PCST Wraps Up Short Course Season With Strong Junior Nationals!!

PCST Posts Highest Team Finish Ever at NCSA Junior Nationals Championships!

For the first four years of coaching PCST, it was my dream to take a really strong team to Junior Nationals in Orlando, making 2012 a dream come true before we even set foot on the deck.  With six swimmers qualifying in at least 3 events each (plus 3 relays), we have finally reached the point where we are a team that deserves to be recognized at a national level championship meet.  To put extra icing on the cake though, (you know I love extra icing!), we didn't just participate at Juniors...........we scored more points than ever!  Congratulations to our great National Team of Michael Duderstadt, Victoria Hove, Jonathan Ratliff, Chet Seaman, JD Clutch and Michael Whitehead for their fast swims in Orlando.

Duderstadt Helps PCST Boys Place 43rd With 12 Points!
In the overall history of the team, PCST had previsously only scored one point at Junior Nationals with a 16th place finish in the 50 Freestyle by Beau Brothers back in 2007.  While we have improved tremendously over the years, we have remained scoreless since then.  Well, that time has passed and we are now putting up team placings at a National Level Championship Meet!  How cool is that??  Michael Duderstadt, Junior from Mosley High, finished in the Top 16 in three different events (50, 100, 200 Breast) for a total of 12 team points.  This earned us the outstanding distinction of 43rd place at the meet that has over 200 plus teams in it!  Next year we look to improve on that with more individuals in finals plus scoring relays!

Hove Joins Duderstadt With First Ever Finals Swim!
"Duder" was not the only one to make it back to finals at Juniors.  The meet brought back the top 32 swimmers in each event for a second swim in finals, something that is very difficult to do when there are literally 200 plus swimmers in many of these events.  After missing finals in the 400 IM earlier in the week, Victoria Hove bounced back with a furosity and sense of determination that makes you proud to be her coach and teammate, earning herself a spot in the "D" final in the 200 IM.  She went on to break her own team record from last summer by 2.5 seconds, helping her take a giant leap towards getting that prestigious Olympic Trials cut.  Well done Hovie!

Eight Total Team Records Fall in Orlando!
On the surface, one would look at this National Team and think.........of course records are going to fall!  But if you go back and look at the fantastic swimmers that have come before them, you will see that team records are NEVER a given when it comes to the Panama City Swim Team these days.  Across the board we have been putting up team records that are going to be very difficult to break for a long time to come, and yet here we are with 8 new team records, including a couple of relays swims ranking as the best of all time for PCST.  Great job on these Tsunamis! 

Short Course Records
Jonathan Ratliff  15-16 Boys 1000 Fr (9:49.21) breaks Michael Whitehead (9:53.09) from 2011
Victoria Hove Senior Girls 200 Br (2:24.25) breaks Astrid Escobar (2:26.25) from 2009
Victoria Hove Senior Girls 50 Fl (31.15) breaks Victoria Hove (31.95) from 2011
Senior Boys 200 Medley Relay (1:38.08) Whitehead, Seaman, Ratliff, Duderstadt breaks (1:38.10) Whitehead, Seaman, Ratliff, Mock from 2011
Senior Boys 800 Free Relay (7:03.11) Duderstadt, Ratliff, Seaman, Whitehead breaks (7:09.05) Ratliff, Duderstadt, Whitehead, Escobar from 2011

Long Course Records
Victoria Hove Senior Girls 200 IM (2:23:51) breaks Victoria Hove (2:25.96) from 2011
Michael Duderstadt Senior Boys 50 Br (30.51) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (31.25) from 2010
Michael Duderstadt Senior Boys 200 Br (2:24.08) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (2:25.30) from 2010

Duderstadt and Hove Lead Tsunamis To Highest Overall Invididual Finishes at Junior Nationals!
As I mentioned before, Michael Duderstadt and Victoria Hove both posted incredible swims in the morning that qualified them for long course opportunities at night.  The most amazing out of the bunch came from "Duder's" 200 Breaststroke where he narrowly missed making the Top 8 Championship final in the prelims of the 200 Breast with an astonishing 2:02.80, and then came back at night to drop 22 seconds off of his best time in the long course breaststroke with a 2:24.08.  That time ended up being the 7th fastest long course 200 breast in the ENTIRE MEET!!  Not bad for a kid who was a 2:46 last summer! 

I am also particulary proud of our relay placings.  Our goal next year is to score points on our relays, and we took a big step towards that this year.  In 2011, we were happy to beat ANYBODY in the relays.  We were so thrilled to even be there.  This year, we were more in the range of beating A LOT of teams, and even broke a couple of records along the way.  Just wait until 2013 boys!  And watch out, because we're going to have girls relays there next year too!

Event Places
Michael Duderstadt: 50 Br (Prelims 15th, Finals 12th, Overall 14th), 100 Br (Prelims 16th, Finals 16th, Overall 22nd), 200 Br (Prelims 9th, Finals 11th, Overall 7th), 100 Ba (51st), 400 IM (47th)
Victoria Hove: 50 Br (102nd), 100 Br (118th) 200 IM (Prelims 29th, Finals 28th, Overall 22nd), 400 IM (65th)
Chet Seaman: 50 Br (72nd), 100 Br (86th), 200 Br (41st), 400 IM (113)
JD Clutch: 50 Ba (105th), 100 Ba (178th), 200 Ba (156th)
Michael Whitehead: 200 Ba (158th)
Jonathan Ratliff: 200 Fr (154th), 500 Fr (109th), 1000 Fr (79), 200 Fl (67th)
Senior Boys 200 Medley Relay (50th) Whitehead, Seaman, Ratliff, Duderstadt
Senior Boys 800 Free Relay (50th) Duderstadt, Ratliff, Seaman, Whitehead

Four Out of Six Swimmers Post All-Time Top 10 Fastest Times in Team History!
Congratulations to the following swimmers who posted new times on the All-Time Top Ten list.  As you can imagine, since they are on the "National Team", any best time is going to be a new swim in the Top 10 list.  However, it's no simple task to be labeled as the best EVER for all ages, something Jonathan Ratliff, Victoria Hove and Michael Duderstadt accomplished.  Super proud of our Tsunamis for these great swims!

All Time Top 10 Short Course
200 Breast: Victoria Hove 1st (2:24.25)
200 Free: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (1:43.46)
1000 Free: Jonathan Ratliff 1st (9:49.21)
50 Back: JD Clutch 4th (25.27)
100 Back: Michael Duderstadt 3rd (51.79)
50 Breast: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (26.81)
200 Breast: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (2:02.80)
50 Fly: Jonathan Ratliff 6th (24.77)
400 IM: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (4:03.32)

All Time Top 10 Long Course
50 Fly: Victoria Hove 1st (31.15)
200 IM: Victoria Hove 1st (2:23.51)
50 Breast: Michael Duderstadt 1st (30.51)
100 Breast: Michael Duderstadt 3rd (1:08.53)
200 Breast: Michael Duderstadt 1st (2:24.08)

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan