Blackwell and Gillilan engage in epic battle at the Excel Aquatics Meet of Champions
December 4, 2006……Twelve of Wilson County’s youth swimmers competed in the annual Excel Aquatics Meet of Champions in Brentwood TN Dec 1st -3rd. This “Championship” formatted meet consisted of both Preliminaries and Finals swims. The Meet of Champions has turned into one of the fastest meets in the South heading into the Holiday Season. This year 674 swimmers from 26 clubs spread across Alabama, Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi converged to see who the best among the best was.
Wilson County residents competing in the meet were Chelsie Barlettano, Dallas Barlettano, Luke Blackwell, Madison Blackwell, Samuel Blackwell, Conrad Claycomb, Stephen Claycomb, Kelsey Copeland, Josh Deardorff, Bradley Gillilan, Alek Nochowicz, and Taylor Wallace. All twelve train with Excel Aquatics.
Luke Blackwell an 8th Grade Home School student from Lebanon, competing for Excel Aquatics was the only one of the Wilson County Twelve to win an event, the Boy’s 13&14 Year Old 1650 Yard Freestyle.
“The Mile” as the event is known was an exciting race to watch, as both Blackwell and his Excel teammate Bradley Gillilan (Gillilan is a Freshman at Lebanon High School) battled to the end, with both boys averaging in the vicinity of 1 minute 6 seconds per 100 yards throughout the entire race. Blackwell pulled ahead towards the end to win the event in 18:10.31. Gillilan placed Second with a time of 18:19.31.
“The Mile is an exhausting event, and in the past 6 years no male swimmer from Wilson County has gone under 20 minutes in the event, and in this one event on Sunday, we had two.” Excel Assistant Coach John Barnes commented. “Bradley beat Luke in the 200 Yard Freestyle and the 500 Yard Freestyle earlier in the Meet, and Luke turned around and won the 1650. These boys have 3+ years left of training together at Excel, and it will be exciting to witness, one I’m sure both of them will step up to and commit themselves to achieve further successes while feeding off of each other. Swimming is a sport where success breeds success, and we are looking forward to seeing all of these swimmers raise the quality of swimming here in the near future.”
Josh Deardorff, an 11th Grade Home School student from the Possum Town area northwest of Lebanon, dropped over 3 tenths of a second off of his 50 Yard Freestyle. “When you are at the speed that Josh is at on his 50 Free, usually the drops are measured in hundredths, not tenths. He did great.”
Mount Juliet swimming prodigy, Taylor Wallace, also in the 13&14 year old category, had the most overall success in the meet among Wilson County swimmers, with Top 8 finishes in all 8 of his events. “Taylor will have a huge impact on the success of MJ High School (where he is a Freshman) this season, and be a tremendous asset to Coach McCabe and the rest of the talented young men on that High School team.” Kelsey Copeland, a Sophomore at MJHS, continued dropping time in her signature event, the 500 Yard Freestyle, and will be making a significant contribution to the MJHS Girls Swim Team again this season.
Lebanon’s Stephen Claycomb, a Senior at JPII HS, finished 3rd in the Senior Men’s 50 Yard Freestyle, with a time of 0:22.30, in his continuing training efforts geared towards qualifying again for Finals at the State High School meet to be held in February. Alek Nochowicz of Mt Juliet, and a Freshman at JPII HS had drops in all of his events, and “has a full understanding” of what he has to do to qualify for the State High School meet in the 500 Yard Freestyle. Conrad Claycomb, a Sophomore at JPII HS is on track to achieve a qualifying time for the State High School Meet in the 100 Yard Backstroke.
Among the Elementary and Middle School age swimmers from Wilson County, Chelsie Barlettano of Watertown dropped over two seconds off of her time in the 100 Yard Backstroke, while brother Dallas Barlettano dropped over 7 seconds in his 50 Yard Backstroke.
Madison Blackwell, who recently aged up to the 11&12 Year Old Category made large strides in accomplishing her short term goals of qualifying for the Southeastern Championships. “Madison is doing great in all of her events, and she will become a tremendous competitor in the Individual Medley events.”
The youngest Blackwell sibling, 7 year old Samuel, competed in his first Meet of Champions, and finished 25th in the Boys 10&Under category in the 50 Yard Breaststroke.
“I encourage all of my fellow Wilson County neighbors interested in swimming to contact us at Excel. If anyone knows one of the families who attended this meet, feel free to ask them about the qualitative difference gained from training with Excel.” For more information about swimming opportunities for Wilson County youth, visit www.SwimWilsonCounty.com, or call Coach Barnes at 443-4115. The next meet for swimmers from Excel Aquatics’ will be the Baylor Invitational in Chattanooga TN in January.
