This Sunday, several GTAC senior swimmers leave for Senior Nationals in Irvine, California. We will be posting their results here each day. This will be an outstanding meet as it is a selection meet for Pan-Pacs and the World University Games.

And later next week, 9 of our 14 Zone Qualifiers will be competing in Wisconsin at the 2010 Central Zone Championships. They are: Kelsi Berry, Aurora Biggs, Nick Brodie, Alexandria Grzeszczak, Catherine Kight, Katie Kreger, Griff Littlehale, Haley Rosiak and Jillian Sutter. We congratulate all of our Zone Qualifiers and will be posting results for these nine GTAC members of Team Ohio on our website.

Swim fast and Go GTAC!

Saturday: GTAC's Women and Men scored 3rd overall, with the Women taking 2nd and the Men taking 5th place. This is the best result by GTAC since 2001. Jacy Dyer led the day with her 1st place finish in the 1500 free, followed by Laura Heckroth, 9th; Claire Leichty, 12th; and Gillian Staudt, 18th. Rowan Williams took 7th in the 800 free. In the 100 free, Laura Heckroth took 16th, as did Dan DiSalle. Mike DiSalle scored 19th. In the 400 Medley Relays, the Women took 3rd place (Dyer, Lindsay, Thompason, Heckroth), while the Men scored 6th (Williams, MacDonald, M. DiSalle, D. DiSalle) and 9th (Pierson, Barone, Katich, Miller). And during Friday's Time Trials, Mike DiSalle achieved his Junior National cut in the 200 fly. Awesome job, GTAC!

Friday: Another great day of scoring at W. Lafayette, especially for the ladies. Jacy Dyer and Laura Lindsay both scored first in the 400 free and 100 breast, respectively, with Senior National cuts. Laura Heckroth took 5th in the 400 free with a Senior cut as well, while DJ MacDonald earned another Senior National cut in his 7th place finish in the 100 breast. Phil Barone was 8th in the 100 breast with a Junior National, and Rowan Williams took 8th in the 100 back, also with a Junior National time. Rowan also scored 12th in the 400 free, while the Men's 800 Free Relay took 16th (Williams, Miller, D. DiSalle, Zimmerman). The women maintained 1st place overall, while the men are in 7th place; Combined team is in 4th place overall going into the final day.

Thursday: An awesome day at Purdue! Six GTAC swimmers came back to finals in the 200 free: Jacy Dyer, 3rd (Senior National cut); Laura Heckroth, 5th (Senior National cut); Rowan Williams, 7th (Junior cut); Dan Miller, 16th, Dan DiSalle, 19th, Mike DiSalle 23rd. In the 100 fly, Amanda Thompson took 4th (Senior National cut), McKenzie Bagan was 10th and Mike DiSalle scored 16th. In the 400IM, Jacy Dyer took 2nd with another Senior National cut. Both Women and Men had two relays that scored tonight: Women's 400 Free Relay: 3rd (Heckroth, Thompson, Winfield, Dyer) and 12th (Friedli, Leichty, Smith, Bagan). Men's: 8th (Katich, Williams, Miller, D. DiSalle) and 16th (Pierson, Zimmerman, MacDonald, Carmony). The women are now in 1st place; the men in 5th place; Combined Team is in 3rd place overall!

Wednesday: 16 year old DJ MacDonald led the charge for GTAC at their first day of Speedo Sectionals at Purdue University as he scored 3rd in the 200 breast with a Senior National cut, while Laura Lindsay took 5th in the 200 breast with a Senior National time. Rowan Williams also achieved a Senior National cut with his 10th place finish in the 200 back, while Phil Barone made a Junior National cut with his 10th place finish in the 200 breast. Also scoring today: Jacy Dyer, 18th, 200 back; Claire Leichty, 9th, 800 free; Meg Friedli, 18th, 800 free; Mike DiSalle, 20th, 50 free; Women's 800 Free Relay, 2nd (Leichty, Heckroth, Friedli, Dyer) and 19th (Thompson, Smith, Winfield, Staudt). Team GTAC is currently in 6th place overall.

