Final Thoughts on BTAC Meet:
We had the seventh largest entry, but after the Saturday morning session we were holding on to second place overall. Unfortunately, illness to some of our swimmers prevented us from holding on to that spot, but still being competitive throughout the meet and finishing fourth is quite an accomplishment. We also were the second best Louisiana team in the meet by quite a bit.
Breaking the scores down further, in 9 & under scores, we were first overall. Coming off the Crawfish meet where everyone had such dramatic time drops, we continued to improve and where we didn't we were still much faster than our seed times from the Crawfish meet. We set some kind of record for most second best times ever swum in a meet.
Some of the best swims of the meet weren't always best times, but very intelligent swims where a BLAST swimmer who may have been under the weather, had to use their competitive resources available and win a heat for the team.
We were proud of everyone who raced - great job!
PNY meet: Eight swimmers made the trek to Gulf Shores, Ala and placed 8th out of 13 teams. We had two new state qualifiers, Emily Prieto [50 back] and Griffin Guzan [100 fly]. Many best times were recorded and some folks are getting "Oh,so close!" to making state times.
Season of Success: Our team is barely six months old and we expect to have over 20 swimmers qualified and going to state. That's an incredible accomplishment for any new team, but then throw Katrina and Rita into the equation, and it really is significant.
State qualifiers are posted on the website, and we will be putting relays together for state meet. We can have a relay for every four qualifiers in an age group, so some non qualifiers are eligible to go. If you haven't qualified, you still may be on relay. We will post those relays before Mardi Gras. If you are on a state relay, and cannot attend, PLEASE let us know. Driving to Lake Charles and spending the weekend there to swim relays is a real commitment and we deeply appreciate those who can go. But if you can't, we understand too, let us know ASAP so we can call on a substitute or not enter a relay in the meet.
Stay tuned for more state and district updates! We will try to get to post entries on the web as soon as possible.
See ya poolside,
BB
PRESS RELEASE:
KEHOE-FRANCE BLAST FIGHTS FOR FOURTH IN
BTAC MARDI GRAS SWIM MEET
In a meet that featured 30 teams and over 640 swimmers from the East Texas\Louisiana region, the Kehoe-France Northshore BLAST raced to a
fourth place finish in the 2006 Bengal Tiger Aquatic Speedo Mardi Gras
Invitational on Feb. 10 – 12.
The final scores of the top 20 teams
1. Bengal Tiger Aquatic
1,238
2. Blue Tide Aquatics - Texas 919.50
3. First Colony Swim Team- Texas 914
4. Kehoe-France Northshore BLAST 850.50
5. Klein Aquatics - Texas 791
6. Sienna Plantation Aquatics - Texas 596
8. Crescent City Swim Club 345
9. Riverside Swim Team 320
10.Lafayette Swim Team 313
13.Elmwood Sharks Swim Team 159
14.New Wave Swim Club -Texas 148
16.Hurricane Swim Club 83
17.La. College Aquatics Team 78
19.Louisiana Jazz Aquatics 76
20.St. Bernard Aquatics 72
The BLAST were led by a strong 10 & under age group that featured four individual high point award winners and ten swimmers in the top eight in their age groups in individual points.
Individual high point winners were: Andrew Knudsen, 88 points, nine first places, one second and five team records, Kara Kopcso, 72 points, five firsts places, two second places, a third, a fourth and a seventh and six team records Harrison Prieto, 70 points, seven firsts and one second and Grant Gallaspy, 62 points, four firsts, two seconds and two thirds.
Also winning events for the BLAST were: Madeleine Rawls, 8 year old girls 25 & 50 yard breaststroke, Griffin Guzan, 8 year old boys 25 butterfly and the 8 & under boys 100 free and 100 medley relays, Prieto, Gallaspy, Guzan and Matthew Stegen swam on both relays. All winning times were team records. Overall the team broke 32 individual and five relay team records.
New state qualifying times were turned in by Kristen Jennings, 100 fly, Will Warwick, 200 IM and 50 fly, and Carley Boyce, 200 freestyle.
Swimmers scoring in the top eight in individual age group high point scoring were:
Will Warwick3rd - 9 boys 56
Griffin Guzan 3rd - 8 boys 51
Colin Babcock 4th - 13 boys 49
Kristen Jennings 4th - 9 girls 48
Zachary Boudreaux 4th - 11 boys 43
Madeleine Rawls 4th - 8 girls 39
Grace Tucker 5th - 8 girls 37
Alex Knudsen 6th - 12 boys 30
Emily Prieto 8th - 9 girls 13
Jack Copes 8th - 6 & under boys 8
Three swimmers made 100% best times: Matthew Stegen, Brittany Bomboy and Louise Goodfellow.
For complete results, go to the BLAST website at www.blastswimteam.com
BLAST swimmers will be competing in the Pensacola Navy Polar Bear Meet Feb. 18 & 19, the District Championships March 4 & 5, the 8 & under regional championships March 11 & 12, and the Louisiana State Championships on March 16–19.
