Kip Darmody Represents America’s Swim Team in Fine Fashion

This past week, Kip Darmody represented the USA at the Jr. Pan Pac Swimming Championships in Maui, Hawaii.  It was an exciting meet as the USA took on teams from the Pacific Rim including swimming rival Australia.

He competed in 3 individual events and 3 relays.  This was his 3^rd championship meet in the last 4 weeks and to perform as he did at this point in the season was superb!

Kip was 2^nd in the 100 back- 55.07, 3^rd in the 100 free- 50.57, 5^th in the 200 back- 2:02.36, 2^nd as part of the 800 free relay (split 1:49.95) and 1^st as part of the 400 free and medley relays (49.73 and 54.90).

Congratulations Kip on a job well done.  You represented the USA and SwimMAC in an outstanding manner and we are all very proud of you!

THOMAN MAKES HIS MARK ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE

Thursday's finals at the 2010  MUTUAL OF OMAHA PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS held in Irvine, California proves to be a milestone for SwimMAC's Nick Thoman, earning him his first international medal in the Men's 50 meter backstroke. Nick Thoman placed third in the event with a time of 25.02, posting the best USA finish in the event.  Finishing just ahead of Nick was Junya Koga of Japan,  who took the first and Ashley Delaney of Australia, who placed second.

Congratulations to Nick, Cullen and the entire USA 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championship Team.

Today, Nick Thoman will compete against a remarkable field in the Men's 200 Meter Backstroke prelims with the hope of earning another top finish against a talented and fierce field of his USA team members: Ryan Lochte, Aaron Peirsol, and Tyler Clary.

Also today, cheer on SwimMAC Alum Ricky Berens as he competes for a spot in the Men's 100 meter Fly, along with his USA teammates, Michael Phelps, Tyler McGill, and Tim Phillips.

Results

Live Webcast

Flying into Pan Pacific Championships

Team Elite swimmers Cullen Jones and Nick Thoman are competing at the Pan Pacific Championships this week in Irvine, CA. Coach David Marsh was also named as one of the coaches for the team. The meet started on Wednesday, August 19th with with Cullen Jones finishing 5th in an event he does not always swim,the 50 Fly. Way to go Cullen! Nick Thoman also competed in the 100 Back on Wednesday and finished 9th in the B Final, blowing the competition away in that heat. Competition will continue through August 22nd. Stay tuned for updates on Team USA and Team Elite.

Results

Live Webcast

2010 SPEEDO JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS FINAL RECAP

SwimMAC Champions Overcomes Adversity and Shine Bright Under the Lights in Irvine

The 2010 Speedo Junior National Championships was held Aug. 9-13 at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine, Calif.  After  a long week of competition, the last day of the Junior Nationals brought some early challenges and disappointments for the 23 outstanding swimmers representing our club.   During the prelim session both the boys and girls of SwimMAC were shut out of the finals in the individual events, and  incurred a couple of unfortunate disqualifications.  The  men’s title was on the line and the possibility of the women’s team going scoreless for the meet caused tensions to be high going into the 400 medley relays, the events that would close the finals session.  Without scoring in both the women’s and men’s relays SwimMAC would be unable to qualify for the overall team race.  In an anxiety filled outdoor arena  under the lights, just  like a Friday night football game, SwimMAC stepped up in grand fashion.  The men were first to act:  trailing the City of Plano swimmers (COPS)  in the men’s meet,  both our relays would have to score points  beating COPS in the process.  The "A" relay of Kip Darmody, Tyler Fleming, Peter Brumm, and Kyle Darmody took the win and electrifying  the rest of the team!  The "B" relay of Collin Higgins, Andrew Wrist, Logan Heck, and Dillon Love swam strong  and stole a spot on the podium with an  8^th place finish overall.  The award stand never looked so good with  two SwimMAC squads earning medals for their relays and the entire men's team winning the Men’s Team Title! (pictured)

The ladies, witnessing the men's team triumph were now confident to score their first points of the meet, putting SwimMAC in the hunt for the overall team title for the first time in two years. The "A" and "B" relay teams swam in the same heat of the finals so all eyes were on the pool. The "B" relay of Erin Gaeckle, Christen McDonough, Meredith Hoover, and Sam Ormand swam  a great time that was just 4 seconds out of the scoring.  The "A" relay of Haley Powell, Susie Raichle, Caroline Bryant, and Linsay Copper finished just off the podium in 9^th place scoring 18 points.  The ladies were on the scoreboard for the first time in two years and putting SwimMAC just 1 point out of 3^rd place in the team race.  A tremendous way to finish a long meet and a day that started as an uphill struggle.  Congratulations to all the athletes, coaches, chaperones, support staff, and parents for making this trip a success.  Next year in Palo Alto California at Stanford University we hope to have even more SwimMAC athletes taking part in Junior and Senior Nationals.

