shortly), and his improvements will drop his college ranking score (the lower the better) from 34.2 to somewhere around 25 or 26...

[Izulde]

If he makes a national cut, that'll blow up his recruiting, right?

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by Izulde

If he makes a national cut, that'll blow up his recruiting, right?

Absolutely it will. If he can get to Jr. Nationals it'll go even higher. As it is, he's starting to see some big D1 schools (not necessarily good swim schools) pop up on his page in the comparison website. I'll post NCSA and Jr. Nat cut times shortly.

[Breeze]

Brett - College Swimming


Brett had a conversation with the coach from Emory & Henry on Sunday. They discussed a number of things and Brett was very excited when we returned home to go over all he learned.

According to Brett:

- His GPA and ACT Scores are good enough to get in...
- The school practices in the afternoons (which is good because he won't have to get up early to go to practice), and the only time they do doubles is during Winter Break
- They swim around 5000 yards a day (this is also good because it is more like his sectional advanced swimming with Gold and less like the 7500 yards he was doing on Seniors)
- The coach hosts a tutoring session after every practice (this is excellent because with Brett ADHD he'll need some structure to insure he's staying on top of his studies)
- Practice is specialized by discipline. In Brett's case he'll be doing mostly Breaststroke and drills associated with that stroke. (also good because he really hates doing a lot of butterfly)
- The Dorm is a general population facility, but the Coach typically requests the swimmers room together and he puts them on the end of the facility which basically places them right across the street from the pool.


The coach did a nice job of making Brett feel wanted. He mentioned that he wanted Brett to come in and set records for the school (more on this later). He mentioned that the rest of the team was excited to meet him and were already talking about how much he'd help the team. He told him he'd get him lifting weights which would help make him much faster. He also mentioned that he has a breaststroke only coach that will help him with his technique, which is huge because Brett has never really had anyone that really focused on the details of the breaststroke.

A little background on E&H. They have fielded a women's team for years, and the women are pretty good. I think the best way to explain how good they are is to say that Bailey would be a good fit there...her fly and 400 IM would be the best on the team, but in most other strokes where Bailey is pretty good she's a distant 3rd or 2nd. However, this is the first year for the men's team. There are currently 4 swimmers on the team, and Brett would arguably be the best when he arrives. His breaststroke is a full 9 seconds better than the best currently swum and they don't currently even compete in the 200 breast. In addition, his freestyle will be the second best on the team day 1, so he'll be on all the freestyle relays as well. This team could really provide for Brett what I believe he's been longing for; a team that is fun to be a part of, and one where he is respected and one of the better swimmers. Also, in case you are wondering, Brett will not only be one of the best swimmers on the team, but he'll be very competitive in conference. Yes, he will run into meets where there are other swimmers that will beat him by 10 or more seconds, but for the most part his times will hold up well. In fact, last year his times would have been good enough to make the B final in the conference championship. So again, a nice fit for Brett.

Brett is currently working on setting up a visit with the coach. It looks like we will be heading up to Virginia on 1/5 or 1/26...I'll update the thread when the date is actually scheduled.

[JAG]

Exciting news.

[Breeze]

Wright's First Flight @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 12/15 - 12/17

This is a meet that is generally set up for swimmers that failed to make a state cut, however, the coach has Bailey and Bear swimming in this meet. The idea is that he's going to try and extend their taper and give them an opportunity to swim some event with a taper they don't normally get to do.

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Bailey - this is actually a very important meet for Bailey. She really wants to get her recruiting score down (the lower the better) and to accomplish this she needs to improve some of her swims outside of the Fly. Currently, her score consists of the 200 Fly, 500 Free, 400 IM, and 100 Fly, so personal bests in any of those races will drop her score and a good swim in a different race can only help. She is starting to understand this and has even expressed some interest/excitement at swimming the 500...which is odd, but necessary if she wants to get the improved ranking

# 15 (d2/s2): G 15 & Over 200 Free (2:03.01Y)
# 41 (d2/s2): G 11 & Over 400 Medley (4:50.18Y)
# 79 (d3/s4): G 15 & Over 100 Free (56.91Y)
# 105 (d3/s4): G 11 & Over 500 Free (5:26.82)

She is also apparently going to deck enter the 200 fly and the 200 IM...

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Bear - I'm not sure how this extended taper is going to work for Bear, but expect we'll see some improvements regardless. Bear's recruiting score dropped a bunch after the state meet, and this one could help his score by providing a bonus if he does well in the 50 and 100 Frees. The bonus comes from the ability to use the swimmer in relays, so hoping to see a nice drop in those events. Also, I'm interested in the 200 IM, after he scratched it last weekend.

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:03.83Y)
# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (24.44Y)
# 24 (d2/s2): B 15 & Over 100 Back (1:00.13Y)
# 80 (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Free (51.58Y)
# 98 (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (56.48Y)

[FrogMan]

Hey there, long time no see

Just wanted to tell you I started reading your kids' story, probably around mid-Summer. I don't often comment because I usually read on the go and don't really like posting on my cell, but I really enjoy reading it. My son Matthew still swims, 6 times a week in fact. He will turn 14 in January and has become our tiny fly beast... Just adore watching him swim.

FM

[Breeze]

Bear - Cut Times Update

Event		Bear’s Time		NCSA		

500 Fr		4:41.77			4:39.59	
1000 Fr		9:41.74			9:39.79
1650 Fr		(old time)		16:13.69

200 Fly		1:57.01			1:54.79

400 IM		4:11.59			4:08.09

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Hey there, long time no see

Just wanted to tell you I started reading your kids' story, probably around mid-Summer. I don't often comment because I usually read on the go and don't really like posting on my cell, but I really enjoy reading it. My son Matthew still swims, 6 times a week in fact. He will turn 14 in January and has become our tiny fly beast... Just adore watching him swim.

FM

Great to hear from you again...glad to hear Matthew is still at it.

[Izulde]

Wow, Bear is *really* close on those distance swim times.

[Breeze]

Bear - College Swimming

The recruiting scores have been updated following the Georgia State Meet and Bear climbed from 16th to 7th in the state. Which is nice, but more importantly his recruiting score is now a 23.27, with a year and a half to improve it before early signing day his senior year. For a point of reference a teammate of his currently in his senior year with a score of 22.38 signed with Alabama. 2 other swimmers with similar scores signed to swim at smaller colleges.

Also in case you are wondering, Bear is currently 247th in the nation for the class of 2020. Not that it really matters because very few schools recruit on a national level.

[Breeze]

Wright's First Flight - RESULTS


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Bailey

G 15 & Over 200 IM (2:18.42) - Bailey deck entered this one and I'm glad she did...her fly was SO much better on this one, she swam a 29.13 and she literally almost broke her nose on the wall. She was so much faster going in she misjudged her speed and timing and extremely short armed the turn. She followed that up with a 33.23 back which is about a second and a half better than usual, and a breast in the 42.3 range followed by an acceptable 31.9 free for a personal best 2:16.63 which is a short course state cut!!!

# 15 (d2/s2): G 15 & Over 200 Free (2:03.01Y) - she looked good but only managed a 2:03.09 - was hoping for a personal best and she was agonizingly close to it.

# 37 G 15 & Over 200 Fly (2:13.79) - another deck enter and this one I wasn't thrilled about. I really wanted her to stay away from the flys for a while so she could relax and race other events, and this event goes back to back with the 400 IM, which after the 200 from yesterday looked like a personal best was easily attainable...but her fly leg in the 200 IM really excited her and her coach so she raced it...she swam better than she has for about 21 months...with a time of 2:14.91, but still not close to a personal best. Coach said her new stroke didn't hold up for the entire 200 and it cost her some time, but that's really to be expected at this point.

# 41 (d2/s2): G 11 & Over 400 Medley (4:50.18Y) - the back to back was too much as she clearly was tired in this one, but she still put up a good fight finishing in 4:51.42, which is the second best time she's ever posted and a good 4 seconds faster than her next best swim in this event.

# 79 (d3/s4): G 15 & Over 100 Free (56.91Y) - Swam a 57.71, again better than she's been doing by a decent amount but still not at the PB level.

# 105 (d3/s4): G 11 & Over 500 Free (5:26.82) - This was her one disappointing swim - she only managed a 5:32.02...

These time leave me very hopeful that during the March meet when she is in full taper we'll see some new PB times.


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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:03.83Y) - coach warned me that he had to start ramping Bear back up so he was coming into this event with a semi-drop taper so not to be too concerned with how he compares to other swimmers, because the sprinters were much more tapered for this meet - in this event he squeaked out a personal best time of 2:03.39

# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (24.44Y) - Dropped about 3/4s of a second down to 23.83

# 24 (d2/s2): B 15 & Over 100 Back (1:00.13Y) - got sub60 with a 58.01

# 80 (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Free (51.58Y) - another half second drop 51.04

# 98 (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (56.48Y) - finished with another personal best 56.40

[Breeze]

High School Swimming vs Chattahoochee High School @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 12/28

There was 1 meet during the holiday. This meet comes at a bad time because the high school team doesn't practice for most of the break and the year round team is in the middle of strenuous holiday training so all the kids are worn out...

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Bailey

#4 Girls 200 Free (2:07.83) - only managed a 2:09.62

#12 Girls 100 Fly (1:04.24) - only managed a 1:08.12

#18 Girls 200 Free Relay - swam the anchor on the C relay and posted a 27.65 time, by far the fastest of the 4 on the C relay, and faster than 3 of he 4 girls on the B relay...

#24 Girls 400 Free Relay - again was the anchor - posting a 1:03.47...

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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Free (1:53.13) - Bear was lined up next to his buddy Jake and they basically swam side by side the entire race. Actually, Bear got out a bit faster, Jake made it up and took a bit of a lead, then Bear charged and finished in 1:51.72 a high school best time, but not surprising given his previous best was from last year. He was out-touched by Jake by .4 seconds

#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - a sluggish swim to a 5:02.18 - still won the event by over a half a lap.

#17 Boys 200 Free Relay - on the A team - got out of the 500 free and immediately steps into his relay that started just seconds after completion. Still managed to go a 25.41

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay - again on the A team, swam a 53.56 split and was second on the team to Jake's 53.25...

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Brett

#7 Boys 50 Free (26.19) - swam a 26.97 despite the fact he really hasn't been swimming for weeks.

#21 Boys 100 Breast (1:11.54) - his lack of training really showed up back half here as he posted a 1:14.65

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay - Brett was on the B relay and he lead off the race and even with the cold start posted the fastest time of the 4 swimmers.

[Breeze]

General Update - Bear

Bear is currently sick. He's been dealing with a high fever and nausea for 4 days now. Was hoping he would be able to get back into the water today, but looks like it'll be another day or two.

[Breeze]

High School Meet - Winter Invitational @ Ruby Fulbright Natatorium in Clarksville, Ga. - 1/11

I'm not sure what other schools will be competing in this meet, but I'll try to remember to note the scores in the results.

This is a limited meet, meaning the team can only bring it's top 19 boys and girls.

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Bailey

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:21.44) - this is an important swim for Bailey. This is one of the events she has a state cut in, but only 4 swimmers from each high school get to swim at state in each event, and this event has more than 4 qualifiers. Last year Bailey had 2 cuts, but didn't get to swim at state, and she's potentially facing the same situation this year. A drop in time here might jump her up in the pecking order.
#12 Girls 100 Free (59.72) - I think this is her 1 shot to try and get on a better relay. Her personal best time is much better than this 59+ one listed, but without rest she'll probably post a 58 high and that won't be good enough.
#22 Girls 400 B Free Relay (2nd) - nice to see her get on a B relay, hopefully she can stay here.

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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Free (1:51.72) - Bear's buddy Jake is out for this meet so he'll be looked on to carry the 200 and 500 Frees. Coming off his sickness though, I don't expect good times at all
#13 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - see above
#15 Boys 200 A Free Relay (2nd) - Glad to see him again on both A relays. Hopefully when Jake returns it isn't Bear that gets dropped down to B, as he should be only swimming A relays.
#21 Boys 400 A Free Relay (2nd) - see above

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Brett

#1 Boys 200 B Medley Relay (Breast) - still the B breaststroker, not bad considering his lack of swimming.
#7 Boys 50 Free (26.19) - He's still been out of the water too much to improve on his time here. Hoping for an improvement at the county championship
#19 Boys 100 Breast (1:11.54) - see above.

[Breeze]

High School Meet - South vs Centennial @ Dynamo Aquatic Alpharetta - 1/13

Bailey

#2 Girls 200 Medley Relay - B Team (Fly)
#4 Girls 200 Free (2:07.83) - if Bailey can just manage a slight drop here she'd get her state cut and a chance to swim at the state meet. Unfortunately, given she'll have practice right before the meet and she's still tired from the increased work of holiday training I expect more like a 2:10.
#8 Girls 50 Free (27.79) - a chance to see if she belongs on the A 200 Free Relay. She won't do well here either for the reasons above, but honestly she's not one of the 4 fastest sprinters on the team anyway.
#24 Girls 400 Free Rleay A (3) - she's moved into the A relay. Not sure if some of the kids are out for a year round meet or not (haven't checked the roster for this meet that closely yet), but that would be my guess.

