Saturday, November 22, 2008

Day 3

I only have about 3 minutes as I have high jacked (IUP) Coach Villa's computer to report to our loyal readers that Kasey Campbel just broke the 1650 freestyle team record with a time of 18:29.01.

This breaks Virginia's future teacher of the year, Katie Grieneisen's, record of 18:34.06.

She was 11:14.33 to her feet in the 1000 which is good enough for 3rd on our all time top performers list in that event.

More to come...

UPDATE

We are back in Lock Haven ... after what seemed to be a longer than normal drive back. Our cars met us with a wonderful coating of snow.

The fun didn't stop after Kasey's 1650 ...Our backstrokers all swam respectable 2nd swims. Sam Durham just missed her first qualfying mark in the 100 free by .03 seconds...ugh. (more on this later) Brittany Williams dropped a good .7 from her morning swim! Rachel Vagnoni swam a fairly identical race in the 200 breaststroke. Amanda Palmer had another soild swim in the 200 fly.

Janel Kinard also learned a lot from her first ever 200 fly swim ... in finals she went out about 2 seconds slower only to come back about 7 seconds faster in the 2nd 100. Great swim.

We then time trialed the 200 free relay to give Sam another chance at PSAC's in the 50. This time she left no doubt by going a 25.44 (the cut time is 25.60).

We finished up with the 400 free relays giving everyone (except our 2 flyers, time trialers & Bailey :-) ) one last swim to finish out the weekend.

Time to go get caught up on a lot of TiVo and a small ton of emails.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Still Day 2

Day 2 Headline type news ..

PSAC Qualifier
Amanda Palmer – 400 im
4:551.07
Amanda Palmer – 100 butterfly
1:02.62

New All Time Top 5
Amanda Palmer – 400 im (2nd)
(actually ties her previous time)

PRELIMS (3 of 6)
We had 18 races this morning and 15 of them were season best times. Pretty awesome statistic. Amanda Palmer qualifyied for PSAC’s in the 400 im.

LUNCH
Coach Pat volunteered his volunteer assistant to go back to the Super 8 to pick up 18 fire mountain coupons (along with 17 for his team) that saved us $3ish a person. Nothing beats that Fire Mountain Buffet (minus the dessert bar that is off limits). GREAT DEAL today.

FINALS (4 or 6)
200 MEDLEY RELAY
was a great way to start the evening … some really fast swims by everyone not swimming the 400im.

400 IM
The 400 im kicked off the night of individual swims… Meghan Grenier swam in a heat with some dude (who qualified 7th) she held her own dropping 2 seconds from her morning swim. Ashley Gardner, added a few seconds and Amanda Palmer dropped a few tenths for a 4:52.07 … which ties her time from PSAC’s last year.

100 FLY
Amanda Palmer popped a 1:02.62 (a PSAC cut) and just missed taking the world famous Gerda off of the All Time Top 5 list. Sam, & Janel both dropped time from their prelim swims.

200 FREE
Kasey Campbell gets the most improved morning to night swim in the 200…dropping about 4 seconds and looking a lot less tired while doing so. Amazing what a good warm up does for her. Erin & Ali both had soild swims that saw them dropping about 2 seconds. Not bad.

100 BREAST
In the prelims there was a break after the 200 free … after asking a mis-infofmed official of there was a break (he said yes). I then told our girls not to worry there would be some time to get ready to swim. Turns out there was no break and the 3 breaststrokers had to rush up to the blocks. It was a bit of a stinker b/c none of them improved from the morning swim.

100 BACK
Nicole & Ashley had good swims staying about the same or going up just a hair. Turns looked a little weak tonight … we will have to work on that.

50 FREE TIME TRIAL
Sam Durham time trialed the 50 free along with Rachel Vagnoni & Brittany Williams. Sam just missed the PSAC qualifying time, but all 3 women had smoking fast season best times … better then yesterday!

800 FREE RELAY
We didn’t enter this relay for the same reasons we didn’t swim the 400 medley relay.

DINNER
Ruby Tuesdy to go … complete with some chips and queso (no comparison to texas queso). Pack time … earlier wake up call tomorrow.

No internet access tomorrow until we are back in Lock Haven … SO, I will provided a report tomorrow (Sunday afternoon at the latest).

Thursday, November 20, 2008

"When you hear a whistle go faster"

Day 1 Headline type news ..

PSAC Qualifier
Kasey Campbell – 500 freestyle
5:22.37

New All Time Top 5
Kasey Campbell – 500 free (3rd)
Amanda Palmer – 200 im (5th)

Prelims (1 of 6)
There is a lot report on this session … of the 17 swims we had this morning 14 were season best time. We qualified swimmer or swimmers for finals in each event. I was extremely pleased with the first session ... we talked a lot about the importance of warming up and warming down.

Lunch was Subway … one of the more efficient trips with a large group I have ever been too. However, the speed of service came a the great sacrifice of the quality of the sub. Oh well, it happens.

Finals (2 of 6)
Our 200 free relay kicked off the evening (the relays are timed finals only)…Bailey Reitz shined through with a great lead of leg dropping about 7 tenths of a second from the prelim … our A relay of Sam Durham, Brittany Williams, Amanda Palmer & Kasey Campbell placed 3rd.

In the 500 freestyle, Freshman Kasey Campbell placed 2nd with a PSAC qualifying time of 5:22.37 (also places her 3rd on our All Time Top 5 performers list. Erin McCracken and Shannon Samanka swam consols, finishing in about the same times as the morning. Becky Fountaine dropped 5 seconds from her morning swim in the bonus heat.

Amanda Palmer placed 6th in the 200 IM with a time that places her 5th on our All Time Top 5 Performers list. She was a little over 3 seconds faster than her morning swim, just missing her lifetime best.

The 50 freestyle had a LHU swimmer in each of the 3 heats. Sam Durham, Brittany Williams & Rachel Vagnoni were all with in 3 tenths of there morning time. Sam is just 2 tenths off of the PSAC cut time and is inching closer. We will probably shoot for a time trial tomorrow or Saturday to give it another shot … depends on how the rest of the meet goes for her.

The 400 medley relay concluded the evening…the coaching staff decided at lunch that we would benefit from a little more rest, therefore we scratched all 3 of our relays and the points that went with them.

If I have said it once, I have said it a million times … I am always more concerned with performance over points ... in the long run good performances will take care of the points.

After a delicious dinner at Eat n Park (don’t worry Mr E … NO smiley face cookies!) we headed back to the hotel and although we missed the first 6 minutes of Grey’s it was a very good evening.

Made a quick run (or freezing walk in the snow) to wal mart to pick up some juice, bananas, bagels and skittles (those were for me). Spending the rest of the evening watching the Steelers game and season finale of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia with Coach Pat is a good way to finish day 1.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

IUP Invite ~ Travel Day

We made it to IUP rather uneventfully ... no major traffic, no major weather. Knock on wood we get the same luck driving home on Saturday (go buckeyes).

We checked into the hotel and after about 15 minutes headed out to for a warm up swim. We didn't get to swim in the competition pool b/c of some 'minor' repairs being done (have no fear we will be okay for tomorrow ... knock on wood). We swam for about 60 minutes then ate a wonderful meal at the Fire Mountain Buffet. Yummy & Delish!

Quick team meeting then a quick run to Wally World to get some supplemental breakfast items with Coach Pat of Fairmont State (my alma mater).

More on Coach Pat later ... if I get some time I will share the story of when/how we managed to get 2 school vans stuck together...oh yes, stuck together.

8:15am wake up call tomorrow.

More LHU Cowbell...



"This is a sounding device event" ... famous last words of the officials during our home dual meets. There is a long an interesting story to how I came into possession of our "sounding device" but to protect the innocent (and/or guilty) I will keep the story confidential...at least for the time being.

to be continued...

TRAVEL DAY TO IUP ...

CHECK BACK FOR EVENING UPDATES

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Set of (Last) Week

Here is a 'fun' set we did about 10 days ago.

3 x 25 @ :25
3 x 50 @ :50
3 x 75 @ 1:15
3 x 100 @ 1:40
3 x 125 @ 2:05
3 x 150 @ 2:30
3 x 175 @ 2:55
3 x 200 @ 3:20

Descending each set of 3.
(1=ez/mod
(2=85/95%
(3=AO Max effort

Sunday, November 16, 2008

IUP & KU

Yesterday’s competition was an out of the ordinary meet for us. We had Kutztown & Indiana University of PA, 2 strong co-ed PSAC schools, come to Lock Haven to swim a women’s double dual meet and a traditional dual meet for their men’s programs.

We started our day with the traditional 9am wake up swim…and the re-issuance of bright white caps. Those white caps never seem to last too long before fading…so for each swim meet we provide a new one … with the old ones making there way to the practice cap pile. (our meet suit is solid maroon and it would be near impossible to match a maroon cap with that suit … so we don’t have a choice, but it is all good).

The order of events was the ‘long’ version that offers a 200 & 100 of each stroke…with 2 heats of women ( allowing 4 racers per team, rather than 2). The meet lasted about 45 minutes longer than I had anticipated, but that is okay.

Throughout the meet, KU broke 3 pool records in the meet and LHU’s Amanda Terray re-set her 100 backstroke pool record (also a B cut). After looking through the meet results (during home meets I rely on Katie and Joel to do the split taking … they did an awesome job) I was particularly impressed how consistent the women raced. I am confident that with a few more days of rest leading up to the IUP invite they will all swim lights out!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

East Stroudsburg

Our home opening dual meet started at 9am with a wake up swim…everybody loves the wake up swim (only a slight hint of sarcasm there). We did a 2,000ish warm up which ended with a few sprints from the block. The women headed out to return at 11:45amish.

Katie, Joel & myself spent the down time running various errands and watching some high quality YouTube clips. (thank goodness for wireless internet in Zimm).

We got the team back in the water around noon…swam a more specific type warm up and got out of the water about 40 minutes later.

We talked a lot about how this meet was going to be won with the 3rd, 4th & 5th place points. It was a fair prediction…we started with the 200 medley relay, a great race seeing Kasey Campbell coming back from about 3.5 seconds to out touch the ESU swimmer and securing 2nd place. (ESU 13 / LHU 4)

Shannon Samanka, Erin McCracken & Becky Fountaine cruised to a 1-2-3 finish in the 1000. (ESU 16 / LHU 20)

The 200 free saw a great back and forth race with Kasey Campbell just getting out touched for a 2nd place. Ali Schaefer & Shannon Wilbur picked up the valuable 4th & 5th place points. (ESU 28 / LHU 27)

The 50 free was another fantastic race with Sam Durham, Brittany Williams, & Rachel Vagnoni taking 2nd, 3rd, & 4th. All with great times … (ESU 38 / LHU 36)

The 400 IM saw the ESU swimmer break the LHU pool record and the LHU swimmers race really well. Amanda Palmer, Janel Kinard & Meghan Grenier took the 2nd, 3rd & 4th place … with Meghan having a really gutsy race to finish strong. (ESU 48 / LHU 45)

After a short break the 100 fly was swum by Amanda Palmer, Rachel Vagnoni & Janel Kinard … with Palmer & Kinard swimming the tough back to back. It was another 2-3-4 finish. (ESU 58 / LHU 54)

The 100 freestyle was another awesome race with freshman Sam Durham coming from behind to out touch the ESU swimmer by .03 seconds. Brittany Williams and Erin McCracken swam great races to put us in the lead. (ESU 65 / LHU 66)

The 100 backstroke had 3 really big time drops with Ashley Gardner, Nicole Faulstick and Ali Schaefer placing 2nd, 4th and 6th. (ESU 78 / LHU 72)

The 500 was another 1-2-3 LHU finish. Kasey Campbell, Shannon Samanka & Becky Fountaine scoring big points. (ESU 81 / LHU 88)

The 100 breaststroke had 2nd, 4th and 5th place finish. This was a great race by Rachel Vagnoni, Amanda Palmer & Brittany Williams … all had awesome last 25’s! (ESU 93 / LHU 95)

The 400 free relay was another close finish with LHU placing 2nd & 3rd.

Final Score (ESU 104 / LHU 101).

Although we lost by 3 points I can honestly say the atmosphere in the bleachers was electric … our men’s basketball team was out in full force leading the way. Also in attendance was LHU swimming legend...the former Tatiana Patakyova.

The team was a little bummed by not winning, but it sure wasn’t for lack of effort. Even with the hard/intense workouts we had this week…EVERY SINGLE swim we had was a season best time. Not to bad.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Set of the Week

Here is a good set we recently did ...

4 rounds
100
2 x 50
100
2 x 25


round 1
@ 1:40
@ :40 AO
@ 1:40
@ :20 AO

round 2
@ 1:20 AO
@ :45
@ 1:20 AO
@ :30

round 3
@ 1:20 AO
@ :40 AO
@ 1:40
@ :30

round 4
@ 1:40
@ :45
@ 1:20 AO
@ :20 AO

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Mansfield

Our first dual meet of the year was a Saturday morning trip to Mansfield. (only about 75 minutes up the road)

Donny the bus driver was there right on time and after a dunkin doughnuts breakfast (no doughnuts) we were on the way. The DVD of choice (brought by me) was The Legend of Bagger Vance … after it started, the ipods came out and the eyes shut. I have never been much of a sleeper on the bus…but some how some way the women always seem to crash out.

We arrived in plenty of time for a solid warm up...all decked out in our new logo’d swim camps. The women looked really sharp. Mansfield is in rebuilding mode with a new coach and only had a few women to race. We ended up exhibitioning the last 4 events to win the meet by a score of 90 to 59.

Highlight of the meet would have to be Amanda Palmer qualifying for the PSAC meet in the 200 fly…the earliest she has ever qualifed.

Swimmers who raced the same event last week in Clarion who dropped some time are:
Alison Schaefer in the 200 free going 3 seconds faster and 2 seconds faster in the 200 back.

Samantha Durham in the 50 free going .9 faster.

Shannon Samanka in the 200 im going 3 seconds faster and 10 seconds faster in the 500 free.

Janel Kinard in the 200 im going .1 faster (hey it counts)

Amanda Palmer was 2 seconds faster in the 200 fly.

Shannon Wilbur .04 faster in the 100 free (still counts)

Nicole Faulstick 2 seconds faster in the 200 back.

Ashley Gardner 1 second faster in the 200 back.