Seaman Leads Tsunamis to 6th Place at Senior Zones!
Senior Zone Meet Proves To Be A Huge Exclamation Point For Tsunamis!
For the second season in a row, the Tsunamis have had great success at the Southeastern Championships, only to be followed up by even greater swims a few weeks later at another championship meet. This time around, that meet just happened to be the Southern Zone Senior Championships in Orlando, FL. Nine of our top seniors went down to central Florida with Coach Brian to compete in one of my favorite and fastest pools from my childhood in the Orlando YMCA pool on International Drive. The meet proved to be a tremendous experience for our senior swimmers as they blasted team records, broke barriers, qualified for new championship meets and finished with an incredible 6th place overall team performance.
19 New Team Records From Only 9 Total Swimmers in Orlando!
Do you remember.........not too long ago............when I was super excited about our 25 team records from Southeasterns? Well here we are, only a few weeks later with yet another 19 team records. More importantly though is the prestige that comes with some of these records. There seems to be a changing of the guard as we now know that no record is "unbreakable". Our Senior Boys proved that as they broke the elusive Men's 400 Medley Relay Record from 2008. And let's face it............as you can see below, Michael Duderstadt was just on fire all week long. That boy could do no wrong at the meet and it is entirely because he works his tail off day in and day out and never misses a day of practice. Terrific meet Duder and congratulations to all of our record breakers from the week.
15-16 Boys
Michael Duderstadt 50 Free (25.00) breaks Michael Duderstadt (25.06) from 2011
Michael Duderstadt 50 Free (24.80) breaks Michael Duderstadt (25.00) from 2011
Michael Duderstadt 100 Free (54.41) breaks Kevin Faulhaber (54.86) from 2008
Michael Duderstadt 50 Fly (27.80) breaks Michael Duderstadt (28.09) from 2011
Michael Duderstadt 100 Fly (1:00.51) breaks Kevin Faulhaber (1:00.87) from 2008
Michael Duderstadt 100 Fly (59.76) breaks Michael Duderstadt (1:00.51) from 2011
JD Clutch 50 Back (29.66) breaks JD Clutch (30.20) from 2011
JD Clutch 100 Back (1:01.11) breaks JD Clutch (1:01.25) from 2011
JD Clutch 100 Back (1:00.94) breaks JD Clutch (1:01.11) from 2011
JD Clutch 200 Back (2:15.43) breaks JD Clutch (2:17.19) from 2011
Jonathan Ratliff 200 Free (1:59.80) breaks Jonathan Ratliff (2:00.45) from 2011
Jonathan Ratliff 200 Free (1:58.99) breaks Jonathan Ratliff (1:59.80) from 2011
Jonathan Ratliff 1500 Free (16:58.29) breaks Jonathan Ratliff (17:08.63) from 2011
Senior Girls
Astrid Escobar 100 Breast (1:15.58) breaks Astrid Escobar (1:15.79) from 2011
Astrid Escobar 200 Breast (2:44.77) breaks Astrid Escobar (2:45.34) from 2010
Senior Boys
Chet Seaman 200 IM (2:13.81) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (2:13.91) from 2010
Senior Relays
Girls 800 Free Relay (9:34.18) Lindsey Gurganus, Mary McDermott, Sarah McDermott, Astrid Escobar
breaks Carlee McDonald, Victoria Hove, Nicole Gazia, Kyle Olstad (9:35.96) from 2011
Boys 800 Free Relay (8:12.80) Jonathan Ratliff, Evan Escobar, Chet Seaman, Michael Whitehead
breaks Chet Seaman, Cody Bronnenberg, Evan Escobar, Michael Whitehead (8:18.58) from 2010
Boys 400 Medley Relay (4:05.97) JD Clutch, Chet Seaman, Michael Duderstadt, Evan Escobar
breaks Cody Bronnenberg, Kevin Faulhaber, Richard O'Donnell, Beau Brothers (4:06.80) from 2008
Chet Seaman Scores Big With Two New Speedo Junior Nationals Times!