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Bear

#5 Boys 200 IM (2:06.39) - based on his reported times from last night, I don't expect much here. He's still not back in shape from his 5 or so days when he was sick.
#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - see above
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay

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Brett

Brett won't be competing in this one. He ended up scheduled to work and he couldn't get it dropped so he could compete. Plus he's had to request quite a few days off recently for the meet on the 11th, the county meet coming up next weekend, the senior dinner on the 16th, and his recruiting trip on the 25, so he didn't want to potentially upset the pool director by requesting another day off.

[Breeze]

High School Meet - Winter Invitational - RESULTS

South girls won and the boys finished second but overall South finished 2nd in total points. They were severely hampered with Jake out and John Ryan injured. Those are 2 of the top 4 swimmers on the boys team. Alone those 2 swimmer probably cost South 30 points not counting how they impact relays and the trickle down of scoring for those that finished higher than they otherwise would have.

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Bailey

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:21.44) - 2:25.40 - and a good indication of how holiday training really drains the kids.
#12 Girls 100 Free (59.72) - 1:01.49 - I miss spoke in my pre-race write up. I intended to state that without rest the best she could possibly swim was a 58 high...indicating that it wasn't going to be good enough regardless. The 1:01 mid time she swam was a little off what I expected but not a ton. I figured she'd be a 1:00 high...
#22 Girls 400 B Free Relay (2nd) - assuming she swam the leg the results has her listed as swimming she posted what appears to be a 1:03 spit in the relay - this is extremely poor and I'm guessing the order got shuffled and she's the one that swam the 1:01.53, but I don't know for sure.
Regardless it doesn't really matter. This was the first B relay to finish and they were 4th overall, so not terrible from that standpoint.
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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Free (1:51.72) - started out with a bit of a lead and he was cruising a bit, but quickly discovered his competition, who was listed with a 1:57 time was a much better swimmer than he anticipated. He ended up having to pick it up a bunch to out-touch him in a time of 1:53.80
#13 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - Bear's competition here had Jr. National cuts...so he watched him pull away early, and in response he put it in cruise control to make sure he finished 2nd. 5:16.65
#15 Boys 200 A Free Relay (2nd) - The boys relays were all screwed up due to John Ryan's injury. So I don't know which leg Bear ended up swimming. I believe he posted a 24.5 right out of the 500 so not terrible. The relay finished 2nd (to the team with the Jr. Nat swimmer and his brother - the boy Bear raced in the 200 free)
#21 Boys 400 A Free Relay (2nd) - same situation as above. In this one I believe Bear anchored and swam a 53.57...again they finished 2nd and again to the same team. I wish they had had their best boys in this event, the relays would have been really exciting.

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Brett

#1 Boys 200 B Medley Relay (Breast) - Brett swam a 34.4 split in his breast...just off what he typically swims. They finished 6th
#7 Boys 50 Free (26.19) - Brett was DQed in the 50 free for unsportsman like conduct. I'm assuming he was late onto the blocks...
#19 Boys 100 Breast (1:11.54) - opened strong for him with a 33.89...but faded badly in the back half, which isn't surprising given his lack of practice. finished in a time of 1:14.57

Ok...Found out what happened on Brett's DQ. In the heat before his, one of the boys on the team swam his event in a onesie to be funny. They DQed him. Unfortunately, when they went to record the swimmer they chose the wrong heat. Will (the guilty party) was in Brett's lane, 1 heat in front of him. So Brett was mistakenly DQed. Not that it matters. His swim wasn't a personal best anyway and he didn't score any points in the event for the team. But nice to know what happened.

[Breeze]

High School Meet - South vs Centennial - RESULTS

Bailey

#2 Girls 200 Medley Relay - B Team (Fly) - team swam a 2:09.82 and finished second thanks the the A team being DQed
#4 Girls 200 Free (2:07.83) - 2:11.90 - still worn out from the increased training levels
#8 Girls 50 Free - Not sure what her seed time was but she swam a 28.01 - not a great swim but she did manage to finish 2nd overall and was the fastest South swimmer.
#24 Girls 400 Free Rleay A (3) - again I don't now splits because the pool used for this meet isn't really equipped to host - there is no scoreboard and no touch pads. Everything was handled with watches...the team swam a 4:06.94

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Bear

#5 Boys 200 IM (2:06.39) - 2:11.73
#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - a very similar time to the swim a couple of days earlier 5:16.47 - and again like the swim from earlier in the week Bear got to race another Jr. National swimmer...
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay - the team went 1:36.56 and they were out touched losing by .05
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay - this time there 3:42.11 was good enough to win the event.

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[Breeze]

High School Meet - County Championships @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 1/20/18

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Bailey - This is her last chance to try and get into the top 4 qualifiers in her events so she can swim at state. Otherwise she'll get her state patch but not swim again this year. Unfortunately, she is dealing with serious back pain and she'll have practice the morning before this event.

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:21.44) - - Given her aches and pains and her poor showings in recent races I don't expect a good swim here...
#12 Girls 100 Fly (1:04.46) - - see above
#18 Girls 200 Free Relay C
#24 Girls 400 Free Relay B

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Bear - I would love to say the Bear is in a prime spot to do well here, but he's been slow to get back up to speed after his sickness. I do think he'll do better than he did the last couple of meets, but I believe he's still going to struggle.

#5 Boys 200 IM (2:06.39) - I expect he'll be around a 2:08...
#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - I think he's going to struggle to break 5 minutes which is a shame because he'll probably lose to a couple of kids that he's much better than in this event...
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay A -
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay A - unfortunately John Ryan is out for this meet which means the relays will all suffer...not sure if he would have been in this one or the 200 but typically it would be this one...His absence will add about 5 seconds to the relays total time...that's a HUGE difference.

