On the same weekend Athens Bulldog Swim Club hosted a quad meet that packed Ramsey Center, the team sent 20 of its top senior athletes to Georgia Tech to test their mettle at the 2012 Short Course Senior State Meet, December 7-9. Those swimmers achieved qualifying times that were the fastest of any state level swimming competitions.
Senior Assistant Coach Robert Hastings said, “We had four first-time meet qualifiers and 15 veterans. Everyone raced really well and set themselves up for a great second half of the short course season.”
ABSC finished 8th out of 22 teams.
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Individual performances which placed in the top 20 and scored points for the team included Chris Powell (17), who was silver medalist in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.94.
Oconee County sophomore Annie Williamson (15) placed 12th in the 50-yard freestyle and 13th in the 100-yard freestyle.
North Oconee Junior Garrett Devaney (16) had an outstanding meet, swimming eight personal best times and placing 18th in the 200-yard butterfly.
Highlighting the ABSC relay performances were seven top 10 finishes. For the women, this included the 800-yard free relay (Abbie Fish, Kara Powell, Mae McWhorter, Annie Williamson) which finished 7th, the 200-yard medley (Danielle DellaTorre, Williamson, McWhorter, Fish), and the 400-yard free relay (Powell, McWhorter, DellaTorre, Williamson), which finished 9th and 10th.
The men's 400-yard free relay (Powell, Jake Wiltse, Ian Hentenaar, Patrick Humphreys) finished 6th, while the 200-yard free relay (Humphreys, Wiltse, Preston Devaney, Powell) and the 800-yard free relay (Powell, Humphreys, Devaney, Hentenaar) finished 7th, and the 400-yard medley relay (Garrett Devaney, Wiltse, Humphreys, Powell) finished 10th.
Also competing at senior state were Wil Masters, Caroline McElhannon, Mike Materne, Alex Hentenaar, Emma Lowring, Anna Rose Moore, Caroline Allen, Robert Wylie and Megan Measel.
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Meanwhile, over 400 visiting age group swimmers from Aiken-Augusta Swim League, Swim Atlanta and Dynamo Swim Club converged on the Ramsey Center to compete in ABSC’s Classic City Quad Meet. The meet, which closed out the club’s fall season, allowed members to measure their stature against athletes from some of the state’s top swim teams.
ABSC’s newer and younger senior team teenagers rose to the challenge at home. Those seizing top three spots in the open division (ages 13 and up, also open to younger swimmers) included: Aiden Brook (13) – 2nd in 500-yard freestyle, 3rd in 200-yard freestyle; Evan Brook (15) – 1st in 200-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke; Jacob Colquitt (16) – 3rd in 50-yard freestyle; Cullen Goss (16) – 3rd in 100-yard butterfly; Dylan Kalessa (15) – 1st in 200-yard Individual Medley and 100-yard breaststroke, 3rd in 200-yard breaststroke; Grace Mauldin (13) – 1st in 50-yard freestyle, 2nd in 100-yard freestyle; Jacob Musgrove (15) – 3rd in 100-yard breaststroke; Madison Rogan (14) – 3rd in 200-yard butterfly; and Emily Weimer (13) – 1st in 200-yard IM and 200-yard butterfly.
“I'm very proud of our swimmers' performances and also about how hard they competed over the last three days,” said ABSC Head Coach Harvey Humphries. “As a group they did an excellent job using what they have learned this fall in practice in actual racing situations. We are looking forward to getting some great practices in over the Christmas holidays and hopefully taking our performances to the next level.”
Also stepping up to medal in the 12-under division were Owen Churchwell (12) – 2nd in the 100 breast; and Kate Massey (12) – 2nd in 50 fly, 3rd in 200 IM.
Other swimmers, most in the 10-under division, experienced especially significant time drops indicating seasonal progress. These included: Anna Ash (12) – 500 free; Kate Ash (9) – 100 breast and 50 breast; Ansley Ayers (7) – 50 back; Miles Camp (8) – 50 fly; Jackson Casey (11) – 50 breast; Emma Chadwick (10) – 50 free; Gunnar Churchwell (10) – 500 free and 100 fly; Harper Cline (13) – 500 free, 200 breast and 400 IM; Samantha Davidson (11) – 200 IM; Brianna Dehring (10) – 100 breast and 100 free; Allie Dominicali (14) – 500 free; Tomas Dougan (10) – 100 IM; Will Foggin (9) – 500 free; Anna Marie Garmon (12) – 500 free; Gretchen Hinger (8) – 100 IM, 50 breast and 50 back; Gavin Jones (9) – 100 free; Dylan Kalessa (15) – 500 free and 200 breast; Lyndsey Kalessa (13) – 500 free; Siya Kannan (10) – 200 free and 100 fly; Garrett Kennedy (8) – 50 breast and 50 free; Charlie Logan (11) – 500 free; Elliott Martin (10) – 500 free and 100 breast; Grace Mauldin (13) – 500 free, 200 fly and 400 IM; Nick Mauldin (11) – 500 free; Geetam Mistry (11) – 500 free; Joe Mullen (13) – 200 free, 200 breast, 100 fly, 100 free and 200 back; Macy Mullis (10) – 100 free; Maggy Payne (14) – 500 free; Eliza Petersen (15) – 200 breast; Dhruv Prakash (12) – 500 free; Neely Rogan (7) – 50 back; Alexis Shirley (13) -400 IM; Lena Visser (16) – 500 free and 400 IM; Juianne Vogel (12) – 200 free; Abigail Weimer (10) – 100 breast; Emily Weimer (13) – 500 free; Lucy Yeomans (10) – 200 free; and Nick Yi (13) – 200 free and 200 breast.
Many of these swimmers reached personal goals, including cuts for the 14 & Under State Meet to be held in February, and USA Swimming’s All-Star Times, which are honored at a banquet every spring.
"This was our biggest meet of the season so far,” said Lead Development Coach Kevin Taylor, “and it could not have gone much better for our team as a whole. The meet was not scored and no individual or team awards were given, so we were concerned with evaluating our progress as a team rather than how we placed."
ABSC’s next meet, Senior Circuit, will be held at Ramsey January 4-6.
Sponsors which helped make the Classic City Meet possible were Athens Orthopedic Clinic, Wells Fargo, Georgia Gameday Center, Foundry Park Inn & Spa and Country Inn. ABSC club sponsors also include Fire Ant Management, Simply Design and River Oak Photography.
