ACAC EXCELS AT EXCEL

ACAC EXCELS AT EXCEL

By:  Emilie Cooper

December 3-5, Atomic City Aquatic Club sent 27 swimmers to Brentwood, TN to compete in the TYR Meet of Champions hosted by Excel.  While this was a smaller group than the previous meets this season, the team persevered and came together to perform strongly at this fun and challenging meet.

This was the first meet of the season that had preliminaries and finals. The 11 and older group could qualify for finals if they placed in the top 18.  The top 16 swimmers in a preliminary got the chance to swim the event again in finals while 2 more served as alternates. Coach Sarah Corcoran commented that she was very happy with “the amount of 2nd swims that we got in terms of the number of people we brought.”  In fact, of the swims that had a finals event, nearly 50% of those events resulted in a finals qualification and 2nd swim!

Coach Sarah explained that this type of meet is a great opportunity for swimmers to experiment and see what works for them.  After a race, the swimmer can immediately evaluate whether or not they applied the skills on which they’ve been working.  The prelims/finals meets, however, give them an immediate feedback loop as well. They can turn around and swim the event again immediately integrating the information and learnings.  

Prelims / finals are also a great opportunity to really explore what works for a swimmer’s body.  How do they take care of and fuel their bodies between the two sessions?  Napping before finals could make one person groggy for finals while another person may be fine.  “Everyone is different, and learning what works for you and how to apply it… It is fun to watch them figure it out and learn,”  Coach Sarah.  

One swimmer, Connor O’Neil (14), had an extremely challenging line-up including a 500 Free, a 1650 Free (the mile), as well as 6 other events of stroke. When asking him what he did between events, he mentioned that he rested but didn’t sleep.  He also had a massage gun and had tried his first ever ice bath.  His technique seemed to work! He made it to finals in 6 of his events with best times set in 5 of them. He also qualified for the Southeastern Championships with a time of 18:17.01 for swimming the mile - his first time swimming it! 

Leo Karnitz (16) swam a fantastic meet.  Having been sick recently, he had missed a week of training and then been unable to work as hard as usual while recovering. He showed that he was back and ready to swim hard!  He set personal bests with times that were ahead of Southeastern qualifying times and finished in the top 10 in all of his events.

Sam Duby (12) also had an exciting meet.  She was an alternate for finals in the 50 Free, placing 17th with her morning swim.  One of the other swimmers scratched, allowing her a chance to shine. “She finished 2nd in her heat, 10th overall in the 11-12 girls 50 free and swam a personal best by 1 second!!”, Coach Sarah. “Further, she showed up as a major contender in [the mile] by pacing each 100 yards (approximately 1:16) even faster than she has been practicing!“

At 10 years old, Avery Fischer wasn’t competing in the prelims/final format.  Each of her races were considered finals, and she swam 3 SES qualifying times across her 100 Breast, 100 IM, and 50 Fly times.  However, Avery will age up just a couple of weeks before the Southeast championship, making her ineligible to compete with these cut times.  

When asking Coach Sarah about Avery’s times and the Southeastern Championship, she had this to say, “Avery is such a focused little 10 year old. She's already trying to figure out how she can make her 11-12 cuts! In the 100 breaststroke, she knew exactly what she needed to do to split that to get a 2 second gain. Then she did it! Great attention for a 10 year old brain!”

We saw a number of other swimmers shine this past weekend as well.  

• Rory O’Neil (12) got the opportunity to swim the 200 Free finals and moved up 7 places from prelims to finals!  

• Jeffrey Nichols (13) swam the 400 IM for the first time.  “Owning his 13-14 status he stepped up, raced the guy next to him and pushed SO HARD! His favorite stroke (breastroke) split was 1:27,” Coach Sarah. 

• Logan Williams (13) swam the 200 Back for the first time and made finals.  Then applying what they had been studying in practice regarding streamlines and flip turns, he took off 10 seconds in the finals!  

• Colin Suddeth (16) set personal bests in all of his events!

• Egan Rawn (18) took 4.5 seconds off of his 200 Breast when he moved up 3 places in Finals!

Hallie Hill (12) showed the team she not only swims fast, but she sings fearlessly and beautifully!  Hallie asked if she could sing the National Anthem at the meet, and she did!  When Coach Sarah went to compliment her on her singing, Hallie was immediately back to business with her comment, “Now about the 100 IM…”  Hallie, Emmy Zimmer (12), and Jessi Schaefer (12) immediately went on to set best times in the 100 IM in the finals!

As with any meet, things don’t always go smoothly.  Rhett Grubb (11) had a rough start to her Saturday morning.  Even though she saw a 10 second improvement on her 100 IM, she was disqualified due to an illegal touch upon turning.  Next, she dove in for her 50 free and her goggles came off! Seeing that she was incredibly disappointed, Coach Chris stepped in with a pep talk before her third event that day.

Rhett’s mom Heather credits Chris’s coaching to put the past behind her and focus on the next event as having truly motivated her daughter going into that next race. Rhett took 12 seconds off of her 100 Back!  “Rhett finished like a BOSS! … She showed us that one race, or even a couple of disappointments does not define a meet or a swimmer. Her mindset teaches us all how to push hard and keep trying in the face of challenges, because exciting new results could be the outcome of your next effort,” Coach Sarah.

The coaches, athletes, and parent volunteers work hard at these meets.  Our very own Alicia Slinger volunteered for 8 of the 9 sessions as an official / chief judge at this meet.  The team also has fun, though. You could see them dancing to playlists, doing handstands on the pool deck, and cheering each other on in bright red caps, Santa hats, and with noise makers. The team really comes together to swim hard and make these meets fun for everyone.  

Be on the lookout for news to come soon regarding Andrew Chou as he makes his debut at the 2022 East Speedo Winter Junior Championships!  The rest of the team will be heading back to Allan Jones Aquatic Center, January 6-8, for the TNAQ Invitational.