Tsunamis Score Most Points Ever at SC Southeasterns!

10 & Under Boys Medley Relay Leads the Way with Highest PCST Relay Finish on Record!

There sure were a lot of PCST records broken at the 2009 Short Course Southeastern Championships, and I’m not only talking about the 7 individual and 4 relays record we broke.  We ended the meet with the highest placement in team history at the short course meet, the most points ever scored, the most swimmers ever qualified and the most swimmers ever attending a championship meet.  After a very successful District Championships, I think it’s safe to say that we have had our most successful short course season in team history to start off 2009!  Here are some of the many great results from the meet!

Championship Team Participants (20 swimmers, most ever in team history!)
Michaela Ashley, Reis Gordon, Conrad vonBlankenburg, Dylan Gandy, Chad McGuire, Jonathan Ratliff, Nicole Gazia, JD Clutch, Max White, Michael Commins, Phoenix Rine, Shane Young, Kyle Olstad, Sara Evans, Victoria Hove, Cody Bronnenberg, Matt Reece, Michael Perdomo, Sammy Reyes, Troy vonBlankenburg

PCST Qualifies the Most Ever Swimmers for the Southeastern Championships
The previous record for the short course of qualifiers in one season for PCST was 23 from 2008.  The overall record was 29 from the 2008 long course season.  This year we qualified an amazing 32 swimmers for the short course championships.  Twenty of those swimmers competed in the meet which also tops our previous record of 14 that swam in the 2008 short course champs as well as the 17 that swam in the 2008 long course champs.

PCST Scores Most Points Ever at Short Course Championships
In 2007, we had our best season ever at that point with 64 points scored.  Then we topped that in 2008 with 67 points scored.  This year we put together a terrific 99 points and were literally 3 blinks away from scoring as many as 140 or so.  Needless to say, this was a great meet for the Tsunamis as a team and we are pumped about the upcoming seasons and our teams great potential! 

**Congratulations to all of our point scorers, including our 10 & Under Boys Relay who finished 4th place overall in the 200 Medley Relay, which is the highest ranking relay in team history!

Point Scorers: 10 & U Boys Medley Relay (30 Points for Dylan Gandy, Chad McGuire, Reis Gordon, Conrad vonBlankenburg), Jonathan Ratliff (24 Points), Sara Evans (23 Points), Chad McGuire (11 Points), Cody Bronnenberg (9 Points), Senior Girls Medley Relay (2 Points for Victoria Hove, Kyle Olstad, Sara Evans, Nicole Gazia)

Top 10 Overall Swims: Sara Evans 100 Breast (8th), 400 IM (7th), Dylan Gandy 100 Breast (10th), Nicole Gazia 100 Breast (10th), Chad McGuire 50 Breast (8th), 100 Breast (7th in prelims), Jonathan Ratliff 100 Fly (6th), 100 Back (8th), 50 Fly (9th), 200 IM (10th)
Top 20 Overall Swims: Cody Bronnenberg 100 Breast (14th), 200 Breast (11th), Sara Evans 200 IM (17th), 200 Breast (18th), Nicole Gazia 50 Free (17th), 200 Breast (16th), Reis Gordon 200 IM (20th), Jonathan Ratliff 200 Free (11th) 
Top 10 Relay Swims: 10 & Under Boys Medley Relay (4th), 10 & Under Boys Free Relay (9th)
Top 20 Relay Swims: 13-14 Boys Free Relay (12th), Senior Girls Medley Relay (16th), 13-14 Boys Medley Relay (16th)

New Tsunami Awards!
It’s always exciting to see just how high our swimmers can rank themselves within the Tsunami Awards after a championship meet.  We had many new "AAA", "AA" swims, new Southeastern times, a first time Sectional Championships qualifier and a new Junior National qualifying time!

"A" Club: JD Clutch (100 Free), Dylan Gandy (50 Back, 100 Breast), Matt Reece (100 Breast), Troy vonBlankenburg (1650 Free, 500 Free, 400 IM)
"AA" Club: Victoria Hove (200 Back), Chad McGuire (50 Breast), Kyle Olstad (100 Breast), Michael Perdomo (200 Fly), Jonathan Ratliff (200 Free, 100 Back, 200 IM), Shane Young (50 Free, 100 Free)
"AAA" Cody Bronnenberg (100 Back, 100 Breast), Sara Evans (100 Breast, 200 IM, 400 IM), Nicole Gazia (50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Breast), Jonathan Ratliff (100 Fly)
New Southeastern Swims: JD Clutch (100 Free), Jonathan Ratliff (13-14 100 Fly), Shane Young (100 Free), Dylan Gandy (50 Back), Matt Reece (100 Breast)
New Sectional Times: Michael Perdomo (200 Fly), Cody Bronnenberg (100 Breast)
New Junior National Time: Sara Evans (400 IM)

11 New Team Records Set at Southeasterns!
Many times when we have a lot of team records broken they tend to come from one or two swimmers.  That was not the case at this meet.  We had 7 individual team records broken by 5 different swimmers and 4 relay records that included 9 different swimmers.  This short course season, we have broken records in every single age group and that’s a great accomplishment to be proud of!

Sara Evans Senior Girls 400 IM (4:32.06), previously Sara Evans (4:36.78) from 2008
Nicole Gazia 13-14 Girls 50 Free (25.68), previously Nicole Gazia (25.72) from 2008
Nicole Gazia 13-14 Girls 100 Breast (1:10.03), previously Kyle Olstad (1:10.09) from 2008
Victoria Hove 15-16 Girls 100 Back (1:03.77), previously Andrea Erben (1:03.83) from 2000
Victoria Hove 15-16 Girls 200 Back (2:16.67), previously Victoria Hove (2:16.99) from 2008
Chad McGuire 10 & Under Boys 50 Breast (39.50), previously Chris Duncan (40.49) from 2002
Jonathan Ratliff 11-12 Boys 100 Fly (1:03.41), previously Jonathan Ratliff (1:04.99) from 2008

10 & U Boys 200 Free Relay (2:15.10) Conrad vonBlankenburg, Chad McGuire, Reis Gordon, Dylan Gandy
previously (2:20.93) Richard Greer, Brian Hoppers, Chris Duncan, Darby Ebel from 2001
10 & U Boys 200 Medley Relay (2:27.21) Dylan Gandy, Chad McGuire, Reis Gordon, Conrad vonBlankenburg
previously (2:34.60) Dylan Gandy, Chad McGuire, Reis Gordon, Alex Phlegar from 2009
13-14 Boys 400 Free Relay (3:38.48) JD Clutch, Shane Young, Max White, Michael Commins
previously (3:51.95) Sammy Reyes, John Kob, Chet Seaman, Troy vonBlankenburg from 2008
13-14 Boys 400 Medley Relay (4:17.79) Shane Young, Phoenix Rine, Max White, Michael Commins
previously (4:19.45) John Kob, Chet Seaman, Troy vonBlankenburg, Sammy Reyes from 2008

7 Swimmers Rewrite the All-Time Top 10 List!
Congratulations to Sara Evans on improving two of her 1st place rankings in team history.  Her 50 Breast split from her 100 and her 400 IM from this Southeasterns were the fastest swims all-time for the Tsunamis!

Troy vonBlankenburg: 1000 Free 10th (11:05.57)
Cody Bronnenberg: 50 Breast 2nd (28.75), 100 Breast 3rd (1:01.14)
Michael Perdomo: 50 Fly 5th (25.47), 100 Fly 6th (56.20), 200 Fly 2nd (2:01.29)
Nicole Gazia: 50 Free 4th (25.68), 100 Free 6th (56.90), 50 Breast 3rd (33.13), 100 Breast 3rd (1:10.03), 400 IM 9th (5:01.23)
Sara Evans: 50 Breast 1st (31.47), 100 Fly 3rd (1:02.02), 200 Fly 2nd (2:15.38), 400 IM 1st (4:32.06)
Victoria Hove: 50 Breast 9th (34.69)
Shane Young: 200 Fly 10th (2:19.53)

Nearly 3/4 of the Championship Swimmers Improve All-Time Age Group Rankings!
When you have nearly 75% of your team putting up swims that list in the top 10 all time for their age group in team history, you’re having a successful weekend!  The Tsunamis had 14 swimmers do just that over the weekend!  Here they are:

All-Time 10 & Under
Dylan Gandy: 50 Free 9th (32.67), 50 Back 5th (38.19), 100 Breast 5th (1:30.03), 50 Breast 7th (42.48)
Chad McGuire:  50 Back 10th (39.75), 50 Breast 1st (39.50), 100 Breast 4th (1:29.60), 100 IM 9th (1:24.16)
Reis Gordon: 200 IM 4th (2:56.32)

All-Time 11-12
Jonathan Ratliff: 200 Free 5th (2:07.71), 100 Back 3rd (1:07.73), 100 Fly 1st (1:03.41), 200 IM 4th (2:26.03)

All-Time 13-14
Nicole Gazia: 50 Free 1st (25.68), 100 Free 2nd (56.90), 100 Breast 1st (1:10.03), 100 Fly 7th (1:06.60), 400 IM 4th (5:01.23)
Shane Young: 50 Free 7th (24.73), 100 Free 7th (54.80), 200 Fly 3rd (2:19.53)
Max White: 50 Free 9th (24.76)
Phoenix Rine: 200 Breast 8th (2:37.65)

All-Time 15-16
Victoria Hove: 100 Back 1st (1:03.77), 200 Back 1st (2:16.67), 100 Breast 5th (1:13.57), 200 Breast 4th (2:41.84), 200 Fly 4th (2:26.13), 200 IM 3rd (2:19.22)
Matt Reece: 100 Breast 6th (107.29)
Cody Bronnenberg: 100 Breast 3rd (1:01.14)

All-Time Senior
Sara Evans: 100 Fly 3rd (1:02.02), 200 Fly 2nd (2:15.38), 400 IM 1st (4:32.06)
Michael Perdomo: 100 Fly 4th (56.20), 200 Fly 2nd (2:01.29)

Looking Ahead to Long Course Southeasterns!
Although this was the best short course meet we’ve ever had, I know we can do even better.  Due to the fact that short course Southeastern qualifying times within the same age group already qualify your for long course Southeasterns, the Tsunamis already have 25 swimmers qualified for the long course season!   We will need each and every one of you at that meet for your team spirit, great swims and hopefully lots and lots of relays!  Our team goal this summer is to finish Top 15 at the Long Course Southeastern Championships.  Last year we finished 21st and I know we can get this goal!  But it’s going to take some great swimming from every available member!

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan