BLAST NATION:
Anyone recovered yet?
Whoa, what a meet! Here's the final scores:
Combined Team Scores - Through Event 140
1. Crescent City Swim Club
3196
3196 2. Tiger Aquatics 3151
31513. Crawfish Aquatics 3073
4.Blast Swim Team2774.5
2774.55. City of Shreveport S.T 2645
6. Hurricane Swim Club 2211.5
7. Franco's Fins 1605.5
8. NU Wave Swim Club 1318
9. Riverside Swim Team 1158
10. Swim Louisiana 950
11. City OF Lafayette Aquatics 796
12. Bayou Barracudas 724
13. Elmwood Sharks 548
14. Pelican Ath. Club 381.5
381.515. Nord Aquatic Jets 289.5
16. LC Aquatics Team 216
17. City OF Alexandria Swim 156
18. Louisiana Gold 109
19. Riptide Swim Club 74
20. Lafayette Swim Team 69.5
21. St. Bernard Aquatics 34
22. Cajun Clippers Swim Team 17
22. Red River Rapids Swim Club 17
24. Unattached Blast 10 Yea, Lia!
But there's a big story behind our score. The news media will highlight all of our individual high point and outstanding swims turned in by our team. But what impressed us throughout the meet was how many best times we turned in as a team. In checking the meet summaries of all the teams, I discovered that Blast had the
HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF BEST TIMES OF ANY OF THE TEAMS THAT FINISHED IN THE TOP 8.
Here's the breakdown:
Team Percentage of Best Times
1. Blast 73%
2. TAQ 68%
3. CCSC 65%
4. Crawfish 63%
5. NuWave 61%
6. FINS 58%
7. Hurricanes 56%
8. COSST 56%
So in a season where the new hy-tek suits are the rage, where computerized training programs are thought to be the golden way, where team that train indoors train in safe weather environments and where fancy health clubs can provide the best in weights for their charges, that little ol' team that trains outdoors
on both shores had the best meet of all of them!
What's our secret? WE NEVER TAKE A RACE OFF. We've seen swimmers from other teams mail in their efforts in certain races. Blast swimmers don't live that way. That's not our style. When we get up on the blocks whether it's early season, mid season or championships, IT'S ON! And when another team's swimmer races us, they better be at their best or they can taste Blast Bubbles!
That a tribute to all coaches, swimmers and especially parents, who made the necessary sacrifices and commitment to achieve the highest level of excellence of any of the major state teams. Our parents have done a wonderful job of setting high, yet realistic standards for our swimmers to live by. This naturally carries over to our swimmers competitive attitudes and behaviors. If our kids need role models, they need to look no further
than inside their homes.
Of the top eight teams, Blast had more state champions than any other team.
Here's the breakdown:
Team State Champions
1. Blast 35
2. CCSC 23
3. TAQ 20
4. CRAW 17
5. COSST 14
6. FINS 12
7. HSC 9
7. NuWave 9
So not only were we most improved, but we also swam at the highest quality
Here's our Honor Roll of State Champions:
Blast Male Swimmers of the Meet: Harrison Prieto, 10, and Andrew Knudsen, 12.
When two swimmers win seven individual gold's each, by dominant margins, we make them Co-Male Swimmers of the Meet.
Andrew had 100% best times and Harrison had six of seven PR's. Both maintained training focus while doing other sports this season. "Big Baby" played football and basketball and Andrew played soccer, but their cross-training paid off as they dominated their age groups. Each swimmer recorded four AAAA times and set several team records.
Blast Female Swimmers of the Meet: Kristen Jennings, 12, and Kara Kopcso, 13.
"Magic" live up to her nickname, winning the 11-12 girls high point award by capturing five events, swimming 100% best times sometimes in prelims and then in finals, recording three AAAA times, setting team records in the 50 and 100 backstrokes and swimming on two 11-12 girls gold medal relays.
" Kare Bear" won the Damon McCoy Award for the fourth state meet in a row, also won five events, the 100 and 200 backstrokes, the 100 and 200 flys and the 400 IM, notched National Top Ten times in the 200 and 400 IM's and set six individual and four relay team records.
These four swimmers raked up 24 of our 35 gold medals. Scroll up and you will see that these FAB Four would've out golded the next team with the most golds!
BUT, our other gold medalists were equally outstanding.
Colin Babcock established himself as one of the best all around swimmers in the state, winning the boys 15 -16 100 and 200 breaststrokes, and the 200 and 400 IM's. He notched up five AAAA times, was 15 -16 boys high point runner up and set eight individual team records in the meet. Colin's 100 breast time of 59.54 is only .01 off the Consideration High School All-American time. He has emerged from becoming a good age group swimmer to being a dominant one. His comeback finishes have become legendary. In everyone of his state championship swims he had to come from behind at some point to take the race.
Jesi Kopcso remained Louisiana's "Lady Breaststroke" winning the 19 & under 100 and 200 breaststrokes in impressive team record times. Since the team's inception back in 2005, Jesi has gone undefeated in the 100 and 200 breaststroke in both state USAS and LHSAA short course and USAS long course competitions. That's eleven consecutive state meets, 23 breaststroke races in state championship competition and no one's come near her. Her 100 time made the Consideration All-American High School time .
So Jesi and Colin could be our first ever high school All-Americans!
