Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Lucy Gilbreath
Lucy always comes to practice with a huge smile on her face and joke for the coaches. This past week Intro worked on IM and dives. Lucy not only did a fantastic job with her dives but with her swimming as well. She had really great head positioning on her butterfly while she was swimming in practice and every time she took a breath she still had a smile on her face. Keep up the great work, Lucy! —Coach Hannah
Bee Cave: Nimue Richmond
I first met Nimue this summer during our summer league program. This sweet young lady has shown tremendous progress over the last six months. While very timid at first, Nimue has gained confidence in the pool. This week she demonstrated just how much she has learned with her low head position in freestyle and strong underwater streamline push-offs on her stomach and back. Thank you for being such a shining star! —Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Peyton Gilliland
In the time Peyton has been in the Bronze group, he has improved leaps and bounds. His underwaters are awesome, he has become much stronger in all of his strokes, and he learned how have fast and effective turns. All of Peyton’s hard work showed this weekend at the Jingle Bell Splash, where he had great races. Way to go Peyton!—Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Oliver Ward
Oliver has been working so hard, strong kicking effort at every practice. He displays a very tall stroke, really stretching those arms quick over the water on his butterfly, but then has the patience to allow his kick to finish while his upper body finds it’s balance point. Watching his 100 IM this past Saturday I was hard pressed to find a single flaw! It was a great swim, I particularly liked how fast he pushed his underwater, but also how he raced the heat. I can’t wait to see Oliver swim his first 200 IM! Great job young man! —Coach Chuck
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: Macy Ahlgren and Gustavo Martinez Luis
Macy really rocked it at our NITRO at the Races swim meet on Saturday! She out performed herself and really caught the attention of Coach Mike our Nitro owner and myself. We need to work on the flip turn but awesome job Macy on all your events. Gustavo Martinez Luis is part of our later evening T/F swimmers and has consistently shown a great work ethic. Always ready to lead his lane, watching the clocks and understanding interval work. Nice job this past week on backstroke and having great body and head position. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. —Coach Stephen
Bee Cave: Christina Phan
Christina is such a joy to be around! She always comes to practice with a bright smile and a great attitude. I also appreciate how she chooses to be in a lane with her sister and two brothers every single practice 🙂 She always works hard and does what she’s asked; but, lately she’s stepped it up a notch! She’s been clicking on all cylinders, so to speak. I was impressed with her diving this week. She did so well that she insisted on doing another one even when practice was over – haha! I’m so proud of her, and I want to wish her and her family a very Merry Christmas 🙂 —Coach Jonny
Silver
Cedar Park: Nathan Isaac
Nathan did a fantastic job at practice as well as in the meet this week. His butterfly improved as we worked on breathing early with our pull as well as having strong dolphin kicks. He also did really well on his dive and backstroke starts. And he dropped time in his 100 IM!!! Way to go Nathan! Keep working hard, and I can’t wait to see what big things you accomplish this next year. —Coach Claire
Bee Cave: Jack Watters
Our focus this week was our turns and starts to prepare for the TXLA meet. Jack did not attend the meet, but he excelled at practice especially during the flip turn work. So much so, that I had him demonstrate how quickly he forms his streamline during his flip turn so that he can just bounce off the wall as soon as he sets his feet. Jack really helped the Silver group get a great visual of how the arms move during the flip turn to form the streamline as fast as possible. Excellent work this week, Jack! —Coach Peter
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Luke Rieder
The honor this week goes to Luke due to not only to his outstanding performance at his first TXLA meet this weekend, but for his focused approach to every practice. He is committed to working on his turns and dives at every practice! Way to go, Luke. See you at the pool. —Coach Paige
Gold I & II
CP Gold I: Gracie Yocum
Gracie is one of the leaders of the Gold group. Always willing to step up, motivate, and push the rest of the group. When I say go fast, Gracie is ready. Her hard work showed at the last two Jingle Bell Splash meets, as she had time drops all over the place. Even though she is tough on herself sometimes, I’m still very impressed. Way to go Gracie! —Coach Adam
CP Gold II: Minh Pham
Minh is one of the best dryland athletes in the group. He has great motor skills and an even better attitude, always performing the best he can. Minh hasn’t had much meet experience, but he stepped up this past Saturday and attended the TXLA meet. Minh went in confidently and came out with two great swims in the 50 free and 50 breast – we can’t wait to see you race again! —Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Autumn Forgey
What a difference a year can make, or I think that’s the way the phrase goes. Autumn is one killer swimmer these days, and it showed this past weekend at the meet! I wasn’t able to watch her 200 Free because I was coming form practice, but I was able to hear about the race from Coach Chuck. He explained that it was the most consistent 200 Free, as well as how good everything in the race looked! I love to hear other coaches point out details of a race that we have worked on in practice over and over. Autumn had the biggest smile when I arrived at the meet, and it was great to see her hard work paying off. —Coach Allison