Records and Trials and PRs Oh My!

   1st Meet of the Olympic Long Course Season Provides Lots of Excitement

4/29 - If the first meet of the 2024 Long Course season is any indication, we're in for a big Olympic summer.  The meet this weekend at Ga Tech had a Masters national record (as well as some state records), an Olympic Trial qualifying time and tons of individual PR's. And for most of the swimmers it's only been 2-3 weeks of training since they got back from short course season.   

Jennifer Mihalik set a new 45-49 age group national record in the 100 back while Baylor Stanton picked up his Olympic Trials cut in the 200 back.  Coach Lucas said (after Baylor's two previous attempts to get the cut) "he just needed to get back to training and forget about it"...and then he made it!   

And the heat sheet was practically worthless with huge drops coming from all heats.  Complete results can be viewed using the link below. 

Gwinnett Aquatics had a great meet with four swimmers winning events, another nine placing (top 3) and many swimmers already picking up state qualifying times. 

Kate Breiding, Emily Hardy, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro, and Baylor Stanton all won events while Cameron Jones, Hannah-Claire Jowers, Aliana McCann, Grant McGee, Riley Pynn, Jude Stanton, Ella and Emery Wells, and Cole Wright (Gold) all placed. 

19 swimmers picked up state cuts while a whopping 72 swimmers (nearly 75% of our swimmers) got at least a B time, many for the first time. Ella Wells picked up her first AA time while her sister Emery and Cole Wright got their first A times.  Gatlin Granberry, Abbie Lee, and Hailey Lord earned their first ever BB times while Aiden Green, Harper Lee, Violet Pincombe, and Victoria Tannure got their first Bs.

With it being the first long course meet since last July for most swimmers there were a ton of best times (over 30 swimmers had 100% best times!).  In fact over 20 swimmers had events that they dropped over 8s per 50 with top honors going to Zoe Jinadu who had a 36-second drop in 100 free. 

Up next is the Spring Splash May 10-12 at Dynamo. Replies are closed so if you missed it be sure to email your coach. 

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Gwinnett Aquatics Swimmers in Texas

4/8 - While most of the team was back home getting back into training and helping get the facility ready for the summer, Jack Dunbar and Baylor Stanton were in San Antonio, Texas, racing against some of the best swimmers in the world!

In a stacked meet, Stanton broke two team records (in both Backstrokes) and also made his first ever A-Final in a Senior-level national meet! Once back home Dunbar got the good news that he'll be swimming for the Ga Tech Ramblin' Wreck next year. Congrats Jack!

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Gwinnett Aquatics Third at Divisionals

   Stanton Breaks National 15-16 200 Back Record

3/25 - Gwinnett Aquatics was third this weekend at the Northeast Divisional Champs in Augusta.  It was a drop of one place for us as we faced two much larger teams in ASL (who won after being third last year) and ABSC who both had twice as many swimmers as us. 

The Sr boys and the 8U boys won their age groups, while the 9-10 boys and girls and the 11-12 boys were 2nd.  Individually, Reynolds Bowers led the way with 8 event wins followed by Baylor Stanton's six. Eight other swimmers won events (for a total of 25 events!), 14 more were top-3  But truly it was a total team effort as 85 different swimmers scored, 60 in the top 8! (topping last year for our highest ever). 

Of course one of the most exciting swims I've ever watched (and definitely the most exciting with one of our own swimmers) was Baylor Stanton's 200 back where he touched in 1:40.5 to break the National record for 15-16 boys, our first ever national record holder.  Stanton also broke three other team records. 

The team also, once again, showed great team spirit and voluntarism. Thanx to all the parents who helped organize the car decorations, shirts, theme-ware and the catered meals too. It really helped make this a special weekend for the swimmers. Standard breakers for the meet were:

• Event Winners - Bowers, Stanton, Jack Dunbar, Ben El-Alam, Kate Johnson, Aliana McCann, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro, Emery Wells, and Gabriel Zimmerman
• First AAA Time - Justin Bennett
• First AA Times - SteveMichael Bennett
• First BB Times - Henry Boltin, Reynolds Bowers, Nolan Clinansmith, Emily Hillensheim
• First B Times - Aeden Hills
• First Senior Sectional Cuts - Brandon Noble
• First State Cuts - SteveMichael Bennett, Henry Breiding, Grant McGee, Aaron Passman, and Benicio Zimmerman

Now we get a few fun practices and a little rest until after spring break when we start up the long course season April 10!

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