All of the above swimmers have won state championships before and often in dramatic fashion, but we had a first time state champion
Robert Klazynski is a virtual team symbol of how perseverance, dedication and a love of the sport will eventually pay huge dividends to our swimmers. Before this meet, some of Robert's most notable swims were the ones that got him his state qualifying times, some dramatic district swims or trips to faraway meets that offered his best events. He made times as a 10 and under, struggled through his 11-12 years just to get times, but never got discouraged about not making his times. One state he went to Baton Rouge to cheer the team on when there were no qualifiers in his age group and no relays. He was the lap counter for Colin when he won his first state championships, the 1000 and 1650 at the 2007 SC State meet.
Then this year the 'Miracle of Maturation" occurred and Robert's times really started to drop. He swam the 1650 because he earned the distance bonus by qualifying for the 1000. So he entered the event with a BB time. He had one boy to beat and as luck would have it, the boy was in the same heat as Robert, in lane two. Robert exploded off the block at the beep, blasted out to an early lead and got stronger with each lap. He lowered his time by 41 seconds and beat his rival for second place by over a minute. At the instant he touched first, all that hard work, dedication and patience came to fruition for a shining and defining moment. Robert proved that state championships can be won by those who persevere, work incredibly hard and stay optimistic even in the face of adversity. He went from a BB entry time to an "A" state champion in one swim.
Relay state champions: all of our relays were very well swum and when I isolated the relay time improvements we clearly had the best relay improvement with a 68% of our relays performing better than their seed times.
There are many great relay stories, but here are our relay champions:
11- 12 Girls 200 Free Relay: Emily Prieto, Grace Tucker, Madeleine Rawls and Kristen Jennings - 1:48.80 - Team record!
11-12 Girls 200 Medley Relay: Emily Prieto, Grace Tucker, Madeleine Rawls and Kristen Jennings - 2:02.74
13 - 14 Girls 200 Medley Relay: Kara Kopcso, Alex Cloutet, Brooke Vinturella and Katie Fearn - 1:57.90 - Age group and overall team record!
11-12 Boys 200 Medley Relay: Will Warwick, Andrew Knudsen, Griffin Guzan and Jackson Murrell - 2:00.86 Team record!
Note: Jackson Murrell anchored this relay with a broken hand and with his hand taped still had a split of 26.21 to ice the relay!
With 35 state champions in 140 events, we had 25% of all the wins at state. There are over 200 swims worth talking and writing about, but I will pick up on that later.
But the best comment I heard at Sulphur was from the manager at the Fairfield Inn:
"Your swimmers were some of the best behaved that we've ever had at our hotel."
Blast kids are great kids!
Stay tuned there's more to come!
BB
BLAST NATION:
What an awesome state meet! While I haven't gotten the meet manager download to give you all the accurate stats, I can tell you that it was the best short course state meet Blast has ever experienced. We hit Thursday with a lot of momentum and sustained it throughout the entire meet. Last year we just missed fourth by 19 points; this year we were solidly in fourth and moving on the top three teams.
I will provide an accurate best times, records, etc once the meet manager file is sent out. Check the results link on the Swim Louisiana website.
Many thanks to all swimmers, parents and team supporters who made the effort to come to the meet, swim and cheer the team on. Many of us have swollen hands today from beating on bleachers every time our swimmers were announced for finals, but our cheering section raised the intensity level for our swimmers and they universally responded with impressive performances. There were best times from Colin Babcock's initial dive into the pool for the 1000 Thursday night right up to Callie Tucker's best ever 200 free time on Sunday night. I know we had to have one of the highest percentages of quality best times of any team at the meet.
BB
Fourth place-our best sc state finish ever...and we were only 400 points out of first! First in the state could be in our future.
ALL the swimmers deserve a big pat on the back for their hard work and commitment to making Blast what it has become. It is always a great feeling at the end of the last session on Sunday night; there is the fatigue that we all feel, the relief that it is over(for swimmers and coaches), the immense satisfaction for what has been achieved; which all results in an odd cross of emotions that seem to run the gamut. If you have not had the chance to hang around for the final session, it is a neat experience and I trust that you will have the opportunity in the future. Some of what you missed is:
Harrison - high point
Kristen - high point
Andrew -high point
Brooke - second runner up high point
Trey - runner up high point
Colin - runner up high point
Kara - Swimmer of the meet
Kara - plaque awarded for swimmer of the year last year
(sorry if I missed anyone, this is from memory)
I am so proud of our swimmers for their great performances, effort, and most of all for their great character.
Some highlights:
Walter making sectionals in two events
James missing sectionals by just one tenth in the 50
Rhett missing sectionals by a second and a half in the mile(which is similar to a tenth for a 50)
Kristen coming very close to sectionals in her 100 back
State champion Robert in the mile
All state performances in the mile - Colin, Rhett, Brooke, and Callie
Rhett - Ironman award - mile, 200 fly, 200 free triple in one session(best times achieved in all three in one day)
Zach completing his Blast short course career with a heroic best time in the mile
Callie - The final Blast swimmer achieving a best time in the 200 free
James' epic and smooth as butter anchor leg in the 15-18 medley relay, passing Nu Wave and Franco's for a 5th place finish!
Awesome medley relay wins- Katie's anchor, Emily's anchor, and Jackson's broken hand 26.2 anchor split!!
And let's not forget some of our newer swimmers posting best times which gives us some insight into things to come - Daniel, Elliott, Christian, Jeff, and Lia
I can't wait for long course season...
BLAST NATION:
As many of you know, the District meet is a competition of intense peaks and valleys, dozens of swimmers in an age group compete to grab that one spot that is allowed for swimmers who win an event to qualify for that event at state. Swimmers who strive to improve must also be the best in that event to go to state. In a meet of this type, swimmers can drop in 100% of their races yet still feel frustration at the near misses of being touched out for first in several events. The experience of the joy of a great time drop is soured by the frustration of just missing out of first place. Parents, swimmers and coaches experience emotional roller coaster rides that make the old Zephyr at Ponchartrain Beach seem like a kiddie boat ride. Kids put it on the line like they've never done before in their lives, the effort and intensity is there for every swimmer with every dive, stroke, turn, pushoff and finish in all their events.
Then there is the joy and relief of attaining the goal - winning the event or even cracking the state time barrier. Nothing ever felt sweeter to the athletes who achieved their goals this weekend, nothing ever hurt deeper than the agonizingly close misses.
On Sunday morning we had a record breaking session with 93% best times, 28 best times in 30 swims, but all session we kept missing the magic mark - sometimes by the smallest of margins. But on our last swim of the morning, [which by this time was about 1:15 pm], Nicholas Bienvenu dug down deep and showed that the race isn't over until the last stroke is swum. In the 100 fly, Nicholas had to beat a swimmer six lanes over to get the spot for state, the other boy, also nine, had a body length lead coming out of the last turn, Nicholas instinctively knew he had to put his head down and sprinted to the finish. Nicholas moved on the boy with each stroke, determined to catch a rival he could sense, but barely see. His last stroke hit the wall with Phelpsian speed and Nicholas wins by .05 sec and a personal best by two seconds! He was our only qualifier of the session, but what a way to end the morning!
The highlight swims of the session belonged 100% best timers Nicholas Bienvenu, Clare Bruns, Yakira Chapman, Hannah Hile, Patrick Hile, Margaret Larsen, Corinne Roe and Hope Winkler.. I know that this was the best session that we've swum all year in terms of achieving best times.
The afternoon session got on a roll when our Mojo Men, Grant McClure, Dan Dupre and Daniel Spell made the state times in the 50 free. The Daniels proved that you don't have to win the race to get the time. They finished second and third in the 50, but they qualified when they broke the standard. Daniel Dupre again matched his rare double from Saturday of getting the 19 & under and 15 -16 times in one swim! ET just missed the 100 breast win, but phoned home a high school state qt in the 100 breast. Grant McClure took honors in the 13-14 boys 100 breast. And in typical Blast fashion, the last qualifier today was in the last race of the day when Daniel Dupre came from behind on the last 25 to win the 200 free by a touch. Daniel's swim was the culmination of good race planning, proper execution of the race plan and sublime emotional intensity in finishing an amazing race.
This session had 85% best times, a tremendous showing for a District Sunday and overall on Sunday 51 out of our 57 swims were best times or 89.5%. There were plenty of 100%ers in this session also. Daniel Dupre, Jay Goudeau, Jeffery Leblanc, Helen Mattei, Grant McClure, Alex Sherry, Daniel Spell and Elliot Thompson all had perfect improvement Sunday afternoon.
For the weekend, we have eight new state swimmers coming out of Districts, which is one of our highest totals ever. They will add a total of 20 events to our state entry slate. Some qualifiers had bonus events available, but didn't have enough BB times to fill out the slate events. They have something to work for this summer.
Here is our district honor roll: Daniel Dupre - six events, Grant McClure, four events, Emily Burkhalter, three events, Daniel Spell, two events, Nicholas Bienvenu, two events, Hope Winkler, one event, Gianni Scramuzza, one event and Elliot Thompson, one event. The whole team is proud of what you accomplished and we looking forward to having you join us at state meet. You new state qualifiers, check your events in the attachment above. Get back asap to me with any changes.
We also will be able to add two more 15 -18 boys relays to our lineup and I am inquiring about the possibility of being able to add an extra 13 -1 4 boys relay now that we have five boys in the meet.
Two swimmers experienced the joy of the time drop every they made a splash, but came so close to making times or winning events only to miss by narrow margins. Margaret Larsen and Jay Goudeau had perfect meets: 100% best times and easily the best meets of their lives. Margaret finished second in both the 50 and 100 backstrokes and Jay finished second in both the 100 and 200 butterflies and in the 100 he lost a chance to appeal the outcome by .01 of a second. [Ask me about it sometime]. Jay also missed the state time in the 50 free by .33 second! Both swimmers won the respect of their coaches, teammates and team parents by their positive attitude and strong character towards handling these disappointments. Team history has shown that these swimmers and others who were at the meet and tried but just missed, will be future Blast stars.
The 100% for the weekend group is very impressive: Clare Bruns, Yakira Chapman, Daniel Dupre, Jay Goudeau, Connor Gruntz, Hannah Hile, Patrick Hile, Margaret Larsen, Jeffery Leblanc, Helen Mattei, Grant McClure, Daniel Spell and Elliot Thompson. Over half of our swimmers in the meet had perfect rounds of improvement!
Other swimmers who had great time drops were Courtney and Kaityn Fredrick, Juliana Toranto, Hope Winkler, Brittany Pierce, Corinne Roe, Gianni Scramuzza, Cuinn Alexander [get well soon], Nicholas Bienvenu, Brittany Pierce, Macie Breaux and Emily Burkhalter. Many of these swimmers were competing in their third meet in three weekends and it was gratifying to see them drop time over three successive meet weekends.
That's enough for now, I have to do the District entries for state and at the rate I'm going I'll wake up feeling and looking like Morgus with a hangover.
See ya poolside, everyone get healty and stay healthy!
Four days to state!
BB
HEY BLASTERS!
Lucky Seven just became more than a practice term for holding pushoffs. Lucky Seven, heck, let's call them the Magnificent Seven, led our team to an awesome first day of districts. We have a much better state entry by seven new swimmers and fourteen new individual entries. Here they are
Nicholas Bienvenu got us off to a "lucky" start by winning his 200 IM, Emily Burkhalter following with breakthrough 50 breast, winning the 10 & under girls and making the state with a blistering time of 43.47 with the state time she also gets a BONUS event. The next qualifer came when 12 & under district captain Hope Winkler exploded off the start in the 11-12 girls 50 fly and the rest of the heat sure felt the Blast! Hope won the race in PR of 33.61 the heat ate the wake of Hope! Emily Burkhalter finished out the morning swims with a district winning 10 & under 200 free to give her three events.
The morning totals three new state swimmers, with five new events.
The afternoon krewe fed off the morning momentum and had a ton of best times an incredible swim swims:
Grant McClure got the Blast Mojo going by streaking to a blistering 57.42 in the 13-14 100 free. That's a state time so Grant gets a BONUS event! Daniel Dupre, took Grant's swim and raised the bar higher by sprinting out in 25.78 and holding to win the 100 in an eye popping 53.66! And Daniel makes the 15-16 AND the 19 & under state times and gets TWO BONUS events off of that!
Elliott Thompson's moment came next in the 200 breast. Before the race ET was more nervious than Barney Fife confronting a motorcycle gang. But he stayed in control and won the the 200 breast by half the pool and dropped his time from 2:40 down to 2:34.61! In the same heat Grant McClure showed tremendous improvement and won the 13-14 200 breast in 2:44.28. Since the TAQ meet, Grant has dropped from from a 3:00.84 to his current 2:44.28 - in two weeks!
Our final qualifier of the day came when Gianni Scramuzza and Jay Goudeau staged one of the best races of the day in the 13 - 14 200 fly. Jay swimming his first 200 fly ever swam a great time, but the more experience "JQ" came from behind in fine fashion and touch at 2:38.79. Great efforts by both swimmers!
The afternoon totals: four new state swimmers, three new state qualifying times, three other event winners and three BONUS swims. Nine new swims total.
The final tally: a Magnificent Seven new state swimmers and 14 new state events! And it's only the first day of Districts!
Honorable Mention: We had several swimmers who swam incredibly well, but just missed winning events by small margins, Margaret Lawson and Daniel Spell had 100% best times while just missing the gold. Jeffery LeBlanc, Jay Goudeau and Connor Gruntz also swam 100% best times.
There's more great swims coming up tomorrow. Stay tuned for the final tallies Sunday night.
Sleep well,
BB
BLAST NATION:
Our fast and furious start to 2009 closed out with our eighth meet of the month - the NuWave IMX meet!
The full meet results are not out yet, but the times have been imported into team manager. Here are some hi lights:
Trey James won the 10 year old boys IMX award, winning every IMX event in his age group and swimming
six best times in eight events.
Alex Knudsen got his groove back by qualifying for the 15-16 boys 400 IM and just missing the 100 breast cut by .01 of a second.
Actually there were at least five or six swims that just missed the state cutoff time by a total of less than .99 of a second! Agonizingly close, but not quite.
Many swimmers who raced last week came back an had excellent drops. 100% best times were turned in by Robert Klazynski, Brittany Pierce, Alex Sherry and first time Blast competitors, Colt Lyon, Patrick Hile, Hannah Hile and Jessica Hile.
Now it's on to Fabulous February!!!
Well, instead of three meets in three states in one weekend, we settled into two meets in one city in one weekend - crazy at times, but with good results.
TAQ MARDI GRAS HIGH POINT RESULTS
7 year old girls – Regan Descant 5th place
7 year old boys – Cade Alexander 7th place; Alex Rawls 8th place
8 year old girls – Courtney Carroll 11th place
9 year old girls – Emily Burkhalter 6th place; Margaret Larsen 7th place
9 year old boys – Nick Bienvenue 8th place, Cuinn Alexander 9th place
10 year old girls – Anna Rawls 9th place
10 year old boys – Trey James 3rd place, Harrison Prieto 10th place; Matthew Stegan 14th place
11 year old girls – Madeleine Rawls 1st place, Grace Tucker 3rd place, Lia Joslin 11th place, Hope Winkler 15th place
12 year old girls – Emily Prieto 4th place, Kristen Jennings 7th place
12 year old boys – Andrew Knudsen 3rd place, Will Warwick 8th place
13 year old girls – Brooke Vinturella 4th place, Alex Cloutet 5th place, Julianna Toranto 16th place
13 year old boys – Brandon Charitat 3rd place, Gianni Scrumuzza 10th place
14 year old girls – Katie Fearn 5th place
14 year old boys – Brennan Dorsey 4th place, Robert Klazynski 8th place, Grant McClure 15th place, Jay Goudeau 17th place.
