Tsunamis 1st Place Visiting Team at Gravy Bowl!

PCST Wins Visiting Team Award For 2nd Consecutive Year at GPAC Gravy Bowl!
 
Twelve months ago I was on top of the world after our incredible meet at the innagural "Gravy Bowl", hosted by the Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club at the University of West Florida pool.  We had such an great meet that even Coach Brian was happy at the end of it!  :)  We certainly raised the bar pretty high going into the second year of the newly formed pre-Thanksgiving competition.  Tsunamis............I'm here to tell you that we jumped over it!
 
In a meet that had over 440 great competitors from teams all over the Gulf Coast and lower Alabama, we finished closer than ever to winning the whole thing!  Last year we won the "Visiting Team" award, but we weren't even sniffing the point total amassed by the home team GPAC (who typically has an advantage in Pensacola from having so many more swimmers than other teams).  This year, however, not only did we take home the prestigious "Gravy Bowl" award (and yes......the award was actually a bowl for gravy, haha), we were breathing down GPAC's neck the entire meet!!  In fact, if you look below, you will see that the PCST girls team actually WON the entire meet!!!  While they do not have awards at this meet for girls teams or boys teams, it's still something to be incredibly proud of!!! 
 
Overall Team Scores
1st) Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club (GPAC).......... 3,956.50 points
2nd) Panama City Swim Team (PCST)..................... 3,694.50 points
3rd) Coast Aquatics (CA)........................................... 2,671 points
4th) City of Mobile Swim Association (CMSA)............1597 points
 
Girls Team Scores
1st) Panama City Swim Team (PCST)......................2156.50 points
2nd) Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club (GPAC)............1827.50 points
3rd) City of Mobile Swim Association (CMSA).............1145 points
 
Boys Team Scores
1st) Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club (GPAC).............2129 points
2nd) Coast Aquatics (CA).............................................1689 points
3rd) Panama City Swim Team (PCST)........................1538 points
 
Of course, swimming has the beautiful mixture of enjoying team victories as well as individual victories. It's the one sport where you are allowed to be selfish to a degree to improve your own "stats".  And the more you do, the better the team gets. So while I'm incredibly proud of the team achievement for bringing home the overall award yet again this year, how about we celebrate some of the fantastic individual accomplishments from another super meet in Pensacola??
 
An Amazing 29 Team Records Fall at GPAC Meet!
Let's consider this..........throughout the high school season, your Tsunamis smashed a ton of team records at the "post season" District, Regional and State championships.  It would have been a fair thing to say that we would break some records at this meet as well.  But 29 team records???  That's insane!  And here's my favorite part guys.........we are only half way through the short course season!!  So here's my challenge to each of you.  If you ever thought "man, I don't think I'll ever be able to break that record," then it's time you start changing your mind!  Go after those "unbreakable" records!  You absolutely can do it, and when you do, it'll be the best "I told you so" that you've ever heard.  :)

13-14 Girls
Kalanne Krause 50 Free (25.06) breaks Kalanne Krause (25.07) from 2012
Kalanne Krause 100 Free (55.64) breaks Kalanne Krause (55.91) from 2012
Kalanne Krause 100 Free (54.58) breaks Kalanne Krause (55.64) from 2012
Kalanne Krause 500 Free (5:21.09) breaks Victoria Hove (5:29.97) from 2008
Kalanne Krause 100 Fly (1:01.41) breaks Hannah Retherford (1:01.61) from 2012
Kalanne Krause 200 IM (2:11.57) breaks Kalanne Krause (2:11.75) from 2012
Hannah Retherford 100 Back (59.59) breaks Hannah Retherford (59.98) from 2012
Hannah Retherford 100 Back (58.93) breaks Hannah Retherford (59.59) from 2012
Hannah Retherford 200 Back (2:12.56) breaks Victoria Hove (2:15.12) from 2008
Hannah Retherford 200 Back (2:09.36) breaks Hannah Retherford (2:12.56) from 2012
 
15-16 Girls
Caitlin Myers 200 Free (1:56.65) breaks Andrea Erben (1:57.84) from 2000
Cailtin Myers 500 Free (5:15.26) breaks Marisa Sweetser (5:15.93) from 2001
Taylor Wilder 100 Back (1:01.36) ties Victoria Hove (1:01.36) from 2009
 
