Boys Rewrite Record Book at Peach State Senior Champs

12/14 -   GaGa's Senior boys put a serious hurt on the team record book this weekend at the Peach State 18U Champs, breaking the team relay record in EVERY relay they swam.  Darnell Mitchell, Dylan Yin, Thomas and Tyler Wooldridge, Graham Simmon and Andy Zhu combined to take down the 4 records.

Mitchell, Simmon and Yin also finaled (top 6) while Lauren Diehl and Andy Zhu competed in consols.  Sarah Jahns, Emma Morris and the Wooldridges also had top-10 finishes.  And while 10 athletes swam in that meet the rest competed in the Gwinnett 18U champs.  Between the two meets Morris picked up her first AA of the season and Zoe Wilson her first A.  Max Inlow and Brandon Shepard picked up their first State times. 

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Records Fall for Third Meet in a Row at 14U Winter Champs

12/7 -   For the third meet in a row, a club record went down at this weekend's 14&U December Winter Champs.  Baylor Stanton took down the 200 fly record at the first prelim/final meet of the season. 

It was a great meet for GwinAq swimmers with 13 swimmers winning events and 14 picking up new standards.  Event winners were: Kate Breiding, Andrew Guo, Kate and Paige Johnson, Hannah Claire Jowers, Sean Lin, Alex Mateev, Sophia Papania, Rhodes Pincombe, Baylor and Collier Stanton, Victoria Tannure and Jeffrey Xu. 

Lin and Isaac Saenz got their first AAA (All-Star) times, Henry Breiding, David Duong, Kate Johnson and Hannah Claire Jowers their first AAs and Caitlyn Diehl her first A time.  Emily Hardy, Jaidyn Joiner, Sophia Quinn and Jude Stanton got their first BB ties while Karam Alhmoud, Haley Lindsay and Keziah Ponder got their first B times.  Breiding, Jowers and Cate Rovie also picked up their first State cuts of the season. 

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More Records Fall in Senior Fall Invite

11/23 - The GaGa Senior boys took down the team record in the 200 Medley Relay and many swimmers added new time standards and qualifying times this weekend at the Senior Fall Invite. 

Lauren Diehl, Sarah Jahns, Darnell Mitchell, Thomas and Tyler Wooldridge and Dylan Yin all won events while Russel Hart added his name to the list of swimmers going to the Peach State Champs in three weeks. 

Mitchell and Andy Zhu picked up their first AAAA and Futures qualifying times on the season while Diehl, Hart, the Wooldridges, Yin, Jack Dunbar, and Sofie Rees earned their first AAA times (Hart's first ever!).  Lindsey Diehl and Brandon Shepard got their first AAs and Adam Dockstader, Ryan Haskins and Emily Morgan swam to their first A times (Morgan's first). 

Dunbar, Hart, Rees, Yin, Lauren Diehl and Thomas Wooldridge added their first Senior Sectional cuts of the season while Hanna Burke, Daniel Dang and Lindsey Diehl got their first State cuts. 

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14U Swimmers Fall In to Fall Invite

11/16 - Swimmers from SPAC and GA had their first multi-day meet of the season with some impressive results this weekend.  The 14U meet had distance on Friday and multiple events Saturday and Sunday for all swimmers. This was the 4th weekend of racing this fall for the two teams. 

Next up will be a similar format for the Senior swimmers this weekend with Prelims/Finals on Saturday!

For Gwinnett Aquatics Baylor Stanton picked up his first AAAA (Silver Cap) and team record as a 13-14.  Jeffrey Xu got his first ever AAA (All-Star).  Andrew Guo and Sophia Papania got their first ever AAs while Kayla Deckers, Reagan Miller, Ella Moulder and Cate Rovie got their first A times of the season.  Kadar Felder and Jenna Inlow got their first BB times and Emily Krall and Jimmy Wang their first B times.  Papania also picked up her first state cut!