See full results at:

http://www.baswimming.org/TabGeneric.jsp?_tabid_=29573&team=isba

Go GTAC!

Congratulations to the following GTAC swimmers who have qualified to compete in the 2010 Zone Meet this August: Nadia Ayad, Jack Barone, Aurora Biggs, Nick Brodie, Jack DiSalle, Zhada Fields, Alexandria Grzeszczak, Catherine Kight, Adrienne Kinor, Katie Kreger, Griff Littlehale, Maria Murillo, Haley Rosiak and Jillian Sutter. We are proud of your contribution to Team Ohio!

Sunday: Katie Kreger was the only 9 year old to score in the 100 fly when she took 6th place with another Zone cut, while Zhada Fields won the 11-12 high point award, leading GTAC to 6th place overall with 895 points. Jack Barone took 13th, 100 free, 16th, 200 breast; Kelsi Berry, 12th, 100 free; Austin Carter, 15th, 200 breast; Zhada Fields, 1st, 100 free, 11th, 100 fly; Catherine Kight, 2nd 100 free; Griff Littlehale, 9th, 100 fly; Maria Murillo, 13th, 100 free; Jillian Sutter, 8th, 100 breast. (Jillian achieved her first ever Zone cut when she time-trialed the 100 breast as well!)

Saturday: Three Sectionals cuts were achieved today: Zhada Fields, with two Meet Record swims in the 50 free (28.04) and 100 back (1:07.88, breaking the 1997 record of GTAC's Susan Johnson), and Maria Murillo, in her 50 free (28.51), setting the pace for another wave of great swims. Jack Barone, 11th, 100 back, 7th, 50 free; Aurora Biggs, 7th, 400 free; Nick Birkemeier, 13th, 100 back, Regan Bohm, 16th, 100 back; Nick Brodie, 13th, 50 free; Zhada Fields, 1st, 200 IM; Matt Kaminski, 10th, 100 back, 14th, 50 free; Catherine Kight, 6th, 50 free, 6th, 100 back, 14th, 50 fly; Adrienne Kinor, 16th, 400 free; Katie Kreger, 6th, 50 fly; Griff Littlehale, 11th, 50 fly; Maria Murillo, 4th, 400 free. 13-14 Girls 200 Free Relay, 8th (Ayad, Rosiak, Biggs, Murillo) and 400 Medly Relay, 15th, Kinor, Murillo, Biggs, Rosiak); 13-14 Boys 200 Free Relay, 4th (DiSalle, Birkemeier, Brodie, Barone) and 400 Medley Relay, 10th (Birkemeier, Barone, DiSalle, Brodie); 11-12 Girls 200 Free Relay, 5th (Fields, Grzeszczak, Kemp, Berry) and 400 Medley Relay, 8th (Fields, Grzeszczak, Burnard, Berry); 11-12 Boys 200 Free Relay, 12th (Drees, Noonan, Thomas, Kaminski) and 400 Medley Relay, 11th (Noonan, Kreger, Kaminski, Drees); 10 & un Girls 200 Free Relay, 5th (Bohm, Sucheck, Sutter, Kight) and 17th (Hack, Goewey, Richards, Kreger). GTAC ended Saturday's session solidly in 6th place with 775 points and 35 new Zone cuts.

