First off, thank you all for being one of the few (possibly the only) team to have 100% attendance at the meet and 100% of the team on time for our 5:15am departure.  This was only possible because our number one fan and supporter, JAC Borich got up early on a Saturday to spend all day with us while not swimming a stroke.  That is dedication right there.  He made posters, took photos, cheered, and even took on some assistant coach duties by calling out starts in warm-ups while I went to the coaches meeting. The boys have been working hard the past few weeks, and it certainly showed on Saturday.  Despite that early departure, they were ready to swim, and ready to win, right from the first event.  And, much like earlier in the year, we knew it would be a good battle with Collegiate.  Plus, with them handing us our first lost since December of 2016, just a few weeks ago, the boys were out to start a new winning streak.

 

The medley relays got things started off with a bang, with both teams dropping about two seconds each.  In fact, it was hard not to find a swim on Saturday that did not involve a personal best.  Although Collegiate's A relay edged out our A relay, we did drop those two seconds and have the 3rd fastest middle school relay time ever!  Both A and B squads were littered with personal best splits, 5 of 8 by my count.  The B squad finished in 7th, ahead of the A teams from 10 different schools.

 

The distance free events are always our big point machines at this meet, and this year was no different.  We took 5 of the finish places from 6th to 13th in the 100 Free, logging our biggest individual event points of the meet (42).  More importantly, all 5 swimmers had a personal best, with Bennett Long dropping the most (3.5 seconds).  Our 200 Free also yielded a good amount of points, our 2nd most of any individual event (38).  Ethan Smith took 3rd, while we packed it in with 10th-13th places to add to it.  Again, everyone had a personal best time, cumulatively dropping 33 seconds across 5 swimmers (21 of that was by Jake Kuhlen and Bennett Long).  We took a 3rd and a 9th in the 100 IM to round out our distance scoring.

 

In the 50s, we didn't show as much depth, but we certainly had our fair share of top finishers.  Carter Perkins and Brandon Moore each won an event while taking runner-up in their other event.  Brandon won the 50 Fly and finished 2nd in the 50 Back.  Carter won the 50 Breast and finished 2nd in the 50 Free.  Carter's times in each event moved him to 2nd all-time in the 50 Free (to himself) and 50 Breast (to Tee Bowles from last year), giving himself another slot on the record board.  Alex Hatfield, in just his first year ever of swimming, took 10th in the 50 Free, and later split the 4th best relay split of either A or B team in the freestyle relay, earning his way onto the A team for the final meet of the year.  Robbie Joyner and Jake Kuhlen also had top-10 finishes with Robbie in the 50 Back (7th) and Jake in the 50 Breast (5th).  Nathan Parker squeezed into scoring position by 2 spots in the 50 Back, while John Wishnack just missed in the 50 Breast by 2 spots.  They will be back next year with a vengeance.

 

The 200 free relay was more or less the same as the medley with Collegiate getting the top spot ahead of our A team.  The B team did move up a spot from the medley as they finished in 6th place.  We once again had 5 of 8 with a best time on their relay split.  This sealed the win for us and got us over the 300-point mark.

 

Our total of 333 was the 6th highest total in meet history.  Coincidentally, we own that record with 447 back in 2016.  This gave us our 4th straight win, a streak no other team has done (St. Michael's won 3 in a row in 2007-2009).  It was also our 6th win in the past 8 years.  Our 6 wins is the most by any team in the 19 year history of the meet.  St. Michael's is 2nd in that department with their three.  The girls also won (their 2nd title), marking the first time both Saints teams left Holton-Arms with the 1st place trophy.  We also have 3 runner-ups finishes to our credit and have never finished lower than 7th, which is impressive when you are talking about 20 teams or so represented each year.  And, with the current 7s returning next year, the upcoming 6s, and a few new 8s next year that may come out of nowhere (like an Alex Hatfield or Bowen Hall), I hope to once again be vying for a title in 2020.