The Sierra
Marlins Swim Team traveled to Chandler, Arizona in the beginning of
December to compete at the Holiday Swim Festival. Fifty one (51) swimmers from the Marlins traveled
on this meet to race for three and a half days. The team did a tremendous job throughout the trip
in a number of ways. Overall, the team
finished in 4th place out of 37 teams without competing
in finals on the last night of competition.
As you can
imagine, traveling with a group that is over sixty strong can be
quite an adventure. All along the way
the Coaching Staff and Chaperons were continually stopped by others
to comment on how well behaved and respectful the group was during
the trip. This included Southwest
Airlines, the Hotel Manager and Staff, patrons of the hotel and
staff members of the pool facility.
The meet included
swimmers from the Black/Red, Junior, Pre Senior, Varsity and Senior
groups. The meet is as much about
swimming fast as it is about learning the “ropes” of
traveling. The swimmers learned to be
more self sufficient with time management and taking care of their
needs to be able to race fast in both trials and finals. The one area that can still be improved on,
particularly in the older groups, is the need to warm up and cool
down properly. The older swimmers did
need to be reminded repeatedly to either keep swimming or to hop
out of the warm up lanes and to not just stop and talk.
Over the course
of the meet every single swimmer swam a best time over the three
plus days. Out of the fifty one
swimmers, thirty seven of those swimmers made it back into finals
for a second swim.
Eleven swimmers
represented the Black/Red group at the Holiday Festival Meet in
Arizona. Congratulations to Nico
Dolley, Sarah Dolley, Gary Woo, Jonathan Chu, Charlie Velez, Justin
Lehr, Allena Thompson, Chloe Miller, Delaney Downs, Fiona Dodson,
and Jennifer Lathrop. Coach Aimee was
so proud of this group! They supported
one another, braved some very cold weather, learned to be
independent, and dealt with ups and downs. Our goal for this meet was to encourage the
swimmers to begin to learn to be independent at a swim meet. They had to remember to get their own towel,
stay hydrated, stay warm, and be behind the blocks on their
own. We had many girls and boys make
finals which was exciting to watch. Congratulations to the
girl’s medley relay team (Thompson, Dodson, Down, Lathrop)
which placed third, and the boys medley relay team (Woo, Chu, Lehr,
Velez) which placed second. Great job to my work horse Allena T.
who finished in 4th place overall in the highpoint for
10/under girls and raced over 20 times during the three day meet.
Thirteen swimmers
represented the Junior group at the Holiday Festival. Congratulations to Jordan Anderson, Julienne
Baynes-Tadena, Jenna Michael, Chloe Mitchell, Emily Peters, Emily
Piland, Kayla Rios, Ellie Velez, Darvesh Gorhe, Gunnar Mattson, Luke Peters, Marcello Quarante,
and Nicholas Rodriguez. The focus of
the Junior group was also to be independent and to learn to race
hard over the three and a half day meet. The swimmers did a great job of working together
and preparing themselves for each race.Congratulations to the following relays
for the 12 & under division: 400
Free Relay ~ (girls) Piland, Anderson, Miller, Mitchell –
3rd Place ;(boys) Gorhe, Peters, Rodriguez, Quarante
– 3rd place; (boys) Velez, Lehr, Dolley, Mattson
– 7th place. 200 Medley Relay ~ (girls) Mitchell,
Miller, Rios, Piland – 2nd place; (girls) Velez,
Baynes-Tadena, Michael, Anderson – 6th place;
(boys) Quarante, Rodriguez, Mattson, Gorhe – 4th
place!
Twenty seven
swimmers represented the Pre Senior, Varsity and Senior groups at
the Holiday Festival. Congratulations
to Kylie Ahnell, Paige Emery, Lauren Fitzgerald, Jessica Hester,
Breezy Johnson, Jessie Jones, Taylor Lehr, Dana Lohmann, Alli
McPherson, Haylee Rademann, Madi Rode, Ashley Taylor, Maddie Velez,
Kelsey Waltrip, Samantha Woo, Brittani Wood, Adam Banks, Everett
Conrad, Andy Cunningham, Ryan Dewante, Luke Keffer, Matthew Klotz,
Nicholas Kramer, Dylan Kubick, Brandon Mills, Ryan Whelan and Matt
Zerweck. For some this was also their
first major travel meet and for others it was gaining more
experience with racing in other venues away from home. The value of getting a goods night sleep, eating
properly and drinking more fluids was a constant educational piece
for these swimmers as a large majority of the swimmers made second
swims. The experience of racing
multiple times in a day both in the morning and evening and racing
all new swimmers from Arizona was an invaluable lesson in helping
further the swimming careers of these groups. Congratulations to the following relays for their
success in the pool: 400 Medley Relay ~
(girls) Fitzgerald, Lohmann, Velez, Lehr – 4th
place; (boys) Cunningham, Mills, Kramer, Banks –
2nd place; Klotz, Kubick, Keffer, Zerweck –
6th place!
The Coaching
Staff would like to give a special thanks to our team of Chaperons
(Abhi Gorhe, Kathy Velez, Marie Rodriguez, Dan Rios & Doug
Thompson) and all the other parents who jumped forward to help
out. The event couldn’t have been
done without all of your hard work!
Thanks!
All in all this
was an extremely successful trip for the Sierra Marlins Swim
Team. The swimmers and staff had a
great time and the lessons learned by all will only help in the
future development of the swimmers and our program.