15-16 Boys
Jonathan Ratliff 200 Fly (1:52.74) breaks Jonathan Ratliff (1:53.96) from 2001
Jonathan Ratliff 400 IM (4:10.63) breaks Jonathan Ratliff (4:13.46) from 2012
 
Senior Boys
Michael Duderstadt 100 Free (46.33) breaks Beau Brothers (47.36) from 2010
Michael Duderstadt 100 Free (45.41) breaks Michael Duderstadt (46.33) from 2012
Michael Duderstadt 200 Free (1:40.21) breaks Beau Brothers (1:41.47) from 2011
Michael Duderstadt 500 Free (4:35.50) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (4:50.34) from 2010
Michael Duderstadt 50 Back (23.65) breaks Michael Duderstadt (24.07) from 2012
Michael Duderstadt 100 Back (50.10) breaks Joey Darnell (50.82) from 1999
Michael Dudersatdt 200 Breast (2:01.06) breaks Cody Bronnenberg (2:01.43) from 2011
Michael Duderstadt 200 Fly (1:57.22) breaks Chet Seaman (1:57.84) from 2011
Michael Duderstadt 200 Fly (1:52.60) breaks Michael Duderstadt (1:57.22) from 2012
 
New PCST Team Relay Records
8 & Under Girls 200 Free Relay (2:54.72) Gretchen Freisthler, Natalie McKenzie, Khloe Smith, Sophia Coughlin breaks
E. Sober, C. Hartzog, T. McQueen, C. Sober (3:15.90) from 2001
8 & Under Boys 200 Free Relay (2:56.59) Alex Fulton, Luke Maggiore, Noah Vaden, Carson King breaks
Kareem Rifai, Phillip Hendricks, Hunter Bramblett, Thomas McQueen (3:12.01) from 2001
Senior Girls 200 Medley Relay (1:54.12) Taylor Wilder, Alysiah Stock, Jamie McDonald, Caitlin Myers breaks
Taylor Wilder, Alysiah Stock, Kyla Hallam, Lindsey Gurganus (1:54.60) from 2012
Senior Boys 200 Free Relay (1:29.39) Michael Duderstadt, Jonathan Ratliff, Casey Pridgen, Michael Whitehead breaks
Beau Brothers, Cody Bronnenberg, JD Clutch, Michael Duderstadt (1:30.11) from 2010
Senior Boys 200 Medley Relay (1:37.31) Michael Duderstadt, Michael Whitehead, Jonathan Ratliff, Casey Pridgen breaks
Michael Whitehead, Chet Seaman, Jonathan Ratliff, Michael Duderstadt (1:38.06) from 2011
 
12 Swimmers and 6 Relays Win Events at the Gravy Bowl!
One thing that makes our accomplishments even more impressive this year from 2011 is that there were a few more very fast teams at this meet than there were last year.  The level of competition absolutely rose up a notch this time around, and that's exactly how we like it!  Because, as I said before, if you raise the bar, we will jump over it.  That's exactly what the following Tsunamis did as 12 PCST swimmers won individual events at the ultra competitive meet!  We were led by Kalanne Krause with her 5 event wins in the 13-14 Girls division, as well as Michael Duderstadt with his 7 victories in the Senior Boys age group.  Great job Tsunamis!
 
Natalie McKenzie (8&U Girls) - 25 Breast
Alex Fulton (8&U Boys) - 25 Fly, 100 IM
Marisa Ashley (10&U Girls) - 200 Free
Amelia Talkington (11-12 Girls) - 200 Free
Cole Tillman (11-12 Boys) - 100 Free
Kalanne Krause (13-14 Girls) - 50 Free, 100 Free, 500 Free, 100 Fly, 200 IM
Hannah Retherford (13-14 Girls) - 100 Back, 200 Back
Alex Phlegar (13-14 Boys) - 200 Back, 200 Breast, 200 IM
Alysiah Stock (Senior Girls) - 100 Breast, 200 Breast
Michael Duderstadt (Senior Boys) - 100 Free, 200 Free, 500 Free, 100 Back, 200 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 Fly
Jonathan Ratliff (Senior Boys) - 400 IM
Michael Whitehead (Senior Boys) - 200 IM
10&U Girls 200 Medley Relay (Warren, Gobel, McKinney, Bradford)
13-14 Girls 200 Free Relay (Retherford, Hallam, Adams, Krause)
13-14 Girls 200 Medley Relay (Retherford, Troia, Hallam, Krause)
Senior Girls 200 Medley Relay (Wilder, Stock, McDonald, Myers)
Senior Boys 200 Free Relay (Duderstadt, Ratliff, Pridgen, Whitehead)
Senior Boys 200 Medley Relay (Duderstadt, Whitehead, Ratliff, Pridgen)

Junior Group Swimmers Make Big Charge!
It appears as if the recently developed "Junior Group" is already exceeding expectations!  The new PCST group, formed in June, has raised their level of training significantly, and we are seeing some terrific results!  In fact, of the 20 Junior Group swimmers in the meet at GPAC, all 20 made it back to finals in at least one event!  That is phenomenal!  Two of our 11-12 Girls, Maddie Campbell and Peyton Baranowski, stepped up to challenge the SES cuts in a very difficult age group.  In the Senior Girls age group, Sophia Dorr provided one of the most excited moments of the weekend as she won a swim off in the 50 Free on Saturday night with a HUGE time drop to go a smokin 27.95!  And my favorite part was the group of Tsunamis at the end of her lane cheering loudly for all 27 seconds!

Age Group Development Swimmers Step Up Big Time!
The Junior Group was not the only new level developed earlier this year.  The Age Group Development program is already showing signs of producing some wonderful young swimmers with a lot of talent!  Four of our 10 & Under Girls made Top 8 finals swims, including a big impact swim from Lily Bradford, putting her up there with a very strong group of girls for the Tsunamis!  Marisa Ashley, Isa Gobel and Taylor Warren fill out that awesome group as they all helped provide very valuable team points with their finals swims too!
 
Here are some more of our stand out Age Group Development swims from the words of Coach Phillip!
"Several swimmers swam to best times in the morning qualified to swim again at Finals each night for another shot at an even better time!  The excitement from the morning session carried over each night into Finals helping PCST swimmers to swim even faster in almost all of their Finals.  Some standout swims include Taylor Warren placing 2 nd in the Girls 10 & Under 100 Back (1:19.68) and Isa Gobel close behind to place 3 rd (1:20.51).  Lily Bradford also qualified for Finals in the same event placing 8 th (1:33.90)!  Ben Hicks swam a best time in the 11-12 Boys 100 IM (1:20.86) and placed 13 th in Finals.  Reagan Swindler qualified for Finals in the Girls 11-12 200 Free, dropping 4 seconds from her best time in the morning to place 14 th (2:30.22).  In the 11-12 Boys 100 Fly, Jack Lehnhardt placed 6 th (1:22.66) with a new faster time in finals as well.  Kathryn-Annette McKinney dropped 3 seconds in the Girls 10 & Under 100 Fly in the morning to qualify for another swim, and improved to 4 th place (1:42.00) dropping more time at night!" 

PCST Novice Swimmers Leave Significant Impact On Tsunamis Team Victory!
Our young up and coming Novice swimmers are proving that they are "novice" by name only now!  There is nothing beginner about many of our awesome young Tsunami stars.  While many of them did not have finals swims, they still contributed huge points to the team because the meet format did not bring back as many younger swimmers to finals as they did in older age groups.  In addition, they also provided valuable depth for our relays which literally score DOUBLE points for the team!  In some cases, those novice swimmers helped us break some very very old relay records!  You guys were awesome!

Here is Coach Phillip talking about some more great swims from our current Novice swimmers, as well as a handful of our Novice swimmers who have just recently transitioned into the Age Group Development program. 
"Many Novice swimmers participated in events that did not have Finals, several swimmers still scored points to help the team.  Starting off Friday night, Khloe Smith improved her Girls 8 & Under 100 IM by 6 seconds to place 8th (1:50.29), while just ahead of her was Gretchen Freisthler also helping the team score point in the same event by placing 7th (1:48.16)!  In the Boys 8 & Under 100 IM, Alex Fulton placed 1st with a best time (1:34.57) with Luke Maggiore placing 2nd also with a best time (1:39.03)!  In her first meet this season, Tori Wilder placed 6th in the Girls 10 & Under 25 Back (21.60), while in the same event Natalie McKenzie was 2nd (20.12).  Noah Vaden had a great swim in the Boys 10 & Under 25 Free with a best time (17.23) and placed 5th.  Congratulations to all of our Novice swimmers who swam in the meet."

