Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park:Valerie Luu & Ashish Jacob – Both Valerie and Ashish have been working extra hard on making all the corrections that their coaches have given them. Valerie did an excellent job this past week on her breaststroke swim and was able to be a great demonstrator for her group. Ashish has built up his endurance so much that he is always ready for the next challenge during a practice and doesn’t need extra breaths at the wall. Keep up the great work you two!!
Bee Cave:Natalie Melhiser– In the short time that Natalie has been with the Intro’s she has improved tremendously. She was a little tentative at first, but her confidence has grown with each new challenge we have given her. Keep it up sweetie!
Bronze
Cedar Park: Angel Caldera– Angel just is a newer arrival to our Bronze group via our Technique and Fitness group. Angel has been doing a great job in practice every day, leading his lane and working hard on his technique. Angel also swam his first swim meet this past weekend to finish of the a great week of training. Great Angel, keep it up!!!
Bee Cave:All the slower than B meet swimmers – We had a lot of dropped times and smiling faces. I was very pleased with the readiness and racing I saw! It was a great feeling to see some awesome body waves and other details we have all worked on this year. Keep it up team!
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park:Audrey Wu & Tanish Thacker – Audrey has a great attitude every time she comes to the pool. She always has a smile on her face and a willingness to try whatever we throw at her. We’ve noticed a great improvement in her breaststroke technique. Tanish has really shown us some great advancement. He’s swimming more distance and nailing all of his streamlines, flip turns and kicking. We can see his increased effort in the pool. Great job of you two, thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool.
Bee Cave:Erin Fitzgerald– Erin put together a nice week at the pool. Her focus ad determination was clearly noticed by the coaches. Erin always comes and leaves practice with a smile on her face. Way to go Erin, keep up the great work.
Silver
Cedar Park:Andrew Yu– Andrew gets many kudos not just for this past week but for the whole season. He comes to almost every practice, never misses an interval, and always knows what part of a set we are on, and only needs to hear the set once; no matter how confusing. All of these things play a huge role in making practice run smooth so more attention can be put into stroke corrections and conditioning. Thank you Andrew for being so attentive and great job at the meet on Saturday!!!
Bee Cave:Brooke Jeffery– Watching Brooke swim the meet on Saturday was exciting every race had the right intensity, her strokes were long, the turns tight, and the breathing well controlled, not what you would expect from an 8 year old, but Brooke has been putting in some very good work and the tell was her 100 free time of 1:18.63 earning a 9 & 10 national BB time. Great job!
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park:Kaylie Pasquino & Dan Vinnik– Both of them had a similar reaction when I gave them the set on Thursday (What?!?! That’s terrifying!). However, by the end of the set they were not only smiling, they were leading the group. It was a great example of a swimmer working their way through a set and discovering that it might not be that bad after all-you just need to try! Great job you too and keep that attitude up as you move forward!
Bee Cave:Caroline Reckart– Caroline consistently shows up to swim with everything she’s got. She listens well and is kind to her teammates. All in all she is a pleasure to coach. When we do a challenge set I’m always impressed with Caroline’s ability to push herself from the beginning of the set all the way to the end. Keep up the great work Caroline!
Gold
Cedar Park: Reagan Bleasdell– Reagan had a great week of training leading into a very good 200 Butterfly this weekend at the meet in Bee Cave, first time ever to swim this event and right away a BB time. Very proud of Reagan, also always a great leader to her group and that is something you can not teach, it is something you are born to do.
Bee Cave:Brian Li– Brian continues to impress the coaches by his quiet leadership. Always one to set the right example of practice intensity, working on the details, and measuring his success by the little things he does right. We’re looking forward to seeing Brian take his swimming upward over the next several years.
Swimmer of the Month for February 2013:
Cedar Park
High School Training:Caitlin Lambie – Caitlin has been making progress since this fall when she started with High School Training, however, in the past two weeks there has been a shift in her gears. She stepped up her game and really surprised herself and her coaches with her efforts! Finding herself making faster intervals than before and not being as exhausted at the end of hard sets have come as a welcome to surprise to Caitlin. I am looking forward to seeing what else she can accomplish with this new enthusiasm in the water!
TAGS 2: Max Jones– Max swam extremely well at A Champs in San Antonio. He’s been very consistent with his practice attendance. By continuing to work hard in practice, Max has been selected to participate on an 11-12 TAGS relay. Outside of the pool, Max continues to make each of his team members smile with his energetic personality.
TAGS 1: N/A
Senior: Camden Lemond – Camden has had some great swims in his past few swim meets. His performance at A Champs had him dropping his 100 freestyle time to a new low of 53.10. This new time helped him qualify for one of our 13-14 boys relays to the TAGS Championship meet.
Sectional: Alex Manasso and Adam Toler– Alex had a tremendous month performance wise, as a result of some major work. It’s great when that happens. She’s been taking her meet preparation very seriously, and followed up a great “A” Champs meet with a fantastic Sectionals meet. Adam has responded very well in the last few weeks as he’s been working very hard in the water, and has kept up outstanding attendance. Just last week while I was covering the meet, Coach Mike and Coach Flo relayed a story to me about Adam finishing a practice, obviously tired, but a little dissatisfied about not accomplishing a certain threshold of a time on a quality swim off the blocks. After warm down, he expressed that. Flo and I looked at him and said: “We’ve got a little extra time right now if you’re up for another shot at it.” Without hesitation, Adam jumped on the blocks for another go. Very good signals from both Alex and Adam – as well as the rest of the Sectional group.
Bee Cave
High School Training:Benjamin Gorr – Ben is a very hard worker and joy to have on the pool deck. When I give him a challenge he doesn’t always jump at the opportunity but he always does his best no matter what. Ben is also very good at listening to the instructions and asking the right questions. Keep up the great work and you will go far.
TAGS: Kate MacRae– Kate had an incredible “A” Championship meet, earning 3 new TAGS cuts in the 50, 100, and 200 Breast. She was absolutely on fire in all of her events! Congrats Kate on an incredible Championship meet and go get ’em at TAGS!
Senior:Micah Slaton– Micah has quickly emerged as one of our group leaders in Senior. His constant pursuit of perfection has him on a roll this month. Micah goes out of his way to get feedback and pointers. He is beginning to understand the long process of the sport of swimming. Keep up the great training Micah, welcome back.
Sectional:Ben Rodgers– Ben also lit up the pool at the “A” Championship meet. First the first time ever, he broke 1:00 in the 100 Breast and delivered a huge swim in the 200 IM, swimming an NCSA Bonus Time Standard in the 200 IM (1:57.4). Ben now has 3 NCSA Bonus time standards as he works his way towards earning a hard cut (or 3!). In addition, Ben swam well for his high school at his Regional meet, highlighted by his best 100 free relay split (49.0). Congrats Ben!
National Group Swimmer of the Month for February: Trent Jackson– Trent, a Notre Dame signee, had a great February both inside and outside the pool. After some very strong training he went 1:39 in the 200 free for the first time at the A Champs meet in San Antonio… unshaved. At that same meet Trent proved why he is a natural team leader after seeing one of his younger Nitro teammates get dq’d for a false start, he spent some time with that swimmer getting them back in the right frame of mind and spirit of the meet. Trent has always been a caring, selfless, teammate and a very hard worker…a combo that will take him far at Notre Dame and well beyond! Way to go Trent and good luck at Juniors Nationals in March!
Thanks for being a part of Nitro, and we’ll see you at the pool! Coach Mike.