Blue December Meet Wrap-ups
Candy Cane
Thank you for being so great for the coaches while I was away. Coach Kristine, every time she sees this group tells me how much you all have grown. Not just physically, but how you support each other, how you communicate emotions, how you explain process-oriented thinking/planning, among the variety of growth you all have shown. Do not think this is the end of your limit, ever. Something I keep talking to swimmers about is Katie Ledeky; she went 5 years without a best time. That is not, and should not represent how you are doing. You get to pick that. Did you stick to the plan? Did something before the race make it challenging to stay focused? Did you execute a race as you have practiced? Did you tell yourself something positive before the race? So many things go into a good performance. I like to see it: on that day, I was able to do this. Then build on that.
Highlight performances:
- Blake 20+ second drop in his 400IM
- Ethen Bich earned his first-ever finals swims: 200 back and 200 IM
- Audry earned top 3 in 11-12 high point, winning all but 2 events!
- Enung improved 200 free and back by 2 seconds each
- Stella broke 1:00 in the 100 free after a long weekend in Oregon
- Lilian F. broke 29 in the 50 back for the first time
- Evan with a 5-second drop in his 100 fly
- Ellie 3 out of 3 best times after racing in Oregon
- Lilian T. hit 100% best times
- Truitt dropping his 200 IM over 7 seconds
- Nathan over 90% best times
- Sydney hit the most best times in one meet in over a year, ended with 5 best times
Tualatin
Great job at Tualatin Blue! Lots to be proud of. From early mornings to long days and lots of moving parts, you all handled the stressors very well. In terms of performance, the ideas that we have taken from practice to race very effectively are: being aggressive yet controlled. We absolutely crushed the morning swims and took it out aggressively. Sure, some faded, but we earned second swims that we could clean up details on. That’s what matters as we see the championship season quickly approaching. You only have a chance if you beat enough people in the morning; you need to earn that lane!
Stella D: 4 best times; standout swim - 100 Back dropped under 1:05 for the first time!
Ryan: 2 best times; standout swim - 500 Free dropped 7 seconds, under 5:30!
Roman: 5 best times; standout swim - 100 breast in the 400 Medley relay, 1.2 under best time!
Zephyr: 4 best times; standout swim - 200 Free best time by over 2 seconds!
Ellie: 3 best times; standout swim - 200 breast, first drop in over a year!
Erica: 5 best times; standout swim - 100 free on 400 free relay, 2 seconds under entry time!
Rachel: 1 best time; standout swim - 400 IM best time by 2 seconds!
Ella W: 3 best times; standout swim - 50 free skipped 29… Dropped from 30 to 28!
Gavin: 100% best times - standout swim - 500 free dropped 12 seconds
