Team President Duffy Dillon was excited about what he had witnessed throughout the weekend.  “Anytime you host a meet, the priority shifts from coaching your athletes, to logistics,” Dillon said after the meet. “If your volunteers and staff don’t handle that side of it first, then there is no racing, period.  Penny and the rest of our parents were terrific all weekend.  We had a ton of compliments not only on how efficiently we ran the meet, but how nice all of our volunteers were to everyone.”

Dillon’s statement about public relations should not be overlooked.  Running a meet efficiently is one thing; doing it with a smile on your face is what makes the event successful.  “Our parent volunteers are the best in south Florida, no doubt about it,” Dillon said matter-of-factly.  “Penny was a machine.  I may start calling her the Terminator.”  Dillon was referring to the fact that Penny Poe not only organized the volunteers, but cooked for the coaches, parents and swimmers, brought most of the equipment necessary to pull it off, and did it so effectively that it was difficult to overlook the job she and the entire FLA parent base did this weekend.

While the volunteers were the talk of the pool deck, there was actually a swim meet going on at the same time.  After a much needed break, the athletes were back in the pool for the first competition in over a month, and the first long course racing of the summer season.  It went better than expected.

“You never know what you will get the first meet of the season, especially with the older swimmers,” said Head FLA Miami Coach Eduardo Fugiwara. “ Its not always pretty this early in the long course season, but the swimmers look to be ahead of schedule as far as most of their racing habits.  I think overall it was good, but we have to get better on our turns and our speed work across the board before the middle of the season in June.”

The entire FLA coaching staff agreed with Fugiwara’s assessment:  Great first meet. Let’s be better next time.

The swimmers may have some new goals to work on before this summer is in the books, but for the FLA Volunteers, it is hard to imagine getting any better than they were this weekend.

]]> http://www.flaswim.com/volunteers-steal-show-at-imx-challenge/feed/ 0 http://www.flaswim.com/brannan-sisters-make-big-splash-at-open-water-all-stars/ http://www.flaswim.com/brannan-sisters-make-big-splash-at-open-water-all-stars/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 18:41:43 +0000 Randy Daytona http://www.flaswim.com/?p=508 Fort Myers, FL—While storms were hitting all over the eastern part of south Florida for the better part of the weekend, the weather conditions at the Open Water All Star event in Fort Myers could not have been more ideal.  With over a hundred athletes competing in the event, Team FLA took two swimmers through Alligator Ally to compete in the races on Saturday; a set of sisters that just one week prior, competed in their first ever open water event in Miami.

Tiana and Marissa Brannan arrived in Fort Myers as part of the Florida Gold Coast All Star Team, to find that the sun was out, the water was clear and flat, and the forecast for the races were absolutely pristine. The previous week at the Open Water Race in Miami, the weather and water conditions were so bad, some of the longer races had to be cancelled due to high winds, lightning, and waves that closer resembled a barrel drop over Niagara Falls than it did a race through Biscayne Bay.

Both sisters used the experience in Miami to surprise many swimmers in the field in Fort Myers, however.  The older sister, Marissa (12 yrs) swam the 2.5K race on Saturday morning, and the 1 mile race Saturday evening.  She had a blazing start in the morning race, aggressively charging ahead of the field to comfortably settle in the lead pack of swimmers.  At the halfway point she was in the top four overall in her age group before some untimely cramping set in.  Nevertheless, In M. Brannan’s first true test in an open water event, she finished the race in the top 8 overall (Marissa won the Miami Open for 12-unders).

Later that night, Brannan was geared up for the 1 mile race. “I was in the top group before some serious cramps set in for the 2.5k race”, Brannan said, “I knew if I was even more aggressive for the 1-mile race I had a chance to win it.”  Brannan finished the day with a 2^nd place finish in the evening’s event, and was very close to the lead swimmer, who was her teammate.  “If I get beat by a teammate, I am ok with that.  If we can go 1 and 2 as a team, we score a lot of points.”

Her coach was very optimistic about the older Brannan’s future both in and out of the pool. “She’s got talent in the pool, in open water settings; I bet she could win a race in a bathtub,” Coach Ian Cross jokingly said after the results were posted.  “She continues to gain experience, she is an absolute workhorse in practice, and she loves winning.  It’s a pretty good combination of traits to have.”

Tiana Brannan (10 years) competed in the 500 meter Open Water Freestyle event.  Unlike her older sister, she had no time to prepare for the event, considering she wasn’t even sure she was going to do it until the last minute of sign ups.  Just like her sister, however, she proved that talent can be genetic, and hard work pays off.

Tiana shocked her opponents, finishing third in the 10-under girls, and fifth overall, beating almost every single one of the 10-under boys along the way.  She may have shocked some of her competitors, but not her family and her coach.  “Tiana has had the best month of training she has ever had”, said Coach Cross.  “This isn’t surprising.  She has always had an excessive amount of talent, but now she is putting some work behind it, and you can see the results immediately.  I have never seen her so motivated.”

The Brannan Family had to leave before they could pick up their awards, to make the trip back over Alligator Alley.  With all of the family success over the weekend, the organizers of the event may want to add extra postage on the package they have to mail to them. If this trend continues, Mr. and Mrs. Brannan may also want to look at finding a storage unit for the girls’ hardware in the future.

Once the race started, it was clear the weather was no match for the team’s will to win.  FLA came out with top five finishes all over the place, from the 10-under girls division, to the 13-14 athletes.

Dante Poe (11-12 boys), Marissa Brannan (11-12 Girls) both won their respective divisions, with Brannan also taking home 3^rd place overall.  She was the youngest Top 3 overall performer of the entire competition.  Christian Wood placed 2^nd in the 11-12 boys, right behind his teammate, Poe.  Julia Chernin was 2^nd and Tiana Brannan placed 5^th overall in the 10-under Girls in the 800 Meter race, which was shortened to about 400 meters due to time constraints.  “If it was a true 800 meters, I think Tiana and Julia would have been even better,” Coach Ian Cross said. “Their freestyle is looking so efficient, so the longer the race was the better for Tiana and Julia right now, but we’ll take it.  They did great.”

Sarah Long competed in her first ever open water swim, gaining a lot of experience.  Her heart may be a bit closer to shore, however. “I think I will stick to the pool for a while,” Long said laughing after the race.  “The waves were not fun, but I’m glad I did it.”  Long may not have enjoyed the conditions, but her results were an indication that she may be doing more of these events, placing top 15 in her age group.  Other top 15 finishers and participants were Frankie Morales (13-14 girls), Istana Poe (10-under Girls) and Gabriel Louvet (13-14 Boys).

The competition marked the first event of the season for the club.  Next up is a pool competition at FAU that the team will be hosting from May 5-6^th, to open up the Long Course Season.

“It is great to be participating.  You gain experience, get to see some really fast swimming, and get to talk with other great coaches and share ideas for an entire week,” said Coach Gatti after he received the news he was selected.

The team will be made up of the best 14-under swimmers that the Florida Gold Coast has to offer, and with the type of talent that flows through south Florida year after year, this should be another great team assembled.

“You don’t get to see these types of young athletes all together in one place very often”, Coach Garza said. “In a sense, we are watching the future of our sport compete, from the Carolinas to Florida to Texas.  It will be very exciting and should be very fast.”

You would think that with the swimming club members’ best portion of the race taken away by mother nature and safety officials, it would severely crush any hopes of competing against athletes whose racing backgrounds were in the remaining two legs of the race:  Running and biking.

Surprisingly however, the race results clearly indicated this was not the case.  All nine FLA club members placed in the top 40 in their perspective divisions, with female triathlon sensation Shannon Coates finishing first overall for combined females.  Coates was third entering the running phase, and ran down two other women to win the event by 7 seconds over the second place finisher.  She finished with a time of 54:10.  Shannon’s father, Gary Coates, also competed and was 6^th overall in the 65-69 year male division.