14 Different Tsunamis Earn 29 New Southeastern Qualifying Times!
You are going to hear this a lot over the next couple of months, but we are going to be making a BIG PUSH at the 2013 Short Course Southeastern Championships.  In 2011, the Tsunamis finished Tied for 9th overall with 548 points.  Our two goals for the end of the season championship meet in February will be to either finish Top 10 again, or break the 550 point mark.  This means we are looking to get all hands on deck in Nashville!  With us adding 29 new Southeastern cuts at the GPAC meet, I'd say we are moving in the right direction!  Now..........keep working hard, keep believing in yourself and keep challenging yourself every single day in practice.  If you do that............good things will come in February and we will achieve our goals!

New Southeastern Cuts
Isa Gobel (10&U Girls) - 50 Back
Taylor Warren (10&U Girls) - 100 Back, 50 Breast, 100 Breast
Amelia Talkington (11-12 Girls) - 500 Free, 50 Back, 100 Back, 100 IM, 200 IM
Nico Gobel (11-12 Boys) - 50 Free, 50 Back, 100 IM
Kyla Hallam (13-14 Girls) - 100 Free, 200 IMKari Troia (13-14 Girls) - 200 Free, 1650 Free
Alex Phlegar (13-14 Boys) - 200 Back
Kalanne Krause (Senior Girls) - 100 Free, 500 Free, 100 Back, 100 Fly
Jamie McDonald (Senior Girls) - 100 Free
Caitlin Myers (Senior Girls) - 200 Free, 500 Free, 200 IM
Hannah Retherford (Senior Girls) - 200 Back
Michael Duderstadt (Senior Boys) - 500 Free
Jonathan Ratliff (Senior Boys) - 50 Free
Michael Whitehead (Senior Boys) - 200 Breast

New Sectional & Junior National Cuts
For our most elite swimmers, the Southeastern Championships will just be the start of the championship season.  We will also be sending a group of Tsunamis to the Sectional Championships in Nashville in March, as well as to the NCSA Junior National Championships in Orlando in March.  Our goal.........keep adding to those teams!!  In fact, for the first time ever, the PCST boys group has qualified ALL FIVE RELAYS for the spring Junior National Meet!!  Amazing!  And we just barely missed having 2 relays at the Winter Junior Nationals by only 0.18 in the medley relays.  So close!  Great job boys!

New Sectional & Junior National Cuts
Caitlin Myers: 200 Free (Spring Sectionals), 200 IM (Spring Sectionals)
Hannah Retherford: 200 Back (Summer Sectionals), 100 Back (Spring Junior Nationals Bonus)
Jonathan Ratliff: 200 Back (Spring Sectionals), 400 IM (Spring Junior Nationals Bonus), 200 Fly (Winter Junior Nationals Bonus)
Michael Whitehead: 200 Breast (Summer Sectionals), 200 IM (Spring Junior Nationals Bonus), 400 IM (Summer Sectionals); 100 Breast (Spring Junior Nationals Bonus)
Michael Duderstadt: 500 Free (Spring Junior Nationals, Winter Junior Nationals Bonus), 200 Fly (Spring Junior Nationals), 200 Free (Winter Junior Nationals), 100 Free (Winter Junior Nationals), 100 Back (Winter Nationals), 100 Fly (Winter Junior Nationals), 200 Breast (Summer Junior Nationals)

Michael Duderstadt Gets First National Cut In Backstroke and US Open Cut in 200 Breast!
You wanna talk about well-rounded?  How's this?  Thanks to his smokin fast 50.10 in the 100 Back at the GPAC meet, Duder now has Winter National cuts in the 100 Back, 100 Breast, 200 Breast and 200 IM.  He is only 0.36 off the 50 Free National cut, 0.23 off the 100 Free, 1.13 off the 200 Free, 0.21 off the 100 Fly, and 2.41 off the 200 Fly.  How's that for versatility? 

