Tsunamis Win First Place Visiting Team at 1st Annual Gravy Bowl!

Well Rounded Effort Helps Tsunamis Bring Home "Silver Platter" Award For First Place Visiting Team at the "Gravy Bowl"

For a few years now, Coach Brian has envisioned a good prelims/finals meet in November for this region that is nearby in which a good number of teams would enjoy some fast swimming. Unfortunately, PCST cannot host such a meet with the possibility of us getting a cold snap in November that would make it very difficult to have the fastest swimming environment possible. GPAC with their beautifully renovated indoor facility at the University of West Florida, however, was a perfect place to have this invitational. With the innagural "Gravy Bowl" complete, yours truly has a TON of great results to spread out to you, including a new member of the PCST National Team in Michael Whitehead. (Clearly there's a lot of info because he I am in early January finally typing up the meet recap! haha).

GPAC Wins Overall Title with PCST in 2nd Place; Taking Home the Visiting Team Crown!

Never before has PCST traveled with so many swimmers! Earlier in 2011, the Tsunamis took a total of 78 swimmers to two different meets on the same weekend. We had 46 go to ATAC and 32 go to ECS. However, we broke that mark in November with 83 signed up for the first ever GPAC fall invitational. While our numbers were not as high as the host team, we were still a force to be reckoned with, and at times it was so strong that the meet felt like it was a home meet! Our Tsunamis were EVERYWHERE! Novice and Age Groupers were standing behind the lanes of seniors, cheering them on in finals. Seniors were giving high fives and cheering on the younger Tsunamis. It was a thing of beauty. And did I mention we took home the "Silver Platter" given to the 1st Place Visiting Team??? Not bad considering the fact that there were 15 teams and roughly 400 swimmers in the meet. Pretty cool stuff and lots of fast swimming as you're about to find out.

  1. Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club (GPAC)………….1,196 points
  2. Panama City Swim Team (PCST)……………………742 points (1st Place Visiting Team!!)
  3. Bluewater Barracudas (BWB)…………………………418 points
  4. TNT Swimming (TNT)…………………………………..328 points
  5. Orange Beach Swim Team (OBST)…………………..242 points

Tsunami Swimmers Break Another 20 Team Records!

Usually we save the massive team record attack for February at the Southeastern Championships. While I have a feeling there will be an all out war on those records coming up, we got the ball rolling already with an amazing 17 individual team records as well as an additional 3 relay records. Isa Gobel, Jonathan Ratliff and Michael Whitehead each broke 4 team records over the weekend, some of which stood for a long time. On a special note, Michael Whitehead's record in the 100 Back meant that PCST swimmers broke every single 15-16 Boys record in 2011. Amazing!

8 & Under Girls
Isa Gobel 100 Back (1:27.95) breaks Sara Evans (1:40.08) 1999
Isa Gobel 100 Back (1:27.80) breaks Isa Gobel (1:27.95) 2011
Isa Gobel 100 Breast (1:40.80) breaks Marisa Ashley (1:45.64) 2010
Isa Gobel 100 Breast (1:38.84) breaks Isa Gobel (1:40.80) 2011
Kathryn-Annette McKinney 100 Fly (1:54.87) breaks Marisa Ashley (2:01.47) 2010

13-14 Girls
Hannah Retherford 50 Back (29.83) breaks Carlee McDonald (30.01) 2007
Hannah Retherford 100 Fly (1:02.70) breaks Jessica Hassler (1:03.22) 2000

15-16 Boys
Jonathan Ratliff 1650 Free (16:37.08) breaks Michael Whitehead (16:37.91) 2011
Michael Whitehead 100 Back (52.61) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (53.87) 2008
Michael Whitehead 200 Back (1:56.75) breaks JD Clutch (1:56.79) 2011
Michael Whitehead 200 Back (1:56.48) breaks Michael Whitehead (1:56.75) 2011
Jonathan Ratliff 100 Fly (52.55) breaks Michael Duderstadt (53.73) 2011
Michael Whitehead 200 Fly (2:00.05) breaks Michael Whitehead (2:01.17) 2011
Jonathan Ratliff 200 Fly (1:56.74) breaks Michael Whitehead (2:01.17) 2011
Jonathan Ratliff 200 Fly (1:53.96) breaks Jonathan Ratliff (1:56.74) 2011

Senior Girls
Victoria Hove 400 IM (4:29.54) breaks Sara Evans (4:32.06) 2009

Senior Boys
Chet Seaman 200 Fly (1:57.84) breaks Beau Brothers (1:58.80) 2007

New PCST Relay Records
8 & Under Girls 200 Medley Relay (3:13.39) Isa Gobel, Katelyn Wit, Kathryn-Annette McKinney, Valeria Veras

8 & Under Boys 200 Medley Relay (3:49.08) Luke Maggiore, Dalton Romano, Trevor Hemming, Marshall Campbell

Senior Boys 200 Medley Relay (1:38.70) Michael Whitehead, Chet Seaman, Jonathan Ratliff, Dylan Mock

PCST Swimmers Add More Southeastern Qualifying Times To Their Totals!

