Sports
Perkiomen Valley Aquatic Club makes a 'SPLASH' at qualifying meet
Aquatic Club swimming--boys and girls ages 6-12.
Ewing, NJ -- If you drive by any neighborhood swimming pool during the summer months, you’ll see kids--lots and lots of kids.
Often, community pools are so jam-packed with children and adults that there is simply no place to swim. So where do kids “swim” these days? Simply put, Aquatic Club.
Nationwide, children of all ages who love swimming have flocked by the hundreds to local aquatic clubs.
Find out what's happening in Perkiomen Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In Collegeville, Trappe and the surrounding area, that club is the Perkiomen Valley Aquatic Club (PVAC), which holds it regular meets at Perkiomen Valley High School.
On Sunday, PVAC was well represented at the 2011 SPLASH, a Group A & B championship qualifying event hosted by Pennsbury Aquatic Club and held at the College of New Jersey.
Find out what's happening in Perkiomen Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Moms and dads, brothers and sisters in tow to support their siblings, one by one the entrants filed in the doors down the winding hallway past a varied display of fan wear and swim gear.
It is one of the largest meets on the East Coast, in its 29th year with more than 500 swimmers competing, 40 clubs represented, 72 events and more than 280 heats swum. Some of the area's best swimmers made the trek from points in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware to Ewing in the pursuit of time fast enough to qualify for the upcoming Group A championships at La Salle University.
PVAC has members ranging in ages for 6 to 18 and are mostly from Limerick, Trappe, Collegeville, Skippack, Rahns and Schwenksville. The Perkiomen Valley swimming program has become a “Beast” that is 280 members strong from the youngest at age 5 up to the varsity high school level.
Nine-year-old Zach Aldefer, who also scored top five finishes in the 100-yard freestyle and 50-yard freestyle, nabbed PVAC its first win of the meet when he blew away the field in the 50-yard backstroke with a time of 38.71.
“These meets are what it’s all about,” PVAC head coach Brian Zeigler. “We have some kids that are best in the area, and here they get to go up against everyone’s best swimmers.”
PVAC is coming off one its best dual-meet regular seasons with the boys (5-2) finishing in sixth place and the girls (6-1) in third place in the Suburban Aquatic League, which has 22 teams.
Elizabeth Turner, 10, was an iron girl competing in five races, grabbing a top five finish in 100-yard freestyle and 50-yard butterfly, sixth place in the 50-yard backstroke and 50-yard freestyle, then finishing second in the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 34.38
“Parents and the kids like this meet,” added Zeigler. “With the quality of competition in this meet, a lot of the times we swim are good enough to use as a qualifying time for Group A or B championships.”
In the Splash, participants can choose to enter into five events, an option not available in dual meets, which adds to the challenge of the meet. Someone can win an event without ever having a seeding time.
Maddie Cooper, 9, who claimed a third-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle also grabbed fourth in the 50-yard IM and 50-yard butterfly.“I love coming to this meet,” she said.
“My favorite stroke of the IM, which includes all four swim strokes, is the butterfly. I think my technique is the best and it’s the most fun to do.”
From September to May it is “swim season” for these dedicated kids, some practicing every day. PVAC has a USA team as well as pre-team, in which children are taught technique and stroke before they can even race.
“We have a lot of serious swimmers,” said Zeigler.
”It requires a lot of dedication and work for kids to succeed at the USA level and A and B Group championships, we are very fortunate to have some of the best swimmers in the area on our team, I am very proud of them.”
2011 SPLASH Results – finishing order, seed time, meet time
Event 2 Boys 8 Year Olds 25 Yard Freestyle
21 Calvert, Jon 21.19 20.65
23 Seckinger, Patrick 21.24 22.00
Event 4 Boys 7 Year Olds 25 Yard Freestyle
6 Pelzer, Josh 21.94 19.06
Event 7 Girls 8 & Under 50 Yard Freestyle
Glazman, Elizabeth 49.17 47.03
Event 8 Boys 8 & Under 50 Yard Freestyle24
Seckinger, Patrick 56.80 49.31
Event 10 Boys 7 Year Olds 25 Yard Breaststroke
5 Pelzer, Josh 25.63 26.74
Event 14 Boys 8 Year Olds 25 Yard Breaststroke
17 Seckinger, Patrick 25.88 29.16
21 Calvert, Jon 32.82 34.09
Event 20 Boys 8 Year Olds 25 Yard Backstroke
13 Calvert, Jon 23.76 24.30
21 Seckinger, Patrick 24.69 27.37
Event 22 Boys 7 & Under 25 Yard Butterfly
6 Pelzer, Josh 38.58 24.22
Event 23 Girls 8 Year Olds 25 Yard Butterfly
20 Glazman, Elizabeth 24.31 25.12
Event 24 Boys 8 Year Olds 25 Yard Butterfly
23 Seckinger, Patrick 34.27 34.87
-- Calvert, Jon 25.43 DQ
Event 25 Girls 10 Year Olds 100 Yard Freestyle
4 Turner, Elizabeth 1:09.40 1:08.33
10 Cunningham, Caitlin 1:15.86 1:16.60
16 Hnat, Carly 1:18.43 1:32.47
Event 27 Girls 9 Year Olds 100 Yard Freestyle
3 Cooper, Maddie 1:15.16 1:14.67
7 Marano, Alyssa NT 1:21.97
11 Pelzer, Kristen 1:28.77 1:32.54
Event 28 Boys 9 Year Olds 100 Yard Freestyle
4 Alderfer, Zach 1:14.72 1:12.71
Event 29 Girls 10 Year Olds 50 Yard Breaststroke
9 Hnat, Carly 46.05 45.69
20 Cunningham, Caitlin 49.78 49.04
30 Pelzer, Kylie 58.74 58.10
Event 31 Girls 9 Year Olds 50 Yard Breaststroke
14 Marano, Alyssa 50.96 52.52
25 Pelzer, Kristen 58.02 59.53
Event 33 Girls 10 Year Olds 50 Yard Backstroke
6 Turner, Elizabeth 37.19 36.16
15 Cunningham, Caitlin 40.02 41.93
19 Hnat, Carly 43.26 44.26
23 Pelzer, Kylie 46.87 45.55
Event 36 Boys 9 Year Olds 50 Yard Backstroke
1 Alderfer, Zach 39.76 38.71
Event 37 Girls 10 Year Olds 50 Yard Butterfly
2 Turner, Elizabeth 34.36 34.38
21 Cunningham, Caitlin 42.72 47.20
23 Pelzer, Kylie 1:00.42 50.91
Event 39 Girls 9 Year Olds 50 Yard Butterfly
4 Cooper, Maddie 40.05 40.03
Event 41 Girls 10 Year Olds 100 Yard IM
4 Turner, Elizabeth 1:19.70 1:20.59
13 Cunningham, Caitlin 1:28.18 1:28.76
23 Hnat, Carly 1:36.46 1:37.86
Event 43 Girls 9 Year Olds 100 Yard IM
4 Cooper, Maddie 1:29.75 1:27.50
14 Marano, Alyssa 1:35.30 1:38.90
Event 45 Girls 10 Year Olds 50 Yard Freestyle
6 Turner, Elizabeth 30.46 31.11
27 Hnat, Carly 36.45 40.52
35 Pelzer, Kylie 41.48 47.19
Event 47 Girls 9 Year Olds 50 Yard Freestyle
14 Marano, Alyssa 36.76 37.77
25 Pelzer, Kristen 40.47 43.67
Event 48 Boys 9 Year Olds 50 Yard Freestyle
3 Alderfer, Zach 31.77 32.56
Event 50 Boys 12 Year Olds 100 Yard Freestyle
7 Newman, Logan 1:04.75 1:05.11
17 Slomkowski, Cole 1:14.88 1:17.12
Event 52 Boys 11 Year Olds 100 Yard Freestyle
3 Yannantuono, Michael 1:09.68 1:09.85
7 Schorer, Connor 1:19.47 1:15.50
Event 54 Boys 12 Year Olds 50 Yard Breaststroke
6 Newman, Logan 39.36 39.02
Event 55 Girls 11 Year Olds 50 Yard Breaststroke
11 Rogers, Maddie 44.30 42.98
Event 56 Boys 11 Year Olds 50 Yard Breaststroke
10 Yannantuono, Michael 43.59 43.93
Event 59 Girls 11 Year Olds 50 Yard Backstroke
13 Rogers, Maddie 36.74 36.96
Event 60 Boys 11 Year Olds 50 Yard Backstroke
8 Yannantuono, Michael 39.33 38.85
14 Schorer, Connor 39.60 42.89
Event 62 Boys 12 Year Olds 50 Yard Butterfly
9 Newman, Logan 35.47 34.71
16 Slomkowski, Cole 39.16 40.79
Event 66 Boys 12 Year Olds 100 Yard IM
11 Slomkowski, Cole 1:24.51 1:27.92
Event 68 Boys 11 Year Olds 100 Yard IM
10 Schorer, Connor 1:36.63 1:27.99
Event 70 Boys 12 Year Olds 50 Yard Freestyle
20 Slomkowski, Cole 33.93 34.95
Event 71 Girls 11 Year Olds 50 Yard Freestyle
16 Rogers, Maddie 32.37 33.01
Event 72 Boys 11 Year Olds 50 Yard Freestyle
4 Yannantuono, Michael 31.67 30.64
12 Schorer, Connor 33.03 34.60