Team Victory in Tallahassee!

Tsunamis Win ATAC Visiting Team Trophy For Second Straight Year!

Boy oh boy was this a big meet in Tallahassee!  There were over 460 swimmers from 14 different teams in the meet and 50 of them were from PCST, a new team record for that meet.  While we had the largest visiting team there, ATAC completely dominated their home meet with 141 swimmers.  They came away with a clear cut victory, and there is no doubt about that.  However, the Tsunamis pulled off the visiting team victory for the second year in a row at the very popular, very competitive June ATAC Long Course Meet.

After looking at the psych sheet before the meet started, I realized that there were about 4-5 very good teams at the meet that had a chance to beat us in spite of have slightly fewer swimmers.  The competition at this meet was nothing short of fantastic and those other visiting teams came into the meet hungry.  Then, as our number one advantage (relays) was taken away on Friday due to the bad weather shortening up the timeline, I thought our chances of winning the visiting team competition were damaged considerably. 

Thankfully though, our Tsunami swimmers came to Tallahassee ready to go and we had great swim after great swim giving us the first place visiting team award again this year.  We greatly increased the size of our Southeastern Championship team, had many team records broken, and got points from nearly every member on the entire team!  It was a true team effort and I couldn't be prouder of our Tsunamis from the weekend.  Oh, and did I mention that the pool deck looked like a war zone after the storm on Sunday??  You should have seen the mangled mess that had previously been "tent city" on the pool deck.  While the PCST coaches' tent was lifted up and thrown over the fence into the parking lot (yes, that's in spite of me taking the cover over half way off), it still managed to be one of the few unscathed tents remaining.

Here are some great swims from the weekend that you all should be very proud of!

Final Team Rankings
While I do not have the team scores just yet, I do know who the top 4 teams were.  And I do know that PCST was the #1 visiting team!!

1) Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club
2) Panama City Swim Team (Overall Visiting Team Champions!)
3) Southern Crescent Aquatic Team
4) Bluewater Barracudas

12 New Team Records In The Books!
Congratulations to Marisa Ashley for breaking her first ever team record!  She has been close in many events this season but managed to become the top 8 & Under girl in team history in the 200 free.  Jonathan Ratliff also wasted no time in the 15-16 age group, breaking 3 team records only one week after turning 15.  Well done Tsunamis!

Marisa Ashley 8 & U Girls 200 Free (3:06.89)
Kari Troia 11-12 Girls 50 Breast (39.13)
Kari Troia 11-12 Girls 100 Breast (1:25.15)
Chad McGuire 11-12 Boys 50 Breast (39.68)
Chad McGuire 11-12 Boys 100 Breast (1:25.41)
Kalanne Krause 13-14 Girls 200 Free (2:18.13)
Evan Escobar 15-16 Boys 200 Free (2:00.57)
Jonathan Ratliff 15-16 Boys 400 Free (4:19.33)
Jonathan Ratliff 15-16 Boys 400 Free (4:18.14)
Jonathan Ratliff 15-16 Boys 1500 Free (17:16.09)
Victoria Hove Senior Girls 200 IM (2:27.84)
Victoria Hove Senior Girls 400 IM (5:20.39)

Luke Ligas Competes In First Ever Long Course Meet With PCST!
Congratulations Luke on an incredible first long course meet with the Tsunamis.  You have been doing a tremendous job since returning and we are so excited to see how great you're going to become!

5 Swimmers Win Events in Tallahassee!
As I said before, this is one heck of a competitive meet.  Anytime you get to race ATAC at home, it's fast!  Then, throw on top of that just how many incredible swimmers there were from other teams and winning an event is no easy task.  Congratulations to Marisa Ashley (50 Breast), Evan Escobar (100 Free, 200 Free), Michael Duderstadt (100 Fly), JD Clutch (100 Back), and Jonathan Ratliff (1500 Free, 200 Fly) for their individual event victories. 

Here is a total list of the Top 8 Swims at ATAC!
8 & Under Girls: Marisa Ashley, Kathryn-Annette McKinney
10 & Under Girls: Heidi Retherford, Sarah Kate Paine, Maddie Campbell
11-12 Girls: Kari Troiia, Michaela Ashley
11-12 Boys: Chad McGuire, Alex Phlegar
13-14 Girls: Kalanne Krause, Shannon Doyle, Fallon Gelsleichter
13-14 Boys: Casey Pridgen, Denver Dangerfield
15-16 Girls: Alysiah Stock
15-16 Boys: Evan Escobar, Michael Duderstadt, JD Clutch, Jonathan Ratliff, Dylan Mock, Zach Dietz
17 & Over Girls: Nicole Gazia, Victoria Hove, Astrid Escobar, Allison Troia
17 & Over Boys: Cody Bronnenberg, Chet Seaman, Shane Young

4 New Tsunamis Join The Long Course Southeastern Championship Team
We already had 28 swimmers qualified for the SES Champs meet in Knoxville, but now we are up to 32 total.  Congratulations to Bryant Clayton (100 Fly, 200 Breast), Casey Pridgen (50 Free, 100 Back), Fallon Gelsleichter (200 Breast) and Taylor Wilder (100 Back) for achieving their first Southeastern cut times this season.  In fact, for Bryant, Casey and Taylor, these were their first EVER Southeastern times and I couldn't be happier for all of you!  The hard work paid off and we cannot wait to see how much fun you're going to have and how fast you're going to swim in a couple weeks at the championship meet!

3 Seniors Get New Sectionals Qualifying Times
While all three of these boys already have Sectional times and are knocking on the door of Junior Nationals, it is still important to recognize the new Sectional qualifying times because these are not easy to achieve by any means!

Evan Escobar: 50 Free (Summer Sectionals), 400 Free (Summer Sectionals), 200 IM (Spring Sectionals)
Jonathan Ratliff: 200 Free (Summer Sectionals), 400 Free (Summer Sectionals), 1500 Free (Spring Sectionals)
JD Clutch: 100 Back (Summer Sectionals)

Next Up for the Tsunamis!
This July 9th we will be hosting an intrasquad meet at Frank Brown Park that will serve as a last chance qualifier for the Southeastern Championships.  For all though, it will be a fun and fast opportunity to race at home.  The following week we will be taking a group of 25-30 Tsunamis to Knoxville for the Southeastern Championships!  Last year we finished 17th overall which was by far our highest finish ever.  Let's see if we can squeek by with a Top 10 finish this summer!

Updated Team Records and Team Rankings On Website!
To see a complete list of the updated team records and rankings, be sure to check out our July Newsletter coming out soon.  You can also scroll through our new All-Time Top 10 swims using the "Team Rankings", or our Team Records under the "Swimmers" section on the website.

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan