PCST Defends Home Turf and Takes First Overall In Team Standings at Paradise Invitational!
It's not that often when you'll read a headline such as the one I have so proudly displayed in this news article! As the Panama City Swim Team has vastly improved in recent years, so has our competition. Teams like ATAC, CMSA, Coast and GPAC have all become formidable oppponents at even our own home competitions, proving it increasingly challenging to win our own meet. So when we do.........it's time to celebrate! In a competition that featured 377 swimmers representing 13 teams from across Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, your Tsunamis came out on top and I couldn't be more proud! Way to go Tsunamis!
Overall Team Scores
1) Panama City Swim Team (PCST).....................1,142 points
2) Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club (ATAC)..............1,083.50 points
3) Coast Aquatics (CA)............................................907.50 points
4) City of Mobile Swim Association (CMSA)............413 points
5) Maclay Northside Dolphins (DOLF).....................424 points
New PCST Team Records!
As you know, breaking a team record is no easy task with this program these days. Some of the toughest records to break have been our 8 & Under boys marks. They have been the last bunch withstanding the onslaught that our Tsunamis have placed on the record books, and they are finally starting to drop thanks to the hard work of Alex Fulton as well as our other awesome boys who broke the relays records as well! But that's not all, both Amelia Talkington, Chad McGuire and the 10 & Under Girls proved to be the greatest of all time in their events over the weekend long competition too. Great job!
8 & Under Boys
Alex Fulton 50 Free (38.46) breaks Mikey Faulhaber (39.90) from 2004
Alex Fulton 50 Free (37.42) breaks Alex Fulton (38.46) from 2013
Alex Fulton 100 Free (1:24.06) breaks Christopher Duncan (1:24.78) from 2001
Alex Fulton 100 Fly (1:50.09) breaks Christopher Duncan (1:50.62) from 2001
Alex Fulton 200 IM (3:41.70) breaks Kareem Rifai (3:58.61) from 2001
200 Free Relay (3:05.13) Alex Fulton, Danny Matacchiero, Luke Maggiore, Corban Schreiffer breaks
(3:19.13) Javier Elias, Aiden Ferry, Tristan Gandy, Nico Gobel from 2009
200 Medley Relay (3:51.14) Danny Matacchiero, Luke Maggiore, Alex Fulton, Carson King breaks
(3:55.11) Luke Maggiore, Josh Dean, Noah Vaden, Alex Fulton from 2012
10 & Under Girls
200 Free Relay (2:27.57) Marisa Ashley, Isa Gobel, Kathryn-Annette McKinney, Chloe Griskie breaks
(2:32.88) Marisa Ashley, Reagan Swindler, Isa Gobel, Bailey Brady from 2012
11-12 Girls
Amelia Talkington 100 Fly (1:17.77) breaks Hannah Retherford (1:18.12) from 2010
13-14 Boys
Chad McGuire 200 Breast (2:49.39) breaks Evan Escobar (2:51.87) from 2009
9 Tsunamis and 5 Relays Take Home Victories!
PCST swimmers earned first place finishes in a total of 26 events. 12 year old Amelia
Talkington led the way for the Tsunamis, winning eight of her ten individual events and setting a new meet record in the 11-12 Girls 100 meter Freestyle. 16 year old Jonathan Ratliff was champion in five events in the Senior Boys age group. Nico
Gobel added two event wins in the 11-12 Boys division, while the following swimmers each claimed one event win: Ella Hicks, Isa
Gobel, Marisa Ashley, Caitlin Myers, Alex
Phlegar, and Chad McGuire.
PCST's 8&Under Boys won both the 200 meter Freestyle Relay and 200 meter Medley Relay, each in a new meet record time. Relays were also won by PCST in the following events: Senior Girls 200 meter Freestyle Relay, Senior Girls 200 meter Medley Relay, 13-14 Boys 200 meter Medley Relay.
10 PCST Swimmers Bring Home Hardware!
Two of our star swimmers amassed enough points overall to become the top swimmer in the entire age group at the home meet. A big congratulations goes out to Amelia Talkington (11-12 Girls) and Jonathan Ratliff (Senior Boys) for becoming the high point award winners in their age group. Other Tsunamis got really really close to winning (like Nico Gobel who only missed by 1 point!), and we are so proud and thankful for all of the awesome points they earned the team on our way to an overall team victoy.
