2011 PVS Senior Champs

It is often said that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb.  One could also say that Potomac Marlins came into March like a lion as well.  PVS held their Senior Champs meet at GMU on March 10-13 and the Marlin swimmers were more than ready to kick off our March Madness in a fury.  Twenty-six PM swimmers swam in the meet and they recorded 53 personal bests out of 86 opportunities for a 62% best time performance.  The Marlins also finished in 4th place over all with 350 points.   Below are some highlights of the meet.

Two kids swam 100% best times in 4 or more events.  Caleb Meindertsma was 6 for 6 with big time drops in 5 out of his 6 events.  Caleb finished in 7th place in the 1000 free with a Personal Best by 24.75 seconds, (9:42.26).  He was 10th in the 400 IM with a time drop of 8.67 seconds (4:16.40) and he finished 6th in the 500 free with a new best time by 7.16 seconds, (4:43.42)!  Caleb also recorded another personal best in the 200 fly (1:59.81) by dropping 3.58 seconds off his previous best.  But Caleb’s best finish and biggest time drop came in the 1650 free where he dropped a huge 113.38 seconds for a 4th place finish (16:22.07)!  Caleb also finished 5th in the overall points race.  Awesome meet Caleb!

Laura Schwartz had a great meet also.  Laura was a perfect 5 out of 5 best times with her biggest time drop and best finish coming in the first event of the meet.  Laura swam the 1650 free in a new Personal Best of 17:07.74.  This was good enough for 2nd place and a time drop of 46.83 seconds!  Laura also had a nice 4.10 second improvement in her 200 fly (2:08.34) which was the fastest time of everyone at finals but only a 9th place finish.  I guess she should have swum a little bit faster in the morning!  Anyway, Laura placed 4th in the 100 free, 9th in the 200 free and 9th in the 100 breast. All were PB’s.  Laura was also 5th in the overall points race.  Awesome swimming Laura!

Nic Laffosse also showed his prowess in going 5 out of 6 best times.  Nic had three swims with big time drops.  The first came in the 400 IM where he improved by 10.41 seconds.  The next was in the 1650 free where he dropped 24.26 seconds for a 7th place overall finish and his last big drop was in the 100 breast where he dropped 10.42 seconds in a time trial swim.  Nice job Nic! 

Nick Campbell had a strong performance too.  Nick swam PB’s in 4 out of his 7 events with a big drop in the 500 free (-27.81 seconds) for a new time of 4:57.50.  Feels great to break that 5:00 barrier for the first time doesn’t it!  Nick also recorded a top 8 performance in the 200 back with a new PB of 1:57.69 and an 8th place finish.  Way to go Nick!

Eli Bass also had a very good meet going 4 out of 6 best times. Eli’s biggest drop happened in the 1000 free where he improved his PB by 13.26 seconds (10:00.00).  If he would have let his fingernails grow just a bit more he would have broken 10 minutes!!  Eli also recorded an 11th place finish in the 400 IM and a 14th place finish in the 200 IM. 

Three other kids had swims with time drops over three seconds at the meet.  Collin Chartier had to do a 200 back in a time trial after getting DQ’d on the start for going under water beyond the 15 yd mark.  Collin redeemed himself in the time trial by dropping  4.75 seconds in the event and making a new Sectionals qualifying time.  I’m sure he wishes he had done that in the morning as he would have made finals with that time, (1:59.24).  Lesson to all our younger swimmers…Even our older kids make mistakes…it’s okay.  Reid Penzler had the only other time drop of 3 seconds or more.  Reid swam the 100 fly in 1:01.61 which was a time drop of 4.25 seconds.  He was also 3 out of 4 best times. Nice swimming Reid!  Becky Burke dropped 7.12 seconds in her 400 IM which she elected to swim as a time trial vs. in the meet due to the two events being back-to-back and not having enough rest to perform at her best in both events.  Nice Job Becky!

A few other Marlin swimmers had nice performances even if they did not have the big time drops.  Katie Dingman was 3 for 3 best times, Kevin Grant and Lauren Hensley were 3 out of 4 best times and Logan Richlak was 2 out of 3 best times.  And finally Gloriya Mavrova was 4 out of 6 best times.  Gloriya did not have any major time drops be she did record a 14th place finish in the 100 free (new personal best) and a 16th place finish in the 50 free.

Coach Bill Marlin

Scroll down for more meet photos by Mr. Dimitar Mavrova

Name	Event	New “A” Time Standards
Tiger Barbee	200 Back	AA
Eli Bass	100 Free 50 Free	AAA AAA
Becky Burke	400 IM	A
Nick Campbell	500 Free	AA
Collin Chartier	200 Back	AA
Stephanie Clarke	50 Free	AAA
Katie Dingman	50 Free	A
Lauren Hensley	50 Free	AAA
Nic Laffosse	400 IM 1650 Free	AA AAA
Caleb Meindertsma	400 IM 1650 Free	AAA AAA
Reid Penzler	50 Free	AAA
Logan Richlak	100 Back	AA
Erin Schulte	200 Breast	A
Laura Schwartz	1650 Free 200 Fly	AAAA AAA