Hove Becomes First Ever Female PCST Southeastern Champion!

Victoria Hove's 400 IM Victory Highlights a Very Exciting 2012 Southeastern Championships!

Before the meet ever got started, I looked through the psych sheet to see how we stacked up against the other teams.  What I found was probably the most competitive Senior division that has ever existed at the Southeastern Championships.  Times that would have easily made Top 16 or Top 8 in the past just flat out were not going to cut it this year.  Southeastern Swimming has gotten faster!  But that's a good problem because greater competition leads to greater swimming, and Victoria Hove was not about to let that slow her down one bit!

On the second night of championship meet at the University of Tennessee pool in Knoxville, Victoria proved why she is the greatest female swimmer in the history of PCST!  Although the 200 IM has always been her "baby", yours truly always knew that the 400 IM was going to be either just as good or maybe even better.  Wanna know how I knew???  Because as a swimmer, I always loved the 400 IM and I loved doing crazy hard IM sets that were really long and made everyone else cringe.  And when I put together those sets that other swimmers think "oh dear lord!"...........Victoria is dancing in her head.  haha. 

After a fantastic 200 freestyle earlier in the day, she set herself up for a great finals race in the 400 IM with a smoking fast 4:26 in prelims, which was already a 3 second drop.  She was seeded 2nd overall, but we both knew it was going to take faster than a 4:26 to win because she had 3 NAC girls chompin at the bit.  When she took the fly and back legs out slower than the morning swim by nearly 2 seconds, even I let doubt creep into my head for a split second because "Hovie" usually takes her races out pretty quickly.  So when she blasted a 1:15 breaststroke split to move from 5th to 1st, I was going nuts!!  I knew that the girls coming after her put in a lot of training in order to be prepared to bring home a 400 IM with a lot of speed.  But they didn't realize that Victoria did our "Epic Winter Training" this year!  She held off all three charging NAC girls with a ridiculous 59 freestyle split at the end to hold on for her first ever Southeastern Championship victory with a blistering time of 4:24.48.  It was spectacular and NOBODY was going to wipe that huge grin off of Victoria's face for a looooong time!  Don't believe me?  Check out the picture on the website attached to this news article and you'll see what grin I'm talking about.  :) 

Congratulations Victory!  You have worked so hard and we are all so proud of you.  :)  But you're not done yet!  More great swimming coming your way girl.

Tsunamis Finish 18th Overall; 7th in the Medium Team Division
In a meet that included three of the Top 50 teams in the country, in order to be the best of the best, you had to be on your A game.....................and at times that still may not have been enough.  Out of the 70 teams in Southeastern Swimming, an incredible 58 were at the meet (about 13-15 more teams than usual).  While PCST finished in the Top 10 last year with a 9th place team finish, we were not able to duplicate that performance in 2012.  The crazy thing is.........we are a WAY better team than we were one year ago, but the way the cards fell with the points system, we were not able to rack up as many points as before, leading to an 18th place team finish.  This was still our 3rd best finish ever, but simply not representative of just how good we are right now.

The winning teams in each division were Nashville Aquatic Club (NAC) in the large team category, Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club (GPAC) in the medium team, and Crimson Tide Aquatics (CTA) in the small team.  PCST finished 7th overall out of the medium teams.  For me though, the focus here is on just how great we actually did!  Not only did we come away with our first ever female Southeastern Champion, we put together yet another major assault on our team records, all-time top 10 list, and took a big step forward as a program.  Put your seat belts on, because this ride has a lot of SPEED!  :)

Hove, Duderstadt, Troia and Seaman Bring Home Championship Medals!
If I had to name the four toughest age groups in this meet, it would have been 11-12 Girls, 13-14 Girls, Senior Girls and Senior Boys.  So for our four championship finalists to come out of three of those age groups is nothing short of spectacular.  As I mentioned earlier, Victoria Hove became the first PCST girl to win SES, but the 400 IM was not her only Top 8 performance.  Michael Duderstadt and Chet Seaman had to battle out not only the toughest high schoolers in all of Tennessee, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, but also a good number of Univ of Tennessee swimmers and post-graduates, making it so much more difficult to final than usual.  But they did!!  And Kari "Trouble" Troia proved yet again that she is among the greatest breaststrokers in the entire Southeastern United States!  Her breaststroke times were so fast that they would have won countless other LSC championships.  Ours just happens to have 3 of the top breaststrokers in the country ahead of her. :)

