Gillilan gets First Sectional Cut

Gillilan Obtains Sectional Cut in Mile, Blackwell wins 4 Events at Swim Meet

December 11, 2007……It had been nearly eight weeks since Lebanon’s Bradley Gillilan narrowly missed a USA Swimming Speedo Senior Sectional Meet qualifying time in the 1000 Yard Freestyle. This past Sunday at the Excel Aquatics Meet of Champions, Gillilan was entered in the 1,650 Yard Freestyle (aka “The Mile”) and knew that he had a good shot at the Sectional cut in the event based on how his 1,000 effort went, and how he had been swimming in the 500 Yard Freestyle in dual meets for Lebanon High School.

The Senior Sectional Meet is a higher level competition, a step up from the Southeastern Swimming (SES) Short Course Championship Meet, for which Gillilan had already achieved a SES cut in the 1,650.

Gillilan swimming in the Senior Boy’s category, was seeded 6^th at the start of the race, swimming in one of the outside lanes.

At the 500 yard mark of the race, Gillilan split a 5:07.97 (five minutes, 7 seconds, and 97 one-hundreths), a little under Sectional pace, having moved up into 3^rd place in his category.

At the 1000 yard mark, the split was 10:23.30, averaging 1:02.33 per 100 yards at that point, and exactly at the pace he needed to be holding.

With three hundred yards left in the grueling race, Gillilan had fallen behind pace, with his 100 yard average having fallen to 1:02.49 and his pace falling off. Coaches from all three of Excel’s training sites, along with teammates on deck watching his swim, started yelling, whistling, and gesturing to him to pick back up his pace. Gillilan responded and literally sprinted the last 300 yards and came in at a 17:07.31 for the mile, a scant 1.18 seconds under the Senior Sectionals qualifying time.

Sectionals can be best described as a “super-regional” type of meet. The meet will be held in Nashville, March 6-9 2008, and will include swimmers either in college, or well on their way to swimming in college. At a minimum, Division I schools recruit swimmers who have achieved Sectional cuts, with most preferring Junior National or National level cuts.

“This was Bradley’s first Senior Sectional qualifying time cut, and the first 1,650 cut by a boy from Wilson County after a quick search of the records.” Excel Aquatics Assistant Coach John Barnes noted. “Bradley has been working hard, with this goal in mind. He’ll go for his 1,000 Yard Sectional cut again in January at the meet in Knoxville.”

When asked afterwards about the point at which he picked back up his pace at the 1,350 point of the race, Gillilan commented “I saw him (Coach Barnes) holding up his clipboard and pounding on it and figured I was close the cut.”

In other Senior Boy’s events, Gillilan placed 9^th in the 200 Yard Freestyle (1:51.63); 5^th in the 400 Yard Individual Medley (4:30.74); 11^th in the 200 Yard Backstroke (2:09.43); 8^th in the 500 Yard Freestyle (5:02.87); and 9^th in the 200 Yard Breaststroke (2:28.76).

Nine other Wilson County swimmers participated in the meet: Dallas Barlettano, Andrew Barnes, Austin Barnes, Luke Blackwell, Madison Blackwell, Samuel Blackwell, Kelsey Copeland, Alek Nochowicz, and Taylor Wallace.

Mt Juliet High School’s Copeland and Wallace both made it back to swim in Finals in the meet. Copeland placed 15^th in Finals in the Senior Girl’s 100 Yard Freestyle. Copeland also placed 13^th in the 500 Yard Freestyle. Wallace placed 8^th in Finals in the Senior Boy’s 200 Yard Breaststroke, and 9^th in the 200 Yard Individual Medley.

Mt. Juliet’s Luke Blackwell, swimming in the 13&14 Year Old Boy’s category, won 4 individual events on his way to claiming the High Point Trophy as the boy with the most points in the meet for his age grouping. Luke took first in the 200 Yard Freestyle (1:54.54); 400 Yard Individual Medley (4:35.04); 200 Yard Backstroke (2:05.78); and the 500 Yard Freestyle (5:08.63). Luke placed 2^nd in the 100 Yard Freestyle; 3^rd in the 100 Yard Backstroke; 5^th in the 100 Yard Breaststroke; and 8^th in the 50 Yard Freestyle.

“Luke had a great meet, setting personal best times in 5 of his 8 events, despite dealing with a respiratory flare-up that kept him out of the 1,650 Yard Freestyle race”, according to Barnes.

Other Top 16 finishes by Wilson County swimmers: Madison Blackwell, 11&12 Year Old Girl’s Category, placed 7^th in 100 Yard Fly; 8^th in the 50 Yard Fly; 12^th in the 100 Yard Back; 12^th in the 50 Yard Back; 15^th in the 200 Yard IM; and 15^th in the 100 Yard IM. Samuel Blackwell placed 13^th in the 10&Under Boy’s 50 Yard Breaststroke. Alek Nochowicz placed 11^th in the Senior Boy’s 1,650 Yard Freestyle.

“Alek is going to be swimming the 1,650 again. He was only a little over 9 seconds away from a Southeastern Qualifying Time in the event, and this was the first time he has competed at that distance.” Barnes stated. “A nine second drop is achievable, that only works out to about 25 hundredths of a second per 50 yards.”

The next meet for swimmers from Wilson County will be the Pilot Aquatic Club Invitational in Knoxville the weekend of January 18-20, 2008.

Excel Aquatics holds open tryouts continuously throughout the year for those families interested in swimming. For more information on competitive swimming visit www.SwimWilsonCounty.com.