Gillilan going to Jr Nats!

Gillilan Qualifies For Junior National Swim Meet

November 16, 2008….Minneapolis, MN.

The long-term goal for Bradley Gillilan is to sign a scholarship to swim at a Division 1 University, and the latest stop in that quest was the USA-Swimming Grand Prix Series Swim Meet held at the University of Minnesota this past weekend. Gillilan’s short-term goal was to achieve a Junior National Qualifying Time Standard in the 1,650 Yard Freestyle, and he met that goal this weekend.

Gillilan, swimming for Excel Aquatics and a Junior at Lebanon High School, is the first swimmer from Lebanon to participate in a Grand Prix level meet.

Inspired by getting to watch first-hand Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Lochte swim during the meet, Gillilan stepped up and had an outstanding meet. Gillilan added to his résumé with dynamic swims in the 1,000 Yard Freestyle, the 500 Yard Freestyle, and the 1,650 Yard Freestyle.

Sunday was the final day of competition and Gillilan took part in the longest race in pool-based swimming, the 1,650 Yard Freestyle, also called “The Mile”.

Bradley won his heat with a time drop of 16.20 seconds, turning a 16:12.75. The swim was good enough for an overall ranking of 10th in the event, and good for a NCSA Junior National Meet qualifying time standard.
The NCSA Junior National Meet will be held in Orlando, FL in March 2009.

“Bradley’s goal was to swim gain a Junior National Cut in the Meet in the 1,650 and he accomplished that,” Excel Coach and Lebanon resident John Barnes noted. “He also beat several Division 1 college swimmers who were at the meet, and that always makes the college coaches sit up and notice when a high school aged swimmer does that.”

On Saturday afternoon, Gillilan dropped 3.25 seconds in the 500 Free while posting a personal best time of 4:46.59. Gillilan moved up from being seeded 54^t going into the meet in the 500, to a 29^t place finish.

Gillilan finished 13^th in the 1,000 Yard Freestyle with a personal best time of 9:47.56, a drop of 10.81 seconds, on Friday afternoon. His time in the event was a NCSA Junior National “Bonus” Qualifying Time Standard. Since he now has a standard cut in the Mile, the Bonus cut allows him to swim in the 1,000 at the meet as well.

Also on Friday Gillilan was a member of Excel’s 14^th Place Relay in the 800 Yard Freestyle Relay, helping Excel score an additional 6 points.

“Bradley will be back in the pool on Monday night, preparing for his next meet in 3 weeks”, Barnes explained. “We will do some long distance moderately paced swims as a way to wind down from this meet, and then on Tuesday we will start to focus on the events our squad will be swimming at the Excel Aquatics Meet of Champions the first weekend of December.”

For more information on swimming opportunities visit www.SwimWilsonCounty.com.