ACAC AT SOUTHEASTERN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

ACAC AT SOUTHEASTERN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

By: Emilie Cooper and Coach Sarah Corcoran

Emmy Zimmer swims 100m Fly
 

July 14 - 17, ten swimmers from Atomic City Aquatic Club traveled to Huntsville, Alabama for the long course championship.  With personal bests, top placements, a new record, and national rankings, the weekend had a lot of highs but also some lows as the team encountered some hard lessons-learned across the members of the team.

SES (SouthEastern Swimming Championship) also serves as the selection meet for the upcoming Age Group Zones Championship in Cary, NC. Two ATOMIC 12 year olds were selected and will both be representing Atomic City Aquatic Club and the Southeast region at ZONES July 26-30th! *check for more details toward the end of this story*

Two other incredible athletes have shifted their focus to competing at 2023 Futures Championship, but first, they showed up as big time team contributors. Leo Karnitz (17) and Andrew Chou (16), these two young men already had their qualifying times for Futures.  This meet gave them an opportunity to encourage and support their younger teammates while also serving as a good taste of the energy and excitement they could expect at Futures. 

Andrew swam best times in his breaststroke events (100 and 200m).  He also qualified for finals in 5 events and swam finals for 3.  He took 4th overall for his 100 back and 6th for his 50 back.

Connor O’Neil (15) swam a “lights out” mile, according to Coach Sarah Corcoran. Starting fast, he then maintained a steady pace for the remainder of the mile. He moved up in position from a 36 seed to placing 20th overall. 

Jessie Schaefer (13) swam 6 events and qualified for finals in 3 (50, 100, and 200 backstroke events).  She saw nearly 2 seconds in time improvement on her 100 back and 3.5 seconds from her 200 back. She placed 7th overall in both the 50 and 200 back and 11th in the 100.

In the 11-12yo age group, ACAC had 6 participants, 2 male and 4 female, allowing the girls to put together a relay team for the championship.  It was a fun bonus for Emmy Zimmer (12), Sam Duby (12), Avery Fischer (11), and Sophie Volcansek (11).  The girls finished 12th in the event. 

Avery Fischer (11), Sophie Volcansek (11), and Mateo Volcansek (11) were some of the youngest attendees at the meet, having recently aged up.  This meet was a great experience for them, allowing them to race against the top swimmers in the southeast. It was also a humbling experience since their usual wins and/or top finishes turned into mid and/or lower half finishes against the bigger 12 year-olds.  They have two years to go in their age group. If this championship was any indication, we can expect big RISING STARS in 11-12 age group.

Sam Duby and Emmy Zimmer

Sam Duby (12) had 3 strong swims on the first day of the meet. She even saw a solid 2.22 second improvement on her 200 free.  However, that night she fell ill, was unable to swim Saturday, and was not at her best Sunday.  This was a hard lesson for the young girl who has worked so hard this season to come back from a broken arm and qualify for this meet.  Her parents used this as a coaching moment on how sometimes things happen in life that are out of our control and she should understand it is not a reflection on the individual nor beat herself up over it.  

In the 11-12 year-old age group, only the top 8 swimmers in the preliminaries qualify to go to finals.  Dorian Volcansek (12) was not daunted.  He continued his streak of top finishes and qualified for finals in every prelim that he raced.  His 1.37 second improvement to his 50 back earned a 1st place finals finish.  He additionally took 2nd in the 50 free, 3rd in the 100 fly and 100 free, and 4th in the 100 back and 50 fly. 

Emmy Zimmer (12) set another personal best when she dropped 1.43 seconds from her 50 back.  This time of 32.09 broke the team record previously set by Abigail King in 2017.  It is also one of the 10 fastest times nationally this season! She finished more than a second ahead of 2nd place in the event!  Emmy went on to finish 3rd in both 50 free and 100 back.  She placed 5th in 100 free and with another nearly 2 second time improvement, she placed 6th in 100 fly.

While the season is wrapping up for most of the team, it isn’t over for Emmy and Dorian nor Leo and Andrew.  Dorian and Emmy were selected for the Age Group Zones team.  They will both be representing Atomic City Aquatic Club and the Southeast region July 26-29 in Cary, NC. Leo and Andrew will be swimming at the Futures Championship, July 26-29 in San Antonio, TX.  

Coach Sarah Corcoran with Emmy Zimmer, Dorian Volcansek, & Jessi Schaefer