PCST Takes 4th at GPAC Fall Invitational!

Strong Showing From Tsunamis to Start the Short Course Season!

The GPAC meet was a much antcipated one for your Tsunamis because it had been over 2 months since our last competition at the Southeastern Championships in Nashville.  We took 43 swimmers to Pensacola for a terrific meet and had a 4th place finish overall out of 9 teams.  The Tsunamis were led by veteran swimmers, newcomers and had some surprisingly great finishes by novice swimmers in their first meet ever.  After a great meet to start the season, we are VERY excited about what this fall and spring will bring us!

PCST Overall Finish
1st (Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club)
2nd (City of Mobile Swim Association)
3rd (Emerald Coast Swimming)
4th (Panama City Swim Team)

Krause Makes PCST Debut with 2nd Place High Point Trophy
Congratulations to Kalanne Krause for finishing as the 2nd place 11-12 year old girl at the meet.  Kalanne, who is only 11 years old, just recently joined the Tsunamis after a brilliant stint with Emerald Coast Swimming.  She is making Tsunami sized waves already with a couple of team records and many top 3 finishes over the GPAC weekend.  Even better than her talent is the great attitude and determination she brings to the team.  We are thrilled to have you Kalanne, so welcome and congrats!

5 Team Records Fall Already!
Over the past few years, it has not been uncommon for multiple team records to fall at one time at PCST meet.  However, it is exceptional to see them dropping like flies in the first meet of the season!  This season, Coach Brian and I have started printing out Team Record certificates for each of the fallen records.  We have already had a few swimmers declare war on our ink and paper supply, stating that they plan on making us run out of ink this season with so many new certificates being printed out!  I say bring it........I’ll make them by hand if I have to!

New PCST Team Records
Reis Gordon 10 & Under Boys 100 Fly (1:19.11)
previously held by True Sweetser (1:20.25) in 2008

Hannah Retherford 11-12 Girls 50 Back (31.31)
previously held by Jessica Chandlee (31.35) in 2001

Kalanne Krause 11-12 Girls 50 Free (26.59)
previously held by Nicole Gazia (27.18) in 2007

Kalanne Krause 11-12 Girls 100 Free (57.41)
previously held by Jessica Chandlee (59.31) in 2002

Michael Whitehead 13-14 Boys 400 IM (4:35.50)
previously held by Greg Greer (4:40.42) in 2002

7 Swimmers of All Ages Help Rewrite the All-Time Top 10 List
Tristan Gandy (6), Kalanne Krause and Hannah Retherford (11), Jonathan Ratliff (13), Michael Whitehead (14), Carlee McDonald (17) and Astrid Escobar (18) all proved that it doesn’t matter how old you are to earn a spot as one of the 10 fastest swimmers in the history of the team.  All you need is a desire and the will to work hard to get there.  Congrats to all of these swimmers who are now among the PCST all-time elite!

New All-Time Top 10 Swims
Carlee McDonald 1000 Free 5th (11:16.20), 100 IM 4th (1:07.81)
Astrid Escobar 100 Breast 3rd (1:08.96), 50 Fly 10th (30.09), 100 IM 1st (1:06.30)
Tristan Gandy 25 Free 10th (16.97), 25 Back 9th (21.24), 25 Breast 5th (22.83)
Michael Whitehead 100 Back 9th (58.58), 400 IM 7th (4:35.50)
Jonathan Ratliff 200 Fly 9th (2:15.12), 100 IM 4th (1:06.11)
Hannah Retherford 50 Back 7th (31.31)
Kalanne Krause 50 Back 10th (31.53), 100 IM 10th (1:08.53)

No Age Group Top 10 Ranking Is Safe Anymore!
Yes, that’s right, we have swimmers in just about every age group that are putting up times that place them in the top 10 all-time for their age group.  In just the first meet of the season, we have already had swimmers in 9 different age groups record times that are among the 10 fastest ever for PCST.  This is exciting because it shows that the team is becoming very well-rounded and in spite of the terrific swimmers leading up to this point, we still have more coming up that are inspired enough to work hard and put their names on that all-time list!

