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DAY 1
Prelims
JO’s kicked off Thursday morning with the 100 Freestyles for
all ages. GTSA had 3 new personal bests including Allie
Donahue, Tyler Heath, Blaise Genne, with Tyler qualifying in
2nd place going into the final. The 100 freestyle
was followed by the sprint breaststrokes for all ages. Both
Allie and Emma Donahue went new personal bests while qualifying
11th and 6th respectively for the
finals. In the final events for the day Allie Donahue capped
off a successful morning with a personal best in the 100
backstroke, while Carter Flynn dropped even more time off her great
swim in Orlando in the 200 backstroke.
Finals
Greater Tampa had 3 swims in Thursday’s final s
session. Tyler Heath set the tone for the night with a
2nd place finish in the 100 freestyle with a time of
1:00.79. Soon after it was the Donahue sisters turn to have
back to back great breaststrokes. Allie went first with a
10th place finish in the 50 breaststroke with a time of
38.06. Then Emma capped the night off with a 4th
place finish in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:16.96.
DAY 2
Prelims
Carter Flynn and Tyler Heath led off Friday morning’s session
with best times in the 200 freestyle, with Tyler qualifying
5th for the evening finals. The breaststroke
was the final event for GTSA with best times from Blaise Genne,
Emma Donahue, and Allie Donahue. Emma and Allie qualified for
finals in 10th and 13th
respectively.
Finals
3 swims again in Fridays finals for GTSA kicked off by Tyler Heath
finishing 2nd in the 200 freestyle with a time of
2:11.22. Emma and Allie finished off the evening in strong
fashion with Emma coming in 12th (2:57.62) and Allie
finishing in 14th (1:26.99) in the 200 and 100
breaststrokes.
DAY 3
Prelims
I bet those of you who were at the meet know what time it
is. RELAY TIME!!!! Our 10&under girls relay of Morgan
Tankersly, Caroline Donahue, Grace Sanchez, and Gabriela Donahue
competed in the 200 medley relay, all 4 swimmers posting strong
legs. Tyler went a personal best qualifying 6th for
the finals in the 100 butterfly, followed shortly by great
backstroke swims from Carter and Allie. Carter and Tyler
competed in GTSA’s longest events of the weekend in the 400
freestyles. Tyler even got the chance to swim it again
qualifying 5th for the finals session.
Finals
Tyler Heath made up GTSA’s two swims on Saturday evening, and
he made the most of them. Going a time of 1:08.69 in the 100
butterfly, a full 5 seconds faster than his best time before this
weekend, Tyler moved up 2 spots to 3rd. His next
event was the 400 free where he took 2nd place in a time
of 4:40.06, 7 seconds faster than his prelim swim.
DAY 4
Prelims
Relay time again, this time the 10&under 200 freestyle
relay. The girls looked great with almost best times on all 4
legs. Following GTSA’s longest event was
everyone’s shortest event the 50 freestyle. Best times
across the board in the 50 freestyle from Emma, Blaise, Allie, and
Tyler, with Tyler qualifying 4th for the final
session. The 200 IM was one of the highlights of the weekend
for GTSA, Emma Donahue dropped over 16 seconds to qualify
11th for the finals all the way from heat 1. Also
in the event Carter Flynn capped off her a successful Junior
Olympics with a solid IM, this was a culmination of a great summer
of swimming for Carter. Last event of the morning was the 50
butterfly. Great swims from Tyler, Morgan, and Grace capped
off another successful morning.
Finals
Although we almost escaped we did finally get the dreaded weather
delay that made a long weekend last just that much
longer. Emma showed that IM was no fluke when she backed it up
with an equally as impressive swim finishing in 14th
place with a time of 2:36.83 to end a very successful
weekend. The final night did not lack any drama when it came
to Tyler and his chances of making Florida Swimming’s zone
team. After a 3rd place finish in the 50 freestyle
(27.96) he needed to finish 4th in the 50 fly to make
the team by 1 point. Tyler finished the 50 fly in a time of
30.93 good enough for 4th place and a trip to Orlando to
represent the state of Florida in two weeks.
Overall it was a very successful week for GTSA finishing the meet
in 25th place as a team, and sending our first member to
zones in many years. I want to congratulate the swimmers who
competed at JO’s and say it was a joy to see all of your hard
work over the past year and beyond pay off with some great
swims. I hope that this will also motivate those of you who
were not on the team to train hard and join the next 2010 short
course JO team and make the short trip to Clearwater in
February.
See you at the
pool!
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