YOTA Swimming: 2011 Men's YMCA National Champions Day By Day Recap

by Josh Huger (MrUtopia)

Written by the YMCA of the Triangle Area Swim Team's Head Coach Chad Onken

Day 1:

It was a great start to the 2011 YMCA Short Course National Championships here in Ft. Lauderdale. The YMCA of the Triangle Area (YOTA) Swim Team has 31 swimmers qualified for the meet - the largest and one of the most talented teams in our history. Although we are dealing with some challenging facility issues, all of the athletes are focused, prepared, and excited for what we consider the biggest meet of the season.
 
Day one was pretty awesome. We finished the day breaking 8 YOTA team records, qualifying 2 new athletes for Junior Nationals, winning two individual and one relay YMCA National Championships, and breaking a NC Swimming State record and just missing on a number of YMCA National records:
 
100 Back - YMCA National Record Holder Sabrina Benson fought off some an illness to finish third for the women and Kevin Rogers finished 6th for the men.

500 Free - Kiera Molloy swam in her first YMCA National final, finishing 7th with a new team record and Junior National qualifying time. Nathan Walters finished 13th for the men with a lifetime best as well

200 IM - Hayley Tomlinson also made her initial appearance in a Y-National final, finishing in 8th with a team record and a new Junior National qualifying time. Dominick Glavich was crowned the men's champion with a great swim as the event's top qualifier from the preliminary session.

50 Free - Sabrina Benson followed up her big swim in the 100 back with a 16th place finish in the 50 free. Joe Bonk won the men's event and will be looking to go even faster in the 200 free relay (lead-off) later this week.

200 Medley Relay - We take our relays very seriously at YOTA. It showed as our women finished 3rd with a gutsy performance in the women's competition and our men finished first thanks to an amazing 19.79 anchor from Joe Bonk.
 
We currently stand 1st in the men's team standings, 3rd in the women's meet, and 2nd overall in the combined team standings. We had a great day - but are excited to keep the pedal to the metal for three more fun-filled, exciting days here at Y-Nationals.
 
GO YOTA!!!

Day 2:

We just finished day 2 of this year's YMCA National Swimming Championships and I couldn't be more proud of our amazing YOTA athletes. The coaching staff has challenged them to make this meet a memorable one, and they've responded in a big way!!

1000 Free - WOW!! It's exciting to score big points in all of the different events, it's a testament to our program to have people swimming fast in all four strokes and IM's - regardless of the distance. Kiera Molloy finished 4th in the 1000 free with a new Senior National cut in the 1000 free (9:55.58). Theresa Meyer also had a great swim, finishing 12th. Kevin Rogers was electric for the men, finishing 5th with a 9:14.16 - another Senior National cut and amazing swim!!

100 Fly - Sabrina Benson started the night off right with a great swim in the women's 100 fly, finishing 4th and going the fastest time she's gone in a non-tech suit. Dominick Glavich and Joe Bonk followed suit with two great swims - Dom finishing 2nd and Joe finishing 11th; scoring a ton of valuable team points for the men.

200 Breast - Hayley Tomlinson added another event to her Junior National resume, getting 8th in the 200 breast with another lifetime best time.

200 Free - Joe Bonk had a breakout swim in the 200 free, finishing third with a 1:38.87. He can't be called just a sprinter now (20.3/44.2) - he was able to do a tough double tonight and swim a very legitimate 200 free. I'm very proud of his continued development and extremely excited for his upcoming senior year of swimming!!

Although our women's 400 Free Relay didn't score, we were able to lay a foundation for future year's with some youngsters stepping up and going lifetime best's in the morning relay. We'll be much better in that event next year. As for the men, we couldn't be much better - first place with a new YOTA team, NC Swimming state, and YMCA National record!! 3:01.23 didn't quite hit our goal time, but it was a great swim and redemption after breaking the relay last year and getting DQ'ed.

The men are sitting pretty in 1st place and our women are fighting tooth and nail for a 3rd place finish on the women's side. We are halfway through this meet and have drastically exceeded all of our expectations as coaches. WAY TO GO YOTA!!

Day 3:

Another amazing day of great swimming for the YOTA men and women. We've had some ridiculous swims thus far and are looking to finish this meet on a high note:

400 IM - Hayley Tomlinson got another Junior National cut and broke the YOTA team record with a 9th place 4:22.60 - only to have that record be broken with a new Senior National qualifying time and 5th place finish by Kiera Molloy (4:19.28). Those two have worked their tails off this year and are very deserving of such awesome swims - GREAT JOB LADIES!!

100 Free - Joe Bonk and Dominick Glavich were looking for some big points in the A final of the 100 free, and they delivered. Joe had a phenomenal 44.20 swim in the morning and came out a bit tight at night (44.78) - he still finished 2nd and I'm confident that we'll be laughing at how slow 44.20 is next year when we are at this meet. Dom was just off his best, but scored big points with a 45.77 5th place finish. YOTA MEN!!

200 Back - Sabrina Benson had a breakout swim in the morning, going a 1:59.05 in the 200 back. She was a bit off at night, going 2:01.05. I'm extremely proud of her morning swim, as that 2:00 minute barrier was a huge breakthrough for her. Kevin Rogers was 1:47.29 in the 200 back at night - finishing third with a LTB and YOTA Team Record. I'm excited for Kevin to go after some 2012 Olympic Trial cuts this summer at Junior's in Palo Alto!!

800 Free Relay - AMAZING!! Our men's and women's team were unbelievable!! Our women were seeded 10th and ended the meet with a ridiculous 7:25.70 effort. This is a NCS State Record and destroys the YOTA team record by almost 8 seconds!! Our splits were: Kiera Molloy (1:51.30), Theresa Meyer (1:51.54), Hayley Tomlinson (1:51.08), and Sabrina Benson with a gutsy split as well (1:51.78). I am so proud of our women's team!! Our men had an awesome race as well. Dominick Glavich (1:39.64), Joe Bonk (1:39.79), Kevin Rogers (1:36.92) and Nathan Walters (1:40.82) overcame a three body length lead from Sarasota to win the relay and break the YOTA team and YMCA National record. It was an awesome swim - I'm still in awe over Kevin's split. It was unbelievable!!

Sarasota and Middle Tyger (Spartanburg) are fighting hard for the overall team title, Steve Brown (SYS) and Pete Wright (YSST) are amazing coaches and great friends. I'm honored and humbled to be in third place behind them. Tomorrow is the most important day of the meet and we are ready to fight hard!!

Day 4:

The meet is over and we were amazing. I'm such a lucky coach to work with such amazing young athletes. Although we didn't win the overall team title like our 2006 team did, this may be the most amazing week of swimming in YOTA history!!

200 Free Relay - Our women are still looking for their identity in the sprint free events, but our men were on fire. We broke our team record, the NCS State Record, and the YMCA National Record (from 2005!!) with a 1:22.58!! It was a great swim providing us with a ton of momentum as start the night trying to win the men's team title!!

1650 Free - Theresa Meyer had a great swim in the mile - finishing with an 11th place time. Her hard work and dedication this year has really paid off.

200 Fly - Dominick Glavich and Kevin Rogers turned in a 1-2 performance for YOTA that sealed the deal for our men's team title!! Dominick was 1:47.1 with an amazing last 50, and Kevin was 1:47.8 and relied on separating himself from the field on the 3rd 50. Two great swims that made me a very proud coach!!

100 Breast - Basira Knight won the C final with an awesome 1:04.52 time (YOTA team record) and Hayley Tomlinson finished 12th with a 1:04.84 - two young breaststrokers that we are really excited about for the future of the YOTA program. Seth Connor moved up in the B final to finish 14th with a repeat of his 57.70 performance from prelims.

400 Medley Relay - We really pride ourselves on our relays at YOTA, and it showed time and time again. Our women swam lights out with a 3:45.61 swim that destroyed our once "unbeatable" YOTA team record from 2006. Sabrina Benson led off with a 53.77 team and state record as well!! Congrats to Sabrina, Basira, Kiera, and Hayley on a great relay - I'm so proud of them!!! Our men completed the relay sweep, finishing up with a win in all 5 relays - breaking YMCA National Records in all 3 of the freestyle relays. The 400 medley was equally impressive - Kevin Rogers (50.04), Seth Connor (57.59), Dominick Glavich (48.72), and Joe Bonk (43.79) - destroying our YOTA team record as well.

The meet was AWESOME!! The final numbers for YOTA were pretty impressive:

11 new SR National cuts, 7 new JR National cuts, 3 new YMCA National records, 4 new NCS State Records, 9 new women's YOTA team records, 11 new men's YOTA team records, 3 individual YMCA National Champions, 5 relay YMCA National champions, countless LTB's and new Y-Nat cuts. Men are repeat YMCA National Champions, Women were third. Combined third place finish. Amazing job TEAM!!

As the Head Coach of this amazing group of kids - I am one proud coach!!

Congrats to everyone that took part in this meet, we'll see you next year!!

- Chad Onken