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Brett

#1 Boys 200 Medley Relay (breast) - - I love the fact he's finishing out his swimming career on the B relay. He was never going to be on the A but no shame being on the B when the A breaststroker swims under a 58 second 100...
#7 Boys 50 Free (26.19) - I wish he kept himself in better shape during the holiday...I'd have loved to see him post a 25 high here. He won't...he'll be somewhere around 27 low.
#21 Boys 100 Breast (1:11.54) - see ablove. His breast looks much better than it has in years, but he is too out of shape to bring it home. Last meet he swam he came home in a 40 second back half...that's terrible. Because he's out of shape expect another 1:!4 high time...
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay C -

[Breeze]

High School Meet - County Championships - RESULTS

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Bailey -

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:21.44) - - to the best of our knowledge Bailey's seed time placed her 5th in this event for South swimmers, and she needs to be top 4 to swim at the state meet. As the race started Bailey looked better than she has most of the season as her fly kept her in upper middle of the pack. Her backstroke also held up well, as usually the breast was a struggle and she finished her freestyle and posted a high school best time of 2:19.23 . The interesting part of the race was that she was battling the girls that are currently 3rd and 4th for South coming into the wall...Abby the 3rd place girl posted a 2:19.02, and Mary Gray the 4th place girl posted a 2:22. So Bailey's time beat Mary Gray and beat her seed time, which we think will allow her a spot in the state event in a couple of weeks.

#12 Girls 100 Fly (1:04.46) - - The situation here was basically the same as the 200 IM. Bailey was most likely the 5th South girl on the roster in this event. Bailey's dive and break out were exceptional and she got an early lead on the other South girls, and her turns helped her to hold that lead for most of the race, but in the last 10 or so yards she was passed by Mary Gray. Bailey posted a high school best 1:03.46, and Mary Gray finished in 1:03.08. We believe Bailey remains 5th in this event. She could still swim it at state depending on what events other kids swim but right now it looks like she'll be a spectator here (which is probably a good thing - more on that later).

#18 Girls 200 Free Relay C - The fastest C relay in the field and good enough to beat West Forsyth's A team. Bailey split a 28.01

#24 Girls 400 Free Relay B - The fastest B relay in the field and Bailey split a 1:01.43

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Bear

#5 Boys 200 IM (2:06.39) - Not the 2:08 I expected - 2:09.99

#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - as I expected he struggled and he didn't get below 5 minutes recording a time of 5:03.29

#17 Boys 200 Free Relay A - Bear swim a 24.27 split...not a great swim, but not surprising - Team finished a disappointing 4th

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay A - Bear's split was a 53.29, a little better in this one, but the team again finished 4th. This time it was more expected rather than disappointing given the breakdown from the previous post.

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Brett

#1 Boys 200 Medley Relay (breast) - - Brett swam a 32.79 split which is a solid swim for him... The team was the second B team to finish so not bad at all.

#7 Boys 50 Free (26.19) - he beat my projection and posted a 26.8...not far from his personal best.

#21 Boys 100 Breast (1:11.54) - with his strong swims in the first two events I was eager to see what he'd do here. Things actually worked out great. He was the top seed in the second heat rather than the last seed in the fastest heat, which allowed him to go out fast and win his race. He opened with a 33.24, which is very good for him, but recently it's been the back half that killed his time, so when he posted a 1:11.64 I was ecstatic and he had a huge grin on his face. The only thing that would have made this better would have been a personal best time - and he only missed that by .1

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay C - - Brett anchored the relay and swam a 59.17...

[Breeze]

General Update - Bailey

Bailey has been dealing on and off with back pain, but recently the pain has been just on, and getting progressively worse. So much so that it has hindered her ability to have good and productive practices. She's a tough little girl as she never missed practice because of pain, and I'm proud of her for that, but it had gotten to the point that we needed to get it looked at.

I have to admit to having some concerns about this pain, especially given the fact that swimming can cause some pretty serious back injuries. For instance a boy that swims for a rival county high school just found out he has a fracture in the L5 vertebrae and it's all from the torque created when he swims, and there was a girl recently that swam for Indiana University that had to have surgery because her spine was basically only attached to her hips by scar tissue again all the damage was swimming related. Thankfully, it looks like Bailey is dealing with strains that are causing muscle spasms. She has currently been assigned PT and she can only swim freestyle easy for the next 4 days.

After going to PT the therapist is going to work on massaging out her back, while strengthening her core to offset her extremely strong back muscles. He says that by strengthening her core she'll feel better and she'll get faster in the pool. She's pretty excited about this. I hope he's right because seeing her drop time again after such a long layoff would be fantastic, and having her not hurt anymore when she swims would be even better.

[Breeze]

Brett - College Swimming

Brett and I will be heading up to Emory & Henry this evening for his college visit. We were hoping to get up there early enough for him to stay with the team tonight but unfortunately he has to work. His agenda for the weekend looks like this:

1/26
9:00 - Arrive on campus
9:30 - Meet with Admissions
10:00 - Tour the campus
11:30 - Meet strength and conditioning coach
12:00 - Lunch with team and coaches
Sit in on an afternoon class
3:00 - Hang out with team for the remainder of the night

1/27
8:00 - 10:00 - watch practice
10:30 - brunch with team
12:00 - depart

He seems pretty excited about this. Regardless of his decision to swim here or not, I hope he has a good time and understands that not only is there an opportunity to swim in college - but that this team would really like him to.

[Breeze]

Brett - College Swimming

The trip to Virginia was surprisingly easy...almost all limited access highway and with us leaving at night I was able to just set the cruise control for most of the trip. Even crossing over the mountains was pretty easy. On our way up Brett did receive a text from the coach letting him know that he had a family emergency that he had to leave for and would it be possible for us to arrive a little early on the 26th so he could spend more time with us. With that news, I made the full drive arriving in Abigdon around 12:30. We got up early to go to practice and arrived on campus around 6:30.

Brett has mentioned that he greatly enjoyed the trip and really like the school a lot. He's gone so far as to say if he swims in college he will definitely go to Emory & Henry, he just not sure if he wants to swim. Personally, I believe his girlfriend is holding him back more than he's willing to admit, but we will see how things play out. Here are a few bullet points from what we learned:

