Nitro Swimmer of the Week for May 4th – 9th, 2015

Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park: Olivia Pena – Something the coaches really appreciate about Olivia is her enthusiasm! She gets to every practice with a smile on her face, and is always willing to ask questions about new skills! These qualities will serve her well as she continues growing as a swimmer. Great job, Olivia! – Coach Jessie

Bee Cave: Issac Mackie – Issac portrayed the exact characteristics our Nitro swimmers are known for and that is being nice. His concern for his other team mates safety and always wanting to help them shows a leadership quality many of us have to be taught. Awesome job Issac! – Coach Sam

Bronze

Cedar Park: Ellie Levario – Ellie had a great week in practice working on her butterfly. She was a great teammate during the swim meet cheering and supporting her friends! To finish out the meet, she swam the 50 butterfly LCM for the first time. Way to go Ellie! – Coach Jeremy

Bee Cave: Zoe Zaman – This week was a breakthrough week for Zoe in her breaststroke.  She has been working hard on it for months and all that hard work paid off during practice this week.  She was gliding through the water better than she has ever done before. It’s very exciting as a coach to see a swimmer get through barriers and make big improvements.  I’m so proud of you Zoe, great job! – Coach Jared

Technique & Fitness

Cedar Park: Ana Castro, Gautier & Anthony  Baltaoglu – Ana has really stepped up her  game and has become a leader of her group.  She leads her lane, watches the clocks and has really impressed us with her leadership skills. Anthony had a rough time with his breaststroke kick this past week, but really gave a great effort and showed us and himself that through hard work and a positive attitude that the outcome is possible. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Stephen

Bee Cave: Sofia Gonzalez – Sofia has over come her fear of failing off the starting block and this week she has demonstrated that by going a perfect dive every time and even volunteer to show her team mate how to dive off the block. Sofia has come a long way even in the water and now on the block as well. I am extremely proud of her for overcoming her fear so she can become a better swimmer. – Coach Tanner

Silver

Cedar Park: Tatyana Volobouev – Tatyana had some wonderful practices this week! With more focus and goals than I have ever seen before. She led the group by leaps and bounds this week, and ended her stellar week with attending the UT meet this weekend. While her swimming is continuing to improve, what I loved see most was her cheering for not only her team mates, but for other swimmers on different teams. She would noticed if someone needed a little extra motivation and help, and she did a wonderful job of standing next to other teams and their coaches and cheering for them. I love hearing Coach Mike’s stories of swimmers going the extra mile, and that’s exactly what Tatyana did this weekend. Plus, she drew a wonderful Nitro “N” on my hand for me to cheer with! – Coach Allison

Bee Cave: Abby Teel – This young lady has really taken off, in her first ever meet at UT Abby put on quite a show for her first ever long course swim meet, two BB times in the 100 free and 100 breaststroke, she swam a good 50 backstroke to a B time, then in just an amazing race, with her goggles in her mouth, they came off at the start, Abby swam an impressive BB time in her 50 butterfly! I’ve had gold swimmers loose goggles on the start, try to pull them off and get a DQ, but Abby just pressed the stroke harder and faster bettering her entry time by over 13 seconds! I’m pretty sure with her goggles on properly she will have a chance at that A time which is less than 5 seconds away. Great focus Abby! Well done young lady! – Coach Chuck

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park: Oliver Rowe – Of all the awesome meet performances on Saturday, none were quite as amazing as Oliver’s.  He had only swum long course one time before which was the previous TXLA meet, where he achieved an amazing count of four BB cuts.  However, this wasn’t good enough for Oliver.  On Saturday, not only did he get two new BB cuts, but he went ahead and took care of a 100 fly A cut like it was no big deal.  This is extremely exciting, especially considering Oliver has two and a half more years as a 10&U.  Oliver’s story is exactly what positive attitudes and fantastic attendance can offer.  You’re earning your success every day, Oliver! –Coach Alex

Bee Cave: Jamey Etheridge – Jamey, I know you’ve been waiting for this moment as much as I have. Swimmer of the Week! You’ve learned that if you set your mind to something and work hard, sooner or later you get what you want. Your daily discipline and dedication are great examples of the improvement you’ve achieved in the past months. Your Butterfly and Breaststroke were your biggest nightmare and now they’ve become your signature 🙂 Keep it up, you are doing a great job. FOCUS FOCUA FOCUS!! SI SI SI!! – Coach Felix

Gold

Cedar Park: Julia Rautaneva, Paula Warren & Melissa Emata – Of all the great swims this weekend it is hard to point only a few. These three girls had a fantastic meet each picking up multiple A times. They have been working very hard in practice and it is wonderful to see their hard work pay off. Congratulations and keep up the great work. – Coach Travis

 

Bee Cave: Madeleine Dunn & Abigail “Abigator” Smith – Madeleine has adjusted very well to the training we have been doing. Whether she is first, second or third in her lane, we can always count Madeleine giving it her all. All of her hard work at practice was put on display this past weekend at the UT Meet. Madeleine swam aggressive and I admired the monster kick she had at the back end of her races. She just barely missed several A times this past weekend. Her swims blew Coach Chuck and I out of the water. Abigail has been a great energizer bunny in Gold II and Gold. All of her hard work isn’t going without a reward. She had a ton of time drops this past weekend. The last race of the meet was the 200IM, where she was the only girl combined with the boys heat. She was pretty nervous about swimming with the boys. We talked about our game plan for the race, she executed it with precision. Abigail was flying through the 200IM and ended up placing second! Outstanding job this weekend ladies, the coaches are very proud of you! – Coach Adrian