Hi Team!
Holy cow! Saturday's Sectional meet was completely awesome, wasn't it??!!?? Our thirteen AW-K Superheroes showed up ready to compete, for sure!
I absolutely loved every moment of Saturday (except all the ripped tech suits!)!
The girls did a first-rate job of representing themselves and the program--I couldn't be more proud of them!
I knew going into Saturday that we were ready. The girls trained well all week, and judging by how loud and energy-filled Friday afternoon's practice was, I could tell they were tapered!
Even knowing that, I was completely shocked and wonderfully surprised by what all 13 girls were able to accomplish. The girls had 15 (!!!!) best times on Saturday!
Our fantastic Medley Relay team of Fabi Ehresmann, Amanda Harper, Lexee Funk, and Alexa Van Lannen, started things off on a high note with their 7th place finish. They dropped 5.51 seconds from last week's Conference meet!
Rebecca Norum followed that by smashing her PR in the 200 Free. She went a 1:55.75 (5.41 seconds better than her season PR) and qualified for the State meet! She also took 1.14 seconds off her 50 Free, finishing in 25.34 for 7th place. Her splits in the 200 (24.29) and 400 (53.16) Free Relays were also best times. What a meet she had!
Taylor Sunke also had a meet full of best times! Her 25.34 50 Free was .40 faster than at Conference! She also took 1.05 off her 100 Free time with her 57.76 finish!!
Meghan Harper went 4/4 on best times, too! She took 3rd in the 50 free with her 25.03 (.56 drop)! She also took 5th place in the 100 Free by dropped a whopping 1.17 and went 54.91!
Anna Armstrong continued her string of lowering her best times by dropping another .74 off her 100 Free. She went a 1:01.04!
Alexa Van Laanen dropped another .32 to finish 26.85 in the 50 Free!
Lexee Funk dropped an astonishing 11.26 seconds off her PR to finish the 500 Free in 5:56.75!
The 200 Free Relay team of Meghan Harper, Taylor Sunke, Hannah Beckwith, and Rebecca Norum dropped 5.33 seconds in the 200 FR to take 4th place and earn a trip to the State meet! Way to go, ladies!! This same group of amazing athletes dropped 4.71 seconds off the 400 Free Relay to finish in 6th place!
I was pretty sure they qualified for State immediately after the race!
Nicole del Plaine smashed her PR two weeks in a row! She finished her 100 Back in 1:12.84, down 1.15 seconds!
Our breaststrokers both stepped up and dropped huge chunks of time, too! Amanda Harper dropped 2.43 seconds to finish in 1:15.74! She also had a PR on her 50 breast in the Medley Relay with a 33.70 split.
Gabby LeCaptain dropped 1.94 in a week to finish with a time of 1:18.13!!
Needless-to-say, it was a joyous bus ride back to Appleton West, made even sweeter because Gabby's mom got us cookies! (Thanks, Elizabeth!!)
All season I stressed the importance of each and every girl to the team. We truly are a team filled with superheroes. I loved watching the girls raise each other up on Saturday. I loved watching them cheer for each other. I loved seeing their faces after they swam. Whether or not they got best times on Saturday or at some other point this season, each girl contributed to Saturday's success. I am so proud to coach AW-K! Congratulations, Sectional team!
On to State!!
With AW-K Pride,
Coach Vicki
