TYR DIPLOMAT MEET WRAP UP

TYR DIPLOMAT MEET WRAP UP

A long but successful weekend of racing for our groups this past weekend at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster Pa.  We started off with our annual bus ride arriving at the hotel around 7:30 and heading straight to the rooms and than a team dinner.  After checking on the kids in the rooms we finally got the lights out with thoughts of racing in our heads.

The meet started out slow for us in the first session as it looked like we had not gotten our legs back under us for the most part.  Peter and I talked about this and we agreed that we do not like having a late warm up as we feel the swimmers are rushed and not relax going into their events.   We decided that even though we had the second warm up on Sunday we would arrive early giving the kids time to settle in.  The Saturday and Sunday 13 and over sessions would go much better with our swimmers performing much better in their races.  As for our group Jet, Gabby, Audrey, Gillian and Katie, would all swim some good races posting personal best.   They would also have some races that we are going to learn from and be prepared to swim the next time.

On a amusing note after the Saturday early session we noticed that Gabby was seeded 1st in the 500 free for finals.   Needless to say Gabby was a little freaked out to say the least.  The computer failed to pick up one of her 50 's split but we got that fixed so she wouldn't have to swim, but it may have been interesting.

The afternoon session was very exciting to see unfold all three days as our 12 and under's would swim out of their minds, they were truly in a " zone" all weekend.   Team records set over the weekend included  Julia Young 100 back (1:02:37), 11-12 boys 400 free relay of Anthony Grimm, Ian Vollmer, Peter Makin, Alex Aung (3:47:11).  The same 4 boys would set the 200 free relay record  posting a 1:42:45.  The 11-12 girls not to be out done would set a new 200 medley relay record posting a 1:57:28 (Julia Young, Alexia Coumo, Lauren Young, Emily Drakopoulos).  Ian Vollmer would also set a new IM record (1:02:56) and a 50 back record (28:68).
On Friday afternoon we had 11 swimmers ( Justin S., Julia Y., Emily D., Alexia  C, Kent C, Anthony G, Theresa B, Allison H, Lauren Y, Alex A., and Ian V ) racing the 50 fly and all of them posted best times, a sign of what was to come.  Other swimmers posting best times were Peter M in the  200 IM.  The following all had great swims in the 100 free Lauren, Ian, Peter, Anthony, Alex Justin, Julia, Alexia, Allison, Emily,

Swimmers making finals on Friday night were Lauren Young, Emily Drakopoulos, Alexia Cuomo, Anthony Grimm, Ian Vollmer, Peter Makin, after which we would head back to the hotel to await day 2 and the promise of a snow storm.

Saturday we awoke to a very cold morning but that would not keep the Makos swimmers from turning in some great races in the pool.  After a better showing in the morning by our 13 and overs the 12 and unders would arrive to continue their assault in the pool.  Helen who awoke from Friday posted a best   time in the 200 IM and Katie Ponzer, Gillian, Audrey, and Helen turned in best times in the 50 free.  We started off the afternoon session with Julia, Emily, Ian, Peter, Alex, Kaia Luca and Justin all racing to best times in their 100 IM.  The 50 free would see Bridget  May, Allison H, Peter, Julia, Alexia, Anthony, Lauren, Theresa and Alex all turn in some outstanding races.  It was now time for our breast stroke swimmers to rise and shine and how they would shine.   Natalia Joslyn would get us started by dropping over 2 seconds in her 100 breast, and not to be outdone Allison, Lauren and Luca would all post best times in the event.
Our amazing backstrokers were now set to enter the water with Emily, Julia, Ian, Theresa, Alexia, Anthony, Luca, Lauren, Alex, Ava Jones, and Kevin all swimming to best times.

Returning that evening to swim in finals were Julia, Ian,and Peter in the IM, Allison,Lauren,Alexia,Emily,Anthony and Peter in the 50 free, Allison in the 100 breast.   Lauren, Julia, Alexia, Theresa, Anthony, Peter and Ian all made the 50 back at final. In total we had 15 swims in the evening posting 13 best times which is outstanding for this very tired group that had been at the pool for over 8  hours.  Now it was time to get on the bus and travel through the snow back to the hotel for along winter nap.

One more day of swimming faced us as we awoke on Sunday morning to temperatures below 10 and icy roads, but we made our way to the pool on time.   After a good period of stretching and warm up in the pool we were ready for the last day.  Jet would get us started by posting a best time in the 100 breast, and Gabby would follow with a personal best in the 100 free.  Our 12 and unders would arrive at high noon to see if they had one more day of racing in them.  We would start the afternoon with 12 swims in the 100 back and all of them were personal bests (Sidoni, Kaia, Katherine Helms, Ava, Luca, Kevin, Theresa, Alexia, Julia, Peter, Anthony and Alex).  A great way to start our last day.
We would follow that with 3 swims in the 200 free resulting in 2 best times (Julia and Lauren Young).  Our breast strokers who had been waiting patiently were the next group to hit the pool.  We had 9 swimmers in the event who posted 8 best times (Kaia, Katelyn Schafer, Liam, Michel Zhang, Luca, Natalia, Lauren Y., and Chris O'Sullivan).  Not to be outdone were our 5 swimmers in the 100 fly who all had great races to finish off the session with personal best's (Justin, Ian, Anthony, Alexia, and Alex).

Returning for finals on Sunday evening were Anthony, Peter, Alexia and Julia in the 100 back.  Alexia also tried a new strategy of swimming the event with no goggles, wonder how that worked out??  Lauren turned in another best time in 50 breast as did Alexia and Ian in the 100 fly to finish our swimming off for the weekend.  Anthony also made finals in the fly but the two of us decided it was best to scratch out of it.

If my math is correct our group had 118 swims posting 88 best times and 19 swims that were .60 or nearer to their best, which leaves us with 11 swims that we need to work on.  

Overall our groups did an outstanding job over a very long weekend and I could not be more proud of each and every one of you!  Way to go guys and I had a great time with all of you and even enjoyed watching your parents get all stressed because you were not behind the blocks a half hour early.  That was a treat!   GREAT JOB   MIKE