Southeastern Swimming announced this week its annual list of All-Star swimmers for 2013-2014, and eleven GPAC swimmers were among the best in the LSC. This is the most swimmers GPAC has had on the All-Star roster in four years, and ties the all-time high from 2008 and 2010.

For the short course season, eight swimmers earned the honor of All-Star: Coulson Barfield, Braden Barkley, James Henderson, Renee Henderson, William Henderson, Cameron Jones, Makayla Ludwick and Walker Parra. Braden posted three events with top-five rankings (100 free (5^th), 200 Fr (4^th) and 100 Back (3^rd)), and Walker also posted three (1000 Fr (5^th), 200 Bk (2^nd) and 400 IM (5^th)). Cameron posted a fifth ranked time in the 50 breast and Makayla posted a third ranked time in the 200 back. All three Hendersons and Coulson made the list based on their IMX scores, with James and William both posting the second highest score in their age group. Coulson and Renee posted the fifth best times in the LSC for their IMX. More information about the IMX program can be found here.

In the long course season, all of the above swimmers were named to the team, along with AJ Luth, Seth Scoggins and James Tracey. Coulson was an automatic selection with his double gold medal performances in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle at the Southeastern Championships. Walker Parra, in addition to his selection to the Zone team for the Southeastern LSC, posted eight events with top-five times (200, 400, 800 Fr (2^nd), 50 bk (5^th), 100 Bk (4^th), 100 Br (4^th), 200 IM (2^nd) ). He also posted the fastest time in the 200-meter backstroke for the 11-12 boys! Makayla Ludwick posted four top times, including the second fastest 800-meter freestyle time (50  bk (5^th), 100, 200 bk (3^rd)). William Henderson had the fourth and fifth best times in the 50 and 100-meter breaststroke, respectively. Seth Scoggins, in his second consecutive long course All-Star team, posted the overall best time in the 200-meter breastroke and the fifth best time in the 1500-meter free.  James and Renee Henderson each had one top-five performance, with Renee taking the fourth best 100 breaststroke, and James finishing fifth on the list for the 200-meter IM. James Tracey, in his first nod to the All-Star team nabbed the third best overall time in the 1500-meter free.

AJ Luth, with her range of abilities across all strokes, made her first-ever All-Star team with an impressive IMX score that ranked fourth in the LSC, while Braden Barkley posted the top IMX score among 11-12 boys (not already automatically qualified)! GPAC is especially proud of the swimmers who made the list based on their IMX scores, as variability and a diverse swimming “portfolio” is a cornerstone of the team’s training philosophy! Swimmers who may not have made it based on performances in just one individual event were able to spread their talent around to score high enough to be named All-Stars!

Also noteworthy is that several of these swimmers have made the All-Star for several consecutive years. Leading the way, Walker Parra has been named to every All-Star team for Southeastern Swimming, both short and long course, since the 2009-10 season. That’s nine consecutive honors. Right behind him is Cameron Jones, who has made has made eight consecutive All-Star teams from seasons dating back to 2008-09. Both Cameron and Walker have made the team since they were 8 year old! Both William and Renee Henderson have made the All-Star team since 2010-11, with six consecutive nominations. Braden Barkley, a year younger than the twins, has made the list since 2011-12 and now has five consecutive All-Star team nominations. Finally, this was Makayla’s third consecutive All-Star team, with making both short and long course in 2012-2013!