New Season Underway

Welcome back, folks! It's been quite a while since I last posted on our team blog, but now that the 2010-11 season has officially begun, I'll do a better job of putting together updates. Team practices started last Monday, on September 20th. Unlike some coaches who blog/facebook/tweet and come up with nothing but sunshine, lollipops, and immense praise for how awesome and motivated their teams look on day one, I'm going to provide a more accurate assessment of the beginning of the season. It's a mixed bag. On one side, it's great to get everyone back into the training routine, and there is genuine optimism for the season ahead as individuals and the team set their goals. On the other hand, we have to get everyone back into the training routine, which takes a while....Anyway, I'm pleased to report that as we past the midpoint of week 2, we are seeing a lot of improvement. Things are starting to come together for your Lady Yellow Jackets.

Macon Swimmers Honored by ODAC

The All-ODAC team was recently announced, and I'm pleased to say that we ended up placing six swimmers on the team this year. Making the first team for Macon were individual event winners Lizzy Buckley and Rebecca Stevenson. Additionally, Sarah Almond, Corinne Campbell, Lara O'Brien, and Brianna Lovell were named to the All-ODAC second team. Team captain Ellie Shea was also honored at the championship meet as the recipient of the 2010 Bonnie Kestner Sportsmanship Award.

Congrats to all of our award winners!

Wolf Sighting in Maryland

Relax, I'm referring to R-MC Swimming's very own wolfpack of one...Rebecca Stevenson. We took Rebecca to the St. Mary's last chance meet over the weekend, along with team motivators Virginia Mauch and Corinne Campbell. Rebecca was going after the school record in the 1000 freestyle. She swam a smart race and accomplished the goal, swimming 10:53.91.  This earned her not one but two roundabout victory laps on the way home. Congrats Rebecca. Here were the splits:

Event 127 Women 1000 Yard Freestyle Time Trial
===============================================================================
Name Year School Finals
===============================================================================

1 Stevenson, Rebecca FR Yellow Jackets 10:53.91
29.19 31.89 32.72 32.99 32.80 32.94 32.87 32.94

32.48 32.74 32.81 32.95 33.09 32.93 33.26 33.12

33.18 33.15 33.55 32.31

ODACs 2010

I was really proud of how the team perfomed at ODACs last weekend. Every swimmer stepped up and swam well, every swimmer did a great job of supporting her teammates. The level of enthusiasm was great all weekend....by far the best team meet we've had in my three years. There were many highlights, including wins from Rebecca Stevenson in the 500 free and Lizzy Buckley in the 100 free, Rebecca's school record in the 1650, and the way our 400 and 800 free relays competed. It was also great to see our lone senior, Lindsey Reid, go out on top with lifetime bests across the board.

As I said, everyone swam well, and so every swimmer deserves recognition for her efforts:

Sarah Almond – Finished 4th in the 50 free in 25.27, 4th in the 200 free in a lifetime best of 1:59.81, and 3rd in the 100 free in a lifetime best of 54.47. Sarah also did a great job on the freestyle relays, with a 24.5 anchoring the 200 relay, a 1:59.78 to hold the lead in the 800 free relay, and a 53.91 to get us out in front on the 400 free relay.


Lizzy Buckley – A close 3rd in the 50 free in a lifetime best of 24.99. 5th in the 200 free in a then best time of 2:00.21. ODAC Champion in the 100 free in a lifetime best of 54.17. Lizzy led off each of the freestyle relays, and put up a best time of 1:59.65 in her leg of the 800 free relay.



Corinne Campbell – Finished 7th in the 500 free (5:37.37 in prelims), 5th in the 100 fly (1:03.36), and 3rd in the 200 fly (2:17.54 in prelims). Corinne also put up a 26.3 split on the 200 free relay and was a part of the 2nd place 800 free relay team.



Katherine Dodd – Finished 19th overall with a season best time of 28.86 in the 50 free, 13th overall with a huge PR of 2:12.52 in the 200 free, and 17th overall with a lifetime best of 1:01.31 in the 100 free. KDodd had a great meet.



Brianna Lovell – Brianna finished 11th in the 200 IM on Friday(2:21.72 in prelims), 5th in the 400 IM on Saturday in a season best of 4:58.14, and 7th in the 200 fly on Sunday (with a season best of 2:23.31 in prelims).



Virginia Mauch – Came in 14th place in the 200 IM, made her collegiate debut in the 100 fly while placing 9th (1:08.11 in prelims), and set a new lifetime best while placing 7th in the 200 breast (2:42.80). VA also swam fly on the 3rd place 200 medley relay.



Kellianne Mullin – Placed 10th in the 200 IM in a season best time (2:21.54), 5th in the 100 breast (1:13.93), and 6th in the 200 breast (2:36.84). Kellianne also swam on the 3rd place medley relays.



Lara O’Brien – Swam to 6th in the 400 IM (4:58.60 in prelims) on Saturday, then performed a tough 1650/200 fly combo on Sunday. She finished 4th in the 1650 (19:13.24) and 8th in the 200 fly (2:21.94 in prelims). Her 100 breast split in prelims on the 400 medley relay was a season best time.



Caitlin Proctor – Finished 14th in the 500 free on Friday (5:59.57), 7th in the 100 back on Saturday (1:05.14 in prelims), and 8th in the 200 back on Sunday (season best of 2:22.72 in prelims). Caitlin also swam BK on the 200 medley relay.


Lindsey Reid – Came in 13th with a lifetime best of 5:53.79 (in prelims) in the 500 on Friday. On Saturday, Lindsey finished 9th with a lifetime best of 5:16.02 in the 400 IM. In the 200 fly on Sunday, she set a lifetime best of 2:30.04 in the morning, then topped that with a 2:27.75 at night, for 11th place. She also put up a college (lifetime?) best of 26.3 to anchor the 200 medley relay.

Ellie Shea – Ellie swam to a 14th place finish in the 50 free on day 1, a season best performance of 2:07.96 for 11th in the 200 on day 2, and a lifetime best of 57.59 for 8th in the 100 on day 3. She also anchored the 2nd place 400 free relay on Sunday, which was the 2nd fastest relay in school history.



Tracy Spurrier – Swam to a personal best time of 5:40.31 while finishing 9th in the 500 free on Day 1. Dropped 4 seconds from her personal best in prelims of the 200 back on Sunday. Then, in finals, finished 7th in a lifetime best of 19:49.82 in the 1650. Just 15 minutes later, Tracy came back to once again lower her best in the 200 back, finishing 7th in a time of 2:22.76.

Amanda Steinagel – Amanda swam well over the weekend. She finished 10th in the 100 breast on Saturday (season best of 1:21.23 in prelims), and then came in 10th in the 200 breast on Sunday night, with a season best of 2:56.38 in prelims.

Rebecca Stevenson – Rebecca had a fantastic meet. She swam a great tactical race in winning the 500 free on Friday (5:14.95). She then finished 3rd in the 200 free with a 1:59.65 on Saturday, and 2nd in the 1650 on Sunday, setting a new school record of 18:15.30. Rebecca split a 25.67 on the 200 free relay, a 1:58.99 on the 800 free relay, and a 54.83 on the 400 free relay. All of these swims either matched or broke her previous lifetime bests.

Ashland = Winter Wonderland

What do you get when you mix swimmers starting to taper with an uncharacteristic Virginia snowstorm?

Fun times, of course.

Most of the team gathering for a post-practice photo op.

Several swimmers' attempts to make snow angels in their suits.

This will make for good storytelling down the road: "When I was a college swimmer, we had to walk to practice, in the snow, in the dead of winter, uphill both ways, in our swimsuits!"

DISCLAIMER: No swimmers were harmed during the making of this post. All swimmers pictured voluntarily chose to make the ill-advised trek out into the snow.  

Turning the Corner

We're close. We're not there yet, and there's still some work to do, but we're getting there. As time passes and we move from early January to mid/late January, I can see our swimmers starting to come out of the performance sapping fog that annually results from the heavy training loads of mid-December through mid-January. Now that the training peak is behind our swimmers, and volume is starting to come back down, I'm seeing all the signs that point to fast swimming in the near future. Bodies seem to be recovering better, morale is rebounding, and practice performances are starting to be more indicative of what our swimmers are capable of. Meet times aren't quite there yet, but they will be soon. Our swimmers are on the verge of looking sharp once again. Late January and early February dual meets are frequently where many swimmers put up their best in-season efforts, and I'm expecting this to hold true for our team in the last dual meet of the season, and the last chance to gear up for championships, next Saturday.

Here's to fast swimming in late January and February. It's not a matter of 'if' it will happen. They're already turning the corner. The only question is 'when.'


My educated prediction: Soon. 

Buckley Earns Conference Honor

Lizzy Buckley became the second swimmer R-MC swimmer this year to grab the ODAC Swimmer of the Week distinction on Monday. The award follows Lizzy's performances at the Hollins meet over the weekend, in which she won two individual events and took part in a first place relay (that swam exhibition). Individually, Lizzy won the 50 freestyle in 26.30 and then made her debut in the 200 fly, winning the race in 2:26.57. She also teamed up with fellow sophomores Virginia Mauch, Ellie Shea, and Sarah Almond to finish first in the 200 freestyle relay to close out the meet.

R-MC's Lizzy Buckley Named ODAC Swimmer of the Week

Next up for the swimmers is a 1 pm matchup against Bridgewater this Saturday, January 16th. With just two more home dual meets before the conference championships, we're looking to sharpen up the performances and improve upon some season bests/seed times.

Winter?

As Virginia and much of the rest of the east coast was getting pummeled by one of the biggest winter storms in recent memory over the weekend, our team enjoyed beautiful weather in south Florida all of last week. Here's the view from the short course pool at the Deerfield Beach high school just as the sun sets:

A practice setting I could get used to.

Training Trip Day One

Day one of our trip is in the books. We're actually not down in Florida yet though. It's a two-let trip from Ashland to Deerfield Beach, and the first leg brought us to Savannah, Georgia tonight. We got into our hotel just outside of Savannah earlier than expected, and so we decided to drive into downtown Savannah to find a place to eat. This turned into quite an adventure. First, I'll say that downtown Savannah looks very charming, with a really cool restaurant/shopping district, narrow cobbled streets, and some picturesque homes within walking distance of the waterfront.

I'll also say that finding downtown parking for two 12-passenger vans on a Saturday night is an almost impossible task. On street parking wasn't going to happen for us, and the narrow cobbled streets were pretty much off limits. We did find two parking garages...with a maximum clearance of just over 7 feet. Unfortunately, our van (with a bike rack on top) clears 7 feet easily. We found this out the hard way, twice, backing up traffic as we backed out of the cavernous garages that did not want to house our oversized vehicles. We didn't make too many friends in doing this. I'm pretty sure our team is no longer welcome in downtown Savannah. In the end, we were forced to retreat to a more suburban Applebee's for a late dinner. It was quite an ordeal, but I'm glad we were able to venture into town during our brief stay here in Savannah.

Hitting the tarmac again at 7 am. Next stop: Deerfield Beach, Fl.

Meet Recap - YJ Invitational

Our swimmers competed in the 8th annual Yellow Jacket Invitational over the weekend, held right here at R-MC. Six women's teams competed, plus two men's teams. Our Yellow Jacket swimmers came out on top on the women's side, with a 94 point margin of victory over second place Mount Saint Mary's University. This meet comes at a busy time of year for our swimmers, falling on the weekend in between the last week of classes and final exam week. To say that student-athletes are under stress at this time of the semester is an understatement. Nevertheless, we did have several highlights from the weekend:
- Rebecca Stevenson claimed Co-Individual High Point Award honors by winning all 3 of her individual events. Rebecca took the 500 free and 200 free on Friday, then dominated the 1650 on Saturday.
- Tracy Spurrier had 3 solid swims in the 500 free, 200 back, 1650 free combo. The 200 back on Saturday was a lifetime best.
- Sarah Almond anchored the 200 free relay with a 24.19 split on Friday, while playing safe on the relay start. Might have been sub-24 with a quicker relay exchange.

Race videos will be posted shortly. Complete results of the meet can be found here.

I'm looking forward to getting our women some quality yardage in Florida next week. The 10-day forecast is looking good for Deerfield Beach!