Marlins Take 2nd at 2011 VA LC State Champs!
May is also noted for several other special historical events. Mother's Day (2nd Sunday of May) was first observed in 1908, later becoming a public holiday May 9, 1914...Memorial Day (now the last Monday in May) was first observed May 5, 1866. Back in 1950, the 3rd Saturday of May was set aside for Armed Forces Day, and we've come to associate the first Saturday in May with gaudy big hats, Mint Juleps and the Kentucky Derby.
May is also the 'birth' of some important organizations. The Red Cross that we know today was initiated by Clara Barton on May 21, 1881. The Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia May 25, 1787, with George Washington as president. The golden spike was driven at that famed meeting of east-west railroads in Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869 thereby completing the first transcontinental railway. The U.S. began regular airmail service on May 15, 1918. And on this day in 1931 the New York City icon, Empire State Building, opened its doors to the public.
AND NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!, May is known for the VA LC State Championships. Oak Marr Rec. Center was once again the setting for this year’s meet. And what a meet it was for the Marlin swimmers! On our way to a 2nd place overall finish (1,120 pts), our swimmers racked up some pretty impressive results. Six Marlin swimmers finished in the top 10 in their age group for high point honors. Kate Croxton finished 5th in the 9-10 girls age group while Holly Jansen finished 2nd and Grace Obando finished 10th in the 11-12 girls age group; Laura Schwartz was 5th in the 15 &O girls age group. On the boys side, Scott Baxter finished 3rd and Jonathan Pollock finished 9th in the 11-12 Boys age group. Congrats to all of you!
Out of the 62 swims we had that resulted in a time drop of 3.0 seconds or greater, I wanted to highlight 17 of those swims that I felt were very impressive for one reason or another. Evan Baker (14) had two of them. Evan dropped 27.69 sec. in the 400 free with great splits! Evan also dropped 15.96 sec in the 200 fly even though he may have gone out a bit too fast, he held on till the end! Eli Bass (16) dropped 33.44 sec. in his 400 IM. Scott Baxter (12) dropped 4.60 seconds in the 200 IM for a 1st place finish! (Scott also won the 50 back).
Here are a few more. Hyung Tae Chang (11) had two impressive swims dropping 32.00 sec. in the 400 free (with great splits) and his 200 IM where he dropped 23.49 seconds! One of the most memorable swims of the meet was Lauren Hensley (14) winning the 13-14 200 backstroke (-3.93) which left us shaking our heads in disbelief. What makes this even more of an impressive swim is the fact that Lauren broke the team record in that swim, which was set by one of the best swimmers we have ever produced! Great swim Lauren! Another record setting performance was Holly Jansen’s (11) 200 breaststroke swim. Holly dropped 9.72 seconds at finals to win the event and set the Marlin’s team record. Great swim Holly!
Want even more? How about these swims… Karina Kolb (13) dropped 19.93 seconds in the 200 IM, John Kost dropped 8.46 sec. in the 200 breast, Gabby Kuehhas (11), who has shown she really prefers LC swimming over that short pool we use all winter. Gabby left us shaking our heads also when she dropped 42.42 seconds in the 400 free! Wow! Kyle Major had two great swims, the first coming in the 200 free (-18.83) and the second in the 200 IM (-25.59). Grace Obando (12) dropped 18.68 sec. in the 400 free, and sister Natalie (14) who dug deep to win the B finals of the 200 back (-6.83) after having a not so impressive morning swim…way to fight back Nat!
Two more swims were of the impressive nature to me. Laura Schwartz (16) dropped 16.83 seconds in the 200 butterfly to with the B final and younger brother Eric Schwartz (14) dropped 7.22 seconds in the 200 breast. Now, the seven second time improvement was not what caught my attention, it was the way Eric swam the race. This was the first time I’ve seen Eric swim like he wanted to win! It was the first time he raced hard the entire 200, a breakthrough swim for him for sure. We hope to not only see more of that from Eric, but from everyone!
There were many more great performances and newly achieved time standards and they are highlighted on the Results Chart linked below. Congrats to all Marlin swimmers on a job well done!
Coach Bill Marlin
