SMACtastic Swimmer of the Month: November
Catfish
Mercerwood Shore Club: Hannah Zhang
Hannah is the MSC Catfish SMACtastic swimmer for November. Hannah always has a smile and is ready to swim. She is curious and will ask questions about her swimming. She is engaged at practice and listens to instructions. The coaches have seen a lot of improvement in her skills since September! Congratulations Hannah!
Kent/KCAC: Amelia Honcoop
The November Catfish SMACtastic swimmer of the month is Amelia Honcoop! Amelia has stepped up as a leader in the Catfish group over the past month. She stays on top of intervals, works hard to learn new drills, and makes practice more fun for her teammates. Great job Amelia!
View Ridge: Zachary Zhao
Zachary is like many of our VR Catfish who are in the very early stages of experiencing training and competition in swimming. Zachary comes to practice each day with a great attitude, and a desire to work hard and race on everything. His aptitude for understanding stroke mechanics and applying principles of swimming efficiently, despite having very little experience are a gift and this reflects his very good listening skills coupled with needing very little direct instruction. In other words, Zachary often “gets it” and is routinely able to apply it. Zachary “gets” the pace clock, often vocalizing sendoffs for the group. He is also “willing”. My best story about Zachary’s aptitude beyond his years is at our View Ridge Season kickoff where I posed a real-life swimming scenario question of “who made the right choice?” Eight-year old Zachary immediately raised his hand and confidently nailed the answer in front of dozens of adults in the room.
Central/MIBC: Avery Thuwirat
Avery Thuwirat is the Central Catfish November SMACtastic Swimmer of the month. On the first day Catfish was introduced to Breaststroke Kick, Avery didn’t get it at first, but by the end of practice she had a legal kick. This is the type of determination that coaches look for in swimmers, swimmers who keep trying and don’t give up no matter the challenge. Good job Avery!!!
Evergreen: Cliff Roosa
Cliff dives in and pushes off the wall with the best streamlines! It is clear that he has worked hard to develop that important skill. He is simply focusing on learning the rules of the sport right now. In good time, he will be swimming fast with his new friends because he works hard and loves playing the game. Keep it up, Cliff.
Fife: Hazel Toler
Hazel is our SMACTastic Swimmer of November for the Fife Catfish group. Hazel always comes to practice ready and excited to get in the pool and get better. Hazel made some huge progress this month with getting her breaststroke kick and pull legal whenever she does it now. She has also improved her Freestyle and backstroke this month, leading to having a couple of great swims at our November Mini Meet.
Stroke Development
Mercerwood Shore Club: Andrew Chen
Andrew has been a superstar in Stroke D at practice! He is leading his lane, knows the sets and his work ethic has paid off big time in the last few meets with personal best times in many events! Way to go Andrew!
Kent/KCAC: Theo Gonzalez
The November Stroke Development SMACtastic swimmer of the month is Theo Gonzalez! Theo has been working hard this month to improve his technique. He also brings a lot of positive energy and fun to the rest of the group. Great job Theo!
View Ridge: Alicia Pan
Alicia is a good example of the kind of swimmer we like being part of in SMAC’s Development groups: a multisport athlete who is successful at both. Not only is Alicia one of four VR SD swimmers with IMR scores, but she is also competing next month out of state in a national competition for running the 5K. Alicia has attended 85% of the practices this year and this kind of dedication is matched by her happy, light-hearted attitude at every practice. Furthermore, she is coachable, responding well to her coach’s guidance on technical stroke improvements. We look forward to January’s Winter Invite, where Alicia will be taking on events like the 100 fly and 200 free and ultimately getting into position for an IMX score.
Central/MIBC: Emme Feldman
Emme Feldman is the Central Stroke Development SMACtastic swimmer of the month for November. Emme is a great example of a strong stroke development swimmer. She always knows what’s going on, understands sets, gives her best effort, and is always looking at the clock. Emme also is not afraid to change. Not only does she try to apply the feedback that’s given to her right away, but she also makes the conscious effort and decision to keep applying those changes on a regular basis, without being reminded. Great job Emme!!!
Evergreen: Harriet Martinson
Harriet swims consistently, works hard, and loves playing the game. This is made clear when she races 6x25 fast Free on 1:00, and then another 6x25 fast Free on :40, exactly like she raced the 25 Free over the summer. She is simply focusing on racing with confidence as she adapts to the new training stimulus. This is where Champions are born! The best part is watching Harriet and her friends push themselves in practice. Keep it up!
Newport: William Song
Newport's SMACtastic swimmer of the month is William Song! William comes to practice early. After stretching, he prepares his mind and is behind his lane ready to swim. During practice, William pushes his performance and technique. With this mentality, he continues to see results, setting records, and earning best times! Go William, Go SMAC!
Fife: Sophia Ralstin
Sophie is the SMACTastic swimmer of the month for the Stroke Development group at Fife. She started the season with very little competitive swimming experience, and has since learned greatly and grown into one of our leaders in the Stroke Development group this year. She always comes to practice ready to learn and improve, and this has led to some great meet results in the few that she’s done so far this year.
Mercerwood Shore Club: Allen Chen
Allen has also been working extremely hard at practice and has had a winning attitude in and out of the pool! Allen’s confidence has soared and his swimming times are proof! Congratulations to Allen as he qualified for all events at the PNS championship meet for his age group!
Kent/KCAC: Castle Cline
Castle Cline is the Kent Age Group SMACtastic Swimmer of the Month for November. Castle is a leader in his lane and has shown a great ability to motivate his teammates. I have also appreciated Castle’s efforts in making stroke changes and corrections, which has led to great results at recent meets. Congratulations Castle!
