Trio of Great Meets For PCST in June!

Tsunamis Have Fantastic Performances at Bluewater, Swim Atlanta and GPAC Meets To Kick Off The Summer!

18 Tsunami Seniors Stick Out Like Sore Thumb in Atlanta (In a good way!)
Each of the last three years, PCST has taken a group of about 16-18 senior swimmers to a "Senior Trip" in June.  In 2009 and 2010 we went to Orlando to compete in the Trinity Prep Meet against a ton of Florida swimmers we rarely see at meets.  This year we decided to head up to Atlanta after getting special permission to get into the super popular Betsy Dunbar Meet hosted by Swim Atlanta.  With the meet being held at the Georgia Tech Pool (home to the 1996 Olympics), we were already looking forward to a special weekend, and the swims ended up being great.  We did, however, stick out like a sore thumb because we were the only team there that was not from the central Georgia, greater Atlanta area.......................and our awesome tans made us stick out even more, haha. 

The trip was a blast though!  From the road trip in our mini vans and sweet rides, to the roller coasters all day, to some fun team meals, Apples to Apples game and a crazy trip to the mall..................it was one to remember!  And in spite of the fact that we traveled as far as we did and spent the entire day Friday in the heat on roller coasters at Six Flags Over Georgia, we still had some terrific swims that I am proud to share with you.  While I only have the team records and all-time top ten updates listed below, I must say I was particularly impressed with how well nearly all of our seniors rose to the occassion to have some great races in spite of being exhausted.  Well done!

New Team Records From Swim Atlanta Meet
Evan Escobar 15-16 Boys 200 Free (2:01.96)
Evan Escobar 15-16 Boys 400 Free (4:21.76)
Michael Duderstadt 15-16 Boys 200 Fly (2:19.31)
Victoria Hove Senior Girls 100 Back (1:11.87)
Victoria Hove Senior Girls 200 Back (2:35.39)
Victoria Hove Senior Girls 200 IM (2:28.44)

New All-Time Top Ten Swims From Swim Atlanta Meet
Victoria Hove 50 Free 9th (29.69), 200 Free 2nd (2:11.61), 100 Breast 3rd (1:18.84), 200 Breast 4th (2:53.90)
Zach Stein 50 Free 7th (25.99)
Michael Duderstadt 100 Free 5th (56.05), 400 Free 7th (4:35.28), 800 Free 6th (9:36.45), 100 Back 8th (1:07.29), 200 Back 7th (2:26.09), 100 Breast 7th (1:13.30), 200 Breast 8th (2:46.55), 100 Fly 5th (1:02.12), 200 Fly 2nd (2:19.31)
Evan Escobar 200 Free 2nd (2:01.96), 400 Free 1st (4:21.76)

Great Performances at Bluewater Barracudas Meet By Some Veteran and New PCST Swimmers!
The BWB meet, held in Gulf Breeze in early June, was not expected to be a huge meet for PCST swimmers in terms of attendance.  However, we still had a team record 17 go to the meet and there were some fantatistic swims that I want you to hear about.  We were lead by some awesome races by 7 different swimmers who finished in the top 8 in individual swims as well as 3 PCST swimmers who had never even raced in a long course meet before!  The meet itself had about 300 or so swimmers from all over Florida, Georgia and Louisiana, so you know it had some good new competition for our swimmers to go up against.  Congratulations to all of the Tsunamis who raced at Bluewater because you made Coach Jessica's birthday weekend a special one. :)

High Point Finishers at BWB
Noah Vaden (9th in 8 & Under Boys), Josh Vaden (7th in 11-12 Boys)

Event Victories at BWB
Chad McGuire 11-12 Boys 50 Breast

New Southeastern Cuts at BWB
Chad McGuire 11-12 Boys 100 Back

Top 8 Finishers in Individual Events at BWB
Sara Kate Paine, Maddie Campbell, Fallon Gelsleichter, Noah Vaden, Bray Spann, Josh Vaden, Chad McGuire

First Long Course Meet Ever for PCST
Heather Lisenby, Gigi Romano, Dalton Romano

New Southeastern Qualifiers and Incredible Swims Highlight GPAC Meet!
Your Tsunamis ended up having a little over 20 swimmers attend the GPAC meet which was good enough for a 6th place visiting team finish.  The meet that had about 300 swimmers from 14 different teams brought us some great races including 2 new Southeastern Qualifiers for the 2011 long course season!  We even had a couple team records in the process by two of our superstar girls, Kari Troia and Hannah Retherford!  Here are some of those incredible swims from the Pensacola meet that have got us really excited for the meet this weekend in Tallahassee as well as the Southeastern Championships in Knoxville coming up in July!

New Team Records at GPAC
Kari Troia 11-12 Girls 100 Breast (1:25.30)
Hannah Retherford 13-14 Girls 50 Fly (32.14)

New Southeastern Cut Times at GPAC
Marisa Ashley (10 & Under Girls 50 Free, 50 Breast, 100 Breast) **Marisa is only 8 years old too!!!
Heidi Retherford (10 & Under Girls 50 Back)
Molly Grace Bradford (10 & Under Girls 50 Free)

Event Victories at GPAC
Kari Troia (11-12 Girls 50 Breast, 100 Breast)

Top 8 Finishers in Individual Events at GPAC
Michaela Ashley, Mitchell Christensen, Nico Gobel, Alexis Hall, Alex Phlegar, Hannah Retheford, Amelia Talkington, Kari Troia

Tsunami With First Long Course Meet Ever
Izzy Squiers

Next Up For Tsunamis!
This weekend in Tallahassee, we will have over 50 swimmers competing at the annual June ATAC meet.  This will be the largest crew we have ever taken to this meet and I couldn't be more excited for a great weekend!  Don't forget to sign up for our July 9th last chance PCST intrasquad long course meet at Frank Brown Park.  All PCST swimmers should plan on competing in this extremely rare opportunity for an official long course meet here at home.

Want More Rankings and New Updated Team Statistics?
Check out the updated team ranking and records on our website at www.panamacityswimteam.com, or keep an eye out for our July 2011 Tsunami Newsletter coming up soon with all sorts or new rankings, results and stats from June.

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan