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Over the weekend of November 20th
– 22nd the Sierra Marlins hosted and competed in
the Gobbler Classic. The team had a
great turn out in both swimmers competing and parents volunteering
to make another meet such a great success!
The Gobbler Classic was a success for the
Developmental and Mini swimmers! They all swam their hearts out and
did very well considering the temperature outside. Coach Barbara and Coach Erica were happy to see
the Developmental and Mini’s staying warm and being smart
about wearing the right shoes and clothes at the meet. We have been talking about how important it is to
stay warm around the pool and they did a great job. In the pool, the Dev and Mini’s were looking
good on breaststroke and backstroke.
Coach Barbara and Coach Erica were very impressed on how well the
Developmental ‘s strokes are coming along as well as their
backstroke flipturns. The Mini’s
showed us how well they could finish their kick and touch with two
hands on breaststroke. Congrats to
Jorden Miller for winning the 8 and Under 25 Breast. Congrats to Yusuf Ahmed and Declan Mitchell for
competing in their first meet!
The Black/Red group showed strength in numbers
and performances at the Gobbler Meet.
Everyone enjoyed the chance to race a meet in our home pool. Goals for the meet were to finish races with
speed and to control breathing in our races. We also talked about
trying to ignore the things that keep us from racing well, and
staying positive. We had some firsts at
this meet…Jonathan Chu and Chloe Miller moved up an age
group, Grant Thompson tried the 200 free and 200 IM for the first
time, and Justin Lehr, Avery Conrad, Gary Woo, and Ava Bean tried
their first 100 yard butterfly races. The 10/under girls had a strong showing. Allena Thompson placed in the top 3 in all
eight of her events, placing 1st in the 100 and 200 IM,
50 and 100 Back, and 100 free. Delaney
Downs placed top 3 in 5 of her events, placing 1st in
the 50 fly. Fiona Dodson had a strong
meet with many best times and a 2nd place finish in the
100 Back. Allena, Delaney, and Fiona
went 1,2 and 3 in the 100 Back! On the
boys 10/under division, Charlie Velez had a top 3 finish in the 100
fly and 100 IM, Justin Lehr placed 2nd in the 50 fly.
Nico Dolley continued to show his strength and diversity by placing
in the top 5 in several events. Jordan
Phen had some big time drops and great races. Over the weekend several swimmers qualified in
some new Arizona events. I was pleased
with our groups’ performance at the Gobbler and look forward
to continuing to focus on the areas we need to improve.
The Junior and Pre Senior groups both had very
good meets while racing at the Gobbler.
They are continuing to work on fast turns and walls and maintaining
distance per stroke while increasing their tempos. One adjustment that the groups made very well from
Saturday to Sunday was keeping warm before their races. The racing improved dramatically on Sunday as the
swimmers began to understand the importance of staying warm prior
to their race.
The Junior group had 26 swimmers competing in
the meet and all 26 swimmers went a best time over the three
days. Congratulations to Namkha Nguyen,
Chloe Mitchell, Nicholas Rodriguez and Luke Peters who all had 100%
best times at the meet. The group also
had two more swimmers make their final cuts to be able to travel to
Arizona: congrats to Emily and Luke
Peters for making the qualifying standards.
The pre Senior group also did exceptionally
well with 30 of 32 swimmers swimming best times over the course of
the meet. Congratulations to Ankhit
Pandurangi and David Ke for performing best times in 100% of their
races! Also, congratulations to Hannah
Calton who earned two new Sectional cuts in the 400 IM and the 200
Freestyle.
The varsity group came into the Gobbler with
some high hopes of swimming fast, and they delivered in great form.
The Gobber was one of the most successful meets that I have
coached. The varsity swimmers recorded over 60 new best times!
The main focus for the varsity group heading into this meet was to
focus more on what they needed to do to swim fast, rather than
focusing on time standards or best times. After some great training
that included working on fast turns and race-specific strategy, the
varsity group came out focused and ready to race from the first
beep. Friday night's distance events were highlighted by Shelby
Rivas' first ever 400 IM which was a best time and an Arizona
qualifying time, best times for Matt Zerweck and Jessica Hester as
well. The 500 free saw Shelby return to log her second best time of
the night and another Arizona cut, while in the same race Ashley
Taylor dropped 4 seconds off her best time as well. I was extremely
impressed as well with all of the first timers entering the 500
free - Lauren Young, Cassie Preston, Joey Fong, Daniel Fong, and
Matt Nisenboym. Congrats to all of these swimmers on taking the
plunge and doing a great job challenging themselves.
Saturday's events started off with another round of best times.
Ashley Taylor led the way with an 8 second drop and Brittani Wood
was close with a 6 second drop herself. Austin Young had a 13
second drop in the 200 breast and swam his first ever 1000 free for
a nice day of racing. In the 100 back Shelby continued to shine,
and added another Arizona cut with yet another best time, and she
joined Austin as the only other varsity swimmer to take on the 1000
free. Jena Keffer also had a great 100 back with a best time.
The last day of racing showcased more of the same from the varsity
group, beginning with Jessica Hester's best time in the 200 free (a
personal challenge for her after being disqualified when she went
her last best time!). Landon Smith has been battling back from
illness but still managed to swim a best time in the 200 back. The
100 free showed off what the varsity sprinters can do, and Brittani
Wood, Jena Keffer, Lauren Young, Josh Church, and Austin Young all
posted best swims.
Overall I couldn't be happier with the group's performance.
Everyone came ready to race and did a great job focusing on making
adjustments and improvements. Clearly all of the hard work is
paying off. Great job again to all!
Despite being fatigued from hard training,
several Marlin seniors surpassed best times. Nick Kramer led the
charge with 6 best times. Andy Cunningham and Katelyn Burson had
amazing meets with 5 best times a piece. Dallin Johnson, Grayson
Whitten and Corbin Gomez each had 3 best times. Stephanie Klotz,
Gabby Rossbach and Alex Whitford swam best times in 2 events.
Swimmers with 1 best time included: Hannah Bensman, Josh Choi,
Weston Landre, Ryan Pickett and Mikayla Winkler.
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