MLK WEEKEND MEETS: Before the week gets away from last weekend, we wanted to recognize the great swims by five swimmers in three different meets in three different states this past weekend:
Laurel, MS - Andrew Knudsen and Robert Klazyski got the weekend off to a fast start with great swims in the Laurel Winter Invitational. Andrew broke his own state record in the 1000 and 1650 in one swim! Both boys swam well on Saturday with Robert notching best times in the 200 IM and 500 free, and Andrew getting PR's in the 50 free and 500 free.
Memphis, TN - Katie Fearn went all the way to Memphis for a great prelims and finals experience. She improved everytime from prelims to finals and went an untapered PR in the 200 free at the end of the meet!
Austin, TX - Both Griffin Guzan and Kristen Jennings had the "meets of their lives" in Austin. The psyche of seeing pool records set by Michael Phelps, Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker and Natalie Coughlin just to name a few really got their adrenalin flowing. Then there was the competion. In one race, Kristen broke the Louisiana state record twice - prelims and finals, but finished fourth. Griffin won the 100 back, and in the rest of his races, it was a swimmer ranked in the top five in the nation in that stroke and distance. His 100 fly time was the second fastest turned in by a 10 year old this year, the winner touched Griffin out and now first!
BLAST NATION:
The fast and furious month of January [soon to be named "Insanuary"] is off to a flying Friday night start.
In Metarie at the CCSC meet, Robert Klazynski dropped 35 second in his 400 IM to stroke in at 5:05+, Madeleine Rawls dropped 10 seconds in her 500 to go a 6:11+ and Lia Joslin raised eyebrows by dropping 26 seconds off her best time in practice and making the state qualifing time in the 500 by racing to a 6:24.01!
This is Lia's first state time since joining Blast, she now has three over all and can swim six events at state.
Keep your eyebrows up folks, Griffin Guzan, in Pensacola to go for the LA state record in the 10 & under boys 500 free, dropped over 16 second to touch at 5:49.80! He just missed Grant Grenfell's record by .64! So great, so close!
Four swims, four outstanding best times! What does this tell you about how well all of you have been training? The kids who swim at CCSC tomorrow will give us some more to get excited about. Good luck to all those going to Metairie on Saturday.
I will spread the word on the results as soon as they are in. And we'll talk about the LSU\FSU meet. Anyone going - bring a camera for the website!
See ya poolside,
BB
BLAST NATION:
Congratulations to Blast swimmers Jesi Kopcso of Fontainebleau High School and Mark Reuther of Jesuit High School for being selected to the Times Picayune All-Metro Swim Team.
Jesi earned the girls 100 yard breaststroke spot with a 1:07.19.
Reuther swam on two All-American relays for Jesuit, going fly on the 200 yard medley relay and anchoring the 200 yard freestyle relay.
Kopcso also clocked the fastest girls 100 fly time in the metro area [57.71], but the All-Metro format only allows swimmers to earn one individual spot on the team.
Also, while there was no Coach of the Year selected, Jesuit Head Coach and Blast Southshore Coach Bret Hanemann put three individuals and all three of his relays on the All-Metro team. Two of his relays made US High School Automatic All American! Coach Bret gets our shout out for Boys High School Coach of the Year!!
High school swimmers as the new year approaches, a great resolution for 2009 would be to prepare yourselves now for an awesome high school season next fall. It takes dedication and good quality work to improve to the state championship level. It won't happen over night. This is the best time for you to come out and prepare for an awesome high school season next year.
Come train with us at Blast!
We'll get you there!
BB
WE HAVE THE BEST POOLSIDE SNOWBALL FIGHTS!
Those of you who made practice today were treated to the "Snowball Fight of a Lifetime". Of all my years of living up north, I'm hard pressed to remember a snowball fight that incredible.
And winter training is just warming up!
See ya poolside,
BB
While it was difficult for me to miss Friday night's opening session of the meet, I still come away with a good feeling ofaccomplishment after this weekend. While some had an outstanding meet, others may not have in regard to their times, but definitely accomplished plenty with the experience gained, strategy learned, and character built. We made great progress toward achieving our goals for this year's state meet.
I do feel I have to share with you the conclusion of the meet that very few people where still there in the natatorium to see: the open 400 medley relays.
The girls relay consisting of Kristen(back), Jesi( breast), Kara( fly), and Brooke (free), dominated the heat from an outside lane in winning the final event of the meet. While all were extremely tired, they dug deep to pull out the best performance of the meet. Kristen, after having swam in all open events rather than 11-12, led off with a time that was faster than her individual event time, Jesi showed that no one in the state can stay with her in breastroke right
now, and then our final two legs had both competed in the mile that day; one wonders how much they had left yet Kara showed why other swimmers fear her in her fly leg, and Brooke did much more than just hold off the other freestylers as she begins to establish her name as one of the toughest racers in the state.
While Kristen, Kara, and Brooke, have all been on state championship winning relays; I think it very important to note a piece of Blast history: this winning relay was the first win in a major meet for Blast in an open relay and was the first winning relay Jesi has had the opportunity to be on since becoming a Blast
charter member!!!! Just another piece of Blast history...
After that great achievement, the boys took to their final event and proved that they were not going to be a prisoner to fatigue even though 3 of the 4 had swam the mile that evening. Colin led off the backstroke with a best time, blowing away several competitors who has just beaten him minutes earlier in the 200 back finals, Zach showed how his breastroke is rounding back to form after
his string of injuries last summer, Rhett took off in the fly leg, exhibiting how he will be a force to reckon with for the Foutainbleau High swim team, and Brennan Dorsey added some Southshore spice to an anchor leg which was a perfect example of the huge improvements he has made in the past year. Both character
and toughness were the traits in common for these two relays and helped us finish off the weekend with that
hard to emulate blast mojo!!!