Friday: 11-12 Zhada Fields broke a 15 year old state record in the 50 back with her Zone time of 31.43. She also scored 2nd in the 200 free, and led the way for another outstanding day for the Hurricanes. Jack Barone, 6th, 100 breast, 16th, 200 back; Kelsi Berry, 14th, 50 back, 13th, 200 free; Aurora Biggs, 16th, 200 free; Nick Birkemeier, 15th, 200 back; Matt Kaminski, 11th, 50 back, 16th, 200 free; Catherine Kight, 8th, 50 back; Adrienne Kinor, 15th, 200 back; Griff Littlehale, 9th, 200 IM, 7th, 50 back; Jillian Sutter, 7th, 100 breast. 13-14 Girls 200 Medley Relay, 10th (Kinor, Murillo, Biggs, Rosiak) and 400 Free Relay, 9th (Rosiak, Kinor, Biggs, Murillo); 13-14 Boys 200 Medley Relay, 7th (Birkemeier, Brodie, DiSalle, Barone) and 400 Free Relay, 8th (Brodie, DiSalle, Birkemeier, Barone); 11-12 Girls 200 Medley Relay, 6th (Fields, Grzeszczak, Kemp, Berry) and 400 Free Relay, 5th (Berry, Grzeszczak, Burnard, Fields); 11-12 Boys 400 Free Relay, 12th (Drees, Thomas, Noonan, Kaminski); 10 & un Girls 200 Medley Relay, 4th (Bohm, Sutter, Kreger, Kight). GTAC maintained it's 6th place overall team placement.

Thursday: 13-14 Adrienne Kinor had the swim of the day, dropping over a minute in her 1500 to score 6th place with a new Zone time. Aurora Biggs bettered her previous Zone time to take 5th in her 1500. 9-10 Kelsi Berry scored 7th in her 400 free, while Catherine Kight scored 8th in her 200 free and Griff Littlehale took 6th in his 200 free, all three with Zone times. The 13-14 Girls 800 Relays took 4th (Adrienne Kinor, Rosiak, Biggs, Murillo) and 17th (Ayad, Kahyaoglu, Sucheck, Allison Kinor), while the 13-14 Boys took 6th (Brodie, Birkemeier, Barone, Peeps), placing Team GTAC in 6th place overall.

Go GTAC!

Zhada Fields broke the Ohio Swimming State Record in the 50 yard freestyle this morning with a time of 24.40. The old record, held since 1995 by Kelly Jones, was 24.42.

Congratulations to Zhada and her coach, Dave Eisenstein, on this great achievement!

GTAC swimmers achieved 33 new JO cuts at the Regional Meet this past weekend, and 44 Hurricanes are now part of the 2010 Long Course JO Team. Those swimmers are: Delaney Aossey, Nadia Ayad, Nadine Ayad, Nora Ayad, Jack Barone, Kelsi Berry, Aurora Biggs, Nick Birkemeier, Regan Bohm, Nick Brodie, Meghan Burnard, Austin Carter, Morgan Colley, Jack DiSalle, Sam Drees, Summer Dres, Zhada Fields, Kimmy Goewey, Alexandria Grzeszczak, Sarah Hack, Cigdem Kahyaoglu, Spenser Kale, Matt Kaminski, Alexis Kemp, Lizzie Kemp, Catherine Kight, Amy King, Adrienne Kinor, Allison Kinor, Jacob Kreger, Katie Kreger, Caroline Lathrop, Griff Littlehale, Maria Murillo, Blake Noonan, Noah Peeps, Andrew Quattromani, Alexandra Richards, Annika Richards, Haley Rosiak, Jessica Sucheck, Samantha Sucheck, Jillian Sutter and Scott Thomas. Several of those swimmers plan to attend Central Zone Championship in August.

Later in July, at least 24 GTAC swimmers are scheduled to compete at the Speedo Sectional Meet at Purdue University: McKenzie Bagan, Phil Barone, Nick Carmony, Dan DiSalle, Mike DiSalle, Jacy Dyer (who has won women's high point the last two years running), Ellen Dzierzak, Meg Friedli, Laura Heckroth, Joe Katich, Claire Leichty, Laura Lindsay, DJ MacDonald, Dan Miller, Lorin Pierson, Haley Roberts, Kirsten Smith, Kirstin Stark, Gillian Staudt, Amanda Thompson, Tara Vermandere, Rowan Williams, Leslee Winfield and Matt Zimmerman.

And in August, at least 10 swimmers will be attending Junior and Senior Nationals in Irvine, California: McKenzie Bagan, Phil Barone, Dan DiSalle, Mike DiSalle, Jacy Dyer, Laura Lindsay, DJ MacDonald, Dan Miller, Amanda Thompson and Rowan Williams.

Congratulations and good luck this weekend at JO's!

The Psych Sheets are now posted under GTAC Hosted Meets for the Ohio Northern Regional Championships, to be held July 9-11 at Bowling Green State University. Prelims begin at 9am each morning; Finals start at 5:30pm. Results will be posted here each evening.

Good luck to all swimmers!

While championships are still a few weeks away, and our swimmers are in the middle of some very grueling training, they all did an outstanding job at the Marlins meet this weekend, achieving multiple new JO, Zone and Sectional cuts, dozens of personal best times, and scoring extremely well, both individually and in relays.

Especially noteworthy were Zhada Fields, who won every event in which she competed, Katie Kreger, who achieved her very first Zone cut in the 50m fly, Allie Kemp who achieved her first 50m fly JO cut, Meghan Burnard, who achieved first time JO cuts in the 200m and 400m free, Senior swimmers Tara Vermandere, who scored 1st in the 1500m free, Dan DiSalle, who took first in the 100m free and DJ MacDonald, who won the 100m breast.

Full results can be found at http://results.teamunify.com/oscm/index.htm 

One week before, only 34 of our swimmers competed at the Flag City Meet in Findlay and earned 6th place as a team. Three of our swimmers won high point awards: Kayla Kreger took 2nd place high point for the 8 & un girls, Matt Kaminski took 2nd place high point for the 11-12 boys, and Lizzie Kemp took 1st place high point for the 8 & un girls. Congratulations!

Cood job GTAC swimmers! The best is yet to come!

The Senior GTAC Coaches are once again hosting helpful clinics this summer. They will take place at 5pm on the specified dates at the St Francis pool, and are open only to GTAC swimmers. There is no charge.

Tuesday, June 29: Mental Toughness, with Coach Lars Jorgensen. How do you mentally prepare yourself for your swimming? Coach Lars will speak and take Q & A's. In addition to being one of GTAC's senior coaches, Lars is the Head Coach of the UT Women's Team which were this year's MAC Champions and a former US Olympian.

Thursday, July 1: Turns, with Coach Liz Hinkleman. With demonstrations by GTAC senior swimmers, Coach Liz reviews the basics of the perfect turn for free, back, breast and fly. In addition to being one of GTAC's senior coaches, Liz is the Ass't Coach of the UT Women's team and a four year varsity swimmer from UT.

Tuesday, July 6: Starts, with Head Coach Keith Kennedy. With demonstrations by GTAC senior swimmers, Coach Keith explains the perfect start, for individual and relay events. In addition to being the Head Coach and Senior Coach at GTAC, Keith is the Head Coach for the 2010 Ohio State High School Runner Up St Francis Knights and four year varsity swimmer from the University of Cincinnati.

More clinics, covering college recruiting and end of season goal setting, will be announced shortly.

GTAC swimmers and families hosted a very successful 2nd Annual HOLY TOLEDO! Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, June 12-13 at the BGSU Natatorium. Results are now posted on our website.

Over the same weekend, seven of our national swimmers competed at the annual TYR Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo, California. Rowan Williams, DJ MacDonald, Matt Zimmerman, Phil Barone, Dan DiSalle, Dan Miller and NCAA All-American Joe Katich travelled out west for a week of hard training at the new UCLA aquatic facility, and a great meet. With swimmers from all over the west coast, New Zealand and Asia, this is always a challenging meet, accompanied by lots of sun, great food and Mission's famous steel drum band. GTAC has been attending this meet since 2001, and now has a tile on the wall of honor at the Nadadores home pool.

This year, Rowan Williams scored 16th in the 200m back, Phil Barone scored 23rd in the 100m breast, and DJ MacDonald scored 7th in the 200m breast and 4th in the 100m breast with a personal best time of 1:08.11. Congratulations GTAC swimmers. Full results can be found at www.socalswim.org

The 7th Annual GTAC Disability Open was another great success with two world records, two American records and three Canadian records set. Summer Mortimer of Ducks Swimming, Ontario, Canada, set a World and Canadian record in the S10 Class in the 200 meter Backstroke (2:26.89) and the 50 meter Backstroke (32.53). Katarina Roxon, S9, of Newfoundland, also set a Canadian record in her 50 meter freestyle  (32:17). US records were set by Taylor Hetrick, S11, in the 400 meter IM (9:15.53), while Cheryl Angelelli, S4, broke the US record in the 100 meter Backstroke (2:23.20). New and experienced swimmers celebrated together at the traditional Saturday night social, and US Paralympic coach Dave Thomas had a full house at his informational clinic at noon the same day. Full results are available here.

Congratulations to all of the athletes involved and we look forward to seeing you next year!

After a very successful Short Course Season and Season II, which ends May 7, GTAC kicks off its Long Course season on Monday, May 10, with swimmers having a choice of 10 Training Groups, 7 days of practice available, including 2-a-day practices offered most days, and 3 locations.

Age Groups include Minnows, Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold, each of which will receive excellent GTAC long course training by one of our outstanding 11 coaches. The older swimmers in the Pre-Senior and Senior Groups will be coached by GTAC senior coach and St Ursula Head Coach Rich Szczepinski.

Joining those seven groups are the three elite teams, in which swimmers, by invitation only, agree to a more stringent commitment to meet and practice attendance. Age Group Elite will be coached by head age group coach Chris Pierson. Pre-Senior Elite will be coached by GTAC senior coach and assistant St Francis coach Dave Eisenstein. And the Senior National Elite team, currently consisting of over 30 of the area's best high school and collegiate swimmers, will be coached by Head Coach Keith Kennedy, UT Head Coach Lars Jorgensen and assistant UT coach Liz Hinkleman.

Practices will take place at St Francis, Laurel Hill and the Toledo Country Club.

The first practice schedule, covering May 10-June 7, is now posted under the Competitive Team tab, along with the Summer Fee Schedule and Meet Schedule.

For more information about GTAC's Long Course season, or to visit a practice, contact Cindy at 419-531-2800 or cynthiamillen@gmail.com  GTAC is proud to offer swim training 48 weeks out of the year for all levels of swimmers.

Go GTAC!

GTAC is offering the opportunity for its swimmers to train and compete at a higher level this summer with three unique Elite Training groups: Age-Group Elite (for swimmers aged 14 and under); Pre-Senior Elite and Senior/National Team Elite (for swimmers in the pre-senior group and those in high school or collegiate swimming). Swimmers who wish to compete for one of the Elite teams must swim 10 x 100's at a specified time, commit to atttending a specific number of practices and compete in certain meets. Over 60 swimmers committed to the Elite program last summer, achieving some of the fastest times in GTAC's history and scoring highest as a team at JO's, Sectionals and Junior Nationals. Our coaching team looks forward to an excellent training season this summer.

Information about the Elite teams has already been distributed to GTAC's 200 + team members, but can also be obtained by contacting our office manager at cynthiamillen@gmail.com

Joe Katich became a Div III NCAA All-American as part of the 8th place Denison University 400 Free Relay team. The Big Red came in 2nd overall at NCAA Div III Championships. Congratulations, Joe, on becoming an NCAA All-American!

UM freshman swimmers Roman Willets, one of the few freshman to travel to Men's Div I NCAA's with the team, swam the 3rd leg on the 400 Free Relay which came in 14th place at NCAA's and help Michigan to score 7th place overall. Willets' time was 43.84; Michigan was the highest ranking Big Ten Team at NCAA's. Congratulations, Roman, on achieving Honorable Mention All-American!

Angeline LeVasseur swam extremely well at the 2010 Can-Am Winter Paralympic Championships in San Antonio, March 25-27. She achieved personal best times in each events, and scored 7th in the 100 back, 7th in the 50 free, and 7th in the 100 free, dropping 12 seconds overall in that event. Next up for Angeline is the GTAC Disability Open in May and then the International Wheelchair Athletic Society Games in the Czech Republic in August.

