Duderstadt Leads Mosley Boys to Runner Up Team Finish at State Champs!

PCST Swimmers Smash Tons of Records at the Florida High School State Championships!
When you have a State Championship as successful as the one we just had, it's incredibly difficult to decide which of the tons of incredible accomplishments should receive the headline.  Ideally, I would like to give a headline to a whole bunch of swimmers because we had so many great swims, top performances, etc etc.  But it's hard to overlook our STATE CHAMPIONS in Chet Seaman and Michael Whitehead!  It's tough to overlook our Runner Up Team Champions in the Mosley Boys group!  It's tough to overlook our double championship finalists and All-American Consideration Time achievers in Victoria Hove and Michael Duderstadt!  But Mosley wasn't the only group kicking rear end down in Orlando at the FHSAA State Championships, so keep reading in order to learn more about our awesome swims from our Bay and Arnold swimmers too.

Mosley Boys' 2nd Place Team Finish Highest in Bay County History!
This is a particularly special accomplishment for our PCST swimmers for a multitude of reasons.  First and foremost, this is the highest finish we have ever had at a State Championships for any team in Bay County history.  But more importantly, it is a brief culmination of the continued dedication and perseverance of our young swimmers to not only be the best individuals our region has ever seen, but to become the best TEAM we have ever had.  And credit to that team achievement can be spread around the entire Mosley High and PCST teams including those swimmers who compete for other schools.  When it comes down to it, we train together everyday.  Our swimmers work their tails off and go to heck and back in some of the most unimaginably difficult workouts, making each other better, stronger and faster along the way.  That Runner Up Team Trophy may stay in the halls of Mosley High (where it absolutely belongs!), but the achivement is yours to enjoy for years to come Tsunamis.  Congratulations!

Team Finishes at the High School State Championships
Mosley Boys: State Runner Ups (2A States)
Mosley Girls: 16th Overall (2A States)
Bay Boys: 28th Overall (1A States)
Arnold Girls: 43rd Overall (2A States)

Seaman and Whitehead Win State Championship in Medley Relay for 2nd Straight Year!
When I first began my full time coaching career in Tallahassee, FL, I learned a lot under an amazing coach and mentor of mine named Terry Maul.  To this day I still seek guidance from him as he leads ATAC to higher grounds than they ever imagined.  So when I get to watch his girls at Chiles High (my first head coaching job by the way!) win the State Championship in the 200 Medley Relay and then turn around to give me a literal pat on the back for our boys winning the State Championship in the same event a few minutes later, let me tell you...............it feels very special.  It's particularly sweet because this is the second straight year we have done that and I am TOTALLY ready to make it three straight years in 2012!!

Before we move on to next year though, let's take a second to enjoy this 200 Medley Relay (which you can still watch using the recorded video stream from the finals session at States if you go to the www.fhsaa.org website).  Michael Whitehead and Chet Seaman got our Mosley boys out to a GREAT start in the back and breast before Brandon Yates (former long time PCST swimmer) split a very fast fly split.  However, we were in 6th place going into the freestyle leg when Caleb Champagne rose to the occassion and turned it into a moment he and many of us will never forget.  After closing the gap just a bit on the first 25, he charged home with blistering speed to touch with a lifetime best 21.00 split as the Mosley Boys won the State Title for the 2nd straight year by the narrowest of margins.  MHS finished 1st with a 1:38.33 while 2nd and 3rd were 1:38.43 and 1:38.48 respectively.  Coach Steve and I nearly broke the barricade down that we were standing on/behind.........more on than behind.........because we were jumping up and down screaming and going nuts!  It was unreal and I'll never forget it and I'm so proud of all of our boys.

Mosley Boys 200 Medley Relay State Champions (1:38.33)

Tons of Tsunamis Make Finals at States!
Now that I've gotten two of the bigger stories out of the way, I'm so excited to get to pass on great news about the other amazing swims from that weekend.  When you read below, you can go through the stats to see what place everybody finished in finals.  I can tell you from doing this a number of years now that these States Championships were some of the fastest and deepest I have ever seen.  Times that would have easily made top 4 last year were not even making top 8 in many cases.  Our top individual finisher was Victoria Hove with her crazy fast 200 IM and 100 Breast that both put her 4th overall.  While I know Victoria was going to Orlando with her sites set on an individual state championship, she made HUGE gains in every event this season, making her soon to be new coaches at the University of Alabama VERY happy campers. :)  On the boy's side, Michael Duderstadt was our top finisher as he cruised to a 5th place in the 100 Breast and 8th place in the 200 IM (which was a new NCSA Junior National Time by the way!)

