Swim Like A Champion (a real life journal)

[JAG]

Poor kiddo, hope he gets better soon.

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by JAG

Poor kiddo, hope he gets better soon.

Ended up being a bad sinus infection that was causing a migraine type of headache. The pain was so bad it made him nauseous, which caused him to throw up. He’ll be out of the pool a couple of days, which isn’t good, but isn’t as bad as I had initially feared.

[Breeze]

Lanier Invite at Lanier Aquatics 2/8 - 2/10

The Lanier Invite is our "Last Chance" meet for this season. There is actually another meet next week but we elected not to participate in that one, because we didn't want the kids competing 3 weeks in a row (the State Championship would be the 3rd meet in the succession).

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Bear

500 Free - Seed Time 6:41.62, Sectional Cut 6:36.19 - 6 to 8 weeks ago, I really felt that Bear might have a good shot at getting this cut, but given his poor health over that time period, I'm less enthusiastic about his chances. Combine that with the fact, he'll be in a slower pool and in an outside lane, and I think he'll be hard pressed to drop more than a second or two. His freestyle looks good right now, and we'll be working out signals that I can give him with the lap counters so he'll know where he stands compared to the cut, so maybe he'll be able to dig deep and pull it out.

100 Back - Seed Time 1:22.00, Sectional Cut 1:18.09 - Bear is seeded 5th here, and he could end up right next to his buddy Jack, which would be a good thing. Some of Bear's best swims have come when racing Jack. If Bear cleans up his start, turns, and finish, he could drop a decent amount of time here.

50 Fly - Seed Time 39.66 - If you'll recall, Bear has been working on changing his fly stroke for a while, combine that with the time out of the pool due to illness and his fly is currently a mess. He's very upset by that, as fly is his favorite stroke, but he is really off right now. We got him a private lesson over the weekend and some of the issues were addressed. The coach will be watching him closely at practice to see how he does with his form, but if he is unable to completely adopt the new stroke, it is possible she has him scratch here.

50 Freestyle - Seed Time 32.46, Sectional Cut 30.69 - Bear's freestyle looks real good right now, I am eager to see how he does. This is a real big race for Bear because a good swim here should cement him in the A relay at State in a few weeks.

100 IM - Seed Time 1:23.16 - Bear's greatly improved breast combined with the strong back and free should create an improved time here, but the Fly is the wild card...

100 Fly - Seed Time 1:26.59 - My guess is he doesn't swim this race...

100 Free - Seed Time 1:11.90 - could see an improvement in this one, especially if his stamina holds through to this point in the weekend. He's currently seeded 5th here, but a good swim and he could easily be top 3...

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Bailey

50 Fly - Seed Time 36.57, Sectional Time - 35.29 - Bailey comes into this seeded 3rd, only .5 seconds from first. However, this seed time is from December, and Bailey is much faster right now. In fact, over the weekend during Bear's lesson, Bailey was getting some work as well on her Breast, and at 1 point during the practice, the coach had Bailey race Bear in Fly with Bear wearing fins...Bear won, but only by about a half a body length. Bailey's fly is really fast right now and I believe she'll win this event outright and she should get a sectional cut...

100 Breast - Seed time 1:34.77 - coach is trying to narrow Bailey's kick. In an effort to go faster, Bailey did the natural, but worst thing your can do - she started getting a wide kick. Now she's trying to clean that up. She did better with the more narror kick on Sunday during the private lesson, but the speed didn't accompany the improvement yet. We'll see how she does in practice, but I don't expect much here.

50 Free - Seed time 34.19, Sectional time 31.09 - It might seem strange that I included the Sectional time here when she's so far from it and we're only talking about a 50 yard swim. However, Bailey's seed time goes all the way back to November, and she had just started racing freestyle and was under strict orders to maintain form rather than go for speed. Her freestyle is much faster now, and I expect a huge drop in time. I don't however expect a sectional cut...but I posted the time just in case...

100 IM - Seed Time 1:20.77, Sectional Cut 1:19.29 - Bailey is seeded 2nd about 1.5 seconds behind the leader...and in my opinion, this will all come down to the Breast. If she can swim a strong Breast, she'll get the sectional cut and might win the event outright.

50 Breast - Seed time 44:34 - not sure what to expect here. My guess is a very similar time to her personal best...

50 Back - Seed time 38.25 - Bailey's back is getting much better as she's beginning to grasp the correct arm motion. Her strong kick is back and combined I could see a nice improvement here...

100 Free - Seed time 1:09.97, Sectional Cut 1:09.09 - Bailey is seeded 3rd here and is only .3 from second. Hopefully, she'll be able to keep up with the #1 seed who swims a 1:18.10 and that will pace her to another sectional cut.

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Brett

200 IM - Seed time 3:00.71 - Brett had an amazing practice on Saturday. His kicking with fins has gotten dramatically better. He still needs to figure out how to translate that into speed without fins, but it is a start. His improved kick and strokes should lead to a personal best here.

100 Back - Seed time 1:24.03 - Again the form is much better. Given that he's doing a nice job of keeping up with his buddies Hunter and Jack (both good backstrokers) in practice, if he'll maintain his flutter kick and not resort to the bicycle kick he'll probably post another personal best.

100 Free - Seed Time 1:11.85 - If any of the speed on his free kick with fins from Saturday will translate to this race, he'll absolutely post a personal best. Not sure it will though...

1000 Free - NT - Brett has never even swum the 500, but he's doing the 1000 this weekend. He's not excited about it, but the coach told him to just finish and not worry about his time. He'll probably go out very conservatively...so I don't expect anything special here. However, his free stroke is very much a distance free swimmers pace and form. He actually could do good here, if he puts some effort into it...

100 Fly - Seed time 1:31.56 - During Brett's private lesson on Sunday, the coach told him he was doing very good with this fly stroke, but to really work on getting this hips up when he was in the dive portion of the stroke, to create more leverage for the kick. I don't expect an improvement here, as his lack of strength tends to catch up to him before this race finishes. But I do expect better early splits...

200 Free - Seed time 2:34.09 - If Brett will push himself and kick a bit more than normal he could improve here. Of course the 100 fly right before might just sap his energy...

50 Free - Seed time 34.21 - Brett is really ready to drop a couple of seconds here, but he has to work harder and rotate his arms faster. I hope he does it, because he'll be pumped if he can get down to a sub 33 here...

50 Breast - 39.50, State Cut 39.29 - Not likely Brett cuts 1.3 second, but his coach has told him better pullouts and quicker turns could save him a couple of seconds. I hope he's right...I'd love to see Brett earn another cut...plus a strong swim here will go a long way to getting him on the State Relay team...

[Breeze]

Lanier Invite - Addendum

The 500 Free that Bear will be swimming is scheduled for Friday night, which means the family won't be able to attend the team practice that evening. So Coach Neil has requested that we sign Brett up for the 500 Free as well, because he doesn't want him to be completely out of the water Friday...so

Brett

500 Free - NT - Like the 1000 that Brett is schedule to do on Saturday, the 500 might actually be a strong event for Brett. He has a very long and deliberate stroke. Also because he has never been much of a kicker he typically swims a lot of laps in practice relying mostly on his upper body. I'm very intrigued by this one, more so than the 1000. I think the 1000 will be more intimidating to Brett and he won't swim it well because he'll want to make sure he doesn't overwork and have to quit before the end of the race. But in the 500 I think he fells he can swim that distance with out much concern. I still think he'll be conservative because it is his first tiime doing it, but I honestly think he could swim each fifty around 42 seconds for the entire race...I hope he pushes in this one, rather than sit back and be satisfied to just finish...

[Breeze]

Lanier Invite

So the meet starts today. Brett and Bear have their 500 Frees' tonight. I was so eager to see how Brett would do, and anxious for Bear's chances at the sectional cut that I didn't sleep well.

I have worked out some signals with Bear that I'll be giving him with the lap counter so he'll have an idea of where he is compared to the cut. Hopefully, this will be enough to keep him on pace...

Fingers Crossed...

[Breeze]

All,

Sorry for no update, but the meet directors have failed to post the official results yet...I'll post the results as soon as I have that information.

[Breeze]

Lanier Invite at Lanier Aquatics 2/8 - 2/10

Bailey

50 Fly - Seed Time 36.57, Sectional Time - 35.29 – As I predicted Bailey won this event…and in a sectional cut time swimming a 34.25. This also puts her just .1 second behind the fastest fly time of the year for 9-10 Chattahoochee Gold Girls and will probably insure she will be on the A Medley relay as well…

100 Breast - Seed time 1:34.77 - Wow…this one was painful…she swam a 1:45.29…a full 11 seconds over her best time. – This was so bad, her coach told her 1. You won’t be swimming Breast at state, and 2. You’ve completely lost your Breaststroke and we’re going to need to start over on it. Sad to here – especially right now, but it’s an honest assessment and Bailey recognizes the truth in it as well…

50 Free - Seed time 34.19, Sectional time 31.09 – This was a very fast race, and tight. Bailey swam good, until the last 10 yards or so, when she breathed too often and she lifted her head at the finish a bit, which cost her some speed and time at the finish. She did manage to post a personal best 31.51. The bad news is she just missed a sectional cut, the good news is this swim gives her the fastest 9-10 Girls 50 Free for the Chattahoochee Gold and insures she’ll be on the A relay at state
(Note: This was Lexi’s first meet back and she managed to post a 32.56 in the race, currently good enough for 3rd – and unless 2 girls beat her in time this weekend at another meet, she will also be on the A relay)

100 IM - Seed Time 1:20.77, Sectional Cut 1:19.29 – She swam a 1:21.07 – so not as fast as she previously swam it. Here are the breakdowns of this race compared to her PB race…

		Feb	Jan
Fly/Back	36.22	37.16
Breast/Free	44.85	43.61

So you can see how much the Breast leg is hurting her...

50 Breast - Seed time 44:34 – It wasn’t pretty – 47.94

50 Back - Seed time 38.25 – Interestingly, I didn’t post the sectional cut for this race, as I assumed Bailey would improve but not to the point where she might reach a 36.39, which is the cut time. However, Bailey got a great start and was doing really well, on her turn she got a little off and ended up in the ropes for a second, but still managed to post a 36.49. So even getting in the ropes she only missed the sectional cut by .1 second…This swim was also good enough to finish 2nd overall...

100 Free - Seed time 1:09.97, Sectional Cut 1:09.09 - This race was the last one of the meet and Bailey was clearly worn out when she swam it. She posted a 1:11.20. She was very disappointed with this time…as she really felt a sectional cut was within her grasp.

Bailey is now less than a second from a sectional cut in 50 free, 100 Free, & 50 Back, with 100 IM being just over a second away…
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[Breeze]

Lanier Invite at Lanier Aquatics 2/8 - 2/10

Brett

200 IM - Seed time 3:00.71 – As expected the improved strokes and stamina results in a dramatic improvement. Brett swam a 2:56.92 for a 4 second drop. He was still off in his Breaststroke leg, probably because he is tired and is needed to rest a bit at that point. Once he gets that part under control, I’ll expect a couple of second drop on that leg alone.

100 Back - Seed time 1:24.03 – After the 500 Free the night before, Brett had a good bit of confidence. He really worked harder in this event and ended up improving by almost a full second 1:23.17.

100 Free - Seed Time 1:11.85 – Ok, interesting story around this one. Brett wasn’t aware that he was schedule to swim this event. After he finished the 100 Back, he thought he was only going to have to do the 1000. When he found out about this race, he wasn’t happy. I think it’s because he was nervous about the 1000…regardless, when he dove in, he might as well have been swimming a 1000. He posted a very poor time of 1:16.40…the coach said to him, “looked like you didn’t want to swim that race.” His response, “I didn’t” – so coach told him not to worry about it and to get ready for the 1000.

1000 Free - NT – I was very proud of Brett’s 1000 free. He ended up swimming it in a senior’s event rather than an open event. Meaning Brett had to swim against 17 and 18 year olds. In fact, the bell for the final lap rang and Brett was only on lap 27 out of 40…but he finished up strong with a time of 14:03.24 (splits below)

100 Fly - Seed time 1:31.56 – This was another race Brett really attacked. His fly is better mostly because he is working harder and especially kicking harder, but he still need to work on foot position and relaxing the legs to create a better snap on the kick. However, the effort in practice and the confidence resulted in a 1.5 second drop to 1:29.94

200 Free - Seed time 2:34.09 -Another case where after swimming the 500 Free on Thursday, the thought of 200 seemed like no big deal. He really went out much harder...he told me prior to the race he wanted to swim a 2:30.00 he ended up swimming a 2:29.65...

50 Free - Seed time 34.21 – Brett did better, not as well as I had hoped but an improvement of about .3 with a time of 33.92

50 Breast - 39.50, State Cut 39.29 – Fatigue really seemed to catch up to Brett in this one (Brett and everybody else as all the times were slower than the seed times). Brett finished just a quarter of second off his personal best with a 39.74. The coach did notice something he’s told Brett to work on in practice…it has something to do with hand position in the recovery phase before the streamline part of the stroke.

500 Free - NT – Brett did a nice job. As expected he was very conservative in his approach. He finished with a time of 6:52.84. He was pretty pumped up after the race and stated that it wasn’t that bad and he wasn’t all that tired. I expect a pretty significant drop the next time he does this event.

Thought it might be interesting to look at Brett’s splits in the 500 and both halves of the 1000 next to each other. It gives you a good indication of why I said his stroke is pretty good for distances…

500 FREE		1000 Opening			1000 Closing
38.88				38.91			41.81
42.25				42.98			42.59	
42.47				44.07			43.34
42.89				44.30			42.26
41.73				43.60			42.21
41.85				43.13			44.79
41.84				42.68			40.85
41.49				42.33			41.06
40.37				43.33			40.82
39.07				42.50			39.12
6:52.84			       7:07.39		       6:55.85

Clearly Brett conserved a bunch in the opening 500 for the 1000 free, as he managed a significant negative split. In fact, I find it fascinating that the back half times are very similar to the 500 he swam the night before. If not for the 1 slow 50 where he posted a 44.79, they might be almost identical. Obviously this means he can go harder in the 500, but it also means he can go harder in the opening 500 of the 1000 as well. I’m going to be interested to watch how he handles distance frees moving forward…

[JAG]

You've probably explained it before earlier in the thread, but can you explain what seed time, sectional cut, and state cut mean? What happens if they get a time below state cut or sectional cut?

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by JAG

You've probably explained it before earlier in the thread, but can you explain what seed time, sectional cut, and state cut mean? What happens if they get a time below state cut or sectional cut?

Hey JAG,

Glad to explain…In swimming, like track, the fastest in the event gets the middle lane and as you move outward each swimmer is slightly slower. So if you were to look at a Heat Sheet (the sheet that instructs every swimmer what event number, heat, and lane they are in), you’d see something like this…

Event 1 – Girls 10 and Under 50 Butterfly
Heat 1
1.	Breeze, Bailey S	10	Gold-GA		34.25
2.	Weimer, Abby R		10	ABSC-GA		33.78
3.	Munson, Katy		10	CAD-GA		32.77
4.	Coffee, Tory		10	GA-GA		32.65
5.	Rucker, Tori		10	GCAT-GA		29.86
6.	VanBrunt, Grace		10	GCAT-GA		29.86
7.	Ulett, Tristen D	10	SA-GA		29.93
8.	Altera, Ashley K	10	DYNA-GA		31.65
9.	Hart, Kennedy C		10	SA-GA		33.28
10.	Galbraith, Hailey	9	Gold-GA		34.12

The first column above is the lane, the second the name, 3rd is age, 4th team and last is the seed time.

So the seed time is the time the coaches put down for the swimmer to enter the event with, and typically the time is the swimmers personal best (this is actually automated to use the personal best time by extracting it from the USA Swimming DB, but there are times the coaches change the seed time). So in essence when you see my references in the write ups about Seed Time, what I’m noting is the time that the kids were entered into the event with, and showing you a quick guide as to what is probably their personal best. There have been times in write ups where I note that the seed time isn’t a personal best, but that is rare.

Now the State Cut and Sectional Cut times are performance based standards that swimmers must meet in order to compete in those events.

So this weekend (2/22) is the Georgia State Championship Meet, and in order to compete in an event at that meet, the swimmer must have reached the “State Cut” time. Somewhere in this thread I believe I’ve posted all the state cuts for the 10 and under age group (I didn’t do it for the 12Us yet, because Brett wasn’t going to get any outside of Breaststroke so there was no need), but regardless when you see a State Cut reference in an event, that is the time my kids are shooting for to qualify for the State Meet.

The Sectional Meet is a huge step up from the State Meet level. Swimming divides the country into 4 Zones…Western, Central, Southern, and Eastern. Then those Zones are sub-divided into different Sections…in the Southern Zone there are 3 Sections and Georgia is in the Eastern one (So the meet Bailey qualified for in Greensboro in mid March is the Eastern Sectional Southern Zone Age Group Championships). Qualifying for this event works the same way as State, only the time standards are much tougher. For instance…for a 10 year old boy to make State in the 50 Free he has to swim a 33.39 to make Sectionals the time drops to 30.69. A better example might be the 500 Free where the state time is a 7:21.99 but the Sectional Time is a 6:35.19…

Just for reference…the Cumming Chattahoochee Gold team had 21 kids qualify for State. 15 of them were on the “Gold” team and 8 were on the Region and Senior teams (much harder to qualify for State as swimmers get older). Out of the 15 Gold team swimmers only 4 have Sectional Cuts…

[Breeze]

Lanier Invite at Lanier Aquatics 2/8 - 2/10

Bear

100 Back - Seed Time 1:22.00, Sectional Cut 1:18.09 - Terrible start, but closed quickly in the opening 25. Unfortunately his first turn was horrible and to make matters worse coming off the wall he ended up in the ropes. He went from half a body lead on the swimmer to his outside going into the wall to a full body behind coming off the wall…He never recovered – 1:26.25

50 Fly - Seed Time 39.66 - Form is coming around, but still can’t race it well yet. Opening 25 was promising – 42.08

50 Freestyle - Seed Time 32.46, Sectional Cut 30.69 - Did ok, here, but didn't post a personal best. 33.13. Unfortunately, his best time was passed by a couple of swimmers, we'll see if he maintains the A relay spot or not...

100 IM - Seed Time 1:23.16 – His improved Breast couldn’t overcome the downturn in fly – 1:24.80

100 Fly - Seed Time 1:26.59 – He swam it, and not well. The start wasn’t bad, but he didn’t have the strength or rhythm to maintain the stroke – 1:38.85

100 Free - Seed Time 1:11.90 - Last race of the meet…Bear posted a personal best…1:11.79

500 Free - Seed Time 6:41.62, Sectional Cut 6:36.19 - So I calculated what Bear was going to need to do in order to get the sectional cut, and we worked out some signals with the lap counter so I could let him know where he stood. Basically, the note card I held said the following…

37.14 		-
1:18.56					1:17.50
2:00.38 	- 1.5
2:41.36					2:39.25
3:22.99 	- 2.5
4:04.55					4:00.99
4:44.57 	-4
5:24.08					5:19.75
6:03.82 	- 5.25
6:41.65					6:36:19

The first column is his seed time splits, the second column is how much time he needs to be under on the 50s (50, 150, 250, etc.), the final column is where he needed to be on the 100s…

Unfortunately, Bear was racing in the 12U 500 Free, so he really would have no one to truly race, as the kids around him were much older and shooting for their own state cut times…

Here is how it went…

Opening 50 – Bear’s best coming in was a 37.14 and as the “-“ in the second column indicates I was wanting him to be under that number, at least slightly. Mission Accomplished – 35.70

Opening 100 – Here I wanted Bear to be under 1:17.50, and he posted a 1:15.79, well ahead of pace, but early…I have concerns at this point he can maintain this pace.
150 Split – was looking for him to be around 1.5 seconds under his 2:00.38 so somewhere around a 1:58.75, he posted a 1:55.91

200 Split – looking for something under 2:39.25 and he get the time to a 2:36.55

250 Split – hoping for somewhere around a 3:20.49, and he got a 3:17.93. He’s doing so well at this point I haven’t really had to give him any signals yet. Just kept the signs steady to let him know he’s doing fine.