- Coach is young guy, who is very laid back and funny with the best interest of his swimmers at heart. Brett really liked him a lot.
- The men's team currently has only 3 swimmers (the 4th dropped out to focus on his academics) and they have a ways to go to be competitive in conference.
- The conference added 5 men's teams over the last 2 years so swimming is growing in the area
- About 100 kids will show up to watch at least part of the swim meets. (This is a huge number, many large schools won't get 100 kids to watch)
- About 40% of the student population at E&H compete on a school sports team
- There is a 9 hole golf course on campus that is free for the students to play
- They do have an ultimate frisbee team
- The pool has 3 garage doors next to it, so the coach will open the doors to let in fresh air as often as he can (in fact, during our morning visit he opened the doors and created a huge fog over the pool, so thick you couldn't see the middle of the pool from the end)
- The team requires 2 hours/week of study hall outside the coaches office
- Almost every class has a student instructor it in to assist if you are having problems
- The average class size is 11 (the largest is around 25, and the class Brett sat in on was 6 - and he thoroughly enjoyed the lecture and the teacher)
- Professors typically request personal contact information for all students so they can reach out to students who are struggling to make sure they get the assistance they need (the coach said that a person really has to try hard to fail out at E&H)
- The coach hires the lifeguards so Brett will be able to work an earn money on campus (the coach was also excited because Brett has his WSI certification so he can team swim lessons, and E&H often gets asked to provide this service to kids in the area)
- The dorms are in pretty good shape and they come in a number of different configurations (2/room community bath for each wing, Hotel style 2/room with a bathroom in the room, single occupancy with toilet in room but shower community, and town house with multiple bed rooms and bathrooms)
- The campus is gorgeous with the classic Virginia architecture - brick, columns, domes, etc.
- It is also very expensive, but they have a large amount of money to be distributed.

Brett has applied and we will see if we can afford it. Also, as mentioned above, he needs to determine if he wants to swim or not.

[Breeze]

2017 Georgia High School Association 6-7A State Swimming Championships @ GaTech Aquatic Center - 2/2 - 2/3

This season the high school swim association has made some changes to their championship meets. Previously, the winner of this meet regardless of school size was considered the winner of the state championship. This year all the event will be run exactly like they were run previous year, but the scoring will be split between 6A and 7A so you'll have a state champion for both class sizes. In an effort to accommodate the increase in the number of swimmers that will score points (the top 20 swimmers score points), the finals meet on Saturday will add a C final (so 30 kids will swim at the finals). This won't have a huge impact on South, as they are one of the largest schools in the State so they will continue to compete against most of the best teams at the event. Last year the girls finished 11th and the boys finished 37th. It will be interesting to see how the split does impact the ranking overall.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bailey - has continued going to PT, and it is helping but with the pain and practices missed due to the therapy I don't expect her to even come close to even her high school best, much less her personal best.

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:19.23) : Seeded 36 - Bailey's biggest fear is that her injury is going to cause her to come in a distant last. I don't expect that to happen, but I also expect her to finish more like 50th rather than 36th...

#12 Girls 100 Fly (1:03.46) : Seeded 53 - - originally it looked like Bailey wasn't going to be able to swim this event because she had the 5th fastest time on the team, but one of the girls in front of her elected to compete in the breaststroke instead so Bailey moved into the top 4, then another girl in front of her broke her hand so Bailey is actually coming in with the 3rd best time on the team. Unfortunately, like I mentioned above, I don't expect her to do much in this. If she can stay in the 1:04s she should be fine. I just don't want her to go 1:06 and feel embarrassed

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

Bear

#3 Boys 200 Free (1:51.72) : Seeded 42 - According to Bear is still not 100% back to where he was prior to getting sick (and he's judging this based on his times during test sets in practice), which is a shame because his personal best time of 1:45 would give him a shot at the A final and almost certainly get him in the B final. As it stands he'll need to swim around a 1:48 to make the C final. He's set his mind to make the finals in this event, hopefully he can pull it off.

#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) : Seeded 17 - If you are wondering Bear's PB of 4:41 would place him 8th according to the heat sheet, but of course all times in the event were swum at a high school meet so the other kids probably all have faster times than the ones list by there names as well. Bear hasn't looked good in a 500 since he got sick, so I'm concerned he'll be able to even match his seed time. If he can match the seed time he should be looking at a B final appearance.

#17 Boys 200 Free Relay : Seeded 24 - Unfortunately here the anchor on this relay has been removed and replaced with a non-year round swimmer. The anchor missed a mandatory relay practice, so the team will remove a 22 high swimmer for a 24 high swimmer. Those 2 seconds are going to hurt the team badly in this event.

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay : Seeded 27 - the injured swimmer from the county meet is back and swimming in this race, so this relay will probably post a season best because she finally has the 4 correct swimmers going.

[Breeze]

General Update - State Meet

Bear's 400 Free Relay at state is looking like it will be operating from a handicap after all. The swimmer with the bad shoulder that was returning to swim for the state meet came down with the flu yesterday so he will most likely miss the event. Combine that with one of the other members of the relay that just got over the flu 3 days ago and I don't think South is going to perform well in this event at all.

[Breeze]

2017 Georgia High School Association 6-7A State Swimming Championships - PRELIM RESULTS

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Bailey

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:19.23) : Seeded 36 - - I didn't expect much coming into this meet with Bailey's time out of the water and her back hurting, she opened the 200 IM with a fly leg of 28.88 which is very good...so good in fact it puts her more in line with her personal best swims, but unfortunately the time out of the pool created a situation where she was out of shape and her back half was poor. She finished in 2:21.63. Not great but she was far from the slowest.

#12 Girls 100 Fly (1:03.46) : Seeded 53 - - Her fly swim was similar to what she's been doing during the season untapered with a time of 1:04.45 - again not great, but she didn't embarrass herself which was her fear.

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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Free (1:51.72) : Seeded 42 - managed to post a time of 1:48.01, which is good and a high school best, but far from his personal best of 1:45 (though I didn't expect he'd get close to that time). He ended up tied for 31st, which made him the first alternate for finals, and he really wanted to get into the C final.

#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) : Seeded 17 - again a good but not great swim posting a time a 4:51.17, this is another high school best time and it put him 21st, which is the top seed of the C final, and he really wanted to be in the B final. Another close call disappointment for Bear.

#17 Boys 200 Free Relay : Seeded 24 - Bear led off the relay and that was a good thing because he posted a 23.69 which was a personal best time. The relay team also made it back for C finals despite the anchor being pulled from the team.

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay : Seeded 27 - The 400 Free relay looked good as the climbed all the way to 19th...Bear swam a 51.37 split...

[Breeze]

2017 Georgia High School Association 6-7A State Swimming Championships - FINALS RESULTS

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Bear

#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) : Seeded 17 - Bear was the top seed in the C finals, and he ended up winning the heat going away. He posted another high school best time of 4:49.58 and probably would have been even faster if he had someone to race against. This time was good enough for him to finish 19th overall, so this swim was more of what he was hoping for the day earlier.

#17 Boys 200 Free Relay : Seeded 24 - not quite a good as prelims as Bear managed a 23:91 to lead off the relay.

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay : Seeded 27 - This relay took a hit before the race ever started. The swimmer with the shoulder trouble ended up getting sick during the meet and had to leave. This forced South to substitute in a swimmer who was over 5 seconds slower, which dropped them to last in the event. Bear did manage to swim a 50.71 split.

