Senior Colin H. Wins NCS Swim Title, Earns All-American

Well, the big news is that Colin won the school's first ever North Coast Section swim title in the 200 Individual Medley this past Saturday.  His winning time of 1:51.76 was just 2 seconds shy of the NCS record but well under the automatic All-American time standard of 1:54.66.  Colin went info finals ranked first which meant he had to swim with more pressure than anyone in that field.  Not only did he fight off nerves and swam relaxed but he lowered his time by over one second.  Ranked second in the 500 Freestyle, Colin and Cullen Hennessy of Sir Francis Drake put on a great close race for the crowd, which rarely happens in the 20-lap event.  Cullen lead most of the race but Colin was right there nipping at his shoulder.  Colin took a slight lead with two laps to go, turning about 0.1 second ahead of Cullen at the wall.  On the last turn the two were pretty much even but Cullen, with more a sprinter's speed, pulled ahead on the last lap to win by 0.5 seconds.  Wow, what a race!  Colin/Cullen, coincidence?  Hmmm... Watching Colin swim that race I found an even greater respect for him because his stroke and kick looked a bit tired and off-form.  Basically, he willed that race and swam a lifetime best 4:32.34, five seconds below the automatic All-American time standard.  Both his 200 IM and 500 Free times are school and conference records.  Colin, was not our sole individual swimmer at NCS.  The qualifying times were amazingly fast this year but we still managed to qualify two girls relays (one more from last year) and 2 individual girls (Micaela and Jenny).  The boys qualified in the 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay, but even more impressive was that their time ranked 16th of all schools in the North Coast Section Divisions 1-5.  The girls 200 Medley Relay (Emily S., Jenny, Michelle, Alice) swam a season best 2:00.21 and moved up 8 places in the seeding to finish 30th.  The girls 200 Freestyle Relay (Emily S., Emily O., Michelle, Jenny) finished 38th swimming about one second off their season best time.  Freshman Micaela qualified in the 500 Freestyle and she finished 39th, one place higher than her seed.  She looked great all week during the taper and took the race out fast splitting a 2:08 for the 200, which is her fastest 200 free time ever.  But fatigue set in with about 150 yards to go and she eventually finished four seconds off her personal best.  Only a freshman, Micaela will have many more opportunities at NCS.  Another freshman, Jenny, qualifed and swam a personal best in the 100 Breaststroke.  She lowered her own school record, swimming a 1:09.88 to finish 24th, three places higher than her seed.  And in her last race of the season, Jenny finally pulled together the race strategy both Nancy and I tried to set for her all season.  The boys 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay (Nils, Scott, Jack, Colin), having waited over 8 hours to swim, swam slightly off their best, finishing 20th, and just missed consolations by 4 places.  However, I still consider what they did to be a huge success because I never thought that relay would go under 2:28, and they managed to do it twice, swimming a 2:24 at BAC's and then a 2:25 at NCS.  The week leading up to the race was one of my favorite weeks in my seven years as a coach.  We didn't feel a need to rush things at practice, we bonded or according to Ursula, had pow wows, and we laughed, a lot, more so than I've ever recalled.  Sophomore Alice summed it up best when she said that the seniors are like her children and that she is not ready to let go.  How appropriate considering that Alice is the resident "old lady" of our team.