Gwinnett Aquatics News

Today's Newsletter should have 3 main articles, so we'll just have to cover all three in one. First off, all the groups have now finished their swims for the 2024 Swim-A-Thon and now all that's left is to finish collecting donations - we have extended those through December 3rd to make use of Giving Tuesday, in case anyone has a matching program they'd like to use.

In the water, the honor of most improved group goes to Blue Team, with swimmers dropping 31 seconds per 100 over last year's swims!!!! Gold team was 2nd dropping 21s/100, and Junior Team was 3rd dropping 13 seconds per 100!

Individually, Baylor Stanton re-broke his own record for the 15&O 2400 for time, while Emery Wells, Aliana McCann, Emily Hardy, Riley Pynn, Aaron Passman, Cole Wright (prep), Vincent Tuck, Collier Stanton and Nate Beeney all got in the top-10 for the timed swim in their age groups! There were also quite a few others that chose to do their swim broken (getting some rest in the middle) which held paces that would also have gotten into the top-10, but due to different conditions we only keep the straight swims in that list. At any rate, congrats to our swimmers for some great swims! You can check out this year's results, as well as the all-time top 10 list, in the links below.

We're currently just shy of $20k in pledges, towards our goal of $30k - please note 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, but we will track all the donations when recognizing the largest fundraisers and when calculating each group's contribution.

And with all swimmers having done their part in the pool, we're hoping the fundraising will keep up! We saw a good bump last week, and it seems to have stalled a bit this week. In the groups race, Gold has opened up their lead, and Senior1 is still in second followed by Prep.

Individually, Jenna Inlow still leads the way, while Emily Hardy has now taken over for second and Reynolds Bowers is in third! Aiden Green has joined a select group of swimmers who have raised $600 or more - and that group now has 6 swimmers - and that has also bumped us up to 18 swimmers who have raised at least $300!!!

We're also now up to 49 swimmers who have raised at least our goal of $190.00/swimmer, and thus have already guaranteed this year's prize - a crewneck sweatshirt with the team logo on the front, and the vintage logo from when Gwinnett Aquatics was first established on the back.

In total, 70 swimmers have helped raise funds. As we've said a few times that is the number we'd like to see continue to grow - it would be great to hit 100% participation by December 3rd - no matter how small, just participating to any extent means a lot for the team!!! If you have any questions with regards to the fundraising portion, please contact Amy Stanton (awstanton@gmail.com).

On to the 2nd big news: late last week, USA-Swimming announced the 2023-24 Scholastic All-Americans (SAA) list, and we had 3 swimmers make that list: Hannah-Claire Jowers, Baylor Stanton and Collier Stanton! That number gets to be even more amazing when we realize we were tied for 3rd club in Georgia with the most athletes - and that would be way, way more impressive if anyone did a per swimmer calculation! In order to be named, swimmers must achieve a time standard AND maintain at least a 3.5GPA, and we're mighty proud some of our highest achieving swimmers are also rocking it in the classroom!!!

And last, but certainly not least, while the rest of the team was having a quiet weekend, 11 of our of our Senior swimmers were attending a unique short course/long course meet in Charlotte. The meet featured Long Course Prelims and then both 'Super' and 'Ultra' finals in SCY - so finals had full heats of consolation heats but then only 4 swimmers in the B finals (or A Finals for events 400 and longer), or an exciting head-to-head A Final for events 200 and shorter!

The meet was also a very fast one, featuring several swimmers on the National Junior Team, and so a lot harder to get second swims than any meet we have seen recently in Georgia. Baylor and Collier Stanton as well as Hannah-Claire Jowers all qualified for evening yards swims! Baylor got to swim in those smaller heats for 4 events, winning all of those! Hannah-Claire got in one of those heats with 4 swimmers and got 6th in the 100 breast, while Collier only got swim in in full heats. In total, those 3 had 12 evening swims against a very stacked field!

In addition, Jowers picked up her first AAA (All-Star) and Futures cuts of the year while Nate Beeney got his first AA! Beeney and Sarah Heppe got their first state cuts of the season! You can check out full meet results, team results, and our updated list of Standard Breakers for the season on the links below. There's also a link to the meet host's YouTube Chanel, and if you haven't it's well worth seeing some of the walk outs for those top heats - the put up quite a show with spotlights for the swimmers!

This week, the whole team gets back to more traditional racing at the Woodie B. Invite - complete info on the meet, as usual, in the article below, but as always please note the schedule changes through the weekend on the left column. After this weekend, we're straight into Thanksgiving Training (posted on the left column, and full info below) and then the December Championship Meets!.

Woodie B. Malone Invite This Weekend, Nov 22-24

The first larger invitational meet we will attend this season will be Dynamo's Woodie B. Malone this weekend, November 22-24, at Dynamo Chamblee (3119 Shallowford Rd, Chamblee, GA 30341). Here are the warm-up times for each session. Please note that there's been a few changes to the times in the meet info, and these already reflect those. Times listed below is when we'll start our out-of-water warm-up as a team - please plan to arrive 10-15min before those:

Swimmers are expected to wear last year's team shirt (white) on Friday, this year's team shirt (teal) on Saturday, and any other team shirt (preference for last year's Divisionals shirt, purple) on Sunday. If you don't have one of those shirts,please wear another team shirt or a shirt the same color.

As we mentioned in the past, on Saturday and Sunday this is a Prelims/Finals for 11&O swimmers, and we do expect all of those swimmers to be available to swim Finals on both days! Swimmers should double check for scratches before leaving each Prelim session (if you are not sure how to do that, ask a coach to help you before you leave). Swimmers should then double check with their coach what time to be back for Finals.

Final team entries and psych sheet are posted below. We'll update the links with Heat Sheets as soon as we have them. This is a larger meet so they will be swimming all sessions in two pools (except for Finals), with different splits on each day. Below you can also find a link to the meet host's event page, where they will post updates (including Heat Sheets, Finals Heat Sheets, etc).

Parking can be limited at Dynamo, so please allow plenty of time to navigate that as well. Finally, we also must remind everyone that, although indoors, Dynamo's pool area is usually quite cold for swimmers between events, especially in the morning. Being cold tightens muscles and makes swimming fast a much more difficult task, so be sure to bring (and wear) parkas and shoes (preferably with dry socks), and at least one extra towel. Hats and gloves are encouraged, too, as well as long sleeve shirts, hoodies, etc!

Thanksgiving Week Training!

That's right, Thanksgiving is next week already! Our training schedule for the week has been posted below and on the left column for a few weeks now, and as usual our older groups (mainly P1, Sr1 and Sr2) will take advantage of the school break to ramp up their training. We'll have a similar set-up during the school winter break.

For younger swimmers, breaks of more than three to four days could set you back! If you are traveling, you should make arrangements to train the same number of workouts as your group at home will do. The best option is to arrange to train with a team where you are going; if that is not possible, find a pool with adequate training hours and space and take workouts with you - contact your coach if you need help with either one of those, but do so well in advance of your travel - in fact, if you haven't done so already you are quite late on that!!!

Coming Up: SCY Senior State Champs Dec 6-8

This year's Senior SCY State Champs will be at UGA's Gabrielsen Natatorium (330 River Rd, Athens, GA 30602), December 6-8. This is a full, 3-day Prelims/Finals meet, with qualifying times, and our first Championship Meet of the season for those qualified! All qualified athletes are expected to attend fully (includes Friday AM), and a few other swimmers might also be invited to complete relays.

Replies for this meet are past due, and our first draft of entries is posted below. Please, remember to always double check your entries for possible mistakes! In addition, we have our first draft for the relays also posted below - please note those will likely change some after this weekend, and as always relays and relay orders might be changed at the meet by the coaching staff.

Complete meet info is available in the Event Page (link below). As this meet is in Athens this year, we STRONGLY encourage all those attending to get a hotel room, rather than drive back and forth every day. The meet host has worked discounted rates in a few hotels, and you can see that list and how to book in the link below.

Coming up: Lanier Winter Invite Dec 13-15

The Lanier Winter Invite, which will take place at the Frances Meadows Aquatic Center in Gainesville, Ga (1545 Community Way, Gainesville, GA 30501) December 13-15, is the biggest meet of the season up to this point (expect for those attending Sr State or Winter Jrs). There is a timed final session on Friday evening, and then Prelim/Finals for 13&O on Sat-Sun, with 12&U swimming timed finals in the afternoon.

ALL swimmers not attending Sr State are expected to attend fully, and we recommend families, especially those with 11&O swimmers, arrange a hotel room for this meet. Swimmers attending Sr State should discuss participation with their coach, and 11&O swimmers will be expected to be available for Finals on both days. You can see the meet schedule, as well as the complete meet info, on the event page (link below).

Replies for this meet are due tomorrow, Thursday, November 21st. As always, if you anticipate any scheduling conflict please use the 'notes' section to let our coaches know. Complete meet info is already available in the event page. If you have any questions please contact your child's coach.

Masters Group Growing Strong!

Our Masters group continues to go (and grow) strong and have both a great time and great workouts! At this point they are meeting Mondays and Fridays 12noon-1:00pm and Tuesdays and Thursdays 6:00pm-7:00pm - about 15 min of on deck dryland warmup and 45 min swim each day. It is being coached by Coach Andrea in the midday and Coach Hugh in the evenings, and there are always different levels of workouts each day so anyone should be able to find a level they are comfortable with.

The cost will be $75/month, and we are also considering offering some lunchtime on Mondays and Fridays as well. If you would like to join please contact coach Hugh (hugh@gwinnettaquatics.com).

At this point, we do not plan on helping with coaching at meets - so those interested in competing will be doing so on their own. Depending on the level of interest in competitions, we may add coaching at meets in the future.

Ga-Ga Online Spirit Wear Shop!

We'd like to remind everyone we have a great online Spirit Shop with a great variety of items - pink and purple shirts, sweatshirts, and more! We love the looks of it, and have gotten great feedback on the material as well.

So, if you'd like to sport some awesome new team schwag this summer, now's the time to put an order! With this shop, there is no order deadline, no minimum, and a LOT to choose from! More options, more colors, and hopefully something for everyone. You can use the link below to access the store online. If you don’t see something you wish we had, please reach out to Amy Stanton (awstanton@gmail.com) - we'd love to see if we can make it happen!

GwinAq's Reddiset Shop

GwinAq's Affiliate SwimOutlet.com

December Payments Due

Education Column

2024 LCM Season Recap

2023-24 SCY Season Recap

2024 Swim-a-Thon in the Books!!! Fundraising Goes to December 3rd
- Jowers, Stanton and Stanton Make Scholastic All-American!
- Senior Swimmers Get the Short and the Long of It In Charlotte!

Woodie B. Malone Invite This Weekend, Nov 22-24

Thanksgiving Week Training!

Coming Up: SCY Senior State Champs Dec 6-8

Coming up: Lanier Winter Invite Dec 13-15

Masters Group Growing Strong!

Ga-Ga Online Spirit Wear Shop!