Junior Nationals recap day 4

Day four of the Junior National meet was a fantastic display of courage for the swiMAC athletes.  Dillon Love and Peter Brumm started off the day with two strong 200 freestyles the day after our 2^nd place finish in the 800 freestyle relay.  Christen McDonough, Susie Raichle, Katherine Plevka, and Tyler Fleming were the breaststrokers representing the team. The breaststroke will play an important role in the medley relays on Friday.  Erin Gaeckle, Sam Ormand, Haley Powell, Zach Lambert, Reed Wheeler, Dillon Love, Tyler Hill, Collin Higgins, Kyle Darmody, and Kip Darmody participated in the 100 backstroke.  Kyle qualified for the bonus final, Collin qualified for the consolation final, and Kip qualified for the championship final finishing second. The Men's Team is in 1st Place by 13 points going into Friday. Go SwimMAC!

Junior Nationals Day 3

Day three was an exciting day for SwimMAC out in California.  The day started off with Brett Boston swimming in the 400 freestyle as the club’s lone representative. The MAC ladies swam well in the 100 butterfly with Caroline Bryant making the bonus final.  She was the first night swim for the SwimMAC ladies at this championship meet.  Congrats Caroline.  In the men’s 100 butterfly Peter Brumm made the bonus final in his first Junior Nationals and Kip Darmody had another top 8 finish, narrowly missing the win by .16 seconds.  In another exciting climax to finals, the men’s 800 freestyle relay of Kip Darmody, Kyle Darmody,  Brett Boston, and Peter Brumm were narrowly touched out and finished second behind rival Dynamo.  The Men’s Team is now in 1^st Place! Go SwimMAC!

SwimMAC Junior Nationals Day 2

On day two in Irvine Kevin Glenn and Andrew Wrist started off the day with a couple of strong swims in the 400IM.  Sam Ormond was our lone lady in the 100 freestyle swimming a season best time.  Kyle Darmody, Logan Heck, and Peter Brumm all swam lifetime bests falling just short of second swims in the men’s 100 freestyle.  Haley Powell and Meredith Hoover represented the ladies well in the 200 backstroke while Reed Wheeler, Kevin Glenn, Dillon Love, Tyler Hill, Collin Higgins, and Kip Darmody rounded out a strong men’s field of backstrokers.  Kip had another top 8 finish while Collin came back to compete in the bonus final of the backstroke.  The night was topped off with the 400 freestyle relays and SwimMAC brought some heat!  The boys team of Darmody, Darmody, Heck, and Brumm (pictured) took the win just missing  the record while the B team of Boston, Higgins, Hill, and Love finished 14^th.  The Men’s Team currently is in 2^nd Place in the team standings! Go SwimMAC!

Day 1 Junior Nationals in IRVINE

The swimMAC Junior National squad got things going today in Irvine with 11 prelim swims and 1 finals swim.  Today was the 200 fly, 200 breaststroke, 800 freestyle, and the 1500 freestyle. Kip Darmody had a fantastic swim finishing 2^nd in the 200fly with the most exciting finish of the night!  The  swimMAC Junior National squad includes Brett Boston, Peter Brumm, Caroline Bryant, Linsay Cooper, Kip Darmody, Kyle Darmody, Tyler Flemming, Erin Gaeckle, Kevin Glenn, Logan Heck, Collin Higgins, Tyler Hill, Meredith Hoover, Zack Lambert, Dillon Love, Christen McDonough, Sam Ormand, Katherine Plevka, Haley Powell, Susannah Raichle, Zane Turpin, Reed Wheeler, and Andrew Wrist.  Tomorrow should bring some more exciting swims with the 400IM, 100 free, 200 back, and 400 freestyle relay!

North Carolina Takes 3rd at Zone Meet

Last weekend culminated a week long trip with the North Carolina Zone Team and its championship meet at Georgia Tech.  This was quite an experience for all of these swimmers as it gave them a taste of what it’s like to swim against other successful swimmers from around this region of the country, to understand what it’s like to compete for 5 days in a row in traditional competition AND THEN do an open water meet the day after and to understand how to compete and gel with swimmers who aren’t their home teammates but a group that represents the state as a whole.

North Carolina finished 3^rd overall behind first place Florida and second place Georgia.  This was  very good finish for the state and we were much stronger in our 15-18 age groups than has been the past few years which is exciting for next year.

Congratulations to all our SwimMAC athletes who were a part of this team.  You represented SwimMAC and the state of North Carolina extremely well!

Here are some details on those who finished in the top 10 and helped score points for NCS.

Scoring members of relays- Jessica Merritt, Heather Merritt, Maria Sheridan, Lane Bretschneider, Leah Davis, Jonathan Peterson, Davied Sanchez, Joudan Cline

If you want to see pictures or the daily recaps written by Head Coach Jonathan Watson, go to the North Carolina Swimming website and scroll down for that information.

Well done everyone!!