MOC Meet Notes

Meet of Champions Features Wilson County Swimmers

December 13, 2004……Excel Aquatics, a USA Swimming Silver Medal Level Swim Club hosted the annual Meet of Champions December 10-12 in Brentwood TN. The Meet of Champions is the largest Preliminary/Finals format meet in the Middle Tennessee region during the Fall Swim Season. This year 667 swimmers from 30 clubs spread across Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, and Mississippi converged to see who was the best among the best.

Nine swimmers from Wilson County who train with host team Excel Aquatics were in attendance, competing against some of the top talent from in the South. “For these nine swimmers who attended the meet it was a great experience. The more they are exposed to the best of the best and championship formatted meets, it helps them understand what they need to do to elevate their game. We’re grateful that other teams across South understand the value of this annual meet and turned out in droves to experience the top competition in the area.” Excel Assistant Coach and Wilson County resident, John Barnes commented.

Wilson County residents competing in the meet were Stephen Claycomb, Conrad Claycomb, Bradley Gillilan, Kelsey Copeland, Taylor Wallace, Hannah Morgan, Meagan Maxwell, Alek Nochowicz, and Austin Barnes. Collectively among the nine of them, there were 29 swims resulting in Personal Best Times, and 14 placements of 16^th place or better in an event during the meet.

In a Prelim/Finals type of meet, the top 8 to 16 performers in each morning Preliminary event move on to a Finals swim in the evening. 8 move on to the Finals from the 10&Under and 11-12 age categories, while 16 move on from the 13-14 and Senior age levels. The same sort of Prelim/Final format exists in Championship meets across the nation, from Southeasterns, to the Tennessee High School State Meet, to the NCAA’s, and to the Nationals. “This type of meet gives the kids a great learning experience as to the different efforts of swims necessary in order to reach the Finals, and then to improve in the Finals held later in the day. It’s both a psychological and physiological adjustment, they have to learn to adapt their brains and bodies in order to improve their times in identical swims in a short period of time.” Wallace, Gillilan, and Stephen Claycomb all reached Finals during the meet in various events.

Time drops of note: West Wilson Middle School 7^th Grader Gillilan dropped 38 seconds in his 1,000 Yard Freestyle to finish third. MJ Middle School 7^th Grader Wallace dropped 3.8 seconds in his 100 Yard Breaststroke to finish third. MJMS 8^th Grader Copeland dropped 0.4 seconds in the 200 Yard Backstroke. Lebanon resident Conrad Claycomb dropped 7.6 seconds in his 100 Yard Backstroke, while his brother Stephen Claycomb dropped 2.4 seconds in his 100 Yard Backstroke with a time of 58.65 seconds. Carroll-Oakland School 7^th Grader Austin Barnes dropped 8.9 seconds in his 100 Yard Breaststroke. Willoughby Station residents Alek Nochowicz dropped 16 seconds in his 500 Yard Freestyle, and Hannah Morgan dropped 1.5 seconds in her 200 Yard Breaststroke. And WCHS 11^th Grader Meagan Maxwell dropped 2.5 seconds in her 200 Yard Breaststroke.

“People are starting to sit up and take notice of the talent coming out of Wilson County. These nine kids train at three different locations with Excel Aquatics, 6 go to Gallatin, 2 travel to Brentwood, and 1 drives down to LaVergne. No other club offers swimmers 3 convenient training locations, coaches with direct ties to the 1996 and 2004 Olympics, as well as 6 different training squads suitable for all levels of experience and skills.” For more information on Excel Aquatics and complete Meet Results, visit www.ExcelAquatics.org.