Age Group and Novice Lead Tsunamis at Home Meet!

Upcoming Tsunami Stars Shine Bright at Home Meet on December 11th!
The current success of our senior group has been something that has been in the making for a long time to come.  The incredible results from the high school season and beyond has been proof that the seniors have been working their tails off for a while now.  Would you like to hear something scary though??  The age groups and young Tsunami stars coming up through the ranks are breaking their records and swimming even faster than they did at their tender ages!  Coach Brian and our novice coaches have done a fantastic job with the younger swimmers on the team and our December 11th meet was a great chance for them to show off that improvement.

3 New Team Records Set!
Spectators at this meet were in for a treat.  Not only did they get to see the fastest 200 freestyle in the history of PCST, they also got to see an 11 year old record get broken by a swimmer who hasn't even been alive that long (Marisa Ashley), as well as the first ever 100 butterfly by an 8 & Under girl (also Marisa Ashley).  Congrats Beau and Marisa on your new team records!

Beau Brothers Senior Boys 200 Free (1:43.54) breaks Beau Brothers (1:45.67) from 2007
Marisa Ashley 8 & Under Girls 100 Breast (1:45.64) breaks Sara Evans (1:46.49) from 1999
Marisa Ashley 8 & Under Girls 100 Fly (2:01.47) sets first ever record

4 Swimmers Improve the All-Time Top 10 Rankings!
This category is often dominated by the senior swimmers because the rankings are set up as the fastest of all time regardless of age.  Not only is this list becoming increasingly difficult to get your name on, it's also becoming a point of pride for our Tsunamis!  As I said before, it won't be long until you start seeing some of the current age group and novice swimmers' names on there in the next couple of years!

Beau Brothers: 200 Free 1st (1:43.54)
Michael Duderstadt: 500 Free 9th (5:03.49); 100 Back 7th (57.00)
Chet Seaman: 200 Back 9th (2:08.28)
Victoria Hove: 500 Free (5:27.39)

New Age Group All-Time Top 10 Swims in Every Age Group!
This is one of the more fun list of rankings on the team because it allows the current younger swimmers to see how they stack up against the current older swimmers from when they were their age.  If you take a moment to go to the "Team Rankings" section of our website, you will see this list and it can help you set goals to become a better swimmer than some of the super star seniors you look up to and hear about right now.

8 & Under Girls: Marisa Ashley 200 Free (2nd), 100 Breast (1st), 100 Fly (1st)
8 & Under Boys: Tristan Gandy 100 Free (9th), 50 Fly (9th), 100 IM (5th)
9-10 Girls: Amelia Talkington 200 Free (2nd), 500 Free (3rd)
11-12 Girls: Kalanne Krause 200 Breast (2nd), 200 Fly (2nd)
11-12 Boys: Alex Phlegar 50 Back (10th), 50 Breast (4th); Chad McGuire 50 Breast (6th), 200 IM (10th)
13-14 Girls: Fallon Gelsleichter 200 Breast (8th); Shannon Doyle 200 Breast (9th)
13-14 Boys: Jonathan Ratliff 100 Back (9th), 200 Back (9th)
15-16 Girls: Jamie McDonald 200 Breast (8th)
15-16 Boys: Michael Duderstadt 500 Free (7th), 100 Back (6th), 200 Back (10th)
Senior Girls: Victoria Hove 500 Free (7th), 100 Fly (4th)
Senior Boys: Beau Brothers 200 Free (1st); Chet Seaman 200 Free (8th), 200 Back (4th)

6 Tsunamis Compete in First Official Meet Ever!!
All of these team records, all-time rankings and amazing swims have to start somewhere.  That is why we like to make a big deal of the swimmers who compete in their first ever meet.  It's one of the few meets where you're guaranteed a "Best Time" every single time you swim!  This list of young Tsunamis is especially important to us because we would like to see every single swimmer on the team competing in an official meet so they can see their hard work pay off.  Thankfully, the hard work has paid off for these swimmers because they were terrific at the meet!

1st Meet Ever! Brock Davis, Jake Lightsey, Corban Schreiffer, Caroline Shepherd, Hunter Sperandeo, Noah Vaden

LOTS of Changes in the Tsunami Awards Rankings!
This is an incentive program that is a lot of fun because it promotes both well-roundedness in all events as well as achieving your best in every single event.  You can score a lot of points by being great at a few things, by being good at many things, OR (and this is my favorite), being GREAT at MANY things!  That's the real goal.  Check out the new improvements to the Tsunami Awards below because some swimmers are moving up in the rankings, some are breaking team records for most points in a season and others are making some of these races for 1st very very exciting!

8 & Under Girls: Kathryn-Annette McKinney moves into 3rd (15 points); Mady Magness improves 5th (13 point)
8 & Under Boys: Tristan Gandy moves into 1st (46 points); Martin Giacobbi and Noah Vaden move into a tie for 5th (6 points)
9-10 Girls: Amelia Talkington improves 1st (119 points; only 1 off the team record!); Molly Grace Bradford improves 3rd (40 points); Sarah Kate Paine improves 5th (26 points)
9-10 Boys: Brian Giacobbi moves into 3rd (19 points)
11-12 Girls: Michaela Ashley improves 4th (49 points)
11-12 Boys: Chad McGuire improves 2nd (69 points); Josh Vaden improves 3rd (27 points), Sami Rifai improves 4th (15 points); Tyler Fay, Jon Michael Machado and Jordan Toddy move into a tie for 5th (11 points)
13-14 Girls: Fallon Gelsleichter improves 1st (65 points and a TEAM RECORD!); Shannon Doyle and Hannah Retherford move into a tie for 2nd (53 points); Alexis Hall improves 4th (45 points)
13-14 Boys: Jonathan Ratliff improves 1st (124 points)
15-16 Girls: Kristen Ratliff improves 3rd (57 points); Alysiah Stock improves 5th (41 points)
15-16 Boys: Michael Duderstadt moves into a tie for 1st (109 points; tie for TEAM RECORD with Michael Whitehead); JD Clutch moves into 3rd (77 points)
Senior Girls: Victoria Hove improves 1st (93 points and a TEAM RECORD!)
Senior Boys: Chet Seaman improves 2nd (83 points); Beau Brothers improves 4th (45 points); Brandon Templeton improves 5th (41 points)

Loads of Event Champions Too!
Let's face it............regardless of who you are or what meet you are at, one of the best feelings is getting first overall!  Winning a heat is fun too, but to know you were the best swimmer in your age group at that meet in the entire event is pretty special.  Well, we had plenty of those and we would like to congratulate those event champions!  It takes a lot of work to get to 1st place, so if you got it then congratulations but don't sit back and relax now.  Let's work hard to stay at the top.  And for those of you who would like to see their name on here next time, I suggest you start by coming to as many practices as you can and working your hardest everyday while you're there.  You will be amazed at how much fun you'll have in the process!

8 & Under Girls Champions
Kathryn-Annette McKinney (25 Fly)

8 & Under Boys Champions
Parker Anderson (25 Back)

10 & Under Girls Champions
Marisa Ashley (100 Breast)
Heidi Retherford (100 Fly)
Maddie Campbell (200 IM)

11-12 Girls Champions
Michaela Ashley (100 Breast, 100 Fly)

11-12 Boys Champions
Alex Phlegar (200 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 100 IM)
Josh Vaden (500 Free)
Chad McGuire (100 Breast, 200 IM)

13-14 Girls Champions
Hannah Retherford (500 Free, 200 Back, 200 Fly, 200 IM)
Fallon Gelsleichter (100 Back, 200 Breast, 100 Fly)

13-14 Boys Champions
Denver Dangerfield (200 Free, 100 Fly, 200 IM)
Cameron Fitzgerald (500 Free)
Jonathan Ratliff (200 Back, 100 Breast, 200 Breast)

Senior Girls Champions
Amelia Talkington (200 Free)
Victoria Hove (500 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Fly)
Jamie McDonald (200 Back, 200 Breast, 200 IM)
Kalanne Krause (200 Fly, 400 IM)

Senior Boys Champions
Beau Brothers (200 Free)
Michael Duderstadt (500 Free, 100 Back)
JD Clutch (200 Back)
Michael Whitehead (100 Fly, 200 IM)

Free Relay Champions!
While PCST was the only team to have relays at this meet, winning a relay was no easy task. Coach Brian did his best to set up relays that would be very competitive with each other so we didn't know who would win.  In some cases the 2nd place relay was only a second or two off of the winning relay!  I bet that pool deck was as loud as could be during those races!!

8 & Under Girls Champions (Marisa Ashley, Chloe Schreiffer, Lily Bradford, Kathryn-Annette McKinney)
8 & Under Boys Champions (Tristan Gandy, Martin Giacobbi, Noah Vaden, Corban Schreiffer)
10 & Under Girls Champions (Heidi Retherford, Sarah Kate Paine, Bailey Brady, Reagan Swindler)
10 & Under Boys Champions (Brian Giacobbi, Bray Span, Andrew Aker, Brock Davis)
11-12 Girls Champions (Sarah Rifai, Breeanna Noushkajian, Tyler Miles, Eliza Crowder)
11-12 Boys Champions (Alex Phlegar, Josh Vaden, Tyler Fay, Jon Michael Machado)

While 2010 may be coming to a close and the leaves and flowers are disappearing with the winter cold, your Tsunamis are just now blossoming as this short course season has the best parts left!  Do not blink because it will come up quickly.  We have over 30 swimmers signed up for the Auburn meet, a place we haven't been in over 4 years!  After that there are three meets left for every single swimmer on the team.  I challenge all of you (especially our Age Groupers and Novice Swimmers) to swim in at least two if not all three meets between now and the beginning of March.  I would like you to swim in either the ATAC or the ECS meet in late January, then swim in either the District Championships or the Southeastern Championships in February, and then swim in the PCST Developmental meet in early March.  We need you so sign up soon!

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan