Luke Blackwell Places 2nd at Championship Meet

Blackwell Places Second at Swimming Championships

July 31, 2006……Wilson County residents Luke Blackwell, Madison Blackwell, and Taylor Wallace traveled this past weekend to Knoxville TN as members of nationally ranked Excel Aquatics to represent Wilson County at the Southeastern Swimming Long Course Swimming Championships.

Leading the way in scoring points for the Wilson County contingent was 12 year old Luke Blackwell of Lebanon. Luke scored points by placing 2^nd overall in the 11&12 Boys 800 Meter Freestyle, and 7^th in 400 Meter Freestyle. Luke had Top 16 finishes in the 200 Meter Free (11^th), 100 Meter Free (16^th), and the 50 Meter Free (16^th). Luke also participated in the 50 Meter Backstroke (27^th Place) and 100 Meter Backstroke (22^nd Place). In the 800 Meter Freestyle, Luke missed placing first by a scant 62 hundredths of a second, a extremely tight finish after racing for a little over 10 minutes. The next closest competitor was over 6 seconds behind the leaders. “Luke almost chased the boy down in the last 50 meters of the race, but simply ran out of room” Excel Assistant Coach and Wilson County resident John Barnes noted. “Luke backs down from no one in his races, or in his training. This Fall we are going to be changing some of his stroke mechanics to make it more efficient, and if Luke dedicates himself to learning and applying those changes as well as he does in working on his set intervals, then we expect to see greater things out of Luke.”

Madison Blackwell competed in two events in her first Championship level meet. In the 10&Under Girl’s 50 Meter Breaststroke Madison placed 25^th, and in the 50 Meter Backstroke she placed 18^th. “Madison has trained well these past 7 months she has been with Excel Aquatics, and she did great at this meet. This meet tends to stress out a lot of swimmers because of it’s championship level status, and Madison responded wonderfully.” Coach Barnes commented.

Taylor Wallace, a rising 9^th Grader at Mount Juliet High School, participated in 4 events. Wallace place 21^st in the 13&14 Boys 100 Meter Breaststroke, 21^st in the 100 Meter Butterfly, 23^rd in the 50 Meter Freestyle, and 36^th in the 200 Meter Individual Medley. “Wallace is a great competitor, and this was his second meet in 7 days. Last week he placed as a High Point Winner in the Top 5 of the Nashville Swim League Championship Meet, and then turned around and continued to drop times at the SES Championship Meet.” Barnes stated. “Typically it is hard to compete at two meets of that caliber in back to back weekends, it drains you mentally and physically.”

For more information on year-round competitive swimming options in the Mid-State Region, as well as contact information on High School swimming in Wilson County, visit www.SwimWilsonCounty.com.