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Fall #3 Wraps Up Fall Series

11/1 - The Fall Series wrapped up this weekend with Fall Series #3 at the Greater Atlanta Christian School with the Spartan Aquatic Club and Lifetime Aquatics.  IN this meet swimmers competed in the longer distances of fly and breast and many did their first 400 IM of the season on Friday.  This also means that many swimmers who did the entire season now will have IMX scores.  Be sure to check your Deck Pass app later this week to see how you rank! UP next will be the 14U (11/13-15) and Senior (11/20-22) Fall Invites. These will be the first multi-day meets for most swimmers this season.

There's also some great Fall Series apparel available.  You can order the Official Meet Shirt using the link below.  Please order by Wednesday Oct 20. 

For Gwinnett Aquatics Andrew Guo, Cate Joyce, Alex Mateev, Harrison Riggle, and Baylor, Collier and Jude Stanton all won events.  Graham Simmon picked up his first AAA (All-Star) time of the season and Daniel Dang his first ever AA while Conde Britton, David Duong and Sophia Papania all got their first A times.  Abby Bold and Addie Shaffer earned their first BB times and Kadar Felder got his first B.

Kate Brieding and David Duong got their first state cuts of the season (Kate's first ever!) while Graham Simmon and Baylor Stanton got their first Sr Sectional cuts (Stanton's first ever). 

Results
Video: Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 | Session 4 | Session 5 | Session 6
Meet T-Shirt Order Form

GwinAq Results 

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Fall Series #2 Let Swimmers Stretch Their Legs

10/18 - The Fall Series continued this weekend with Fall Series #2 at the Greater Atlanta Christian School with the Spartan Aquatic Club and Lifetime Aquatics.  Swimmers competed in some of the longer events for the first time this season with many doing 650 yards of racing in under 2 1/2 hours! Even with this grueling program there were many PR's and tons of fast races. 

There's also some great Fall Series apparel available.  You can order the Official Meet Shirt using the link below.  Please order by Wednesday Oct 20. 

For Gwinnett Aquatics Lucy Bower, Andrew Guo, Kate Johnson, Alex Mateev, Sofie Rees, Harrison Riggle, and Baylor and Jude Stanton all won events.  Nolan Patterson picked up his first AAA (All-Star) time of the season, while Rees, Hanna Burke, Lucas Johnson, Sean Lin, Isaac Saenz and Thomas Wooldridge all got their first A times.  Henry Brieding, Max Inlow, Kate and Paige Johnson and Emma Morris earned their fist A times and Sarah Burton and Aubrey Chisolm got their first BB's.

Lauren Diehl, Lucas and Paige Johnson got their first state cuts of the season.  Next up is the third and final meet of the fall series on Halloween Weekend!

Results
Video: Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 | Session 4 | Session 5 | Session 6
Meet T-Shirt Order Form

GwinAq Results  | GwinAq Time Standard Achievers

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Pentathlon Kicks Off Unusual 20-21 Season

10/4/20 - Our first meet of the season was this weekend at the Greater Atlanta Christian School with the Spartan Aquatic Club.  It was an unusual start to what promises to be an unusual season. Swimmers competed in 48-person flights maintaining social distancing while spectators stayed out and followed along on GAC's new live feed video platform that made it feel like a National Champs broadcast!

For this meet, the first of three in the Fall Series, swimmers competed in 5 events (4 for 8U) for a Pentathlon score consisting of their cumulative time in those events.  The top swimmers in each age group with no DQ's will receive a special winner's t-shirt.  Those winners were:  Lucy Bower, Luke Black, Claire Heizer, Maddy Showalter, Ephraim Ng, Abigail Sutter, Collier Stanton, Rakel Becraft, Andrew Guo, Abigail Heizer, Baylor Stanton, Anna Tarpley, Zachary Sutter, Hailey Galbraith and Peter Sacca.

It was also a very fast start for both teams. A number of Spartan swimmers broke pool records while the top times in the 15-18 boys and girls and 13-14 boys age groups were the fastest in the meets history. 

For Gwinnett Aquatics Jaden Henry and Collier Stanton already picked up their first A times of the season while Kate Breiding, Sarah Heppe and Collin Severtson earned their first BBs and Kayden and Lannon Clinansmith, Emily Hardy, Emma Luo, Nicholas Ramdeo andJude Stanton got their first B times.

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Lucas Ferreira to Take Over as Head Coach August 10

8/1/20 - Effective August 10 Coach Lucas will become the Head Coach of Gwinnett Aquatics.  He will take over the Senior group, oversee staff, determine the competitive and practice schedule for the team, and oversee parent education.

After 15 years at the helm of the Gwinnett Aquatics program and Senior group, Coach Hugh will remain CEO and become Head Age Group Coach for next season. He will head up the Prep and Gold groups, as well as oversee the Sr3 drylands program. Coach Caitlin will run Sr3 and assist with Prep. Coach Andrea will coach Junior and Pre Teams and Coach Cathy will Coach Blue team. 

Coach Lucas has been with the program now for almost ten years (what?!), has been recognized as Age Group Coach of the Year, and served as the GA Swimming Age Group Chair.  He is excited for this new opportunity to work with the older, crankier swimmers despite seeing how much it has aged coach Hugh ;-) Coach Hugh will return to Age Group coaching in his 39th year of coaching, which should also free up some time to focus on the capital projects currently underway. 

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Viral Invite II Wraps Up Most Unusual 2020 Summer Season
   Stanton Breaks State Record

7/27 - The GA Viral Invite II wrapped up the 2020 summer season this past weekend in Macon.  The socially distanced meet included swimmers from GwinAq, SMAC and HURR. Despite a shortened season and limited practice time the meet felt a lot like a normal end of season meet.  GaGa swimmer Baylor Stanton broke the state record in the 200 fly.  Over a dozen swimmers picked up new Futures and Sectional qualifying times and numerous team records from more than one team were broken. 

For GaGa, Stanton broke 4 additional team records on top of the state record and Andy Zhu got his first ever team record in the Sr 100 Breast.  He and Darnell Mitchell got their first ever AAAAs while they, along with Sarah Jahns, Alex Norcini and Graham Simmon got their first Futures cuts of the season (first ever for Mitchell and Zhu).  Jack Dunbar, Russell Hart and Nolan Patterson got their first sectional cuts and they and Thomas Wooldridge got their first AAA's.

Hanna Burke, Lauren and Lindsey Diehl, Griffin Hammett, Hannah Claire Jowers, Emma Morris and Isaac Saenz all got their first AAs while Andrew Guo, Max Inlow and Reagan Miller all got their first A times.  Sean Lin picked up his first A at the meet and then his first AA at the 800 time trial Monday. Abby Bold, Sarah Burton, Alex Diaz Hernandez and David Duong got their first BBs and Owen Breiding, Janna Inlow and Jaidyn Joiner got their first B times. 

Meanwhile another 20 swimmers participated in a Viral Fun meet here at home with a number of swimmers picking up some new best times.  And on Monday another 9 swimmers went that extra mile (er, 800) at our distance time trial. 

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Viral Invite A Smash in Macon

7/11 - The GA Viral Invite got the competitive season off to a great start this weekend in Macon.  Social distancing was maintained and 80 athletes got a chance to throw down their first sanctioned times since March. And despite the shortened season and the constraints of running a meet with COVID-10 safety measures, there were a huge number of PRs and unshaved PRs happening.   

Gwinnett Aquatics and Swim Macon competed in Swim Macon's outdoor 25-yard pool.   Events were mixed age and gender to provided the most competitive heats and overall there were a high percentage of best times. 

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Registration for 2020-21 Swim Team, Lessons, Clinics Open Soon!