300 Split – 4:00.99 is what we need to be good and we are a 3:59.54. Starting to see him slip back at this point…as his 2+ second lead is now under 2 seconds…I start wringing my hands at this point and the entire team that is present on Friday is standing next to me in Bears lane, cheering him on…

350 Split – wanting to be sub 4:40.5. he gets a 4:39.33, so now we are just over 1 second ahead of pace…

400 Split – Bear posted a 5:19.07 and I needed him below 5:19.75…so still under with only a 100 to go, he’d only pass me 1 more time and I have my fingers crossed that he has enough in the tank for a strong finishing kick like he usually does…

450 Split – looking for a 5:58.6 and Bear posts a 5:58.56…The volume in the arena was really high as people were yelling at him to kick and screaming for him to pick it up…and I was pumping the lap counter up and down, giving the signal to go all out…

500 Split – Bear needed to swim the final 50 in a 37.63…a tough task…but when he swam the 6:41.62 his final 50 was 37.83…

Spoiler

Bear finished with a closing 50 of 38.16 and a final time of 6:36.72…missing the sectional cut by about .5 seconds. Bear was exhausted after this race…The meet was doing dive overs (where the racers that finish stay in the water until the next race starts and the swimmers “dive over”), but Bear got out of the water, even though he knows he’s not suppose to. When they fussed at him, he said he thought he might pass out. He was so out of it, we had to tell him things several times before it actually registered with him. He now has 1 more chance to get the cut at the State Meet…

EDIT: I was so focused on explaining Bear's 500 Free race, that I forgot to mention his time did win the event for 10 and unders...

[Breeze]

Chattahoochee Gold Short Course Banquet

Tonight is the short course banquet where the swimmers will be recognized for their efforts and the preliminary relay teams for State Meet will be announced. Bailey and Bear will undoubtedly be on relays, but Brett found out last night that he was edged out in the last meet so he won't be.

[Breeze]

Georgia Short Course State Championships @ Georgia Tech 2/22-2/24

So following the banquet here is the relay situation…

Bear will swim on the “A” 200 Yard Free Relay, but he didn’t make a Medley relay getting just edged out in the last meet of the season.

Bailey will anchor the “A” 200 Yard Free Relay (with her friend Lexi), and she will also swim the Free leg on the 200 Yard “A” Medley Relay

And the door isn’t shut yet on Brett making a relay. He won’t make the 400 Medley, but he has a slightly faster time than the boy currently earmarked to swim the Breast leg in the 200 Medley. I asked the coach about it and he said it was probably just an oversight and he would look into it – Fingers Crossed…

[Breeze]

Georgia Short Course State Championships @ Georgia Tech 2/22-2/24

The meet for us starts tomorrow 2/22, with the twins swimming in the 500 Free…here is the breakdown:

Girls 10 & Under 500 Yard Freestyle

Bailey – Seeded 31st, Seed Time 7:02.67 – Bailey isn’t really thrilled about this race. She doesn’t like it very much, and if you ask me, I’d guess she’s a bit concerned that it will tax her to the point that it impacts her swims later in the weekend. If I had to guess, I’d say she’ll still go conservative here, but still post about an 8 second improvement. Most of the time drop will come from just understanding how the race works and how much effort it takes to swim it.

Boys 10 & Under 500 Yard Freestyle

Bear – Seeded 8th, Seed Time 6:36.72 – Bear has the fastest non-sectional time of anyone in this event, and he has a strong shot at remaining a top 10 finisher in the state. I’d love to say, with him only needing a half a second improvement, having been healthy for past 2 weeks (unlike the previous meet where he was still recovering from an illness), and tapering for this event, swimming in a faster pool, and having adrenalin going for the State Meet, that Bear will absolutely get the Sectional Cut, but I just can’t make that leap. Having seen how hard he pushed himself a couple weeks ago, knowing that he thought he might pass out from his effort, I’m concerned he’ll be willing to work that hard again. Don’t misunderstand – I expect him to try and get that cut, as it is the most important goal that he has in swimming right now, I’m just not sure when things start to hurt if he’ll be able to grab that little extra that he needs…

[Breeze]

Wow...this tapering is going to kill me...or I'm going to strangle the kids. They have SOOOOOOO much energy they are bouncing off the walls...

It started earlier this week, but now with the nervous energy of races around the corner, they are going full steam...(hopefully, it translates into faster times)

[Breeze]

Georgia Short Course State Championships @ Georgia Tech 2/22-2/24

At this point I'm not going to do a bunch of write ups...as this is the payoff meet for the kids hard work. This is the meet they've been building towards, so I'll just let them swim the races and I'll provide you with the results after the fact. There are so many great swimmers in our area that the kids aren't going to challenge for medals, and there aren't really many Sectional Cuts within reach, so there is very little to do other than race...I'll only put a few notes in where appropriate.

Here are the events we’ll be swimming over the weekend…

SATURDAY

Bailey

200 IM – Seeded 35th, Seed Time 2:54.77
100 Free – Seeded 32nd, Seed Time 1:09.97
100 Fly – Seeded 12th, Seed Time 1:19.31 (could slip into top 10 in the state with a good swim)
50 Back – Seeded 32nd, Seed Time 36.49 (this is her best shot at another sectional cut)
200 Free Relay

Bear

200 IM – Seeded 21st, Seed Time 2:52.71
100 Free – Seeded 43rd, Seed Time 1:11.79
50 Back – seeded 45th, Seed Time 38.27
200 Free Relay

Brett

200 Breast – Seeded 42nd, Seed Time 3:01.41

SUNDAY

Bailey

200 Free – Seeded 38th, Seed Time 2:38
50 Fly – Seeded 12th, Seed Time 34.25 (Could get top 10 with a good swim)
50 Free – Seeded 32nd, Seed Time 31.51
100 Back – Seeded 37th, Seed Time 1:23.12
200 Medley Relay

Bear

200 Free – Seeded 17th, Seed Time 2:32.57
100 IM – Seeded 48th, Seed Time 1:23.16
50 Free – Seeded 47th, Seed Time 32.46
100 Back – Seeded 28th, Seed Time 1:22.00

[Breeze]

Georgia Short Course State Championships - RESULTS


Bear

200 IM – Seeded 21st, Seed Time 2:52.71
Result: 200 IM - 41st : 2:54.95 - Bear's tough times didn't get better here. His first 25 yards of the fly were, good, but he bogged down badly on the 2nd 25 and he finished the opening split in a 41.14. When Bear posted his personal best in this event, his fly leg was a 39.57. So 1.57 seconds slower, and more fatigued by the new stroke. Bear's back was a 44:11 and his back in November in this event was a 42.87. The breast was a 51.94 and the free was a 37.76...

100 Free – Seeded 43rd, Seed Time 1:11.79
Result: 100 Free - 49th : 1:11.32 - Slight improvement here. He worked very hard on this race, he really felt going in he might be able to drop a couple of seconds. His kick was strong and for a while I thought he might post something in the mid 1:10s...

50 Back – seeded 45th, Seed Time 38.27
Result: 50 Back - 68th : 39.36 - I have contended for a long time that Bear's only problem on the back is his turns, and his turn wasn't great on this one, but his problem was also magnified by the fact that he was very diliberate. He confirmed that he was trying to "not make a mistake", which was causing this approach and undoubtedly cost him some time. I tried to make sure he knew that this was the meet to race, to allow all your trainging to take over and not to overthink...but when you're struggling, I guess it is kind of like a slump in baseball...hard to not allow the performance to weigh on you.

200 Free Relay - Seeded 7th, Seed Time 2:06.33
Results: 200 Free Relay - 5th : 2:04.12 - Bear closed Saturday swimming in the 200 Free Relay. The team came in seeded 7th...The leadoff swimmer got a 31.44, followed by the second swimmers 31.43, Bear swam a 31.55, and the anchor closed with a 29.7. They combined for a 2:04.12 and finished 5th, beating two teams with faster seeds. Bear did have the slowest split, but he was faster than all 4 boys on the B Relay.

200 Free – Seeded 17th, Seed Time 2:32.57
Result: 200 Free - 28th : 2:30.79 - Bear really put a ton of effort into this race. I don't know if he really felt he could get to a sectional cut or not with this stroke, but he really went all out. In fact, he actually overworked the stroke a bit, trying to hard to go fast, he eliminated some of his glide and killed some of his speed. He did manage the around 2 second improvement, and I was happy for him, but I didn't feel good about his prospects moving forward as he was just trying to hard...

100 IM – Seeded 48th, Seed Time 1:23.16
Result: 100 IM - 44th : 1:22.29 - Bear's opening fly wasn't bad here. Again the opening 25 he's pretty strong, it isn't until the back half that the fly starts to stall out. In fact, the opening 50 (Fly, Back) was a 38.37 which is the best opening 50 of the season for him. His back half was a good 43.92, not quite a good as the last chance meet but good. So another personal best.

50 Free – Seeded 47th, Seed Time 32.46
Result: 50 Free - 57th : 32.86 - Bear really wanted to rip this swim, and with two personal bests, I was hoping he was going to, but he didn't. He swam well, only slightly off the personal best...but it still deflated the momentum he had going.

100 Back – Seeded 28th, Seed Time 1:22.00
Result: 100 Back - 44th : 1:24.88 - This was a horrible swim. Late, late start, really pushed hard in the opening 25 and closed some ground, but lost the ground he made up with a poor turn. Each turn got worse as the race went along and Bear faded back bad. He was tired and sore after this one.


Result: 500 Free

This was Bear's first race...the best way to describe it I believe is to give you the numbers. This time my card had all of Bear's cuts from the previous 500 a couple of weeks ago. My feeling being that if he is below the splits, he's on track as he only needed .5 seconds to get the time he needed.

Prev			State Meet

35.79		35.87   - This is good, we are right about where we need to be early  
1:15.79		1:17.07 - Not good...I start letting him know we are behind			
1:55.91		1:57.44	- Picked it up a bit, about a second faster this split, but still behind
2:36.55		2:38.84	- Now I'm starting to worry...really pumping the lap counter, urging him to go faster
3:17.93		3:19.30 - Stopped the bleading but a long way to go to catch the previous pace and have a shot	
3:59.54		3:58.90 - And just like that we are ahead of our previous time and on pace for the cut (split of 39.60)	
4:39.33		4:39.88 - Slip back just behind the cut...hoping he has a strong kick to finish...
5:19.07		5:18.33 - Only 100 yards left and he's under the cut...
5:58.56		5:57.86 - Literally right on the number...
6:36.72		6:36.38 - Improved - but missed the cut by .19 seconds - closed with a 38.52 split

I wouldn't have believed he could swim a personal best and not get the sectional cut. It is so difficult to fathom .19 seconds when you are talking about a 6 and half minute race. To give you an idea of how fast that is...put your phone on it's stopwatch mode and turn it on and off as fast as you can...I bet you are right around a .19.

Bear actually made a mistake right at the finish that cost him. He peaked. As he was touching the wall, he looked up at the board to see his time, and it shortened his reach. This minor mistake was one of the things that cost him his cut...

Note: I thought about using the Spoiler tag like last time but I wasn't sure if you guys liked not being able to peak ahead or not...so let me know for future reference...


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

Brett

200 Breast – Seeded 42nd, Seed Time 3:01.41
Result : 200 Breast - 31st : 2:59.00 -Brett had his best dive pullout of his life in this race. He was patient with the streamline off the block, and arms down streamline after the actual pullout. By not rushing to the surface, he was able to get much further underwater and didn't trail the swimmer to his inside lane at the beginning of the race (Brett was in an outside lane so he had only 1 person next to him). His pullouts were better throughout this race and it paid off with a personal best time. It was very interesting to look at his splits. His opening 50 was swum in a 39.68 and his personal best in the 50 Breast sprint is a 39.50, more amazingly his split at the 100 was a 1:26.03...his personal best for the 100 Breast was a 1:26.58 - so he actually posted a personl best in the 100 Breast and he still had another 100 Breast to go.

The coach was very pleased with Brett's efforts and told him that given how strong his opening 100 was, he expects to see Brett at a 1:23 in the 100 his next race and below 1:20 by start of next season.

[Breeze]

Georgia State Short Course Championships - RESULTS

500 Free - Seeded 31st, Seed time 7:02.67
Results: 26th, 6:47.13 - I expected a big drop here, just because it was the second time she ever swam the event. It was interested though, because her friend Lexi swam right before her and posted a 6:47.71...so I was urging her to try and beat Lexi's time. I wish I had the ability to create an app that would allow me to enter the swimmer's splits into the system, and then it would play it back as if the people with the splits entered were racing in the same heat. I say that because Lexi and Bailey approached this race completely differently. Lexi went out fast, and really tried to hold on late. Whereas, Bailey took it out much too slow, but kicked down the stretch. Here are both of their splits...

Lexi		Bailey		Diff

35.37		35.8		-.43
1:15.52		1:16.81		-1.29
1:57.03		1:58.32		-1.29 (yes, they swam the same split)
2:38.02		2:40.85		-2.83
3:20.19		3:22.98		-2.79
4:02.52		4:05.33		-2.81
4:45.12		4:47.06		-2.27
5:26.47		5:29.02		-2.55
6:08.51		6:08.95		-.44
6:47.71		6:47.13		.58

200 IM – Seeded 35th, Seed Time 2:54.77
Results: 32nd, 2:49.98 - Great improvement...but she needs to learn how to swim longer races. Still this huge drop made me pretty confident she'd do well this weekend...


100 Free – Seeded 32nd, Seed Time 1:09.97
Results: 19th, 1:07.57 - Bailey earned her first sectional cut of the meet with this swim . She was strong throughout and really did a nice job. The only thing she didn't do well was start, as she was a .82 off the blocks and the average swimmer is mid .7s


100 Fly – Seeded 12th, Seed Time 1:19.31 (could slip into top 10 in the state with a good swim)
Results: 8th, 1:17.57 - Dominating swim for Bailey. She came in 12th, which made her the second fastest seed time in her heat...and she blew her heat away...dominating the rest of the field. She also posted a time that 2 of the swimmers in the fast heat couldn't match...


50 Back – Seeded 32nd, Seed Time 36.49 (this is her best shot at another sectional cut)
Results: 18th, 35.57 - Impressive swim here, as she really opened a big lead on the other swimmers around her. This is another sectional cut time...


200 Free Relay - Seeded 7th, Seed Time 2:08.82
Results: 5th, 2:02.19 - This is the relay with Bailey and Lexi...and it was exciting. The opening swimming posted a strong 29.95 and the team was in 4th place. The second swimmer posted a 31.77, which was slow compared to the competition and caused the team to fall to 5th, with 3 other teams only a fraction of a second behind. Lexi swam 3rd and posted a 31.31...but the team fell to 6th with 7th place right on their heals. Bailey dove in and was like a torpedo swimming a 29.16 the 3rd fastest anchor leg out of the 27 teams. She also passed 2 teams put them back in 5th and nearly swam down the girl in 4th place only losing to her by .4 seconds, and beating the team in 6th by .01...


200 Free – Seeded 38th, Seed Time 2:38
Results: 25th, 2:31.13 - A very nice improvement, and probably slightly better than I expected, if I'm being honest. I thought a 2:32 or 2:33 would have been about right. She's capable of going even faster, but as I mentioned in the 200 IM...she still has to learn how to swim the longer events.


50 Fly – Seeded 12th, Seed Time 34.25 (Could get top 10 with a good swim)
Resutls: 14th, 33.74 - I was disappointed she didn't get a top 10, but the time was amazing and she continues to blow away the meet...


50 Free – Seeded 32nd, Seed Time 31.51
Results: 13th, 30.19 - Bailey blitzed this race. She blew away the rest of the head, winning by over a body length. The re-worked stroke continued to work well. Jumping from 31st seed to 13th place...This was also a sectional cut...


100 Back – Seeded 37th, Seed Time 1:23.12
Results: 17th, 1:17.19 - The strong backstroke from Saturday, carried over on Sunday, as Bailey improved significantly and once again earned a sectional cut...


200 Medley Relay - Seeded 8th, 2:25.12
Results: 4th, 2:18.08 - Love the relays...this one was also exciting. The opening Backstroker swam a strong 36.18...for her it was a personal best and a sectional cut but it still had the team in 6th place. The breaststroker for the relay was a tiny girl, who worked hard. She posted a 40.23
one of the teams in that was ahead of Gold, had a poor breaststroker and fell out of the running. Howerver, 2 teams that were behind actually passed and we were now in 8th place. Then things changed. The Fly leg was swum by the girl that opened the Free Relay with a sub 30 time, and she swam the fly in an unbelievable 31.84. This put the team in 4th, and Bailey swam a sub 30 finishing free leg holding off the two other teams nipping at her heals, and closing on the team in 3rd (but never threatening)...the Gold team beat the 5th place team by .06

[thealmighty]

I know the oftentimes loneliness of the dynasty writer so just wanted to jump in and let you know how much I enjoy this thread.

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by thealmighty

I know the oftentimes loneliness of the dynasty writer so just wanted to jump in and let you know how much I enjoy this thread.

Thanks for checking in...appreciate knowing you're reading.

[RPI-Fan]

Can you give a reset as far as where things stand on sectionals and what will be coming up in the summer and fall and what the goals will be for those seasons?

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Can you give a reset as far as where things stand on sectionals and what will be coming up in the summer and fall and what the goals will be for those seasons?

Hey RPI, thanks for reading, and absolutely, I'll gladly update where things stand and what's coming up. There is a bunch of information in here and a lot of it is redundant so it can be hard to follow, even for me, and I live it every day...

Here is what I'll do...

1. Update our current situation heading into sectionals next weekend (3/7-3/10)
2. Explain how the kids did during short course compared to their goals
3. Update where we are with personal bests in all swims
4. Explain the remainder of our short course schedule
5. Explain the upcoming long course schedule (late spring and summer)
6. Outline the goals for long course (kids are just now forming them by the way, so this may take a few days)
7. Explain where things are for our summer rec. league (still deciding about this one)

Let me know if there is anything in addition to these items that you'd like to see...

[Breeze]

Sectional Meet Update

The sectional meet in Greensboro, NC will take place 3/7 - 3/10. We will be attending as Bailey has qualified in the following events...

- 50 Fly
- 100 Fly
- 50 Back
- 100 Back
- 50 Free
- 100 Free

She will be going along with teammate Hailey (not the same Haley from SA). The backstroker from the Bailey's State Medley Relay team, Emma, qualified with that swim, but she practices at a different pool so we aren't sure if she'll be going or not. The team failed to have a 4th girl qualify, so there won't be any relays at the meet.

Bear will also be going. He failed to qualify in the 500 Free by .19 seconds, but I've told him if he wants to swim at the meet (and he does), that we will enter him and if he fails to get the time during the meet I'll pay the $50 fine. It was really touching, when I asked him if he wanted to swim in the meet, his response was "Yeah, but I wanted to earn it..." I told him that as long as he gets the time at the meet, he earned it...I'm just giving him 1 more shot at it. Unfortunately for Bear, the boys ended up having 4 qualify for the meet, which means those 4 will make up both the Free and Medley relays.

The Psych Sheet isn't out yet for Sectionals, when it comes out, I'll let you know where the kids are seeded...

[Breeze]

State Meet Recap

The state meet was an emotional one for the wife and me. As you can tell from the results Bailey absolutely destroyed the meet. Personal Bests in everything, a top 10 finish, 4 additional sectional cuts, and 2 great relay swims.

