Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Sanam Talreja – Sanam has been doing so well recently! This week we worked on breast stroke and she did a great job listening to the coaches and then working hard every length of the pool. As a result her stroke looked fantastic! Sanam is moving to Bronze pretty soon, and while we’ll miss her in Intro, we wish her luck as she continues growing as a swimmer! Great job, Sanam! – Coach Jessie
Bee Cave:Giselle Megens – Giselle always works hard in practice, and this week was no exception! We had our challenge set on Saturday and Giselle really pushed herself. Even when she was tired she pushed through and kept going. I was so impressed that she never gave up and at the end of practice she was so proud of herself! Way to go Giselle! Keep working hard! – Coach Meghan
Bronze
Cedar Park: Christian Gamez – This weekend he swam at the meet in Bee Cave. Swimming all new events he managed to perform all of the turns and strokes exceptionally. He also managed to pick up some new B times. Congratulations and keep up the great work. – Coach Travis
Bee Cave: Bruce Chen – Bruce has been really working hard over the past weeks and really impressing me with his dedication. Every set we do, I see him giving his absolute best effort and doing everything he can to get better. I was especially proud of his work on backstroke starts this week. Bruce really got the hang of them by the end of practice and was looking like a pro. Way to go Bruce! I’m super proud of you bud!! – Coach Jared
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park: May Royall & Christopher Vo – May has been really consistent in her swimming. On time, ready to go, watching the clocks, leading her lane and of course always a positive attitude. Chris has been with NITRO for some time and he always shows up for practice with a great attitude and positive vibe with his fellow teammates. Nice job on your butterfly. Thanks you guys for being a part of the NITRO family and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve
Bee Cave: Nidhi Thippana – It’s rare that there is someone who has a perfect streamline, but this week Nidhi was right on the mark. Her form was great and she was happy to demonstrate to the group. Keep those great streamlines coming! You are half way across the pool before you even have to take a stroke! Coach Linda
Silver
Cedar Park: Daria Kurtaljevic, Angel Medina, Gracie Vogel & Michelle Sang – Lots of great swims this past Saturday at the Shoot-Out meet over in Bee Cave but these four stood out far to strong not to give SOW accolades. For quite some time Daria has been asked to pick up her pace a bit and to be more aggressive in practice. This school year she’s done just that and it is really shining through on her races, some huge drops and more importantly (hidden) smiles after getting out and knowing she’s improved. Angel has only been with us a couple of months and has been every bit the fast twitch competitor I saw in our eval on the first week of school. There have been a few practices where he obviously pushes himself to exhaustion, then keeps at it all the same. That work ethic came through loud and clear on his incredibly strong showing this past Saturday. Gracie had some good strokes when she started up with us this school year, it’s the desire to get out in front of everyone and be a bit aggressive in practice that she’s needed to work on. That’s been coming along well over the past month or so now that her comfort level is up there and much like Angel she had a very strong list of improvements this weekend. Michelle did just as we expected. She’s been a tremendous practice swimmer without being at many competitions, but given her competitive nature in practice we knew she’d impress if given the opportunity on a competitive stage. That success came this weekend and was a joy to see, especially in tacking her 100 fly for the first time. Great swims all around and this early in the season, looking forward to continued improvements across the board in the future! – Coach Dakota
Burnet: Lilly Stone – Lilly has continued to show improvement. She likes to practice and works hard. She uses her practice time to improve her speed and consistently works on improving all her strokes. All the Burnet Coaches had input on choosing Lilly. Congratulations to Lilly – Coach Steven
Bee Cave: Ashley Monshaugen – Her smile after each race told the story, Ashley swam with great heart and desire, her 100 IM was filled with great turns, strong kicking, with intensity that built up all through the race, I can’t wait to see her swim the 200 IM! Watching Ashley in practice, you would be hard pressed to find anyone in the group having more fun, sure the kick sets get her tired, but you can always see the eyes of a happy swimmer at the end of every set, set leaves the pool deck every night just as she came to it, chatting, smiling, and laughing. She just had a great meet at Bee Cave and cannot fly under the radar any longer wait till we see her tackle other events like the 200 free or 200 IM she may surprise many. Keep that smile and love of racing young lady! – Coach Chuck
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park: Alex Warren & Trinity Hoang – Alex is a veteran of the group who leads by example. He is one of the toughest trainers out there and is a great role model for the newer swimmers. Alex has really taken to anchoring (a skill we practice in the group) and it helped him tremendously at the meet this past Saturday. He swam absolutely lights-out! It’s evident that Alex is certainly in it for the long haul. Way to go, AW! Here’s a little story about Trinity – she did not have an entry time for her 100 freestyle, and when this happens, coaches often make up a time that’s close to what they can do. I put her in at 1:16.00, with the intention of getting her to swim in the first heat so that she could race some of the fastest girls on the team, even if it’s a little faster than what she’s capable of. Well, I must have gone a little crazy because that ended up being the fastest seed! Nonetheless, Trinity was unphased – she stepped up and swam a 1:15! Amazing! Awesome swimming, Trinity! – Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Hailey Jackson – About two months ago, Hailey started in Advance Silver, and I remember that at the beginning she had too many doubts in mind about her athletic performance. Nowadays, and with her mom’s help as cheerleader 🙂 and with Coach Felix’s recommendations, she decided to accept the challenge. Right now, we are seeing a more self confident swimmer, both in practices and meets. She’s starting to take the lead in her lane and did an outstanding job at Saturday’s meet at Bee Cave. Keep going Hailey. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS..SI SI SI!! – Coach Felix
Gold
Cedar Park: Bryce Flynn – He has consistently demonstrated the focus on details that we wish to see during practice. He always knows what the purpose of the drills and skills that we are working on that day. I can always rely on him to be a leader and push others in the group to do the same. Congratulations and keep it up. – Coach Travis
Bee Cave: Colton Etheridge – I watched Colton pick apart a set of 100s freestyle, smooth long stroke, he averaged 12 to 14 strokes per length, easy to do when your turns put you out to the 4th line on every turn, a simple process of holding 17 seconds a length, he did it with a smile and a high five like he does it every day, oh and by the way this came after a 1500 yard kick set! Colton is a rising star from the Gold Group, he is just beginning to explore the longer events and after this last week of training I am very excited in his interest in swimming the mile at the next UT Meet, this is going to be a breakout season for Colton, Great work Sir! – Coach Chuck