Cal Invitational

 

Our recent travel meet to Cal Berkeley with selected Gold Team athletes proved to be well worth our participation.  Some of our athletes were too sick to attend (ok, I’m ready to be done with this sick thing this time of year) and some went despite being sick and others attended this prelim/final meet having avoided the “bug.” You guessed it…….those that went in healthy really set the place on fire.  Coming off some very tough and challenging December/early-Jan training, I elected to give the Gold Team a three-day-drop-taper (backing out of our aerobic training and minimizing our dry land and shortening practices).  Typically, a rest period prior to competing in a Championship meet would consist of 2-3 weeks of adjusted work load.  Sure enough, those athletes that had been the most consistent in training the last couple months and had done the work with intensity, realized great results.

Andy Ramirez     best times in 100 back (58.8, previous best 1:01) 100 free (:51.1, previous best :53.2) 200 free (1:52.3, previous 1:54.1) and 500 free (5:12.5, previous 5:18)  Great meet!!!

Tim Lee     2nd place 50 free (21:08, best is 21.05)  2nd place 100 free (47.3 prelim/47.6 finals, best is 45.64) 5th place best time 200 free (1:43.97 prelim/1:43.65 finals, previous best 1:44.54) 7th place best time in prelim 100 fly (52.12, previous best 52.34) 5th place over-all 200 fly best time in prelim (1:56.69).  Well deserved forward progress and achievement.  Nice!!!

Jalen Lloyd     best times in 200 IM (2:01.67, previous was 2:08.21) 100 free (51.14, best was 51.84) 50 free (23.17, best was 23.31) 100 breast (1:01.46, best was 1:02.1) 200 breast (2:15.53/prelim 2:15.87/final) 100 fly (:56.4, best was 58.28).  Drops in ALL swims this weekend……tough to do, fun to watch!!!

Taylor Stevens     did not have the meet we were hoping for, but he helped with the success of the WAVES WINNING 200 FREE RELAY!!!

Genna Lammon     best times in 100 back (1:02.62, best was 1:05.14) 100 fly (1:03.53, best was 1:05.98) Sweet!!!

Alex Harris     best times in 100 free (:58.41, best was 59.01) 200 free 2:06.57, best was 2:09.20)  Better turns was key to her success!!! Love it.

Gabriela Hernandez     best times in 200 back (2:17.7, best was 2:18.47)  100 breast (1:15.08, best was 1:15.52)  Great job!!! *Monday night in practice following the meet, Gabby swam a 1:14.0,  100 breast?

Tess Lindahl     looked like she could have used a little more rest in preparation for this meet.  She contributed to the WAVE RELAYS that captured 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the 200 free relay,  400 medley, 200 medley and 400 free. When things don’t go your way, gotta stay positive and go back to getting it done in the practice pool.

Eleni Morfidis     had some great contributions to the WAVE relay teams.  Her splits in finals for her leg of the relay(s) were faster than her swims in individual races……this is the expectation for ALL WAVE RELAY SWIMMERS.  Way to go, Eleni!!!

****there are a few details concerning this meet that WE can ALL learn from:

  • We can compete against older athletes (college-aged) and have success.
  •  If we make finals, we must ALWAYS go faster than our prelim time.
  •  Relay swims must ALWAYS be faster than our individual swims.
  •  Poor weather conditions are no excuse for lack of success.  We proved this to be true!  Weather was NO factor.
  •  If we were able to swim this well in January on a drop-taper……think how great we will be on full rest in March/April!
  • Be mentally prepared for the unexpected…..the last night of finals was lightly attended at this meet.  So, our athletes scratched into more events than we anticipated.  Because of the light attendance it forced Wave athletes to step-up and swim multiple events very close together; which can be tough.  Tim had 5 swims in less than 60 minutes…..how tough did he have to be mentally??

CONGRATULATIONS 2016 SNS 13/14 Age Group Elite Camp qualifiers:

ALEX HARRIS and ALAN FLOWER!!!

Our athletes have been selected to attend a camp to be held Feb. 5-6, 2016 in Roseville, Ca.  Swim and classroom time will be offered and a chance to better young athletes over-all concept of the sport of swimming.  Nice job!!!