Championship Season! - AA Winter Champs
Championship Season!!!
AA Winter Championships Meet Review
26 SWAT swimmers kicked off Championship Season in Wolfville from February 28-March 2 in what could be the final meet at Acadia University for Swim NS swimmers. It was a grand start to Champs Season with 105 best times, 3 new events, 57 Finals appearances, 29 medals, and 1131 points collected by the #sackvillains. Three groups were represented with swimmers from Novice, Junior, and Senior taking to lanes to claim some hardware and accolades. We even had two club records broken, 2 swimmers qualifying for AAA competition, and one swimmer walked away with a Top 3 High Point award after several strong performances.
Let’s start with the Novice group. 13 swimmers form Novice made the journey to Wolfville. The group earned 47 best times and added 2 new events. Novice swimmers appeared in 13 Finals heats and came away with 3 medals and 225 points contributed to the club total. Points are earned by Place at the end of Finals. 1st place scores 50 points, 2nd scores 30, 3rd scores 20, 4th to 6th scores 15-14-13 points each. Ties result in the points of the two positions averaged out. Katya earned best times in 3 events. Olesia earned 2 of her own including over 2 seconds in the 100 Backstroke. Rachel took of over 6 seconds in the 400 Free and over 5 in the 100 Fly, breaking 2:00 for the first time. In total she had 4 best times. Alex made his AA debut and had 4 best times and 1 new event he took off 7 seconds in the 50 Breaststroke, and 7 seconds in the 50 Backstroke making his first finals in the event and earning 13 points for SWAT. Isaiah had 2 PBs of his own and 1 new event. He made his first finals with a 7 second best time in the 100 Fly and earning SWAT 13 points. Avery had a strong 9 second improvement in the 200 Back as 1 of her 3 best times on the weekend. Farrah had a very successful weekend with 14 points in the 400 Free at finals and a 35 second drop in the event. She also broke 3:00 in the 200 Free for the first time. In total she had 4 best times and 1 new event. Jude also had 4 new personal records and 2 new events. He won 28 points after making finals in the 200 IM and 50 Free. He also dropped a big 10 chunk in the 100 Backstroke. August made finals in 3 events as part of his 5 pb efforts. He earned 42 points from the 200 IM, 100 Free, and 100 Back. Mylee continued her young AA career with 5 best times from her first Championship meet. She broke the 2:00 barrier in the 100 Breast and 1:30 in the 100 free after taking 9 seconds off in both events. Camden made his AA debut and came up with 2 best times and swam 2 events for the first time. He also walked into a finals swim in the 200 Breaststroke after being an alternate, taking advantage of a Finals Scratch. He swam his first 200 Breaststroke in the morning and then smashed his time in the afternoon by over 23 seconds earning 15 points moving from 7th to 4th. Matt, another AA debutante, had a strong 5 pb performance. Also making finals in the 50 Back earning 15 points. He had big drops in the 100 Breaststroke (17 seconds), 100 Free (19 seconds), and 100 Back (17 seconds). Ryan rounds out the Novice groups swimmers with arguably the top performance from the group. He had 6 best times and 4 finals. He dropped 14 seconds in the 200 Back claiming the bronze medal at finals and clearing the 3:00 mark in the event. He earned a silver medal after breaking :30 in the 50 Free at night and earned another bronze in the 100 free after 8 total seconds of improvement. His 200 Back time is his first AAA cut and his 100 Free makes the mark for East Coast Champs. He earned SWAT 85 points for the weekend.
The Junior group contributed 11 swimmers to the championship cause in Wolfville. They had a strong meet with 48 total personal best times and 1 new event. We also found 38 Junior group lanes in finals earning 21 medals and a combined 889 points. Junior swimmers also posted 2 new Club Records, added 2 new AAA qualifiers to the SWAT crew, and a TOP 3 High Point award. Erica B found herself in two finals swims earning 63 points and a gold medal in the 200 Butterfly. Angus had a bit of a nervous start to the meet but left Acadia with 4 best times and making finals in 3 events. He earned 99 points including an 8 second pb gold medal in the 800 Free, and a 100 Fly bronze medal. Claire had 5 best times and made a finals appearance in the 400 Free after dropping 23 seconds in the morning. She also scored points in the 800 Free after cutting 36 seconds in the event earning 14 points. Madelynn was a perfect 6-for-6 for best times and then added another pb from her lead off 50 back split in the medley relay. Her highlights were 8 seconds off in the 200 IM and a 5 second improvement in the 200 Free. Wyatt got out of the finals pool on Sunday with 2 best times and his first ever (and second at finals) 400 Free. He made 4 finals swims and earned 110 points and 4 medals. He dropped 6 seconds at finals from his morning 400 Free to earn a bronze medal. He earned silver medals in the 100 Breaststroke and the 50 Free as well. Charlotte managed 5 best times from her 6 individual races. She also qualified for 4 finals earning 2 medals and 107 points. She cut 7 seconds off the tough 400 IM and walked away with a gold medal and earned a silver medal after cutting 2 seconds in the 100 Fly. Ethan was a perfect 6-for-6 on the weekend and swam in 3 finals heats. He took medals in the 200 and 100 Back events with matching 4 second improvements and earned 63 points. Marco made full use of his opportunities and claimed 5 best times and finals in all 6 of his individual events winning 113 points. He erased 7 seconds from his 200 Back breaking the 3:00 mark for the first time. He continued his strong Backstroke efforts in the 100 Back claiming a silver medal tie at finals. He won another silver medal in the 200 IM. His 200 IM and 200 Back times completed his AAA qualification for 13-14 and he will be making an appearance next weekend at AAA Champs. Leonie was another perfect 6-for-6 pbs. She found herself in 3 finals lanes and earned medals from each earning 70 points. The Breaststroke darling too 3 seconds off both the 100 and 200 meter events and a 1.5 second improvement in the 50m. She won bronze medals in the 200m and 50m Breaststroke finals and a silver in the 100 m. She also set new SCM club records in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke for 10u girls. Erica R had arguably the best meet of any SWAT swimmer with 5 best times, 5 finals, and 5 gold medals for 250 total points and 2nd overall High Point award for 12u girls. She swept the 50m, 100m, and 200m Butterfly events. Took 10 seconds off her 200 Free by the end of the day with another gold medal performance and AAA qualification. Took of another 15 seconds by the end of finals in the 400 Free to claim her 5th gold medal and completing her AAA qualification allowing her to race at AAA competition for the rest of the season. Morgan has been battling some injuries and still managed to find a best times in the 200 IM after cutting 5 seconds off in the event.
Just 2 Senior swimmers made the journey to Acadia University. They left with 10 best times, 6 finals positions and 4 medals for 117 total points. Sam S split the group best times with 5 and competing in 5 finals heats, winning 97 points and 3 medals. He bested his old 400 free time by 5 seconds and claimed a silver medal at finals. He also won bronze in the 50 Free and another bronze medal in the 200 free with another 5 second pb and meeting the AAA standard in the event. Gabe C took the other half of the group pbs with 5. He swam in one final and making the best of it with a medal and 20 points. He took of a second in the100 Breaststroke earning a bronze medal on the first night of competition.
Championship season continues next weekend with David Fry AAA Winter Champs at Dalhousie from March 7-9. 7 SWAT swimmers join Team NS to Bowdoin College in Maine for a Short Course Yards experience at Maine State Championships. East Coast Qualifiers finish off Championship season at East Coast Championships at Dalhousie at the end of the month from March 27-30. Then Nova Tech returns after a free month of March with Nova Tech 5 on April 5.