Tsunamis Shine at High School Regional Championships!

PCST Swimmers Help Mosely Boys Win Regionals for First Time in School History!! 
One clear indication that Bay County has more depth than ever is when one of our high school teams starts winning major championships.  While Mosely boys have not found victory at the State level yet, they can no longer say the same about the Regional Championships!  Congratulations to the Mosely boys for winning their first ever Regional Championship in school history!  Along the way, best times were achieved, Sectional cuts became attainable and records fell as PCST swimmers helped lead a group to the highest state qualifier total in Bay County in a long time, if not ever!

Mosely Boys 200 Free Relay Breaks Bay County & Mosely High Record
Sammy Reyes, Peter Cude, Kyler Hast, Michael Perdomo (1:31.20)
previously held by Sammy Reyes, Peter Cude, Kyler Hast, Michael Perdomo (1:31.38) from 2009

Mosely Girls Finish 4th at the Strongest Regional Championship in the State!!
It was no easy task finishing 4th place at the toughest regional championships in the 2A State!  Let’s put it this way.......there were many girls (including PCST swimmers) who swam times that would easily have qualified for the state championships if they had been in any other region.  However, this one was so fast that some talented swimmers were left behind.  Luckily, we didn’t get left behind but it does show you just how impressive it is to finish 4th place at a meet like this.  Once again, Mosely girls were led by great PCST swimmers and we are very excited to see how they do at the State Championships!

Mary McDermott Breaks Mosely 500 Free School Record!
Mary McDermott (Mosely High) (5:19.58)
previously held by Mary McDermott (5:19.71) from 2008

Arnold Boys and Girls Both Finish 3rd at a Very Fast Regional Championship for 1A Schools!
Talk about a fast regional championship!  Anytime you have the joy of competing against Bolles in your regional championship, you know you’re shooting for 2nd place at best as a team.  Well, Arnold swimmers did not pull out the 2nd place finish, but the boys and girls did both get 3rd place out of over 30 teams!!!  Led by a great combination of top level PCST swimmers as well as motivated Arnold swimmers, they were able to put together enough great swims to pull out such a high level team finish!  I should also add that our PCST swimmers aren’t scared of those Bolles kids, and Cody Bronnenberg proved it!  He was literally surrounded by 4 Bolles boys in the 100 breast final and managed to beat 3 of them, finishing 2nd in the event while securing the 3rd fastest time in the state for 1A schools!  Let’s go get them this weekend Cody!

Naturally though, Arnold was not the only school at the 1A regional championships as PCST swimmers helped top off a star-studded line up from Bay High and Rutherford High.  Not only did we get multiple swimmers in the championship final for the first time at these regionals, but some even qualified for States!

Cody Bronnenberg Breaks Arnold Record Along With Boys 200 Medley Relay!
Cody Bronnenberg (Arnold High) 100 Breast (1:00.60)
previously held by Cody Bronnenberg (1:00.89) from 2009
Arnold Boys 200 Medley Relay (1:47.31) Max White, Cody Bronnenberg, Troy vonBlankenburg, Jake Nohmer
previously (1:48.62) held by Max White, Cody Bronnenberg, Troy vonBlankenburg, Jake Nohmer from 2009

PCST More Than Doubles State Qualifiers In Individual Events from 2008 to 2009!
In 2008, PCST sent 4 swimmers to the State Championships in individual events.  Granted, those swimmers swam GREAT, but it was only 4 nonetheless.  This season, PCST will be sending 11 swimmers to the State Championships in individual events plus many more in relays!  Next year our goal will be to send more than 15 swimmers in individual events!  What do you say Tsunamis.............are you up for the challenge???

PCST/Bay County Individual Event State Qualifiers
Mary McDermott (200 Free, 500 Free)
Michael Perdomo (200 Free)
Victoria Hove (200 IM)
Chet Seaman (100 Breast, 200 IM)
Michael Whitehead (500 Free)
Michael Commins (500 Free)
Kyle Olstad (100 Breast)
Sammy Reyes (100 Breast)
Cody Bronnenberg (200 IM, 100 Breast)
Allison Troia (200 IM, 100 Breast)
Matt Bryant (100 Fly, 100 Breast) **Long time and former PCST swimmer
Max White (100 Fly) **PCST swimmer ’08-’09

