ACAC is Outta This World!

ACAC is Outta This World!

By: Emilie Cooper

February 17th - 19th, ACAC sent 23 swimmers to Chattanooga to compete in the Southeastern Region 2 Championship hosted by Baylor Swim Club. The team saw a lot of time improvements! Nearly every swimmer dropped time in one or more races, demonstrating just one way it is outta this world to be a part of this team!

Sydney Taylor and Olivia Foy-McDaniel 

wearing the team’s themed Cheer Gear!

ACAC kicked off the meet with a strong start.  With multiple top 5 finishes in both the 200 IM and 500 Free, Friday night set the tone for the strong swimming to come.  Coach Sarah Corcoran commented on how Jessi Schaefer (12) and Emmy Zimmer (12) had stand-out performances even while “still holding some of their cards close until next weekend.”

Coach Sarah also called out the dedication to practice that was evidenced at the meet.  Sam Duby (12) had “kicked her way through many early morning practices with a broken arm this winter, and her dedication showed through with awesome results in the 200 IM and 500 free.”

Further, the 3 sisters, Gretchen (12), Rhett (11), and Hollins (9) Grubb, “reaped the rewards of their dedication, tenacity and awesome practice attendance by improving in almost every race that they swam.”  

Many swimmers showed huge improvements in skills, allowing them to drop time.  Jeffrey Nichols (13), Logan Williams (13), Sam Duby (12), and Connor O’Neil (15) demonstrated “strong pacing skills” with their 200 Frees while Rory O’Neil (12), Scarlett Cooper (12), Hallie Hill (13), and Lylah Martin (13) showed “start and turn excellence” and dropped time in their Free and Back events.  

Rory O’Neil, Clara Hill, Sam Duby, and Emmy Zimmer

Swimming is serious business!

For the 8 & U age group, this meet served as the championship for the short course season. Connor French (8) ended his season with a bang.  He competed in 8 events and dropped time in 7 of them. Coach Sarah called out his “outstanding improvements” in his 50 and 100 Free.  He took 3rd overall for his age group! 

For the older athletes, the Baylor meet was the last opportunity to earn a qualifying time for the Southeastern Short Course Championship in Huntsville.  Ben Martin (10) flew when he shed nearly 1 second from his 50 Fly and earned a Bonus qualifier time.

For Connor O’Neil (15), he managed to squeeze out one of the coveted qualifying times from this meet in the mile!  He first swam the mile in competition less than 3 months ago, set a time of 18:17.01 at that meet, then added time when he competed in the event at TNAQ. At Baylor, he dropped 40.37 seconds off of his previous best time, qualifying for Southeasterns by 0.75 seconds with a total time of 17:36.64!  

15 ACAC swimmers have qualifying times for the Southeastern Short Course Championship Feb 24-26.  The team will be cheering them on and looking forward to hearing the tales from this exciting meet!

Back: Rory O’Neil, Hallie Hill, Sam Duby, Coach Sarah, Scarlett Cooper

Front: Isaac Cooper, Clara Hill, Emmy Zimmer, Jessi Schaefer

Enrique Chance, Jeffrey Nichols, Jackson King, Logan Williams, Connor O’Neil