Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Anshuman Jakkula
Anshu has really stepped up in the last few weeks and has become a leader in his lane. Anshu always brings a lot of energy to practice. This week he really impressed the coaches with his fast freestyle kicks and perfect hand placement during backstroke. Great job Anshu, keep it up!! —Coach Hannah
Bee Cave: Grayson Wilkins
Grayson is one of Intro’s hardest working swimmers. He is always focused and eager to learn. Not only did he shine this past week with his phenomenal flutter kicking and strong underwaters, he has shown tremendous personal growth over the past months. Initially Grayson had a hard time with stroke critiques; now he asks, “What can I do better, coach?” Thank you for your continuous effort! Keep it up, Grayson! —Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Luis Castellanos Lopez
Luis has been stepping up his game at practice recently, but it was his performance at the AQTX swim meet that earned him this award. Luis has had a little problem with DQ’s at his last few meets, but not this time. Luis executed all his turns perfectly, touch with two hands on all butterfly and breaststroke events, and had some incredible time drops. Way to go Luis! —Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Aiden Giroux and Aleksandra Belov
This week we had some great learning experiences by two young swimmers, Aiden working on butterfly found a way to change the feel of his kick, on his side, underwater, what was a smaller quick movement changed into a very large powerful kick. This was Aiden focused on making a change in the feel of his kick and he made a stronger butterfly. Aleksanadra swimming in a meet on Sunday had some great swims, but the best came as the result of being disqualified in the 50 breaststroke, a one hand touch, much disappointment, was turned into a great 50 butterfly in 54.70! She was so nervous but focused on a tall stroke and made a solid turn and finish, an adjustment, that resulted in a big smile and high fives! These two young swimmers made great breakthroughs, one at practice and one in a meet, so never stop finding ways to improve, no matter where you are! Great job Aiden and Aleksanadra, well done! —Coach Chuck
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: Sophia Liu and Pablo Barrera
Both swimmers really excelled this past week with there mastering of the fine details. Streamlines, head position, balance of body position, kicking and proper equipment usage. It’s the new season and they are off to a great start. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. —Coach Stephen
Bee Cave:
It was Ryan’s first ever practice at Nitro this past Saturday, and I could not have been more impressed. We spent much of our practice working on side kicking and the body rotation of freestyle. On the very first 25 of side kicking we did, Ryan was doing the drill almost perfectly! I was so impressed he was able to pick up the drill so quickly. He was even kind enough to thank me after practice. Excellent first practice, Ryan! —Coach Peter
Silver
Cedar Park: Alexandra Jiampietro
This week proved difficult to pick one Silver swimmer who stood out from the rest. The whole crew worked hard as we prepared for the Round Rock meet. The one swimmer who best applied our learned skills to her race this weekend was Alexandra Jiampietro. This girl had a smile on her face the entire meet! During every event she focused on having fast turns and good under waters. She also snagged many new best times as well as some heat winner ribbons (Who doesn’t like ribbons?) Great swim this week, Alex. And great job to all of my swimmers who participated in the Round Rock meet. —Coach Claire
Bee Cave: Topher Meeks
Over the past few weeks, I have seen a huge change in Topher’s work ethic at practice. Topher has done a great job completing every set, and has been paying more attention to the specific details of his strokes. At the meet in Round Rock he swam many personal best times, and swam strong all the way to the end of his races without giving up, especially in the 100 IM and 100 Back! Even after the last turn, he held his underwaters past the flags before he resurfaced and started swimming to the finish. Great job, Topher! —Coach Lianne
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Kai Sager
Kai brings an excellent attitude to practice daily and stepped up to race the some pretty big events this weekend, while being an excellent representative for Nitro and swimming fast! look forward to seeing you drop more time, Kai! —Coach Paige
Gold I & II
Cedar Park Gold I: Franziska Buckel
In the week leading up to the Round Rock Unclassified meet, Franziska came down with a bug and had to be out of practice, and I was worried she wouldn’t be able to swim in the meet. Franziska recovered just in time to have numerous great swims. She was quick off the blocks, her turns were quick, and her underwaters were powerful! I was most impressed with how Franziska ended the meet, as she swam a beautiful 200 breast after 3 tough days of swimming. Way to go Franny!
I also want to give a shout out to all who raced in this past weekend’s Round Rock meet. This was our first real meet of the season, and the Gold kiddos laid down a great foundation for the rest of the season! I saw our swimmers get off the blocks quickly, I noticed continued speed through the underwaters, and I saw awesome turns at the walls. This all added up to huge time drops, with many BB and A time standards achieved. Way to go Gold swimmers! —Coach Adam
Cedar Park Gold II: Parker Huang
Parker is a true go-getter. There is no reason to practice a skill any less than the best you can do, and he swims by that philosophy daily. No matter what place he is in a lane, he’s always looking for teammates to race on speed sets and doesn’t ever let himself take shortcuts. I’m extremely excited to see what Parker can accomplish this season and I know he’ll knock it out of the park! —Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Abby Teel
Abby is such a strong swimmer. Day in and day out she proves to everyone around her how much she can accomplish. I have loved working with her and knowing I can push her to get better. While Abby will need to be taking a step back for a bit, due to injury, I know she will recovery quickly and be back to full speed in no time. —Coach Allison