Swim Meet Draws Regional Competitors to North Baltimore

Some may have come only a few miles; others made a five-hour plane trip.

With club swimmers coming primarily from the East Coast, 33 teams comprising more than 600 athletes gathered at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club’s (NBAC) in Mount Washington for the 25th annual four-day Long Course Championship outdoor swim meet.

“I think it’s great,” said Murray Stephens, founder of NBAC and owner of the Meadowbrook pool, site of the event held June 10-13.  “We have six, seven, eight hundred people here for our meet and a good portion—over half of them—are from out of state, so we have the opportunity to bring a lot of people to Baltimore for this competition.”

The team that traveled the longest distance is the Olympian Swim Club (OSC) from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Dave Macdonald, the Olympian assistant head coach, said the club always likes to travel to an outdoor competition this time of year.

“We know North Baltimore is a great club and we knew they had a meet that seemed pretty good from previous years,” Macdonald said.  “So we decided to give it a go for this year.”

Macdonald and 33 swimmers ranging in age from as young as 12 years to college age made the five-hour plane ride—and went home with lots of first-place wins.

The team garnered 18 of 36 possible wins in the open portion of the meet, including seven of the eight contested relay races.  They added five more wins in the 13-14 age group.

“We’ve had a really good competition,” Macdonald said.  “We had one boy qualify for the senior nationals for the first time (Hunter Balch in the 200 freestyle); other than that, the kids are going lots of best-times.”

For NBAC assistant head coach Scott Armstrong, the event is a training meet that acts as an indication of where the team is at this point in the season.

“They’ve had a fantastic meet,” Armstrong said. “We’ve got an incredible group of young 13-14-15-year-old kids and they’re really coming along nicely.”

The top tier of NBAC swimmers—those who are on the U.S. National team and swim in international competition—missed the event due to an upcoming meet in Santa Clara this weekend.

Yet lots of talent remained home to collect six open wins and even more second- and third-place finishes.  And, the 13-14 age group won the most of any team in that classification, collecting nine of 26 possible victories.

Kelly Offutt, 18, won three races for NBAC in the women open portion of the meet, placing first in three freestyle races, the 200 (2:06.04), 400 (4:27.35) and 800 (8:56.13).  She added second-place finishes in the 100 freestyle and 200 backstroke, along with a third in the 400 IM and a fourth in the 100 back.

Christine Hammond placed in the top five in five events while teammate Korby Simpson had four top-five finishes. Hammond, 17, barely missed winning the 400 IM—her time of 5:05.69 was just .54 seconds shy of first-place swimmer Shaneese Nowlan of OSC. Hammond also placed second in the 800 free (9:17.47) while adding two third-place finishes (400 free, 200 back) and a fifth in the 200 IM. Simpson, 15, placed third in the 100 fly and 100 free.  She finished fourth in the 1500 free and fifth in the 800 free.

Three separate swimmers collected first-place finishes in the men open competition for NBAC. Hunter Lussi, 17, kicked things off with an opening night win in the 800 free, completing the distance in 8:38.74. Fifteen-year-old Ian Silverman swam the longest race of the meet—1500 meters—on the closing night in a winning time of 16:43.93. And in one of the last races of the meet, Jes Stephens won the 100 free in 54.14.  Stephens, 18, and Silverman also collected a third-place finish; Stephens in the 50 free and Silverman in the 400 free.

Teammate Muhammad Hudhud, 15, earned five top 10 finishes and was in the top three in four events, collecting second-place finishes in the 100 and 200 butterfly and the 200 breaststroke. He placed third in the 100 breast and finished seventh in the 400 IM.

Armstrong’s assessment of the 13-14 age swimmers seemed to have foundation.

Five 14-year-old boys hit the wall in top places for NBAC. Jason Ewart swept the backstroke events, winning the 100 in 1:01.98 and the 200 in 2:16.39. He added three second-place finishes in the 200 free, and in the 200 and 400 IM. Collin Turner won the 50 and 100 free (25.72 and  56.85), placed second in the 100 fly and third in the 200 free. Aidan Merryman had two second-place finishes in the backstroke, and was just touched out by Ewart in the 200. Jonah Giulianio took third in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, while Mitch Williams took second in the 400 free and fourth in the 800 free.

Mary Pelton qualified for the Junior Nationals in the 200 IM, posting a time of 2:22.40. She also won the 50 free (27.37) and placed second in the 100 free. Teammate Lauren James won two events, the 100 breaststroke (1:16.09) and 200 backstroke (2:23.66).  She placed second in the 200 IM, third in the 100 back and fourth in the 200 free.

Dani Potis won the 800 free in the 13-14 women (9:13.58) and finished second in the open women 1500 free (17:45.85).

NBAC will host its Mid-Summer Classic, another long-course meet, on the weekend of July 8-11.  his meet comprises mostly Maryland swimmers and will include some NBAC swimmers who were training in Colorado during the Long Course Championships.