A Last Chance Time Trial Meet will be held on Tuesday, March 2 @ SFS for those swimmers who want to try one more time for cut times. Meet info will be posted shortly.

The registration and practice information for GTAC's Season II, from March 8-May 7, is now posted under the Competitive Team tab.

Long Course 2010 brings the 2nd Annual HOLY TOLEDO! Meet, June 12-13 @ BGSU Natatorium. Once again, there will be special coach's prizes, discount rates on the Toledo Mud Hens Home game (Saturday, June 12 @ 7pm) at the Best Minor League Stadium in the US, information about one of the top ten Zoo's in the nation and a wide range of great swimming events. The meet packet will be posted shortly.

And in July, GTAC will be hosting the Northern Ohio Long Course Regional Meet, July 8-11 @ BGSU. The meet packet will be posted later this spring, but mark your calendar now.

We look forward to welcoming you to our meets!

February is the short course Championships Swim season for our GTAC swimmers at all levels, and we are looking forward to outstanding results after all of our hard work.

Check up on our collegiate swimmers by clicking the About GTAC tab, and see how they are preparing for their conference championships now. And read this recent Toledo Blade article about GTAC's Mike Carroll, senior captain and All-MAC team member for the Miami Redhawks. http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100127/NEIGHBORS/1260336

Visit our nationally-ranked UT Lady Rockets who train with GTAC in the off-season as they seek the MAC Championship this year. http://www.utrockets.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=18000&KEY=&SPID=10697&SPSID=93626

GTAC's High School swimmers are preparing for sectionals and districts, with many highly ranked in the NW District and at the State level. Visit www.swimmeet.com for the most current Northwest District rankings by our swimmers. GTAC is proud to be the year round training spot for swimmers from several Ohio schools in our area, including St Francis, St Ursula and Anthony Wayne, with many of those swimmers going on to compete at the Ohio Senior Championship at Miami University in March.

Our Age-Group swimmers are getting ready for the Northern Ohio Regional Championships in Fremont on February 19-21. GTAC has won this meet every year since it has been scored, and we are working to do that again this year. Swimmers will be having a Psych Up Party on February 17, and then look forward to JO Championships and, for our littlest swimmers, the Ohio Mini-Meet, in February and March. Many of our age-groupers are ranked in the top 20 in Ohio. See the list of Top Results at www.swimconnection.com/oh

At the National level, GTAC will field its largest team ever to Speedo Sectional Championships in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, March 18-22. Last year, GTAC scored 5th overall, and looks to do even better this year. And our paralympic swimmer, Angeline LeVasseur, will be competing at US Paralympic Nationals in San Antonio in March. Looking forward to the summer, GTAC will have its largest contingent ever competing at the Mission Viejo Swim Meet of Champions as part of our popular June California training trip, now in it's 10th year, as well as several swimmers going on to US Junior and Senior Nationals in Irvine, California in August.

Finally, the practice season does not end in Feburary or March. GTAC offers its popular Season II from March 8-May 7 in which we work on stroke technique and personalized training before the start of Long Course. Season II information is now posted on our webpage (look under Competitive Team), and more information can be obtained by calling 419-531-2800. At GTAC, we are proud to offer practice 48 weeks out of the year, and offer exceptional training for swimmers at all levels.

Go GTAC!

The 1st Annual Ohio Open begins this Friday, with timed finals beginning at 5pm, followed by prelims/finals sessions on Saturday and Sunday. Prelims begin at 9am and finals start at 6pm both days. The meet has been moved to the pool at St Francis de Sales High School. Admission is free, and there will be complimentary coffee and hot cocoa for parents of swimmers to warm them up over this very cold weekend.

Check the meet packet under GTAC Hosted Meets for more information regarding events.

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.

Full results can be found at http://www.iunat.iupui.edu/Eventresults/index.htm  

Congratulations GTAC swimmers on an outstanding Carmel meet!

Kicking off its 3rd year, the 2010 Northwest Ohio Middle School Swim League promises to be bigger than ever. Several teams participated last year, and there will be even more swimmers and teams this season. The league is open to all 6th, 7th and 8th graders, and is a great way to introduce high school swimming to jumiddle school students.

The season runs from April 12-May 20, and the $50 registation cost includes three meets, coaching (if needed) and practice time (if necessary). See the information and registration forms posted to the left. Teams can also purchase suits, caps and t-shirts through NOMSSL. The league is set up so that teams can practice with their existing school coaches and at their own pools, or use coaches and practice time provided by NOMSSL. Home-schooled students are welcome to participate as well. Students with disabilities are strongly encouraged to join.

We think swimming is the BEST sport of all and we want to encourage middle school students to make swimming THEIR sport in high school. Join the team or create one at your school. We are open to all!

GTAC's Swimmers, from age-groupers to collegiate competitors, continue to strive for excellence as they begin the New Year.

Our University of Toledo Women's Swim Team (who train with GTAC during the off-season) are set to compete against Ohio State this Saturday at 1pm. Several Senior National qualifying Rockets as well as Olympic Trials Qualifier (and Sectional High Point Winner) Jacy Dyer promise to compete very well against the Buckeyes. The Rockets are currently undefeated in the MAC Conference.

The St Francis de Sales Knights (who train year round with GTAC) have several swimmers currently ranked in the top 16 in the State. In addition to the 200 Medley Relay (7th), the 200 Free Relay (9th) and the 400 Free Relay (9th), those individuals with state rankings include Rowan Williams (2nd, 200 free; 11th, 500 free; 2nd, 100 back), Dan DiSalle (1st, 100 free; 3rd, 500 free; 14th, 200 free; 15th, 50 free), Mike DiSalle (15th, 200 free; 14th, 100 fly; 20th, 100 free ); Phil Barone (1st, 100 breast; ), DJ MacDonald (10th, 100 breast). In addition, St Ursula's Libbey Dachenhous (and GTAC swimmer) is ranked 17th in the state in the 100 free. GTAC's high school swimmers from several school have several outstanding rankings on the district level as well. See www.swimmeet.com for full rankings.

And at the age-group level, several GTAC swimmers are ranked in the top ten statewide, and are seeded very well for this weekend's NWOWI Meet. Visit www.swimconnection.com/oh for all the age-group rankings.

On the first day of the Pitt Meet, Alex Richards scored 3rd in the 50 Fly (10 & under), and 11-12's Zhada Fields scored 4th in the 50 Fly and 5th in the 200 Back (with a prelims time of 2:14.14), placing GTAC in 14th place among the age-group girls overall so far. All Hurricanes have dropped time as well.

On Saturday, Alex Richards scored 8th, 100 Free and 6th, 60 Back, while Zhada earned 4th, 50 Back and 2nd place in the 100 Free. The 11-12 Girls took 1st place in the 200 Free Relay (Ayad, Rosiak, Grzeszczak, Fields) (1:48.42). Also representing GTAC proudly are Jessica Sucheck, Meghan Burnard, Sam Drees, Noah Peeps and Matt Kaminski. Only the top 8 make it to finals. GTAC's women's team continues in 14th place overall with 101 pts scored.

On Sunday, Alex Richards scored 6th, 100 Back and 7th, 50 Free, while the 11-12 Girls 200 Medley Relay scored 9th. GTAC's Women scored 17th overall out of over 60 teams. Congratulations to all of the GTAC swimmers on a excellent meet!

The 48th Annual Pitt Christmas Invitational, featuring teams from the entire eastern and mid-Atlantic U.S., was held at the University of Pittsburgh Trees Natatorium. This is one of the most competitive age-group meets in the nation, and GTAC swimmers are seeded well throughout. For psych sheets: http://www.teampittsburgh.com/html/2009%20Christmas%20Meet/ps3.pdf    

Real time live results are posted at : http://www.teampittsburgh.com/html/2009%20Christmas%20Meet/index.htm

Go Hurricanes!

GTAC Swimmers are swam fast at the Bowling Green Winter Invitational, December 12 & 13. There have been dozens of first place swimmers and mulitple personal bests, and GTAC swimmers are poised to score well overall at the meet. For complete results, see http://www.bgscgators.com/MeetManager/December2009/index.htm

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!

We still have spots open in our 37th Annual GTAC Turkey Meet over Thanksgiving Weekend. Not only do we promise you an excellent venue with fast swimming and a professionally run meet, but there is LOTS to do when your swimmers aren't in the pool.

1. Our winning hockey team, the Toledo Walleye, are home all weekend at our new Sports Arena downtown. Check them out at www.toledowalleye.com and pick up some tickets at a very reasonable price.

2. While you are downtown, visit our children's science museum www.imaginationstation.org or take a short drive to our awesome Toledo Zoo www.toledozoo.org one of the top ten in the nation. It's perfect for warm weather or cold! And over Thanksgiving Weekend, Toledo has it's Annual Holiday Parade on Saturday at 10am!

3. Organize a team dinner at the one and only Tony Packo's www.tonypackos.com or for pasta for a team at Spaghetti Warehouse downtown www.meatballs.com

We have discounted rooms at the Ramada Inn near the pool and shopping malls too. Let us know if we can help your team to enjoy a great Thanksgiving weekend in T-town!

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!

Registration forms for GTAC's popular Non-Competitive Once A Week swim program are now posted under the Non-Competitive Team tab. The days of the week it is offered are Mondays or Wednesdays, and the time is convenient: 4:45-6pm. There are some great new changes which make the program even better this year:

1. Choose one of three 7-week sessions; pick those weeks which give your child maximum benefit. And the cost is only $99 per session (not including 2009-2010 USA Swimming Registration which is a one-time cost for the year). Or choose to sign up for all three sessions at an overall discounted price.

2. Choose to swim Twice a week (Mondays and Wednesdays) for either one session or all three sessions so that your swimmers can attend more often or have the flexibility to attend either day. And if your child decides to switch to the Competitive team mid-season, it's no problem.

3. Our Non-Competitive program has a new home: The UT Health Ed pool! There is now more space for swimmers to spread out and use their larger facilities for changing, showering and storing clothing in lockers.

Click on our Non-Competitive Team tab and go to the Once-A-Week section. You'll find the registration form there. Classes start Monday, Sept 14. Call 531-2800 or e-mail cynthiamillen@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Go GTAC!

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.

GTAC's Zone Swimmers scored more points for Team Ohio than any other team in Ohio. 10 & under Kelsi Berry led the way as the 10 & under Zone high point winner (5th, 200 Medley Relay; 1st, 200 Free Rela;  9th, 50 back; 8th, 50 fly; 4th, 50 free; 3rd, 100 back; 2nd 200 free; 2nd 100 free) followed closely behind by Matt Kaminski (4th, 200 Medley Relay; 2nd, 200 Free Relay; 14th, 50 fly; 6th, 100 back; 2nd, 200 free; and 1st place, 100 free (1:08.84)) and Alex Richards (6th, 200 Free Relay). In the 11-12 girls age-group, Zhada Fields (age 11) scored the best for Team Ohio (3rd, 400 Free Relay; 3rd, 400 Medley Relay; 3rd, 200 Medley Relay; 2nd 200 Free Relay; 11th, 100 free; 9th, 50 free; 6th, 200 free; 5th, 50 back;  3rd, 100 back),followed by Haley Rosiak (8th, 400 Medley Relay) and Adrienne Kinor (12th, 400 Free Relay). For the 11-12 boys, Noah Peeps (6th, 400 Free Relay) and Austin Carter (8th, 100 breast; 15th, 50 breast) both scored for Team Ohio. Finally, for the 13-14 girls, Al Sutter (8th, 200 Free Relay).

In the Open Water events, Nadia Ayad scored 10th and Jessica Sucheck scored 13th for the 11-12 girls, while Tara Vermandere scored 8th place for the 13-14 girls.

Congratulations to all of our Zone swimmers for their hard work!

At the largest Junior Nationals ever, with over 1300 swimmers, Roman Willets achieved all personal best times (Olympic Trials cuts) in his events and scored very well. Roman achieved 23rd place in the 50 meter free (23.77); 10th place in the 200 meter free (1:52.23) and 4th place in the 100 meter free (50.65). Outstanding job, Roman! Congratulations to him and his coach Keith Kennedy. We will be watching Roman this fall at the University of Michigan!

Check our collegiate web page (under About GTAC) to follow all of our GTAC swimmers are are competing at the collegiate level this fall.

GTAC's Paralympic swimmer Angeline LeVasseur achieved all personal best times and scored very well for herself at her first national championship meet. Competing at the Can-Am Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Angeline scored 5th in the 200 free, 9th in the 50 free, 6th in the 50 breast and 8th in the 100 free.. Full results can be found at https://www.swimming.ca/liveresults/09SwadCanAM/

Congratulations, Angeline!

