Candy Cane Review
Candy Cane Meet Review
The final meet of the 2024 Calendar year was a grand success for SWAT swimmers. December 13-15 in Truro 48 SWAT swimmers raced in the first meet of the season with Prelims and Finals. This is the first Big Test of the year, and the first opportunity to show off the progress each swimmer has made since the beginning of the year. The stakes are a little higher as each swimmer had the chance to race each event twice if they were among the 8 fastest swimmers in the morning in their age group (12U, 13-14, 15O) or among the next 8 overall fastest times. SWAT swimmers finished the meet with 200 total best times, 109 finals, and 37 TOP 3 finishes. There were also 10 Club records broken on the weekend.
The Novice group sent 15 swimmers to compete. Those 15 swimmers earned themselves 50 best times and completed 3 events for the first time. The group made 7 finals positions and earned 1 TOP 3 swim. Katia swam Saturday and Sunday and earned 2 personal bests including a 3 second improvement in the 50 Fly. Olesia, also swimming just the two weekend days, earned 4 best times highlighted by 8 seconds off her old 200 IM time. Rachel came away from the meet with 2 best times. Her biggest improvement coming in the 100 Fly with a 5 second drop. Emily earned 3 best times including 8 seconds and 7 seconds off her 50 Breaststroke and 100 Back respectively. Avery had a very good weekend with 5 best times from 7 events including 4 seconds off both her 100 Free and 200 IM. Wyatt was excellent with 6 best times, 6 finals swims and earned a Top 3 finish. He bettered his old 200 Breaststroke by 7 seconds, his old 100 Breaststroke by 8, and his old 50 Back by 3 seconds. Ocean had 4 best times and swam her very first 200 Butterfly! She had two massive time drops: one in the 200 Free (23 seconds) and the other in the 200 IM (18 seconds). Farrah had a strong showing of 5 best times. She bettered her 200 Free and 100 Breaststroke by 6 seconds each. Jude swam to 3 best times and 2 new events in full season competition. He raced very well cutting 14 seconds off his 200 Free and 9 off his 50 Back. August swam to 6 best times and 1 final in the 200 Back. His best improvement was 10 seconds in the 100 Free. Aubrey got 5 personal bests including 5 seconds off in the 200 IM, and 4 seconds off in the 100 Back and 50 Fly. She also swam her first 100 Free under 1:30. Ryan was strong with 5 best times. He took off a massive 17 seconds in his 100 Breaststroke! He also broke the 40 second mark in both the 50 Fly and 50 Breaststroke for the first time.
13 Junior swimmers raced at the meet. Those 13 swimmers accounted for 62 best times and 13 second swims at Finals. We also had 1 swimmer fully qualify for AAA competition, and few swimmers earned AAA and East Coast Champs Standard times. Andrew walked away from the weekend with 4 best times. He had 9 seconds come off his 50 Fly time, 7 seconds off his 200 Free, and 5 off his 200 IM. Erica Roberts had a strong meet. She had 6 best times and made 2 finals. She took 12 seconds off her 100 Free and 7 off her 200 Free. She also made the AAA standard in the 200 Fly after taking 18 seconds off her old time. Marco earned 5 best times highlighted by a 55 second best time in the 400 Free, breaking the 6:00 mark for the first time and having a very good Finals swim in the event. Kennedy had a good weekend with 6 best times including a 17 second improvement in the 200 IM swimming under 3:30 for the first time. Ethan M also made 6 new best times, and he made 2 finals as well. He had his best improvements in the 200 Free with 5 seconds off, and the 100 Fly with a 16 second best time. Charlotte raced to 4 best times and 1 second swim at Finals. She had a big improvement in the 200 Back after taking off 7 seconds. Madelynn earned 4 best times. She also bettered her 200 Backstroke by 2 seconds. Claire managed 4 best times. She had a big drop in the 200 Back (19 Seconds!). She also officially broke the 3:00 mark in the 200 Free after doing that in practice earlier in the week. Angus made some substantial jumps in the 200 IM (13 seconds) and the 400 Free (24 seconds) en route to 5 best times. Nick H had 5 best times and 6 Finals appearances. He swam faster than 1:30 in the 100 Breaststroke for the first time and dropped 24 seconds in the 400 Free, and 7 seconds in the 200 Breaststroke. Addison raced to 6 best times and 2 Seconds swims. She finished the weekend fully qualified for AAA competition after qualifying in the 200 Back and 400 Free to add to her 200 Breaststroke. Her 400 Free time was also under the 12U East Coast Champs standard. Sam H had a massive improvement in his 200 Breaststroke by dropping 22 seconds in the event. That was one of his 6 personal bests on the weekend. Erica B swam Saturday and Sunday to earn 1 best time by dropping a big 16 seconds in the 200 Back.