GTAC, one of several northern teams invited to the Southern Zone Sectional Championships, came ready to race March 18-21 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. With several hundred athletes and Olympians from around the south, including Ryan Lochte and the entire national team from Mexico, it was a challenging and fun meet for the Hurricanes. They competed at the Swimming Hall of Fame Pool, outdoors across from the Atlantic ocean beach front in Fort Lauderdale. Highlights of the meet were an 8th place finish by DJ MacDonald in the 200 breast, and two 10th place finishes by Rowan Williams. Both men and women's relay teams scored, while the Men's 400 Free Relay achieved a Summer Junior National cut time.

The 19 members of the entire team were Alexandra Sutter, Sarah Tighe, Haley Roberts, Zhada Fields, Maria Murillo, Aurora Biggs, Anne Marie King, Haley Rosiak, Nadia Ayad, Nick Carmony, DJ MacDonald, Dan DiSalle, Mike DiSalle, Rowan Williams, Dan Miller, Phil Barone, Connor Trimble, Jordan Skie and Kyle Crawford. Congratulations, Hurricanes!

The 47 members of the GTAC JO Team did an excellent job in Bowling Green, taking 9th in the State (among over 25 teams), and achieving over 80% personal best times with multiple new Zone and Sectional cuts. Zhada Fields won the 11-12 girls high point award and also was honored as the Female Swimmer of the Meet. She broke numerous GTAC records, plus the JO Meet record in the 50 free. Also scoring for Team GTAC were: Nadia Ayad, Hannah Barnes, Jack Barone, Kelsi Berry, Aurora Biggs, Anna Birkemeier, Nick Birkemeier, Connor Bishop, Kennedy Bohm, Regan Bohm, John Booth, Marley Brereton, Abby Brodie, Nick Brodie, Meghan Burnard, Austin Carter, Morgan Colley, Jack DiSalle, Sam Drees, Brea Fields, Patrick Gorman, Alex Grzeszczak, Matt Gustafson, Cigdem Kahyaoglu, Matt Kaminski, Allie Kemp, Catherine Kight, Amy King, Adrienne Kinor, Allison Kinor, Katie Kreger, Griff Littlehale, Gabby Mancy, Maria Murillo, Ethan Nichols, Blake Noonan, Noah Peeps, Andrew Quattromani, Alex Richards, Haley Rosiak, Jessica Sucheck, Samantha Sucheck, Alexandra Sutter, Jillian Sutter, Cyrus Thomley and Evan Williams. Alternates to the team were Delaney Aossey, Sarah Hack and AJ Wawrzyniak. Congratulations, Hurricanes!

USA Swimming announced its final listing for the 2009 Top Ten Times for each age in Long Course competition, and two GTAC swimmers made the list. Published in this month's Splash Magazine, Zhada Fields was listed as 4th among all 11 year olds in the 50 meter back (32.96) for 2009, while Roman, as an 18 year old, was ranked 5th in the 200 m free (1:52.23) and 2nd in the nation in the 100 m free (50.65).

Congratulations on this outstanding achievement!

At the Barbara Kay Mini-Meet Championships, GTAC's 8 & unders all scored personal best times in several events, and earned 8th place in the State (and best in Northwest Ohio) with a score of 289 points. All swimmers ended their short course season on a high note as they achieved their best times of the season in most of their events, and helped GTAC to score well. The 7 & under boys team of Atticus Dewey, Bubby Barnes, Brody Sahloff and John Burnard took 2nd place in both the 100 yd Free Relay and 100 yd Medley Relay. Way to go, Mini-Hurricanes!

At the 2010 Ohio State Senior Championships at Miami University, GTAC's swimmers are achieving personal best times and great national cuts as well.

On Friday, Rowan Williams won the 500 free with a Junior National time of 4:34.77, while four other Hurricanes scored in the top sixteen with Sectional cut times (Matt Zimmerman, Dan Miller, Nick Carmony and DJ MacDonald). Following suit, Tara Vermandere scored 19th and  Anne Marie King scored 24th with personal best times in their 500 frees. The men finished the first night with a victory in the 800 Free Relay with a time of 7:00.52 (Carmony, Miller, Zimmerman, Williams). GTAC Men are in second place as of Friday evening. 

