Hello Bluefins,

Good meet yesterday; we won! 

Both the boys and girls score was 5-0 each. 

• 78 Improved Times
• 48% Improvement Rate
• 4 New, new, Historical Top 10 Times

New Top Tens

• Paige Nungester - 50 Free, 100 Free
• Jasnika Akidi - 100 IM
• Danny Bartolet - 500 Free

Team Spirit: For consistent and enthusiastic cheering.

• Alexa Mance, Riley Burns, James Nungester, Mason Bregenzer

Sportsmanship: For demonstrating honor, fairness, and appreciation towards competitors. This could be shaking hands, conversations overheard between swimmers, or other positive actions coaches observed.

• Marcus Oest, Max Yatsenko, Seneca Reidy, Abbie Finnamore

Excellence:

Lithika Akidi - Lithika has been working hard to improve her backstroke start, and it showed yesterday. She is beginning to throw her chin back first before pushing from the wall, arching her back, and streamlining from the start. She then finished the race by not just staying on her back, but trusted her count, didn't look, didn't slow down, and swam strong to the wall. The result was a 9 second drop! Good job, Lithika. :)

Violet Wieller -  In the 200 Free Relay, Violet streamlined in the air, then when she hit the water, held that streamline and engaged her strong fly kicks for an excellent breakout. Key racing tip: The streamline starts in the air. Take a look at the image below. This photo was taken a few years ago, lanes 3 & 5 in the royal blue suits, are us. It's the difference a dive makes and that's what Violet did yesterday. Way to go, Violet. :)

Even look at this next picture taken of one of our swimmers at States, lane 3, royal blue suit. Every swimmer here swims a very fast 50 compared to most other high school swimmers, but who do you think will hit the water and maintain greater velocity and for longer, with less drag, from the first moments of the race? It's the difference a dive makes.

Jonathan Cheung - This was the first time Jonathan ever swam a 100 Free in a race. The race may not seem that long, but it's a hard concept for fairly new swimmers to get their heads around, that you do not wait until the last lap to push your hardest. The first 50 of the 100 is supposed to be fast, almost as fast..., and I mean really almost, like 98% almost,  the speed of a 50 Free sprint. The only difference is that you breath a little more in the 100. Following that, many swimmers pull back a little on the 3rd lap in anticipation of going all out on the last lap. However, that's a losing strategy. It's the 3rd lap where you go for broke and go your hardest in order to really sprint all four laps. You need to trust your training. Even if you're out of shape the 100 Free is won or lost on the 3rd lap. You either catch up or you pull away on the 3rd lap, if you wait for the 4th, it's too late. So, the question kids ask is, "But if I go all out on the 3rd, what about the 4th lap?" The answer, "Whatever you got left, you got left." You either catch up on the 3rd and the excitement and adrenaline carries you through, or you're just enough ahead to hold off a late charge. It's also the strategy to get a very good time, if not your best time. I've never seen a swimmer on their first try implement the strategy successfully, but yesterday Jonathan did just that! Not only did he win the race, but on his very first occasion at racing a 100 Free, he qualified for Districts too! Awesome, Jonathan. :)

Logan Reidy - In the 100 Breast, Logan did not have a great start; he was a little slow getting off the blocks, but he didn't give up. He made up for it with 3 good turns and tenacity. He pulled even on the 3rd lap and it was stroke for stroke the last 30 yards or so. In the end, Logan was out touched in a photo finish. However, his tenacity and drive led him to a new best time. Good job, Logan. :)

Attached are the full results.

See you on deck,

Coach Drake