Gwinnett Aquatics a Close Third at Divisionals

3/31 - Gwinnett Aquatics was third this weekend at the Northeast Divisional Champs at UGA, just missing out of 2nd as ASL passed us in the final session to take 2nd by a mere 200 points.  It was an unexpectedly close race for us as we were well outpaced by both ABSC, who won, and ASL last year.

The Senior and 9-10 age groups led the way taking 2nd (the 9-10 girls narrowly missed winning), while all other groups were third.  Individually, Riley Pynn and Baylor Stanton led the way with 6 event wins. Five other swimmers won events (for a total of 22 events!), and 154 more medaled (top-3).  But truly it was a total team effort as 76 different swimmers scored, 48 in the top 8!  

One of the more incredible races was the 500 Friday night where, in the same race, Collier Stanton picked up his first ever Summer Junior Nationals qualifying time and Tadd Duffield got his first ever Futures cut in the 200. Other highlights included Baylor Stanton's 4 team record swims and the 11-12 girls team of Jasmine Coe, CJ Gast, Aliana McCann and Victoria (Veronica) Tannure breaking the 200 free relay team record. But the most emotional moment of the meet for me was seeing Cameron Jones get up and race for first time this year after six months of rehabbing his knee injury last fall, and picking up a AAA time to boot.

Finally I have to shout out to our incredible parents. Your great spirit and team support were noticed by (and mentioned to me repeatedly) everyone: other coaches, officials, even pool staff. And it wasn't just the outfits and pots and pans. It was the way you support all the swimmers (not just your own) in such a positive way. 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.

Achievers and Standard breakers for the meet were:

• Event Winners - Pynn, Stanton, Kate Breiding, CJ Gast, Aliana McCann, Aaron Passman, and Collier Stanton
• Medalists - Duffield, Jones, Lucas Babcock, Reynolds Bowers, Jasmine Coe, Jude El-Alam, Gatlin Granbery, Emily Hardy, Paige Johnson, Brooks Pynn, Daniella Rose, Ainara Sanchez, and Ella and Emery Wells.
• First AAA Time - Cameron Jones
• First AA Times - Justin Bennett
• First A Times - El-Alam, Tannure, Jacob Matthew, James Sears
• First BB Times - William Buckley, Kaylin Lee
• First B Times - Talha Besic
• First Summer Juniors- Collier Stanton
• First Futures - Tadd Duffield
• First State Cuts - Bennett, Henry Boltin, Cameron Jones, and Jude Stanton

Now we get a few fun practices and a little rest until after spring break when we start up the long course season April 14. Our first long course meet is just four weeks from this Saturday!

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Gwinnett Aquatics Masters First Full Meet at Maria Thrash Invite

3/18 - The GaGa Masters team, formed just 5 months ago, had their first full team meet this past weekend at the Maria Thrash Invite at Dynamo.

It was quite the debut. GaGa won FIFTEEN events and had three swimmers go under the National Championship cut in 14 events all while going nearly 100% best times! Rebecca Bower, Amelia Campbell, Bree McCann, Pola Pynn, and Myra Wells all won events. Bower, Campbell, and Pynn were under the national cuts and Amy Stanton and Michael Ramos got very close.

Next up for the masters is a meet at Chastain. They are currently having practice Mon/Wed 6-7a, Mon/Wed/Fri 12-1p and Tues/Thurs 6-7p.

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