Cedar Park
Senior: Aidan Albaugh
It has been awesome watching Aidan train over this past month! Through November we have transitioned into higher volume training as a group and Aidan has been crushing it! He always gives an honest effort day in and day out which makes him a great leader for the group. The fastest swimmers accelerate off the walls into a tight streamline and push their underwater dolphin kicks to the full fifteen meters allotted. Aidan might not be going the full fifteen meters off the walls yet, but he is well on his way and never takes a slow or sloppy turn. I love his attention to detail because I know it is going to help him tremendously further down the line in his swimming career. I’m looking forward to seeing what the end of the season holds for Aidan. —Coach Daeton
Sectional Development: Salem Nassar
Salem has really picked it up this past month at workout. It started at the beginning of the month when he started busting out 100 freestyles under 1:00 and has consistently been doing that and more since. He has been working on a lot of different things stroke wise as well, and while he doesn’t realize it his freestyle breathing pattern has improved a lot in just the last few months. Keep it up Salem! —Coach Dan
TAGS 2: Olivia Valdez
It has been amazing to watch Olivia Valdez improve this season. Every time she touches the water in a race, she has gotten faster! Even more impressive is her positive attitude. Every practice, I can count her to show up with a smile on her face and a willingness to work hard. Her attitude is contagious and without a doubt she is making everyone in the group better. Keep it up Olivia and Go Nitro! —Coach Daniel
TAGS 1: Trisha Filimoehala
Trisha is one of the hardest working athletes in TAGS 1 and she does all the little extra things on a daily basis. Her hard work was rewarded this month with mile TAGS cut (which also means she gets to swim 1000). Very proud of Trisha, good luck at Jingle Bell this weekend. —Coach Flo
National Development: Bella Zapata
Back in October, Bella had an incident happen at her high school practice that caused her to need surgery near the eyes/nose and reconstruction to be done, she could’ve easily called it quits this season as she hasn’t been able to do an extensive amount of things on land or in the water for almost 2.5 months. She has pushed through many tough hours and days with an admiring attitude and contagious spirit by either coaching her peers through a practice, sending messages during swim meets, or kicking through an entire practice by herself. Her drive and desire to bounce back is something that all of us should look at when going through struggles and hardships and understand that this is more than just Bella trying to get back in the pool and do something she loves, but this is a prime example of what tough seasons of change can look like. Bella, I couldn’t be more proud! This is only going to make you stronger and more driven to succeed in and out of the pool! —Coach Jeremy
National Group: Will Corona & Caitlin Murphy
Will had a really great month of November and it paid of this weekend at the COR meet, 2 Junior Bonus cuts (his first ever) and time drops in pretty much the rest of his events. Great looking swimming, hard working and great attitude to go with it all. Very proud of what Will has done this whole season. Caitlin swam very close to getting her first ever Junior Hard cut, she was excited all weekend and kept dropping time in everything she got up on the block for. Very proud of this young lady and her effort. —Coach Flo and Coach Jeremy
Bee Cave
HS/MS Training: Igor Antonov
Igor has been making some big strides in practice as of late. I can see the huge upticks in his strength and endurance, and Igor works every practice to improve his technique. A stroke I have seen him really improve on is his butterfly. He used to have some timing issues, but since we spoke about how to improve, I’ve been a much faster and more efficient fly from Igor. Igor listens, works hard, and shows up. A coach can’t ask for more! Great job, Igor! —Coach Peter
Senior: Cassie McCallum
Sometimes the hardest time as a swimmer is when you balance swimming in high school, and Nitro, along with schoolwork, family, and all the things that pull at the young swimmers time! How do you get it all in? Cassie has just done a fantastic job with this difficult balancing act, but just watching her run an advanced kick set with ease and only one of two in the group to hold pace on the set. She came into the fall feeling a little behind and a little out of shape, but no swimmer I’ve worked with here at Nitro has ever shown so much focus a drive to work through the pain the way Cassie has done. The mornings with Coach Randy and evenings with me the girl has been non-stop for two months and I’ve never seen her look better in the water, strong, confident, attacking every big set with a new attitude that just puts a smile on her coaches faces! Great job young lady! —Coach Chuck
TAGS 2: Michael Taylor
Whooohooo! This kid is turning the corner on his training. The past two weeks or so I have been blown away by Michael’s ability to push through the almost impossible. His fight in each set is killer, and on top of all of that he is such a great kid. It sounds cliché, but he has a smile that will light up the room, and makes me and all his teammates want to be as happy as he is. The hard work he has been putting in is bound to pay off in great ways, and I can’t wait to see what he is going to do! Let’s go Michael! —Coach Allison
TAGS 1: Madeleine (Maddie) Dunn
And the Swimmer of the Month goes to Madeleine Dunn. Coach Felix is a strong believer of hard work and dedication, and Maddie (as I used to call her) is definitely a big promoter of this thought. Her enthusiasm in the water and during dryland is her best presentation card; I’m really sure she’s having a lot of fun in practice. She’s the kind of swimmer that loves morning practices…what?? Yes, you read well, she really does 🙂 Maddie, the moment to enjoy your results is getting closer, keep doing what you’re doing, keep working hard and stay positive! Those under waters, specially during backstroke, are showing off big time…the takeaway is for real! Good job Maddie! FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!! SI SI SI!!! —Coach Felix
National Development: John Marshall Singletary
John has had an incredible fall thus far. He is only 13, yet has posted some new short course lifetime bests and TAGs cuts. John has had an improvement in focus, work ethic and dedication. This is all showing day to day at practice and I am excited to see him reap the benefits at the upcoming meets.
Keep it up young man! —Coach Randy
National Group: Yasmina Buhl
Yasmina, 15, has had a stellar November. Yasmina has qualified for Winter Jr. National Championships in Iowa City in the 100 Fly, as well as made bonus standards in the 100 back and 200 fly. Yasmina is a Freshman at Westlake high school, so she has a bright future and is aiming to make the 2020 Olympic Trials. Aim for the stars Yas! —Coach Randy, Coach Hans, and Coach Isaac