JUNIOR OLYMPICS: REFLECTIONS
This meet is always one of my favorites of the year, a time to see if the season plan will come together, a time to see the kids at their best. The meet always brings with it, a whirlwind of emotions everything from the hugs and smiles 
, to the tears and frowns 
, and yes I shared some of those with you throughout the weekend as you swam your 
's out against some very tough competition.
, to the tears and frowns , and yes I shared some of those with you throughout the weekend as you swam your 's out against some very tough competition.For me, one of the most stressful times of the meet was; Will they make it to the blocks? After that my job was done and I became one of their fans, the kids on their own, but my was pounding with every stroke, turn, and finish. As exciting as the mornings and mid-afternoons prelims were, the finals saw our Mako swimmers come back determined to turn in some 
SWIMS. As I waited for finals to start looking at each upcoming swim I thought to myself..... Is there anything left?...How are the legs?......Are they worried about the next day?......As their coach all I could do was ease them through their warm-ups and keep their minds off their events until it was time to focus. The rest was all them and OH how they SWAM! They had the physical and mental fortitude to swim some great races at night. They are all CHAMPIONS in my eyes.
was pounding with every stroke, turn, and finish. As exciting as the mornings and mid-afternoons prelims were, the finals saw our Mako swimmers come back determined to turn in some SWIMS. As I waited for finals to start looking at each upcoming swim I thought to myself..... Is there anything left?...How are the legs?......Are they worried about the next day?......As their coach all I could do was ease them through their warm-ups and keep their minds off their events until it was time to focus. The rest was all them and OH how they SWAM! They had the physical and mental fortitude to swim some great races at night. They are all CHAMPIONS in my eyes.THE RACES: PART I
500 FREE: This is one of my favorite races and it is one of the races where as a coach you actually do some "play calling" as the race develops. When to pick it up a little, When to just go for it, when to pick up the kick? Our 2 swimmers this year swimming an extra day in the meet were Loagn Moore, and Rachel Ward. Logan was the first to race and as we discussed this was a very important race. The reason was that she had to become a leader and set the standard for our group. Her goal was to break the record, but she was pumped up as she went out in a 28.3 and than pretty much held 33.5 the rest of the way, and dropping over 10 seconds in winning the heat. Next heat up was Rachel Ward who went out in a 30.3 and than averaged 33.8 the rest of the way, dropping over 12 seconds and placing second in her heat. A good night.
200 MEDLEY RELAY: The day started off with the 200 medley relays, and all 6 of our relays turned in best times. A lot of the swimmers had splits that were their best times, but the following lead off backstrokers had official best times, Kylie C., Tyler S., and Miles O. Out of the 24 swims we had 20 best times in these relays, some by over 2 seconds.200 BACK: In this event we had Logan M., Meg R., Rachel W., and Tyler S. We all discussed how in this event it was import and to swim an even race with the splits so that when we got to that last 50 we still had our legs under us. Logan swam a great race doing her same time, but as we discussed it was more important to just win the heat, and we would come back at night and take care of business. Meg and Rachel also swam some great splits while dropping a second off their times and with Rachel joining Logan at finals. Tyler was swimming in his first meet like this and put in a lot of heart coming up a little short, but he would bounce back in his next event.
100 BREAST: Our 
's were the next to enter the pond and we had 5 of them. Claire M., and Rachel R., swam 2 great races and finished with about the same times. Rachel had her fastest 50 time in first 50 split. Joseph S., also turned in his fastest 50 in the first split and ended up going a second faster. Maeve G. who just aged up but would not let that stand in her way as she also dropped a second. Sophie C. in winning her heat dropped over 5 seconds and would swim again in the evening.
's were the next to enter the pond and we had 5 of them. Claire M., and Rachel R., swam 2 great races and finished with about the same times. Rachel had her fastest 50 time in first 50 split. Joseph S., also turned in his fastest 50 in the first split and ended up going a second faster. Maeve G. who just aged up but would not let that stand in her way as she also dropped a second. Sophie C. in winning her heat dropped over 5 seconds and would swim again in the evening.50 BREAST: Our younger 
's were next to the blocks. Amy B. turned in her same time which was OK because she was just supposed to win the heat which she did to come back in the evening. Leah R., and Conor M., both dropped nearly 2 seconds and both of them would return in the evening.
's were next to the blocks. Amy B. turned in her same time which was OK because she was just supposed to win the heat which she did to come back in the evening. Leah R., and Conor M., both dropped nearly 2 seconds and both of them would return in the evening.200 FREE: Matt J was pumped up for this meet. He went out in a 26, 29,29, and 28 to lower his time by over 5 seconds, and he would be back in the evening as an alternate. 
100 FREE: We had a lot of swims in this event and our strategy was simple, swim at a high A4 the first 50 and than go for it on the next 25 and than grab the 
and head for home. The kids were awesome and showed a lot of poise for their in attacking this event. Dropping over 2 seconds were James M., Matthew M., Conor M., Kylie C., Logan M., and dropping over 1 second were Amy B., Rachel W., and Tyler S., bouncing back from that first event, and Megan H swimming her same best time. Logan, Amy, Matt, and James would all be returning for finals in the evening.
and head for home. The kids were awesome and showed a lot of poise for their in attacking this event. Dropping over 2 seconds were James M., Matthew M., Conor M., Kylie C., Logan M., and dropping over 1 second were Amy B., Rachel W., and Tyler S., bouncing back from that first event, and Megan H swimming her same best time. Logan, Amy, Matt, and James would all be returning for finals in the evening.100 FLY: It was now time for our 
fliers to put away the snacks and take to the pond. Three races stood out in this event. First was Stephanie Wilkenson: We had discussed how she would like to get somewhere in the area of a !:05 something. My response was that you're faster than that and why not go under 1:05, and the result, 1:04:75 a 3 second drop. The next race was Gillian Crews who really wanted to go under 1:03 and the result was 1:02:31 and she would be back to finals. The third was Will Palfey who dropped over 1 second in winning his heat. This was impressive because Will had just drooped a lot of time to get into this meet and to turn around and drop another second in that amount of time is great. Also dropping over 2 second was Matt J. who would return in the evening. Rachel A., had a 1 second drop and Rachel R., and Lauren Y. swam about the same times. Sarah G. was a little off of her time but had a very gusty swim when you consider the past 6 weeks.
fliers to put away the snacks and take to the pond. Three races stood out in this event. First was Stephanie Wilkenson: We had discussed how she would like to get somewhere in the area of a !:05 something. My response was that you're faster than that and why not go under 1:05, and the result, 1:04:75 a 3 second drop. The next race was Gillian Crews who really wanted to go under 1:03 and the result was 1:02:31 and she would be back to finals. The third was Will Palfey who dropped over 1 second in winning his heat. This was impressive because Will had just drooped a lot of time to get into this meet and to turn around and drop another second in that amount of time is great. Also dropping over 2 second was Matt J. who would return in the evening. Rachel A., had a 1 second drop and Rachel R., and Lauren Y. swam about the same times. Sarah G. was a little off of her time but had a very gusty swim when you consider the past 6 weeks.50 FLY: Next up were our sprint fliers. This event is a pure sprint and how they all sprinted. Every one of our swimmers in this event turned in a best time. Leah R., Megan H., both of whom would return in the evening dropped over 1 second. Elise B., Kylie C., James M., Conor M. (won his heat), Jonathan S., David J. (won his heat), and Patrick M. all had best times.
400 IM: The day would not be complete without our Iron Lady. Rachel A. had just dropped over 6 seconds in this event recently to make the cut, so I wasn't sure how she would respond to this event at the end of the meet. This girl always swims from the heart and again she turned in an impressive swim by holding her best time by adding only .35 .
It was now time to go fuel our bodies and let the 10 and unders take to the pond.
50 BREAST: Our little woman were the first to take to the pool. Elena S. and Alison S. both swam impressive races and dropping their times over 1 second.
woman were the first to take to the pool. Elena S. and Alison S. both swam impressive races and dropping their times over 1 second. 100 FREE: Gavin Springs and Noah Carpenter swam this event exactly how we planned it, and they both were impressive in dropping over 2 seconds.
50 FLY: All three of our fliers in this event dropped over 1 second from their times. Anna O., Noah C., both had good swims, and Roman Lowery dropped a second and would return in the top 8 in the evening.
200 IM: For the 10 and unders this is truly a distance event, and we had three swimmers who would give it a shot at the end of the day. Ann O. and Elena S. swam a great race coming up about a second short. Roman L., would place were we wanted to (same time), so that we could come back and have our drop in the evening.
FINALS: All of the following made finals Logan 2,events, Rachel W., Sophie C. Leah R 2 events, Amy B 2 events, Conor M. James M., Matt M. 2 events, Gillian C., Rachel R., Matt J., Roman L. 2 events and Megan H. Three swims that really stand out in my head was Sophie Chase in the 100 Breast. Sophie said she felt good in the morning and so we decided to go out a little harder, her legs were tired in the race but she still drop more time after a5 second drop in the morning. The other race was Gillian's 100 fly, after dropping time in the morning she went under 1:02 to get her magical 1:01:61. The third swim was the 200 IM for Roman. He was very tired after his swim only 3 hours before but after talking to him he turned in a very "gutsy" swim dropping over 2 seconds. All the swims were impressive in the evening and I am just trying to pick out a few to highlight. Out of all the swims, we turned in 14 more best times and the rest of the swimmers turned in the same times.
It was now time to eat and go to 
Mike
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