GREATER PENSACOLA AQUATIC CLUB

  Braving early March temperatures and the possibility of snow, eight GPAC senior swimmers headed north to Wisconsin to compete in the Speedo Champions Series Sectional meet March 7-10.  Led by five top-8 swims by Brooke Ferrara, the girls’ team took fourth place overall, and the team placed seventh. Ferrara, 15, was dominant in her sprint freestyle events, claiming second place in the 100-yd free, and third place in the 50-yd free.  Her 100-yd and 200-yd backstroke swims were good enough for seventh and eighth place, respectively.  She also nabbed an...

  William Henderson proved once again that he was the one to beat in the breaststroke events, as he laid claim to the titles in the 50 and 100-yd breaststroke at the Eastern Sectional Age Group Championships in Greensboro, NC March 7-11.  This championship, attended by teams from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, is the premier event for swimmers 14 and under in the Southeast.  GPAC placed 23rd out of over 90 teams! Henderson, 10, dominated the field in the 100-yd breaststroke race on Friday of the...

  There’s something special about twins that seems to run deeper than just looks and personality.  GPAC’s Renee and William Henderson, 10, have a shared talent for breaststroke that helped each swimmer to capture a Southeastern Swimming title in the 50-yard race at the 2013 Southeastern Swimming Short Course Championships held in Nashville, TN February 21-24.  Their combined 180 points helped GPAC take tenth place overall with a team of 29. Renee and William swam their races only minutes apart, each dominating the field and posting new GPAC team records,...

  In a weekend’s worth of hard-fought races, GPAC’s Sara Lypko emerged as the fastest 8-and-under girl at the South District Championship, and was crowned the high-point winner for the meet.  The meet also served as the season-ending competition for many other GPAC swimmers, who posted multiple best times and new Southeastern qualifying times. “We knew going into the meet that Sara had a good chance to win the high-point race,” said Coach Alex Gilespie, Sara’s coach.  “She knew she was going to have to race hard.” Lypko, 8, who...

The senior swimmers are holding a spirit night to help off set the cost of their travel to Waukesha, Wisconsin in early March. The date is Tuesday, February 12, 2013 and it runs from 5-8 PM The basics of a Spirit Night is that people bring in a postcard (or a copy of one) that is provided by Chick-fil-A on the night and they present it to the cashier when ordering their food. ýThe swimmers then get a percentage of money for the food purchased (only the people who brought...

In the second meet in as many weeks, 15 GPAC swimmers attended the Mac Crutchfield Invitational hosted by ATAC Swimming at FSU January 25-27. Renee and William Henderson, 10, lead the way for GPAC, winning for individual events each.  Both Renee and William extend their breaststroke winning streak, remaining virtually unbeaten in the 50 and 100-yd breaststrokes this season.  William posted best times in five of his events.  Older brother James Henderson, 12, was the only other event winner for GPAC, taking top honors in the 100-yd back.  James also...

Winter Invite Proves Most Productive for GPAC Swimmers A blizzard storm of best times was the result of 94 GPAC swimmers converging with a balmy Florida winter’s weekend at GPAC’s Winter Invitational held at UWF’s aquatic center January 18-20.  The dominant home team, GPAC handedly won the meet with over 2,000 points.  Coulson Barfield, 12, Brooke Ferrara, 15, Renee Henderson and brother William Henderson, 10 were named the high point winners in their age groups. “This was an impressive meet for our team,” said Head Coach Phil Kraus.  “We had...

  With some of the team competing in Baton Rouge, twelve other GPAC swimmers took advantage of a meet closer to home at the PNY Holiday Invitational held in Gulf Shores, AL December 1 and 2. Lexi DeJesus, 11, led the way for GPAC, placing first in nine out her ten individual events.  She posted a new ‘BB’ time in the 50-yard freestyle, and ‘B’ times in almost all other events.  Right behind her was Abigail Barr, 14, who won four individual events and placed second in three others.  Her...

  Only two weeks after their impressive performances at the Gravy Bowl, a squad of 31 of GPAC’s top swimmers traveled to Louisiana State University and once again flexed it’s might across all age groups, and all strokes and distances.   GPAC boasted eight different individual champions, including a 1-2-3 sweep of both the 13-14 girls’ 100 and 200-yard breaststrokes, and two victorious 11-12 boys’ relays. “We really have fun coming to this meet,” said Head Age Group Coach Greg Johnson.  “Some of the kids have been preparing since last year...

With the Thanksgiving holiday rapidly approaching, GPAC swimmers wasted no time in feasting on the competition at the 2012 Gravy Bowl Invitational held at UWF November 16-18.  GPAC won the meet with 88 swimmers posting 74% overall best times! Brooke Ferrara, 15, and James Henderson, 12, once again emerged as the high-point winners for their age group.  Brooke won seven of her individual events, setting personal best times in five of them.  She also posted two new Southeastern cuts (200, 400 IM), and two new ‘AAAA’ times! James won five...