With a few more important meets to go in the season, your Tsunamis already have 23 swimmers qualified for the 2012 short course Southeastern Championships in Knoxville. The following swimmers either qualified for higher age groups, or added more events to their already long list. Congrats Tsunamis! Now let's train really hard to get ready for the best short course SES ever!

  • Kyla Hallam (11-12) made 13-14 cut in the 100 Breast
  • Kari Troia (11-12) made the 13-14 cut in the 100 Back
  • Hannah Retherford (13-14) 50 Free, 100 Free, 500 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Back
  • Taylor Wilder (15-16) 200 Back
  • Jamie McDonald (Senior) 200 Back, 400 IM
  • Jonathan Ratliff (15-16) 50 Free, 200 Back, 100 Back
  • Michael Whitehead (15-16) 50 Free
  • Dylan Mock (15-16) 100 Free (Sen), 200 Free, 100 Back, 100 Fly, 200 IM
  • Evan Escobar (Senior) 200 Breast

Dylan Mock Qualifies for First Ever Sectional Championships!

One of our rising super stars on the team is none other than long time Tsunami, Dylan Mock. He had a very successful season as a sophomore at Bay High that including breaking a school record in the 500 that he had his eye on for months. However, his coach (yup......me!), told him many times that his 100 free was his best event.............and I was right. Congratulations to Dylan for becoming the next Tsunami sectional qualifier with his blistering 48.74 in the 100 free. Also congrats to Victoria Hove, Michael Whitehead, Jonathan Ratliff and Chet Seaman for adding to their list of Sectional times.

New Sectional Cuts

  • Victoria Hove 200 Breast (Summer), 200 Fly (Summer)
  • Dylan Mock 100 Free (Summer) **First Time Sectional Qualifier!!
  • Chet Seaman 200 Free (Summer), 100 Fly (Spring), 200 Fly (Summer)
  • Michael Whitehead 100 Back (Summer), 200 Back (Summer), 100 Fly (Summer), 200 Fly (Summer)
  • Jonathan Ratliff 100 Fly (Summer), 200 Fly (Summer), 200 IM (Spring)

Michael Whitehead Joins PCST National Team With Spring Junior National Qualifying Time!

One year ago, we were so excited to be taking 8 Tsunamis to the NCSA Junior Nationals Meet in Orlando in the spring. However, of the 8 attending, only 2 had individual qualifying times, with three total on the season qualifying. Thanks to Michael Whitehead's hard season of work, your Tsunamis are now up to 6 individual qualifiers for the 2012 meet, all of whom have multiple events to swim at the meet now!! Michael's 52.61 in the 100 Back gave him his first Junior National time, allowing him to sign the official "PCST National Team Banner". :) Even though we may have a lot of qualifiers now, don't lost site at how difficult it is to make it to this meet. Both Victoria Hove and Jonathan Ratliff also added new Junior National qualifying times and had incredible swims along the way!

New Spring NCSA Junior National Cuts

  • Victoria Hove 400 IM
  • Michael Whitehead 100 Back, 200 Back (B onus) **First Time Junior National Qualifier!!
  • Jonathan Ratliff 200 Fly, 100 Fly (Bonus)

PCST Qualifies First Ever Relay for Winter Junior Nationals!!

Earlier in the year, the Tsunamis qualified for their first ever relay for Winter Nationals with the help of a PCST swimming legend, Beau Brothers. However, Beau was over 18 years old, so the relay did not qualify for Junior Nationals. With some improved 100 times, your Tsunamis can finally say we qualified our first ever relay for the Winter Junior Nationals. This was a major goal of mine entering 2011, and I cannot tell you how proud I am of our boys. Congratulations to those below who were a part of that 400 Medley Relay that qualified with a smoking fast 3:28!! I remember when that used to be a great 400 free relay time for us. :)

New Winter Junior Nationals Times

  • Victoria Hove 400 IM (Bonus)
  • Michael Whithead 100 Back (Bonus)
  • Jonathan Ratliff 200 Fly (Bonus)
  • Senior Boys 200 & 400 Medley Relays (Michael Whitehead, Cody Bronnenberg, Jonathan Ratliff, Michael Duderstatd)

8 PCST Swimmers Win Individual Events!

For us to have event winners in the 8 & Under, 11-12, 13-14 and Senior age groups is very encouraging!  Not only does this mean that we have continued our strength in the senior divisions, we have some very good swimmers coming up through the ranks in our age group system.  Our 8 & Under Girls and 11-12 Girls age groups have become incredibly strong and judging by our ultra powerful novice group, they are only going to get better over the next few years!  Congratulations to the following swimmers who accomplished the difficult task of being the top swimmer in their age group at the meet.