[Breeze]

Brett - College Swimming

We had a discussion yesterday with Brett about his college options. He admitted the Emory & Henry situation was a really good one, and the school would be good for him with their support system and teammates being a built in friend group (which is good because making friends has never been easy for him). However, he also admitted that he just isn't sure he's up for dedicating himself to swimming anymore, and he doesn't want to get up there and decide he doesn't like it or doesn't have it in him. So he's elected to go to Reinhardt University, which marks the end of his competitive swimming.

This is the outcome I expected. Once he didn't go back to swimming year round as a senior and also didn't want to join the Gold High School Team, I felt pretty certain he was going to give up the sport. The Emory & Henry offer was tempting to him, and it really was the perfect fit. The team was just starting up, and in the conference E&H was 1 of 5 teams that had started to field a men's team in the last 2 year, so he would have been a strong swimmer on the team and good at the conference level as well. In fact, the conference championship just finished and Brett's 200 Breast would have finished 14th and made the B final. This before any strength training or practice adjustments to take advantage of his strength.

I have to admit I'm disappointed, I was hopeful he would choose to go to E&H, as I believe the experience on the college team would have been what he has been missing from the sport for years. I was also excited about the thought of going to watch him swim again. However, swimming is too hard of a sport to do if your heart isn't in it, and apparently his isn't. I do believe there are some other items influencing his decision to stay closer to home that probably shouldn't but he hasn't been that open in his discussions and I doubt he ever will be.

[Breeze]

High School - End of Year Banquet

The end of year banquet was held Tuesday night. It was a bit sad, but Brett was unable to attend for his senior year. He was scheduled to teach swim lessons at the aquatic center, and unlike lifeguard work that can easily be covered by someone else - lessons are much less flexible. The team had their senior presentations including pictures of Brett as a toddler, elementary school student, his graduation picture (the casual one) and a swim picture. Plus all the seniors spoke about their time on the team (Brett was probably ok he missed this part). I wish he could have been there, but he did the mature thing and took responsibility for his work schedule.

Bear and Bailey both received their 2nd year chevron as well as a state patch (Bear's was a State Finalist Patch). Also, Bear and Bailey applied to be team captains. Going into this I felt Bear had a good shot, mostly because the coach typically selected a year round swimming captain and a non-year round swim captain, and on the boys side there is basically Jake and Bear - the other year rounders have no interest in being a captain. Bailey on the other hand has quite a few girls who also applied, and of course politics being what they are - I don't expect Bailey and Bear will both be named captain in the same year.

Typically the captains are announced at the swim banquet, but the coach is leaving South to head over to a new county school (Denmark High School), and because she won't be in charge of the team she decided to let the new coach select her captains at a later date.

The new coach, also happens to be the first coach the kids ever had at CRC, Coach Kate. She was the coach when they started swimming before moving overseas with her husband for a few years. She returned 3 years ago and has take back over as the CRC coach (in addition to being a high school teacher). We like her and she should be fine in the role. The most important thing for a high school swim coach is to put the year rounders in the correct events each week - the rest is basically window dressing. Looking forward to seeing how she'll do.

[Breeze]

General Update

So Bear's record in the 1000 Free didn't stand for very long. Actually, we knew it wasn't going to. Earlier in the year we saw Grant Davis (one of the Grants mentioned way back in thread - I'm not sure how he was addressed Grant D, Grant 1 or Grant 2...) make a charge at Bear's record untapered and come close so we expected during his shave/taper for age group state he'd beat the time. We didn't expect he'd swim a 9:40.90...breaking Bear's record by 15 seconds. At the end of this short course season I believe Grant will hold the 13/14 team record in the 100 Free, 200 Free, 500 Free, 1000 Free, 1650 Free, and the 200 Fly.

[Breeze]

General Update - Bailey

I read back through my recent posts and I don't believe I updated the information about Bailey's back pain and the underlying problem. Apparently, in her fly Bailey doesn't bend her knees, instead she accomplishes her kick by lifting her hips high, swaying her back hard and lifting her straight legs. This is what causes the severe torque on her lower back and leads to the pain. The coach is working on getting her to bend her knees as part of the stroke, but at this point it is foreign to her and it's completely messed up her timing. I really believe if she can get it worked out we might see some pretty significant time drops. Figures are crossed...


Also Bailey is currently sick, and the timing couldn't be worse. The twins are in their final stages before taper and they really can't afford to be out of the pool right now. We are hoping this will pass quickly (appears to be strep throat like based on symptoms - should know for sure today when we go to the doctor), and we are hoping Bear doesn't catch it.

[Breeze]

General Update - Brett

Since Brett informed us that he won't be swimming in college, I grabbed a copy of this thread, removed the Bailey and Bear specific information, printed it, put it in a binder, and gave it to him last night. He was completely blown away, in fact he appeared to initially get choked up. I gave it to him a little before 10...I went to bed around 11, and he was still reading with more than half still to go. He was completely engrossed in the memories this journal brought back. In fact, he was so focused on the information that he failed to watch a couple of Olympic events he had expressed interest in seeing (even after we told him they were on).

I was pleased to see how much he appreciated the effort. Honestly, he liked it so much that the wife is considering getting it bound in a book and adding some pictures that correspond to the timelines being discussed.

[Breeze]

Brett - College Swimming

While Brett has told us that he isn't going to swim in college, he hasn't yet told the coach at Emory & Henry. Part of that is because I've asked him to really think about it before making a final decision, and part of it is because he understands how great of a fit the school would be for him and he's conflicted.

The coaches from E&H have sent him a hand written letter, as well as an email letting him know they are eager to hear from him. Moreover, the girl, Taylor, who showed him around the campus and hung out with him and the other guys on the team texted him the other day to find out what he was planning on doing (he told her he was still thinking about it). So E&H is still pursuing him. I believe a phone call from the coach would go a long way, but so far that hasn't happened.

I'll let you know if anything changes.

[rjolley]

Good luck to everyone.

I hope Brett takes the time to really decide what's best for him. It's a tough choice, but that's life. Glad you're allowing him to make it with minimal input and will support whatever he decides. My mom did the same for me out of high school when I chose my college and I appreciate that to this day. I've done the same with my kids.

[Breeze]

General Update

Bailey is still sick. In fact, we had to take her back to the doctor on Sunday because she had so much pain in her ears that she was crying. The ears are obviously infected, and the doctor was shocked to see how infected given they just looked at them 4 days earlier.

