January Challenge Recap
January Challenge Recap
Our first Challenge meet of 2014 we had over 200 Wave swimmers participate in the meet. Wave was the biggest, fastest team at the meet scoring over 2500 points, with the next closest team scoring just over 700 points. Nice showing team!
One quick performance of note:
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Josh Pak set a new 8 & Under Boys Team Record in the 50 Back at 40.95. Great work Josh!
Each coach chose their favorite race or overall performance from each group with a quick note as to why:
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Explore 1 JAC- Paige Macdonald -25 Fly-Paige swam this event legally with a silver time. Her form was great and she kept her body organized and feet together to whole time! Great hip hinging on the kicks too!
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Explore 1 RAC- Julia Larsen had some great swims last weekend she dropped over seven seconds in the 50 back. She also dropped almost 4 seconds in 25 back and 25 fly. Julia is really starting to understand how to hip hinge while doing fly and it showed in her fly. She is also gotten a lot better at rolling from the hips and driving her kick from her hips.
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Explore 2 JAC- Christina Marlow -100 IM- Christina swam this event legally and had great speed with all her strokes giving her a silver time. Her hard work and effort at practice has shown with her turn out on this event
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Explore 2 RAC- Chase Soedel had a 15 second drop in his 50 back and earned his first silver time
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Challenge 1 JAC- Nicolas Bono 100 Free - On the first day of the meet, Nicolas jumped in and dropped 30 seconds from his best time in this event! Not only that, but he swam a smart race by focusing on good technique, keeping his body organized, and holding onto a good streamline off of every wall. He topped it all off with a great final lap and a strong kick all the way to the finish
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Challenge 1 RAC- Maren Rusk - Maren has been working so hard in practice - and had an AMAZING meet to show for it. She swam all best times; her tempo, breathing pattern, and turns all came together for really fun races to watch! Great job Maren!
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Challenge 2 JAC- JazMinh Diep- 50 Breast. An aggressive race with intensity and focus right out of the gate
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Challenge 2 RAC- Aidan Blackmon in the 200 IM had an 18 second drop and new gold time
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Achieve 1 JAC- Alexander Marlow in the 100IM. Alex has been very hard at practice keeping up with send offs, and it showed in this event. He went all out in 5th gear and didn't hold back any energy! A great effort swim in his first time swimming the 100 IM
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Achieve 1 RAC- Kevin Shao works hard in the pool at practice, and is starting to pay better attention to technical details both at practice and at meets. Kevin had some nice swims over the weekend, but I like how he really RACED his 100 free from lane six going hard right from the start.
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Achieve 2 JAC- Nicholas Fynaardt - 200 Free. An awesome race that shows how hard work and focus in practice, can translate to great performances at meets.
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Achieve 2 RAC- A lot of Achieve-2’s had an excellent meet, but I wanted to make special note of two swimmers who really had a remarkable meet: Katrina Teo: Over the last two years that we’ve worked together, Katrina has dropped time in an event or two in a meet. But for the first time that I can remember, Katrina dropped time in all her races, including 2 ½ seconds each in her 200 Free and 100 Back; and a second in her 100 Breaststroke. This is clearly a reflection of how hard she has worked in practice. Her attendance and effort have been outstanding! And Andrea Wu: Andrea has had some good meets and bad meets, but she clearly had the best meet she’s ever had. Most noteworthy were 30.7 in the 50 free (1.6 second drop), 1:25.2 100 Back (5 second drop), 1:36.6 100 breast (12 ½ second drop) and a sub 3:00 IM for the first time (2:59.47). Not bad for a 10 year old! In all: best times in all 8 of her races.
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Excel 1- There were a number of excellent races this weekend for the Escel-1’s. Of note were Thane Suen’s improvements in the 500 Free (30 seconds), 200 Fly (18 seconds) and 400 IM (36 seconds). But my swimmer of the meet was Serena Hua, who swam the 400 IM, 200 Fly and 500 Free all for the first time, and swam them really well! She didn’t just try those races out, she raced them. And she came away with very satisfying times that show in impressive amount of maturity and toughness. Great job, Serena. Let’s build on your successes.
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Excel 2- Emily Whelan had a breakthrough meet of sorts, dropping some large chunks of time in some events, but in particular her 400 IM (5:18) and 200 Free (2:13) were especially good. In her 200 Free she swam a very strong technical race, getting out fast and efficient to start the race, then battling hard to hold her stroke together and finishing with great effort, all the while she kicked hard start to finish. Emily works very hard in practice, and has dropped 18 second in that event over the past 16 months. I’m very proud of Emily for the persistent effort she has put during that time, and I am so glad to see her gain confidence with some terrific swims!
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Varsity- Camila Amoedo had few great swims this last weekend. She dropped almost 8 seconds in the 100 breast. In the 200 free she dropped a little over 3 seconds. She went out and really raced in the 100 breast. She also gave a good effort in the 200 free.
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Perform- Tym Merchel - 100 Breast: Mind over matter. Despite swimming with a strained shoulder and back, Tym pushed and persevered (through his least favorite event) and focused on good technique. His strategy paid off; it was the most solid breast stroke I've seen from Tym. And as a bonus: he dropped almost four seconds! Nice work Tym!
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High Performance- The January Challenge was a great meet from a lot of perspectives. Swimming times were good, but the execution of races was fantastic! More HP and Perform athletes than ever swam races the same way that we challenge them to train everyday. It is really fun to watch athletes take ownership of their performance and responsibility for execution. There were a lot of good swims, but my swimmer of the meet was Jackie Bennett. Jackie has been putting in a great effort in practice and she started to see the positive results in her racing, including dropping nearly 30 seconds in her 500 Free! Great job Jackie!
Meet Results by Event in order of finish:
Improvements by Athlete:
http://www.waveaquatics.org/wave/__eventform__/408242_2014%20Jan%20Challenge%20Improvements.pdf
Upcoming Meets:
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Snowflake Classic, January 26, Hazen HS, Renton, 9 and Younger swimmers only, de-commitment is closed
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February Challenge, February 8-9, Port Orchard, All Wave Swimmers, de-commitment closes January 24
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Wave February Distance Meet, February 16, Juanita Aquatic Center, Achieve 1 and above, 1000 and 1650 Free events only, de-commitment closes January 31
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February AGI, February 28- March 2, Kamiak HS, Mukilteo, PNS Gold Times needed, de-commitment closes February 14
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10 & Under Pentathlon, March 8, Hazen HS, Renton, 10 and Younger swimmers only, de-commitment closes February 7
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March Madness, March 8-9, Mary Wayte Pool, Mercer Island, intended for swimmers who are close to making an Age Group Regional individual cut or getting on to a relay at Age Group Regionals
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Senior Sectionals, March 12-16, WKCAC, Federal Way, only for those swimmers who have made the qualifying standards or will take part in a relay
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Age Group Regionals, March 20-23, WKCAC, Federal Way, only for those swimmers who have made the qualifying standards or will take part in a relay
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Spring Divisionals, March 29-30, WKCAC, Federal Way, for swimmers who are not competing at the Senior Sectional or Age Group Regional meets, more detailed info to follow