Event Winners

  • Isa Gobel (8 & Under Girls) 25 Back, 25 Breast, 100 IM, (*Top 8 & Under in 100 Back, 100 Breast)
  • Kathryn-Annette McKinney (8 & Under Girls) 25 Fly
  • Kari Troia (11-12 Girls) 50 Back, 50 Breast, 100 Breast
  • Kyla Hallam (11-12 Girls) 50 Free
  • Casey Pridgen (13-14 Boys) 200 Back
  • Victoria Hove (Senior Girls) 500 Free, 200 Fly, 400 IM
  • Jonathan Ratliff (Senior Boys) 1650 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Fly, 200 IM
  • Chet Seaman (Senior Boys) 200 Free, 200 Breast, 400 IM
  • 11-12 Girls 200 Medley Relay (Amelia Talkington, Kari Troia, Kyla Hallam, Annika Reppen)
  • Senior Boys 200 Medley Relay (Michael Whitehead, Chet Seaman, Jonathan Ratliff, Dylan Mock)

Additional Fantastic Highlights From GPAC Meet!

As you can see...........even when I hit the highlights only at an immensely successful meet like this one, the news article still gets long long long.  If I had the time to type it and you had the time to read it, I would be able to share with you even more great stories and highlights like the ones below because there are so many of them.  Often times our novice swimmers do not get a lot of mention in an article like this because they are so new to the competition side of the sport.  But rest assure......if they keep up the terriifc hard work, they too will be seeing their names plastered all over these news articles!  I have a feeling that we have so many more great swims coming our way that I'm going to have to work even harder to keep these news article from becoming novels. :)

-Chase Collier Competes In First Ever PCST Meet!
-In one heat, Bailey Brady and Reagan Swindler combined to drop 56 seconds in the 500 Free!
-Sarah Kate Paine dropped 6 seconds in 200 Free to make finals, then dropped another 7 seconds in finals!
-Theryn Compoc dropped from a 1:31.52 to a 1:26.52 in the 100 Breast!

6 Tsunamis Become High Point Award Winners!

Remember when I said it was great that we had swimmers winning individual events at the meet?  Yeah well.........imagine how hard it is to win your entire age group as the overall point scorer!  That's what Jonathan Ratliff did for the Senior Boys division.  His reward??  You probably didn't guess it.................but he won a Gravy Bowl as his high point trophy.  How clever!  I wonder if he's going to use it for a family dinner one night?  That would be unique.  :)  Congratulations to the following swimmers who also finished in the Top 3 Overall for high point awards.

8 & Under Girls: Isa Gobel (2nd Place Overall!)
11-12 Girls: Kari Troia (3rd Place Overalll!)
13-14 Boys: Casey Pridgen (3rd Place Tie Overall!)
Senior Boys: Jonathan Ratliff (1st Place Overall!); Chet Seaman (2nd Place Overall!); Michael Whitehead (3rd Place Overall!)

Maddie Campbell Makes A Major Difference For A Senior Tsunami

I figure if you're still reading at this point, then you don't mind finishing off with a really neat story that is not necessarily a swimming highlight.  :)  On the final day of competition, senior swimmer Michael Whitehead, was getting ready for his 200 backstroke in finals.  He was kinda pooped because he had raced hard the day before and was one of only 3 swimmers to compete in the 1650 at the end of prelims.  He was looking forward to using the top seed, PJ Dunne from GPAC, as his source of motivation to see if he could muster up one last big swim.  When PJ dropped out of the race, Michael was self admittedly not entirely focused for the race.  When he got behind the blocks, he was trying to pump himself up but was having trouble doing so. 

At this point, age group swimmer Maddie Campbell, swooped in to save the day without even realizing it.  She didn't do much, but she cheered him on as they were announcing his named and said "Let's go Michael, you can do it!"  Whitehead went on to swim his lifetime best, breaking the team record for the second time that day.  After the swim, he came up to me to tell me the story because he said he felt like he had to swim fast for her.  From there he was determined to figure out which swimmer had successfully elated him in such a subtle way.  So we spent the rest of the evening putting the pieces together and realized that it was Maddie Campbell after all. 

Miss Campbell probably didn't wake up with the specific plan in mind of saving the day on a senior swimmer's race.  And yet, that's exactly what she did.  Most of us do not realize the resounding effect we have on others until much later.  This story is a perfect example of the team comraderie that I always strive to exemplify with our swimmers here at PCST.  When in doubt, always take the time to be positive and encourage your teammates.  You may not think it's a big deal at the time, but you could be a super hero without even realizing.  :)

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan

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