New All-Time Age Group Top 10 Rankings
8 & Under
Tristan Gandy: 25 Free (10th), 50 Free (8th), 25 Back (9th), 50 Back (6th), 25 Breast (5th), 50 Breast (6th), 100 IM (9th)
Sarah Kate Paine: 50 Fly (7th)

10 & Under
Reis Gordon: 100 Free (3rd), 200 Free (4th), 100 Back (5th), 50 Breast (7th), 100 Breast (8th), 50 Fly (5th), 100 Fly (1st), 100 IM (4th)
Dylan Gandy: 100 Free (9th), 50 Breast (3rd), 50 Fly (10th)

11-12
Kalanne Krause: 50 Free (1st), 100 Free (1st), 50 Back (3rd), 100 Back (3rd), 50 Breast (6th), 100 Breast (7th), 50 Fly (2nd), 100 Fly (3rd), 100 IM (4th), 200 IM (4th)
Andrew Krist: 50 Free (8th), 100 Free (8th), 50 Back (3rd), 100 Back (4th), 50 Breast (5th), 100 Breast (6th), 100 IM (9th), 200 IM (9th)
Hannah Retherford: 50 Back (1st), 100 Back (6th), 50 Fly (7th), 100 Fly (6th), 100 IM (8th), 200 IM (10th)
Chad McGuire: 50 Breast (10th)

13-14
Michael Whitehead: 200 Free (3rd), 100 Back (4th), 200 Breast (6th), 100 Fly (4th), 400 IM (1st)
Jonathan Ratliff: 200 Back (9th), 200 Fly (2nd), 500 Free (9th)

15-16
Evan Escobar: 100 Free (5th), 500 Free (7th), 200 Back (9th)
Jamie McDonald: 200 Breast (7th), 200 Fly (8th)

Senior
Carlee McDonald: 50 Free (9th), 100 Free (10th), 200 Free (7th), 500 Free (5th), 1000 Free (3rd), 100 Back (6th), 200 Back (5th), 100 Fly (10th), 200 IM (7th)
Astrid Escobar: 500 Free (8th), 100 Breast (2nd)

Finishing Top 3 at the GPAC Meet Is No Easy Task!
In a meet that had a handful of teams that finish in the top 5, 10 or 15 at Southeasterns, it certainly is not an easy accomplishment to finish in the top 3 in an individual or relay event.  However, the Tsunamis managed to get multiple swimmers on the virtual podium in Pensacola.

Top 3 Swims at GPAC Meet
8 & Under Boys
Tristan Gandy 100 Free (3rd), 100 IM (3rd), 50 Back (3rd), 25 Breast (2nd)

10 & Under Boys
Dylan Gandy 50 Breast (3rd), 100 Breast (3rd)
200 Medley Relay (3rd with Tyler Fay, Dylan Gandy, Reis Gordon, Luke Ligas)
200 Free Relay (2nd with Reis Gordon, Dylan Gandy, Sami Rifai, Tyler Fay)

11-12 Girls
Kalanne Krause 50 Free (1st), 200 IM (3rd), 100 Back (2nd), 50 Breast (2nd), 100 IM (2nd), 100 Free (1st), 50 Back (3rd), 100 Breast (1st)
Hannah Retherford 50 Back (2nd)

11-12 Boys
Andrew Krist 100 Back (3rd), 50 Back (3rd)
200 Free Relay (3rd with Conrad vonBlankenburg, Denver Dangerfield, Chad McGuire, Nathan Hedglin)

13-14 Girls
Anna Miller 50 Fly (3rd), 50 Back (2nd)

13-14 Boys
Jonathan Ratliff 100 IM (1st), 50 Fly (2nd)

Senior Girls
Carlee McDonald 50 Fly (2nd), 200 Free (3rd), 50 Breast (3rd), 50 Back (1st)
Astrid Escobar 50 Fly (3rd), 100 Breast (1st)
Jamie McDonald 50 Breast (2nd), 100 Fly (3rd), 50 Back (3rd)
200 Free Relay (3rd with Astrid Escobar, Jamie McDonald, Chloe Gordon, Carlee McDonald

I know what you’re thinking.  It’s October 15th and I just got this news article up (3 weeks after the meet).  You would be correct............but at least I got it up before our next meet!  Haha.  I hope that doesn’t keep you from enjoying reading about our young Tsunamis’ accomplishments!  It was a terrific meet and tomorrow we will have an even better one at home with the 3rd Annual Short Course Paradise Invitational where we have 102 swimmers competing from PCST!  Yes, that news article will probably take months for me to type up, hehe.

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan