Wilson County swimmers go to Illinois Meet

Excel Swimmers Descend on Southern Illinois

November 22, 2004……Swimmers from Wilson County took to the water at the University of Southern Illinois Shea Natatorium this past weekend. For the young swimmers from Wilson County it was a great opportunity to swim in a Division I Swimming Facility. “Most of our young swimmers who train with us have a goal of swimming in college one day, in effect following in the footsteps of Wilson County native, Excel Swimmer and current University of Texas swimmer, Andrew Davidson. This was a great opportunity for them to experience the environment in which collegiate athletes train and compete.” Excel Aquatics Assistant Coach and Lebanon resident John Barnes stated. “This meet had over 580 swimmers, and is the largest of its type in that area. It gave our kids a unique opportunity to hit the road and see how they could do versus swimmers from all across the Midwest states. As a team Excel won the “500” title in that we had the strongest showing of any team in the 500 Yard Freestyle events. I think that is significant because it shows our competitiveness at longer distances. Excel also won the Overall Team Title for the meet.”

7^th Grade West Wilson Middle School student Bradley Gillilan was one of four Wilson County residents who made the trip to the Saluki pool in Carbondale IL. Bradley competed in the 500 Free (4^th Place - 5:41.76), 200 Free (5^th Place – 2:10.68), 100 Breast (6^th Place - 1:22.31), 10 Back (7^th Place – 1:13.64), 100 Free (1:01.12), 50 Back (:34.93), 50 Free (:29.40) and 50 Fly (:32.50). “Bradley’s 500 time was an incredible 10 second drop, and he improved in 6 of 8 events he entered. He is constantly improving in all aspects of his training, strokes, and competitiveness. He’s going to be a tremendous asset to Wilson Central High School in a few years.”

Alek Nochowicz, a local 8^th Grader, who spends his summers competing for the Willoughby Station Waves summer league team in Mount Juliet, attended his third meet at Carbondale. Alek swam the 50 Free (:29.78), 100 Back (1:22.95), 200 Back (2:55.88), 200 Free (2:30.32) and 200 IM (2:53.98). “Alek dropped times in 4 of his 5 events, with significant time drops in the 200 Back and 200 Free. He is improving as a direct result of his increased work with Coach Andreea.”

Meagan Maxwell, a Junior at Wilson Central High School, continued her quest to improve her strokes and times in preparation for the High School season. Meagan competed in the 50 Free (:30.98), 200 Breast (2:52.12), 100 Breast (1:20.74), 100 Fly (1:15.41) and 200 IM (2:36.05). “Meagan dropped times in 3 of her 5 events, and tied her best time in one event. She is doing great, especially in the Breaststroke.”

A 7^th Grader form Mt. Juliet Middle School also made the trip, Taylor Wallace. Taylor swam in the 50 Breast (1^st Place - :34.18), 100 Breast (3^rd Place – 1:17.03), 200 Breast (3^rd Place – 2:48.52), 50 Fly (5^th Place - :30.87), 50 Free (6^th Place - :28.03), 100 Fly (7^th Place – 1:12.56), 200 IM (7^th Place – 2:33.16), and 100 Free (1:01.34). “As usual Taylor did great, he places in the Top 8 in every meet he attends, no matter where it is. In this meet he placed in 7 of his 8 events, and improved times in 5 of those 8 events.”

Excel’s next meet is December 10-12^th in Brentwood, at the Excel Meet of Champions.

· For more information on Excel Aquatics and complete Meet Results, visit www.excelaquatics.org.

Swim Races at Thoroughbred Meet

Thoroughbred Swim Meet – Off to the Races…..

November 7, 2004……The 3^rd Annual Thoroughbred Swim Meet was held this past weekend in Brentwood at the Williamson County Indoor Sports Complex. Six youth swimmers from Wilson County residents competed in the meet representing Excel Aquatics.

Two county Middle School 7^th Grade boys competed. 12 year old Taylor Wallace led the way with Personal Best Times in every event he swam in, with Top 8 Finishes in all events as well. Wallace swam in the 100 Free (1:02.37, 7^th Place), 100 IM (1:10.58, 5^th), 50 Breaststroke (0:35.17, 4^th), 100 Fly (1:12.80, 8^th), 50 Fly (0:30.86, 4^th), 100 Breaststroke (1:17.00, 4^th), 50 Free (0:27.65, 5^th), and 200 IM (2:34.12, 7^th). Bradley Gillilan, also 12 years old, placed in the 50 Back (0:35.68, 8^th), 200 Free (2:12.84, 8^th), 100 Breast (1:24.99, 6^th), and 100 Back (1:15.26, 7^th). “Both of these boys had a great meet, Bradley had tremendous drops in his 200 Free and 100 Breast, and Taylor just keeps marching on in his progress as well.” Coach John Barnes stated.

On the 8^th Grade level, Kelsey Copeland, a 13 year old, improved in 7 of 8 events she participated in. “Kelsey had some great swims, she dropped almost 6 seconds in the 200 Backstroke, and based on what she turns in the 100 Back, she will continue to improve in the 200 Back as she gains more experience and learns how to pace the event.” Coach Barnes noted. Alek Nochowicz, also a 13 year old 8^th Grader, improved in all 5 of the events he entered. “Alek had some notable drops in all of his events. We were glad to see him step up and swim the 500 Free, his pacing of that event was exactly as we had discussed prior to the swim, for that matter he was open to instruction and swam every event as we wanted him to. He went out and applied those strategies and his times dropped considerably.”

At the High School level, two local girls competed. Hannah Morgan, of Mt. Juliet Christian Academy improved her times in all 3 events, the 200 IM, 100 Free, and 200 Breast. Meagan Maxwell, of Wilson Central High School, dropped times in the 200 Free, 200 IM, and 200 Breast. “Meagan was just slightly off on her 100 Breaststroke, which is one of her events she is striving to achieve a State Qualifying Time for. The coaches discussed with her what she needs to improve on, and then on Sunday she went out and applied that strategy to her 200 Breaststroke with a time drop to show for her efforts. She’ll get to that 100 qualifying time this year as her High School dual meet season gets underway.”

“It’s great to see these kids working hard, improving their times, and growing as individuals in this highly challenging sport. I’m a firm believer that kids have more fun in sports as they continue to improve in their techniques, in their understanding of the strategies involved in swimming, and in their times as a result of their efforts. We’re intense in our training and competitive in our meets, and as a result we have fun.” For more information on Excel Aquatics and complete Meet Results, visit www.ExcelAquatics.org.