dropping time

Question
I'm writing this for my daughter who is a junior in high school. She is an avid swimmer. She swims for her high school team. She swims with the team everyday after school (unless there is a meet) and also on Saturdays. Along with swimming she also does drylands and works out in the weightroom. She's been swimming all her life, and swims in a club all summer long. She is having trouble cutting down her times. She has already qualified for relays but would like to qualify as an individual for the WPIAL's. But she is having trouble knocking off these valuable seconds. She weighs approx. 174 lbs and is approx. 5'-10" tall. She is not fat, but rather slender and all muscle. She needs some good advice to speed up her time?  Different exercises? Help in the weightroom? Drop some pounds? Can you help her? And one more thing. Is there a calculation that shows dropping pounds and using your using same skills will produce how many seconds off your time. Thank you.

Answer
Jeff--
If your daughter is all muscle, there really isn't any weight she needs to drop and there isn't a calculation relating weight loss to time drop.  By the sound of it your daughter may just need to focus on quick starts and turns and improving her streamlines underwater.  The better the technique on starts and turns, the more chance of dropping time. Good streamlines also help by giving her a little chance to sneak a little rest off the turns.  You are faster either all the way under the water or out of the water(good streamlines =more speed).  If she is in need of only a little time drop, maybe a mini-taper or rest before an upcoming meet may be beneficial, but you'd have to talk to her coach about that.
Hope this helps,good luck
George