Mako Holiday Invite Meet Re-cap

Historically, the first meet following the Winter Holiday break is primarily purposed for jump starting the team's competitive spirit and focus which are often both a little sleep-ish after a week's worth of Holiday left overs, extended bedtimes and for the Senior and Sen-Prep swimmers, an 8-day span of rigorous holiday training. To our pleasant surprise (lead by the 12 & under squad) the Marlins Winter Invite swimmers shook off their "hibernative" inclinations and swam their way to a very impressive season kick-off best time performance of 57%! In addition, there were 132 new/first time swims which is also a great way to start the new year and and even better sign that many swimmers are getting the message that diversifying their swimming repertoire opens a positive path to overall personal improvement. Keep up the good work!

For the most part, analyzing race performances in January should be done by comparing event times to either times from October, or times from last January (2011). Comparing times against best times done in the Championship meets in December will often fall short, due to the fact that in December, swimmers competing in the Championship meets have been rested and tapered for peak performances in these meets. Additionally, High School swimmers have been swimming weekly Friday meets in largely the same events for over a month at this point. The combination of all of these factors, not to mention the cold, dreary weather, definitely has an impact on a swimmers mental and physical performance throughout the months of January and February. One must actively keep a positive outlook and keep one's eye on the ultimate target throughout this period (March Champs). Having Specific goals, writing them down, and READING them every day is crucial to keeping one's self focused during the waning days and weeks of Winter.

All that being said, it is VERY impressive indeed when a swimmer starts off the new year with best times in any of their events. Four Marlins swimmers showed absolutely no sign of lingering holiday "slumberness" with 6 personal best. Anthony Arcomona dropped a total of 13.61 seconds in his 6 for 6 best time performance with two top swims in the 100 Back and 100 Breast. Jake Hernandez dropped 12.74 combined seconds with his best swim coming in the 100 Fly. Vikram Iyer dropped and impressive 24.88 seconds total with great races in the 200 Back, 100 Fly, 200 Free and 100 Back. Maddison Littlepage topped the group with an amazing 25.89 seconds cumulative time drop with her most impressive swim coming in the 100 Breast. Great job everyone!

Seven Marlins swimmers improved their personal best times in 5 events. Garrett Anderson dropped a total of 22.66 seconds with great swims in the 200 & 100 fly. Brantley Cervarich dropped 15.6 seconds total with several great swims the best of which came in the 100 Back and 100 I.M. William Glembocki dropped a combined 9.55 seconds with his best swim coming in the back. Tricia Liller had 5 very nice swims with an even more impressive consistency in time drops ( was that planned? check out her time drops.... see what I mean). Ryan McLaughlin dropped in 5 events (-14.78 total) with his best race in the 100 fly, and two others close behind in the 200 I.M. and 100 back. Meredith Miller dropped 8.31 seconds in her 5 events with nice swims in the 100 & 200 free. Alinka Ridley had personal best times in her 5 events with a cumulative 20.05 seconds drop. All 5 of Alinka's races were great! Awesome meet everyone!

There were 21 Marlins who swam 4 best times during the meet (see below). Here are their total meet time drops

Lauren Rubino 47.04
Cynthia Zhuang 29.76
Gavin Flanagan 27.39
Caroline Williams 20.72
Arina Telichko 20.67
Jessica Broyles 18.37
Nicolas Nguyen 17.62
Garrett Downs 17.59
Margaret Herbold 15.67
Blake Marcey 13.60
Haley Alderman 12.31
Ciara Deiderich 12.24
Allan Bartolome 11.26
Warren Breiseth 9.84
Kate Croxton 9.32
Sean Murphy 9.08
Addison Crylblsky 7.63
Alexis Weeren 6.19
Delaney Kennedy 4.85
Katherine Teare 4.65
Akanksha Alok 1.65

No matter how you slice it... dropping time in January is a great accomplishment and a good indicator of things to come in March. For those swimmers that did not have time drops, don't worry. For many of you this may also be a good sign that you are continuing to work hard and that you are swimming tired as a result. That is simply a "fact of life" as a higher level competitive swimmer. Understand it, accept it, get used to it and get over it. If you are working hard, being consistant, are maintaining a positive and confident attitiude and are, most importantly, having fun... you are on the right track for continued future successes. Besides, we'd probably be more worried if you had your best times in January as opposed to the December Champs meets where you were supposed to be on top of your game. Wouldn't you?