So far Bear has avoided getting really sick, but we are taking him to the doctor to get his sinuses looked at as well. He's been complaining about sinus pressure for a few days and it isn't getting any better.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Breeze

General Update - Brett

Since Brett informed us that he won't be swimming in college, I grabbed a copy of this thread, removed the Bailey and Bear specific information, printed it, put it in a binder, and gave it to him last night. He was completely blown away, in fact he appeared to initially get choked up. I gave it to him a little before 10...I went to bed around 11, and he was still reading with more than half still to go. He was completely engrossed in the memories this journal brought back. In fact, he was so focused on the information that he failed to watch a couple of Olympic events he had expressed interest in seeing (even after we told him they were on).

I was pleased to see how much he appreciated the effort. Honestly, he liked it so much that the wife is considering getting it bound in a book and adding some pictures that correspond to the timelines being discussed.

This has to be the best dynasty feedback of all time. What a great idea for you to do and how great for you to see how meaningful it was for him.

Hope everyone gets back to full health soon.

[Izulde]

Personally, I hope Brett chooses E&H, and to swim there. IMO, I feel like a lot of his fatigue with the sport is because of the sense that Bear & Bailey are better, and I think getting in a situation where he's one of the top dogs will re-ignite his passion and make swimming fun again.

It also seems like he'd have a strong support system in place, which in my experience in collegiate teaching is the single biggest factor in whether a student will succeed at the undergraduate level - especially for students who don't fit the neurotypical mold.

[Breeze]

General Update - Bailey

Bailey went back to practice on Tuesday night. She wore earplugs and only kicked to keep water out of her ears. Unfortunately, this morning when I woke her up for practice she said her throat was hurting again. She's been on Augmentin for 4 days and we aren't seeing much in the way of improvement. Typically, with this medication things start to turn quickly. I feel bad for Bailey, she's was excited about her backstroke heading into the upcoming meet, but now she's been out of the water for a week and the meet is in 10 days. She's going to struggle for sure.

[Breeze]

Brett - College Swimming

A quick update on where things stand for Brett. On Monday, I asked him if he had thought anymore about what he wants to do about college and he responded, "Yeah, and I'm thinking I might want to swim." At which point you could've knocked me over with a feather. He said he was thinking about swimming after work on Tuesday to see how it felt.

On Tuesday, we received mail from the E&H athletic departing which invited Brett to the recruiting open house where he should have an opportunity to not only interact with the returning team members but meet the additional recruits and swim with the team in a team run practice. This got him very excited, he ran upstairs found a suit and his goggles and headed out to work with the plan to swim laps. When he got home he informed us he swam about 1100 yards in about a half a hour (he may be overstating the distance, but that's really irrelevant, the fact he got back into the water to practice is the important detail).

He is currently planning to swim again tomorrow before work (his shift is later in the day so he can get much more time in). He has indicated he'll think about going up to E&H for the open house, and I'm almost positive the hesitation here is because, if he's going to practice with them, he wants to make sure he's in good enough shape he doesn't embarrass himself. He's clearly intrigued by the possibility of going...we'll see where this ends up.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Ditto to the posts noting the awesome nature of Brett's response to the journaling.

[Breeze]

General Update - Bailey

Bailey is feeling much better and in a last ditch effort to try and get back in shape before her meet this weekend she's been spending a bunch of time in the pool practicing. She swam on Friday, which she normally wouldn't do because that is typically just a Nationals level practice. She did the normal practice on Saturday, she swam on her own on Sunday and she swam this morning as well, which is normal but everyone else in her group is on taper so they weren't required to go. Fingers are crossed that this extra time was enough to get her back in shape but not wear her out so she can have some good swims this weekend.

[Breeze]

March Madness @ GaTech - 3/10 - 3/11

With Bailey being sick and missing a full week of practice less than 2 week ago, I have no idea what to expect in this meet.

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Bailey

# 5 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:01.09) - she's working on retooling the stroke again to start incorporating the bending of her knees. She said her timing is really off because of the change so i don't expect she'll come close to her seed time. But if she can come close to her 1:04s that was a good untapered time for her earlier this season it's probably a very good sign.

# 13 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Back (1:04.07) - She was very excited about her backstrokes right before she got sick. Her interval training was indicating she could drop several seconds here. I'm hoping that she'll at least be able to drop some time, and we'll see the bigger drops through long course and into next season.

# 29 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 400 Medley (4:50.18) - too many variables to know what to expect...the biggest issue is probably going to be the distance of the swim. I think she'll be strong enough in the 100s and maybe the 200s, but I'm afraid that week off is going to cause her to run out gas in this one.

# 69 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 200 Medley (2:16.63) - again too many variables - reworked fly, breast is still a concern and fatigue, counter acted by improved back and freestyles.

# 77 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 200 Back (2:15.42) - like the 100 back, but because she had been doing more distance stuff in practice I really felt this one might improve a good bit. As it is, I just hope she can get a personal best.

# 93 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 500 Free (5:26.82) - Like the 400 IM, I don't think she's recovered from her time out of the pool sufficiently to do well in this one.

[Breeze]

Brett - College Swimming

I mentioned earlier that Brett was very intrigued by E&H's offer to swim with the team during an open house event they have coming up in a few weeks. To follow up on that, he's been so interested that he's been swimming regularly. In fact, he's actually been in the pool 4 of the last 5 days. Now he's not swimming for a long period of time, but he's in the water for around 45 minutes and he's interested enough to go to the trouble. He's also said he might want to go, and the might is almost certainly a code word for "if I can get in shape so I don't embarrass myself then I'm interested". We have started working on getting the trip lined up - I'll update you when I know more.

[Breeze]

2018 ESSZ Senior Short Course Sectional - Triangle Aquatic Center, Cary, NC - March 8 - 11

Bear and I will head out this afternoon on our way up to Cary, N.C. I want to get him as far north as I can so he isn't cramped up in the car prior to his first race of the meet late Thursday afternoon. The lead up to this meet has been a bit odd. Bear is much more reserved and a bit grumpy. Not sure if this is just a teen thing or if he's up tight about the meet. I hope he isn't putting to much pressure on himself because that will likely be counter productive. I was hoping to wait on the psych sheet before doing to write up to get an idea of where Bear stands, but it hasn't been published yet. It's not really all that important because he's swimming in open events now and he'll be competing against all sort of swimmers from around the region. In long course last year there were several college swimmers competing. That could be the case again this weekend, especially for swimmers that didn't qualify for the NCAA Championships in their division.