Based upon her times at the Can-Am Paralympic Championships, GTAC swimmer Angeline LeVasseur has been selected to compete at the International Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation Junior World Championships to be held in Prague, Czech Republic, August 22-29, 2010. This is the premier world competitive event for athletes under the age of 18 with orthopedic disabilities. We congratulate Angeline on her achievement and know that she will represent Team USA well! Angeline first will be competing at the 2010 Can-Am Paralympic Championships in San Antonio on March 25-27 and then go to the GTAC Disability Open, May 15-16 in Cincinnati.

GTAC, one of only two Ohio teams competing at the Carmel Swim Club's Mid-Winter Invitational, January 15-17 at IUPUI, is scoring very well with its swimmers from age 9-13. This meet, with over 1000 swimmers from all over the US, features prelims/finals from swimmers aged 11 and older, and time finals from swimmers aged 10 and under. GTAC's 11-12 girls got the meet started on Friday with exceptional swims in the 500 free and a 2/3/4 finish by Adrienne Kinor, Haley Rosiak and Zhada Fields.  Zhada continued GTAC's winning ways on Saturday with a 1st place in the 100 back (1:01.77), folllowed by many more who scored in the top sixteen. All Hurricanes have achieved personal bests. Congratulations GTAC swimmers on an outstanding Carmel meet!

A Thanksgiving tradition at GTAC continued this year with the annual collection of gifts, goodies, hand-made decorations and needed supplies for our troops overseas. This year, several boxes were mailed to troops in Afghanistan. There are a few GTAC parents who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and through their contacts, we are able to send packages directly to those troops in the combat zones.

GTAC is proud to support and thank our troops in this way, and send our Hurricane spirit to them over the Holidays.

Rowan Williams competes at US Senior Nationals this weekend in Federal Way, Washington, as one of the youngest swimmers there. Joining him will be Roman Willets with his Michigan teammates.

The following week, Rowan and DJ MacDonald compete in individual events at Junior Nationals, Ohio State University, Columbus, with Mike DiSalle, Dan DiSalle and Dan Miller joining them for relay events.

For compete results for both National Championship meets, see www.usa-swimming.org

USA Swimming announced the top ten swimmers in the U.S. in each event and age group yesterday, and two GTAC swimmers made this prestigious list.

Zhada Fields, age 11, 4th place, 50m back, 32.96 and 8th place, 200m free, 2:17.34

Roman Willets, age 18, 2nd place, 100m free, 50:65 and 5th place, 200m free, 1:52.23

Congratulations Zhada and Roman on being among the top ten swimmers in the nation!

GTAC's Rowan Williams, a junior at St Francis de Sales High School, has been honored as a National Scholastic All-American for the 2008-2009 academic year by USA Swimming for his outstanding performance in the classroom and in the pool. Rowan, one of only four swimmers in NW Ohio to be honored (one male and two females from Bowling Green Swim Club were also honored, and we congratulate them as well), was selected for maintaining a 3.5 or higher GPA in grades 10, 11 or 12, and for achieving at least a Junior National bonus cut. Rowan has been on the honor roll at SFS since his freshman year and holds a Senior National cut in the 200 backstroke. He is the son of Carol Sargent and Wayne Williams, Ottawa Hills.

Congratulations, Rowan, on the well-deserved award!

GTAC Head Coach Keith Kennedy was awarded the National Disability Service Award at the USA Swimming National Convention this evening in Chicago. Citing Kennedy's role as US National Paralympic Coach, Swim Clinician for the US Olympic Committee Military Summit, Coach of Paralympic Gold and Bronze Medalists, and the creator of the GTAC Disability Open, now in its 7th year, USA Swimming, Kennedy was honored for "his outstanding effort in making GTAC a place where everyone can swim and creating opportunities for swimmers with disabilities throughout the nation."

See the article in the Toledo Blade: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009910120306 

See the article in the Catholic Chronicle: http://www.catholicchronicle.org/index.php/sports/st-francis-coach-honored-for-work-with-disabled-swimmers.html

We congratulate our Head Coach for this well-deserved award!

