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Reports of WSY National Team at YMCA Nationals in Fort Lauderdale written by Coach Mike
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Day 6 (April 10th)
(9:00am) Sorry again for not writing yesterday......it was a day of relaxation, and all of the kids spent the day on the beach. We are now sitting here in the airport waiting for our flight back to Pennsylvania. As a side note, I think the "Burnt Lobster" awards go to Alie Zelenky, and Coach Derek......be sure to ask them about it
We had our final team meeting yesterday and each of the team members were asked to give one "Thing" they learned about another team mate that was not known prior to the trip. It absolutely amazed me what some of these kids learned about each other during the week. There were comments about leadership, team spirit, mental toughness to name a few. We also congratulated the Seniors that were part of the team that will be departing for college in the Fall. We will miss Mark Phillips, Gene Noone, and Allison Luttermoser who will all be following on the web site next year when we are once again back in Fort Lauderdale (April 4-9, 2006). We also talked about next years Seniors who need to "step up" as they will be the team leaders on the trip. We also spent some time talking to our swimmers who were at this meet for the first time, and their experiences. We spent some time talking about how all of the swimmers that were at the meet are going to go back home and help motivate the remainder of the team to strive to be part of our WSY National Team. After our team meeting it was off to our yearly trip to Dave and Busters for a night of fun and food.
After 16 Short Course National trips, they continue to get better. The team gets stronger as a unit, more friendships are made, and memories that will last a life time. Yes there were 23 individual athletes on this trip, but ask any one of them and they will tell you they were part of one team. The only way I can possibly explain what this team accomplished on the final evening was to tell you what a wonderful TEAM EFFORT we had. Every race, every member of this group came together, weather they were in the water or at the end of the lane cheering. Each of the coaches, myself included heard comments of how we came together as a team. As many of you have seen in the end, the team ended up 7th overall, and the girls for the second year in a row were National runner-ups.
In the end, I hoped you have enjoyed the video..........I will continue to upload a few more races, (I ask that you take some time to view the girls 400 medley relay on the final evening, and look at the WSY kids at the end of the lane........all members of our team except those 4 that are in the water are at the end of that lane). Thanks to Coach Kim and Derek for their hard work this past week, and to all of the parents that were in attendance. I will show several of these video's at the Annual Awards Banquet on Sunday as many of you have emailed me to see them............Thanks again Coach Mike
5 (April 8th)
(11:45pm) I hate to do this, but I must make this short as the team wants to go to the beach (first time they have been allowed all week) and play volley ball. To put things into words is very hard for me. We had such an incredible night. Leah got 3rd in her mile, Trish blazed to a lifetime best (3rd) place in the 200 fly, Mary did a lifetime best in the 100 breastroke, in the first part of the meet, the girls 200 free relay got another and swam great......Leah had only been out of the water less than 30 minutes after her mile, and helped the team of Tricia, Ashlyn, and Allison get 2nd. Then it was time for the 400 Medleys, one of our better events. The guys team of Nick Schwartz, John Cremo, Mark Phillips, and Matt Hershey, took some more time off of their prelim swims and got 12th (3:34.06), and the girls WON their 400 medley relay, the only team going under 4:40 (their time was 3:49.84).........what a spectacular meet. I can not tell you how the team came together. Every event, every relay each of the team members that was not competing was behind the turn end of the pool supporting their team. This 2005 WSY National Team was a very close knit team that got along, and came together as a team. The girls ended up 2nd (only 27 points out of 1st) and we got 7th place as a TEAM (Boys and girls). 2nd year in a row in the Top 10. I will try to upload video tomorrow (Saturday) of the awards presentation. Thanks again for following
(3:00pm) I do apologize for not writing last evening. Last night we swam well, Leah placing in the 400 IM, and Tricia attaining the National runner-up in the 200 backstroke, and the team finishing 6th in the 800 free relay. Typically (at least in my experience) the 3rd day finals is always the toughest, and it showed last night. The fatigue of the week is starting to set in, but the team knew this prior to coming down here. About midnight last night (Thursday) it really started to storm, and bad.....loud cracks of thunder, and alot of rain. The storm continued until about 4am this morning, and then we saw a small break. When the team left the hotel at 5:30am to venture to the pool for warm-up the rain started again, no thunder this time.........we warm-up as scheduled........hey the kids are wet anyways. As the team left the pool after warm-ups today (Friday) the storm circled back around again, so the meet was delayed until a 9:30 start time. Spirits of the team were great, even though we had many WSY fatigued swimmers last night, today was a new day, and WSY was ready to swim. We had a GREAT prelim session. The 200 fly was one of our best events as a team. Sarah Pease, Kayla Ricedorf, Lauren McCleaf, and Tricia Weaner all swam lifetime best times!!!! Tricia made the final tonight. Other finalists tonight include the girls 200 free relay team of Tricia Weaner, Ashlyn Stumpf, Leah Gingrich, and Allison Luttermoser, Leah will swim the mile, and both 400 medleys made it back for the evening finals sessions. The team has been re-motivated and is ready for the last session of the meet. The girls are in a real tight battle to remain in 2nd place, and are ready for it. The guys scored more points than they had imagined, and I know remaining in the Top 10 as a team has been a goal...........Thanks for the continued support from everyone. We even had several little sisters send their big sisters flowers..........this was appreciated. I will do my best to update the site again tonight, but it may be until Saturday morning.
