Waves Finish Strong at Holiday Festival!

The National group traveled to Arizona to compete in the Holiday Festival at Arizona State University as their season-ending meet for the fall/winter season. For many swimmers in the group this was their first experience traveling out of state to compete in a swim meet. The weekend was a long, but fun and fast one for us, filled with many best times, and “firsts” for the group. Overall I was extremely proud of the way the group performed and thought that this was an excellent learning experience for the entire group, as they were forced to deal with a 3 and ½ day swim meet, swimming in trials and finals every day, and adding relays on top of everything else! The weekend was draining, to say the least, but the Waves roared through the desert and left their mark by earning a slew of new best times and many top spots in finals.

Only two boys traveled to represent the team, but both did an exceptional job. Coty Norton and David Van Buskirk both had phenomenal meets, earning 7 best times over the course of the weekend and multiple finals appearances for both.  Coty placed in the top 10 in 5 events, with his highest finish coming in the 200 freestyle, where he finished 4^th overall with a new best time of 1:50.04. David had 3 top 10 finishes, all three coming in the breaststroke events. David dropped time in every race he swam, with significant lifetime bests coming in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, the 200 IM, and in the 100, 200, and 500 freestyles.

On the girls’ side, Yvette Arca led the way with 7 best times! She finished 12^th overall in the 200 fly and 14^th in the 400 IM, both with best times. In addition, she also broke the 1:00 barrier in the 100 freestyle for the first time! Abby Mitchell had a fantastic meet, making her first EVER finals appearance in the 100 fly and the 50 fly. She recorded 6 best times for the weekend, with her biggest drops coming in the 1000 and 500 freestyles. She also had an amazing lead-off leg for the girls 400 free relay with a 57.15! Lauren Chun finished with 5 best times, and three top 10 performances! She was 10^th in the 100 back, 6^th in the 200 back, and 4^th in the 50 backstroke, all with new best times. Leah Johnson swam a fantastic meet, with 4 new best times, and Alyssa Bunting added 3 best times as well.

Congratulations to the National group on their amazing success this season. They have done a tremendous job and I am looking forward to them using this as a springboard for even faster swimming in the spring!