Excel Swimmers at Baylor Meet

Excel Swimmers Heat up the Pool in Chattanooga Swim Meet

January 22, 2007……Excel Aquatic’s youth movement was in full force this past weekend at the Baylor Invitational Swim Meet in Chattanooga TN. Swimmers participating from Sumner County were Allie Riley, Madison Kolbe, Alyson Gomer, Jimmie Joe Boone, Paige Scheriger, Caroline McCrory, Brittany Zobl, Haley George, Kathryn George, and Katie Mize.

Hendersonville’s Jimmie Joe Boone led the contingent by improving his time in all 9 events he competed in, adding a significant 53.20 second drop in the 11&12 Year Old Boy’s 500 Yard Freestyle. “Jimmie Joe has been working hard to change his stroke technique, and is working hard at practice. I think we are seeing the results of his efforts, and we look forward to continued improvement from Jimmie Joe.” Excel Assistant Coach John Barnes stated.

In the 10&Under Girl’s category, Hendersonville’s Madison Kolbe and Paige Scheriger placed in the Top 5 in all of their events, 8 each. Both had significant time drops coming in the 100 Yard Butterfly. Scheriger has qualified for a total of 12 events in the upcoming Southeastern Swimming Short Course Championships. Kolbe has qualified for a total of 7 events as a 10& Under, however she will be aging up to the 11&12 year old category just before the Championship meet and is now closing in on obtaining the cut in the older category in the 50 Yard Breaststroke.

Riley, 9 year old from Hendersonville, showed continued improvement in her strokes and events. “Allie is a first-year swimmer at this level and has been working a lot on her strokes and conditioning. She is progressing quite nicely, and we expect her to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.” Barnes noted.

Gomer, an 11 year old from Hendersonville, dropped times in 6 of her 8 events, with significant drops in the 100 Yard Individual Medley, 100 Yard Backstroke, and 100 Yard Freestyle. “Alyson has gotten more aggressive in her attitude towards racing, and we are seeing real nice time drops as a result.”

Among the older group of swimmers at the meet from Sumner County, Brittany Zobl improved in 6 of her 7 events. In the 13&14 Year Old Girl’s 100 Yard Backstroke, Zobl took home a second place finish with a personal best time of 1:03.33, dropping 2.48 seconds and obtaining a Senior Girl’s SES Qualifying Time. Other notable time drops came in the 200 Yard Individual Medley and the 200 Yard Backstroke in which she obtained a 13&14 Year Old Girl’s SES Qualifying Cut. “Brittany stepped up quite nicely at this meet, and put together some good swims. She will continue to improve the more she swims the events of 200 yards and greater.”

White House’s McCrory dropped times in 5 of her 8 events, and swam the 13&14 Year Old Girl’s 200 Yard Breaststroke and 400 Yard Individual Medley for the first time in her career. “Like all of the kids who train with Coach Andreea Ianoli-Mitrofan, Caroline is continuing to improve in terms of technique and racing ability.”

Kathryn George, a Freshman at Pope John Paul II High School, took home first places in the 13&14 Year Old Girl’s 100 Yard Butterfly and the 200 Yard Butterfly. Kathryn also swam to a new SES qualifying time in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, brining her qualification event total to eight. Haley George, a Junior at Pope John Paul II High School, improved her times in the Senior Girl’s 200 Yard Freestyle and 50 Yard Freestyle. Katie Mize, also a Junior at Pope John Paul II High School took home a 3^rd place in the Senior Girl’s 200 Yard Individual Medley and a 4^th Place in the 200 Yard Butterfly.

Those interested in working on their stroke technique and water conditioning before the start of the summer are invited to join Excel Aquatics for their annual Spring Tune-Up for Summer League Swimmers to be held April 16 through May 19^th. Contact Shereé Zobl at 826-3943 for more information.

For more information on Excel Aquatics, visit www.ExcelAquatics.org.

Zobl breaks Meet Record

Brittany Zobl Breaks Meet Record in Nashville

June 25, 2006……Hendersonville’s Brittany Zobl, representing Excel Aquatics, stunned the field on Saturday night in winning the 11&12 Year Old Girl’s 50 Meter Backstroke at the NAC Summer Sizzler Long Course Invitational and setting a Meet Record in the process.

