Back to Archive List Although we showed a little rust during the meet set-up, Coach Anna Tarka has prepared the Strawberry Seals Swim Team to dive off the blocks quickly. While Coach Steve tried to invoke the "Dark Side of the Force" for the Black Team in his Darth Vader costume, the Red Team took a more laid back approach as Coach Nick adorned his bright red Christmas Pajamas. Both teams brought their A-games with highly spirited cheers and great performances between the lap lanes. The intra-squad block party allowed many swimmers to stretch beyond their comfort zones as the natural butter-flyers swam breast-stroke and vice versa. Both the crafty veterans and emerging new stars rose to the occasion. The fan participation was also great as new parent enthusiasm was both inspiring and infectious. The electric atmosphere allowed many swimmers to post All-Star Times providing high bars for future best times. Although Time Trials times doesn't count towards All Stars (see article below) qualification, we would like to recognize the following swimmers for posting times which met the qualifying times: Annie Whalen, Armani Roots, Curtis Klopfer, Hannah Rose Grant, Kimi Wu, Riley Sikes, and Jimmy Thomas qualified for all five events. Ali Coopersmith qualified in four events. Gabriel Patino, Alex Mortimer, Nicole O'Dea and Nicky Chan pulled off the hat trick qualifying in three events. Two time All-Star qualifiers were Annelie Miller, Kristin Sato, Nick Patino and Zach Cohen. Qualifying in one event were: Alexa Zener, Caitlin Firmage, Jada Andrews, Julian Farr, Katherine Takeshita, Luke Klopfer, Nicholas Farr, and Zack Glenn.

The meet clearly showed that the Strawberry Seals possess both team depth and balance which should lead to very competitive relay teams and a force to be reckoned with in the Marin Swim League. The Scott Valley Sea Serpents will have to take notice as the Seals prepare for the Tiburon Bridge Battle.

The familiar voice of the Seals, Craig Dykman, was already in mid-season form providing levity and saving planet earth in the process with his water conservation efforts. In addition to moving through heats efficiently, he entertained us with music running the gamut between the old school songs like "Electric Avenue" by Eddie Grant (no relation to Hannah Rose and Mason) to the more cutting edge Lady Ga Ga. All of the volunteers stepped up making it a seamless first meet. Special thanks to our sponsors for their continual support and to everyone for helping make the Raffle a big win! The snack bar was a big success anchored by the Brandon Natural Beef Hamburgers. Woody's provided the proverbial "cherry on top" as most families celebrated the first meet with the ice-cream coupons.

Last but definitely not least, let us recognize the great job by Stacey Ciauri and Sloan Klein in their efforts to establish strong bonds between the seal buddies this week. The Seal Buddy box has been a huge hit for both the big and little buddy. It was very clear that friendships are developing as the big buddies assisted the little ones at line-up and the little buddies cheered loudly at the ends of the pool during their buddies events.