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| So much Red, White, and Blue! |
At each A Meet, the teams dress up in a "theme of the week" to build up the spirit and enhance the camaraderie of the event. This week's theme for the Gators was "Red, White, and Blue" in keeping with the Independence Day weekend. Our hosts this week, Dowden Terrace, chose to follow a "Super Heroes" theme and we were greeted by Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and many other famous fictional heroes. This created quite a conundrum... on which side would karma fall in this match-up? Would fate give three cheers for the Red, White, and Blue or instead support the embodiment of the same in Captain America? Would it be victory for the flag of the most powerful country in the world or would the win go to the Power Rangers themselves? No matter how the results would ultimately end up, the enthusiasm and sportsmanship created by the spirited swimmers dressed up in their outfits meant everyone would leave as a winner.
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| If this doesn't calm you, nothing will. |
Speaking of heroes... there's probably nothing more super and nothing more American than breaking records, and this week Gator swimmers set two new team marks. Cassidy Bayer bested her own previous Girls 15-18 Backstroke record by swimming the 50 meters in 29.84 seconds, 0.25 seconds faster than she swam it in 2015. And if you have been following along with the blog, you know that last week our the Girls 13-14 100m Medley Relay broke the old record by 0.02 seconds. Apparently, they felt that wasn't good enough, so this week that same Gator team of Olivia Blondin, Emily Makin, Gabby Greszler, and Juliana Skopp-Cardillo bested their own record by over one and a half seconds finishing in 1:00.12. Great swimming girls!
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| One piece of that ROTW. |
This week's "Race of the Week" goes to the 13-14 Boys Freestyle. The Gator trio of Clarke Bayer, Andrew Baker, and Andrei Zaitsev delivered a clean sweep of the Dolphins, with Andrei's third place finish out-touching his nearest Dowden Terrace competitor by only 0.1 seconds to seal all the points in that event for the Gators.
This week's "Age Group of the Week" goes to the 9-10's, who combined to earn 64 out of 82 possible points. That collective performance included one clean sweep, four 1-2 finishes, and victories in both age group relays! In fact, there were only two events of the day that a 9-10 Gator didn't win.
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| Mutual respect and sportsmanship. |
As far as the overall meet goes, while both teams swam well, Dowden Terrace was able to pull out a victory over the Gators in the end. The Dolphins opened up with a small lead in Free and expanded that lead in Back before the Gators chomped down in the Breast to close the gap. Dowden Terrace then pulled further ahead after the Fly before the Gators teamed up for victories in 7 out of 12 relays, but came up a bit short in the final tally, 199-221. It was a very good meet, but ultimately tough to beat a team that had Aquaman on their side.
Gator swimmers had some great individual performances, and those who place are listed below:
First Place Finishers
| Name | Stokes |
| Makin, Matthew | Fly, Breast |
| Crowther, Cassidy | Back |
| Litonjua, Abigail | Breast |
| Schulte, George | Back |
| Swartz, Tyler | Free |
| Kovalsky, Donovan | Free, Breast |
| Piland, James | Back |
| Makin, Emily | Breast, Fly |
| Ruppe, Charlie | Breast |
| Bayer, Clark | Free |
| Phalen, Sheridan | Free |
| Bayer, Cassidy | Back, Fly |
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Gator Relays: Strength in Numbers
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Second Place Finishers
| Name | Stokes |
| Crowther, Natalie | Fly |
| Fore, Liam | Fly |
| Bruce, Samuel | Free |
| Milito, Helen | Back |
| Sarro, Anthony | Breast |
| Grubbs, Ginny | Fly |
| Crowther, Cassidy | Free |
| Fore, Gavin | Free, Back |
| Hixson, Nora | Breast |
| Keller, Miriam | Back |
| Swartz, Tyler | Fly |
| Klopson, Jack | Breast |
| Piland, James | Fly |
| Baker, Andrew | Free, Fly |
| Greszler, Gabrielle | Fly |
| Heck, TJ | Back, Breast |
| Skopp-Cardillo, Juliana | Free |
| Makin, Taylor | Breast |
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| Hey Macarena! |
Third Place Finishers
| Name | Stokes |
| Fore, Liam | Back |
| Myers, Alexandra | Free |
| Swartz, Cooper | Breast |
| Bruce, Samuel | Fly |
| Milito, Helen | Breast |
| Alzona, Jack | Breast |
| Litonjua, Abigail | Fly |
| Schulte, George | Free |
| Klopson, Jack | Fly |
| Moore, Dylan | Free |
| French, John | Back |
| Bayer, Clark | Fly |
| Blondin, Olivia | Back |
| Heck, Olivia | Breast |
| Zaitsev, Andrei | Free |
| Makin, Taylor | Fly |
| McNamara, Brian | Breast |
| Penn, Lily | Breast |
| Miller, Cole | Free, Fly |
| Fulghum, Parker | Free |
And meet
pictures are available here.
Go Gators!
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Coaching... its not all just swimming. Those life skills
(like dancing) are pretty important, too. |
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