Gwinnett Aquatics Defends Title @ Lanier Winter Invite!

12/19/23 - Gwinnett Aquatics won the Lanier Winter Invite in Gainesville this weekend, defending its title for the fifth straight year.   With our Senior group not participating it was up to our Senior 2 and 3 and the age group swimmers to carry the scoring; which they did.  GaGa won all but three of the age groups from 10U boys through open. 

Eleven swimmers combined to win 18 events. Reynolds Bowers (4), Kate Breiding (3), CJ Gast, Paige Johnson, Aliana McCann, Brandon Noble, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro, Addi Shaffer, Jude Stanton, Elsie Wethington-Mercer (3), and Kevin Yang led the team to our biggest point total yet.  

In addition we had another 26 swimmers place top-3 in an event! Thirteen swimmers picked up new time standards, three got some new state cuts and quite a few more got new JO cuts.

Additional top 3 finishers: Nate Beeney, Justin Bennett, Abby Bold, Shaylah Bopp, Henry Breiding, Aubrey Chisolm, Tad Duffield, Eddie El Osta, Bri Exil, Emma Gonzalez, Kendall Granberry, Emily Hardy, Morgan Henry, Jenna Inlow, Cameron Jones, Cate Joyce, Sean Lin, John Matthew, Vivian Moulder, Aaron Passman, Brooks and Riley Pynn, Sophia Quinn, Eva Saldana, Vincent Tuck, and Cole Wright (Gold).
Standard Breakers: AA - Beeney, Bennett; A - SteveMichael Bennett, Chisolm, Lillie Robinson, Cole Wright (Prep); BB - Elisa Basic, Anna Buckley, Lillith Mendonca, Vivian Moulder, Morgan Sevier; B - Isabella Powell.
New State Qualifiers: Beeney, Riley Pynn, and Cole Wright (Gold).

This meet was also the last chance to qualify for the first meet of 2024, the Eastern Classic meet January 12-14.  While some of our top Senior swimmers will be at a meet in Charlotte, another select group will attend this meet at Dynamo. You can see those who qualified with the link below.  All other swimmers should attend the Saturday Fun Meet at our pool the following weekend. 

Now we have one of the most beneficial training times for swimmers all over the country, Christmas training!  All swimmers should look to increase their number of practices during this break from school.  Swimmers whose families are traveling should make arrangements to train where they are going.

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Stanton Is Gwinnett Aquatics' First Ever Junior National Champion

12/11 - Baylor Stanton wrapped up a very successful Junior Nationals meet this Saturday in Columbus, OH. He made A-finals in five events, medaled in two, and, in winning the 200 back, became our first ever Junior Nationals Champion.   It is a tradition at the big meets to have the event winner's coach present the medals so pictured here is coach Lucas giving Baylor his award. 

Baylor also picked up new 15-16 Georgia State records in four events. (they were also new senior team records.) His time in the 200 back was the third fastest time ever in the nation for 15-16 boys, missing the National Age Group Record by just .3!

Up next is the Lanier Winter Invite this weekend that wraps up the 2023 portion of the season and kicks off our Holiday Practice Schedule. 

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Gwinnett Aquatics Eighth at Senior State Champs

12/4 - Gwinnett  Aquatics finished eighth at the Georgia Senior State Champs at Ga Tech this weekend.  That was one place lower than last year despite graduating a huge class of seniors.  The boys were fourth including one relay win.   

Baylor Stanton won two events while swimming a limited program as he gets ready for this week's Junior Nationals.  Jack Dunbar, Kate Johnson, Hannah-Claire Jowers, and Collier Stanton all added top ten finishes while Sarah Heppe also scored. 

Baylor and Hannah-Claire combined to break six team records and Baylor also got his first Georgia 15-16 State Record leading off the 200 medley relay.  Jowers and Dunbar got their first Futures cuts of the season, while Brighton Gunawon and Lucas Johnson got their first sectional cuts.

This weekend was also the 10U Winter Champs meet and we had eight swimmers there.  Jacob Matthews had a couple top-10 finishes and Cole Wright and Emery Wells both scored.  In addition we had lots of new standard achievers at both meets.  They were:

AAAA: Hannah-Claire Jowers
AA: Brighton Gunawan, Sarah Heppe, Max Inlow, Lucas Johnson
A: Jenna Inlow
US Open Qualifier: Baylor Stanton
Futures Qualifiers: Jowers, Jack Dunbar
Sectional Qualifiers: Gunawan, Johnson

Up next is Junior Nationals for Baylor (starting Thursday) and then the Lanier Winter Invite that will wrap up this first half of the season on December 15-17 and kick off our Holiday Practice Schedule. 

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Fast Swimming at Woodie B Invite

11/21 - We had a very exciting weekend at the Woodie B Malone Invite this weekend at Dynamo.  With over 100 athletes competing there was tons of fast swimming and lots of new time standards achievers and championship meet qualifiers. In addition a number of our swimmers aged up recently and this was their first big meet in their new age group. 

Reynolds Bowers, Ben El-Alam, Emily Hardy, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro, Baylor Stanton, and Collier Stanton all won events.  Baylor re-broke the team record in the 2  IM that he just set last Sunday.  An additional eight other athletes medaled (top 3).  They were: Kate Breiding, Jack Dunbar, Gatlin Granbery, Kate and Paige Johnson, Cate Joyce, Jacob Matthew, and Brandon Noble.

We also had 20 swimmers achieve new standard breakers and numerous swimmers with their first Sectional and State cuts of the season. 

AAAA (Silver Cap): Collier Stanton  AAA (All-Star): Dunbar, Hardy, Kate Johnson
AA: Tadd Duffield, David Duong, Brandon Noble, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro, Elsie Wethington-Mercer
A: Brighton Gunawan, Paige Johnson, Cate Joyce
BB: Eddie El Osta, Brianna Exil, Cade Holder, Riley Pynn, Nicholas Ramdeo, Ella Wells
B:  Zoe Jinadu, Jimmy Zhang
Sectional Qualifiers:  David Duong, Max Inlow, Kate Johnson, Hannah-Claire Jowers, Collier Stanton
State Qualifiers: Eddie El Osta, Jenna Inlow (both 1st ever!)

Up next is the Senior State Champs and 10U Winter Champs in two weeks at Ga Tech followed by the Lanier Winter Invite that will wrap up this first half of the season on December 15-17. 

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Stanton Makes Headlines at Charlotte Meet

11/13 - Last weekend, while most of the team was wrapping up their swim-a-thon, Baylor Stanton traveled to Charlotte, NC, to compete in a meet with a unique format: LCM Prelims, SCY Finals (and Finals included a "Super-Final" heat of 4, and an "Ultra-Final" heat of 2). It was a good weekend, with Stanton winning 4 events and posting a few times that currently rank #1 nationally for 15-16 year olds! In the 200IM, he set a new Team Record and also moved to the top-25 all time in the event for his age group, knocking a certain M. Phelps off that list! You can check out full meet meet results and team results on the links below.

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Swim-A-Thon In the Books

11/11 - All the groups have now finished their swims for the 2023 Swim-A-Thon and now all that's left is to finish collecting donations and for the last couple swimmers to make up their swims. 

The honor of most improved group goes to Blue this year, dropping 14 seconds per 100 over last year's swims. Gold team was 2nd dropping 13s/100 but had all but 5 swimmers double the distance they did last year with nine 11 yr old swimmers taking on the 1600 for time! Junior Team was 3rd dropping 10 seconds per 100. 

Currently we have raised over $15,000 toward our goal of $30,000*.  But only about 50% of the team has participated.  (Blue Team leads fundraising and the race for the pizza party with over $3000. Gold leads participation with 16 of the 21 collecting donations so far).  In the past we got a big bump on Giving Tuesday using the matching program on Facebook.  It looks like that will no longer be taking place so we encourage everyone to make their donations now as we will wrap up the S-A-T on the 30th

*not all funds will be reflected in the on-line total. Facebook, check and cash donations will only be added if they bring the swimmer over one of the national Swim-a-Thon prize thresholds. 

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Fall Series Wraps Up With Meet #3 - The Spooktacular

10/30 - Spartan Aquatics made a clean sweep of it taking the third and final meet of the GA Fall Series at Freeman Aquatic Center this weekend. Gwinnett Aquatics was second and Lifetime 3rd.  The meet featured the longer distances in fly and breast as well as a 1000 free/400 IM session on Sunday, as well as the first relays of the year - mixed freestyle relays!

At the conclusion of the meet the series high point winners were announced. The winners of both boys and girls 13-14 and 15O were repeat winners from last year!  The high point winners were:

• 8U Reynolds Bowers, Ben El-Alam
• 9-10 Lucy Bower & Soleil Retana (tie), Mackay Bishop
• 11-12 Kate Breiding, Zachary Budihardjo
• 13-14 Abigail Sutter, Collier Stanton
• 15-18 Abigail Heizer, Baylor Stanton 

For Gwinnett Aquatics Reynolds Bowers, Kate Breiding, Ben El-Alam, Morgan Henry, Hannah-Claire Jowers, Cate Joyce, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro, Baylor, Collier, and Jude Stanton and Kevin Yang all won events. 

In addition Jack Dunbar got his first AA of the season.  Justin Bennett, Sarah Heppe, Max Inlow, Lucas Johnson, Addi Shaffer and Jude Stanton earned their first A times and Shaylah Bopp and Cole Wright (Gold) got their first BB times. Eddie El Osta got his first B time. 

Santiesteban-Pizarro, Kendall Granbery, and Brandon Noble had their first state qualifying swims of the season. 

Up next will be the first Invitational and prelim/finals meet of the season, the Woodie B Malone meet at Dynamo.  All swimmers should attend. 

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Three GwinAq Swimmers Make Scholastic All-America Team

10/20 - Three swimmers were named this week to the USA Swimming Scholastic All-America Team. 

Baylor Stanton, Jack Dunbar, and Nolan Patterson were all named to the team.  It is the first time since the standards were tightened that Gwinnett Aquatics has had three members. 

Applicants must have a Winter Junior National qualifying time and 3.5 GPA for the current school year to qualify. 

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Swimmers Stretch Their Legs at Fall #2

10/16 - Swimmers from Spartan, Gwinnett Aquatics and Lifetime competed in some longer events this weekend at the Fall Series second meet at GAC.  Spartan came out the winner followed by GwinAq then LIFE.  Events this time included the longer free, back and IM events as well as the 500 (140 swimmers participated in that event Friday night!) 

