April 8-11, 2011 - Ann Arbor, MI
11 Sharks made traveled to the University of Michigan (Maddie Benavidez, Jackie Doyle, Lauren Damian, Madison White, Sidney Cooke, Natalie Amberg, Lexy Troup, Dillon Williams, Brett Usinger, David Morgan, and Bryan Hughes) to compete in the  USA 2011 Michigan Grand Prix Swim Championships!! We had a great time and had a great experience at a pool that is rich with history and fast swimming.

Sidney Cooke had a "coming out party" posting 2 Olympic Trial qualifying times in both the 100Bk and 200 BK....she did this by winning the B Final in the 100 BK (placing 9th overall) and by earning a bronze medal (3rd overall) in the 200 BK. We are so proud of Sidney and look forward to her representing the Sharks at the 2012 US Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska!!

Madison White posted a best time in the 200FL (Top 16 overall) and is closing in on yet another Olympic Trials cut (she has 4 cuts already). Madison also was right on her best time in the 100 Bk (4th overall) and earned a silver medal in the 200 BK (2nd overall).

Jackie Doyle had a fantastic meet!! She posted life time bests in the 100 BK and 200 Bk (blew her heat away by over 4 seconds). Dillion Williams got a best time in the 50FR and David Morgan got a best time in the 200BK. Natalie Amberg got best times in the 400FR (made top 30, swam in finals) and 100BK.

Overall, the Sharks did awesome and we are so proud of all the kids that went!!
 

The Sharks were on fire at the 2011 SC Far Western Championships March 31-April 3 in Morgan Hill, CA. Taking advantage of the beautiful sunny weather, the Sharks made their own history with their best team performance ever at this meet coming in a close second place to NOVA from SoCal. The Sharks were only down by 4pts going into the last set of relays on the final day! Leading the way were the 11-12 girls, 13-14 girls, 18 yr old Alex Madsen and 12 yr old Hank Poppe. 

The 11-12 girls (Gianna Garcia, Tori Kaleta, Sarah Wang, and Madelyn Murphy) set a new Pacific Record in the 200 MR (breaking our own previous record) and the 13-14 girls (Brittany Usinger, Danielle Taylor, Ana Henderson, and Ariana Saghafi) broke the Far Western Record in the 400FR. AND Ariana Saghafi, Aileen Lee, Brittany Usinger and Danielle Taylor also broke the Pacific Record and Far Western record in the 200MR. Finally, 12 yr old Maddie Murphy had an incredible performance in the 50 fly breaking the Pacific Record!! The coaches were fired up and very proud of all that participated.


Below are the highlights:
11-12 Girls Relays 
         (200MR-1st, 200 FR-1st, 400MR-2nd, 400FR-2nd)
13-14 Girls Relays 
         (200MR A-1st, B-7th, 400MR A-1st, B-6th, 200FR A-1st, B-8th,
          400FR A-1st, B-8th, 800FR A-2nd, B-8th)


11-12 Girls Individual Best Times:
Madelyn Murphy - 50FL(1st), 100FL(1st), 100IM(5th), 50FR(1st), 100FR(2nd), 200IM(5th)
Gianna Garcia - 50BK(2nd), 100BK(2nd), 200BK (2nd-New Sectional Cut),
                          50FL(2nd), 100FL(2nd), 100IM(7th)
Tori Kaleta - 200BR
Sarah Wang - 50FL(3rd), 100FL(Top 8), 50BR(Top8), 100BR(Top8), 200BR(Top8)

11-12 Boys Individual Best Times:
Hank Poppe - 50BR(2nd), 100BR(1st), 200BR(2nd), 100IM(3rd),
                       200IM(Top5), 100BK(Top8)
Corban Rawls - 50FR(5th), 100FR, 100IM

13-14 Girls individual Best Times:
Ariana Saghafi - 100FL(2nd), 200FL(1st), 200IM(1st), 400IM(1st)
Brittany Usinger - 100FL(1st), 200FL(2nd), 50FR(2nd), 100FR(5th), 200FR(6th),
                               100BK(top8), 200BK(top8)
Aileen Lee - 100BR(2nd)
Danielle Taylor - 100FL(top5)
Ana Henderson - 50FR (new Sectional Cut), 100FR(new Sectional Cut), 100FL, 100BK
Natalie Doan - 50Fr(new Sectional Cut), 100FR(new Sectional Cut),
Kaya Philapil - 100BR(8th)
Abby Miller - 200FR, 200IM, 400IM
Sara Nicolosi - 100BK, 200BK(top8), 200IM, 400IM(top8), 200FL
Marina Smith - 200FR(new Sectional Cut), 100BK, 200BK, 200IM

