2009 MBR Winter Invite

The Riptides hosted their first meet as a team January 16-18 at the "Pepper" Geddings Rec Center.  Although the meet turned out to be dual meet with our friends from the Greater Augusta Swim team, the swimming was quite fast.  We even changed the format to make the meet more interesting for everyone.

The Winter Invite was the first meet where the entire Riptides’ team could be together and watch each other compete.  All of our training groups were represented, Bronze through Senior.  It was a perfect opportunity for our younger swimmers to watch the older ones compete and see how the strokes should look and how fast our younger swimmers could possibly become.  The meet provided our older swimmers and opportunity to work with and mentor the younger swimmers, thus giving back to the team.

Finally, the meet provided our membership an opportunity to learn how to host a meet before our next big meet, the 2009 Lowstate Qualifier.

A huge thank you to everyone who made this first meet a success.  An a special thanks to Rob Schreer, our guest referee from Atlanta, GA who made the trip and will be back again for the Qualifier.

With 20 swimmers competing, there were a large number of best times and highlight swims.  Be sure to check out the full results for swimmers’ times.

Here is a brief of some highlights:
Chad Bateson - first 11-12 SCS State q-time in the 500 free.
Julia Campbell - new 11-12 Age-group Sectional q-times in the 500 free and 50 breaststroke.
Megan Kingsley - new NCSA Junior Nat bonus q-time in the 500 free and new Senior Sectional q-time in the 100 backstroke.
Jesse Perl - new SCS q-times in the 13-14 500 free, 200 free and 200 butterfly.
Megan Prouty - largest individual improvement of 92 seconds in the 500 free.

Eddie Bateson, Andi Churchill, Connor Churchill, Noelle Cruz and Jack King each had at least one race with a minimum improvement of 30 seconds or more!

This will be a very busy next few weeks for all members of the Riptides.  Next up is the Lowstate Qualifier, then the SCS State Championships and February finishes with the 12/Under Grand Prix Championships. 

In March, we have Speedo Senior Sectional Championships, Age-group Sectional Championships, NCSA Junior National Championships and the Augusta Invite.  With all these meets coming up, swimmers need to be at their practices as often as possible.

Congratulations Riptides on a job well-done at the Winter Invite!