With just one meet left to go in the series the high point races in a couple age groups is very tight.  You can see the top 6 in each using the link below.  The current leaders are: Reynolds Bowers, Ben El-Alam, Lucy Bowers, Mackay Bishop, Kate Breiding, Cameron Jones, Abigail Sutter, Collier Stanton, Abigail Heizer, and Baylor Stanton.

The final meet will be in two weeks, October 28-29 at GAC.  That meet will feature the longer fly and breast races as well as 11 and over 400 IMs and 1000s! 

Gwinnett Aquatics, though not able to keep the score as close as last meet, did have a number of extraordinary individual efforts.  A whopping ten swimmers combined to win 25 events: Reynolds Bowers, Valarie Monroe, Ben El-Alam, Kevin Yang, Lucy Bowers, Jacob Matthews, Kate Breiding, Cameron Jones, and Baylor and Collier Stanton. 

Nate Beeney, Tadd Duffield, Sean Lin, Jacob Matthew, Sophia Quinn and Cate Rovie all got their first A times of the season (Matthew's first ever!), while Paige Johnson got her first BB time and Reynolds Bowers, James Chang and Jude El-Alam goth tier first B times (Bowers first ever!). 

Meanwhile Lucas Johnson, Sophia Quinn and Jude Stanton got their first state cuts of the season. 

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Spartan Wins Pentathlon, Next Up Fall Series 2 October 13-14

9/30 - SPAC won the first meet of the Fall Series today at their pool at GAC racking up 728 pts, ahead of GA (675) and LIFE (373). Spartan took a commanding lead of nearly 200 points in the morning session for the older swimmers but GA almost closed the gap getting within 53 points after the afternoon session for 12U swimmers.  Swimmers were ranked based on their combined time in all five races with the winners in each age group winning a special "Pentathlon Champion" Fall Series T-Shirt complements of Reddiset. Based on cumulative time for all five events the T-Shirt winners for best times in each age group were:

8U: Reynolds Bowers, Ben El-Alam | 9 yr olds: Mokara Collier, Theo Channavong
10 yr olds: Aliana McCann, Mackay Bishop | 11 yr olds:  Grace Lee, Jude Stanton
12 yr olds: Kate Breiding, Cameron Jones | 13 yr olds: Vivian Bodner, Ryan Qi
14 yr olds: Abigail Sutter, Jason Park | 15O: Abigail Heizer, Baylor Stanton.

The meet was also the first of the Fall Series for which there will be High point winners. There is a link to this meet's high point leaders below.  The High point winners in each age group (standard double year) at the end of the series will receive a High Point winner towel! 

For Gwinnett Aquatics after a slow start we were able to win 4 of the 6 age groups in the afternoon to keep it close.  68 swimmers achieved their first time standards of the season, and 18 their first state cuts, including some for the first time. Tad Duffield got his first BB time while Elijah Brown, Abbie Lee, Blake Pickeral, and Benicio Zimmerman all got their first B times!  IN addition Morgan Henry got her first ever state cut. 

The next meet in October 13-14, back at Freeman Aquatic Center at the Greater Atlanta Christian School, with some new longer events.

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Gwinnett Aquatics Shines in Post Season
 Stanton Podiums at Juniors (3x)

8/8 - While most of the team wrapped up their season a week or more ago, nine Gwinnett Aquatics swimmers still had their most important meets of the season these past two weeks at the Zones Champs in Cary, NC, the Futures Meet in Ocala, FL and at Junior Nationals in Irvine, CA. 

At Zones Cameron Jones and Collier Stanton joined 46 other athletes representing Georgia against eleven other LSCs from the south. Both boys scored four times and picked up new AAAA times with Stanton taking Silver in the 1500 free! 

At the Futures meet in Florida Hannah Burke, Kate Johnson, Hannah-Claire Jowers, and Brandon Shepard faced some stiff competition with many college swimmers and Jr National qualifiers opting to attend this meet this year.  Nonetheless they picked up a number of PR's and Coach Natalie, in her last meet before moving on to her new college coaching gig, joined the other three girls in the 400 Medley Relay to set a new team record!

And this past week Shepard, Jack Dunbar, Nolan Patterson, and Baylor Stanton competed at Junior Nationals in Irvine CA, taking on the fastest 18 and Unders in the country.  Stanton ended the week having been on the podium three times and picking up five new team records.  It was his first time medaling at LC Juniors with a 5th in 400 IM, and 7th in both 200 IM and 200 Back.  Patterson also got a 2nd swim in the 50 free, picking up his first-ever US Open cut and a new team record. In addition the boys re-broke the team record in the 400 Free relay that they had just set the previous week at Sr State when they qualified for the meet.

And now pre-season 2023-24 starts tomorrow, Wednesday, August 9! 

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Ga⚡Ga Fifth at Senior State Champs!
   Boys Take Second, Highest Finish Ever

7/24 - Gwinnett Aquatics had its highest finish ever this weekend at the Georgia Senior State Champs, taking fifth overall and second in the Boys division (also our highest ever).  In fact on Saturday night we were in first in the boys and 2nd overall but then sent several swimmers home to get ready for their upcoming Futures and Juniors meets. 

Russell Hart, Hannah-Claire Jowers, Nolan Patterson, Cate Rovie, Baylor Stanton, Thomas and Tyler Wooldridge, and Dylan Yin all had top-10 finishes.  But just as was the case for the age groupers last weekend, the real scoring was in our relays where the boys swept all five and even went 1st and 3rd in the 400 free.  That included four new team records.  Patterson, Stanton, Yin, Hart, Jack Dunbar, and Brandon Shepard combined to break all four free relays as well as the 200 medley.   