13-14 Boys individual Best Times:
Connor Doyle - 100FL, 200FL
Arjun Sharma - 100FL, 100BK, 100FR
AJ Silva - 200FL

15-16 Girls individual Best Times:
Heidi Poppe - 100BR(1st), 200BR(1st, new Senior National cut), 200IM
Amanda Miller - 100BR (Top 5)

15-16 Boys Individual Best Times:
Rolland Lee - 100BR(2nd), 200BR(1st) 

17-18 Girls Individual
Alex Madsen - 50Fr(top8),100FR(top5), 200Fr(top5), 100BK(3rd), 200BK(3rd),
                        100FL(top8), 200IM(top8)

17-18 Boys Individual Best Times:
Piankhi Gibson - 50FR(1st), 100FR(1st), 100FL(1st)


Way to go Sharks!! 
You should be VERY proud of yourselves!! 

Keep up the HARD WORK!!

 

Your Coaches

Dan, Josh, and Annie

The Sharks had a remarkable Junior Olympic Championships capped by a 2ND place finish overall. The 11-12 girls paced the team with multiple 1,2 finishes in the relays. Ariana Saghafi won the 50 fly and 100 free (26.5 and 53.4) and was 2nd in the 200 BR (2:31.0). Madelyn Murphy finished 3rd overall in the high point scoring. Madelyn qualified for her first Sectionals in the 50 free and Bonus time in the 100 BR, she recorded best times in 8 events! Abigail Miller won the 200 fly and was top 2 in the 200IM and 100 fly. Corban Rawls led the 11-12 boys with best times in 8 events and was the only 11 yr old in the Top 8 in the 50 FR (25.5). The 13-14 girls displayed their leadership with dominant relay performances, by winning all 3 relays!
Ana Henderson and Brenda Shanahan moved closer to Sectionals with multiple best times and final appearances. Aileen Lee showed her toughness by winning the 100 and 200 BR as a 13 yr old. Brittany Usinger contributed with multiple top 8 finishes. Sara Nicolosi stepped up big time in the 200 and 400 IM with top 8 finishes and Marina Smith went under 2min in the 200 Fr and was top 8 in the 50 and 100 fr.

The Sharks had an awesome meet back in Atlanta at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Complex. Leading the way was Senior Taylor Nanfria who ended up 3rd for women in the high point scoring. Taylor was Top 10 in 5 out of the 6 events she competed in and the highlights were in the 400 IM (3rd, 4:12.0, best time), 200 IM (6th, 2:00.6, best time), and 1650 FR (3rd, 16:28).
 
Senior Lauren Damian made her first Senior National cut in the 100 Bk (55.8).
Sophmore Sidney Cooke had a coming out party with incredible swims and new Senior National cuts in the 100 BK (54.9, 10th) and 200 BK (1:58.8, 6th). Freshman Heidi Poppe made her first finals at Jr Nationals (top 30) in the 200 Breast in a best time of 2:20.8. Newcomer and Senior Piankhi Gibson was Top 20 in the 100 Fly 49.7.
 
Medley Relays proved to be very exciting!! (Lauren Damian 17, Heidi Poppe 14, Brittany Usinger 13, and Ariana Saghafi 12) shocked the consolational finals by winning their heat in the 200 Medley Relay. Sidney Cooke, Heidi Poppe, Brittany Usinger, and Ariana Saghafi also made Top 20 in the 400 Medley Relay.

Madison White (16) represented the Sharks and her country with flying colors in Dubai at the 2010 Short Course Meter World Championships!! Madison made the finals in the 200 Back (7th, 2:05.9) as one of two Americans in the event. Madison also competed in the 50 Bk and won her heat with a best time. We are very proud of her and look forward to see what she will do next!!

Long Beach, CA was no day at the beach during Sectionals!
Torrential rain, delayed flights and long drives did not dampen the momentum the Sharks maintained during the 5 days of competition! The Sectional Championship meet was a huge success for a very young Sharks team culminating in a 6th place finish overall.  This meet marked the first time the Sharks competed in the "Large" Division, (which is based on the number of entries each team has in the meet).  There were many best times and very strong swims from the swimmers that competed in the meet......

Natalie Amberg-  Competed well and battled through illness and injury in the Fall to swim best times in both backstroke and freestyle. Jenny Barcellona- Extending her taper from a very successful Junior National meet to get more best times!  Qualified for finals in the 100 back, and significantly helped on relays. Maddie Benavidez-  100% BEST TIMES!!!! Dropped almost 4 seconds in the 200 breast! Sidney Cooke- Backed up her outstanding Junior National performances with very solid swims at Sectionals, including making the championship finals in both backstroke events.  Quentin Cooper-  Pulled off the very rare combination of getting best times in the 50 and the 1650 freestyle.  The mile was almost a 15 second time drop! Jacqueline Doyle-  Swam to multiple best times and dropped almost 5 seconds in the 200 freestyle! Piankhi Gibson- Got best times in the 200 free and 200 fly and qualified for the championship final in the 100 butterfly  Frank Horpel-  100% BEST TIMES!!!!!  Swam to a top 16 finish in the 1000 free. Bryan Hughes- Swam to season best times in both butterfly events, 200 backstroke, and 400 IM.  The 100 fly and 200 backstroke were lifetime bests! Vanessa Johnson-  Swam tough and stayed very positive despite having her goggles come off in 2/3 of her races.  Her positive outlook set a great example for the younger Sharks' swimmers attending the meet! Aileen Lee - 100 % BEST TIMES!!!! Dropped over 3 seconds in the 200 IM! Rolland Lee-  100% BEST TIMES!!!  Great meet included a finals appearance in the 100 breast. Alex Madsen -  Swam multiple season best times soon after being accepted to attend West Point next fall!  Congrats Alex! Devin Madsen-  Multiple season best times as well as very valuable contributions to the team on relays. Amanda Miller - 100% BEST TIMES!!!!  Congrats to Amanda for moving up to the Senior Group full time! David Morgan-  Multiple lifetime best times including finals appearances in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle combined with outstanding relay performances. Maddie Murphy-  The youngest Shark to attend the Sectional meet posted 100% BEST TIMES in her very first travel meet with the team. Charlie Nanfria-  100% BEST TIMES!!!!!  MAJOR season time drops in the 200 fly and 200 IM! Taylor Nanfria - Coming off an outstanding Jr. National meet, Taylor swam extremely tough and finaled in multiple events.  The coaches especially appreciate Taylor's willingness to scratch two events she wanted to swim in order to compete in events she would place higher in, thus scoring more points.  Thanks Taylor! Sara Nicolosi- 100% BEST TIMES!!!!!  Great performances after overcoming and injury that only allowed her to pull for most of the Fall season. Daniella Orlandi-  Multiple season best times at Sectionals after competing well at Junior Nationals.
Kaya Philapil-  Lifetime best times in the 100 Breast and 200 IM! Heidi Poppe-  Came back after a strong Junior National meet to compete very well in Long Beach. Marina Smith -  100% BEST TIMES!!!!!  Very good meet including valuable relay contributions from a 13 year old. Cody Tanabe-  100% BEST TIMES!!!!! Dropped over 5 seconds in the 200 freestyle! Alexa Troup-  Very  performances swimming many events including scoring in the 500 and 1,000 freestyle and 400 IM. Brett Usinger-  100% BEST TIMES!!!!!  Phenomenal meet including finals swims in both the 100 and 200 breast. Brett also, gets honorable mention for swimming a "600 Breast" (in one day he swam 200 Breast 3 times; in pre-lims, a swim-off and finals!)  Brittany Usinger- Very strong meet after performing well at Junior Nationals.  Multiple best times including a finals appearance in the 100 butterfly. Dillon Williams- Very strong swims after recently coming back after football season.  Very valuable contributions in relays. Andy Wooldridge-  Swam multiple season best times in preparation for his freshman year at the University of Hawaii next fall!

Let's Keep it Going in 2011!
Go Sharks!