6/24 - Registration will soon open to the public for our 2020-21 Swim Team as well as our Fall swim lessons and stroke clinics. Swim Team registration opens to all current members, including lesson and clinic participants July 1.  Registration will open to the public July 10.  All new swimmers must have an evaluation.  Those are held every Mondays and Wednesdays at 10am. 

Right now we are planning on running the same schedule as last year but of course we will have to be adaptable to the situation come August. Those registering for 2020-21 will be able to start during our pre-season mini-camp that starts August 10. The regular season will start Sept 6. Lessons start August 10.  We will also have two clinics this Fall: our 13 and Over Training camp in August and our Homeschool Stroke Clinic starting in September. 

PLEASE NOTE: Some groups will fill very quickly.  Additionally there is a chance we will have to downsize to maintain better social distancing. If you are evaluated for one of the groups that are full, sign up on the waiting list.  We will update from that list weekly. 

• 2019-20 Swim Team Registration 
• Clinics: 13 and Over Training Clinic (open now), Homeschool Clinic (coming soon)
• Fall Swim Lessons

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COVID-19 Intersquad a Fast (and Socially Distanced) Resumption of Competition

Gwinnett Aquatics was able to finally get back to competing with our special COVID-19 Intersquad meet this weekend.  Sessions were kept to less than 40 swimmers who maintained social distancing protocols throughout the session. 

And after such a long time off, some looked to be a little rusty, some picked up where they left off but most looked like a group in the first half of any other season.  Baylor Stanton went 3 for 3 AAAA times with another dozen swimmers picking up A and AA times.  Andrew Lewis got his first ever B time and Daniel Dang his first BB.  Sixteen swimmers swam state qualifying times.

Results are posted below.  They are adjusted to equal a regulation 25m pool. Improvement stats are based on a conversion of their best short course times.  These conversions are VERY tight so a best time is probably a pretty big drop while being right near your time is a very good swim. For high school aged swimmers being less that 3-4 seconds off is pretty good.  Younger swimmers should be a little closer.  Additionally our friend Justin Correia, the coach of Southwest All-Stars in Florida, is running a virtual meet this week for teams that are back in competition and we will be sending in our times to see how we fare against other teams in the southeast (mostly Florida). We'll post those results when we have them. 

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Phase 2 Training Schedule Starts June 1

Phase Two of our training plan will start next Monday June 1.  In phase 2 groups will expand to a maximum of 18 swimmers at a time.  There will be 2 swimmers 6 feet apart at one end of the lane and 1 at the other.  This will allow us to accommodate the growing number of returning swimmers while leaving pool time for our other programming (lessons, clinics).  In order to do this safely we have had to expand programming outside our normal hours.  This allows us to not have multiple groups at the pool at the same time. 

Sr, Sr3 and  a modified Prep1 will train in the AM.  Prep2/Jr and Blue/Gold will train in the afternoon.  Prep drylands would continue to be on-line via Zoom.  All others will switch to the pool.  If this schedule affects your ability to attend with your current group please let me know.  Likewise, if you currently are not participating and plan to start in the next two weeks please email me right away.

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Gwinnett Aquatics Resumes Reservation-Only Practices

5/4/20 - Effective immediately Gwinnett Aquatics has resumed reservation-only practices.  Swimmers are scheduled 10-12 at a time and swim starting from opposite ends of the pool so there are never 2 swimmers in a lane at the same wall. The schedule is posted and the link is emailed out to members each week. Please note that by signing up you agree to continue to follow all social distancing guidelines at all times.   

Sr/Sr3 swimmers who are practicing will also do drylands 3x/wk.  Other groups will continue to do the drylands@home workouts.  Your coach will let you know the times. 

Some of our families want to hold off team workouts for now.  We fully support that decision.  In order to keep fit while remaining home we encourage you to join the dryland@home live and supplement that with 3x/wk cardio work of your own (run, bike, skate, climb, etc)  If you are a senior swimmer or from another group and missed the live practice below are a list of the workouts that have been posted to date.  You can view many of them and join in on our Facebook page

Below are some workouts for our various groups for the week of 3/16-22. 

Sr Drylands@Home I |  Sr Drylands@Home II
Sr Drylands@Home III | PDF | PDF#2 | Sr Drylands@Home IV
Sr Drylands@Home 5  #1 | #2  | Sr/Sr3 Drylands Week 6 #1 | #2

Prep Drylands@Home I Prep Drylands@Home II
Prep Drylands@Home3 | Prep Drylands@Home IV
Prep Drylands Week 6

Blue/Gold Drylands@Home I | Blue/Gold Drylands@Home II
Blue/Gold Drylands@Home3 | Blue/Gold Drylands@Home4
Blue/Gold Drylands Week 6

Here is a great restorative yoga session for all ages for the end of each week or whenever you feel like you need a little restoration.

In addition  we continue to stress the importance of preventing the spread of infection and share the following information being circulated by healthcare officials:

1. Avoid getting closer than six feet to anyone coughing or sneezing; 
2. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer that has 60-95% alcohol. This is especially important after going to the bathroom, before eating, or after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing;
3. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth;
4. Cover your mouth with a tissue or your elbow if you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash, and then wash your hands;
5. Stay home if you are sick, and away from the pool and from fellow team members;
6. Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces regularly;
7. Monitor the WHO and CDC websites for travel advisories and follow their recommendations.

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Gwinnett Aquatics Lessons, Clinics Resume June 1!

5/14 - Gwinnett Aquatics Swim Lessons will resume June 1 with special Covid-19 procedures in place. Classes will be small and "no contact" for advanced swimmers or "low contact" for beginners.  Classes will be spaced apart more to allow time to sanitize.  Both daytime and evening classes will be offered. Since class sizes are very limited they will fill fast so sign-up now!

Our Spring Tune-Up will now be a mini summer league starting that same day and running 3x/wk for 6 weeks.  

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"Swimming in College" Zoom Meeting Recap

We had a great Zoom meeting with parents yesterday Thursday May 14. It was a great chance for all rising Juniors and Seniors, as well as their parents as well as a numbr of rising Freshman and Sophomore who were getting an early understanding of this process. The presentation covered a range of topics about the wide vairety of college swimming opportunities but also topics on college search and financing that are helpful to students who are not intersted in swimming beyond high school.  The slides from the presentation are linked below. 

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Young Group of GwinAq Seniors Rip It at Southern Premier

3/9 - Gwinnett Aquatics' Senior swimmers continued our strong Championship season this weekend at the Southern Premier at Georgia Tech.  It was one of our largest groups ever to compete at this level.  And one of our youngest.  Only one of the eleven swimmers had ever competed above the State level. 

Nonetheless the swimmers amassed over a dozen swims in the finals sessions, nearly triple the number they were seeded to make!  Five swimmers, Darnell Mitchell, Lauren Diehl, Thomas and Tyler Wooldridge and Trevor Harbin all had top-30 swims.  Harbin and Sofie Rees picked up their first AAA (All-Star) times of the season.   

Now these swimmers, together with their 100 favorite teammates will take their show on the road to the Divisional Champs in Augusta March 20-22. 

Southern Premier Results | GwinAq Results
Standard Breakers

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GaGa Age Group Swimmers Take 2nd at State
   Stanton breaks three state records, nine team records

2/24 - Led by Baylor Stanton nine event wins, Gwinnett Aquatics swimmers racked up three Georgia State records, 11 team records and 19 top-10 swims at Age Group State Champs this weekend at Ga Tech. An additional 16 scoring swims led to a 2nd place finish in medium sized teams (5th overall in 11-14 age group). 

Baylor Stanton won all nine of his events, picking up team records in all nine and state records in all three IMs.  It was the first State Records ever for a GwinAq swimmer. Nolan Patterson Emma Morris and Isaac Saenz also all had top-10 finishes with Patterson also picking up two team records, his first ever.  Lindsey Diehl, Cate Rovie, Andrew Guo, SteveMichael Bennet,Kayla Deckers and Reagan Miller all scored as well.   Stanton, Patterson, Henry and Saenz also combined to break the team record in the 14U boys 400 free relay.  Additionally Bennett, Rovie and Sean Lin picked up their first AA times, while Jaden Henry and Ella Moulder got their first state cuts at the JO meet.

AG State Champs Results | GwinAq Results
Standard Breakers

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Over 100 New State Cuts at GA Winter Qualifier

2/16/20 - The Gwinnett Aquatics GA Winter Qualifier was this weekend at Greater Atlanta Christian school in Norcross. Over 600 swimmers competed with over 100 new state cuts achieved and 100 more JO cuts too! The meet featured all events for age groupers, single year age groups for 12U awards and special tattoos for new state champs qualifiers. Thanks to all the trams who came and our great parents who worked to make it special.

Results   | Hy-tek Results file

22 GaGa Swimmers Pick Up Cuts @ Winter Qualifier

The GaGa swimmers made the most of the meet this weekend with twelve swimmers picking up new State Qualifying times in 17 events and ten more getting new JO cuts.  Kayla Deckers, Carter Dehnke, Cate Rovie and David Duong earned their first state cuts of the season. 

In addition Sophie Arscott and Vivian Moulder got their first BBs of the season and Kate Breiding, Jenna Inlow, Daja Jones and Blake McCluggage got their first B times!  

Up next we will take a large team to Age Group State Champs next weekend and then the ENTIRE team will finish out the season at Divisional Champs March 20-22 in Augusta.

As always, thank you to all our parent volunteers for making this meet possible.  We had fewer volunteers than in the past but some families stepped up covering WAY more than their required two sessions.  It's that kind of support that makes our program so strong. 

GwinAq Winter Qualifier Results | Standard Breakers

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Registration Now Open for Tune-Up, Lessons

2/10 - Registration is now open for some of our most popular programs of the year. The Spring Tuneup and Spring Lessons usually fill early and have long waiting lists so now is the time to act if you want to participate. 

Tuneup is for swimmers who can already swim the length of the pool and want to get a head start on the summer league season.  Lessons in spring are very popular as young students get ready for summer. 

Lesson Info  | Clinic and Lesson Registration

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Gwinnett Aquatics Eighth at Eastern Classic, Strong at Coaches Invite
Stanton Sets 5 New Team Records

1/20/20 - Gwinnett Aquatics started the new year with squads at two different meets: the Eastern Classic at Dynamo and the Coaches Invite at Mountain View. At Eastern Classic our squad took eighth against a strong field with teams from Nevada, Colorado, Ohio and Kentucky.  Baylor Stanton led the way as the top scorer in the meet, winning seven events and breaking team records in five of those.  Lindsey Diehl, Nolan Patterson and Collier Stanton also placed while ten other swimmers had top-10 finishes and many others contributed individual scoring swims. New addition Emma Morris got her first AA as GaGa swimmer. Andrew Guo and Addie Shaffer got their first A times and Kayden Clinansmith and McKenna Thacker got their first BBs. Sean Lin and Ellie Patterson picked up their first State cuts.

Meanwhile at the Coaches Invite we also had numerous event winners and scorers including SteveMichael Bennett who won the 50 free and got his first State cuts. Lannon Clinansmith and Carter Dehnke also placed.  SteveMichael also get his first A time while Justin Bennett, Madison Bradberry, and Lauren Jones-McCalla got their first BB times and Clinansmith, Aubrey Chisolm, Alex Diaz Hernandez, Sophia Quinn and Jude Stanton got their first B times. 

Next up is a fun meet at our pool for swimmers who did not compete this weekend followed by the Winter Qualifier, hosted by us, Valentines day weekend.  All families should be signed up for that meet. 

Eastern Classic Results | GwinAq Results
Rays Coaches Invite Results  | GwinAq Results
Standard Breakers

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