Wilson County Swimmers Score Victories in Swim Meet

Blackwell and Gillilan Score Wins at Stars and Stripes Meet

May 25, 2008…. At a time when many schools are winding down for the year and families are celebrating a long weekend, eight swimmers from Wilson County spent their weekend at the Annual Memorial Day Weekend Stars and Stripes Long Course Meet in Brentwood TN.

Leading the way with victories in their age categories were Bradley Gillilan, and Luke Blackwell.

Gillilan, swimming in the Senior Boy’s category, scored a first place victory in the 800 Meter Freestyle, dropping 3.92 seconds to finish in eight minutes, fifty one seconds and thirty seven one-hundredths of a second (8:51.37). Gillilan also finished second in the 400 Meter Freestyle (4:21.32) and the 1500 Meter Freestyle (17:06.99). His performances in the 200 Meter Butterfly and 200 Meter Backstroke qualified him for the Southeastern Swimming (SES) Long Course Championships in those events in July.

“Bradley has now qualified for 10 events at the SES meet, however he can only swim in seven of them by meet rules,” Excel Coach John Barnes explained. “Bradley’s time in the 1500 Meter Free was a Summer Senior Sectional Qualifying Cut. The summer cuts for Sectionals are much harder than the spring Sectional cuts, and he has been working hard to get these cuts for this next step in his long range goals. The 1500 is his second Summer Sectional cut, the first one was in the 800 Free a few months ago.”

The Summer Senior Sectional meet will be held in Atlanta in early July, at the same pool that the 1996 Olympics were held in.

Luke Blackwell scored first place finishes in the 13&14 Year Old Boy’s category in the 100 Meter and 200 Meter Breaststroke events. Luke also scored second place finishes in the 400 Meter Individual Medley (IM), 200 Meter IM, 100 Meter Backstroke, 200 Meter Freestyle, 200 Meter Backstroke and 1500 Meter Backstroke in his age category.

“Luke is getting even stronger in his non-Free events, and that is showing up in his Individual Medley events which consist of all four strokes swum in the sequence of Fly, Back, Breast and Free.”

“His 400 Meter Individual Medley was perhaps his best swum event of the meet in my analysis, the splitting was good, and we identified some areas of improvement which he will be working on in the coming months.”

Also competing in the meet were Madison Blackwell, Samuel Blackwell, Austin Barnes, Andrew Barnes, Alek Nochowicz, and Taylor Wallace.

“Nochowicz swam in his first Long Course meet ever, in prior years he has only trained with his summer league team, the Willoughby Waves, however this year he is committed to training long course and swimming in those meets along with his separate summer league meets.”

“Wallace dropped some nice times in the Individual Medley events, the 200 and 400 IM’s. Taylor has some talent in those events, transitioning from one stroke to another.”

For more information on swimming in Wilson County visit www.SwimWilsonCounty.com

Excel Awards - 2 From Wilson County!

Excel Awards goes to two from Wilson County

May 4, 2008……Samuel Blackwell and Alek Nochowicz, both of Mount Juliet, were awarded the prestigious “Excel Award” during the Excel Aquatics Annual Banquet, for their achievements this past Short Course Season.

The Award is given annually at the Excel Spring Banquet to a select few recipients in each training squad, and is based on Good Sportsmanship, Dedication, Positive Attitude, and Leadership within the squads. Out of 418 swimmers over three training locations, only 17 swimmers received the honor of the Award this year.

Blackwell, a current Home School 3^rd Grader won his first Excel Award, due to his young leadership within the Silver 2 Training Group. “Samuel has been a joy to coach and work with this past year in particular”, Excel Assistant Coach John Barnes noted. “He is always in the water on time, listens to direction well, and has worked a lot on both his technique and conditioning lately.”

“At meets he is scoring in the Top 8 in the 8&Under Year Old Boy’s category. Samuel has been a great example for our younger swimmers in Excel as well as within our county.”

Nochowicz is a 10^th Grader at Pope John Paul II High School. He swims year round with Excel Aquatics, in the High School season for Pope, and during the summer for the Willoughby Station Waves summer league team. “Alek has been with Excel Aquatics for 6 years now, and recently attained his first Southeastern Swimming Championship Meet qualifying time standard”, Coach Barnes commented. “He qualified in the 1,650 Yard Freestyle, a distance event that most swimmers stay away from.”

“Alek has really stepped up his training intensity this year, and has been rewarded for that effort with a SES Time Standard in the 1,650 Free, as well as High School State Meet qualifying times in the 100 Free, 200 Free, 500 Free, 100 Back, and 200 IM.”

“Our annual banquet is a time when we reflect on the success of the past year, and we recognize the achievements and accomplishments of the youth who Excel Aquatics serves. We have several goals at Excel, one is to create competitive swimmers in the water, another one (which is arguably more important) is to help create leaders who will excel is school and in their lives afterwards.”

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