Day 4 (April 7th)
(3:00pm) Once again, we keep swimming stronger as each day passes. Instead of getting tired, your WSY National Team continues to make improvement. We had the best session yet today. In fact, Drew Soisson swam two events today (400 IM, and 200 Back) and swam lifetime best times in BOTH events!!!! Making it back tonight is Leah in the 400 IM, Tricia in the 200 Back (where she set the National record last year), and the girls 800 free relay
Day 3 (April 6th)
(10:30pm) Wow......what a long day. I will not be able to upload any video tonight, as I must get to sleep........I will upload video from tonight's finals tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. Thanks to Kayla, Drew, Sam and Gene for the expert video footage. I rely on these four swimmers to get the great footage you ate seeing on the web site.
We had our best session yet at tonight's finals. The girls are still in 2nd place, and Sarasota took a huge lead on us scoring 8 of 16 girls in the 1000 free. That was huge, and I am not sure we can make it up. The girls are doing well, but we can not counter that type of depth in the distance events. Leah will score well in tomorrow's 400 IM, and do well in the mile, but we must get more swimmers in the distance events, as this is our weakest area. The evening started off with Tricia swimming a 56.76 in the 100 fly, and then Mary Flynn swam another lifetime best time in the 200 breastroke with a time of 2:23.06. Sam was up next as the representative for the guys team. Sam, swam well, and did another lifetime best time of 2:11.00. Leah was up next in the 200 free. Leah was ready for a great swim, and she had one.........barely making it into the top 8, and swimming from lane 8 (splitting 27. on the last 50 of her 200), Leah tied for 2nd place with a time of 1:49.93. The girls were seeded 2nd in their 400 free relay, and remained in second, but saw a huge time improvement from this morning. The final time was 3:29.47, and yes again it was a very tight race.
We had some "Stand out" time trials today, where the 4th spot on tomorrow's 800 free relay was up for grabs, so Sara Court and Erin Luley went after it. Both girls had barely been under 2:00 this year, and they both went 1:57 this afternoon.......this is after getting up at 5:15am, sitting at the pool, not swimming in any events until 2pm...........WHAT AN EFFORT!!! Both girls told Coach Kim their secret was to get in the warm-up pool every hour and swim for about 10-15 minutes to "stay loose".......it paid off. Sara Court will join Leah, Allison Luttermoser, and Tricia in the grueling 800 free relay tomorrow.......That is about it for today, and tomorrow will be here before you know it. Thanks for following, and I will write again after lunch on Thursday.
(1:20pm) Now we are moving forward. I would say today we had many more "Ups than Downs". One thing that must be learned by all athletes at the meet is you must swim fast in the morning to make it back to finals. It is very difficult to swim fast in the early AM, even after we have out 6-7am wake-up swims, and then a warm-up just prior to your event. Experience is key here, and many experienced swimmers down here are missing the finals due to not swimming fast in the morning heats. This meet is not only about swimming fast, but it is about learning and maturing as a person. One of the items that will be asked by myself to the team at our daily meeting today is "What have you learned so far that you will change beginning in two weeks when you are back at practice?" Many of the WSY swimmers are learning so much about themselves as far as their swimming. It is experiences such as this meet that make you not only a better athlete, but a better person.
As far as performances today, Tricia made it back to swim in the 100 fly, Mary Flynn, swimming a lifetime best time made it back to swim in the 200 breastroke, and the "Swim of the meet for the day" went to Sam Goldsmith, knocking 2 seconds off of his 200 breastroke time to make it back tonight as the only swimmers for the men's team. Leah made it back 8th in the 200 free as well. The girls 400 free relay team of Leah, Alie Zeleky, Tricia, and Allison Luttermoser had a great swim to come back seeded 2nd in their relay. After last nights "Touch out" in the 200 medley this girls team is very motivated for a national title............
