Team Splits for Bulldog and Dunbar Invites

6/03 - Gwinnett Aquatics had two different squads in competition this weekend. Thursday-Saturday five senior swimmers were at a the Bulldog Grand Slam in Athens while most of the rest of the team competed at the Betsy Dunbar Invite at Georgia Tech. 

The Athens meet proved to be one of the fastest this year with many of the areas fastest high school and college aged swimmers trying their last chance to make trials and many did!  Over 20 new trail cuts were posted.  For most of our swimmers it was a chance to post some fast in-season times and many did!  Baylor Stanton got to swim some events he hasn't done in a while and in so doing took down the team record in the 200 breast!  He also improved his 400 IM record.  In addition Collier Stanton and Hannah-Claire Jowers picked up their first AAAA times and Nate Beeney got his first ever AAA (all-star) time.  Stanton also got his first Futures cut of the season. 

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.  This meet was also faster than a year ago but we still managed a few top 6 finishers: Kate Breiding, CJ Gast, Emily Hardy, Cate Joyce, Aliana McCann, Brandon Noble, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro and Ella Wells.  Paige Johnson earned her first AA time of the season while Jimmy Wang got his first A times. Arthur Bombard, Lucy Bower, and Victoria Tannure got their first BBs and Henry Copeland got his first B time. Johnson and Elisa Basic, Kendall Granberry and Aaron Passman got their first state qualifying times as well. It was Basic's first ever!

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. 

---

GwinAq Senior Swimmers Racing in the Big Leagues at Atlanta Classic 

5/20 - Some of our senior swimmers competed this weekend at one of the biggest Olympic Trial tune-up meets so far.  With names like Ledecky, Finke and Dressel, the Atlanta Classic at Georgia Tech also had Stanton, Stanton, Jowers and Dunbar.  (sounds like a legal firm)

Baylor Stanton took it all in stride making three A finals finishing up with two fifths and a seventh and right on his best times in the IMs and backstrokes.  Collier Stanton and Hannah-Claire Jowers earned second swims as well with Jowers picking up her first AAA times and Futures cut of the season. 

Next up is the Betsy Dunbar Meet June 1-2 at GaTech. Replies are past due now so please email your coach if you missed the deadline. 

---

GwinAq Swimmers Finding Their Long Course Legs at Spring Splash  

5/13 - At just the second meet of this season, GaGa swimmers already posted big improvements in their long course swimming at the Spring Splash at Dynamo.  We think they were doing it for their moms, who clebrated Mothers Day with them at the pool.  Thanx Moms!

Four swimmers won events and twelve swimmers picked up new time standards. Kate Breiding, Eddie El Osta, Hannah-Claire Jowers, and Addi Shaffer all won events.  Collier Stanton picked up his first AAA time of the season; Justin Bennett got his first AA time; SteveMichael Bennett, Aubrey Chisholm, CJ Gast, and Sarah Heppe got their first A times; Emily Hillensheim and James Sears got his first BBs and Lucas Babcock, Jude El-Alam, Aura Holder, and Kaylin Lee got their first B times. 

This week some of our top senior swimmers will compete at a very fast Atlanta Classic starting Thursday at Ga Tech.  After that is the Betsy Dunbar Meet June 1-2 at GaTech. Replies are past due now so please email your coach if you missed the deadline. 

---

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. 

---

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!

---

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!

---

GwinAq Boys Take Second at Swim Meet of Champions

3/12 - A select group of Gwinnett Aquatics senior swimmers competed at the Southeastern Swim Meet of Champions (SMOC) this weekend in Augusta.  After an exciting final session on the fourth day of the meet the boys managed a 2nd place finish. It was a rare chance for the distance guys to be the heroes, entering the final event, the 1000 free, in 3rd with just a few points separating 2nd-4th, the group was able to get three scoring swims including Collier Stanton's victory, to move to second. 

Collier was the 2nd event winner that day, perhaps inspired by teammate Kate Johnson's earlier win in the same event. They joined Baylor Stanton, who won 4 events and set a new team record in the 200 breast, as the team's only event winners.  Jack Dunbar, Lucas Johnson, and Hannah-Claire Jowers all finaled while Nate Beeney,Max and Jenna Inlow, Paige Johnson, and Sean Lin all also scored for Gwinnett Aquatics. Baylor also picked up two new team records, one short course (200 breast) and one long course (200 back). 

Additionally Collier got his first ever Futures cut, Tadd Duffield picked up his first ever AAA (All-Star) time and Tadd and Nate got their first Sectional cuts. Many of the swimmers wrapped up the exciting weekend with a Long Course time trial Sunday afternoon.  Check it all out using the link below.  (We haven't gotten the meet results yet but will update that link when we do). 

Next up is the Divisional Champs for ALL swimmers in two weeks in Augusta!!

---

Everyone Wins at Raffle Meet

3/4 - Gwinnett Aquatics and Spartan Aquatics hosted the 4th Annual Raffle Meet this weekend at GAC.  The Raffle Meet targets swimmers who did not compete at the State Champs (or those who did in events they don't have the cut).  This year about 200 swimmers competed for the chance to earn raffle "tickets" for a variety of prizes. 

Swimmers earned a raffle chance for every best time, heat winner, and new time standard achieved. In just two short sessions over 1000 chances generated and we gave out over 70 prizes through the weekend including backpacks, goggles, Squishmallows and Dancing Cacti.  At the end of the meet ASL swimmer Gabe Koch took home the grand prize, a $300 VISA gift card!

Next year it looks likely that the raffle meet will move to long course as Ga Swimming will add a new Peach State Champs meet (For state 10U and no-faster-than state 11-14 yr olds) in February that will likely take the place of this meet. 

For Gwinnett Aquatics it was clear our swimmers love winning stuff as we had over 60% best times which was even higher than the percentage we had at age group state or the qualifier!  Thirty-six swimmers won events: Timi Ajigbolamu, Elisa Basic, Justin and SteveMichael Bennett, Abby Bold, Shaylah Bopp, Kate Breiding, Aubrey Chisolm, Tadd Duffield, Brianna Exil, CJ Gast, Kendall Granberry, Emily Hardy, Morgan Henry, Sarah Heppe, Cade Holder, Cameron Jones, Alex Matveev, Aliana McCann, Grant McGee, Brandon Noble, Aaron Passman, Riley Pynn, Nicolas Ramdeo, Lillie Robinson, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro, Addi Shaffer, Jude Stanton, Jimmy Wang, Ella and Emery Wells, Elsie Wethington-Mercer, Cole Wright (Gold), Andy Zhu, and Benicio and Helena Zimmerman!

Additionally Ethan Tull picked up his first BB times and Rose Aguilar, Arthur Bombard, Emma Gonzalez, and KitKat Jacobsen got their first B times. 

Next up is the Meet of Champions this weekend for our top Senior swimmers and then the Divisional Champs for ALL swimmers in two weeks in Augusta!!

---

Gwinnett Aquatics Eleventh at Age Group State

2/20 - Gwinnett Aquatics' 14 and Unders had a bittersweet outcome at the Georgia Age Group State Champs this weekend. By almost all measures we had a very successful meet with the athletes having a high percentage of best times and our relays going 100% (first time that's happened in my memory).  But because we had so many athletes swimming up in a new age group for the first time we had only enough scoring swims to finish 11th, our lowest finish in some years.   That's what pro teams call a great "rebuilding" year. 

Seriously though, the fast swims that we saw this weekend indicate a very bright future for our team at the next couple state meets. Collier Stanton was the exception to our youth movement, it being his last age group state champs.  And he made the most of it medaling in six events (2nd 4 times!) and picking up new senior sectional cuts.  Way to go old man.  While he was our only top ten finisher, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro, Aliana McCann, Kate Breiding, Emily Hardy, Jude Stanton, Ella Wells, and Kendall Granberry all scored as well. 

In addition Hardy and Breiding picked up their first 13-14 AAA (All-Star) time while Cate Joyce and Lillie Robinson got their first AA times and McCann got her first as an11-12.  CJ Gast got her first A as an 11-12 and Alaeelah McMahon got her first BB. 

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

---

GwinAq Seniors Lead Local High School Teams at State Champs

2/13 - Gwinnett Aquatics swimmers played an outsize role in this weekend's Georgia High School State Champs at Ga Tech. Eleven different GaGa swimmers scored for Brookwood whose girls won the meet and boys took third and Parkview whose boys and girls were 8th and 10th respectively. 

They were led by Baylor Stanton who won both his events and broke the state record in the 200 IM.  Hannah-Claire Jowers also made the podium, taking third in the 100 breast while Sarah Heppe, Kate Johnson and Collier Stanton also made A-Finals.  Other scorers were Nate Beeney, David Duong, Max Inlow, Lucas and Paige Johnson, and Sean Lin. 

Additionally Abby Bold picked up her first A time and Sr State cut of the season. 

Up next is the Age Group State Championship Meet this weekend at Ga Tech. 

---

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

2/12 - 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. 

---

Over 170 State Cuts Fall at GA Winter Qualifier

2/4 - This weekend at the 13th Annual Winter Qualifier Meet at GAC swimmers added over 170 new state cuts (103 state cuts, 68 "B" cuts) over three days of racing.  The meet, co-hosted by GwinAq and SPAC saw some great racing from nearly 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. 

Two weeks after the state meet we'll be back at GAC for the very popular Raffle Spectacular March 2-3.  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 16 swimmers picking up over 30 new State or State B cuts. 15 swimmers won events, six swimmers got their first State or State B cuts and eleven swimmers picked up new USAS time standards.  They were:

• Event Winners: Reynolds Bower, Kate Breiding, Aubrey Chisholm, Jack Dunbar, Sarah Heppe, Jenna Inlow, Paige Johnson, Cameron Jones, Aliana McCann, Valarie Monroe, Eva Saldana, Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro, Jude Stanton, Ella Wells, and Cole Wright (Prep).
• First State Cuts: Gatlin Granberry, Eva Saldana, Cole Wright (Prep), and Jimmy Zhang
• First State B Cuts: Kaylin Lee, Morgan Sevier, and Andy Zhu
• New USAS Standards: Jimmy Wang, Ella Wells, Andy Zhu 1st A time; Saldana, Zhang, Benicio Zimmerman 1st BB; Lucas Babcock, Yusuf Besic, Ben El-Alam, Hailey Lord, Emma Seigler 1st B time. 

Up next will be the Age Group State Champs February 16-18 at GaTech followed by the Raffle Meet two weeks later.  (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.) Oh, and our High School Age swimmers will have their state champs next weekend at Tech.

---

Cold Temps, Hot Pool for GaGa High Schoolers

1/22 - While the rest of us were battling sub-zero wind chill our High School swimmers were setting the pool on fire at the Gwinnett County High School Champs. 

Baylor Stanton and Hannah-Claire Jowers combined for three wins. Max Inlow, Kate Johnson, and Collier Stanton combined for five more place swims and ten others qualified for A finals (that's 60% of our HS swimmers!)  Another nine qualified for B finals (85%, including our first Sr3 swimmer to make to 20).

Abby Bold picked up her first HS State Cuts.  Tad Duffield and Justice Parker for their first  Senior State Cuts and Henry Breiding, Lannon Clinanasmith and Cade Holder got their first A times of the season.   

Next up is our Winter Qualifier February 2-4 at GAC.  All swimmers should participate and all parents should volunteer. 

---

GaGa Starts 2024 at Two Meets

1/16 - Gwinnett Aquatics got 2024 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 a select group of GaGa swimmers competed with swimmers from all over the country, including South Carolina, Ohio, New Mexico, and Arizona. Ernesto Santiesteban-Pizarro and Paige Johnson both won events while sixteen other swimmers had top 10 finishes: Nate Beeney, Kate Breiding, Eddie El Osta, Emily Hardy, Morgan Henry, Jenna Inlow, Lucas Johnson, Aliana McCann, Grant McGee, Aaron Passman, Riley Pynn, Jude Stanton, Vincent Tuck, Ella and Emery Wells, and Cole Wright (Gold). 

Paige picked up her first AA time while Kayden Clinansmith and Kendall Granberry got their first A times and Passman and McGee got their first BBs. In addition Lannon Clinansmith, Paige Johnson and Ella Wells got their first state cuts of the season!

Those results are even more impressive when you consider that seven of our top Senior swimmers were being hosted by SwimMAC in Charlotte for a winter long course meet.  At that meet five swimmers had scoring swims including two wins by Collier Stanton and two 4th place finishes by Jack Dunbar and Kate Johnson. Max Inlow and Hannah-Claire Jowers also scored.  (Baylor joined the long list of GaGa swimmers hit by the flu this winter).

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 1030am. The 14U Eastern Classic swimmers will have practice at 830/9am. 

After that is our Winter Qualifier February 2-4 at GAC.  All swimmers should participate and all parents should volunteer. 

---

2023 Archives...