GTAC congratulates Coach Peter Malone, who founded our club in the late 1960's, and began our tradition of excellence when it was incorporated in 1972. Coach Malone left Toledo in the early 1970's and founded the Kansas City Blazers. He went on to serve as US National Coach for many years and US Olympic Coach on several occasions, and has trained numerous Olympians and Senior National champions through the years. His honors are too numerous to list here. He was a graduate of St Francis de Sales High School, where he was a member of the State Championship team in 1967, and went on to graduate from the University of Toledo. The American Swim Coaches Association annually honors coaches for years of outstanding service to our sport.

Congratulations to Coach Pete! GTAC salutes you!

The Josh Project will be featured on HBO's "Real Sports" Program with Bryant Gumble on Tuesday, September 15 at 10pm. Filming was done wtih GTAC instuctors at the SFS pool. Check it out!

Due to increased demand for swim lessons, GTAC is moving weekday lessons to the UT Health Ed pool beginning this fall. "This is a win-win move, " states Head Coach Keith Kennedy. "By providing more lanes at the St Francis pool, we can serve our ever-growing competitive team with our personalized training while having more room for our expanding swim lesson program with lessons at UT."

The GTAC Swim School registration form will be posted on the website and be available for download. The Josh Project program will continue at St Francis on Saturday afernoons, as will our private swim lessons and Special Olympics lessons on Sunday afternoons.

Questions about swim lessons? E-mail gtaclessons@yahoo.com

As  Keith Kennedy enters his 10th year as the Head Coach of the Greater Toledo Aquatic Club, one if his prime goals has been achieved: Consistency of excellence in coaching across the board. Along with full-time Age-Group coach Chris Pierson, who has been with GTAC for 7 seasons, and part-time coaches Dave Eisenstein, Rich Szczepinski, Lars Jorgensen, who have been with GTAC for 5 season or more, Kennedy has implemented a training strategy which is used from Mini-Minnow to National swimmers. GTAC swimmers, as can be seen once again by this year's results, have consistently been the top-performing team in Northwest Ohio and one of the strongest in Ohio and the Midwest. From their minnows who always achieve personal bests and 1st places at Mini-Champs, to the age-groupers' 6th place finish and high-point winners at Ohio JO's and Central Zones, the senior team's 6th place finish at Midwest Sectional Championships and the annual placement of GTAC high schoolers into strong collegiate programs (with nearly $2 million in swimming scholarships since 2000), GTAC continues to maintain training excellence at every level.

This year's coaching assignments will have all coaches returning, plus two new assistant coaches, with the exception of Ryan McRoberts, who is returning to his native Australia..

Good luck and our great thanks to Coach Ryan, and congratulations to all of our coaches for another outstanding season.

The 6th Annual GTAC Disability Open hosted 75 swimmers, including 17 Paralympic Team members and 17 National team members. There were 18 new classifications. 12 American Records, 5 Pan-American Records and 1 Wolrd Record achieved at our meet.  GTAC thanks all of the officials, volunteers, and the GTAC parents who make this meet possible each year.
 
See the story about the meet in Swimming World: http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/21063.asp

To see bios of the US Paralympic national team swimmers, visit www.usparalympics.org and click on Athletes, Swimming.

Since 2002, GTAC has been the recipient of USA Swimming's prestigious Club Excellence Award six times. One of only 200 clubs, out of over 2800, in the US and the only club in Northwest Ohio to be so recognized, GTAC was honored this year with the Bronze Medal Award for the calibre of its swim training and its business organization. The Bronze Medal is displayed to the left. Congratulations to GTAC's swimmers and coaches for this well-deserved honor!

The Toledo Blade's article (located here) of December 26 examines the awards and milestones achieved by GTAC in this past year. From the Golden Goggles award shared with the Josh Project, to our Make Splash national partner designation, to our Disability Meet, extensive lesson program and state-leading competitive swimming, GTAC is truly a full service, excellent organization. Congratulations to our coaches, staff and families for all of our great achievements!