At the 1A State Championships, JD Clutch and Dylan Mock added to their long list of school records by breaking the 200 Medley Relay mark yet another two times.  JD even just barely missed making finals in the 100 back with a 9th place prelims swim.  For Arnold High (aka "Jamie McDonald High"), our very own "Jip Jip" Jamie McDonald quietly snuck in with one of the best swims of the entire meet for us.  Before we even had a chance to calm down from the 200 Medley Relay State Title, Jamie had already finished her 200 Free in the next heat with a school record and huge lifetime best 1:58.00.  What many don't realize is that she was only 0.15 off of the all time county record for that swim too!  And Jonathan Ratliff...........just a sophomore........became the fastest 500 freestyler of all time for PCST with a crazy fast 4:40.05!  Just awesome.  Oh yeah.......did I mention Chet Seaman got his NCSA Junior National time in the 200 IM??  He swam times that would have easily been Top 3 or 4 last year but unfortunately just barely missed finals in both his IM and breast. However, he came screaming back at night to make a statement in his 100 breast with an amazing 59.15!!

1A State Finalists
JD Clutch 100 Back (11th), 200 Med Rel (12th)
Dylan Mock 200 Med Rel (12th)

2A State Finalists
Victoria Hove 200 IM (4th), 100 Breast (4th), 200 Med Rel (10th), 400 Fr Rel (14th)
Michael Duderstadt 200 IM (8th), 100 Breast (5th), 200 Fr Rel (3rd), 400 Fr Rel (4th)
Chet Seaman 200 IM (10th), 100 Breast (9th), 200 Med Rel (1st), 400 Fr Rel (4th)
Jonathan Ratliff 200 Free (10th), 500 Free (10th), 400 Fr Rel (4th)
Jamie McDonald 200 Free (11th)
Michael Whitehead 200 Free (14th), 500 Free (14th), 200 Med Rel (1st)
Evan Escobar 200 Fr Rel (3rd)
Taylor Wilder 200 Med Rel (10th)
Lindsey Gurganus 200 Med Rel (10th), 400 Fr Rel (14th)
Alysiah Stock 200 Med Rel (10th)

Tsunami Swimmers Break 10 PCST, 10 County and 14 Individual School Records!
Records, records, records.  They just keep fallinig don't they?  It's almost as if the harder they get, the harder our Tsunamis train and the faster we get!  While every single record on here is incredibly difficult to break and fantastic in it's own way, I have a special place in my heart for the records that have lasted through the onslaught that has been the past few years of improved Tsunami swimmers.  So extra congratulations go out to Michael Duderstadt and Jonathan Ratliff for breaking Kevin Faulhaber records from 2007.  He is one of our all time greats and you boys are taking his records down left and right!  And while we're at it, Michael Duderstadt broke the oldest record in the high school books!  Spencer Gibson (in the PCST Hall of Fame for winning Southeasterns 22 years ago) also had the Mosley High record in the 100 breast for that long.  The key word though is "had" because Duder took it down with a smoking fast 58.15!  Just awesome!

New PCST Records
Michael Duderstadt 15-16 Boys 50 Free (21.78) breaks Michael Duderstadt (21.79) from 2011
Michael Duderstadt 15-16 Boys 50 Breast (27.38) breaks Michael Duderstadt (27.54) from 2011
Michael Duderstadt 15-16 Boys 100 Breast (58.15) breaks Kevin Faulhaber (59.04) from 2007
Michael Duderstadt 15-16 Boys 200 IM (1:55.48) breaks Michael Dudersdtadt (1:56.73) from 2011
Jonathan Ratliff 15-16 Boys 200 Free (1:44.00) breaks Kevin Faulhaber (1:44.40) from 2007
Jonathan Ratliff 15-16 Boys 500 Free (4:41.83) breaks Michael Whitehead (4:43.66) from 2011
Jonathan Ratliff 15-16 Boys 500 Free (4:40.05) breaks Jonathan Ratliff (4:41.83) from 2011
Michael Whitehead 15-16 Boys 50 Back (24.92) breaks Michael Whitehead (25.59) from 2011
Michael Whitehead 15-16 Boys 50 Back (24.90) breaks Michael Whitehead (24.92) from 2011
Sen Girls 200 Med Relay (1:56.31) Taylor Wilder, Alysiah Stock, Victoria Hove, Lindsey Gurganus breaks
Victoria Hove, Kyle Olstad, Sarah McDermott, Mary McDermott (1:56.87) from 2009

New County and High School Records
Jonathan Ratliff (MHS) 200 Free (1:44.00) broken twice (formerly Jonathan Ratliff 1:45.52 from 2011)
Jonathan Ratliff (MHS) 500 Free (4:40.05) broken twice (formerly Michael Whitehead 4:44.99 from 2010)
Mosley Boys 200 Med Rel (1:38.33) broken twice (Chet Seaman and Michael Whitehead on that team)
Mosley Boys 200 Fr Rel (1:27.99) broken twice (Michael Duderstadt and Evan Escobar on that team)
Mosley Boys 400 Fr Rel (3:15.24) broken twice (Jonathan Ratliff, Chet Seaman, Evan Escobar and Michael Duderstadt)
 

New School Records
Jamie McDonald (AHS) 200 Free (1:58.00) breaks her own school record
Michael Duderstadt (MHS) 100 Breast (58.15) breaks Spencer Gibson's record from way back in 1989!!
Bay Boys 200 Med Rel (1:41.59) broken twice (JD Clutch and Dylan Mock on that team)

Michael Duderstadt and Victoria Hove Qualify for High School All-American Consideration!
Since I have lived in Bay County, we have had 3 High School All-Americans from PCST.  Beau Brothers, Kevin Faulhaber and Cody Bronnenberg all received the prestigious honor of being in the Top 100 in the country for the high school season in their event.  If you think about it, that means you are on average one of the two best swimmers in the state for ALL states throughout the country.  That's nothing short of amazing!  That means if you become an All-American, you most likely could have won a state title in a lot of other states.  Well, our very own Victoria Hove and Michael Duderstadt have swum times that will put them in the running for possibly getting All-American.  Those times will be announced in late April, early May, but just to achieve a "consideration" time is so hard and we are so proud!

Michael Duderstadt 100 Breast (58.15)
Victoria Hove 200 IM (2:04.94)

New PCST All-Time Top 10 Swims Improved at States!
Go on...........read through these............enjoy them!  They are getting so fast and I am loving every second of it.  Check out the full rankings on our website listed under "Team Rankings" and "All Time SC Rankings".

Jamie McDonald 200 Free 4th (1:58.00)
Taylor Wilder 50 Back 6th (30.32)
Victoria Hove 50 Fly 2nd (27.37)
Michael Duderstadt 50 Free 2nd (21.78), 50 Breast 2nd (27.38), 100 Breast 2nd (58.15), 200 IM 2nd (1:55.48)
Jonathan Ratliff 100 Free 7th (49.34), 200 Free 2nd (1:44.00), 500 Free 1st (4:40.05)
JD Clutch 50 Back 5th (25.52)
Michael Whitehead 50 Back 2nd (24.90)
Chet Seaman 50 Breast 4th (28.08), 100 Breast 5th (59.15), 50 Fly 7th (25.32), 200 IM 3rd (1:56.26)

One of the toughest things as a coach is to narrow down the accomplishments you talk about after a highly successful meet to make sure you don't type forever and lose your reading audience.  Yes, I realize it seems like I type a ton but if you only knew just how many incredible swims I have to cut out each time in order to make these news articles reasonable, you would be shocked.  Our Tsunamis made me very proud in Orlando at the State Championships and have had an amazing first half to the short course season.  Just wait.........I've still got to type up the article for the GPAC meet the weekend after States and we had even more amazing swims there!  Oh yeah!  I'll get to that article soon.  :)

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan