Talkington Leads Tsunamis at Districts with Two Titles!
PCST Has Most Successful District Championship Meet in Team History!
It sure was a fantastic weekend in Pensacola for the Tsunamis! Powered by our "power pills" all weekend long, we were able to produce massive amounts of lifetime best times, break some team records, win some races and have a terrific time doing it. And no.......power pills are not "Tic Tacs", even though they look, smell, taste like them and come in the same package with the label ripped off and the word "Power" written on them in coach's handwriting, hehe.
7 Tsunami Swimmers Compete in First Ever PCST Meet! Congrats to the following swimmers who swam incredibly in their first ever PCST meet. We look forward to many meets in the future with all of these up and coming Tsunami Stars. Way to go Ethan Cromer, Brad Greene, Ariel Hofman, Kurt Owen, Brandon Templeton, Rigell Toole and Sumerau Toole.
Amelia Talkington Leads The Way With 2 District Victories! We already knew she was one of the greatest 8 & Unders in team history, but after this weekend, Amelia Talkington has established herself as one of the top swimmers in all of Southeastern Swimming (including the Florida Panhandle, all of Alabama and all of Tennessee)! She won both the 25 Free and 50 Free with the fastest times in team history, and to add icing to the cake, her 32.59 in the 50 Free was the fastest of all 8 & Under girls from all four District Championships!! Amazing! I believe that’s the first swimmer we’ve ever had that achieved that accomplishment.
25 Swimmers Finish in Top 8 in Individual Events! We were already thrilled to have 38 swimmers in the meet, but when we had 25 of those swimmers finish top 8 in individual events, we knew something great was happening this weekend. Congrats to the following swimmers for their great swims. (Kari Troia, Conrad vonBlankenburg, Amelia Talkington, Josh Vaden, Jamie McDonald, Michael Whitehead, Max White, Dylan Mock, Staci Lehman, Troy vonBlankenburg, Sammy Reyes, Michael Perdomo, Anthony Hill, Shane Young, JD Clutch, Brielle Seaman, Fallon Gelsleichter, Cassidy Cunningham, Josh Perdomo, Carlee McDonald, Phoenix Rine, Brandon Templeton, Nathan Hedglin, Michael Commins
New Southeastern Qualifying Times for 8 Tsunamis! Coming into this weekend, we already were having the most successful short course season in team history with 26 swimmers qualifying for Southeasterns. After the District Championships, we now are up to 31 swimmers with 5 new Tsunamis getting qualifying times. Three other swimmers added to their list of events too. Congrats to the following swimmers for achieving such a high time standard!
New Southeastern Swimmers: Jamie McDonald (100 Fly), Michael Commins (50 Free, 100 Free), Max White (50 Free), Michael Perdomo (50 Free, 100 Fly), Chet Seaman (200 Breast)
New Southeastern Time Standards: Sammy Reyes (200 Breast), Phoenix Rine (100 Breast), Shane Young (100 Fly, 200 Fly)
Talkington Breaks 6 Team Records! Yes, we’re back to Amelia Talkington again. :) Out of the 8 individual races she competed in this weekend, I’m proud to announce that she broke 6 team records from those swims. Some were records she already owned, while others were records that haven’t been touched in 6 years! Congratulations Amelia, on a fabulous weekend of swimming!
Amelia’s New Team Records:
25 Free (14.90), Previously Kaitlyn Blais (15.59) from 2002
50 Free (32.59), Previously Amelia Talkington (33.33) from 2009
100 Free (1:16.29), Previously Kaitlyn Blais (1:16.32) from 2002
25 Back (18.64), Previously Amelia Talkington (19.31) from 2009
50 Back (39.51), Previously Kaitlyn Blais (41.09) from 2002
25 Fly (17.22), Previously Amelia Talkington (17.34) from 2009
Plenty of Tsunami Awards to Recognize!! We are now up to 57 swimmers on the team in 2009 who have achieved at least a "B" standard and above. In 2008 we had 67 swimmers from the entire year! I say we stand a GREAT chance of beating that mark by the end of 2009, what do you think?!? :)
"B" Club Members: Carson Bronnenberg (50 Back, 100 Back), Javier Elias (25 Fly), Fallon Gelsleichter (50 Back), Payton Gentry (100 Breast), Nico Gobel (50 Breast), Nathan Hedglin (50 Fly, 100 Free), Josh Perdomo (50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Back, 200 Back, 100 Breast, 200 Breast, 200 IM), Brandon Templeton (50 Free), Josh
Vaden (50 Back, 50 Breast, 100 Breast)
"BB" Club Members: Kyle Buchanan (50 Free), Cassidy Cunningham (50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Breast), Kurt Owen (50 Free)
"A" Club Members: JD Clutch (50 Free), Anthony Hill (200 Free), Staci Lehman (50 Free), Brielle Seaman (50 Free), Chet Seaman (100 Breast, 200 Breast), Emily Silver (25 Back), Troy vonBlankenburg (200 Free, 100 Back, 200 IM), Shane Young (50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Fly)
"AA" Club Members: Michael Commins (50 Free, 100 Free), Carlee McDonald (100 Fly, 50 Free), Jamie McDonald (50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free), Michael Perdomo (50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free), Sammy Reyes (50 Free), Max White (50 Free)
7 Swimmers Make The All-Time Top 10 List! This list is a culmination of a few decades of hard work and great PCST swims. It simply recognizes the fastest swimmers in each event possible, regardless of age, and it’s becoming a more and more impressive list with literally every meet we go to. Consider yourself accomplished if you get on this list and I challenge you to continue to work your way to move up it to the top now!
Michael Perdomo: 50 Free 7th (23.08), 100 Free 6th (50.85), 200 Free 6th (1:51.33), 500 Free 7th (5:07.92), 1650 Free 9th (19:02.59), 50 Fly 9th (26.26), 100 Fly 6th (56.46)
Sammy Reyes: 50 Breast 8th (31.78), 200 Breast 9th (2:27.28)
Chet Seaman: 200 Breast 7th (2:25.80)
Nico Gobel: 25 Fly 10th (22.18)
Amelia Talkington: 25 Free 1st (14.90), 25 Back 1st (18.64), 25 Fly 1st (17.22)
Emily Silver: 25 Back 9th (21.57)
Carlee McDonald: 100 Fly 3rd (1:03.06)
New All-Time Age Group Rankings Improved by 17 Swimmers! Anytime you have a meet where nearly one-half of the swimmers attending are putting up times that rank in the Top 10 All-Time for their age group, you know you’ve got a good thing going on. This is an impressive list of new Top 10 swims for each age group and a big part of the reason why this was the most successful District Championship Meet ever for PCST.
8 & Under New Top 10 Times
Amelia Talkington: 25 Free 1st (14.90), 50 Free 1st (32.59), 100 Free 1st (1:16.29), 25 Back 1st (18.64), 50 Back 1st (39.51), 25 Fly 1st (17.22), 50 Fly 2nd (41.20)
Emily Silver: 50 Free 8th (41.03), 25 Back 9th (21.57), 50 Fly 6th (52.58)
Nico Gobel: 25 Fly 10th (22.18), 50 Fly 10th (56.06), 100 Free 10th (1:39.21), 100 IM 10th (1:50.21)
10 & Under New Top 10 Times
Kari Troia: 50 Free 10th (32.74), 200 Free 10th (2:38.44), 100 Back 10th (1:32.51)
13-14 New Top 10 Times
Jamie McDonald: 50 Free 7th (27.18), 100 Free 9th (59.17), 200 Free 8th (2:06.14), 100 Breast 8th (1:18.93),
100 Fly 5th (1:05.45)
Michael Commins: 50 Free 4th (24.50), 100 Free 7th (55.07), 1000 Free 10th (13:12.71), 1650 Free 8th (21:45.05)
Max White: 50 Free 8th (24.83), 100 Fly 9th (1:04.23)
Shane Young: 100 Free 10th (56.00), 100 Fly 5th (1:02.27), 200 Fly 4th (2:26.92)
Michael Whitehead: 200 Free 9th (2:02.52), 500 Free 10th (5:38.75)
Kyle Buchanan: 1650 Free 9th (22:58.25)
15-16 New Top 10 Times
Sammy Reyes: 100 Free 9th (53.03), 1650 Free 9th (19:55.74), 100 Breast 6th (1:07.29), 200 Breast 5th (2:27.28)
Troy vonBlankenburg: 100 Back 8th (1:01.02), 100 Fly 8th (1:00.38)
Chet Seaman: 100 Breast 8th (1:08.62), 200 Breast 4th (2:25.80)
Carlee McDonald: 100 Fly 2nd (1:03.06)
Senior New Top 10 Times
Michael Perdomo: 50 Free 6th (23.08), 100 Free 5th (50.85), 200 Free 5th (1:51.33), 500 Free 3rd (5:07.92), 1000 Free 6th (11:35.12), 1650 Free 4th (19:02.59), 100 Fly 4th (56.46)
Staci Lehman: 1000 Free 8th (12:39.29), 1650 Free 5th (20:54.76)
Brielle Seaman: 200 IM 10th (2:27.14)
Hopefully I will be reporting back this time next week with even more great swims to tell you about from the Southeastern Championships up in Nashville! Until then!
CATCH THE WAVE!
Coach Jonathan
