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.

Success at Memphis Meet for Sumner County Swimmers

Sumner County Swimmer Excel In Memphis Swim Meet

October 16, 2005……12 members of Excel Aquatics who live in Hendersonville and Gallatin traveled to the Aquatics Center at the University of Memphis for a meet hosted by the Memphis Tigers Club, Oct. 15-16^th. Making the trip were Mary Catherine Binkley, Jimmie Joe Boone, Lauren Gilroy, Preston Johnson, Madison Kolbe, Kyle Lee, John Mainland, Chelsa Messinger, Katie Mize, Paige Scheriger, Michael Scheriger and Brittany Zobl.

Following up on her success as the top 8 year old in the region last season, Paige Scheriger of Indian Lake Elementary, now competing in the 10&Under age category, placed in the Top 8 in all 8 of her events in that age group, with top 4 finishes coming in 7 events. Her classmate, Madison Kolbe made sure that everyone knows that she is an up and coming force to be dealt with, with a 4^th place finish in the Girl’s 10&Under 50 Yard Breaststroke. These two friends also swam the 500 Yard Freestyle for the first time ever, competing in the Open category against girls that were much older than they. Also from Indian Lake Elementary was Jimmie Joe Boone, who placed 13^th in both the Boy’s 10&Under 100 Yard Backstroke, and 200 Yard Freestyle.

Several swimmers at the meet attend Ellis Middle School. Lauren Gilroy, a 7^th Grader, hit the local swimming scene in grand style. “I was pleased with Lauren’s efforts in the 200 Yard and 400 Yard Individual Medley events.” Excel Aquatics Assistant Coach John Barnes noted. “She dropped significant time in both events, and swam them just as we had mapped out beforehand. She’s a smart girl, she picked up on the strategy we discussed, and went out there and executed it.” John Mainland, another 7^th Grader at Ellis, had significant time drops in 6 of his 7 events in the 11&12 Year Old Boy’s category, and really shined in the 50 Yard Freestyle, with a 2.4 second drop. Michael Scheriger, a 6^th Grader at Ellis, dropped time in all his events, and swam the 500 Yard Freestyle for the first time and had great time drops in both of his Backstroke events.

Brittany Zobl, a 6^th Grader at Sumner Academy, dropped times in 5 events in the Girl’s 11&12 year old category, and swam the 500 Freestyle for the first time. “Brittany did very well; she’s learning that strategy is an important part of racing, as is learning to execute what she works on in practice.” Barnes stated.

5 swimmers in High School also competed in the meet. Mary Catherine Binkley and Katie Mize, both from JPII High School; Preston Johnson from Beech High School; Kyle Lee from Hendersonville High School; and Chelsa Messinger from Gallatin High School came together to compete for Excel Aquatics. “All of our swimmers performed well, and as coaches we are pleased with their progress at this point in the season. Amongst our Senior Level swimmers we are in the midst of heavy early season training, and several of them were wearing “drag-suits” for additional resistance. I’m pleased with their progress this season, with their aim being on high School State Championships, Sectional Championships, and Southeastern Championships in the Spring.” Barnes commented.

“Coach AJ Miley and Coach Andreea Ianoli-Mitrofan are doing fantastic jobs in keeping the younger kids positively motivated while continuing to improve on their technique and conditioning. Of note, the swimmers of Middle School age, Gilroy, Mainland, Zobl, and Michael Scheriger have been participating in a Dryland training routine twice a week that is designed to improve their quickness, conditioning, and ability to power themselves off the pool’s walls during a race.” Barnes concluded.

For more information on Excel Aquatics and their Tradition of Leadership and Excellence in Sumner County swimming, visit www.ExcelAquatics.org.

Placement Trial Information

Excel Aquatics is Searching for New Swimmers to Train with Sumner County Championship Swimmers!

July 26, 2005……Excel Aquatics is pleased to announce that they will be having an Open Tryout and Placement Trials for new swimmers at 5:00pm on August 8^th, at the Gallatin Civic Center; and then again for new and returning swimmers at 5:00pm on August 22^nd, at the Cages Bend Swim Club. Prospective swimmers will have two free weeks of training to decide if Excel is a good fit for them.

Excel Aquatics is a non-profit year round USA Swimming Club that had more Sumner County residents qualifying for the Southeastern Swimming Championships this year than any other club in the region. Most recently Kyle Lee, Chelsa Messinger, Katie Mize, Haley George, Kathryn George, Brittany Zobl, and Nikki Fulps from Sumner County qualified and swam in the Southeastern Long Course Championships.

For complete times and duration of Excel’s Tryouts/Placement Trials, as well as more information on Year Round swimming opportunities for Sumner County youth, visit www.ExcelAquatics.org.