TAGS SC 2014 Note From Coach Mike
I’m up here in Fort Wayne at our Swim School for the week, but wanted to drop you all a quick note to let you know that Nitro wrapped up the Texas Age Group Swimming Championships this past weekend with WIN # 14!!
- The Coaches and I want to say THANK YOU to all who made this possible. The support from the Parents is incredible. There are so many moving parts that come together to make everything work like it does. A special thank you to those who made the trip to compete in a relay or two or three without any individual events. Everyone contributed to this win, and our relays were strong once again. Thank YOU!
- Here is a list of those who are referred to as “Relay Only” swimmers. HUGE Sacrifice to make this happen! Here they are:
Gabriele Aleman
Danny Bishop
Lindsey Blake
Rance Blancaflor
Jenny Bui
Julia Carter
Maddie Davis
Philippe Diaz
Nora Doughty
Zander Esslemont
Angela Fu
Christian Gamez
Iyle Gamez
Aiden Giroux
Shireen Gore
Norah Harkin
David Le
Jackson Ledbetter
Kyle Lee
Shannon Lin
Steven Ma
Lola Maciarz
Leah Michalski
Matthew Sabuda
Hannah Seal
Auggie Sefcik
Justin Shi
Alexa Simmons
Helen Singletary
Stefen Teeters
Haley Tisdale
Chloe Wilkins
Wenchan Xue
Cody Yount
Tyler Yount
- Swimmers representing 68 programs across Texas competed in this meet.
The top 10 teams looked like this:
Nitro Swimming 1792 points
Lakeside Aquatic Club (Dallas/Ft Worth area) 1479
Cypress Fairbanks (FLEET) 1258
Texas Ford Aquatics 1153
Alamo Area 1144.5
North Texas Nadadores 1065.5
Mansfield Aquatic Club 775.5
The Woodlands (TWST) 775.5
Metroplex Aquatics 737
DADS Club 737
- I had the opportunity to be there for Saturday’s prelim and finals session. I’m always in awe how relaxed our swimmers are, how cool headed our Coaches remain even when things don’t go as planned (yes, mishaps occur!), and how the kids all were truly enjoying each other and keeping things light.
- I saw Stef Teeters counting for our 500 freestyle swimmers nearly every heat. I saw Morgan Rodriguez compete with all she had every race after coming back from a torn ACL and surgery just a few months ago. I saw Lucia Lovett walking up to the starting blocks wearing a medical support BOOT on her lower leg, removing the boot, climbing onto the blocks and going all out.
I witnessed 10 yr old Jacob Schmitt swimming his all in a “swim off” for 16th place, winning the swim off, then coming back at night seeded last and taking 4th in his heat at Finals.
I observed Jaylin Dubose, who injured her ankle/foot earlier in the meet, but was there on deck, on crutches, no longer able to swim, cheering on every Nitro athlete. I was inspired watching Jeremy Kelly be, well, Jeremy Kelly. Logan Walker, same. I could go through the list of races I watched and could mention something special about every one of the kids. I’ll leave that for the other Coaches to cover, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Minji Kim – who just moved to Pennsylvania, but made a special trip back to Texas to compete one last meet alongside her Nitro teammates!
- I saw and heard your Nitro athletes thanking the timers after their races, thanking the Officials for working the meet, shaking hands with their fellow competitors. Evidently some others saw the same things as I received a photo that Coach Allison texted me of a special award from the meet called the Bill Nixon Sportsmanship Award with the attached words to her text saying: “I cried when we got this one.”
- The kids know that the #1 compliment I can ever receive about our program is when someone says to me: “Nitro Swimmers are Nice.” The #2 compliment is “Nitro Swimmers know how to race.” The Bill Nixon Sportsmanship Award validates that. Well done Nitro!
I’ve always been proud of our Nitro program. But receiving the Sportsmanship award that the kids earned means more than any Team Championship. It was a collective effort.
- Want to hear and see more?
Come to the Nitros on Saturday March 30th at 5:30PM to hear the Coaches brag on the athletes, recap the seasons, send our graduating Seniors off in style, and share in all that is great about our sport!
The Nitros will be held at Hill Country Bible Church, 3351 Little Elm Trail, Cedar Park 78613.
- In closing out this note I want to say Thank you to ALL of our Nitro Swimmers, Nitro Parents and Families, Nitro Coaches, and everyone else connected with our program – including our Swim School folks (the BEST in the business!), our Front Desk support staff, all the behind the scenes crews, and last but not least, Tracy, who makes sure there’s water in the pool every day, checks written that need to be paid, lights that work, and doors that remain unlocked!
Thank you ALL for being a part of Nitro, and I’ll see you on the pool deck! Coach Mike.
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