The dynamic father/daughter Coates Duo may have been the topic of conversation amongst competitors and spectators, but other FLA members turned heads as well. Coach Richard Garza placed first overall in the FAU Alumni division, and 5^th overall in the 20-24 year old male category. FLA Teammates Doug Kerl and Robert Julien placed 38^th and 40^th in the 45-49 division, completing the race nearly at the same time. (Kerl was just 20 seconds ahead).  Marc Julien Placed 22^nd overall for the 40-44 men, coming in 1 second under the hour mark.  Sydney Poleck, the member’s lone high school attendee, was 6^th overall for the 19-under females.  Taylor Henderson was 14^th overall for 30-34 men, and Gordon Dunham placed 11^th overall for 25-29 year old males.  Michelle Bazargan also placed top 15 in the 30-35 year old females, getting 13^th overall in that division.

The nine FLA swimmers did all of this…..without swimming.  “Imagine what we can do if they don’t take away the swimming portion next time”, Coach Richard Garza said on Monday. “Everyone moves up (in the standings) if we get to swim.  The bottom line is that we have some great athletes at FLA, and we are only going to get better.  You can’t fight nature, and this was a great event, but we will be even better next time.”

• Darcy LaFountain placed 1st in 1000yd Free with a time of 12:49.63 and helped set two new YMCA National Records in the women’s 400yd Free Relays and Women’s 200yd Medley Relay.
• Lynn Foley placed in the Top 10 for 13 events with a best time in the 1000yd Free, and that was after swimming the 1650 earlier that same day!
• Bonnie Johnston Placed 1st in the 200yd free and 100yd IM. She also swept the Backstroke events winning a total of 5 individual gold’s!
• Bob Johnston finished with three individual gold medals by sweeping the Breaststroke events, and best times!

Congratulations everyone!

With the help of the team’s outstanding parent volunteers and it’s coaches, FLA dug in for the  breezy 3 day event, handing out information on the organization, the benefits of adult and child fitness and safety, and swim team and lessons programs the club currently offers.

The Delray Affair was a huge success. “The City of Delray and its staff put on a fantastic event, and allowed small businesses in the area to generate interest from so many locals, as well as visitors.  This is a great city, and a great event, and we are very happy to have participated.” Dillon said at the end of the event.

The real results have already shown in the pool, with people coming out to Aqua Crest (the team’s Delray site) for Mommy and me classes or Adult fitness workouts, and new swimmers trying out their free week trail swimming at FAU (Boca Raton Site) on Monday, just one day after the Delray Affair was concluded.

It may be a very busy summer indeed for Team FLA.

With all of the changes FLA has gone through, a top five overall finish seemed unlikely…on paper.  Prior to the meet, it looked like getting into the top 8 in total points was a fair goal for the club.  Head Coach Duffy Dillon had gone through the Psyche Sheet before the competition began.  “If you looked at relays and individual points scored, if the team swam great, a top 8 finish would have been nice.  In order to get a top five finish, it would mean the kids would have to swim absolutely lights out, race in and race out, and we were going to have to win a lot of events. It looked highly unlikely.”

As unlikely as it looked prior to the first events of the meet, that is exactly what happened once the racing began.  Team FLA swimmers won a stockpile of events, made finals and scored in more races than expected, and swam outstanding relays.

Coach Mike Averett attributed the success to a total team effort.  “We have sites in three different cities; Miami, Delray and Boca.  But this weekend you could not tell who was from what pool. They all cheered for each other, they hung out all weekend with one another, and they came together as one unit.  Kids have a tendency to swim better with more support, and everyone supported each other this weekend regardless of who their individual coach is, or what pool they train at.  The relays get faster because they are pulling for each other, the parents get into it a little bit more, and the individual races get faster because they are all fighting for a similar cause.  I think everyone swam with a common chip on their shoulder this weekend.  It was a lot of fun.”

