Swim International 2010

I have never felt better about my role as a coach as when things go well. This past weekend, 18 Blue Fins took part in Swim International 2010 in Brantford, ON. Despite terrible air quality (I swear I had chemical burn on my eye) and LONG days, our Blue Fins faired very well. I was a little concerned going into the meet based on how many people were complaining about feeling tired and slow, but here is how it went...

Aaron Brautigam - A solid 6.5 second drop in his 400IM on Friday night set the tone for the weekend. Aaron also placed top 20 in 200BR where he dropped 2.5 seconds. His 50FR was about the same as best. Aaron also passed his NLS exam on Sunday. Congrats, Aaron!

Trevor Burwell - Trevor had a GREAT weekend for IM, but a little flat for FR (which is his best stroke). Trevor dropped almost 13 seconds in his 400IM on Friday night and about half a second in his 200FR. His FR events over the weekend were consistant, but just slightly below or the same as his best. Of note was his blisteringly fast and totally suprising 200IM (2:22.58, 17th overall AND best placing of the weekend). Trevor split the race very well and finsihed the FR leg in 30 seconds flat. Very well done.

Sam Ceci - Sam was only able to come on Saturday morning, but took off time in both 100FLY and 50FR. Very well swum. Sam looks a lot more powerful in the water than she was last season.

Keri-Lyn Copeland - Keri-Lyn had a great weekend with best times in all but 1 event and smashing 11 seconds off of her 200IM time. She also obtained provincial standards in 4 events and placed 2nd overall in 50FR. I can't wait for her to be rested and race 100FR!

Emma Fender - Emma swam 5 individual races and was top 8 in them all. Most noteably, Emma came within a second of the club record for 11-12 girls 200BR (which also was the 9th fastest time in the country for this season) and broke the 1:30 barrier for 100BR. She also had 3 awesome FR races which really turned some heads.

Veronica Fong - Despite looking a little "wiggely" the first day in 50FR (she'll know that I mean) she dropped a total of 15.28 seconds off of 4 events AND pulled her FR stroke together for an outstanding 100FR on Sunday which netted her a soild A standard. She did very well for her first time at this meet.

Matt Fox - Excellent arrival for Matt Fox. Matt (being only 13 for a few weeks) netted 3 medals over the weekend for that age group and winning 100BK. Matt broke 1min for 100FR for the first time, posted the 3rd fastest time in the country this season for 200BK (13 year old men) and is listed top 20 in most of the other events he swam. All in all, a great weekend... except for 1 touch ;)

Kyle Haas - Kyle's weekend went generally very well, although it was a wake up on what we need to do better. Kyle posted some very good times between 100FR and BK, 200FR and BK, 400IM, and 50FR. In fact, Kyle has posted the fastest time in the country for 15 year old Men in 100BK (58.38) 200BK (2:08.70)and 50FR (24.50). I am pretty happy with how this weekend went for Kyle.

Nolan Haas - Congrats to Nolan for qualifying for his first provincial time ever. His 50FR split of 28.96 gained him the honor and also got him a silver medal. Good job, Nolan; I couldn't be prouder!

Clany Harris - This was highest quality and fastest meet that Clancy had ever been to and I think it was really educational for her. I say that because she really wants to better her other strokes and work on sprinting now, after seeing how fast some of the fasest swimmers are. Clancy had a very productive weekend (total of 6.39 seconds dropped over 4 events) but seems to be very excited to get back to training to get even better, which excites me!

Michael Jans - Michael Jans has been doing very well this season bettering his 200BK time and holding on to 2 B standards in 100 and 200BK. We have been working on the speed of his turn and he had some great races on Saturday and Sunday. His turn has improved quite a bit and his times reflect that. I think Michael was pretty happy with his success this weekend.

Mitchell Krafczek - I am very proud of Mitchell's development in the past 6 months. Although Mitchell spent the first few weeks of the season doing cross country (he went to OFSAA last week), he was still able to focus very clearly during the meet and was able to post best times in every event (event splitting a best time at the 100 in his 200FR). Mitchell has looked a lot more relaxed since Ontario Summer Games this summer and I think the experience was very good for him and his confidence, which is really good for HHBF. I really liked what I saw from him this weekend.

Karl Massey - Karl had a very successful weekend with best times in everything (total of 13.78 seconds off in 6 events) and the major milestone of getting down to 1min for 100BK. I know Karl is particularly proud of that one because he was able to focus and perform better than usual at finals. A great weekend overall. It was also one of my better pre-race talks proir to that race (a-thank-you!)

Loren O'Brien-Egesborg - Loren is still recovering from a nagging injury and is training quite well, and given the training that we've been able to put in, I was pretty happy with the results. Of particular note was Loren's 200FR on Friday night which was the fastest she has been in years and split VERY well.

Bjoern-Ole Schrader - Bjoern was the Ironman of the weekend doing 3 events/day, all within about 45min of eachother. Even still, Bjoern was able to take off 9.01 seconds on the first day and stay about even on the second day. His 200IM would have been better if I hadn't come up with a race strategy that failed... my fault. This boy is going to be fierce soon though (as soon as I can get him to a meet where he gets to rest between his best events).


Elizabeth Skuriat - I was really happy with Elizabeth's racing this weekend especially since she is not in 100% top shape yet. She was very close to best time in 50FR and a second faster than best in 100BK in a SUPERHEROIC race which got her into 8th spot in finals Sunday night. A few coaches from other teams have been noting her return.

Ryan Smith - Ryan had an unfortunate slip on his start for 50FR Saturday which resulted in a false start. Sunday his 100FR was very close to best (less than half a second off of his best). Ryan has great size for a 15 year old and looks about 6 inches taller than he actually is in the water. His ability to lengthen out is uncanny.

Erin Troughton - Erin's first race blew me away as she split best 50FR and 100FR times while going out in her 200FR. We talked afterwards that it was a speed that she had never experienced before. The success here is the development and realization of more speed. Now that we know we have it, we can train with it... and times will drop significantly going forward.

I am very proud of our team, but this is very early in the season to get too excited about performance. We still have 8 months left to this season. Its encouraging that we have had so much success early on, but it can't stop there. I have to get back to work.