OAPB C/B/BB Swim Meet 10/1/22 & 10/2/22

CDST attended the first swim meet of the season in Orinda last weekend with 70 plus swimmers.  It was a great opportunity for swimmers to race against some fast Teams, while demonstrating good sportsmanship and Team Spirt. Below is the link to photos taken this weekend and a summary with feedback, & highlights from each Coach. 

 

Photo Credit: Dena Tom & The Gallagher Family. (For security and privacy reasons, Please do not share the link with others.)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lTy7l32IGQdpHXljadcr92Nlm6FfynpD?usp=sharing

 

Coach Chen: Elite & Senior Groups did well at the beginning of season swim meet.  Considering it was the first meet, many swimmer's skills, technique details, and a feeling of pace were rusty.  Elite & Senior swimmers had errors, but it was a good opportunity to find the mistakes & weaknesses in their events.  The racing splits recorded at the meet indicated that the majority of swimmer’s second-half splits increased in time, in comparison to their first-half racing splits. For example, the 100 Free Event had an average of 3.5-4.5 seconds time difference between the 1st & 2nd 50 splits. A good split is 2-2.5 seconds difference in 1st & 2nd 50. This means swimmers need to work much harder on the consistency of correct stroke technique in practice, and to not stop during sets in daily aerobic workouts.  Most swimmers also went out too easily & conservative.  More dryland workouts will be introduced to daily training.

 

Highlights:

Senior Group

Ansha Kottapalli - 50 Free, 31.60, dropped 3 seconds

Hailey Olalia - 50 Free, 29.96, dropped 1.5 seconds 

Jaslyn Tsui - 100 Free, 1:12.06, first time at USA Swimming Meet

Rachel Tom - 100 Free, 1:18.29, dropped 1 second 

Meddy Ben Ayed - 500 Free, 6:15.64, New best time

Anthony Tom - 100 Free, 57.54, dropped 2.5 seconds 

Kenneth Wang - 100 Free, 1:10.37, New best time

Elite Group

Angela D'Amelio - 100 Fly, 1:06.56, season best time

Sophina Gallagher - 50 Free, 27.47, New JO Cut

Sophie Lowe - 100 Back, 1:05.57, dropped 3 seconds

Maya Wen - 200 Back, 2:38.15, dropped 7 seconds

Jennifer Xu, 100 Free, 59.91, first time under 1 min

Ray Cillo - 100 Breast, 1:04.24, New best time 

Justin Ely - 200 Breast, 2:18.49, dropped 6 seconds

Ethan Gallagher - 100 Free, 53.95, dropped 1 second

Leo Gao - 100 Free, 50.58, dropped 2 seconds

Kevin Liu - 200 Breast, 2:31.46, New best time

Anthony Pan - 50 Free, 26.68, New best time

Ryin Ruaboro - 100 Back, 54.40, dropped 4 seconds 

Aiden Tai - 200 IM, 2:33.58, New best time

Jonathan Xu - 100 Free, 54.52, New best time

Kevin Zhang - 200 IM, 2:28.45, New best time

 

Coach Ian: Thank you for participating in last weekend's meet. The Coaches & Spectators witnessed some amazing races from all our Age Group Swimmers, who were competing with confidence & perseverance.  I am pleased to see that our practices have prepared us for these races & our continued efforts at practice will help ensure continual success. Please remember that proper hydration, nutrition, & rest will help with training & the ability to focus at practice.  I would like to give a shout out! Great job to following Swimmers:

 

Aaron Ely 500 Free 6:13.92

Victor Wei 50 Free 28.5

Jongjian Zhang 100Free 59.6

Saatvika Sonawane 100 Fly 1:29.6

Dhivashree Kesavan 50 Breast 36.74

Trisha Karkera 100 Free 1:10.00

Balark Sen 50 Free 33.80

Great job Swimmers, keep up the hard work!

From Coach Anna: Age Group Swimmers raced well at the first Meet since Summer.  Swimmers showed up ready to test their race skills, endurance, and efficiency.  Many swimmers showed great improvement in their time standards.  Saturday it was announced that the youngest swimmer at the meet was our very own, five-year old, Jaqueline Kuo. Great job Jaqueline at your first Meet this Season, & keep up the hard work!  More Highlights:

 

Vidhi Wdhera, 10: 50 Fly- 47.17 (New B Time)

Tongue Zhang, 9: 100 IM- 1:34.57 (New B Time)

Jacqueline Han, 7: 100 IM- 2:04.18 (New B Time)

Matthew Chang, 10: 100 IM- 1:25.85 (New BB Time)

Jayden Lee, 9: 100 IM- 1:28.31 (New BB Time)

Gautham Vijay Kumar, 9: 500 Free- 8:04.13 (New B Time)

From Coach Felice: I would first like to applaud our Age Group Swimmers on their performances in the first meet of the Season. Many swimmers achieved PRs (personal records), while others experienced their first swim meet.  CDST had over 30 Silver & Gold swimmers attend the meet. Below is a list of best times from our top swimmers.

Dhivashree Kesavan, 9: 100 Free- 1:09.98

Vanessa Kuo, 8: 100 IM- 1:21.88

Jacqueline Kuo, 5: 50 Free- 48.10

Ella Zu, 7: 50 Free- 47.02

Andy Bi, 9: 500 Free- 6:44.21

Maximus Wang, 8: 50 Free- 38.99

Vincent Huang, 8: 100 IM- 1:42.15

Charles Bates Liu, 7:  50 Free- 48.64

Some swimmers did gain time, or were disqualified from their races. However, I am optimistic we can minimize this as we continue to work on fine-tuning & improving swimmer's abilities. The biggest feedback for Swimmers to note is to always remember Coaches reminders at practice, such as; keeping a tight streamline, doing the correct turns, or doing the correct starts & finishes. When in doubt, ask a Coach for tips & feedback before & after each race.  Overall, it was an exciting experience to watch swimmers race & see where they're at, and how they can improve.  After months of putting hard work into practices, it was gratifying to see all the improvement, passion, & dedication our young swimmers have for this sport.  All Coaches are looking forward to seeing Swimmers keep up the great work.