LIAC finishes 5th at NCSA Junior Nationals

March Madness?  That’s nothing compared to the incredible short course season that our LIAC athletes have just capped off!  Over the past two weeks our swimmers travelled down to Orlando for the NCSA Junior Nationals and Age Group Championship meets to show off the true meaning of Strong Island!
 
NCSA Junior Nationals
Team Finish: 5th
Women’s Finish: 4th
Men’s Finish: 12th
High Point Accolades: Kristen Romano 1st, Maggie Aroesty 2nd,
NCSA COACH OF THE YEAR:  Dave Ferris
 
The 1000 freestyle was up first and our swimmers started off with a bang – busting out best times left and right!  Joanna kicked it off for the ladies with a new personal best by 9 seconds!  Her time earned her 19th place and is more than 30 seconds faster than where she started the season last year.  On the men’s side CJ had a great swim – dropping 7 seconds to finish in 18th place.  Adam and Javi followed suit dropping 4 seconds each. 
 
In the 200 Freestyle Relay the team of Chloe, Maggie, Lauryn, and Kristen sprinted to a 6th place finish.   Just a few heats later those same ladies re-organized to round out the evening with a 4th place finish in the 200 Medley Relay.
 
After the first night’s events LIAC was in 11th place of more than 80 teams.  That meant we would need some fast morning swims to put ourselves in scoring positions for finals…   Our athletes did just that swimming a slew of best times in the morning.  Claire, Alice, CJ, and Adam all swam best times in the 200 fly, as did Michael in the 200 back. 
 
Orry had a huge swim in the morning – dropping 2 seconds in his 200 fly, swimming his way into the A final with a new Metro Record of 1:47.51.  At night he moved up two spots to finish in 6th place! 
 
Maggie was our top finisher of the night – bringing home gold and defending her 100 Breaststroke title.  Keeping the medal podium full of LIAC swimmers Kristen raced hard and swam to a Silver medal in the 200 backstroke.
 
Timmy and Jason also scored for LIAC finishing in 10th in the 400 IM and 17th in the 100 breaststroke respectively. 
 
Kristen, Chloe, Lauryn, and Maggie got back together for another relay – this time the 800 freestyle.  They swam an outstanding race bringing home the Gold in a new LIAC and Metro Swimming record time of 7:13.02! 
 
Day 3 proved to be another successful one for LIAC.  Maggie started the night off with a 3rd place finish in the 50 breaststroke.  Kristen raced hard in the B final of the 50 fly.  Then it got real as both got up to race in the A final of the 400IM.  Both swam best times and went under the previous LIAC and Metro Records.  In the end Kristen came away with the win followed by Maggie taking the Silver.  What a race! 
 
Other impressive swims on Day 3 came from Timmy (17th 500 free) Jason (12th 50 breast, 21st 500 free) Sam and CJ (best times in the 200 and 500 freestyle events).
 
To finish off the night Chloe, Maggie, Lauryn, and Kristen were back at it swimming to another new Metro Record in the 400 freestyle relay!
 
Friday was St. Patrick’s Day and LIAC got into the spirit  - we were dressed in green and going for gold! 
 
There were lots of best times on the board Beth and Adam (100 back), Chloe and Joanna (500 free), Chloe and Beth (100 fly), and Michael (200 breast).  We had some great races in finals with Kristen swimming the 100 back 100 fly double (taking 13th and 5th respectively), Jason grabbing 19th in the 200 breaststroke, and Timmy taking 14th in the 100 fly. 
 
Maggie defended her second title of the weekend winning the 200 breaststroke in personal best and another LIAC and Metro Record!
 
The boys finished off the night scoring big points with a 10th place finish in the 800 freestyle relay.  The team of Timmy, Adam, Jason, and Christian swam a time of 6:44.51 to beat the previous Metro Record set by LIAC back in 1994!
 
It was a long week, but LIAC certainly didn’t disappoint with our swims on Saturday.  Chloe and Sam started the morning with best times in the 50 freestyle and 200 IM respectively.  Then it was time for the 1650 -  a LIAC signature event!  On the ladies side Lauryn and Joanna both swam best times – earning 23rd and 29th place finishes.  For the men CJ and Javi both had fantastic races dropping almost 11 seconds each!  Adam also went a personal best finishing in 28th place.  Timmy capped off a strong week with a 5th place finish in the Final heat swimming at night. 
 
Maggie and Kristen were back in the A final of the 200 IM taking out a tough heat and racing hard to the finish.  Maggie touched the wall in a personal best of 1:57.19 tying for first place and another LIAC and Metro record! 
 
The same relay team of Kristen, Maggie, Lauryn, and Chloe dove in for one last short course race together and came home with the Silver in another LIAC and Metro Record! 
 
It was a great first week in Florida for LIAC and our swimmer’s were rewarded for their efforts with just a few accolades.  Kristen raced hard all week.  After 20 races in 5 days, her 5th and 15th place finishes on the final night of competition clinched the high point award and proved that you’ve got to be in it to win it!  Coach Dave was also recognized for his efforts with the NCSA Coach of the Year award!  LIAC swam hard as a team and finished the meet in 5th place with 13 new Metro records!  LIAC swimmers now own two thirds of the Metro 15& Over Short Course records on the ladies side.  What a short course season for our National Teamers!  Congratulations – we can’t wait to see what the Long Course season holds – stay hungry LIAC!

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