Malone repeats as Most Outstanding, Clements wins title and GPAC takes 7^th at SES Champs

               HUNTSVILLE, AL—Ian Malone and Taylor Clements notched new individual titles and a tremendous team effort led the GPAC team to a seventh-place finish at the 2022 Southeastern Swimming Long Course championships held in Huntsville, AL July 14-17.

               “It was a really exciting weekend,” said GPAC’s new age group coach Logan Cale. “The swimmers were very positive and very supportive of each other. Watching GPAC swimmers win their events and the team placing so well was the best part.”

               Malone, 14, won all six of his individual events and won the meet’s high-point award for his age group. Ian scored a perfect 120 points, as he swept the titles in the 50, 100, 200 and 400-meter freestyle races, as well as the 200 and 400m individual medleys. Ian also anchored the 6^th place freestyle relay.

               Ian also set five new team records to match his wins. He lowered his own team marks in the 50, 100 and 200 free, as well as the 200 IM. His new time in the 400m free smashed the old team record from 1985—held by GPAC alum and local swim coach Chris Barfield—by over 6 seconds. Ian’s times in the 50 and 400 free were new ‘AAAA’ times. Ian’s 50 time was also a new USA Swimming Futures championship cut. This was Ian’s third time winning the Most Outstanding, as he won it at age 12 in 2020, as well as back in February at the 2022 short course championships.

               Taylor Clements, 14, won the 50m breaststroke on the last night of the meet to join Ian with a gold medal. Taylor was the silver medalist in the 100m breaststroke, and finished 5^th in the 200m race. She also nabbed a 5^th place finish in the 50m free with a new ‘AAAA’ time. Taylor scored 88 points for the team and was tied for the leading scorer among the girls.

               Marcela Dos Santos, 10, who was the top performer at each of the regional meets throughout the summer, proved to be one of the best in Southeastern Swimming. Marcela won silver in the 200m free and bronze in the 400m distance, and set new ‘AAA’ times in each. She tied Taylor with 88 points and was a top-eight finalist in all six of her events.

               GPAC had big help from its 10-and-under squad at the meet, with the group of seven comprising just 20% of the team, but scoring over 25% of the team’s points. Lane Robinson, 10, scored top-eight performances in all six of his events, including a pair of silver medals in the 200 and 400m free. He scored 88 points in total. Arthur Phillips, 10, scored in all six of his events and posted 69 points to the team tally. His brother Axel, 9, added 36 points with scoring swims in the 200 and 400m freestyle. He also placed 6^th in the 200 IM. Isla Fox, 10, swam best times in her events at the meet, and Nicky Lypko, 10, had a blast at his first SES championships, dropping big time in his 200 IM and 200 free.

               GPAC also had a boost from its distance freestyle corps, in addition to Dos Santos and Robinson, swimmers from across the team’s age groups were posting best times and scoring swims. Graeson Garcia, 12, was the only 11-12 boy for GPAC and came through with a second-place finish in the 800m freestyle. He also scored sixth in the 400m free.

Noah Jacobs, 13, dropped 30 seconds in his 800 free to snag 8^th place, and dropped almost 2 minutes from his previous best 1500m freestyle to score 5^th. Jack Hebert, 16, dropped almost 15 seconds in his mile to nab 14^th place points. Jack also posted a new ‘AAA’ time in his 200m IM.

               Sara Lypko, 17, bookended her championship meet with a pair of 4^th place finishes in the 1500m free on the first day of the meet, and the 800m free on Sunday. She also scored a 6^th place finish in the 400m IM.

               Logan Robinson, 16, dropped nearly 40 seconds in his 1500m free final to finish 6^th and get 13 points. Although he probably would have scored in the 800m free, he opted for a variety of other events in which he tallied 43 points. He finished 8^th in the 200 IM with a new ‘AAAA’ time from the preliminaries, and he set a new ‘AAAA’ time in the 100m free, scoring 11^th.  Both of these were Futures Championship qualifying times.

               Lily Walker, 13, nabbed an 8^th place finish in the 1500m freestyle to round out her championship meet. That was Lily’s first time swimming the mile in the long course (50m) pool, and she earned a new ‘AA’ time for her effort. She also dropped almost 20 seconds to earn another ‘AA’ time in her 800m free race.

               Returning from his first year at school, GPAC alum Jack Rowell, 18, returned to don his GPAC cap again and swim the quadruple crown of long events—the 1500m, 800m, 400m free and 400 IM. Jack contributed 55 points to the team with a silver medal in the 1500, 4^th in the 400 IM, 5^th in the 800 free and 9^th in the 400 free.

               GPAC traditionally has strong individual medley events at the championships, and this meet was no different. Along with Sara Lypko, senior Ella Freeman, 17, was a finalist in the 400 IM, finishing 8^th. She also made the finals in the 200m IM and the 200m breaststroke, where she finished 6th. Jillian Beardsley, 15, made the consolation finals of the senior girls’ 400 IM, finishing 15^th, and nabbed a point for her new best time in the 200m butterfly.

               Aidan Hall, 13, scored a 4^th place finish in the 50m butterfly on the first night of the meet, and Max Little, 15, scored a consolation final in the 200m breaststroke and dropped over three seconds.

               Hudson Trammell, 17, placed 5^th in the 100m butterfly on the last day of the meet. His time of 56.52 seconds was just .02 from the team record and just .03 from the summer Junior National Championships qualifying time. Hudson did secure his first-ever Winter Junior National championship time standard, and was a new ‘AAAA’ time for him.

               The swimmers who achieved new motivational times at the meet were:

A:           Lauren Armstrong, Landon Garcia, Aidan Hall, Arthur Phillips, Jameson Walker

AA:         Graeson Garcia, Landon Garcia, Aidan Hall, Jack Hebert, Noah Jacobs, Max Little, Arthur Phillips, Lane Robinson, Hudson Trammell, Audrey Turner, Lily Walker

AAA:      Noah Day, Marcela Dos Santos, Ella Freeman, Jack Hebert, Lane Robinson

AAAA:    Taylor Clements, Ian Malone, Logan Robinson, Hudson Trammell

               The meet concluded with GPAC swimmers racing to over 63% personal best times and finishing ahead of all other clubs in the region, to again make GPAC the Top Team on the Gulf Coast.