Top 8 Championship Finals Swims
Victoria Hove: 400 IM (1st), 200 IM (5th), 200 Fly (8th)
Michael Duderstadt: 200 IM (4th), 100 Breast (7th), 200 Breast (7th)
Kari Troia: 100 Breast (4th), 50 Breast (5th)
Chet Seaman: 200 Breast (6th)

Seven Swimmers Finish In Top 16 In Individual Swims!
You've heard me describe to you just how hard it was to finish in the Top 8 or Top 16 at this particular Southeasterns, so I won't go on anymore about that.  I would just like to wish a very special congratulations to the following swimmers who finished in the Top 16 overall though.  Many of you swam times that would have been in Top 8 in any of the past 3-4 years, and you should be INCREDIBLY proud of that because we are very proud of you!

Top 16 Consolation Swims
Kari Troia: 100 IM (9th), 100 Back (12th), 200 IM (14th), 500 Free (15th)
Michael Duderstadt: 400 IM (10th), 100 Fly (13th)
Chet Seaman: 200 IM (11th), 100 Breast (12th), 400 IM (12th)
Fallon Gelsleichter: 1650 Free (14th)
Victoria Hove: 200 Breast (14th), 200 Free (15th)
Ben Hicks: 50 Breast (16th)
JD Clutch: 200 Back (16th)

Great Senior Relays in Knoxville!
The fact that our senior relays were as strong as they were this year and only 1 out of 4 broke a team record should show you that we have finally gotten to the point where we have some darn good records! :)    The 400 Free Relays on Friday evening were so exciting!  I was coming off of the high from Victoria's 400 IM, Kari's amazing 50 Breast, and two spectacular 100 Breaststrokes and 400 IM's by Chet and Duder, so I was already walking on clouds at that point.  I think the rest of the seniors were inspired too because we had amazing splits on our relays that night!  All four girls split under 55 seconds, something we have never had before, and something three of them had never previously achieved!  They broke the team record and were anchored by a ridiculous 53.7 split by Lindsey Gurganus!

For the boys, we had all four relay members split under :49 for the second time ever, but it was the first time that each of the boys were in high school.  It was amazing and they put together one heck of a race with three of the boys going under 49 for the first time in their lives  Then, on Saturday night, we put together two very good medley relays on top of all that to score even more points for the team.  Here are the relay results.

Senior Boys 400 Medley Relay: Whitehead, Seaman, Ratliff, Duderstadt (9th)
Senior Boys 400 Free Relay: Duderstadt, Seaman, Ratliff, Whitehead (11th)
Senior Girls 400 Free Relay: Hove, Gazia, McDonald, Gurganus (12th)
Senior Girls 400 Medley Relay: Wilder, Stock, Hove, Gurranus (16th)

9 Different PCST Team Records Fall in Knoxville!
Every year at Southeasterns, I come back from the meet with our team records sheet alllll scratched up and scribbled on from breaking so many records.  This year, we certainly had our fair share of new team records, but the pages themselves were not completely covered with new record holders.  Here's the crazy thing about it............I see this as a great thing!  I've been waiting 5 years for our team records to be so fast that we DON'T break 50 of them everytime we go to a championship meet.  This time we came back from Knoxville with a very respectable 9 hard earned team records.  The reason I think this is a great thing is because if you look at our new Age Group Top 10 all time swims from the meet, you'll see that we set a ton of those!  This means that we have MORE great swimmers than ever before, which means we will continue to break even the fastest team records for years to come.  Makes me excited!

New Team Records
Kari Troia 11-12 Girls 50 Breast (32.47) breaks Kari Troia (33.03) from 2011
Kari Troia 11-12 Girls 100 Breast (1:10.86) breaks Kari Troia (1:12.25) from 2011
Kari Troia 11-12 Girls 100 Breast (1:10.22) breaks Kari Troia (1:10.86) from 2012
Kari Troia 11-12 Girls 500 Free (5:36.69) breaks Nicole Blais (5:37.97) from 2002
Lindsey Gurganus 15-16 Girls 50 Free (25.46) breaks Nicole Gazia (25.62) from 2010
Jonathan Ratliff 15-16 Boys 400 IM (4:13.46) breaks Michael Duderstadt (4:15.72) from 2001
Victoria Hove Senior Girls 400 IM (4:26.53) breaks Victoria Hove (4:29.54) from 2011
Victoria Hove Senior Girls 400 IM (4:24.48) breaks Victoria Hove (4:26.53) from 2012
Sen Girls 400 Free Relay (3:37.53) Hove, Gazia, McDonald, Gurganus
breaks Hove, Gazia, McDonald, Gordon (3:41.63) from 2011

Hove Qualifies For Winter Junior Nationals, Just Barely Missing Winter Nationals!
For those of you who remember, Victoria Hove just barely missed the Winter Junior National qualifying time in the fall, precluding her from joining Chet and Duder in Austin for the 18 & Under National Championships.  While she may not be going to the meet, she proved once and for all that she truly is at that level by swimming the Winter Juniors time in that victorious 400 IM.  Even better though, she also fell short of the Winter National cut by only 0.6!!  Ahhhhh, so close!  The Crimson Tide have got to be jumping for joy at the pick up she has become as an Alabama signee.  :)  Congratulations to the other swimmers below for achieving new Junior National and Sectional level swims!  JD Clutch, Michael Duderstadt and Chet Seaman all added NEW NCSA Juniors times too!  These are NEVER easy and should always be celebrated!

New Championship Meet Qualifying Times
Summer Juniors: Victoria Hove 400 IM (Bonus)
Winter Juniors: Victoria Hove 400 IM, JD Clutch 200 Back (Bonus), Michael Duderstadt 400 IM (Bonus), Chet Seaman 400 IM (Bonus)
NCSA Spring Juniors: JD Clutch 200 Back, Michael Duderstadt 400 IM, Chet Seaman 400 IM, Victoria Hove 200 Free (Bonus), 200 Fly (Bonus)
Sectionals: Victoria Hove 200 Free (Summer), Michael Whitehead 100 Breast (Summer), Jonathan Ratliff 400 IM (Summer)

Hicks, Paine, Hallam and Dietz Make Southeasterns Debut!
Writing about these swimmers is like taking a sneak peak into the future of PCST racing!  Ben Hicks qualified at the District Championships the previous week and already finished in the Top 16 in an individual event at the big dance.  Sarah Kate Paine proved that not only is she one of the best butterflyers on the team right now, she is one of the best in the history of the team!  Kyla Hallam went straight from turning 13 only a couple weeks prior, to already being one of the top 13-14 swimmers the team has ever had!  And throw on top of that the fact that Zach Dietz had HUGE drops in nearly every single race, proving that he is quickly becoming one of the top boys on the entire team.  Zach.......didn't I tell you that you were going to be the next big breaststroke star for PCST?  I would say dropping from 1:08 to 1:05 and 2:31 to 2:27.0 would put you in a great position for that medley relay spot down the road!!  Great job to all of our first time SES swimmers!  Can't wait until this summer when you rock it veteran style.  :)

Tsunamis Rewrite All-Time Top 10 List!
I told you this list and the age group Top 10 list were still huge!  Based on how strong our swimmers look right now in training too, I can tell you that the summer of 2012 is going to be EPIC!!  Stay tuned everyone, because we are going to war with the long course top 10 lists!

New Girls All-Time Top 10 Swims
50 Free: Lindsey Gurganus 6th (25.46), Nicole Gazia 7th (25.52)
100 Free: Nicole Gazia 5th (55.04), Lindsey Gurganus 6th (55.28)
200 Free: Victoria Hove 3rd (1:54.39)
1650 Free: Fallon Gelsleichter 9th (19:31.20)
100 Back: Lindsey Gurganus 5th (1:03.82)
200 Back: Jamie McDonald 3rd (2:15.57), Lindsey Gurganus 5th (2:16.54)
50 Breast: Kari Troia 7th (32.47)
100 Breast: Kari Troia 9th (1:10.22)
50 Fly: Jamie McDonald 8th (28.89)
100 Fly: Jamie McDonald 5th (1:01.33)
200 Fly: Victoria Hove 2nd (2:07.53)
100 IM: Kari Troia 3rd (1:05.40)
400 IM: Victoria Hove 1st (4:24.48), Fallon Gelsleichter 9th (4:57.31)