And to add to it, he has now qualified in short course for the 2013 US Open meet, which will serve as the summer National Championships for the upcoming year.  To give you an idea of how fast that is, those qualifying times in long course are equal to the 2012 Olympic Trials cuts!  That means his short course time is now as stellar as his long course time.  Awesome job Duder!!  Four national cuts and two US Open cuts is no easy task!  Let's go get some more, shall we? :)

Tons of New All-Time Top 10 Swims for PCST!
As you can see, on the girls side, we are deep!  All season long our girls have been obliterating the All-Time Top 10 list.  And the best part is that they are just getting warmed up.  Between the Junior and Senior Groups right now, we have a great group of girls who are encouraging each other everyday, challenging their teammates and striving to be the best in practice each and every workoug.  That friendly competition is quickly showing our girls that they are REALLY good!  This group just keeps adding to the Sectional Team and we are one great meet away from having a huge girls Junior National Team!  Keep up the great work Tsunamis!

On the boys side, we may not have the depth that we have with the girls, but we certainly have the quality!  Some of these swims that you see below are literally some of the fastest swims in the state and even the Southeastern Swimming LSC.  In fact, some of the rank among the best in the entire country, including that 2:01.06 in the 200 Breast for Duder.  We have a lot of boys coming up that have some tremendous potential too.  So boys......I wanna see you chasing Duder, Jonathan and Whitehead.  In fact, chase them so much that you get them shaking in their boots!.........or suits..........or whatever swimmers shake in when they're scared, haha.

New Girls All-Time Top 10 Swims
50 Free: Kalanne Krause 3rd (25.06), Kyla Hallam 10th (25.80)
100 Free: Kalanne Krause 6th (54.58), Jamie McDonald 9th (55.84)
200 Free: Caitlin Myers 4th (1:56.65)
500 Free: Caitlin Myers 3rd (5:15.26)
50 Back: Jamie McDonald 10th (30.90)
100 Back: Hannah Retherford 1st (58.93), Kalanne Krause 3rd (1:00.92), Taylor Wilder Tie-4th (1:01.36), Caitlin Myers 7th (1:03.16), Jamie McDonald 8th (1:03.65)
200 Back: Hannah Retherford 1st (2:09.36), Taylor Wilder 4th (2:12.16), Fallon Gelsleichter 10th (2:20.08)
200 Breast: Kyla Hallam 8th (2:34.42)
50 Fly: Caitlin Myers 5th (27.69), Jamie McDonald 9th (28.54)
100 Fly: Jamie McDonald 5th (1:01.10), Kalanne Krause 6th (1:01.41), Caitlin Myers 8th (1:01.63), Kyla Hallam 10th (1:02.97)
200 Fly: Fallon Gelsleichter 9th (2:22.27)
200 IM: Caitlin Myers 3rd (2:11.04), Kalanne Krause 6th (2:11.57), Kyla Hallam 10th (2:18.82)
400 IM: Fallon Gelsleichter 7th (4:53.64), Alexis Hall 9th (4:54.65)

New Boys All-Time Top 10 Swims
50 Free: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (21.20), Jonathan Ratliff 8th (22.63)
100 Free: Michael Duderstadt 1st (45.41), Jonathan Ratliff 8th (48.13)
200 Free: Michael Duderstadt 1st (1:40.21)
500 Free: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (4:35.50)
50 Back: Michael Duderstadt 1st (23.65)
100 Back: Michael Duderstadt 1st (50.10)
200 Back: Jonathan Ratliff 6th (2:00.21)
100 Breast: Michael Whitehead 6th (59.90)
200 Breast: Michael Duderstadt 1st (2:01.06), Michael Whitehead 5th (2:12.67)
100 Fly: Michael Duderstadt 2nd (50.00)
200 Fly: Michael Dudersatdt 1st (1:52.60), Jonathan Ratliff 2nd (1:52.74)
200 IM: Michael Whitehead 4th (1:56.95), Jonathan Ratliff 5th (1:59.00)
400 IM: Jonathan Ratliff 4th (4:10.63), Michael Whitehead 5th (4:13.49)

So as you can see.  Pretty good meet, huh?  :)  But we are just getting warmed up!  Stayed tuned for more great swims from the Winter Junior Nationals in Knoxville, TN as Jonathan Ratliff makes his debut at the prestigious meet, and is joined by his teammate, Michael Duderstadt, who is gunning for..........well..........everybody!  This will be the 18 & Under National Championships and is primed to be the fastest in USA Swimming history.  Can't wait to tell you all about the trip.  It starts out with just me and the boys in the Florida Linen van for 9 hours up to Knoxville.  It could get crazy! 

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan

More photos: