Parents write letters about Nitro at TAGS

Nitro Swimming captures the Texas Age Group Championship title

I wanted to leave you all with two pasted notes – one from one of our own swim parents, and one from a parent from another program:

“I just had to share the things I’ve seen this week. It makes me proud to be part of the Nitro family. I saw Emma help a swimmer out of the pool just before her race, breaking her concentration for the help of others. I saw brothers supporting each other, then racing each other. I saw Josh go out of his way to not only encourage teammates in his heat but especially the younger kids. I saw tired smiles, after races. I saw many swimmers shaking hands with competitors before and after their races. I saw the  look of awe in the 10 year olds thrilled that the NG was cheering them! The determination in Ben when Zack was there to cheer him on. I saw coaches right there after a bad race and jumping for joy with great swims.

The NG’s Thursday surprise appearance and cheer had an impact on the entire Championship. Other team parents were disjoint and sitting all over the stands on Thursday, but they were together and cheering their swimmers on Friday – I don’t think the NG senior kids understand the outstanding effect their support had on this meet and the younger kids. Their roller coaster cheer left the stands silent afterwards. I had several parents from other teams make comments about how great it was.

It is this type of outstanding behavior that sets an athlete apart as a real champion and sportsman and sets the team apart from the others. I’ve never been more proud to be part of the Nitro family.”

“I wanted to send you, your coaches, and your wonderful swimmers congratulations for an exceptional 2010 Long Course TAGS. Not only did you all finish #1 team champions, you and your swimmers demonstrated tremendous enthusiasm and sportsmanship. Personally, my wife and I were touched while we watched the encouragement your swimmers displayed while cheering for our daughter throughout the meet. Each day she felt special as she came home to talk about how nice you, Greg and your swimmers treated her! You and your organization are setting the standard for winning and sportsmanship. I just wanted to take this moment to acknowledge our thanks to you, your coaches, and swimmers for the positive experience and support you have demonstrated. Congratulations to NITRO NATION!”

Nitro leads 2010 LCM TAGS

We were down by 30.5 points when we began the Thursday PM finals session. For a short time we went 50+ points down, and even slipped to 3^rd place behind North Texas Nadadores and the Woodlands. We came back and re-claimed the 2^nd spot. When Friday’s session was completed, we closed the gap on the North Texas team, and moved back into 2nd place with only 23.5 points out of first with two days to go !!

Here are the highlights:

Congratulations to all the TAGS Finalists Tonight!  (times for Long Course Meters)

• 7th – Hemstreet, Karling (12)  200 Free  2:20.75
• 12th – Davis, Natalie (13)  200 Free    2:12.45
• 1st –  Artmann, Joshua (11)  200 Free    2:15.51
• 7th – Timmons, Seth (14)  200 Free  2:05.08
• 8th – Benwell, Lillian (11)  50 Breast  39.29
• 6th – Katzman, Cameron  (9)  50 Breast    43.12
• 1st –  Walker, Benjamin (12)   50 Breast    34.15
• 3rd – Chulavatr, Jared  (12)  50 Breast    35.34
• 6th – Krebsbach, Hayley (11)  100 Fly  1:13.70
• 8th – Marvin, Sutton  (11)  100 Fly  1:15.06
• 6th Strohmeyer, Ashley (12)  100 Fly  1:10.53
• 14th – Artmann, Abby (14) 100 Fly  1:08.10
• 1st – Gwin, Isaac (10)  100 Fly  1:11.93 new TAGS record (set 1982)!!
• 4th –  Gwin, Luke (10)  100 Fly  1:16.08
• 4th – Walker, Benjamin (12)  100 Fly   1:06.31
• 1st – Tan, Sydney (14)  400 IM   5:05.97
• 7th – Thompson, Lauren (13)  400 IM  5:16.17
• 9th – Jonsson, Christina  (14)  400 IM  5:18.08
• 11th – Davis, Natalie (13)  400 IM  5:18.56
• 13th – Morgan, Kira (14)  400 IM  5:20.04
• 15th – Bassman, Samantha (14)  400 IM  5:23.02
• 14th – Tenney, Mason (13)  400 IM  5:05.53

9th – 10&un Girls 400 Free Relay  ‘A’  5:09.14
1) Jacops, Renee 10            2) Kutz, Sarah 9
3) Fullwood, Summer 10       4) Thompson, Brittany 10

2nd – 11-12 Girls 400 Free Relay  ‘A’  4:17.52
1) Gogulski, Emma  12           2) Allen, Haley  12
3) Krebsbach, Hayley 11        4) Hemstreet, Karling 12

2nd – 13-14 Girls 400 Free Relay ‘A’   4:05.39
1) Wu, Amanda  14               2) Tan, Sydney  14
3) Artmann, Abby  14            4) Sutton, Samantha  14

3rd – 10&un Boys 400 Free Relay ‘A’    4:43.41 (TAGS record broken by 3 teams)!

1) Gwin, Luke 10               2) Katzman, Cameron  9
3) Lenner, Jay 10              4) Gwin, Isaac 10

2nd – 11-12 Boys 400 Free Relay ‘A’  4:11.24
1) Makhervaks, Dave 12           2) Walker, Benjamin  12
3) Artmann, Joshua 11              4) Chulavatr, Jared 12

On Saturday morning, we qualified more than our typical number of finals swimmers. We had an even better night. I don’t have the exact breakdown of how many TAGS winners we had, how many TAGS records Josh Artmann may have set, or how fast our three top 8 finalists all swam in the 13-14 girls 100 breastroke, or that Max Jones was the ONLY 9 yr old in a finals event tonight out of all the swimmers there —  you can search the results for that. I do know that I remember seeing some great “move-ups” – where we jumped up a position or three or four from preliminaries to finals. Nice to see when that happens. The relays have been SUPER as well as EXCITING. Tonight, our 13-14 girls held off a late charge by Longhorn Aquatics, and won their 200 freestyle relay. The rest of our relays contributed greatly to our team score as well. The 10 and Under Boys relay broke a twenty two year old TAGS record set in 1988, but they took SECOND.  Here are the team standings following Saturday’s session:

The top 5 teams look like this:

5. Longhorn Aquatics    294

4. Alamo Area Aquatics    353

3. The Woodlands              367.5

2. North Texas Nadadores  416.5

1. (drum roll please) Nitro Swimming  447 !!! We’re 30.5 points AHEAD of the next nearest team.