As many of you may remember reading in my daily emails from US Nationals, I was not at the meet in Orlando while all of these amazing times were being laid down. Although, if you saw my reactions when I read the text messages on my phone each day from the Orlando meet, you would have sworn that I just witnessed the races live juding by my overexcited reaction. While many many many swims stood out all week long, two in particular deserve special recognition. Our very own Chet Seaman achieved a long time goal of his not once, but twice, by qualifying for both the Winter and Summer Speedo Junior National Championships in the 100 Breast (1:07.38) and the 200 Breast (2:26.61). He becomes only the third Tsunami in history with a time fast enough to qualify for the Summer Junior Nationals. Way to go Chet!
New Sectional Qualifying Times
Chet Seaman 50 Free (Spring)
JD Clutch 50 Free (Spring), 200 Back (Summer)
Jonathan Ratliff 100 Free (Summer)
Michael Whitehead 200 Free (Spring), 400 Free (Summer)
Michael Duderstadt 100 Back (Summer)
New Junior National Qualifying Times
Michael Duderstadt 100 Free, 100 Fly (Spring Bonus)
Jonathan Ratliff 200 Free (Spring Bonus)
Chet Seaman 200 IM (Spring Bonus), 100 Breast, 200 Breast (Summer and Winter)
JD Clutch 100 Back (Summer and Winter Bonus)
National Qualifying Times
Chet Seaman 100 Breast, 200 Breast (Summer Bonus)
Every Tsunami Contributes Points To 6th Place Team Finish Out of 18 Teams Overall!
While this meet was not nearly as large as a meet like the Southeastern Championships, it still was a qualifying meet in which you had to have a certain time (faster than Southeasterns in most cases) to swim. This means that all of the teams at the meet were still bringing a good group of their fastest swimmers. PCST finished 6th overall with 441.5 points, ahead of 12 teams. Here is a list of the top six teams.
1) Ft. Lauderdale Aquatics 1201.50 points
2) Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club 704 points
3) Southern Waters Aquatic Team 618 points
4) Team Greenville.............................603 points
5) YCF Swimming..............................465 points
6) Panama City Swim Team...............441.5 points
Astrid Escobar Leads All Top 8 Performers With Two Individual Victories!
While we had a bunch of team records, an amazing overall team performance and every swimmer contributing to the Top 8 overall in either individual or relay swims.............only one swimmer came out a CHAMPION for PCST. Congratulations to Astrid Escobar for completely and utterly dominating the breaststroke events at the Senior Zone Championship Meet! From what I hear, she had all the other girls at the meet wondering what makes her so fast. :) Considering how much time Astrid took off from the end of her freshman year until rejoining the Tsunamis in late late May..........I'd say she deserves a TON of credit for not only getting back to top form, but pushing straight past that to put together the best long course swims of her entire career! Congratulations on your victories Astrid!
Here are our other top 8 performers!
Michael Whitehead: 800 Free 5th (8:59.66), 800 Fr Rel (2nd), 400 Free 6th (4:19.20)
Michael Duderstadt: 100 Free 2nd (54.41), 200 Free 5th (2:01.08), 400 Fr Rel (3rd), 50 Free 2nd (24.80), 400 Med Rel (5th)
Evan Escobar: 100 Free 6th (55.83), 800 Fr Rel (2nd), 400 Fr Rel (3rd), 400 Med Rel (5th)
Astrid Escobar: 200 Breast 1st (2:44.77), 100 Breast 1st (1:15.58), 400 Fr Rel (6th)
Chet Seaman: 200 Breast 3rd (2:26.61), 800 Fr Rel (4th), 800 Fr Rel (2nd), 100 Breast 2nd (1:07.38), 400 Fr Rel (3rd), 200 IM 3rd (2:13.81), 400 Med Rel (5th)
Jonathan Ratliff: 200 Free 2nd (1:58.99), 800 Fr Rel (2nd), 400 Fr Rel (3rd), 1500 Free 2nd (16:58.29)
JD Clutch: 100 Back 3rd (1:00.94), 400 Med Rel (5th)
Lindsey Gurganus: 800 Fr Rel (4th), 400 Fr Rel (6th), 50 Free 6th (29.40)
Sarah McDermott: 800 Fr Rel (4th), 400 Fr Rel (6th)
Mary McDermott: 800 Fr Rel (4th), 400 Fr Rel (6th)
Okay, so if Southeasterns was a good exclamation point to the season, then the Orlando meet had to be about 20 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (just like in Duder's text to me when he said he went 24.80!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in the 50 free after finals) haha! Great meet guys! You couldn't have made us prouder!
CATCH THE WAVE!
Coach Jonathan