The largest group represented at Candy Cane was the Senior group. 20 swimmers raced to 88 best times, 89 Finals appearances and 36 TOP 3 finishes. Jess earned 5 best times and qualified for Final in all 7 of her events. She broke 6:00 for the first time in the 400 IM and bettered her 200 Breaststroke time by 4 seconds. Sam S earned 2 best times and raced in Finals in 1 event. He dropped 2 seconds in the 200 Free. Haley left Truro with 5 best times. She was perfect in qualifying for finals with 6 appearances and 1 swim (800 Free) swam right to finals. She also earned 6 Top 3 finishes on the weekend. She swam 2:20 in the 200 Free for the first time. She also swam under 2:40 in the 200 Fly for the first time, collecting the 13-14 Girls club record with a time of 2:39.38. She also bettered that 800 Free by 29 seconds. Joel was a perfect 7 for 7 on best times and made finals in 6 events. He swam under 2:30 for the first time in his 200 IM after cutting 8 seconds off in the event. He also collected 2 new East Coast Champs SCM qualifying times. Ben P gathered up 5 best times and reached Finals in 4 events. He took off 7 seconds in the 400 Free and broke the 3:00 barrier in the 200 Breaststroke after cutting a big 16 seconds off in that event. Alana was a perfect 7 for 7 with 4 Finals swims and 2 Timed Final distance Freestyle events. After an 11 second improvement in the 200 Fly she is now under 3:00. She also swam under 2:20 in the 200 Free and bettered her 1500 Free time by 28 seconds. Nic M had 6 personal events and made Finals in all 7 of his events earning TOP 3 spots in 4 of them. He swam below 5:00 in the 400 IM for the first time and took off 6 seconds in the 200 IM. He adds 5 SCM East Coast Championships times to his portfolio. Taite was a perfect 7 for 7 with 7 Finals swims on the weekend. He earned 1 TOP 3 finish. He dropped 6 seconds in his 400 Free and qualified for East Coast Champs in the 50 Free. Morgan swam on Friday only and came up with 1 best time. Ben L also raced on Friday only and got 2 best times for his efforts. Maria had 7 best times from 7, qualifying for second swims in 4 events and the other 3 were timed finals. She earned Top 3 finishes in all her events. She also set new 11-12 SCM Club records in the: 100 Free, 200 Free, 800 Free, 1500 Free, and 200 IM. Brother Eugene had 6 best times and 7 Finals earning 6 Top 3 Finishes. He dropped 5 seconds in the 400 Free. He also set club records in the 15-17 SCM Category for his 100 Free, 200 Free, and 400 Free. Jason was strong with 6 best times, 6 Finals, and 3 Top 3 finishes. He dropped a massive 18 seconds off his SCM 100 Fly and 200 IM. He also dropped 8 seconds off his 100 Free breaking through the 1:00 mark for the first time. He leaves the meet with 3 new East Coast Champs times. Ethan K improved 6 of his times on the weekend and qualified for final in 6 events and the 7th was timed finals. He also came away with 6 TOP 3 finishes. He cut 7 seconds off his 400 IM and 5 seconds off his 200 IM. He also broke the 1:00 mark in the 100 Back and bettered his 15-17 SCM Club record in the 200 Back. Victoria managed 3 best times and finals in all 7 of her events and 1 Top 3 finish in a dominant 200 IM that came with 18 total seconds of improvement SCM. She left the meet with 2 new East Coast Champs Qualifying times. Maggie earned 3 best times and 3 2nd swims at finals. Similarly, Elyse made 3 2nd swims including a 4 second best time in the 200 Free. Jack raced to 2 personal bests and qualified for 3 Finals with 1 Timed Finals swim. He had a big drop in his 800 Free, bettering his entry time by 22 seconds. Gabe C earned 3 best times of his own and swam 1 event again at Finals in the afternoon. Gabe A walked away with 4 best times, 5 2nd swims and 2 Top 3 finishes. He left the meet with 2 new SCM East Coast Champs qualifying times, 8 seconds off in the 200 Back, 7 off in the 100 back, and 4 off in the 200 IM swimming the event under 2:20 for the first time in Finals.
This concludes the 2024 Racing calendar before the club heads into a much deserved Holiday Break. When the club returns in 2025 the racing calendar starts to diverge. AA swimmers return to the racing lanes first on January 18. Nova Tech swimmers dive in on January 19. The AAA swimmers start their Long Course (LCM) racing season on January 24. The charge into Championship season begins after the 2025 return to practice with AA Champs 8 weeks away, AAA SCM Provincials 9 weeks away, SWAT swimmers representing Swim NS in Maine only 10 weeks away, and East Coast Championships just 12 weeks away.