View Ridge: Cooper Dickie
Both mentally and physically, Cooper has made massive improvements this month. He's become an excellent lane leader, especially during longer sets with multiple rounds and objectives. He has also committed himself to working on his weak strokes, which has been incredibly satisfying to coach.
Central/MIBC: Nico Chen
Nico Chen is the Central Age Group SMACtastic Swimmer of the month for November. Nico has really made some serious changes this past month. He’s more focused on maintaining his technique when sets become challenging, he is extremely supportive of his teammates, and more importantly, he isn’t afraid to step to lead a lane. When everyone else is afraid to lead because a set may be daunting, he isn’t afraid to rise to the challenge.
Evergreen: Anna Han
Anna swims consistently, works hard, and loves playing the game. This is made clear when she takes out the first 50 of her 100 Back and 200 IM in a best time of :34. She is simply focusing on racing with relaxed breathing while kicking underwater like a dolphin. What's even better is that everyone in Anna's group is pushing themselves to race her every day in practice. Keep up the good work, Champions!
Fife: Charlotte Wetzel
Charlotte is our SMACTastic Swimmer of November for Age Group at Fife. Charlotte has been continuing her diligent work in practice, and focusing on what she needs to do to improve. She has done a great job of taking feedback this year, particularly after meets. She’s been doing well to take what she learns in each race, working to improve on it in practice, and taking that knowledge and progress into her next meet to better each time she swims.
Age Group Performance
Kent/KCAC: Presley Handly
Presley Handly is the Kent Age Group Performance SMACtastic Swimmer of the Month for November. Presley always brings a positive attitude to practice and maintains her positivity when practices become challenging. The positive attitude that she brings is infectious and keeps the group focused on facing challenges with a great attitude. Presley also accepts stroke critique/correction with a great attitude. Congratulations Presley!
View Ridge: Katie Trainor
Katie could be the swimmer of the month for any month, but in November she brought a little something extra that can't go unacknowledged. Katie has done an exceptional job of getting okay with discomfort this month –– she thrived in difficult workouts, took on heavy event line-ups in meets, and embraced distance events that she doesn't necessarily love. I'm so proud of her progress this month, and I can't wait to see what happens in December.
Central/MIBC: Annie Mason
Annie is the SMACtastic swimmer for the Central/MIBC AGP for the month of November. For the past month Annie has consistently been swimming on the fastest interval in practice and has been working on making changes to improve her strokes. Annie embraced racing in practice and worked hard to hit her target race pace. It was great to see the work Annie has been putting in payoff with big time drops at our AGI meet. Great work Annie!
Senior
Kent/KCAC: Connor Price
The SMACtastic swimmer of the month from the Senior group is Connor Price. Connor put in a great stretch of consistent effort at practices and diligent work to improve technique. This hard work paid off with his vast improvement in the test set, 100% best times at the AGI, and will continue to pay off during his high school season. Great job Connor!
Central/MIBC: Pepper Ferrari
The SMACtastic swimmer of the month from the Senior Central is Pepper FAST car. With a high practice attendance, willingness to step up for her teammates, and dedication to make technical changes Pepper has set the bar high for the group.
Viewridge: Avery Leptich
Avery takes care of business at every practice and meet — even when she doesn’t want to. Her consistent focus, willingness to take and apply corrections, and ability to make hard choices resulted in an incredibly successful high school championship season and allowed her to qualify for Senior Champs. No one deserves their success more than Avery.
Fife: Ryder Pickering
Ryder is the SMACTastic swimmer of the month for the Senior group at Fife. Ryder has been learning every day how best to approach his practices. He improved greatly this month on keeping himself focused and pushing on the longer and more difficult sets. This has especially helped him finish his races well to get best times in meets. Along with this, he’s taking extra care to improve what he struggles with, particularly on making some uncomfortable changes to his breaststroke kick.
Mt. Rainier: Zack Wahlborg
Zack has grown increasingly confident stepping into the unfamiliar. At both meets this month, he embraced every race strategy I offered even if some of them seemed slightly crazy. While not every tactic will land perfectly, his willingness to try something different at practice and meets is truly appreciated and has already begun to pay off.
Senior Performance
View Ridge: Daniel Isaza
No easy choice here this month; several swimmers are worthy. Daniel has demonstrated qualities of hard work, great attitude, a willingness to push himself relentlessly, challenge himself to faster sendoffs, to significantly refine his stroke technique and all the while demonstrating a grit and determination in 3 months with SMAC that has quietly set himself up to reach his goals in the future. His commitment to swimming is reflected in a practice attendance rate in the mid-nineties. Daniel has routinely improved times in a variety of meets and he performed well in his “last chance” meet in Issaquah, despite missing his Champs Cuts. For Daniel, it’s not a matter of “if”, but “when” he reaches those cuts as well as many more goal standards in the future.
Central/MIBC: Eden O’Donnell
Eden has been one our most consistent performers over the past 8 months resulting in some pretty big performances in recent meets including some solid best times at the State meet. More importantly, she’s become a bigger voice in the group at times pushing others around her to be better as well as holding herself to a higher standard.
Central/MIBC: Will Ho
The SMACtastic Swimmer of the Month for November for the National Group is Will Ho. Will consistently displays leadership by example and serves as the group’s number one hype man. But Will’s contributions to the group extend beyond setting a good example and cheering though his intentional training. Each session, Will arrives with goals in mind and a plan to get better and takes deliberate actions that move him in the direction of those goals. He is a consummate member of the group and the National Group appreciates the energy he brings on a consistent basis.