The Summer Sizzler included 783 swimmers from 44 teams from 8 states, and is one of the most competitive meets in the nation for the younger swimmers during the summer Long Course Season.

In the 50 Meter Backstroke, Zobl was seeded 8^th going into the meet, and during the preliminaries she cut 1.31 seconds and moved up to a second place seeding going into the evening finals. During Finals, Brittany had a tremendous effort off the start, took off on the underwater kick portion of the race, and emerged a half-body length in front of her nearest competitor as each one surfaced. Brittany never lost the lead, cut another 0.92 seconds off her prelims time, shattering the Meet Record with a time of 0:33.73, which was 49 hundredths of a second below the previous record.

The 100 Meter Backstroke on Sunday meant a return to the Finals for Zobl. During the preliminaries, she was seeded 8th to qualify for the evening Finals. During Finals Zobl dropped 1.36 seconds to finish in a Personal Best time of 1:15.86, good for 5^th Place overall. Although only 12 years old, that time was also a Senior Age Group qualifying time for SES.

Brittany is coached under the tutelage of Andreea Ianoli-Mitrofan, a former Romanian National Champion and lead coach of swimmers from 10 to 13 years old with Excel Aquatics in Sumner County, who train at the Gallatin Civic Center. “Coach Andreea has done a tremendous job with her swimmers this year”, Excel Assistant Coach John Barnes commented. “Her work with Brittany is business as usual and what we have come to expect from Coach Andreea. This past year all of Coach Andreea’s swimmers had tremendous improvements.”

In other events during the meet, Zobl added to her SES Long Course Championship Qualifying times with cuts in the 50 Meter Breaststroke and 50 Meter Butterfly. Zobl previously had attained cuts in the 50 Free, 50 Back and 100 Back. The SES Long Course Championship Meet will be held July 27-30^th in Knoxville TN.

Also competing for Excel Aquatics from Sumner County this weekend was Jimmy Joe Boone. “Jimmy Joe has had a lot on his plate this summer. He’s swimming for Excel, training with Indian Lakes Swim Club’s summer team, playing tennis, wakeboarding, and going to basketball camp among other things.” Barnes noted. “Boone has a lot of spirit and helps bring positive fun to our practices. He’s improved a lot this year, and we expect him to continue to improve as he continues to work hard.”

For more information on Excel Aquatics, visit www.ExcelAquatics.org.

Youth Movement at Excel

10 Year Old Girls Excel at Stars and Stripes Swim Meet

May 28, 2006……In a fitting tribute to Memorial Day Weekend, 445 Swimmers from 18 teams spreading over 3 States converged on the annual Excel Aquatics’ Stars and Stripes Meet in Brentwood TN.

Leading the way in time drops for swimmers from Hendersonville and Sumner County were three 10 year old girls, Alyson Gomer, Madison Kolbe, and Paige Scheriger; all competing for Excel Aquatics, a nationally ranked year round swim team. Scheriger added to her total of Southeastern Swimming Long Course Championship Meet Qualifying Times with two new cuts, bringing her total number of events she has qualified in to 10. Kolbe achieved her first Long Course cut with a great performance in the 50 Meter Breaststroke. Gomer burst onto the Long Course scene in her first meet, narrowly missing a cut in the 100 Meter Freestyle.

“All three of these young girls spent the past year training with Hendersonville resident, Coach AJ Miley.” Assistant Coach John Barnes commented. “They did great this past school year and will continue to improve as they transition over to train under former Romanian National Champion, Andreea Ianoli-Mitrofan in the Fall. We wish them luck as they time this summer to compete for either Indian Lake or Cages Bend starting next month.”

Brittany Zobl, a rising Sumner Academy 7^th Grader from Hendersonville, continued adding to her SES Qualifying times with a cut in the 50 Free, to go along with her cuts in the 50 Backstroke and 100 Backstroke. John Mainland, a rising Ellis Middle School 8^th Grader, placed in the Top 16 of the 11&12 Boys category in the 50 Backstroke, 100 Backstroke, and the 50 Breaststroke. Jimmy Joe Boone, a rising Sumner Academy 6^th Grader from Hendersonville, had significant time drops in 5 of his 7 events, continuing to show considerable improvement over the past year.

Lauren Gilroy, a rising Ellis Middle School 8^th Grader, achieved new SES Qualifying times in the 13&14 Girls 100 Backstroke and 200 Backstroke.

Others Sumner County swimmers competing for Excel Aquatics in the Stars and Stripes meet include JPII High School students Haley George, Katherine George, and Katie Mize. Former HHS swimming standout Kyle Lee also competed, continuing on his training schedule to prepare for his upcoming swimming career at the University of Alabama. For more information on Excel Aquatics, visit www.ExcelAquatics.org.

Meet of Champs Success for Messinger and Lee

Chelsa Messinger Makes A Statement at Meet of Champions!

December 5, 2005……Chelsa Messinger, a Senior at Gallatin High School and swimming for Excel Aquatics turned heads of both swimmers and coaches alike at the annual Meet of Champions in Brentwood TN this past weekend, swimming to personal best times in 5 of 6 events, reaching Finals in all 6 events, and placing in the Top 6 in each event. “Chelsa broke through two significant time barriers tonight. In the 100 Yard Butterfly she broke a minute, turning a :59.95, and in the 50 Yard Freestyle she broke the 25 second barrier, turning a :24.98.” Excel Aquatics Assistant Coach and Sumner County Site Coordinator John Barnes explained. “Chelsa has been training hard for a while now and was due for a meet where everything came together for her. She has taken a couple of official visits to colleges interested in her, and has a couple more visits to take. This performance certainly will catch the attention of those coaches she is talking to.” Messinger placed 2^nd in the 50 Free, 3^rd in the 100 Back, 3^rd in the 200 Back, 4^th in the 100 Free, 6^th in the 100 Fly, and 6^th in the 200 Free.

“The Meet of Champions was a Prelim/Finals format meet with qualifying times required in distances greater than 200 yards, thus it was a great opportunity for the local Excel Swimmers to see how they match up against the top swimmers from the Southeast. No other club in the area is taking this number of Sumner County swimmers to this type of high level meet this year.” Barnes noted. “Excel is continuing its unsurpassed history of successfully developing our Sumner County swimmers to step up and compete at the championship level meets. The experience from the Meet of Champs will benefit them when they get to other championship level meets coming up, such as the State High School Championships, the Southeastern Swimming Short and Long Course Championship Meets, Sectionals, Junior Nationals, and the Summer League Championships.”

18 other Sumner County residents competed in the meet: Bryce Anderson, Mary Catherine Binkley, Jimmie Joe Boone, Kaitlin Daughtry, Nathan Fulps, Nikki Fulps, Haley George, Kathryn George, Lauren Gilroy, Alyson Gomer, Brittany Henderson, Madison Kolbe, Chelsa Messinger, Katie Mize, Hannah Ray, Michael Scheriger, Paige Scheriger, and Brittany Zobl.

Swimmers who made Finals during this Meet of Champs were Nikki Fulps, Haley George, Kathryn George, Lauren Gilroy, Kyle Lee, Chelsa Messinger, Paige Scheriger and Brittany Zobl.

“All of these swimmers did very well; our younger swimmers continue to progress very nicely in terms of stroke development and conditioning. Coaches Andreea Ianoli-Mitrofan and AJ Miley will keep on working those issues so that the swimmers keep improving.” Barnes noted. Among the older swimmers we had some fantastic performances. For instance Kyle Lee posted personal best times in 4 of 5 events with a Junior Nationals Qualifying Time in the 400 Yard Individual Medley; and Kathryn George came within less than 3 seconds of a Senior Sectional Cut in the 200 Butterfly, something of great significance for a 13 year old to do in that event.”

“I encourage anyone interested in swimming to contact us at Excel. If anyone knows one of the families who attended this meet, feel free to ask them about the qualitative difference gained from training with Excel.” For more information and complete Meet Results, visit www.ExcelAquatics.org. The next meet for swimmers from Excel Aquatics’ will be the Baylor Invitational in Chattanooga TN in January.