Congrats to all and keep Burnin', Churnin' and Turnin' out there!

Coach Barry Marlin

Swimmers with 4 or more best times

Swimmer Name Event Time Drop
Arcomona 50 Fly -2.29
100 Back -4.23
50 Breast -1.22
50 Free -.98
100 Breast -4.12
50 Back -.77
Hernandez 200 free -2.23
100 Back -.76
50 Free -.89
100 Fly -4.93
200 I.M. -2.17
100 Free -1.74
Iyer 200 Free -5.11
100 Back -3.34
50 Free -.71
100 Fly -7.10
200 Back -8.10
100 Free -.52
Maddison Littlepage 50 Fly -.46
50 Breast -2.57
200 I.M. -4.55
100 Fly -2.42
100 Breast -11.89
50 Back -4.00
Garrett Anderson 50 Free -.20
200 Fly -8.74
100 Fly -8.36
200 Back -1.08
100 Breast -4.28
Brantley Cervarich 100 Back -6.76
50 Breast -.31
100 I.M. -3.72
50 Free -2.06
50 Back -2.75
William Glembocki 50 Fly -1.46
100 Back -4.23
50 Breast -.85
100 I.M. -1.71
100 Breast -1.30
Liller 200 Free -2.12
200 Breast -2.81
200 I.M. -.62
100 Free -2.81
100 Breast -2.13
McLaughlin 50 Fly -1.56
100 Back -2.95
200 I.M. -3.11
50 Free -1.91
100 Fly -5.25
Miller 50 Fly -.75
100 Free -3.60
50 Breast -1.67
100 I.M. -.13
200 Free -2.16
Alinka Ridley 50 Fly -4.55
50 Breast -4.84
100 I.M. -5.41
50 Free -1.83
50 Back -3.42
Haley Alderman 200 I.M. -.14
50 Free -1.30
100 Breast -4.15
200 Free -6.72
Akanksha Alok 50 Fly -.49
100 Free -.43
100 I.M. -.13
100 Fly -.60
Allan Bartolome 100 Free -2.38
100 I.M. -3.15
50 Free -.41
100 Breast -5.32
Warren Breiseth 100 Back -2.77
200 I.M. -.69
100 I.M. -4.97
50 Back -1.41
Broyles 50 Fly -3.43
100 Back -3.19
100 I.M. -11.05
50 Free -.70
Kate Croxton 50 Fly -.51
200 I.M. -4.80
100 I.M. -1.99
100 Fly -2.02
50 Fly -3.13
100 Free -1.44
50 Breast -.36
100 Breast -2.70
Deiderich 50 Fly -1.36
200 I.M. -9.00
100 I.M. -1.24
50 Back -.64
Downs 100 Back -3.21
200 I.M. -2.15
100 Fly -3.29
200 Free -8.94
Flanagan 100 Free -5.91
50 Free -.91
100 Fly -7.81
200 Free -13.67
Herbold 100 Free -.55
50 Breast -9.68
50 Free -2.37
50 Back -3.07
Kennedy 100 Free -.74
50 Breast -.14
50 Free -.64
100 Breast -3.33
Marcey 200 I.M. -7.29
50 Fly -1.74
50 Breast -.20
200 Free -4.37
Murphy 100 Free -.58
100 I.M. -.08
50 Free -.79
200 Free -7.63
Nguyen 100 Back -5.18
100 I.M. -2.17
100 Fly -10.14
50 Back -.13
Rubino 50 Breast -8.59
100 I.M. -8.03
100 Fly -16.23
100 Breast -14.19
Teare 100 I.M. -1.50
50 Free -1.01
100 Breast -.21
50 Back -1.93
Telichko 50 Fly -4.14
200 I.M. -1.43
50 Free -1.50
200 Free -13.60
Weeren 100 Back -.69
100 Fly -1.87
100 Breast -.03
200 Free -3.60
Williams 50 Fly -3.25
100 Back -6.41
100 Free -7.08
50 Free -3.98
Cynthia Zhuang 200 Free -6.28
200 I.M. -1.18
200 Back -20.86
100 Free -1.44