There was no doubt that other clubs would be keeping an eye on FLA this weekend to witness first hand, how the club would respond at their first championship meet after a drastic downsize in training sites and swimmers on the club.  FLA swimmers responded with fury, and did it the right way:  By speaking softly and carrying a big stick.  “Words are one thing, actions are another,” Coach Marcello Gatti said during Saturday’s finals events.  “We are letting our swimming do all of the talking right now, and that is the way we like it.”

Even with a complete team effort like the club had last weekend, some individual honors cannot be overlooked.  FLA swimmers accounted for 16 Individual Event wins and 70 finals swims.  Here is a list by category of some terrific individual performances:

High Point Winners:

Elvis Kotikovski 1^st 10-un boys, Alexandra Meszaros 1^st  10-un Girls, Andrea Lopez 2^nd 11-12 girls, Paloma Sanchez 4^th 11-12 girls.

Event winners: Alexandra Meszaros, Andrea Lopez, Elvis Kotikovski

Event Finalists: Marissa Brannan, Ashley Duritsa, Lexi Dennett, Dante Poe, Alexandra Meszaros, Elvis Kotikovski, Andrea Lopez, Paloma Sanchez, Laura Zaidenburg, Manuela Dangond, Fon Teawdatwan, Gabriella Antonini, Josten Medina, Greg Fernandez

FGC All Star Qualifiers:  Marissa Brannan, Dante Poe, Alexandra Meszaros, Elvis Kotikovski, Andrea Lopez, Paloma Sanchez, Greg Fernandez, Laura Zaidenburg,  Manuela Dangond, Josten Medina

The sport of swimming is most notably recognized for its Olympic athletes; however, true successes are not bound to only national and Olympic level athletes. Success reaches all throughout the sport, from our novice level programs, all the way up to our senior and adult Masters programs. Swimming is noted for being the perfect medium to help build character, and teach its athletes the benefits of dedication and goal setting. While the goals from one swimmer to the next are different, some goals are much more unique than others. The traditional goals in swimming usually comprise of getting a new personal best time or qualifying for a higher level of competition. Some athletes make it a goal to finish a full lap of Butterfly without stopping. Other athletes like Darcy LaFountain set different goals that redefine the limits of just how far the human body can go.

Darcy is a part of the FLA Masters program in Delray Beach and has been enjoying the benefits of swimming for over 50 years. She swims twice a day 6 days a week for fitness, fun, and her overall well being. Amongst her goals of achieving personal best times and finishing a full lap of breaststroke, Darcy is a true test of character and dedication by setting her eyes on swimming farther this year than any other woman in United States Masters Swimming. In 2010, Darcy was the top female athlete and 3rd overall having swam an unmanageable 1,290 miles. That’s the same as swimming from Miami to New York City.

For 2011, Darcy is currently one of only 14 swimmers out of 2,755 participants to have swum over 1,000 miles this year in USMS’s “Go The Distance” competition. She is currently 6th overall with a total distance of 1,141 miles as of 12.07.11; and she still has almost 4 weeks to go.

To participate in USMS’s “Go The Distance” competition for 2012, please visit https://www.usms.org/fitness/content/gothedistance and enter for a chance to earn some special prizes.

Team FLA also had several swimmers final and compete at states. Here is a breakdown of how they fared by class of meet:

Class 1A
State Champs: Lauren Driscoll, 200 MR, 400 FR, 200 and 500 Freestyle. Ryan Rosenbaum, 500 Freestyle.
State Finalists: Emily Ramirez, Becky DeRogatis, Reagan Byrnes, Brianna Dumas, Jenny Zislin, Andreas Reyes-Capo, Isabela Reyes-Capo

Class 2A

State Finalists: Jose Alvarez, Lance Rutkin, Kaylee Petik.
State Participators: Mikaela Aponte

Class 3A

State Champions: Jason McCormick, 50 Freestyle, Harper Bruens, 100 Freestyle.
State Finalists: Kevin Matheus, Steven Vergona, Josh Asseraf, Sam Carona, Nikki Coard, Kristof Kertesz,
State Participators: Jamie Gurley, Katie Zientarski, Nick Van Zee, Macarena Marcos, Cheyenne Rodriguez, AJ Reid, Osianna McReed