Atomic City Aquatic Club coaches pose with young swimmers. (Submitted photo)
Forty-nine Atomic City Aquatic Club, or ACAC, swimmers competed in the Tennessee Aquatics January Classic Invitational this past weekend in Knoxville.
ACAC trains year-round for a series of meets where they can test their achievement and developments. This past meet was meant to measure improvements from holiday training plans, and see how the swimmers have handled their increased training load.
Abigail King, 12, headlined the event for ACAC with an outstanding meet that included four team records: 400 IM, 50 Fly, 200 Fly, and 100 Back. She made Southeasterns in all five races for which she could qualify, and also swam age group qualifying times in the 200 Fly and 400 IM.
In total, 40 of the 49 ACAC athletes entered achieved best times, and nine swimmers acquired Southeastern Time Standards throughout the weekend:
- Logan Hall, 10, won the 100 Back and earned the right to swim Southeasterns in all 10 events he swam.
- Stephen Zhukov, 10, won four events and made Southeasterns in all nine events he swam.
- Tais Brown, 13, earned the right to swim Southeasterns in six events.
- Zach Telep, 14, and Creed Loy, 12, made Southeasterns in four events each.
- Mason Fischer, 12, made Southeastern cuts in three events and won the 100 Breast.
- Sidney Ozcan, 12, earned the right to swim Southeasterns in two events.
- William White, 8, made Southeasterns in the 50 Free and won the 100 IM and 25 Breast.
- Camden Gerchar, 11, made the Southeastern cut in the 50 Breast.
- Sarah Walker, 14, achieved SES bonus cuts in two events.
“This was really a spectacular meet for our 14 and under swimmers,” said Coach Andy Wagner. “I had expected the kids to be more tired coming into the weekend, and to see the kids really thrive on the hard work they’ve been asked to accomplish, really turned out to be a boost for our team! Many of the swimmers were asked to make changes to their racing, which can throw their times off sometimes, but we are really growing as a group in and out of the pool. The next few weeks of Championship Meets look promising for ACAC.”
ACAC will be traveling to meets through the middle of March in Kingsport, Tennessee; Auburn, Alabama; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Greensboro, North Carolina, to close out the short course season, before changing gears for summer swimming. Stay tuned for more fast swimming results.
For more information about ACAC, contact Dean Gerchar by email at [email protected] or go to swim4acac.com.
Andy Wagner coaches Abigail King after an Atomic City Aquatic Club record swim. (Submitted photo)
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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