On top of all that Dunbar and Patterson picked up their first AAAAs (silver cap), and Hannah Burke her first AA's.  In addition Burke, Yin, Lauren Diehl, and Max Inlow got their first Senior Sectional times, Shepard and Yin got their first Futures cuts and Dunbar and Patterson their first Juniors cuts this season.

Now all we have left are some regional and national meets at Zones, Futures and Junior Nationals in the next two weeks. 

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Registration for Swim Team 23-24 Now Open
   Most groups now on wait list. 

7/26 - Registration for all 2023-24 Gwinnett Aquatics programs are now open to the public. As expected some groups have already filled and begun their waiting lists. We do hope to be able to move a few off the list and into programs before pre-season starts August so even if a group is filled you should sign up anyway. 

All new swimmers must complete an evaluation before registering.  Evaluations are for swimmers who can already swim 25 meters free and back.  9-10 yr old swimmers should already know breast and fly as well and older swimmers should be proficient in all four strokes for at least 50 meters.  If are looking to learn those things check out our lessons program on the lessons page. Evaluations can be arranged by emailing Hugh.  

You can get complete info about our team training groups using the links below.  Once you are placed, registration for the team is $70 (pre-team is $50). (There is an additional registration for USA Swimming due by Aug 10 for new swimmers, Dec 1 for returning. $89 for most swimmers). 

Registration is also open for the 13&Over training clinic as well as the Middle School clinic (5th-8th).  More info is on the clinics page. Both still have openings.  Those interested in our the Homeschool Program should call Hugh @ 404-863-6747

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Ga⚡Ga Fifth at Age Group State Champs!
   Wins the Medium teams Division

7/17 - Gwinnett Aquatics matched its highest finish ever this weekend at the Georgia Age Group State Champs, taking fifth overall and winning the Medium Teams division (and beating all but one of the teams from the Large Teams Division).  The only other time we have finished this high was 2019 when Collier Stanton and Sarah Heppe, the elder members of this year's team, were 10 yr olds swimming in their first state. 

Unlike 2019, when we had a couple high-point scorers, the scoring effort this year was shared among the largest group of scorers we've ever had. We had one champion, three top-3 finishers, and nine top-10 finishers.  Cameron Jones won the 100 free to take the title as well as an automatic spot on the Zone Team while Aliana McCann and Kate Breiding placed top-3.  Besides Jones, Breiding,and McCann, Collier Stanton (who also made the zone team), Emily Hardy, Vincent Tuck, Sarah Heppe, Jude El-Alam, and CJ Gast all had top-10 finishes.  McCann and Breiding also broke some team records.  McCann in the 200 and 400 free and Breiding in the 100 back.

But the real catalyst for our high finish were our great relays with over 40 swimmers getting in on the scoring action.  That included five relays that broke team records.  Breiding, Hardy, Emily Wethington-Mercer, and Sophia Quinn broke both free relays. Jones, Tuck, Nicholas Ramdeo, Gavin Zhang, and Jude Stanton broke both 400 relays, and Collier Stanton, Justice Parker, Justin Bennett, and Jonathan Malonza broke the 200 free relay. 

On top of all that Jones picked up his first ever AAAA (silver cap), McCann and Tuck got their first AAA (All-Star) times, and Justin Bennett and CJ Gast got their first ever AA's.  In addition Nicholas Ramdeo and Lillie Robinson goth their first A times and Sarah Heppe got her first ever Senior Sectional qualifying time.  Bennett, Kendall Granberry, Ella Wells and Prep group's Cole Wright all got their first state cuts.

Now it will be the Senior swimmer's turn as most of them start their State Champs in Columbus this weekend while a few more get ready for Zones, Futures and Junior Nationals the following weeks. 

Everyone else now has a break and we look forward to seeing them back for preseason August 9. 

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GaGa Swimmers Kick Off Championship Season @ Coda Meet

7/10 - About 60 GaGa swimmers got the end-of-season Championship meets started with a bang at the Coda Invite at Dynamo this weekend.   For most it was the last meet of the long course season while a few were trying to tune up for the State Champs coming up the next two weekends.

Overall GaGa swimmers achieved over 30 new time standards and a handful of new state cuts. That's down compared to last year but for the best reason - we have more than ever before already qualified for state!

Even with fewer state level swimmers we still had 16 swimmers with top-3 finishes including Reagan Miller and Nicholas Ramdeo who both won events.  Other top-3 finishers were Lucas Babcock, Nate Beeney, Justin Bennett, Henry Breiding, Henry Copeland, Russell Hart, Jenna Inlow, Lucas Johnson, Sean Lin, Nolan Patterson, Cate Rovie, Addi Shaffer, Ella Wells, and Cole Wright.

SteveMichael Bennett picked up his first AA times of the season while Henry Breiding and Lannon Clinansmith got their first A times.  Lilith Mendonca got her first BB and Riley Pynn got his first ever B times. 

Meanwhile many of our swimmers participated in the Gwinnett County Summer League Champs with Baylor Stanton, Kate Breiding, and Emery Wells all winning high point in their age group! In addition Nolan Patterson, Hannah-Claire Jowers, Aliana McCann, Collier Stanton, Reynolds Bowers, Cameron Jones and Emily Hardy all finished in the top-3 for their age groups - that's 10 of our swimmers taking home a trophy!!!’!

