SWAT Swimmers Medal in Augusta Meet

Sixteen SWAT swimmers traveled to Augusta, Georgia for the 2010 Aiken-Augusta Winter Invite and returned home with first-place medals, personal best times, and new qualifying times for upcoming regional championships.

Four SWAT swimmers ages 10 and under swam the afternoon sessions. Kennedy Hendryx (9, Fairhope) had personal best times in the 100-, 200-yard IM, 50-, 100-yard backstroke, 50-yard butterfly, and 50-yard breastroke. Sydney Jayne Hendryx (7, Fairhope) had personal best times in the 100-yard IM, 50-yard backstroke, and 50-yard breastroke. Rachel Suhs (9, Daphne) swam personal bests in 50-, 100-yard freestyle, 50-, 100-yard breaststoke, and 50-, 100-yard backstroke. Amelia Shane (10, Fairhope) celebrated personal bests in the 50-yard freestyle relay lead off, 100-yard IM, 50-, 100-yard breastroke, and 100-yard backstroke.

Swimmers ages 11 and up swam in morning preliminaries and returned in the evening to swim finals or consolation heats: Olivia Hudson (14, Fairhope), Ross Hudson (16, Fairhope), Hailey Kennett (11, Spanish Fort), Hannah Legg (15, Fairhope), Helen Legg (11, Fairhope), Kate Phelps (12, Loxley), Trista Phelps (14, Loxley), Thomas Shane (16, Fairhope), Tara Suhs (12, Daphne), Jackson Tunks (12, Fairhope).

Olivia Hudson finished first overall for 13-14 Girls and swam to first in the 400-yard IM, 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard freestyle, took second in the 50-, 500-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard IM and placed third in the 100-yard freestyle.

Hannah Legg of Girls 15-16 division had first place finishes in the 200-, 400-yard IM and 100-, 200-yard backstroke. She took second place in the 200-yard butterfly, third place in the 200-yard breastroke, fifth in the 100-yard breastroke, and sixth in the 50-yard freestyle.

SWAT Head Coach Rich Suhs said, “Olivia, and Hannah had outstanding performances and won their races in the backstroke and IM. Their hard work during practice paid off at this meet.”

Jackson Tunks finished in first place for 11-12 Boys and was awarded first place medals in the 50-, 100-, 200, 500-yard freestyle, 100-, 200-yard backstroke, and 200-yard IM and placed second in the 100-yard butterfly. Tunks is now nationally ranked in 5^th place for the 2009-2010 swim season and has a National Age Group top-ten time record for the 200-yard backstroke.

Coach Suhs stated, “I was most impressed by Jackson Tunks with his time of 2:04.58 in the 200 Backstroke. This time ranks him in the top 5 in the United States for this swim season.”

Other swimmers scoring points for the team were: Tara Suhs in the 100-, 200-, 500-yard freestyle, Kate Phelps in the 50-, 100-yard backstroke and 50-yard butterfly, Trista Phelps in the 100-, 200-yard breastroke, 100-, 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard IM, and 50-yard freestyle and Thomas Shane for the 200-yard breastroke.

“This was a fantastic meet for us. It was a great opportunity to swim the prelim-final format for our 11 and older swimmers,” said Coach Suhs. “The 11-12 Girls did a great job making it back to the finals. It was the first time for Tara to do this type of format and she had a great swim in the 200 freestyle at finals. Kate had two great finals races in the backstroke and Helen did awesome in her finals races in the breaststroke and 100 IM,” said Suhs.

New qualifying times for the Southeastern Swimming Short Course Championship meet were achieved by: Kennedy Hendryx, 50-yard backstroke, 50-yard butterfly, Hannah Legg, 50-yard freestyle, Helen Legg, 100-yard breastroke, Kate Phelps, 50-, 100-yard backstroke, and Tara Suhs, 100-, 500-, 1000-yard freestyle.

Three SWAT swimmers made new qualifying times for the Eastern Section Southern Zone Championship: Kennedy Hendryx, 100-yard IM, Olivia Hudson, 500-yard freestyle, and Trista Phelps, 100-, 200-yard breastroke, 200-yard backstroke, and 200-yard IM.

The Eastern Shore Parents Aquatics Foundation (ESPAF) operates SWAT and welcomes inquiries about swim-related programs offered at the Eastern Shore Aquatics Center located on Hwy. 64 in Daphne. Call 251-625-0950 or visit www.esaquatics.org for more information.

Cutline:  (Group photo) L-R: Ross Hudson, Thomas Shane, Jackson Tunks, Hannah Kennett, Hannah Legg, Olivia Hudson, Tara Suhs, Trista Phelps, Kate Phelps, Amelia Shane, Helen Legg, Hailey Kennett, Rachel Suhs, Ramsey Shane, back row: Coach Rich Suhs.