Whereas, Bear continued to struggle. His just missing the Sectional Cut in the 500 free was heartbreaking for me. He was so close...and he only missed it because he tried to be too conservative up front. He remembered how tired he was after the Last Chance Meet, but he didn't recall the fact he had been sick so often prior to that meet, which made him more tired that he would normally have been. Making matters worse, one of the boys he typically beats, got the state cut by .14 seconds. Bear was very disappointed most of the weekend. He saw his sister tearing things up, and watched many of his friends that he dominated through the season pass him by. We are starting to see some good signs and I expect Bear will be turning things around soon, but it's still hard to see him so disappointed (especially, if you'll recall from the beginning of the dynasty when I talked about the kid's personalities...Bear is the softhearted, sweat kid)...

Brett was very pumped up following his race, and actually it has shown up in practice already. He had indicated he wanted to go over his long course goals with me, almost immediately following the state meet. We haven't done that yet, but it shows that he has a pretty good idea of what he wants to push for. I'm eager to see what he came up with...

[Breeze]

There is still 1 short course meet left. It is the Atlanta Division Meet...and with Chattahoochee Gold we'll be in the Northern Division (SA was in the Metro Divisional Meet). It will come up around March 22nd thru the 24...and it is a big meet for the team. There will be relays and Gold really shoots to win this event...

However, because most of the kids goals revolved around Sectionals, I'll post them below and make notations if something changes with regards to goals in the Sectional or Divisional Meet...

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by Breeze

Short Course Season Goals - Bear

Bear has been the most vocal about his goals for the season, and he is getting very pumped up about his prospects. His goals are:

• Get state cuts in all events
• Get at least 1 sectional cut
• Swim for Chattahoochee Gold's relay team at the state championships

Bear has some other time specific goals, but they aren't as important as they'll change based on results, and in all honestly he might smash the numbers he currently has set with a good season, so I'm not going to list them here.

As for the ones listed...Bear has a great chance to achieve his goals. He basically has almost all of his state cuts already (though the state cut numbers will be changing this season, we are still waiting for the Georgia Swim Association to publish the updated figures). Based on last seasons times Bear is only missing the 50 Breast and the 100 Free. He'll undoubtedly swim some races he's never done before with Gold like the 200 IM, 100 Fly, and maybe the 400 Free...so he'll need to get cuts in those as well, but things look good on this one.

Getting a sectional cut will be a bit harder, but if the cut figures stay the same, he's about 3 seconds off on a couple of them. That level of improvement is very attainable. This would be a huge achievement to make the sectionals.

Swimming on the Gold Relay will also be within reach. In fact, one of the parent volunteer coaches last night told me (without prompting), that the Gold Relay team for the 9-10 boys will probably all come from our facility. With Bear being one of them in both the medley and free teams. This coach has been with Gold for several years and knows the boys from the other facilities so this was very encouraging.

Here is how Bear ended up...

Get State Cuts in All Events - YES

Get At Least 1 Sectional Cut - No - So far...missed by .19 seconds, but still can earn it at the Sectional Meet

Swim for Chattahoochee Golds Relay Team - Yes & No as he swam in the A free relay but completely missed the Medley...

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by Breeze

Short Course Season Goals - Brett

Brett has been a little more reserved in his goals. He's excited about swimming again, and looks forward to practice, but he understands his position and that he has some work to do, so he's not getting carried away with setting goals right now.

Basically, all he wants to accomplish is to get the state cut in all 3 breaststroke events and in 1 outside event.

As for his prospects. I believe by long course season he will have all 3 state cuts (actually he only needs 2 as he already has the 200 Breast). I'm not sure he'll be able to get the 50 and 100 Breast in short course. He's a couple seconds off in the 50, but several seconds in the 100...

I don't believe he has any shot at getting a cut in another stroke (though his off strokes are improving signifcantly...). If he can start swimming similar times to Bailey and Bear in his off strokes it will be a huge improvement and indicate that he might be able to become an all around swimmer...

There is 1 other goal for Brett...he has a chance to swim Breast on the Chattahoochee Gold Medley Relay team at state...

With Brett, as I mentioned at the time, his goals were quite high...and I really didn't expect him to reach them. Here is how he did with comments...

Get a State Cut in All 3 Breaststroke Events - No - but as I said, I didn't think it was possible. I did feel after his strong swim in the 50 during time trials he might squeak out that cut, but unfortunately, he never improved significantly over that initial time...

Get a Cut in 1 "other" stroke - No - Really didn't expect this one as he had a LONG way to go...however if we look at it like this...

Swim outside strokes with similar times to siblings (which is what I felt was a more realistic goal) - Sort of - he improved dramatically, and actually got faster than Bailey and Bear in a couple of strokes, before Bailey's huge improvements recently...

Swim on a Chattahoochee Gold Relay Team - No - Just missed it by .3...

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by Breeze

Short Course Season Goals - Bailey

Right now Bailey's goals would be almost exactly the same as Bear's. However, Bailey's chances of achieving those goals are much slimmer...

First, the shoulder issue she is currently dealing with will limit her ability to practice and thus reduce her improvement. If this can get cleaned up before November, then the impact will be significantly reduced and Bailey should have time to catch up before the state meet in February. Getting the state cuts in all strokes shouldn't be a huge deal as she already has almost all of them. She's only missing....the 50, 100, and 200 Free. Obviously, if she can't practice the chances of getting the Sectional Cut will become much more difficult. However, like Bear she's only about 3 seconds from that time in several events.

Second, making a relay at Swim Atlanta is much tougher...The sheer number of Swim Atlanta swimmers will make it difficult...Swim Atlanta has over three times as many kids in the program compared to Chattahoochee Gold...so much more competition for the 8 relay spots. Also Swim Atlanta has some very high end swimmers. For instance, there are 2 sisters that are both 10 and under and both are ranked in the top 3 nationally for the age group in multiple strokes. They will undoubtedly get 2 of the 8 relay spots.

Based on what we find out in physical therapy her goals may be downgraded a bit...

So Bailey's write up above requires some recapping.

First, Bailey was on the shelf for quite a while, in fact her first meet was in November, but as I mentioned, if she could get back in the pool by November then I felt she might have time to get her times down (boy was that an understatement).

Second, Due to the shoulder problems, we pulled Bailey from SA and moved her to Chattahoochee Gold, which made the odds of getting on a relay team much higher...

That stated here is how she did...

Get All State Cuts - YES

Get At Least 1 Sectional Cut - YES - she got 6 and if her Breaststroke hadn't fallen apart recently, she probably would have had both IMs as well

Swim on a Chattahoochee Gold Relay Team - YES - anchored the "A" Free Relay and Swam the Free Leg on the "A" Medley Relay
(note: I find it a bit ironic that Bailey ended up the best Freestyler in her age group on Chattahoochee Gold, when it was her poor form in the Free at SA that caused her to swim the stroke slowly and caused her all the shoulder problems in the first place...)

[Breeze]

General Update

Bear strained a hip flexor last night and was limited in what he could do in practice.

Bailey woke up this morning with a fever

So the twins will not be at practice tonight. Bear was scheduled to have a private lesson on Saturday, so I hope he's markedly better tomorrow. I think Bailey just has a cold.

[Breeze]

Bailey's Short Course Personal Bests

Stroke	Age	Time		Standard		Meet Date
50 FR	10	30.19	 	 "AA"			2/22/2013
					
					
100 FR	10	01:07.57	 "AA"			2/22/2013
					
					
200 FR	10	02:31.13	 "A"			2/22/2013
					
					
500 FR	10	06:47.13	 "A"			2/22/2013
					
					
50 BK	10	35.57	 	 "AA"			2/22/2013
					
					
100 BK	10	01:17.19	 "AA"			2/22/2013
					
					
50 BR	10	44.34		 "BB"			12/14/2012
					
					
100 BR	10	01:34.77	 "BB"			11/10/2012
					
					
50 FL	10	33.74		 "AA"			2/22/2013
					
						
100 FL	10	01:17.57	 "AA"			2/22/2013
					
					
100 IM	10	01:20.77	 "A"			1/19/2013
					
					
200 IM	10	02:49.98	 "A"			2/22/2013								

[Breeze]

Bear's Short Course Personal Bests

Stroke	Age	Time		Standard		Meet Date
50 FR	10	32.46	 	 "BB"			12/14/2012
										
100 FR	10	01:11.32	 "BB"			2/22/2013
					
					
200 FR	10	02:30.79	 "A"			2/22/2013
					
					
500 FR	10	06:36.38	 "A"			2/22/2013
					
					
50 BK	10	38.27	 	 "BB"			1/19/2013
					
					
100 BK	10	01:22.00	 "BB"			12/14/2012
					
					
50 BR	10	47.21		 "BB"			11/10/2012
					
					
100 BR	10	01:37.02	 "BB"			1/19/2013
					
					
50 FL	10	39.66		 "BB"			9/15/2012
					
						
100 FL	10	01:26.59	 "BB"			12/14/2012
					
					
100 IM	10	01:22.29	 "BB"			2/22/2013
					
					
200 IM	10	02:52.71	 "A"			11/10/2012
									

[Breeze]

Brett's Short Course Personal Bests

Stroke	Age	Time		Standard		Meet Date

50 FR	12	33.92	 	 			2/8/2013

										
100 FR	12	01:11.85	 "B"			12/14/2012
					
					
200 FR	12	02:29.65	 "B"			2/8/2013
					
					
500 FR	12	06:52.84	 "B"			2/8/2013


1000 FR	12	14:03.24	 "B"			2/8/2013
					
					
50 BK	12	39.52	 	 			1/19/2013
					
					
100 BK	12	01:23.17	 "B"			2/8/2013


200 BK 12	2:58.13		 			12/14/2012
					
					
50 BR	12	39.50		 "BB"			11/30/2012
					
					
100 BR	12	01:26.58	 "BB"			12/14/2012


200 BR 12	02:59.00	 "BB"			2/22/2013
					
					
50 FL	12	38.41		 			12/14/2012
					
						
100 FL	12	01:29.94	 			2/8/2013
					
					
100 IM	12	01:25.99	 			11/30/2012
					
					
200 IM	12	02:56.92	 "B"			2/8/2013
								

[thealmighty]

At what age would you expect Bear's times to start surpassing Bailey?

Just curious.

