Younger Swimmers Take Over at Gold Invite
7/1 - After the big weekend the older swimmers had a week ago in Indy, it was time for the younger swimmers to show their stuff this last weekend in Cumming. Nearly 50 swimmers, mostly 12 and Under, had their final tune-up before the big championship meets at the GOLD Summer Invite.
Riley Pynn and Emery Wells led the group with 6 top-8 finishes each. CJ Gast, Nic Ramdeo Benicio Zimmerman, Lucy Bower, Eddie El Osta, Gatlin Granberry, Aeden Hills, Sophia Quinn, and Eva Saldana also had top-8 finishes.
Pynn and Ramdeo also picked up their first A times (Pynn's first ever). Hills, Anna Buckley, Jude El-Alam, and Kitkat Jacobsen got their first BB times, while Gabriel Zimmerman got his first B time. Jacobsen and Reynolds Bowers got their first ever state cuts!
Next us will be the first of four championship meets in July, the CODA Classic at Dynamo.
Evaluations Now Available for 2024-25 Season, Registration Opens to Public July 5
5/29 - Evaluations have started for new swimmers interested in joining Gwinnett Aquatics for the 2024-25 season. You can sign up for a slot on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7pm through the end of July. They are free and take about 10 minutes but sometimes we have quite a few swimmers in attendance so it takes a little longer. High school aged swimmers should email coach Hugh Convery for a pre-registration meeting rather than an evaluation.
Registration will open for new swimmers on July 5. Most groups will have a wait list and very few spots will be open in most groups. Getting your eval done before the 5th and registering that day will give you the best chance of getting a spot.
Our pre-season will start August 12 with the full schedule starting September 9. The first meet will be October 5. We are looking forward to a very exciting post-Olympic year including a new format for 14 and Under State Champs (11-14 State will be in Savannah while 10Us and 11-14 Junior Champs will be at Ga Tech) and a return to UGA for Divisionals.
Stanton a Top 18U in Three Events at Olympic Trials, Teammates Try to Emulate at FRST Invite!
6/24 - Baylor Stanton swam three races at his first ever Olympic Trials last week in Indianapolis. In those three events he moved up a combined 83 places to move into the top 30 in all three events. He was also top 3 for 18Us in two of them. All three were a personal best and a team record. All three were the fastest 15-16 times in the country this year and the 200 IM was a Georgia state record and the 7th fastest 15-16 time in US history. Whew, what a meet! And on his final day he was cheered on by over thirty of his teammates who made the trip up to support him and take in the action of Olympic Trials.
Inspired by all Baylor's successes, his teammates then took to a pool nearby and turned in a similarly impressive effort. At the FRST Summer Invite in nearby Franklin, Indiana a group of 32 GaGa swimmers posted a third place finish among 20 plus teams from all over the Midwest. They were 2nd in the Boys and 2nd in the 11 and Older age groups.
Hannah-Claire Jowers led the way with six wins and her first ever Junior National qualifying time! Collier Stanton (4), Cameron Jones (3), and Aliana McCann all also won events.
Justin Bennett, Kate Breiding, and Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro picked up their first AAA (All-Star) times. Tadd Duffield, Brandon Noble, Vincent Tuck, and Cole Wright goth tier first AAs, while Brianna Exil, Justice Parker, and Aaron Passman got their first A times.
Exil, Parker, Nate Beeney, Sarah Heppe, and Morgan Sevier earned their first state cuts of the season bringing up to 35 the total number of swimmers headed to state.
Our next meet will be the GOLD Invite this weekend in Cumming for all those swimmers who did not make the trip to Indy. Then it's a weekend off (!) and then the start of Championship meets the remaining weekends in July. Get ready.
GaGa Takes to the Open Water
6/9 - Gwinnett Aquatics had a large group compete at the Death Valley Open Water (DVOW) swim in Clemson this weekend. Nearly 40 swimmers participated and Gwinnett Aquatics was definitely one of the strongest teams there.
Swimmers competed in the 5k, 3k and 1k and .5k distances with ten swimmers doing all four races for a total of 9.5k yards of swimming (and earning the Anna K Sams award!) Baylor Stanton won the 5k while Collier Stanton and Cole Wright had top ten finishes in their age group. Jude Stanton, Ella Wells, Kendall Granberry, and Aliana McCann were all top 10 in the 11-12 division of the 3k. Our Anna K Sams winners were Jude Stanton, Grant McGee, Emily Hillensheim, Anna Buckley, Lilith Mendonca, Addi Shaffer, Cole Wright, Emily Hardy, Jenna Inlow, and Nate Beeney.
Now we get one last quiet weekend before we have a run of 8 meets all over the country in the next 8 weekends. Buckle Up!