Coach Emmett
BLAST SWIMMERS MAKE HIGH HONORS:
We want to recognize our swimmers for achievements outside of the pool. Both academic and in extracurricular areas. We have many high achievers on the team, so email you academic achievements to me as you earn them.
Here are our award winners for this Blast Flash:
Zack Knudsen - Zack has been selected as the Fontainebleau High School's WWL A+ Athlete. He taped a segment Dec. 4 which will be aired sometime in February. Zack was the only swimmer among all the schools' A+ athletes to be selected.
Corrine Roe - Corrine is one of Pineview Middle School's Students of the Month for December.
Griffin Guzan - Griffin was selected as Southeastern Lab School's Fifth Grade Student of the Year. Griffin, competitor that he is, will continue on to strive for Louisiana Fifth Grade Student of the Year.
Colin Babcock, Elliot Thompson, Daniel Spell, Jeffery LeBlanc and Robert Klazynski all made the Principal's Honor Roll at St. Paul's School this past nine weeks.
Matthew Stegen - earned his "Arrow of Light" from Cub Scout Pack 112 and has bridged over to Boy Scouts. Matthew is also an honor student at Kehoe-France Northshore.
Colin Babcock, Beth Winkler and Sarah Carruth all made their Rite of
Confirmation at St. Peter's Church this past fall. Coach Emmett was Beth's sponsor.
Rachel Cogley and Robert Klazynski play in their school's marching bands. Rachel is a tuba player for the Covington High Lions and Robert plays trumpet for St. Paul's. Look for them in Mardi Gras Parades in a few months! [The team could probably put together a "Hot Blast Brass Band" and make some real noise at one of our swim meets!]. I know Andrew "Trombone Blondie" Knudsen
plays a mean trombone. Anyone else play?
Now, this is just the tip of the academic achievers iceberg that we have on Blast. I know that for every swimmer on the team we have a high academic or extracurricular achiever. Let us know how you are doing academically and in other areas of your life. We know that the pool is not the only venue where you excel. Southshore swimmers, give us a shout out on your achievements!
Congratulations to all high school swimmers who swam in the Division 1 Championships this Saturday!
Special Congratulations to Coach Bret Hanemann and Co-Captain Mark Reuther of Jesuit High School for winning their third consecutive state championship and 21st in the last 22 years! Other Blast Blue Jays who were a part of this
championship were: Brennan Dorsey, Fritz Metzinger and John Skelton.
Also, Jesi Kopco won two individual state championship for the third consecutive year, winning the 100 fly, 57.71, and 100 breaststroke.
Age group swimmers, check out how the teams from your future high schools fared. You can help your future school by getting faster NOW! Set your goals based on
these times.
See ya poolside,
BB
BLAST NATION:
Usually when a USAS team has a team meet, everyone goes to the same meet at the same pool. But this weekend, that just wasn't our style. On Blast, we aim to give every swimmer every opportunity to achieve their maximum potential in their best events. So, while our high school swimmers got a chance to kick back and enjoy their taper, our age groupers had the opportunity to pick among three meets which best suited their competitive and family interests. Each meet offered something a little different for each swimmer on the team. We entered 17 swimmers in the Crawfish One-Day meet, 14 swimmers in the NuWave meet and two swimmers in the IMX meet in Laurel, MS. Some swimmers did the weekend double, Saturday at Crawfish and Sunday at NuWave.
The results were stunning. At the Crawfish meet, the "Super 17" had over 75% best times, set six team and one state record [Kristen Jennings' 11-12 girls 200 back]. The team records were set by Kara Kopcso in the 13-14 girls 50 and 100 back and the 100 free. The back times were also team Open records. Twelve swimmers notched 100% best times. They were: Cuinn Alexander, Cade Alexander, Emily Burkhalter, Margaret Larsen, Adaira Chapman, Yakira Chapman, Hope Winkler, Sydney Dupont, Riley Dupont, Landry Dupont, Anna Rawls and Brooke Vinturella.
Go over to NuWave and we have a "Fab 14" dropping times and two swimmers coming very close to breaking state records. The full results were not in at press time, but the best time percentage was as at least as high as the Crawfish meet. Griffin Guzan had a "lights out" meet with seven of eight best times and his 100 back just missed the state record by half a second. The "G-man" unofficially broke five or six team records also. Look for our team records update. Alex Cloutet just missed breaking her own state standard in the 200 breast by .12 of a second! Matthew Stegen raced to a state qualifying time in the 50 backstroke. Emily Burkhalter, Brooke Vinturella, Nicholas Bienvenu, Emily Prieto, Grace Tucker, Kristen Jennings, Katie Fearn and Gianni Scramuzza all had good swims on Sunday. Brooke, Kristen and Alex went to the historic LSU game the night before, but shook off the late night and swam very well.
And finally, the "Dynamic Duo" of Andrew Knudsen and Robert Klazynski traveled to Laurel, MS on Sunday for the Hubfins IMX meet. Robert had 100% plus best times - he had four best times in three swims! Robert's 1000 [11:52.30] and 1650 [19:32.79] were p.r.'s and he added best times in the 200 free and 100 breast. Andrew, after warming up with good swims in the 100 breast and 50 back, BROKE TWO STATE RECORDS IN ONE SWIM! That's right, folks, Andrew broke the 11-12 boys state record in the 1000 by almost 20 seconds when he flipped at 40 and recorded an 11:34.78 1000, breaking Christian Riess's standard and continued racing to touch at 19:10.37 eclipsing IAC's Matthew Wilson's 19:27.66. Look for Andrew to take more time off these records as future opportunities arise. Blast swimmers now hold eight 11-12 girls short course state records and two 11-12 boys short course state records.
Again, congratulations to our newest State Record holders:
Kristen Jennings 11-12 girls 200 yard backstroke 2:14.86
Andrew Knudsen 11-12 boys 1000 yard freestyle 11:34.78
Andrew Knudsen 11-12 boys 1650 yard freestyle 19:10.37
One weekend, three meets, three state records. That would be impressive for any team's end of the season performances, but for us, it's November and we're just getting warmed up! It's going to be a fast winter!
BLAST NATION:
Kristen Jennings "magically" broke teammate Kara Kopcso's state record in the 11-12 girls 200 yard backstroke at the Crawfish One Day Meet. Jennings streaked to a 2:14.86, just touching out Kopcso's old standard of 2:14.94 by .08 of a second.
Way to Geaux Kristen!
Other outstanding swims came from Brooke Vinturella, who celebrated her 13th birthday by winning the 400 yard IM [4:54.06] - nothing like getting a National AA time in your first race in your new age group. Brooke also won the 200 Fly and raced to third in the 200 back.
Official results are not in yet, but also racing extremely well were: triple winner Kara Kopcso [100 back, 200 breast and 100 free], Alex Cloutet [200 IM first, 200 breast, second and 100 free, third]. and Hope Winkler and Sydney Dupont had 100% best times in their three events.
The girls 200 free relay of Jennings, Cloutet, Vinturella and Kopcso closed out the day with an exciting win in the 200 free relay.
In the morning session, we celebrate first Blast meets for Cuinn Alexander, Cade Alexander, Yakira Chapman, Adaira Chapman and Emily Burkhalter. They joined Sarah Rawls, Alex Rawls, Anna Rawls [double winner in the 50 and 100 breaststroke], Landry Dupont, Riley Dupont and Margaret Lawson to swim an outstanding morning session. Many of these swimmers swam two best times in 100 and 200 yard swims! In many cases swimmers raced out to best times in the first 50 of a 100 or 200 yard race and then continued on to finish with a best time in the regular event. AWESOME!
Early word on nuwave: Many thanks to Cindy Prieto for taking the team today with Coach Bret. The early word is the kids swam great, Griffin Guzan and Grace Tucker were "out of the box". Gianni "JQ" Scramuzza had an impressive 200 fly, winning his age group, Nicholas Bienvenu and Madelyn were awesome in their 25's, John Skelton dropped five seconds in his 100 backstroke and Emily and Harrison Prieto notched several best times. Sunday, will add several of Saturday's stars from the Crawfish meet and we'll have some fresh energy to rally everyone at the meet.
ALSO, GOOD LUCK TO ROBERT KLAZYNSKI AND ANDREW KNUDSEN in their races on Sunday in Laurel, Ms. Both boys are making the trip to race the 1650 and achieve some special goals.
Look for a full report on this weekend's "trifecta;" stay tuned to see if we execute the plan for the weekend.
See ya at warm ups,
BB
BLAST NATION:
Great meet at TAQ on Oct 11-12! We had 71% best time and everyone who went really liked the laid back, low key atmosphere of the meet.
We placed second in the meet behind host team Tiger Aquatics, set 20 team records and 10 swimmers had 100% best times. The records were set by Griffin Guzan [4], 10 & under boys 200 free, 500 free, 50 fly and 100 fly, Andrew Knudsen, [5], 11-12 boys 500 free, 200 back, 200 breast, 200 fly and 400 IM and Kara Kopcso, [9], 13-14 girls 100 free, 200 free, 50 back, 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly, 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM's. Kara's times in the 200 IM and 200 back were team open records also.
The 100%ers were Nicholas Bienvenu, Riley Dupont, Sydney Dupont, Mia Genova, Robert Klazynski, Margaret Larsen, Alex Rawls, Anna Rawls, Julianna "Juju" Toranto and Hope Winkler. Nicholas Bienvenu has a streak going of at least three straight meets with 100% best times!
Honorable mention {seven best times in eight swims] goes to Madeleine Rawls and Emily Prieto. Other swimmers turning in best times were: Colin Babcock, Alex Cloutet, Regan Descant, Landry Dupont, Katie Fearn, Trey James, Kristen Jennings, Jackson Murrell, Harrison Prieto, Sarah Rawls, Gianni Scramuzza, Emily Songer, Matthew Stegen and Beth Winkler.
Please take the time to look over your splits for your races that were 100 yards and longer. Study how your races went and how you can improve your performances. Many of you who went to the meet are competing at levels where split analysis is very important. We coaches want to hear you be able to bring up aspects of your races and show a desire to improve on your race weaknesses and build on your racing strengths. We are ready to help you with this, but we want to have a two way dialogue and not a one-way monologue. Come up with ideas on how you can improve your races; we want you to be able to race with an inner competitive intelligence that is one to the trademarks of true champions.
The final official word on the Louisiana Short Course records that were broken this year. Blast swimmers led the state with 8 state records! All came in the 11-12 girls events. Kudos to Kara Kopcso, Alex Cloutet, Kristen Jennings and Brooke Vinturellla!
Crawfish meet - Madeleine Rawls, Rachel Strain and Rhett Guinot competed. Rachel qualified for high school state in the 50 free, Rhett had two best times, dropping 12 seconds in the 1000 free and Madeleine raced to three best times most notably dropping over 49 seconds in the 500 free. Great swimming!
ALLISON JONES JUST KEEPS SWIMMING AT CENTENARY COLLEGE
Allison swam on a 200-free relay team that is the third best time in their conference--they swam a 1:40.41, with Allison swimming a 25.23.
Allison had 2 other lifetime best:
57.44 - 100 free
and
1:13.36 - 100 breast
Allison is truly enjoying the college swimming experience.
LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW!
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BLAST NATION
In the January\February issue of Splash Magazine, pages 47 & 48, the National Age Group Top Ten Long Course Rankings are out and Kehoe-France Northshore Blast swimmers Kara Kopcso and Kristen Jennings are prominently featured. Jennings is ranking fifth nationally in the 11 year old girls 200 meter backstroke, 2:35.32, and eighth in the 100 meter backstroke 1:11.89, and Kopcso is ranked first in the 100 meter butterfly, 1:04.75, second in the 400 individual medley, 5:10.89, third in the 400 free, 4:31.49, and the 200 individual medley, 2:25.69, seventh in the 800 meter freestyle, 9:29.54, and tenth in the 200 meter backstroke, 2:29.36.
In addition to these eight individual national top ten rankings, the 11-12 girls 400 meter medley relay consisting of Jennings, Kopcso,
Alex Cloutet and Brooke Vinturella, finishing
ninth in the nation, 4:46.66.
The relay time and Kopcso's times in the 100 fly, 400 IM, 400 free, 800 free and 200 backstroke were Louisiana state long course records.
When we say Blast is the "Best Louisiana Swim Team", this is what we are talking about.
Blast Travellers: These Blast swimmers went to three different swim meets in three different states on the weekend of Jan 9 - 12. Griffin Guzan went to the Longhorn New Year's meet in Austin, TX, Robert Klazynski and Andrew Knudsen competed in Laurel, Ms at the Laurel Swim Association Winter Invitational and Katie Fearn raced at the Memphis Tiger Invitational in Memphis, TN Missing from photo is Kristen Jennings who also
journeyed to Austin
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CONGRATULATIONS TO
ZACH KNUDSEN
A+ ATHLETE
On Thursday, December 4th, WWL TV and McDonalds honored area high school seniors with the A+Athlete Award. Students are nominated by their coaches and reviewed by their school for high academic achievement, excellence in their sport, and school and community involvement. Only 35 students from the New Orleans metro and surrounding areas were honored. Zack Knudsen, a swimmer and captain of the FHS swim team, carries a 4.3 GPA, is the senior class treasurer, a homeroom senator, member of National Honor Society, an AED certified First Responder, Boys State participant, a 4 year Varsity Letterman in swimming, and a nominee for Student of the Year. Throughout his school career Zack has been awarded the Outstanding Algebra Student, selected to participate in the District Literary Rally, received the Honesty and Integrity Award from the Grand Lodge of Louisiana Free and Accepted Masons, Outstanding Member of the National Junior Honor Society, and Hurricane Highlighter from FJH. All the award recipients taped individual interview segments with Jim Henderson, WWL TV’s Sports Anchor, to be aired in the spring. A $400.00 scholarship will be given to Fontainebleau High School in Zack Knudsen’s honor.
CONGRATULATIONS TO LA STATE RECORD HOLDERS
Kristen Jennings 11-12 girls 200 yard backstroke 2:14.86
Andrew Knudsen 11-12 boys 1000 yard freestyle 11:30.21
Andrew Knudsen 11-12 boys 1650 yard freestyle 19:10.37
*MORE DETAILS *
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HEY BLAST MOMS and the Rest of Blast Nation!
Check out the article that appeared in Sophisticated Woman.
They did a special edition on Covington and WE are considered one of the city's treasures!
Many thanks to Melissa Newman, whose son Nathan has joined the team, for writing an outstanding article about Blast. Read and enjoy.
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FABULOUS 4TH PLACE FOR BLAST!
OUR BEST SHORT COURSE
STATE FINISH EVER!
LAST UPDATED: April 18, 2010
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Covington
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BLAST SWIM TEAM
NATIONAL WEBSITE
NEW INTERESTED SWIMMERS
Join us any day at practice
MEET THE COACHES!
Try us out FREE for
one week!
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LOUISIANA
SWIMMING
AT ITS BEST
BLAST SECTIONAL SWIMMERS TRAVEL TO TEXAS A&M-ALEX, COLIN, JESI, KARA, ZACH & WALTER
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CONGRATULATIONS
MINI-BLASTERS
LOUISIANA 8 & UNDER REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!
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SUPER IRON BLASTER
RHETT GUINOT
1650 FR - 200 FLY - 200 FR
IRON BLASTERS
BROOKE VINTURELLA
ROBERT KLAZYNSKI, COLIN BABCOCK & ALEX CLOUTET
1650 FR - 200 FLY
EACH SCORED IN THESE EVENTS ON SUNDAY
LA SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
CONGRATULATIONS KARA KOPCSO FOR MAKING THE
ZONE SELECT TEAM!
KARA, YOU ARE ONE OF AMERICA'S ELITE SWIMMERS!
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