El Toro Meet Report-

I had the privilege of attending the El Toro meet on Saturday and get the experience of my first away meet. I have to say that it was very different setting than I have become used to. I liked that we were the only team from San Diego and we made an impression. No FAST, PS, NCA or other teams that we are used to swimming against. It was nice to compete against some big teams from Orange County and see some different competition that our swimmers aren’t normally up against. This meet was fast and I think challenged our swimmers to do their best and go after their goals. I saw our swimmers really step up to the plate and show people in Orange County who we are and why we were there.

The feeling of the meet was different. I believe that part of that is because we were unsure of the competition. Another part of it being different was there was a sense of excitement and vacation in a way. I saw our team sitting together and playing cards for most of the day that I don’t normally see. At most of the meets I have attended, the team is spread out, doing their own thing. It was nice to see our swimmers all together playing cards together. I loved seeing the team unity. I was proud to be part of this team. But, we showed up to swim, and that is what we did.

With this being our second long course meet of the season, SDAC showed up with a lot of goals to reach and fast swimming to accomplish. Salem got her JO cut for the 200 Free in her first even on Saturday morning and Colleen dropped in her 50 back and held her times in the 50 Free and 50 Fly. With only Salem and Colleen completing in the morning session, it was great to see Katie and Anna there to cheer them on and support them in the water!

The afternoon session started with 200 IM and swam great! Kelley, Kat, Hannah and Trent all dropped significant time and set the mood for a great afternoon. I also wanted to congratulate Suranee for having the courage to swim the 200 IM. She swam great and I was so proud of her for having the courage to swim the event! The rest of the day went smooth with Kat and Hannah dropping in 100 Free, Trent had a great 100 Back dropping almost 11 seconds (when he remembered how to race again! J ) Katie dropped 6 seconds in 100 Breast. Anna showed great effort swimming open in all her events to get ready for aging up. Hannah dropped over 8 seconds in her 200 Back, and Kelly and Trent dropped around 3 seconds in 100 Breast. Hannah and Kat had the privilege of swimming the last event, 200 Fly and both swam it beautifully. I was proud of how they brought in their legs and swam great after such a long day.

Sunday, Grant started his day by dropping a second in 100 Back and Colleen dropped over 15 seconds in her 200 IM! In the afternoon, Kat, Hannah, and Suranee dropped in the 100 Back, Delaney and Suranee dropped in 200 Free and Katie and Kat, and Hannah dropped over 5 seconds in 200 Free. In the 200 Breast, Suranee dropped over 14 seconds, Hannah over 11 seconds, and Kelley almost 4 seconds! Jobin dropped almost a second in the 200 Breast as well. Both Trent and Jobin dropped about half a second in 50 Free.

This was a very long meet going until 6pm both days, not including the driving time to get there as well. With these long days, it takes good training and energy to swim great throughout the entire meet. I am so impressed at the huge time drops and consistent swimming from SDAC with these really long days. You did a great job and I am so proud of you. Some of you had an amazing meet dropping in almost every event and some had only one or two great races. Overall as a team, I think we need to improve our kicking and learning how to build on the longer events, but overall I think we did a great job representing San Diego up in Orange County. We showed great team spirit by cheering for each other and keeping spirits high. As a team, I was very impressed by your character and dedication to each other and yourselves during this meet. Remember, there are only 2 or 3 more meets to meet your goals!

Coach Deanna