PCST Relay State Qualifiers
Brielle Seaman, Troy vonBlankenburg, Kyle Buchanan

Even More PCST Team Records Were Broken!
Michael Whitehead 13-14 Boys 500 Free (4:56.10)
previously held by Michael Whitehead (4:58.88) from 2009
Victoria Hove 15-16 Girls 100 Back (1:01.36)
previously held by Victoria Hove (1:02.79) from 2009
Victoria Hove 15-16 Girls 200 IM (2:12.46)
previously held by Victoria Hove (2:15.42) from 2009
Senior Girls 200 Medley Relay (1:56.87) Victoria Hove, Kyle Olstad, Sarah McDermott, Mary McDermott
previously (1:57.52) held by Victoria Hove, Astrid Escobar, Carlee McDonald, Nicole Gazia from 2009

11 PCST Swimmers Help Rewrite the All-Time Top Ten List!
Sammy Reyes 50 Free 8th (23.13), 50 Breast 6th (30.38)
Troy vonBlankenburg 200 Free 8th (1:52.08)
Michael Whitehead 500 Free 4th (4:56.10)
Chet Seaman 50 Breast 5th (29.93), 100 Breast 5th (1:03.38), 200 IM 6th (2:03.51)
Cody Bronnenberg 100 Breast 3rd (1:00.60)
Nicole Gazia 100 Free 5th (56.17)
Kyle Olstad 100 Free 6th (56.75), 50 Breast 3rd (32.21), 100 Breast 4th (1:09.44)
Mary McDermott 200 Free 4th (2:01.60), 500 Free 3rd (5:19.58)
Victoria Hove 50 Back 2nd (29.94), 100 Back 2nd (1:01.36), 50 Fly 8th (29.52), 200 IM 3rd (2:12.46)
Allison Troia 50 Breast 5th (33.26)

New Age Group All-Time Top Swims To Report From Regionals!
13-14 Boys
Michael Whitehead 500 Free (1st), 100 Free (4th), 200 Free (2nd)
15-16 Girls
Nicole Gazia 50 Free (2nd), 100 Free (2nd)
Kyle Olstad 100 Free (4th), 100 Breast (2nd)
Victoria Hove 200 IM (1st), 100 Back (1st)
15-16 Boys
Michael Commins 100 Free (4th), 500 Free (3rd)
Chet Seaman 100 Breast (4th), 200 IM (3rd)
Troy vonBlankenburg 100 Free (9th), 200 Free (4th)
Sammy Reyes 50 Free (2nd)
Senior Girls
Mary McDermott 200 Free (4th), 500 Free (2nd)
Senior Boys
Cody Bronnenberg 100 Breast (2nd)

Victoria Hove and Kyle Olstad Both Qualify for Spring Sectionals!!
It is no secret that it is a team goal of mine to get more swimmers qualified for the Sectional, Junior National and National levels.  Victoria and Kyle have both made the first jump towards those goals and I’m really looking forward to seeing many follow in their footsteps and make the next jump to Junior Nationals!  Now the real question is...............who wants to lead the way to become PCST's first National Qualifier this year???

Victoria Hove, Spring Sectionals 200 IM (2:12.46) and 100 Back (1:01.36)
Kyle Olstad, Spring Sectionals 100 Breast (1:09.44)

Whitehead Becomes First Tsunami to Reach Level 10 for Tsunami Awards!  6 Others Reach New Levels! For those of you who are not familiar with the Tsunami Levels.  Level 11 is the highest you can get.  Level 11 is an average of the winning time at Southeasterns for the last three years.  Level 10 is the average of 4th place, Level 9 is the average of 8th place, Level 8 is the average of 16th place, Level 7 is the average of 24th place and Level 6 is the average of 32nd place, which is actually the Southeastern Qualifying times.  So, to reach Level 9 and above means you are in a strong position to be scoring points for PCST at the Southeastern Championships!!  Congrats to Michael Whitehead for leading with way as his 4:56.10 in the 500 free stands a good chance for already making him one of the 3-4 fastest 13-14 boys in that event!!

Michael Whitehead Level 10 (500 Free)
Kyle Olstad Level 9 (100 Breast)
Victoria Hove Level 9 (200 IM)
Michael Commins Level 7 (500 Free)
Troy vonBlankenburg Level 6 (200 Free)
Kyle Buchanan Level 4 (200 Free, 500 Free)

State Championships This Week!!
Keep an eye out here for results from the State Championships!  I will be heading down there in the morning to watch the 2A State Championships (Mosely Swimmers) on Thursday as well as the 1A State Championships (Arnold & Bay Swimmers) on Saturday.  If you see any of these Tsunamis, wish them great luck, tell them you’re proud and they will return with some great swims from States!

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan