Set of the Week

I rarely do this ... in fact this is the first time in 6 years as a head coach I can remember straight up taking a full workout from a previous season and re-doing it.

For Amanda Terray's national taper, I took a look at the first workout after PSAC's from last year, liked it, and we did it yesterday.

long warm up (325 free / 175 back x 4)

Main Set
Did this 3 times through

3 x 50 free @ 1:00, #3 is for time
3 x 100 back @ 1:40 smooth
:15 rest
2 x 50 free @ :45, #2 is for time
2 x 100 back @ 1:30 smooth
:30 rest
1 x 50 free @ :35, make it
1 x 100 back for time
:45 rest

Last Year's Times...
50's @ 1:00 - 28.5, 29.3, 29.8
50's @ :45 - 30.2, 29.4, 29.7
100 back - 1:08.7, 1:10.8, 1:10.0

This Year's Times
50's @ 1:00 - 26.2, 27.0, 26.7
50's @ :45 - 26.8, 27.2, 26.9
100 back - 1:03.5, 1:03.2, 1:01.8

Pretty awesome to compare ... not sure what it all means, but I like it!

the long story short post...

We had our 2nd ever PSAC champion when Amanda Terray won the 200 backstroke. It was a fairly identical swim as prelims with the excpetion of the 3rd 50 where she ended up going about a half second faster.

Amanda Palmer had another very good race in the 200 fly, finishing just shy of her lifetime best, but still was faster then the morning swim. What an outstanding year she has had ... just HUGE time drops from the past 2 seasons. I am uber impressed with her this year. She has really set herself up for a great senior year!

Our 400 free relay had Terray leading off in a time that would have placed in the top 6 individually but just missed our school record...but was a B cut and she has qualified to swim the event at NCAA's. Sam split a 54 ... best of the season, Brittany split a faster 55 then she did in the morning, and Kasey brought it home strong with a 55 as well.

These 4 individual qualifers will all be back next year ... combined with a few more additions to the team we should really maintain, if not improve, our standings.

We did finish 9th overall (same as last year, even though Gannon joined)...2nd amoungst women's only programs.

super solid sunday morning

last day = best day...we had some top events swum today (terray - 200 back, sam - 100 free, palmer - 200 fly, kasey - 1650 free)

terray's 200 back was a super soild morning swim ... top seed going into tonight's finals. she went out in a blazing 59.3 and shut it down a little bit after that. If she goes out just as fast and put's it into cruise control she can really pop a great time...and improve her seeding going into NCAA's.

sam's 100 free was a soild swim, and poved to be a small improvement...hitting the PSAC cut time.

palmer's 200 fly was her 3rd best time ever and is the 12th seed going into tonight's final. She swam a super race and brought it home strong, even though it hurt a little bit...she will have a good race tonight and should be fun.

kasey's 1650 was a blazing start ... 5:25 @ the 500, 11:00 @ the 1000 (note: her second best 1000 ever) and finished with a 18:19.44 ... new school record by a little less than 10 full seconds.

terray led off our 400 free relay in a 52.6...just missing the school record. The rest of the relay (durham, williams & kinard ... had some good safe starts...should all swim faster tonight. Kasey will take Kinard's spot as the anchor.

subway today for lunch and some quality resting time as we have a late check out for 3pm.

awesome, awesome weekend so far, looking forward to our last session O swimming.


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I will not have internet until late tonight ... maybe tomorrow morning, so please check

HAVENSPORTS.COM

for an update on how the even goes for us.

NEW SCHOOL RECORD(s) & wardrobe

Apologies for no update this morning. After the morning session (details to follow) we had a team to go lunch at wegmans (=not cheapo) I had a family lunch with my mom, sister and kim (red robin - yum). On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Kohls b/c I needed some pimp new clothes ... so I can dress classy. (note: most of my classy casual stuff doesn't fit anymore)....mama waeger wanted me to look good, so I got some classy new pants, classy new $21 shoes, and a classy fancy button down shirt, but to say the least.......I looked good and classy.

I got back to the hotel in enough time for mama waeger to iron the classy new pants and take a quick shower before heading back to the pool. This is where Andy started to have a bit of a bad 45 minutes ... long story short the pool entrance wasn't opened on time...in fact it opened 30 minutes late after I tracked "the guy" down to open the door (much to the delight of the 40+ swimmers waiting for the doors to be opened). This wouldn't have been so bad if Amanda Palmer and I didn't get to the pool for a super early (empty pool) warm up. That's all I am going to say about that....

So, rewind ........

Amanda Palmer and I went to the pool at 7am for the empty pool warm up (leaving the hotel at about 6:45...apparently the hotel breakfast on the weekends doesn't start until 7am) made a quick stop at panera bread for a super awesome seasame seed bagel (losing a vast majority of the seeds when it went through the slicer...ugh).

Anyways .... we got to the pool in enough time for a really good warm up.

First swim this morning was the 200 medley relay ... great swim by all. Actually all the split as fast or faster then I thought.

Amanda Palmers 400im was a smokin' 4:43.99 ... her best before this was a 4:51.07. (previous school record was 4:48ish)...seeded 8th (at finals went a tad slower)...but got the hand shake from Graduate Assistant (and former PSAC 400im champion Katie Kuntz) for the awards presentation.

Amanda Terray had a season best time, and official A cut in the 100 back with a time of 57.57...was seeded 2nd after prelims. Finals had a rough (!!) first turn ... pretty much head butted the wall and went 57.6...stayed 2nd. Two years in a row recieving the silver.

800 free relay = suprise, suprise, suprise...kasey lead us off with a 2:00.5 (needed a 2:00.3 to get spot #5 on our all time top 5...next year!) Terray busted out a 156...at this point I was thinking great start, come on Sam ... who goes out in a 56 and then I dropped the F bomb (sorry mah) and then when she brought it back in a 2:01/2ish I was thinking hey we could get a school record...come on Palmer. At her first 100 it was a 56ish as well and I dropped a double holy F bomb (sorry mah) and Palmer brought it home in a 2:01/2ish...8:01.33 ... new school record. Awesome. Ended up 9th...with a freak dq bumping us to 8th.

best day as a team for LHU swimming in a long LONG time.

tomorrow...Terray's 200 back (looking to defend her title), Durham's 100 free (can't wait for this one!!), Palmer 200 fly (can the hott streak continue ... I think so) and Campbell's 1650...(lane 6...just close enough for me to be all up in her grill when need be)

Joel Blesh - PSAC 200 im champion ............... presentor

tonight's 200 free relay started us ... Sam had a pretty good swim, but not quite as fast as she was hoping for....but she more than made up for it in the 400 medley relay!! Terray split a 23.99 (note: not a math major and for about 15 minutes she thought her split was 24.99...it happens) Brittany and Palmer both had great swims.

Terray's 50 free went from 12th to 9th place with a great swim...the 400 medley relay was a pretty good way to finish the meet. We were 10th behind a tough bloomsburg team. Terry lead off a soild 58.2, Brittany split another 1:12, Palmer split a lifetime best 1:01 and Sam blasted home a great finish (fighting the waves at the 50 mark) with a 54. Great stuff.

Now the picture is our very own Jo-el blesh as the 200 im champion presentor....he did a great job except shaking the hands. Although the 3rd place finisher almost recieved the award b/c he was out of position ... it happens. He will be doing some hand shaking sunday for the 200 breast!

7am departure for Palmer and myself ... 8am depature for the rest of the group.

I am super excited for tomorrow's swims.

friday prelims

Glorious start to the day...our 200 free relay had a fantastic swim.

Amanda Terray lead off with a 24.46 ... getting her B cut in that event. Sam split a 24.9, and Brittany had a 25.6 and Amanda Palmer had a 25.76, totally skipping the "26's" to go super fast. The relay ended up 9th.

Kasey swam the 500...didn't have the result she was looking for but learned about her warm up. I think she is going to have a great 1650!...but has a few relays in between.

Palmer swam the 200 IM in a lifetime best swim and moved from 5th to 3rd on our all time top 5 list...

Sam and Terray had the 50 free ... Sam going first and swimming only a little bit faster. She is going to lead off our 200 free relay tonight to get another shot at a flat start time. Terray didn't have the best start and it caught up with her ... she went a little bit slower than her relay lead off and was good enough to tie for 12th...giving her another shot at it tonight.

Our 400 medley relay was specatular ... Terray lead off with a 58.10 ... a soild morning swim for her. I expect a 57 tonight. Brittney Williams swam the 100 breast in her best college time, and Palmer fought through some killer waves to go a 103 and Sam had a good swim in the anchor spot.

Today's lunch was Wegmans ... oh my delicious...moderatly expensive but totally worth it. The pork egg roll was made of real pork no question about it. (Note: I, and Jo-el, question at times the chinese food in Lock Haven especially their version of "pork")

Side note on just how wicked fast this meet is ... easily one of the most competitive in all of D2 ... we will be well represented at NCAA's!

friday morning

We have some good events coming up this morning...Kasey get's back into the pool with the 500, Amanda Palmer has the 200 im, Sam Durham and Amanda Terray have the 50 free. 2 relays as well...

update on the swims will come this afternoon...

ps-happy birthday jay

new school record

Kasey Campbell had the 1000 free tonight...her time of 10:57.12 broke our 2nd oldest school record of 11:04.40.

GREAT start to the championship weekend. Will update once we have what place she gets.

*****

18th place for Kasey. 2 places away from points, but still an amazing swim...lifetime best, school record, doesn't get much better. 500 for her tomorrow and she has the potential to do really well (as all the women do).

DINNER ... as I have been told by a very wise coach, swim meets are a series of meals with some swimming in between...so we went with Olive Garden take out. Katie took care of the orders and had them ready for us at 7:45. on the run to the car (note: the wind is blowing about 200 mph) I sprinted right past my mom and sister and didn't realize it...oops.

I am stuffed ... we have 7:20am wake up call and 8am departure.

you are NOT the father...

Our 2 hour drive was broken up by a nice lunch at applebees...delish.

After another hour drive we got to the hotel, checked in...dished out the pimp new TYR tracer light's, caps, and conference t-shirts. Giving us about 60 minutes to get ready to head to the pool. Tonight has the coaches meeting and the 1000 free.

To kill the time Jo-el and I watched a hilarous episode of Maury...so bad it's good.

Travel Day

Traveling to Cumberland Valley High School this morning with a scheduled departure at 11am. Making the traditional stop at Applebees about half way...delish. We will then check into our hotel and relax a little bit before heading to the pool for warm up, coaches meeting and Kasy's 1000 free (heat 2 lane 2).

I will update our blog as much as possible throughout the weekend.

taper warm up / relay exchanges

For the past week or so we have been doing the same warm up. As we got closer to the PSAC championship we have done parts of the warm up all in the same lane (to get used to swimming with a crowd).

800 oyo
6 x 50 @ :55 (slk/dr/sw)
3 x 100 @ 1:40 descend 1-3
3 x 75 @ 1:10
2 dive 25's
relay exchanges

Relays...we put together the fairly firm relay line up and have practiced each exchange several times. Before breaking up into individual workouts. The last few times we did the relay starts, Katie, Joel and myself assigned a grade...anything lower than a B constituted a re-do. We saw some drastic improvements.

11:00am departure tomorrow.

edinboro

Today was our taper meet for all swimmers without qualifying times for the PSAC meet.

Started at 7am with small grocery (and kim’s muffin) breakfast. Our bus driver, Dave who also had the privilege of escorting us to Clarion back in October, had a little trouble with the heat and although it wasn’t Cocoa Beach Florida warm on the bus, it wasn’t North Pole cold either.

The viewing entertainment was provided by Ashley Gardner who recently acquired the USA swimming dvd containing a lot of races from the Olympics and Olympic trial meet. Nothing like a little Rowdy Gaines commentary to get you psyched up for a day of swimming.

We arrived at the pool in plenty of time to chill and stretch out. We did a team warm up for about 30 minutes, most of the group got out (a few stayed in and continued to splash around)...45 minutes or so later the women all got back in before a specific warm up. In between warm ups the elder Kinard sister arrived from Shippensburg to suprise Janel...it was a really neat moment to see.

We had some really great swims ... without the results handy I can't provide all the fine details and don't want to risk missing anybody by going from memory.

Dinner was Uncle Charlies...a delish joint offering pizza, subs, wings etc. The Samanka's brought a delish cake (see picture in below post) to celebrate Shannon's 4 year swimmer career at LHU.

As the journey back to Lock Haven started I told the team to be smart and to not forget to study. I also passed along a very public thank you to Katie and Joel for really making coaching fun...this year's team was an absolute joy to work with...they have an amazing dynamic that makes it fun to go to "work" everyday.

We are doing unofficial time trials tomorrow ... offering everyone an opportunity to swim whatever races they want to swim with our timing system. All the swims aren't reportable, but if they are legal we will keep them on our top times list.

(just thinking about 'legal' swims...in 6 years of head coaching I don't recall there ever being a DQ in a dual meet....okay just 1...but that's 'bob ross' story for another posting, but it makes me wonder if the officials even pay attention or if they are just there for the funds)

i <3 cake!

(thank you mr & mrs samanka!)

Last Pre-Taper Set of the Week

Katie came up with a few great sets to finish up Phase 5. (Phase 6 is PSAC taper) All swims started with a dive (except Palmer's 100 free) and was to be max effort all the way through.

Amanda Palmer did...
3 x
(400 im @ 7:00
(200 im @ 4:00
(100 free @ 3:00 push

Amanda Terray did...
14 x 150 @ 3:00

Sam Durham did...
14 x 125 @ 3:00

Kasey Campbell did...
5 x 500 @ 8:00

Edinboro meet tomorrow ... word on the street is that the Samanka's are bringing some cake for the post meet celebration.