Amelia Talkington (1st Place - 11-12 Girls)
Jonathan Ratliff (1st Place - Senior Boys)
Alex Fulton (2nd Place - 8&Under Boys)
Marisa Ashley (2nd Place - 10&Under Girls)
Nico Gobel (2nd Place - 11-12 Boys)
Ella Hicks (3rd Place - 8&Under Girls)
Kyla Hallam (3rd Place - 13-14 Girls)
Alex Phlegar (3rd Place - 13-14 Boys)
Taylor Wilder (4th Place - Senior Girls)
Luke Maggiore (5th Place - 8&Under Boys).
New SES Championship Meet Qualifying Times Earned!
One of the major goals of the summer is to have our greatest Southeastern Championship meet ever in Nashville, and our team just got a little bigger and stronger! Congratulations to the following swimmers who added Southeastern cuts to their resume!
Maddie Campbell (11-12 G) - 200 Free, 50 Breast, 100 Breast, 200 IM
Chloe Griskie (10&U G) - 200 Free, 200 IM
Kyla Hallam (13-14 G) - 200 IM
Kathryn-Annette McKinney (10&U G) - 50 Breast, 50 Fly
Caitlin Myers (Senior G) - 50 Free, 100 Free
Josh Dean (10&U B) - 50 Breast, 100 Breast
Alex Fulton (10&U B) - 50 Free, 100 Free, 50 Back, 100 Back, 50 Breast, 100 Fly
Jack Lehnhardt (11-12 B) - 100 Breast
Chad McGuire (13-14 B) - 100 Back
Alex Phlegar (13-14 B) - 50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Fly
Jonathan Ratliff (Senior B) - 100 Back
Noah Vaden (10&U B) - 100 Breast
New All-Time Top 10 Swims! (All ages)
I love this category as many of you know! It's not often that we see younger swimmers among the Top 10 fastest swimmers of all time for PCST, but this time around we have 12 year old Amelia Talkington mixing it up amongst the best we have ever seen!! Congratulations to Amelia, Caitlin, Fallon, Kalanne, Jonathan and Chad for putting up very fast early season times!
New Girls All-Time Top 10
50 Free: Caitlin Myers 5th (28.81)
100 Free: Amelia Talkington 7th (1:03.93), Caitlin Myers 9th (1:04.18)
200 Free: Amelia Talkington 9th (2:20.35)
50 Back: Amelia Talkington 9th (36.32)
200 Fly: Fallon Gelsleichter 8th (2:45.38)
400 IM: Kalanne Krause 10th (5:43.92)
New Boys All-Time Top 10
100 Free: Jonathan Ratliff 6th (55.96)
200 Breast: Chad McGuire 10th (2:49.39)
New Age Group All-Time Top Swims!
The following swimmers have also earned some of the fastest swims in team history for their age group! My favorite part about this is that nearly every single age group and gender currently has some of the fastest swimmers in team history. In fact, the only one missing from this list was Senior Boys and that's because two of our best ever were not at the meet. I love how well rounded we have become! To find out which event(s) you are ranked in the Top 10 in from the home meet, go to the front page of the website and click on "Team Rankings" and you'll find your name on the "AG Top 10 LC" list.
8 & Under Girls: Ella Hicks
8 & Under Boys: Alex Fulton, Luke Maggiore
9-10 Girls: Marisa Ashley
9-10 Boys: Josh Dean
11-12 Girls: Amelia Talkington, Maddie Campbell
11-12 Boys: Nico Gobel, Matt Dean, Jack Lehnhardt
13-14 Girls: Kyla Hallam, Michaela Ashley
13-14 Boys: Alex Phlegar, Chad McGuire
15-16 Girls: Kalanne Krause, Hannah Retherford, Fallon Gelsleichter
15-16 Boys: Jonathan Ratliff
Senior Girls: Caitlin Myers, Taylor Wilder, Lindsey Gurganus
Special Shout Out To New Mosley Location High School Conditioning Swimmers!
Many of the other great moments at our home meet were watching our new high school conditioning group swimmers kick some serious booty all weekend long! With PCST joining forces with Bay Town Swim Club, many swimmers from the Mosley location competed in the meet and did an amazing job! We are so thankful to have you as a part of the Tsunami family and can't wait for the next meet so we can see how much you have improved. Well done Tsunamis!
CATCH THE WAVE!
Coach Jonathan