Now all that remains are the State, Regional and National Championship meets over the next four weekends, starting with the Age Group State Champs next weekend.  For swimmers not in those meets practice is now over but we we do have fun day practices next week for the age groupers. 

And pre-season 2023-24 starts August 9. 

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Team All Over Again with Crews at Gold, Sarasota, and Nationals
    Stanton Makes Finals, Picks Up First Olympic Trials Cut

7/2 - Once again GwinAq swimmers are all over the map this week competing in Cumming and Sarasota Florida last weekend and Indianapolis this weekend. We had over 50 swimmers swim locally at the Gold Invite, another 24 in Florida and Baylor Stanton in Indy today for the US National Champs. 

In Indy Stanton swam the 400 IM and 200 IM and made the D Final in both.  In the 400 IM he posted a 4:25.19 going the Olympic Trails cut EXACTLY!  It is his first Trials cut and the first by a GaGa swimming since 2016. IN the 200 IM he had a 3 second drop and narrowly missed the Trail cuts (.1) and he also time trialed the 100 back.  He broke the team record in all three.

At the other two meets we saw more incredible swims with fourteen swimmers achieving new time standard levels and ten more get their first state cuts.  Aliana McCann also was the first 10U team record breaker in six years, picking up the 100 back record. 

Collier Stanton led the way picking up his first ever AAAA (Silver Cap!) and Senior Sectional cuts.  In addition Kate Breiding, Emily Hardy, and Sarah Heppe picked up their first AAA (All-Star) times, and Cate Rovie got her first AA time of the season.   Six swimmers got their first A times: Nate Beeney, Jenna Inlow, Alex Matveev, Brandon Noble, Aaron Passman, and Sophia Quinn.  Lucas Babcock, Anna Buckley, and Eddie El Osta all got their first BB times.   The ten swimmers getting their first state cuts were Lucas Babcock, Eddie El Osta, Sarah Heppe, Max Inlow, Lucas Johnson , Sean Lin, Sophia Quinn, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro, and Gavin Zhang. 

At the Sarasota Emily Hardy, Cate Joyce, Nolan Patterson, Brandon Shepard and Collier Stanton all had top-three finishes.  At the Cumming meet Vincent Tuck, Aliana McCann, Dylan Yin, and Cameron Jones combined to win six events while  CJ Gast, Aaron Passman, Nicholas Ramdeo, and Thomas Wooldridge all had top-three finishes. But hands down the most exciting part of the meet had to be the last event of the weekend, at 8:15 Sunday night when five GaGa 11-12 boys finished in the top 7 of the 50 fly with four of them getting their state cut in that event for the first time!

Next up is the first of our Long Course Championship Meets.  The CODA Invite will be the big meet of the season for all swimmers not going to state or JOs.  Those meets will follow with AG State/JO's the next week and Senior State the one after that. But that's not all.  Following state we will have swimmers at three regional and national level champs: Zones, Futures and Junior Nationals.  It's going to be an action packed month of swimming so hang on. 

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GaGa Takes to the Open Water

6/13 - Gwinnett Aquatics had its largest group ever 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.

At the Open Water meet swimmer competed in the 5k, 3k and 1k and .5k distances with 18 swimmers doing all four races for a total of 9.5k yards of swimming!  Baylor Stanton was the overall winner in all four distances.  In addition Thomas Wooldridge, Brandon Shepard, Cate Rovie, and Kate Johnson were all top ten finishers in the 15-18 age group of the 5k as was Collier Stanton in the 13-14 age group.  Jude Stanton was top 10 in the 11-12 division of the 3k and Aliana McCann, Eddie El Osta, and Alex Matveev were top ten in the 10U division of the 1k. The 500m fun race was all GaGa with our swimmers winning 5 of the 10 age groups. 

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!

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Team Splits for Bulldog and Dunbar Invites (and Open Water Zones!)

6/05 - Gwinnett Aquatics had two different squads in competition this weekend. Thursday-Saturday about 20 13 and over swimmers were at a Senior meet in Athens while most of the rest of the team competed at the Betsy Dunbar Invite at Georgia Tech. 

In Athens most of our Senior swimmers competed with other area Senior swimmers many of whom compete on area college teams.  Despite the high level of competition most of the GaGa swimmers made it back for evening swims.  Baylor Stanton was the only A finalist, placing top-3 in thee events. Kate Johnson, Hannah-Claire Jowers and Nolan Patterson all had B finals swims.  Patterson and Collier Stanton picked up their first AAA times of the season while Max Inlow got his first AA.   

Meanwhile at the Dunbar Invite many swimmers competed in their third long course meet of the season but most were still doing many events for the first time.  Cameron Jones and Aliana McCann both won events while Kate Breiding and CJ Gast had top-3 finishes. Jones earned his first AAA (All-Star) time of the season while Gast, Kayden Clinansmith, Brianna Exil, Brighton Gunawan, Paige Johnson, Sean Lin, Reagan Miller, Addi Shaffer and Vincent Tuck got their first A times. Gavin Zhang got his first BB and Henry Copeland, Kaylin Lee and Lillith Mendonca goth tier first B times. Exil and Jude Stanton got their first state qualifying times as well!

And up in Seven Lakes, NC, Emily Hardy competing in her first ever OW swim posted the highest finish from all 11-12 girls from Georgia, with a scoring swim in the 2k! All in all, another great weekend for our swimmers in the pool and the lake!

This weekend about 40 swimmers will take on the Death Valley Open Water swim in Clemson while the rest of the team prepares for our next meets in two weeks. 

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GwinAq Swimmers All Over Town This Weekend at Atlanta Classic and Spring Splash  

5/15 - At just the second meet of this season GaGa swimmers posted some late season times at the Atlanta Classic at Ga Tech and the Spring Splash at Dynamo. Sixteen swimmers picked up new time standards and our list of state qualifiers added five more (two for the first time ever!) swelling to over 30 with two months still left in the season. 

At the Atlanta Classic seven of our Senior swimmers went up against some of the areas best swimmers from clubs and colleges.  Jack Dunbar, Russell Hart, Kate Johnson, Hannah-Claire Jowers, and Brandon Shepard all finaled and picked up their first AAA times of the season.  Nolan Patterson picked up his first AA. 

At Dynamo Nik Beeney, Emily Hardy, Kate Johnson, Reagan Miller, Aaron Passman, and Cate Rovie all won events.  Hardy picked up her first AA times; Rovie, Aubrey Chisholm, Cate Joyce, and Elsie Wethington-Mercer got their first A times; Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro got his first BBs and Rose Aguilar, Gatlin Granberry. and Ethan Li got their first B times.  got their first B times. Wethington-Mercer, Brandon Noble, and Nicholas Ramdeo picked up their first state cuts of the season while Granberry and Emery Wells got their first ever state cuts!

Up next is the Betsy Dunbar Meet June 2-4 at GaTech. Replies are due now so please reply if you haven't already. 

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Swimmers Get the Season Started at Long Course Kickoff  

5/1 - The 2023 Long Course season got off to a fast start this weekend at the GA Long Course Kickoff hosted by Gwinnett Aquatics at Georgia Tech.  Over 550 swimmers got in their first long course races of the season and some lucky few got to race for some fun "hot heat" prizes.   

Gwinnett Aquatics had a great start with six swimmers winning events, another 10 placing (top 3) and many swimmers already picking up state qualifying times.  Emily Hardy, Aliana McCann, Aaron Passman, Landon Plumlee, and Baylor and Collier Stanton all won events while Eddie El Osta, CJ Gast, Lucas and Paige Johnson, Cameron Jones, Jacob Matthew, Alex Matveev, Nolan Patterson, Vincent Tuck, and Elsie Wethington-Mercer all placed. 

19 swimmers picked up state cuts including first timers Justice Parker and Cole Wright (blue team).  Additionally Wright picked up his first ever BB time while Luke Taliaferro got his first ever B time.

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 Eva Saldena who had a 47-second drop in 100 breast. 

Up next is the Spring Splash May 12-14 at Dynamo. Replies are closed so if you missed it be sure to email your coach. 

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Gwinnett Aquatics Second at Divisionals

   Stanton Breaks Five Team Records

3/28 - Gwinnett Aquatics repeated as runner-up at this weekend's Divisional Champs at UGA.  It was a big win for us as third place ASL had 50% more swimmers but we were able to beat them by enough in our 10Us and Sr boys to come out ahead.  The Sr boys were the only ones to win their age group led by Baylor Stanton's five wins and five team records. Jack Dunbar, Gatlin Granberry, Paige Johnson, Hannah-Claire Jowers, Aliana McCann, Aaron Passman, Nolan Patterson, Riley Pynn, and Collier Stanton combined to win an additional 16 events for a total of 21. McCann also won five events and was the team's top scorer.  But truly it was a total team effort as 80 different swimmers scored, 60 in the top 8! (both our highest ever). 

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:

• First AAAA Time - Collier Stanton; First AAA Time - Cameron Jones
• First AA Times - Henry Breiding, Kayden Clinansmith, Jonathan Malonza
• First A Times - Owen Breiding, Lannon Clinansmith, Justice Parker, Aaron Passman, Lillie Robinson, Brandon Shepard, Vincent Tuck, Jimmy Wang
• First BB Times - Anna Buckley, Vivian Moulder, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro
• First B Times - Henry Copeland, Lillith Mendonca
• First Senior Sectional Cuts - Lucas Johnson, Collier Stanton
• First State Cuts - Shaylah Bopp, Henry Breiding, Lannon Clinansmith, Jaidyn Joiner, Reagan Miller, Brandon Noble

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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Gwinnett Aquatics Senior Group Third at Meet of Champs
   Seven Team Records Fall, Stanton gets Nationals cut

3/12 - Gwinnett Aquatics' senior swimmers took third in the Meet of Champions in Augusta this weekend.  The meet was an alternative to the ESSZ Sectional Champs which had gotten overly large.  Despite finishing third GaGa led the meet with event winners, with a swimmer on top of the podium in nearly every boys' event including relays and a couple girls' events too.   

Jack Dunbar, Russell Hart, Kate Johnson, Brandon Shepard, Baylor Stanton combined to win fifteen event.  The GaGa boys also swept the five relays. Hannah-Claire Jowers, Nolan Patterson, and Landon Plumlee made their way to the podium (top 3) as well. 

Hart and Stanton together broke six team records and together with Dunbar and Patterson broke the team 400 medley relay record.  Stanton also picked up his first Senior National cut (more on that later) while Hart got his first Junior National and Shepard his first Futures cut.  Additionally David Duong got his first AAA (All-Star) time and Lucas Johnson his first AA time.  

Stanton's achievement is an especially good story.  In December he got the "18U" cut for the meet to be held in June in Indianapolis.  Then when USA Swimming put out the meet info in January they changed it to a "18U Bonus" cut, meaning that a swimmer could swim those events only IF they had the regular meet cut in another event.  This was a disappointing (and poorly communicated) surprise as Lucas had already booked the travel for the meet.

So then Stanton went to the TYR Pro meet focused on getting the standard cut in one of his best events the IMs or 200 back.  He swam well at that meet in Fort Lauderdale but was unable to pick up the cut and so he and coach Lucas had kind of resigned themselves to not going and just go enjoy the next meet swimming some events he hadn't been as focused on this season. 

Three days later Baylor started another meet, now in Augusta, and was swimming quite well, racking up four new PRs in three days.  Then on the last day he swam the 1000 (which he had only done once this year) and knocked out a 9:05, one second under the Nationals cut! He didn't even know he had done it until Lucas told him right before his final relay swim. And now it's game on for Indy!

Meanwhile back in Snellville about 70 swimmers got together for our annual relay meet. This year the meet was an intersquad competition that went down to the last event, with Team J Money beating Team Spiderman by 3 points.  And of course there was a parent/coach relay as well with five brave moms joining the five coaches in the pool. Talk about parental support!

Up next is the Divisional Champs in Athens March 24-26 and then a well earned rest before we start the Long Course season.

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GaGa Takes on the Pros
   Stanton Breaks 4 Team Records, Patterson gets summer Jr cut

3/6 - Three Gwinnett Aquatics swimmers traveled to Fort Lauderdale this weekend for the TYR Pro series to race against some of the top pro and international swimmers in the world.  The field included many US National team members and members from Team Canada and at least 4 other countries.  Jack Dunbar, Nolan Patterson, and Baylor Stanton made the trip to the brand new Hall of Fame pool which played host to it's first big meet since it's opening.  Pictured behind the swimmers is the facility's unique 27-meter diving tower. 

Stanton led the way qualifying for four night swims taking 12th in the 200 IM and 13th in the 200 back.  Along the way he broke four team records. 

Additionally Nolan Patterson picked up his first ever summer Junior National qualifying time in the 50 free. 

Now the three boys will join 13 other senior swimmers at the Meet of Champions in Augusta this weekend. 

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Everyone Wins at Raffle Meet

2/27 - Gwinnett Aquatics and Spartan Aquatics hosted the 3rd Annual Raffle Meet this weekend at GAC.  Even though there were fewer swimmers than last year they generated a ton of great swims. In fact OVER HALF the swims were best times!  Swimmers earned a raffle chance for every best time, heat winner, and new time standard achieved and there were over 1000 chances generated! 

We gave out over 70 prizes through the weekend including backpacks, goggles, Squishmallows and Dancing Cacti.  And then GwinAq swimmer Brandon Saye took home the grand prize, a $300 VISA gift card!

For Gwinnett Aquatics thirty swimmers won events: Lucas Babcock, Nate and Nik Beeney, Lucy Bower, Reynolds Bowers, Owen Breiding, Lindsey Diehl, Jack Drennan, Jude El-Alam, Brianna Exil, Kendall Granberry, Russell Hart, Jaden and Morgan Henry, Sarah Heppe, Kate Johnson, Cameron Jones, Cate Joyce, Alex Matveev, Reagan Miller, Riley Pynn, Sophia Quinn, Nicolas Ramdeo, Cate Rovie, Brandon Shepard, Collier Stanton, Vincent Tuck, Jimmy Wang, Elsie Wethington-Mercer, and Gavin Zhang!

Additionally Nate Beeney picked up his first ever state cut while Elisa Basic, Ethan Hernandez and Brandon Saye got their first B times. (Brandon's was worth $300!)

Next up is the Ft Lauderdale Pro Series this weekend or Meet of Champions next weekend in for our top Senior swimmers and then the Divisional Champs for ALL swimmers in three weeks at UGA!

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Gwinnett Aquatics Third in Medium Teams at Age Group State

2/20 - Gwinnett Aquatics' 14 and Unders had a bittersweet outcome at the Georgia Age Group State Champs this weekend.  While we had more swimmers participating and more swimmers scoring an finished higher overall (9th) than in the last few champs, we also failed to defend the title for our division which we have won for the last two years.  Making it more bitter - we missed winning by only 30 points which easily could have been picked up by just a few improved efforts! 

Kate Breiding, Emily Hardy, and Aliana McCann lead the way with all three picking up eight top ten finishes between them (the girls actually won the division.) A whopping 10 additional swimmers scored: Jude El-Alam, CJ Gast, Sarah Heppe, Jenna Inlow, Paige Johnson, Cameron Jones, Alex Matveev, Aaron Passman, Collier Stanton, and Victoria Tannure.

In addition Hardy picked up her first ever AAA (All-Star) time while McCann got her first AA times! In the B meet Justin Bennett also got his first AA time, while Andy Zhu got his first A time and Bri Exil her first BBs. 

Next up is the raffle meet this weekend for swimmers who did not compete at state and for those who did to swim some other events. Then it's four weeks to our big end of season champs, Divisionals at UGA March 24-26! 

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Spring Programs, Including Tune-Up, Now Open for Registration

2/8 - All spring programs including our small group lessons and the very popular Spring Tune-Up are now open for registration.   Both the group lessons and the Tune-Up generally fill quite early so interested participants are encouraged to register soon. 

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Over 200 State Cuts Fall at GA Winter Qualifier

2/5 - This weekend at the Winter Qualifier Meet at GAC over 100 swimmers added over 200 new state and state qualifying times over 3 days of racing.  The meet, co-hosted by GwinAq and SPAC saw some great racing from over 600 swimmers.  When the water finally settled the state meet in two weeks at GaTech had gotten considerably larger.  The meet featured ribbon awards for 12Us and special tattoos for all swimmers getting a new State cut. 

And in three weeks we'll be back at GAC for the very popular Raffle Spectacular.  That meet offers swimmers the chance to race in any events they don't have a qualifying time for state and win chances for prizes and even a raffle for a $300 gift card!

GwinAq Results

For Gwinnett Aquatics it was a fantastic meet with some great racing and nearly 30 swimmers picking up over 60 new State or State B cuts. 21 swimmers won events, seven swimmers got their first State or State B cuts and six swimmers picked up new USAS time standards.  They were:

• Event Winners: Lucas Babcock, Phoebe Birdsey, Abby Bold, Reynolds Bower, Kate Breiding, Adam Dockstader, Ben El-Alam, CJ Gast, Emma Gonzalez, Emily Hardy, Sarah Heppe, Max Inlow, Paige Johnson, Jaidyn Joiner, Cameron Jones, Jonathan Malonza, Aliana McCann, Addie Shaffer, Collier and Jude Stanton, and Vincent Tuck.
• First State Cuts: Malonza, Jacob Matthew, and Victoria Tannure
• First State B Cuts: Garrett Adams, Justice Parker, Sophia Quinn, and Andy Zhu
• New USAS Standards: Gast 1st A time; Morgan Henry, Vincent Tuck 1st BB; Eddie El Osta, Eva Saldena, Cole Wright 1st B time. 

Last Wednesday we also had many of our Sr and Sr2 swimmers competing at the Georgia High School State Champs.  It was one of our best HS Champs ever for us with 20 swimmers participating and three GwinAq swimmers taking the podium as individual state champions: Russell Hart, Nolan Patterson and Baylor Stanton.  In addition the Parkview 200 free relay, consisting of four GaGa swimmers, Hart, Jack Dunbar, Nik Beeney, and Landon Plumlee, took home that title. 

Up next will be the Age Group State Champs February 17-19 at GaTech followed by the Raffle Meet the next weekend.  (While this meet is especially for swimmers not going to state, state swimmers should go at least one day and swim events they don't have cuts in.)

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Winter Inter Brings Rest of Team Into 2023

1/24 - After many GaGa swimmers had their first meet of the new year last  weekend, the rest of the team got into the act at the Winter Inter (squad) this weekend. 

Just over 40 swimmers took the opportunity to see how their holiday training had paid off.  There were lots of new bests times and a few new time standards.  Shaylah Bopp and Andy Zhu got their first BB times and Kendall Granberry got her first B times as an 11-12.

Meanwhile nearly all of our High School aged swimmers were competing at the Gwinnett County Champs. At that meet we had three champions (Russell Hart, Nolan Patterson, and Baylor Stanton), fifteen swimmers who scored in the top ten and another 14 qualify in the top 20.  That means 29 of our 38 Sr 1/2/3 swimmers were in the top 20 at the meet, an all time high.  Adam Dockstader and Paige Johnson picked up their first AA times, Nathaniel Beeney, SteveMichael Bennett, and Kayden Clinansmith their first A times.  Paige get her first AG State qualifying time and Alex Diaz Hernandez and Kate Johnson got their first sectional cuts. The Brookwood girls won the meet.   

Next up we have the Winter Qualifier February 3-5 at GAC.  All swimmers should participate and all parents should volunteer. 

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GaGa Starts 2023 in Two Meets

1/16 - Gwinnett Aquatics got 2022 off to a fast start this weekend with some great swimming at the Eastern Classic Invite at Dynamo and the Novant LC Invite in Charlotte, NC. 

At the Eastern Classic five swimmers won events: Aaron Passman, Kate Breiding, Cameron Jones, Aliana McCann and Landon Plumlee, while eight others had top 3 finishes: Jude El-Alam, CJ Gast, Emily Hardy, Sarah Heppe, Cate Joyce, Alex Matveev, Collier Stanton, and Elsie Wethington-Mercer. 

Kate Breiding also picked up her first AAA time (ever!), David Duong and Cameron Jones their first AAs and Henry Breiding and Addie Shaffer their first A times. In addition Lucas Babcock, CJ Gast, and Nicolas Ramdeo all got their first state cuts while David Duong and Landon Plumlee got their first Sectional cuts.   

Those results are even more impressive when you consider that our top Senior swimmers were being hosted by SwimMAC in Charlotte for a Winter Long Course meet.  At that meet Nolan Patterson and Baylor Stanton both won events with Baylor breaking his own team record in the 400 IM and Brandon Shepard getting his first AAA time of the year.  Kate Johnson also had a big meet going 7/7 best times. 

Next up we have the Winter Inter(squad) Meet this weekend for all the 14 and Under swimmers who did not go to Eastern Classic. There is no sign-up for this meet.  Just be at the pool at 11am. The 14U Eastern Classic swimmers will have practice at 830am. 

After that is our Winter Qualifier February 3-5 at GAC.  All swimmers should participate and all parents should volunteer. 

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