GIVING THANKS AT HISTORIC KEATING NATATORIUM
For decades, Thanksgiving has been followed by the annual Blue/White meet.  But Saturday following "turkey day" is so much more than a swim meet.  The team began with mass celebrated by the legendary former AquaBomber Fr. Bill Verbryke SJ.  The day ended with a festive banquet hosted by dozens of parent volunteers.
 
What transpired in between was a great, quality competition with the Blue squad prevailing 971 to 947 for the White.
 
Multiple individual winners were senior caption Chase Grisi (200 Free & 100 Fly) and junior Tucker Charles (100 Free & 100 Back).  Sam DeMarco [SR] had a productive day picking up gold in the 50 free and as part of the 200 Medley Relay (Charles, Safet Hatic [JR], Will Farrell [FR], DeMarco) and the 400 Free Relay (DeMarco, Nabil Sinno [SR], Alex Nixon [SR], Charles).
 
Other individual winners were:

Brayden Scott [SR] – 200 IM
Cole Smith [JR] – 400 Free
Hatic – 100 Breast 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS –

6 Events faster than last year
94% Season Bests (STP's)
37% Best Lifetimes (BLT's)
44 swims would have qualified for District last year

 
 
COACHES COMMENTS – 

"Coaches Albert & Zink planned and orchestrated a very special day.  We were truly blessed to gather spiritually, socially and athletically.  Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, and we took full advantage of it AquaBomber style," reflected head coach Jim Brower.
 
"Sharing the day with coaches I have worked with for decades is a blessing.  Sharing the deck with our athletes is a revelation.  And when you mix in our incredible parents, it results in something for more than an intersquad dual meet," commented assistant head coach Tom Keefe.
 
"We certainly learned a lot during the meet.  Watching the competition gives us a baseline for further development.  A significant part of our program," noted coach Tim Beerman.
 
"After just 4 weeks, it is truly amazing to see how far some of our less experienced athletes have come.  It was an exciting opportunity to witness dramatic advances in technique and times," offered coach Zach Vogelpohl.