Time is getting tight down here, but we will continue to write, and add video into the early hours of the morning. Keep the emails coming as the team hears every one of them, and they appreciate the support from WSY swimmers and parents..........I will write more after 10pm tonight
Day 2 (April 5th)
(10:00pm) Now that everyone is asleep after eating a great dinner, I want to fill you in on what I thought was a great evening. As expected Tricia started the night with a very close race with Ashley Jones of Illinois. Tricia got a very respectable 2nd place with Ashley winning the race by .01. Tricia swam a best time of the year, going 55.29 (winning time was 55.28). Next up Nick swam a 53.18 in the men's 100 back to get 16th place. Leah was up next to swim her 500. As like last year there was a very fast 14 year old (actually two of them) in the field. Leah took the race out fast swimming her best 200 split, and then held on for the final 300 going 4:52 and getting third. Leah felt well, and is ready to continue her distance events for the remainder of the week. Next up were two great relays. The girls got things started with a 2nd place finish in the 200 medley, (they only lost this race by .03.....another close finish for WSY) and the guys got 3rd in the consolation heat (11th place overall). At the end of the night the girls are in 2nd (by .50 points), the guys are in 21st place, and overall the team is 8th. The team really came closer together tonight at finals. The evening was filled with team spirit and working as a team. All 23 members of this team are working together, which makes it easier for everyone. We have 3 more long days to go, and each day will provide us with new challenges............there is do doubt this team will rise to those challenges. Thanks for following, and now off to sleep as the 4:30am wake-up call is just a few hours away..........until tomorrow
(2:00pm) The first day of prelims is now behind us. It was a session of ups and downs. Tricia qualified for tonight's finals in the 100 back, where she currently holds the National record. Tricia will have tough competition from Ashley Jones from Illinois.....it looks to be a good race, and we should see some fast times. The first swim of the day was Steph Kinsey, who is a first time qualifier at the meet. Swimming at this meet for the first time is very overwhelming. There are over 1,300 swimmers here, you are swimming outdoors, and the temperature is over 85 degrees in the hot sun, so as you can see experience at this meet is very important. Steph swam a lifetime best time of 1:00.93. It is always good to have swimmers that are here for the first time swim fast. Here is Steph's video. On the men's side Nick will be back tonight swimming his 100 backstroke. Leah will be back swimming her 500 free tonight, an event she won last year. The field is much faster this year, so Leah knows the entire heat is looking to swim faster than her. We had several other great swims in the 50 free, 200 IM, and the 100 back for both the boys team and girls team. Both relays will be back tonight, which is good, as that is where the points are (double individual events). The boys 200 medley of Nick Schwartz, John Cremo, Mark Phillips, and Matt Hershey is back seeded 11th, and the girls relay (which we got 2nd last year) is back seeded 3rd with Tricia, Mary Flynn, Leah Gingrich, and Allison Luttermoser.
The team is resting now, as most need to recover from a long day which began at 5:15am today, and will not end until almost 9:30pm tonight. Tonight is the opening ceremonies where WSY swimmers will participate as color guard and banner swimmers. We will have video of the events. I leave you with two more email messages from a WSY alum to the National Team, Anthony Randall who is a junior swimming at the University of Rhode Island, and Josh Barr a freshman who is swimming at Duquesne........More after 9:30pm tonight
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Y Nats team,
Hello to all you national swimmers
and coaches! |
Day 1 (April 4th)
(6:30pm) Well we got here, and the weather is great. We have practices three times now, and the team is feeling great, and look good in the water. WE have been taking some video, so I hope that you all enjoy the messages. We have our team dinner tonight, and then it is off to sleep early tonight as 5am come along very quick tomorrow (Tuesday (4/5). Before I sign off today, I want to copy a letter that I received from one of our WSY Alumni (Alex Goldsmith who is a freshman at Yale). The Alumni really enjoy writing letters to the team down here, as it was something they looked forward to when they were swimming at the meet. Here is Alex's email
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I hope you all are having fun down
in Ft Lauderdale, staying out of the sun, going to the grocery store,
causing trouble at the hotel, being nice to blanche and rose. Anyway, as
someone who is missing his first Y Nationals in a long time, I have a
couple of things to say. |