SWAT Places 4th Overall at the 2019 WA Open

Ted Teske

SWAT Swimmers Place 4^th Overall at the 2019 Wa Open

23 swimmers from SWAT attended the 2019 WA Open in Federal Way, WA this past weekend finishing 4^th in the Overall Team Division. Both the Boys and Girls Teams significantly bettered their 2018 performances: Girls finished 3^rd with 290 points compared to their 2018, 5^th Place finish with 200.5 points and the Boys finished 8^th this year with 183 points compared to their 2018, 26^th place finish with only 16 points scored.

SWAT Swimmers achieved Two New IES Records, Eight Team Records and 91 New All Time Top 10 swims. There were 174 Individual events swum at the meet this weekend, which means 52% of all individual swims were SWAT Top 10 Performances.

This was also a team travel trip for our swimmers. This means swimmers travel and room with teammates. These team trips are excellent opportunities for swimmers to learn how to manage and take care of themselves independently of their parents. They learn how to navigate the wide range of emotion athletes experience through successes and failures experienced in completion and they also learn how to manage the inner workings of team politics as swimmers compete for and vie for position. These skills all come in handy when the athletes are competing in college without the supervision or guidance from parents.

Congratulations to our WA Open Rookies! We had several first time participants at the meet last weekend. This meet is the highest level competition these swimmers have ever seen. This exposure to faster swimming and what goes on in the “real swimming world” outside of the IES is important for our younger/up and coming swimmers to experience. Too often, swimmers and parents can get stuck or caught up in local competition missing out on the true nature and definition of competition in our sport that exists outside of our local LSC (IES). All swimmers are encouraged to attend these team travel trips as soon as they are qualified regardless of age. A national perspective or approach to learning and participating in our sport (or any skill for that matter) is required if athletes are to remain competitive in the bigger picture.

A big thank you to all our chaperones! It is hard work taking care of all the swimmers and doing our best to attend to each individual’s needs throughout the weekend. We have established a strong support group of parent chaperones who keep the trains running on time and swimmers fed well and safe. Thank you again for all you do to make these travel trips positive experiences for our swimmers.

Click Here for Individual Meet Results and Improvements

Click Here for the complete WA Open Meet Results

WA Open Highlights

Two New IES Records

Ryan Foote

100 Breast (55.51) (IES, 17-18 Boys & Open Men’s Record)

Open Women 200 Medley Relay (1:45.25) (IES & Open Women’s Record)

Evonne Stehr, Abi Furqueron, Delaney Phillips, Cayli McEvoy

Eight New Team Records

Drew Kistler

15-16 boys & Open men 200 Fly (1:54.29), 15-16 boys 200 IM (1:54.92), 15-16 boys 100 Fly (52.43), 15-16 boys 500 Free (5:45.39)

Abi Furqueron