[Izulde]

Just curious, how is Brett handling being the only one of the three not competing at Sectionals? I seem to remember early in the dynasty you said he's the most passionate about swimming of the siblings.

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by thealmighty

At what age would you expect Bear's times to start surpassing Bailey?

Just curious.

thealmighty - to answer your question, I figured I'd go back to the State Meet time standards and determine when the boys times start to become harder than the girls on a consistent basis. It looks like at 13 the boys times start to become harder. The times are approximately 2 seconds faster across the board. At 14 time times are 3 to 4 seconds in 100s and 4+ seconds in longer events. The disparity gets larger in the Senior (15+) age group. So I'd say at 13 or 14 we should start to see the shift.

Originally Posted by Izulde

Just curious, how is Brett handling being the only one of the three not competing at Sectionals? I seem to remember early in the dynasty you said he's the most passionate about swimming of the siblings.

Izulde - you remember correctly, Brett is the one that really loves the sport. He's extremely proud of his siblings, in fact, he's planning to go and watch rather than stay home with my parents. That being said there is an underlying disappointment that he's been unable to get to this level. He realized going in he wouldn't achieve a Sectional Cut time, and that Bailey and Bear were likely to get one...so knowing that ahead of time undoubtedly mitigated some of the frustration. Unfortunately for Brett, he'll age up right before the start of the next short course season, which will make his time standards significantly harder (I'll cover this more down the road)...I really feel for Brett when it come to this...

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

Both great questions...let me know if you have any more...

[Breeze]

ESSZ Championships @ Greensboro, N.C. - 3/7 - 3/10

Note: ESSZ is the way the event abbreviates Eastern Section Southern Zone...

So the Psych Sheet is out, and here is how the kids stack up...

Bailey

50 Fly - Seeded 45th / 80
100 Fly - Seeded 33rd / 61
50 Free - Seeded 47th / 82
100 Free - Seeded 52nd / 72
50 Back - Seeded 49th / 76
100 Back - Seeded 58th / 71



Bear

500 Free - Seeded 41st / 41


The times, as expected, are very tight in this meet...to illustrate - in the short sprints an improvement of 1 second on the seed time could result in an improvement of 20 spots in the overall finish...

Also the races should be extremely tight as the difference from the fastest person in a heat and the slowest will probably be around .5 seconds...

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by Breeze

Hey RPI, thanks for reading, and absolutely, I'll gladly update where things stand and what's coming up. There is a bunch of information in here and a lot of it is redundant so it can be hard to follow, even for me, and I live it every day...

Here is what I'll do...

1. Update our current situation heading into sectionals next weekend (3/7-3/10)
2. Explain how the kids did during short course compared to their goals
3. Update where we are with personal bests in all swims
4. Explain the remainder of our short course schedule
5. Explain the upcoming long course schedule (late spring and summer)
6. Outline the goals for long course (kids are just now forming them by the way, so this may take a few days)
7. Explain where things are for our summer rec. league (still deciding about this one)

Let me know if there is anything in addition to these items that you'd like to see...

So, I believe I still owe you the upcoming long course schedule, the long course goals and the summer rec. league information. However, given that we still have the 2 short course races left (Sectionals and the Northern Divisional Meet), I'll provide that information once we've finished with those races...that way everything will be organized in the thread...

[Breeze]

General Update

Bear's hip flexor problem seems to be fine now...probably more growing pains.

Bailey's fever was gone on Friday afternoon, but she does have a double outer ear infection (Read: Swimmer's Ear). The last few days in practice she's only been able to use a kickboard, so she can keep her ears out of the water...

[Breeze]

ESSZ Championships

If you want to watch the meet it is available on in...

ESSZ Championship Meet

It'll only cost $5 a day.

Actually didn't expect you guys to watch, just thought it was kind of cool that it will be covered and felt it was worth mentioning...

[Breeze]

ESSZ Age Group Championships - RESULTS


Bailey

Friday

50 Fly - Seeded 45th, Time 33.74 : RESULTS - 50th, Time 33.44


Saturday

100 Fly - Seeded 33rd, Time 1:17.57 : RESULTS - 36th, Time 1:16.13
100 Free - Seeded 52nd, Time 1:07.57 : RESULTS - 71st, Time 1:09.29
50 Back - Seeded 49th, Time 35.57 : RESULTS - 65th, Time 36.12


Sunday

50 Free - Seeded 47th, Time 30.19 : RESULTS - 72nd, Time 31.26
100 Back - Seeded 58th, Time 1:17.19 : RESULTS - 65th , Time 1:18.28

Bailey didn't do as well as she had hoped she would, but because of the double swimmers ear, she was unable to practice like she needed to. She kicked, so she was in shape for the races, but her dives and turns were extremely poor, and certainly contributed to a majority of her time gains. All and all I was pleased, she handled herself well and she enjoyed the experience, which was the whole point...

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Bear

500 Free - Seeded 41st, Time 6:36.38, RESULTS - 40th, Time 6:47.85

Poor Bear, He was so concerned he wouldn't do well, the kid actually made himself sick before this race. It started at Breakfast and before I knew it he had taken 4 trips to the bathroom. Before the race at the facility we got him calmed down a bit, but right before the race, he found me and told me he almost threw up in the bathroom. I knew he wasn't going to swim well so the time didn't surprise me. I really tried to take the pressure off of him by letting him know we didn't care about his time, we felt he had earned the right to be here, we felt he'd do well during the race, but it didn't help. He was so uptight, on two occassions he did his flip turn and almost didn't touch the wall, and because he could just barely brush the wall with his feet, he barely got any push...

One of the main reasons that we brought the kids was so they could experience the event. Hopefully, next time he won't get so uptight...

[Breeze]

Northern Divisional Meet @ Mt View Aquatic Center 3/22 - 3/24

All,

Sorry for the delay in posting the pre-write up for this event. I just recently got the update with the events the kids will be swimming, but the host of the meet has failed to post a Psych Sheet, so I don't know anything about the seeding. I'll keep an eye on it and let you know...

[Breeze]

Northern Divisions Meet @ Mt. View Aquatic Center

The Psych Sheet was finally posted…I'm going to post these in stages in case I can't get them all done today at work...


Brett

Day 1

100 Free – 23RD : 1:11.85 – Brett’s Freestyle continues to improve, and I could see a decent drop here, except for the fact we’ll be getting up real early to get to the pool, and this will be the first race. Not sure if he’ll be fully awake.

100 Breast – 9TH : 1:26.58 – His coach is expecting a big improvement from him in this one base on his 1:26.00 opening 100 in the 200 Breast at State. Coach says he should be able to get down into the upper 1:23s. I’m not sure we are getting there. An interesting side note in this one, Brett should be in the same heat with the other 12 year old (Kyle) that just edged him out for the State 200 Yard B relay team, he’s a couple seconds slower in the 100 (only a fraction of a second off in the 50), but, even though he hasn’t said anything…I believe he has a personal goal to beat Kyle.

100 Back – 17TH: 1:23.17 – If he cleans up his turns and charges into the walls he should drop here. In practice, he’s starting to close on most of the other kids in his lane when he swims backstroke. However, he will sometimes get anxious when swimming the back because he feels he isn’t going fast enough, and when that happens he tends to mix in a bicycle type kick, which is a more natural motion for him over the flutter kick. If he does that his times will suffer…

Day 2

50 Breast – 9TH : 39.50 – Hoping Brett does the bigger dolphin kick during the pullout phase on both ends of the pool. If he does, this time will drop. He is again racing Kyle and he wants to beat him here…(if he does beat him, he may end up in the B relay for Gold)

100 Fly – 15TH : 1:29.94 – It’s amazing to think as I write this that Brett is seeded 15 in a long fly event. It really illustrates how far he’s come. Unfortunately, while he’s making strides and improving, he’s also working on things, and he’s currently developed some bad habits with his kick. My guess is he gets DQed...

50 Free – 24TH : 33.92 – who knows? I’ve said for a while this should drop, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to move much. The boy needs to learn to race this stroke and give more short burst effort.

Gold will field at least 3 relay teams for both Free and Medley races in this event, so Brett could end up on 1 or 2 of them…the team isn't announcing who’s swimming them until right before the race, so I’ll have to fill in that information in the post race comments.

[Breeze]

Northern Divisional Meet

Bear

Day 1

100 IM – 5TH : 1:22.29 – Bear’s fly is starting to come together, and in fact, I think he can swim it pretty well for 25 yards, so his recent struggles with that stroke shouldn’t adversely impact him to much this weekend. His backstroke has improved, but turns are still going to be a problem. Good clean turns and a solid fly and he could drop a couple of seconds…maybe even slip into the top 3 and earn a medal…

50 Free – 7TH : 32.46 – I’d really like to see Bear get some traction here. He’s been passed by several kids on the Gold team in this event, and I’d really like to see him make an improvement like they have recently and drop time. Yes, I’m probably jealous a bit, but Bear works SOOOO much harder in practice than the kids that have passed him, that it really does irritate me a bit that he isn’t still beating them. Plus a good swim here, could put him on the A Free Relay, a poor swim and he’ll be on the B team at best.

100 Breast– 6TH: 1:37.02 – I have no idea what will happen here. It has been a long time since Bear raced this. His form looks much better, but he still isn’t real fast with it. I do believe the speed is coming, but it will take a while.

50 Back – 9TH : 38.27 – Another stroke that Bear has been struggling with, but most of his struggles here are around the turns. He isn’t carrying his speed into the turns and his flips are very slow. The actual stroke isn’t bad. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s cleaned this up enough to have an improvement.

Day 2

50 Breast – 11TH : 47:21 – See the 100 Breast – just don’t know, because he hasn’t raced it in a long time.

100 Back – 8TH : 1:22.00 – Just like the 50, this will probably all come down to turns. In fact, my guess is – if he swims a good 50 and improves, he’ll improve here. If he doesn’t swim a good 50, he won’t swim well here either, due to a combination of technique and confidence.

50 Fly – 9TH : 39.66 – The extra work he’s put in on this stroke is making a difference. His form is much prettier than it has ever been (at least in the first 25 to 35 yards). However, he tends to fatigue which causes the form to fall apart badly at the end. Also, because he is focusing on form, he isn’t racing the stroke as well, so some of the speed is missing. However, he could post a personal best here…and MAN I HOPE HE DOES, cause it would be huge for his confidence. Unfortunately, it will late on the second day, so I don’t know how much steam he’ll have left in the tank…

100 Free – 8TH : 1:11.32 – If he has anything left, he’ll give this all he’s got, but even if he can improve, my bet is it will only be fractionally better…

Like Brett, there will be at least 3 relays in both the Free and Medley…

[Breeze]

Northern Divisional Meet

Bailey

Now for Bailey this meet could be huge. The top three in each event will get a medal, and you’ll see based on where she is seeded in each event, how many medals she has a shot at…

Day 1

100 IM – 4TH : 1:20.77 – Bailey didn’t swim this at the State Meet so my bet is this will definitely be a personal best, and could be a personal best by a lot. I’m just not sure if the Breast has improved enough to get her in the top 3. The girl seeded 3, has a 1:16.52. My guess is Bailey can get to a 1:18 low, but most likely she’ll need a poor swim by the 2 or 3 seed to get a medal here.

50 Free – 3RD : 30.19 – These races are so tight the slightest thing can make a huge difference. A good vs poor start can make a .3 difference in time, and with the top seed sitting at only a 29.83, Bailey could win. On the other side, a poor start or turn by Bailey and she could end up 5 or 6

50 Back– 2ND: 35.57 – If she swims close to her personal best a top 3 is almost assured. If she swims like she did at Sectionals, she might get edged out for the podium.

100 Fly – 1ST : 1:16.13 – Unless one of the other swimmers in this race has a real old time and is much faster than their seed, or unless Bailey swallows a bunch of water and has to stop, she should win this race. The girl seeded second is almost 10 full seconds slower…

Day 2

50 Breast – 7TH : 44:34 – It has been too long for me to know. I do know she said her knee hurt a bit after swimming breast at practice Thursday night, so I’m not holding my breath here. Maybe I’ll get some insight based on how her Breast looks in the IM on day 1.

100 Back – 4TH : 1:17.19 – Seeded about a second and a half off a podium spot. She could sneak in and get a medal here, but she’ll need to swim better than she did at Sectionals.

50 Fly – 1ST : 33.44 – Unlike the 100, this one could be tight. Only a .34 advantage in seed time over second. Should easily medal here though…

100 Free – 2ND : 1:07.57 – Not probably going to win the event with a top time of 1:04.46…but could hold off the challengers for second.

Bailey will certainly be on both A relays.

Quick note…this will be Bailey’s good friend Lexi’s (the one that has had the double knee surgeries on both knees in the last 2 years) last meet with us. She is moving to Arizona. Her swimming has gotten much stronger since she joined Gold and I am hopeful, she’ll be able to sneak in and get a medal somewhere. I’m also hopeful, she will be on both of Bailey’s A relay teams…
-

[Breeze]

Based on my final note in Bailey's write up, I figured I'd take a second and post Lexi's seed times and places...

50 Free - 6th : 32.36
50 Back - 6th : 37.99
200 Free - 3rd : 2:30.72
100 Back - 9th : 1:22.65
100 Free - 5th : 1:10.87

[Breeze]

The swim meet this weekend went well and I’ll update you on the information once the official results come out. However, that’s not what this update is for…

Lexi’s family is on an airplane this morning heading to Arizona to start their new life there. I’ve known about the impending move for months, and I was aware Paul (father) was looking for a new job for closer to 9 months, so I’m a bit surprised their leaving has hit me so hard. We were pretty close, as I saw them almost every day at practice, and typically we’d sit together for an hour or so while the kids swam. We’ve also gone out to eat together numerous times (typically after a practice or after a meet), and we’ve even hosted them and they’ve returned the favor. While all this is nice, it certainly isn’t earth shattering, or some tight level of bonding that would result in the mild depression I’m currently coping with.

So I examined other areas that are contributing to my current malaise. I believe part of it is that I’m losing a kindred spirit. Swimming is a tough sport, long hours, tough start times, not many breaks in the schedule, which makes it hard to interact with people that aren’t other swim parents. Swim meets are also long, as you wait for hours to watch your kid swim for 1 minute, so it’s nice to have someone to talk to during that time that you enjoy being around. It’s also nice to have someone who knows what you are going through, and that takes a genuine interest in the results of your child, actively rooting for them to do well.

In addition to missing the parents, I am going to miss the kids, as I have a good relationship with Lexi and her brother Ryan. They have both spent the night at the house (Lexi more times than I can count), and they are great kids, sweet and polite with great attitudes. Lexi, with her injury history, is a kid that you can’t help feeling and rooting for as she’s already over come so much that it is amazing. Now they will be gone and we won’t be watching them as the progress. Lexi has been with us so often over the last two years that she’s a bit like a family member. In fact, I help out with the team’s dry land on Wednesday, and we play dodge ball at the end of practice so the kids can have some fun. During dodge ball, I went out of my way to get everyone out except Lexi. After the practice, Bailey knew what I had done and she ran over gave me a hug and said, “Thanks Dad”…followed about 10 seconds later by Lexi, who gave me a hug and not prompted, not hearing what Bailey had said, completely unscripted said, “Thanks second Dad…”

However, with all that…and the above reasons are significant, the thing that kills me the most is the way it is impacting Bailey. Last night, after the swim meet, Bailey went out to dinner with Lexi and then to her house, while I stayed at the pool for Brett. When Paul brought Bailey home, those few minutes where they dropped her off were hard. Paul was clearly emotional, having seen the girls interact most of the evening knowing they wouldn’t be seeing each other again anytime soon (if ever). Seeing how it was impacting Paul, put a knot in my stomach. Then watching Bailey hugging Lexi goodbye, while tearing up. Trying to be big and put on a good face, trying to laugh off the pain, but starting to cry anyway. Lexi trying not to cry by teasing Bailey about the tears, but failing miserably. Then they walked out the door, and Bailey stood there, in the doorway, and watched them pull away. Then she turned to me, and completely broke down. I will be haunted by that look for a VERY VERY LONG TIME…and I have to admit I started to tear up…and I remained choked up all night (just writing this I feel my throat constricting and my eyes starting to water just picturing her face). In fact, I didn’t sleep well despite the fact I had spent almost 30 hours of the weekend at a pool and had gotten out of bed at 5:15 on Saturday and Sunday to make it down to warm ups.

Background…

This whole experience, is part of growing up, but it is really hard, especially for Bailey. Lexi moved to Atlanta about 2 years ago, and on her first day in town she joined SwimAtlanta, and from that day Bailey and Lexi were tight. They really gravitated towards each other. In fact, there were times that I had to remind Bailey that she needed to spend time with others and not concentrate so much on Lexi. I think each of them saw a bit of themselves in the other. They both have darker complexions, dark brown hair, brown eyes. They are short, and athletically built, and they both are competitive but sweet. The two always got along great they never had any fights, arguments, or problems. When they spent the night together at our house or theirs, the kids went to bed without fighting and they slept; they didn’t stay up until all hours of the morning just being silly. They made a great team.

Also you may remember from the earlier writings that one of the main reasons Bailey liked swimming was because she had so many friends. When we put her with Chattahoochee Gold she left most of those friends behind. We still see them on occasion, but nowhere near like the way she saw them prior to the change. At Gold the coaching has been much better, but in all honestly, there really aren’t any girls for Bailey to be friends with. Hailey (from the state relay) and Hayden (Hailey’s twin) are about the only ones, and they don’t come to practice everyday as they compete in other sports, and right now they are at soccer almost every night. So now with Lexi gone Bailey will be only girl swimming with 9 boys in the 2 fast lanes for practice, so there is no one currently around to fill the void, and with the hours we swim, she doesn’t get the chance to interact with many other girls in order to make friends.

Also as you may remember Bailey’s tennis coach had a stroke at the end of last Summer. Because their medical bills got so high, they had to move back down to live with family in Augusta. They left about 3 weeks ago, and when they moved Bailey lost her best friend from tennis as well.

[Breeze]

Northern Divisions Meet @ Mt. View Aquatic Center

Brett

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Day 1 Prelims

100 Free – 23RD : 1:11.85 – Pretty good swim for Brett…no underwater work off the wall or any of the turns or it would have been a personal best. 1:12.02

100 Breast – 9TH : 1:26.58 – Huge swim for Brett here. Really did a much bigger dolphin kick on the pullout and worked hard, finishing the prelims in 7TH with a personal best of 1:25.06.

100 Back – 17TH: 1:23.17 – Another swim that was almost identical to his personal best. Turns were very solid, but still no underwater work and the start could use some help. 1:24.19

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Day 1 Finals

100 Breast – 7TH : 1:25.06 – This wasn’t a particularly good swim. Brett didn’t do a good job of warming down. In fact, I watched him do a bunch of fly during warm down as he is really trying to improve his stroke. I warned him that this was going to wear him out, but he wasn’t listening. By the time finals rolled around he was stiff and sore. He posted a mediocre 1:27.46 in the finals to finish 10TH.

100 Back - 18TH : 1:24.19 – After a pretty long warm down following the breast Brett loosened up a bit and really went out hard trying to get a personal best, but he ended up just off his qualifying time – 1:24.38, and he finished 18TH.


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Day 2 - Prelims

50 Breast – 9TH : 39.50 – The improved dolphin kick helped in this one as well…he saw a personal best 38.81 in the prelims and finished 8TH, qualifying for the A final.

100 Fly – 15TH : 1:29.94 – Swam a time very close to a personal best and he breathed on every stroke. Once he has the confidence to breathe every other stroke the time will drop a bunch. Overall he finished 17TH and qualified for the B final with a time of 1:30.61.

50 Free – 24TH : 33.92 – Finally got a pretty significant improvement in this stroke. Posted a time of 32.88 (still could do more underwater on the turns, but I’m not complaining)

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Day 2 Finals

50 Breast – 8TH : 38.81 – Another strong swim for Brett, as he get another personal best and improves by another half a second posting a time of 38:38, unfortunately, he had to settle for 9th as 1 other kid beat him out. Unfortunately, the state cut for the 50 Breast is a 38.29…so Brett just missed this cut heading into the long course season.

100 Fly – 17TH : 1:30.61 – This was an ugly swim…still breathed ever stroke and with fatigue he really struggled 1:34.96.

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Relays

Brett did get to swim on the C Free Relay on Saturday. Actually swam a decent split of 32.71…over a second faster that the slowest split on the relay. The team was poor though, finishing 9 out of 10.

Brett’s strong swim in the 50 Breast also allowed him to be on the B Medley Relay on Sunday. His split was a 38.28, and the team finished 5/9.


Followup: Brett was very excited after this meet. His two strong Breast swims have a lot to do with that. His improved pullout also has him excited as he feels he’s positioned to do well in long course. He is also still very interested in getting his fly stroke worked out and is already scheduled to have 2 private lessons over the next week to get some extra work.

[Breeze]

Northern Divisional Meet

Bear

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Day 1

100 IM – 5TH : 1:22.29 – The fly in this one looked good, but the back to breast turn was slow, and he overworked the breast, leading to a time similar to what he’s been posting recently and nowhere near a personal best – Finished 9TH with a time of [b[1:24.99[/b]

50 Free – 7TH : 32.46 – Another swim, similar to where he’s been recently, but still just off of a personal best. Finished 8TH with a time of 32.93

100 Breast– 6TH: 1:37.02 – This one was a little disappointing, as Bear’s breast has been better recently, but in this one, he seemed to be caught between not overworking and not getting a good catch. Added several seconds to his personal best, 1:41.58, which is not what I was expecting. As I mentioned in the pre-event write up, it has been a while and I didn’t know what to expect…that may have been too general. If I were more specific, and honest with myself I probably should have said that I don’t know if he’s ready to improve a good bit. Adding a significant amount of time was a surprise.

50 Back – 9TH : 38.27 – The struggles for Bear continue, he adds 2.25 seconds to his seed time to finish 14 with a time of 40.56

This was another terrible day for Bear, as he continues to struggle to get any traction and get a positive result. His fly did look better in the IM, but that is a small take away at this point in his struggles.

FREE RELAY – Bear did get to swim on the A Free Relay. He swam the 3RD leg and had the second fastest split (though only fractionally faster than the leadoff leg, who had the cold start). He swam a 33.07, no where close to his time at State. The team finished 2ND, a good 11 seconds behind first, and a good 6 seconds ahead of 3RD


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Day 2

50 Breast – 11TH : 47:21 – After the poor 100, I didn’t have any expectation on this one…and Bear went out and surprised me. He swam a strong race, really doing a better job of driving forward and reaching rather than over working and getting to up and down. He finally got a personal best with a significant improvement of 1.4 seconds. He finished 8TH and his time was 45.82

100 Back – 8TH : 1:22.00 – Couldn’t clean up the backstroke enough to get a personal best as he only manages a 1:25.47 and an 11TH place finish. I know I’ve said this before, but he really needs to clean up the turns and the maintaining of speed heading into the walls. You might be wondering why the coach isn’t pushing this, and it is because she’s more concerned with his fly and breast form right now.

50 Fly – 9TH : 39.66 – And finally some reward for all the hard work. Bear looked very strong. His form is much better and it resulted in a 5 th place finish and an improvement of over a second, 38.44. Bear was able to put together the entire 50 without breaking for and/or fatiguing too much. He did get a little high 3 times when he was breathing on the back half, but he’ll iron that out pretty quickly, which should mean another second or so of time. This one was big as his entire confidence seemed to go up with this 1 swim. (note: one driving factor in this one was the Medley relay at the end of the day. Bear had been told he was on the B medley, and he knew if he swam the fly good enough they might switch the order and he could get on the A. Gold does that from time to time at State and Sectionals, taking the hottest swimmer at the moment and putting them in the relay. However, they don’t deviate in this meet, so Bear was stuck with the B team)

100 Free – 8TH : 1:11.32 – I guess Bear did have something left, as he swam good here, posting his 3rd personal best of the day, 1:10.83, . He had a strong kick for the full 100, and he definitely gave maximum effort. He also climbed up to 5th overall

MEDLEY RELAY Bear’s medley relay was fun…to begin with it was a 2 Bear relay, as a second child with the same name was on the relay…in fact they swam the 3RD and 4TH legs. The race started and Bears team was in 4Th after the back with 3 other teams right on their heals. The breaststroker was able to real in one of the teams that was in front (actually 2ND after the back, but 3RD after the breast), so when my Bear dove in, he was still in 4 TH, but only 1.2 seconds behind. Bear’s fly again, looked good…as he blew by the 3RD place swimmer, posting a 37.00 split and handed the freestyler a 1.8 second advantage, that he held onto for the 3RD place finish. I really liked the 37.00 split…even with a rolling start that is a good time, so I am hopeful, we are about to see Bear start dropping time in this stroke again.

[Breeze]

Northern Divisional Meet

Bailey

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Day 1

100 IM – 4TH : 1:20.77 – I guessed Bailey could get to a 1:18 low with a good swim…if I was right then she must have had a great swim, posting a personal best time of 1:17.43, over a half a second faster than I thought she could go. The splits were good 36.68 and a 40.75 on the back half. In fact, her Breast leg was good for about 18 of the 25 yards…had she maintained that form for the full 25, she would have been about a full second faster still. As it was she maintained her seed finishing 4TH …

50 Free – 3RD : 30.19 – Bailey did not have a great swim here. She was a little slow on the opening 25, allowing the leaders to get too far in front. She closed hard on the back half and managed to pull out a 4TH place finish, but she swam a (for her) slow time of 31.20.

50 Back– 2ND: 35.57 – Bailey’s backstroke looked good. Not explosive on the start, but quick off the wall. She did swim a personal best 35.20, and she finished 2ND, a full second from first but .7 ahead of third.

100 Fly – 1ST : 1:16.13 – In this race Bailey got a terrible start. In her defense, the starting buzzer wasn’t working well, and it didn’t have the normal sharp tone that she associates with the start of the race. In fact, it sounded a little muffled. I thought the starter had said “Go” which seemed strange, she said she thought he had said “Stand”, when in fact, the race had started (after this race, the backup starting mechanism was put in place, so the officials knew there was a problem too). After the bad start, Bailey started swimming down the field. At the first turn she was in with the middle of the pack. By the turn at the 50 yard mark she was already almost 3 seconds ahead. In the back half of the race, she just continued to build her lead with every stroke and she ended up winning the event by 6+ seconds with a personal best time of 1:15.16, another full second improvement, even with a bad start…


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Day 2

50 Breast – 7TH : 44:34 – After the Breast in the IM, I felt Bailey had a good chance to swim this close to her seed time. She was pretty good with her form and she didn’t overwork or rush the stroke in the first part of the IM race. I wasn’t sure she could hold form for the whole race, but she did well…it wasn’t a personal best as she finished in 45.41, but it was much better than it has been, and it was good enough to hold onto her seed as she finished seventh.

100 Back – 4TH : 1:17.19 – Bailey looked good in this one. She was a bit sluggish early, but really picked it up in the back half. She challenged for second, but was beaten to the wall by .3 seconds. Bailey took third with a personal best time of 1:16.98

50 Fly – 1ST : 33.44 – I warned Bailey before the start of this one that she would need to get off the blocks. Her seed time, compared to the others in the race indicated this one would be close. Bailey got a good start and was first to the wall at the 25, but just barely. On the back half, she couldn’t shake the girl next to her as they raced the whole way. As they came into the wall Bailey breathed entirely too much, including on the stroke that was to touch for the finish (which is a big no no), but she still managed to out touch the girl next to her and win the event…she just missed a personal best – 33.56 (1 less breath and this is a personal best)…

100 Free – 2ND : 1:07.57 – Bailey came in seeded second, but it was obvious early she wasn’t going to get second. Two girls jumped out to huge leads (obviously one of them hadn’t done a 100 free in a while), as they both were a full 2 seconds ahead of Bailey at the half way point. Bailey swam strong and in fact, raced Lexi hard for the third place spot, out touching her friend by .3 to take the bronze. Her time was not a personal best as she finished in 1:09.81

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Free Relay
In the Free Relay on Saturday, Bailey was the anchor and Lexi led off. After the opening 50, the Gold team was in second, trailing by 1.3 seconds. At the end of the second 50, gold was still in second trailing now by 2.3 seconds. The third swimmer dove in an immediately ate up distance to the leaders and by the time she got to the wall, Bailey was handed a 3 second lead. Bailey finished with an even 30 second split and the Gold team won by almost 5 seconds.

Medley Relay – (and likely Bailey and Lexi’s last swim together)
The race started with the backstroker swimming a personal best split of 35.53, good enough for first place by about .4 of a second. The second place team’s breaststroker was terrible so they fell way back, and were a non-factor moving forward. However, The third place teams’ breaststroker was strong cutting into Gold’s lead to the point the team only had a .18 lead when Bailey dove in for the fly. The fly swimmer for the challenging team did a nice job keeping up with Bailey in the opening 25, as Bailey was only able to get about a half a body length lead. However, coming out of the turn that half a body length became a whole body length before Bailey ever took a stroke. She then continued to press her advantage, and the challenger wasn’t able to keep pace. In fact, she hit a wall with 10 or so yards to go and completely lost form and collapsed. Bailey handed Lexi a 6 second lead, that Lexi extended to 10 seconds for the easy victory…

[Breeze]

Long Course Season Schedule

Long Course Time Trials - 4/27-28 - Cumming Aquatic Center

Gold Mount St. Helens Memorial Meet - 5-12-19

Panama City Meet - 5/31-6/2

Swim with Dad - 6/15-16 - (no, I don't swim. It's just on Father's Day weekend)

Stu Hixon Invite - 6/28-6/30

Tara Classic - 7/6-7 - Steve Lundquist Aquatic Center

Age Group State Championships - 7/18-21 - Savannah Aquatic Center