New Boys All-Time Top 10 Swims
50 Free: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (21.45)
200 Free: Michael Duderstadt 3rd (1:44.12)
1000 Free: Jonathan Ratliff 2nd (9:59.37)
200 Back: JD Clutch 2nd (1:53.94)
50 Breast: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (26.93), Chet Seaman 3rd (27.71), Michael Whitehead 5th (28.41)
100 Breast: Michael Whitehead 6th (1:00.89)
50 Fly: Michael Duderstadt 4th (24.39)
100 Fly: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (51.91), Chet Seaman 7th (54.16)
200 Fly: Michael Whitehead 2nd (1:57.64)
200 IM: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (1:53.19), Chet Seaman 3rd (1:55.71)
400 IM: MIchael Duderstadt 2nd (4:04.84), Chet Seaman 3rd (4:05.92)

Tons of New Age Group All-Time Top 10 Swims!
It just keeps getting better!  So many new all-time swims!  I love these lists.  Can you tell I'm a stat junky?  It's the best way to see just how much you are improving and let me tell you...............we are ROCKIN it!

New Age Group Top 10 Swims All-Time
9-10 Girls: Sarah Kate Paine 50 Fly (9th)
11-12 Girls: Kari Troia 200 Free (2nd), 500 Free (1st), 50 Breast (1st), 100 Breast (1st), 100 IM (2nd)
13-14 Girls: Fallon Gelsleichter 500 Free (10th), 1650 Free (2nd), 100 Back (7th), 50 Breast (8th), 100 Breast (8th), 400 IM (4th); Kyla Hallam 50 Free (7th), 50 Breast (4th), 100 Breast (7th)
15-16 Girls: Lindsey Gurganus 50 Free (1st), 100 Free (2nd), 50 Back (6th), 100 Back (2nd), 200 Back (2nd); Taylor Wilder 100 Free (10th)
Senior Girls: Nicole Gazia 50 Free (5th), 100 Free (5th), 200 Free (7th), 50 Breast (7th), 100 Breast (8th); Victoria Hove 200 Free (3rd), 200 Fly (2nd), 400 IM (1st); Jamie McDonald 100 Back (8th), 200 Back (3rd), 50 Fly (7th), 100 Fly (5th), 200 Fly (6th); Alysiah Stock 100 Breast (4th)
9-10 Boys: Ben Hicks 100 Back (3rd), 50 Breast (9th)
15-16 Boys: Jonathan Ratliff 1000 Free (2nd), 400 IM (1st); Michael Whitehead 50 Breast (3rd), 100 Breast (5th), 200 Fly (2nd); Zach Dietz 50 Breast (9th), 100 Breast (9th), 200 Breast (8th)
Senior Boys: Michael Duderstadt 50 Free (2nd), 100 Free (2nd), 200 Free (2nd), 50 Breast (2nd), 50 Fly (4th), 100 Fly (2nd), 200 IM (2nd), 400 IM (2nd); JD Clutch 200 Back (2nd); Chet Seaman 50 Breast (3rd), 100 Fly (5th), 200 IM (3rd), 400 IM (3rd)

PCST National Team Gears Up for Junior Nationals!
While the season may be concluding for most of you and you simply cannot stop thinking about what you are going to do over Spring Break, a large group of our elite level Tsunamis will be preparing for one of the fastest meets in the entire country!  In a week and a half, we will be taking 6 of our National Team members to the NCSA Spring Junior Nationals in Orlando, FL.  Last year we went down there with a group of 8, so on the surface it would look like we have a smaller team this year.  In reality though, we took 2 individuals last year and 6 relay only swimmers.  For 2012, we will have all 6 swimmers competing in a minimum of 3 individual races plus some relays!  So when you get back from Spring Break, we will be heading down to Central Florida for some lightning fast swims.  Until then!  :)

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan