Tsunamis Place 4th In Third Annual Long Course Paradise Invitational!
Talkington Leads PCST Swimmers with 1st Place Finish!
Welcome to the long course season!! The 3rd Annual Long Course Paradise Invitational this year was the largest in team history with 432 swimmers in the season opener. PCST had a team record 80 swimmers compete in the first long course meet of the summer and were in a great three team battle all weekend long for 3rd place overall. The top spot went to the Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club with the Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club in 2nd place. PCST finished 4th just behind our good friends at Emerald Coast Swimming, and just ahead of our other good friends at the City of Mobile Swim Association.
Team Scores
ATAC 1099
GPAC 692
ECS 548
PCST 542
CMSA 529
Five Tsunamis Bring Home Hardware!
Congratulations to Amelia Talkington for winning the 8 & Under Girls overall 1st Place Trophy! Amelia scored more total points than any other 8 & Under girl and broke a couple team records in the process. We also had 4 other swimmers who finished in the top 5 overall for their age groups.....no easy feat by any means!
High Point Trophy Winners
Amelia Talkington (1st Place 8 & Under Girls)
Jonathan Ratliff (3rd Place 11-12 Boys)
Nico Gobel (3rd Place 8 & Under Boys)
Cody Bronnenberg (3rd Place Senior Boys)
Mary McDermott (5th Place Senior Girls)
Multiple Swimmers Finish in Top 3 in Individual Events
This meet has gotten more and more competitive each year. From the 8 & Unders all the way up to the Seniors, there really was not a weak age group at all this year, making it very tough to finish in the top 3 in an individual event. PCST still managed to have 12 swimmers accomplish the task.
Top 3 Individual Finishers
Jonathan Ratliff (1st in 50 fly, 100 fly; 2nd in 400 free; 3rd in 200 free, 100 free)
Cody Bronnenberg (1st in 200 back, 100 breast; 2nd in 100 back, 200 breast; 3rd in 200 IM)
Amelia Talkington (1st in 50 fly, 50 free, 50 back; 2nd in 50 breast)
Mary McDermott (2nd in 800 free, 3rd in 100 fly)
Kyle Olstad (3rd in 100 breast, 200 breast)
Nico Gobel (2nd in 50 fly, 3rd in 50 breast)
Chad McGuire (3rd in 50 breast, 100 breast)
Reis Gordon (3rd in 400 free)
Max White (3rd in 50 free)
Nicole Gazia (3rd in 50 free)
Phoenix Rine (3rd in 100 breast)
Victoria Hove (2nd in 200 IM)
11 Relays Finish in Top 3 Overall!
1st Place Relays: 8 & U Girls Free, 8 & U Boys Free
2nd Place Relays: 13-14 Boys Free, Senior Girls Free, Senior Girls Medley, 8 & U Girls Medley, 8 & U Boys Medley, 10 & U Boys Medley
3rd Place Relays: 10 & U Boys Free, 13-14 Boys Medley, Senior Boys Medley
PCST Qualifies 25 Swimmers for Southeasterns Already!
Our quest to finish in the Top 15 overall at the summer Southeastern Long Course Championship Meet has begun. Although the Tsunamis had already qualified a good number of swimmers for the long course meet using short course times, we had 25 swimmers this weekend qualify in long course times! That brings our total qualifiers for the summer to 27! I suspect we will have many more soon too! Congratulations to the following swimmers who got their first ever Southeastern qualifying times!
Swimmers with First Ever Southeastern Cuts!
Amelia Talkington (10 & Under Girls)
Sarah Rifai (10 & Under Girls)
Alex Phlegar (10 & Under Boys)
Loads of Swimmers Achieve New Times for Tsunami Awards!
USA Swimming releases a list of national motivational times every 4 years to give our young swimmers something to aspire to reach. PCST uses these times to determine who gets on the list for the Tsunami Awards. The times range from "B" to "BB" then to "A", all the way up to "AAAA". If you get a "AAAA" time, then you are one of the best swimmers in the country for that age. These times can be found under "Swimmers" and "Time Standards" on our website. Congratulations to all the new swimmers we have with at least "B" times!
New Tsunami Awards (Long Course 2009)
"B" Times: Payton Gentry, Emily Claveau, Fallon Gelsleichter, Kelsie Dyell, Devin McGrew, Shane Ferry, Cameron Fitzgerald, Conrad vonBlankenburg, Carter Reynolds, Brandon Templeton, Emily Silver, Nico Gobel
"BB" Times: Alex Phlegar, Phoenix Rine, Josh Perdomo, Shane Young, Kurt Owen, Amelia Talkington, Sarah Rifai, Hannah Retherford, Chloe Gordon, Cassidy Cunningham, Brielle Seaman, Emily Churchwell, Allison Troia
"A" Times: Reis Gordon, Chad McGuire, Dylan Gandy, Michael Whitehead, Dylan Mock, Michael Perdomo, Sammy Reyes, Troy vonBlankenburg, Chet Seaman, Kyle Olstad, Carlee McDonald, Victoria Hove
"AA" Times: Michael Commins, JD Clutch, Kari Troia, Michaela Ashley, Jamie McDonald, Nicole Gazia, Mary McDermott
"AAA" Times: Jonathan Ratliff, Max White, Cody Bronnenberg
PCST Swimmers Set an Amazing 19 Individual Team Records!
Each long course season I keep waiting for the annual rewriting of the team records books to come to a hault but apparently that’s not going to happen this year (and I couldn’t be more excited!). At some point you would think all of these team records would slow down but it seems like we are picking up speed and are breaking records at .......well.........record pace! :) I hope to bring you much more great news of our swimmers becoming the fastest in team history! A special congratulations goes out to Reis Gordon, Dylan Gandy, Michaela Ashley and Nico Gobel for breaking their first ever PCST Team Records!
New PCST Team Records
Amelia Talkington 8 & Under Girls 50 Free (36.80)
previously Kaitlyn Blais (38.37) in 2002
Amelia Talkington 8 & Under Girls 100 Back (1:43.45)
previously Kari Troia (1:45.11) in 2008
Michaela Ashley 10 & Under Girls 400 Free (6:44.31)
previously Kari Troia (6:57.14) in 2008
Kari Troia 10 & Under Girls 400 Free (6:22.63)
previously Michaela Ashley (6:44.31) in 2009
Kari Troia 10 & Under Girls 100 Breast (1:37.55)
previously Kaci Hassler (1:43.38) in 2000
Mary McDermott 15-16 Girls 800 Free (9:58.24)
previously Mary McDermott (10:03.10) in 2008
Mary McDermott 15-16 Girls 100 Fly (1:10.92)
previously Mary McDermott (1:10.97) in 2008
Mary McDermott 15-16 Girls 200 Fly (2:38.06)
previously Mary McDermott (2:40.20) in 2008
Victoria Hove 15-16 Girls 200 Back (2:39.90)
previously Andrea Erben (2:42.31) in 2000
Nico Gobel 8 & Under Boys 100 Fly (2:01.00)
previously Kareem Rifai (2:02.56) in 2001
Dylan Gandy 10 & Under Boys 400 Free (6:14.72)
previously Mikey Faulhaber (6:38.90) in 2006
Reis Gordon 10 & Under Boys 400 Free (6:05.87)
previously Dylan Gandy (6:14.72) in 2009
Reis Gordon 10 & Under Boys 100 Fly (1:38.20)
previously Chris Duncan (1:38.62) in 2002
Chad McGuire 10 & Under Boys 50 Breast (46.56)
previously Chris Duncan (48.10) in 2002
Chad McGuire 10 & Under Boys 100 Breast (1:44.41)
previously Richard Greer (1:44.77) in 2000
Jonathan Ratliff 11-12 Boys 50 Fly (31.70)
previously Kevin Faulhaber (33.50) in 2004
Jonathan Ratliff 11-12 Boys 100 Fly (1:10.67)
previously Jonathan Ratliff (1:15.96) in 2008
Jonathan Ratliff 11-12 Boys 200 IM (2:42.46)
previously Kevin Faulhaber (2:45.58) in 2004
Cody Bronnneberg 15-16 Boys 400 IM (5:04.25)
previously Paul Erben (5:11.03) in 2001
Tsunami Relay Members Band Together to Break 11 All-Time Relay Records!
Each year we put up the best possible relays to see just how fast we can get. We have put together some great relays in the past few years and yet their records just keep getting broken. Individual records are incredible, but I get particularly excited about all-time relay records because in order to break one of those records, you have to have 4 pretty talented individuals. It looks like we’ve got LOADS of talented individuals this year, huh?
New All-Time PCST Relay Records
8 & Under Girls 200 Free Relay (3:37.12) Molly Grace Bradford, Emily Silver, Rosita Cintron, Heidi Retherford
previously "No Record" (First ever 8 & U Girls Free Relay!)
8 & Under Girls 200 Medley Relay (3:46.62) Emily Silver, Molly Grace Bradford, Amelia Talkington, Sarah Kate Paine
previously (4:14.47) A. Talkington, K. Troia, L. A. Dawson, S. O’Donnell in 2008
8 & Under Boys 200 Free Relay (3:19.13) Javier Elias, Aidan Ferry, Tristan Gandy, Nico Gobel
previously "No Record" (First ever 8 & U Boys Free Relay!)
8 & Under Boys 200 Medley Relay (3:58.80) Tristan Gandy, Aidan Ferry, Nico Gobel, Javier Elias
previously "No Record" (First ever 8 & U Boys Medley Relay!)
10 & Under Girls 200 Free Relay (2:43.73) Kari Troia, Michaela Ashley, Sarah Rifai, Brooke Sterrett
previously (2:59.18) Ha. Retherford, M. Ashley, F. Gelsleichter, S. Rifai in 2008
10 & Under Girls 200 Medley Relay (3:08.70) Amelia Talkington, Michaela Ashley, Kari Troia, Brooke Sterrett
previously (3:23.05) Ha. Retherford, M. Ashley, F. Gelsleichter, A. Hurst in 2008
10 & Under Boys 200 Free Relay (2:34.62) Chad McGuire, Alex Phlegar, Reis Gordon, Dylan Gandy
previously (2:54.36) J. Ratliff, C. Givey, S. Rifai, T. Sweetser in 2007
10 & Under Boys 200 Medley Relay (2:53.48) Alex Phlegar, Chad McGuire, Reis Gordon, Dylan Gandy
previously (3:33.62) S. Rifai, D. Gandy, R. Gordon, C. McGuire in 2008
13-14 Boys 200 Free Relay (1:55.27) Max White, JD Clutch, Dylan Mock, Michael Commins
previously (1:59.97) S. Young, T. vonBlankenburg, M. Whitehead, S. Reyes in 2008
13-14 Boys 200 Medley Relay (2:13.44) Michael Whitehead, Phoenix Rine, Max White, Michael Commins
previously (2:19.34) T. vonBlankenburg, S. Reyes, M. Whitehead, S. Young in 2008
Senior Girls 200 Free Relay (2:00.45) Carlee McDonald, Mary McDermott, Nicole Gazia, Kyle Olstad
previously (2:01.32) E. Chiccarelli, M. McDermott, K. Olstad, C. McDonald in 2008
Next Up for the Tsunamis!
The weekend of May 8-10th, PCST will have 7 swimmers competing in the CMSA Long Course Meet in Mobile. Then we have a long course "Distance" in Gulf Breeze that I hope some swimmers will compete in. The next short course meet for our younger swimmers will be in Destin, May 30-31st!
CATCH THE WAVE!
Coach Jonathan
