Another remarkably large team of GPAC swimmers traveled to Mobile the second weekend in October to take a third place team finish at the Vance Rose Invitational. Swimmers from all training groups, and all age groups were in attendance to represent the team.

“It’s really exciting to see so many swimmers experiencing out-of-town meets, especially the swimmers in the White group,” said Head Age Group coach Greg Johnson. “For many of the swimmers this weekend, this was their first meet away from UWF. They really did well.”

GPAC’s Braden Barkley, 10, and Walker Parra, 12, finished fourth and third, respectively, in their age group’s high-point race. Barkley won the 10 & under 500-yd freestyle, while Parra took top honors in the 11-12 boys’ 500-yd race. Barkley went on to set four new ‘AAA’ times, one ‘AAAA’ time and one ‘A’ time. Parra dropped a new ‘A’ time in the 100 Br.Across the board, GPAC had tremendous swims in the 500-yd freestyle. William Henderson, 11, Makayla Ludwick, 12, Noah Scoggins, 10, and James Tracey, 12 all posted new Southeastern qualifying times in the event.  Ludwick made the GPAC sweep of the 11-12 500s complete with her win and a new ‘AAA’ time. GPAC had five swimmers set new ‘A’ times in the event (Lexi DeJesus, 12, Renee Henderson, 11, William Henderson, Anna Jordan Luth, 13, Grace Sill, 13, and James Tracey), one ‘BB’ time (Noah Scoggins), and four new ‘B’ times (Alex Atherton, 11, Trinity Devanney, 10, Cason Forst, 12, and Justin Liu, 12).Makayla Ludwick also went on to set five new Age Group Sectional qualifying times in the 50, 100 Free, 500 Free, 200 Back and 200 Fly. Anna Jordan Luth, 13, also posted a new AGS qualifying time in the 200 Br.

GPAC also boasted the best 11-12 relays at the meet. The 11-12 girls’ freestyle relay of Parker Brandt, 12, Renee Henderson, 11, Ludwick and Grace Matthews, 12, edged the host team at the finish for the win by a great finish by Brandt, and the same medley relay team won by over half a pool length. The 11-12 boys also took first in the 200-yd Medley relay (Cason Forst, 12, William Henderson, Cameron Jones, 12, and Parra) and the freestyle relay (Henderson, Jones, Parra, Tracey).

Congratulations to the following swimmers who posted life-best times in all events swum: Kareem Bataineh, 13, Kierstynn Crawford, 9, Justin Liu, 12, Makayla Ludwick, 12, Anna Jordan Luth, 13, Alexandra McCreary, 9, Kobi Menser, 10, Korbin Menser, 8, and Nevada Wood, 13.

GPAC is proud of all of the swimmers who competed in the meet.