Bronnenberg Qualifies for Nationals and Leads 1-A High School Swimmers!

Cody Bronnenberg's All-American, National Qualifying 2nd Place 100 Breast Leads Many Great PCST Swims at the 1-A High School Post Season Championships!

Cody Bronnenberg Proves Over and Over How Far Hard Work Can Take You in Swimming!
The best part of a coach's job is seeing a swimmer put their heart and soul into the sport and get so much in return.  The reason it's so easy to write good things about Cody Bronnenberg is because when the sport returns good things to him, he appreciates it and then passes it on to his teammates through inspiration.  And based on the results from this high school season, Cody's going to be a happy camper in the next few years with some of the star girls and boys the Tsunamis have coming up.

Before I break down a few of Cody's incredible accomplishments, I'd like to go on and on about the rest of the great swims from our 1-A swimmers from Bay, Rutherford and Arnold High Schools.  When you have a new national qualifier, it's easy to get caught up in that person's terrific swims.  But even Cody would love for me to share with you all of the other wonderful accomplishments from his teammates first because I've got so many great ones to talk about!  :)

JD Clutch Makes Consolation Finals at First Ever State Championships!
Usually when you think of JD Clutch, the word "quiet" does not come to mind.  Yet, when you think about his improvements over the past year, they have come in a somewhat quiet fashion.  I think it's because JD is so modest about his success and does such a great job at consistently putting his head down and getting to work.  After this year's State Championships, I'm afraid to say that the cat is out of the bag for JD.  Qualifying for States in 2 individual events and then making a Consolation Final in the 100 Back (16th with 55.26) have put "J-Dizzle" right up there with some of the top swimmers and we are super excited about his great swims!

Arnold Seniors, White and vonBlankenburg Finish High School Career With Great Swims!
While Arnold Senior, Max White, returned in 2010 with some experience from last year's State Championships, his other senior teammate,  Troy vonBlankenburg , had not yet made it in an individual event.  After a strong short course championship meet in February, Troy agreed that his best shot at making it would be the 500 Free, and he was right.  Thankfully for both of these boys, they got serious when they needed to and really put up some terrific swims in the high school postseason.  Max's 1:47.49 in the 200 Free came very close to the county record of 1:45, and Troy broke the 5:00 barrier in the 500 Free multiple times in 7 days (something that eluded him for the past couple years).  Great swims boys, we're proud of you!

Gazia Makes Debut at States a Great One!
Watch out for Arnold Junior, Nicole Gazia now!  After the summer season that was one for the books, Nicole showed why she was one of the best middle distance swimmers around by qualifying for States in the 500 Free.  In spite of dealing with a shoulder injury that limited her training in the weeks leading up to the championship meets, "Nicola" was determined to swim faster than ever...........and she did.  Her 5:18.56 broke her own Arnold school record and became one of the fastest swims in PCST history.  And in the process, she still proved to be a terrific sprinter as she broke the PCST 15-16 girls team record!  Wow!

Final Rankings for Tsunamis at State Championships!
Boys 200 Medley Relay: Arnold 16th (1:51.34; but broke record at Regionals with 1:43.33)
Boys 200 Free: Max White 21st (1:48.72)
Boys 200 IM: Cody Bronnenberg 4th (1:53.19)
Boys 50 Free: JD Clutch 24th (23.04)
Girls 500 Free: Nicole Gazia 18th (5:18.56)
Boys 500 Free: Troy vonBlankenburg 21st (4:56.71)
Boys 100 Breast: Cody Bronnenberg 2nd (56.64)

New PCST Team Records and All-Time Top 10 Rankings!
Since the high school district, regional and state championships are observed by United States Swimming officials, those time count for PCST all-time records and rankings.  That's great news because plenty of those records were broken!

PCST Team Records Broken at 1-A Regional Championships in Tallahassee!
Nicole Gazia 15-16 Girls 50 Free (25.62) breaks Katie Branham (25.65) from 2007
Cody Bronnenberg Senior Boys 200 IM (1:56.60) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (1:56.86) from 2010

PCST Team Records Broken at 1-A State Championships In Orlando!
Cody Bronnenberg Senior Boys 200 IM (1:53.19) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (1:56.60) from 2010
Cody Bronnenberg Senior Boys 50 Breast (26.58) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (27.12) from 2010
Cody Bronnenberg Senior Boys 100 Breast (57.17) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (58.06) from 2010
Cody Bronnenberg Senior Boys 100 Breast (56.64) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (57.17) from 2010

New All-Time Top 10 Swims from Districts in Panama City Beach!
Jamie McDonald 200 Free 7th (2:01.41)
JD Clutch 50 Free 7th (22.82), 50 Back 4th (26.49), 100 Back 3rd (55.26)
Max White 200 Free 8th (1:50.58), 500 Free 9th (5:05.67)

New All-Time Top 10 Swims from Regionals in Tallahassee!
Nicole Gazia 50 Free 4th (25.62), 500 Free 4th (5:19.66)
Max White 200 Free 4th (1:47.49)
Troy vonBlankenburg 200 Free 10th (1:50.31), 500 Free 7th (4:56.76)
JD Clutch 100 Back 3rd (55.24)
Cody Bronnenberg 200 IM 1st (1:56.60)

New All-Time Top 10 Swims from States in Orlando!
Nicole Gazia 500 Free 3rd (5:18.56)
Troy vonBlankenburg 500 Free 7th (4:56.71)
Cody Bronnenberg 50 Breast 1st (26.58), 100 Breast 1st (56.64), 200 IM 1st (1:53.19)

Congratulations to the LOADS of 1-A Tsunamis That Qualified For Regionals In Individual Events!
Nicole Gazia, Jamie McDonald, Max White, Troy vonBlankenburg, Dylan Mock, Allison Troia, Emily Churchwell, Jordan Murray, Cody Bronnenberg, Devin McGrew, JD Clutch, Jake Cauthen, Rigell Toole

BACK TO CODY!

Cody the National Qualifier:  To the best of my knowledge, the Tsunamis have never had a US National Qualifier.  Well, those days are over.  Cody's 56.64 in the 100 Breast bested the 56.99 mark needed to qualify for the Winter Nationals in Columbus, OH!  While Cody will not be attending Nationals so that he may focus on more events at the Junior National meet in Atlanta, he's got his sights set on the 55.89 needed to qualify for Summer Nationals in Palo Alto, CA!!

Cody the All-American: In the last 5 years, PCST has had only 2 All-American swimmers leading up to this season.  In both of those cases the swimmers achieved the All-American consideration time before being selected as one of the country's fastest.  This time though, Cody made sure to leave no room for doubt as he achieved the AUTOMATIC All-American time!  Only the best swimmers in the country achieve Automatic times and your Cody Bronnenberg is now one of those swimmers!

Cody the State Runner-Up (AKA Non-Bolles State Champion): Let's face it.  The 1-A State Championships are typically dominated by private schools, in particular Bolles.  The reigning state champion in the 100 breast had already won the previous two years in dominating fashion, so the running joke was to make an attempt at the Non-Bolles State Championship in the 100 breast while making the previous champion seem human.  Cody chased down "Sergio" the entire way and not only made him and the rest of the Bolles boys seem human, he showed the a good ole public school boy can swim just as fast if he trains hard enough.  I'm looking forward to more future Tsunamis who swim in 1-A to continue to make your own path of greatness and make those private school swimmers start asking "who are these PCST swimmers???"  And just to add to it, Cody finished 4th in the 200 IM (also behind 3 Bolles swimmers).  Not a bad day's work!

Cody the County Record Breaker: One of the greatest names to come through Bay County swimming in the past is Joey Darnell.  Joey has held multiple county records and went on to swim for one of the most dominating collegiate programs in the country (Auburn).  Joey has held the 200 IM record here since 1998.  In addition to that, a young man named Spencer Gibson has held the 100 breast country record since 1989!!  Now they are both a thing of the past.  Leave it up to Cody to attack the two longest standing individual county records in the books!  Cody not only set both of those county records this year, he also broke EVERY SINGLE Arnold High individual record in the 2010 season alone! 

Cody the All-Around Terrific Guy:  Just talk to him for a few minutes and you'll understand what I'm talking about.  :)  There's a reason why so many top Division I college coaches are wanting to know more about this young man.  Yes, qualifying for Nationals helps..........but the more they learn about him, the more they love him............just like we love him here on the Tsunamis.

Next up for the Tsunami is the Gator Swim Club Winter Invitational in Gainesville, FL Dec 3-5.  After that I'll be traveling with Cody to the Speedo Junior Nationals in Atlanta, GA Dec. 10-12.

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan