ACAC Chilling at the BSC Polar Bear Meet

ACAC Chilling at the BSC Polar Bear Meet
By: Emilie Cooper

The last weekend of January, ACAC sent a small contingent of swimmers to the 2023 BSC Polar Bear Meet in Kingsport, TN. Hosted by the Barracuda Swim Club of Northeast Tennessee, this meet serves as one of the last opportunities to achieve coveted championship qualifying times before Southeastern or Age-group Sectional commitments.  This was also a great meet for young swimmers to try new things as it ranked 9-year-old thru 14-year-old swimmers with their single age groups instead of combined groups.

Back (Left - Right):  Avery Fischer, Sophia Volcansek, Hallie Hill, Jessie Schaefer.
Front: Clara Hill

For young Riley Olson (9), this was her first time swimming the 100 IM.  While freestyle is her favorite stroke, she was excited to be able to put all four strokes together in one race.  With all the rules for the different strokes and clean finishes, this can be a hard race for young swimmers to complete.  Not only did she complete it with no disqualifications, but she also placed 4th in the event for the 9-year-old girls!

Abigail Vincent (8) swam a maxed-out program, achieving high points in the girls 8&unders with 68 points.  Of her 10 events, she set personal bests in 5 events with tight turn arounds between some! “She exited the pool after the 200 free and went directly back to the bull pen area where they’d saved her a seat. This was her last meet before aging up, and it was a great way to end her years as an 8&under,” Lili Vincent.

Connor French (8) also took high points for the 8&under group with 56 points.  He placed 1st in 5 events and set 5 personal bests. 

The Volcansek brothers, Mateo (10) and Dorian (12), took high points in their age groups with 69 and 66 points respectively.  Mateo took first in 6 of his individual events, setting best times also in 6. Dorian took first in all 8 of his individuals and set 3 personal bests. All their swims were at Southeastern qualifying speeds.

For Avery Fischer (10), this was her last meet in the 10&under age group, and she went out with a bang! Of 10 individual events, she took 1st in 8 of them and set personal bests in 7! While she will age up before the championship meets, it should be noted that she swam 8 Southeastern qualifying times for the 10&under age group and 1 age group qualification! Avery took the high point award for her age group with a total of 90 points, the highest points scored by any individual at the meet!

With the meet falling on the same weekend as the Knox-area Interscholastic Swim League 2023 City Meet, many of the middle and high school swimmers had to choose between the two meets. A small set of swimmers made appearances at both by swimming Saturday at the KISL meet and the next day in Kingsport.

7 additional swimmers joined on Sunday after a day of swimming at the KISL meet. For Sam Duby, she was hoping to achieve a championship cut time for the 50 free.  With a time just 0.98 seconds away from qualifying, she’s so close!  After recovering from a broken arm over the last month, however, the qualifying cut remained stubbornly elusive.

The next meet is at Baylor February 17 – 19.  Come cheer for ACAC at the first of the championship meets and the last meet before the Southeastern Swimming Championships.