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): M Open 1000 Free (9:41.74) - He only swam this even 1 time this season and that was at Senior State - where he dropped about 15 seconds. Any improvement here would be a big deal for Bear, but I'm sure he's targeting the national cut time.

# 6 (d2/s2): M Open 200 Free (1:45.91) - time is again from Senior State, and since there he swam a 1:48.01 at the high school meet with a slight drop taper. So only a couple seconds off his best time. With a full taper he could drop a bit more.

# 12 (d2/s2): M Open 400 Medley (4:11.59) - hasn't competed in this event since Senior State in December. I have no idea how his breaststroke looks because he almost never competes in that event. The breast leg will likely be the key to his time.

# 16 (d3/s4): M Open 200 Fly (1:57.01) - another event he hasn't raced since Senior State.

# 24 (d3/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:41.77) - Here's one he's done a bunch off, given that he swam it almost every high school meet. Unfortunately those high school swims were untapered and some came after his bought with the virus that really adversely impacted his training. At High School State in February he only managed to go a 4:49 with a drop taper. A time he wasn't completely thrilled with even through he still wasn't back to full speed following the cold he had. I'm hoping he can drop time and maybe challenge the national cut time.

# 30 (d4/s7): M Open 1650 Free (17:08.10) - the last time Bear swam this event was at this very same meet in 2017 and at that time he was dealing with walking pneumonia. He managed to slightly improve his personal best that day from his 2016 swim at this event, but he was really in a position where he could have challenged for the team record and he was disappointed that his health didn't allow him to make a run at it. He could drop a good bit of time here, and if he does it would certainly help his recruiting profile. He's actually seeded with a different time than the one listed above, I'm not sure where it came from - but I changed the seed to match his real personal best.

[Breeze]

2018 ESSZ Senior Short Course Sectional - Triangle Aquatic Center, Cary, NC - March 8 - 11


The psych sheet was released. Here is where Bear stands:

# 2 (d1/s1): M Open 1000 Free (9:41.74) - 11th

# 6 (d2/s2): M Open 200 Free (1:45.91) - 64th

# 12 (d2/s2): M Open 400 Medley (4:11.59) - 32nd

# 16 (d3/s4): M Open 200 Fly (1:57.01) - 39th

# 24 (d3/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:41.77) - 25th

# 30 (d4/s7): M Open 1650 Free (17:08.10) - seed time here is a long course conversion but it puts him 29th, I expect he'll finish much better than that.

[Breeze]

March Madness - RESULTS

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Bailey

# 5 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:01.09) - swam a 1:02.46, which under the circumstances was really pretty good. She opened with a slow 29.76, but her back half was stronger than normal posting a 32.7.

# 13 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Back (1:04.07) - got a drop in this one...not nearly to the level we were hoping or that I expect she's capable of, but it leaves some meat on the bone for next season. 1:03.88

# 29 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 400 Medley (4:50.18) - SCRATCHED...given her sickness coach scratched this as he felt she wouldn't have the stamina to do well...

#21 G 15 & Over 100 Medley - Not sure her seed time in this one because she doesn't swim it often anymore, mostly because it wasn't really offered as an official event once swimmers get into 11 and over area. However, changes in the rules at USA Swimming last year created this as an official event so we may see this more often. Bailey swam a 1:06.38 which is not only a personal best but a state cut.

# 69 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 200 Medley (2:16.63) - after 3 good swims on day 1 I was hoping Bailey would continue to do well...but she opened with a 2:22.43 and it looked like her lack of stamina due to being sick was taking it's toll.

# 77 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 200 Back (2:15.42) - the back was very similar to the 200 IM - 2:19.24

# 93 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 500 Free (5:26.82) - SCRATCHED - just like the 400 IM

#81 G 15 & Over 100 Free - I believe her personal best is a 56 low...she was no where close with a 59.29

Bailey also competed in the 200 Medley Relay and she was very instrumental in their winning. Bailey was on the A team swimming the fly leg...however when the relay go to her...the B team was beating the A team by about .1 second. When Bailey finished her split they were winning by .2...they went on to win by .2...

I was really disappointed that Bailey got sick. I believe she was positioned for a good end of year meet. Under the circumstances I believe she did really well, especially given the sickness and some issues with the taper.

[Breeze]

2018 ESSZ Senior Short Course Sectional - RESULTS

This was a terrible meet for Bear. There were a lot of contributing factors that have been discussed but the outcome here was difficult to watch. I'm not going to go into a lot of description because there really isn't much to say. He's just gotta shrug this one off and move on (which he's done a marvelous job of already).

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): M Open 1000 Free (9:41.74) - 9:56.41

# 6 (d2/s2): M Open 200 Free (1:45.91) - 1:50.22

# 12 (d2/s2): M Open 400 Medley (4:11.59) - 4:24.28

# 16 (d3/s4): M Open 200 Fly (1:57.01) - 2:01.32

# 24 (d3/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:41.77) - 4:54.87

# 30 (d4/s7): M Open 1650 Free (17:08.10) - 16:47.81 - this a personal best time, but it is no where close to what he's capable of. He only gets to swim this once a year...last year it was when he had pneumonia this year it was when he was dealing with a bad taper...he's informed me trains at 16:15 pace in practice. Hopefully, next year the stars will align and he'll actually get to swim this one the way he's capable.

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Now to explain the underlying reasons behind Bear's bad swim. To begin, it is important to note that no one from the Cumming facility had a great meet. There were a couple of good swims, but no one really dropped a bunch of time across the board. This would indicate a problem with the taper. However, Bear's adds were abnormally high even for a bad taper. The coach later explained to Bear that when he came back from his flu like sickness at the beginning of the year he was so far off of his swimming prior to the illness that the coach started working him hard. The coach knew he only had about 2 months to get him back into shape, and he wanted to give Bear every shot to succeed. He worked Bear hard and continually monitored the test sets to see how he was progressing. It took a while but Bear started to get back into range when all of a sudden his times started slipping. The coach pushed harder to get him back to his previous levels, which he was on the cusp of prior to the meet. However, in hindsight the coach stated that the slip in time was probably an indication that Bear was exhausted and needed some recovery time, and that he probably pushed him too hard coming into the event. So much so that the taper didn't allow him to sufficiently recover.

In addition, Bear was pretty stressed out with school at the time, which probably didn't help from a mental preparation perspective. He also took several naps while we were there...that could be a result of resting after the coaches overworking him or it could mean he's going to grow (oh, I hope he's going to grow).

It's a shame that he didn't get a chance to show what he's capable of, but hopefully, this means that there will be some nice drops during the season next year.