Fourteen GPAC swimmers from the Junior and Green groups took their Spring Break in Atlanta, GA to attend the Eastern Section of the Southern Zone Age Group Championship. The swimmers made up the largest group that GPAC has taken to the meet in five years. This meet is attended by over 100 different teams from across the Southeast.

“The Age Group Sectional meet has been the focus of many of the swimmers all season,” said Head Age Group coach Greg Johnson. “The fact that we had twenty swimmers qualify for the meet and had 14 attend is a great testament to the work the swimmers have done all season, and the levels of achievement that GPAC is attaining.”

Walker Parra, 12, led the way for the team scoring two top-eight finishes in his events. Parra set a new team record in the 200-yd backstroke, posting a new ‘AAAA’ time of two minutes 10.95 seconds. This erased the old mark set in 2008 by nearly two seconds. For the second consecutive year, Parra finished eighth in the 1,000-yd freestyle.

For the girls’ team, Makayla Ludwick, 12, finished seventh in the 1,000-yd freestyle, and tenth in the 200-yd backstroke. She also finished 13^th in the 500-yd freestyle.

Several swimmers achieved new time standards in their events. Coulson Barfield, 14, posted a new ‘AAA’ time in the 200-yd IM, dropping 1.67 seconds. Braden Barkely, 11 dropped almost 5 seconds in his 200-yd backstroke to grab a new ‘AA’ time. Lexi DeJesus, 12, earned a new ‘AA’ time in her 100-yd breaststroke. Meet rookie Cason Forst, 12, dropped time in all of his events and posted a new ‘AA’ time in the 200-yd freestyle. Seth Scoggins,12, also a meet rookie, saw significant improvement in his middle distance events, dropping 6.52 seconds in his 400-yd IM to get a new ‘AA’ time. He also earned a new ‘AA’ time in his 200-yd breaststroke, narrowly missing the team record, but dropping 3.27 seconds.

The 13-14 boys’ distance duo of Nicholas Petruska, 14, and Thomas Young, 13, had strong performances in the 100-yd freestyle. Nicholas dropped almost 10 seconds from the time he posted three weeks prior at Southeasterns, and Thomas dropped over five seconds from his previous swim. Nicholas also posted and best time in the 500-yd freestyle and Thomas dropped over 22 seconds in the 1,650-yd freestyle. Keeping with the GPAC distance tradition, James Tracey, 12, dropped almost five seconds in his 500-yd freestyle.

Representing GPAC’s 10 & under swimmers, Maren Mackey and Noah Scoggins, both 10, had great swims in their Age Group Sectionals debut. Maren posted four best times (100 Fly, 500 Fr, 50 Fr, 200 IM) and Noah posted one (100 Fly).

GPAC also had two 11-12 boys’ relays score in the top-16. The 200 medley relay of Parra, Scoggins, Forst and Barkley took 13^th, and the freestyle relay of the same boys took 15^th.

“I think the team did very well considering most of the swimmers were rookies at this meet,” added Coach Greg. “It is a very intimidating meet, and swimming in the ’96 Olympic pool only adds to the intensity. I am very proud of the swimmers and how they handled the pressure.”