15 Hurricanes qualified to compete on the Team Ohio Zone team next week at the Central Zone Championships. Of the 15, 13 are making the trip: Matt Kaminski, Justin Carter, Noah Peeps, Zhada Fields, Alex Richards, Austin Carter, Haley Rosiak, Kelsi Berry, Nadia Ayad, Adrienne Kinor, Jessica Sucheck, Tara Vermandere and Al Sutter. Also making the team were Connor Trimble and Maria Murillo, but they have chosen not to attend.

And they will have a familiar coach with them, as GTAC coach Chris Pierson is one of the Team Ohio Zone coaches. Congratulations and swim fast!

Matching their younger teammates, GTAC's Senior Team took 6th place overall with 624 points at the Speedo Sectional Championships, out of over 40 teams and nearly 800 swimmers from across the Midwest. Jacy Dyer won the Women's High Point award and set two new pool records (800m free, 1500m free) while Roman Willet's swim in the 100 free (50.88 US Open cut) makes him the fastest 18 yr old swimmer in that event in the nation. Every swimmer achieved personal best times at the meet, and many achieved Senior National and US Open cut times. (The Senior National cuts-SNat-- are for the Short Course Senior National Championships to be held this winter. Long Course Junior cuts and US Open cuts--currently the fastest---are for those meets coming up next month in Federal Way, Washington).Here is the day by day recap, starting with the final day and working back:

Day Four:1500 free: 1st place, Jacy Dyer (16:54.91  US Open cut  Pool Record); 3rd place, Louise Smyth (17:19.40 SNat); 8th place, Laura Heckroth, who dropped 17 seconds (17:30.78). 100 Free: Women, 3rd place, Laura Heckroth (57.64 SNat); 8th place, Katie White (58.51 SNat), 16th place, Jacy Dyer (58.63 SNat); 26th place, Leslee Winfield (59.32). Men, 4th place, Roman Willets (50.88 US Open cut  and fastest time for 18 yr old in US); 30th place, Dan DiSalle (54.18); 31st place, Joe Katich (54.27).     800 Free: 20th place, Rowan Willams (8:48.50).   (The Women's 400m Medley Relays were not yet posted.)

Day Three: Roman Willets, 20th , 100 back (1:00.03, LC JNat). Laura Heckroth, 2nd, 400 free (4:20.18 SNat); Jacy Dyer, 3rd, (US Open cut 4:19.09 prelims). Louise Smyth, 14th, 100 Breast, Laura Lindsay, 6th (1:13.02 SNat), 200 Fly, Smyth, 6th place, (2:19.28 SNat), Amanda Thompson, 16th place. Willets, 13th, LC Junior National cut of 2:08.35 in prelims. Lorin Pierson, 20th. 400 Free Relay, GTAC's Women, 3rd (Heckroth, White, Thompson, Dyer SNat 3:55.02), 13th (Williams, Katich, D. DiSalle, Willets) Senior National time of 3:35.17.

Day Two: 200m Free: 2nd place, Laura Heckroth (2:04.22, SNat); 5th place Jacy Dyer (2:05.30 SNat); 15th place, Katie White (2:08.31). Men: 12th place, Roman Willets (1:54.27 SNat).  100m Fly: 4th place, Amanda Thompson (1:01.91 US Open).  400m IM: 4th place, Jacy Dyer (5:00.70 SNat).  800m Free Relays: 3rd place Women's (8:31.70SNat) (Heckroth, White, Dyer, Smyth); 30th place Women's (9:01.09 Sect) (Winfield, Thompson, Myers, Frohman); 13th place Men's (7:54.86 SNat and LC Junior cut) (Willets, Williams, Katich, D. DiSalle)

Day One: Rowan Williams achieved his first Senior National time, 15th place (2:09.08), 200m back, Roman Willets, 18th place, SNat time of 2:07.86. Katie White,10th, 50m free. SNat time of 26.67, Amanda Thompson, 15th place, SNat time (27.10). Willets got his second SNat time, 10th place, 50m free (23.96), DJ MacDonald, Short Course Junior National 200m breast (2:28.41), 21st place. DJ was the youngest swimmer in the top 24. The highlight of the evening was Jacy Dyer's Pool Record swim of the 800m free in a US Open cut time of 8:50.56, followed by Louise Smyth, 5th place with a SNat cut (9:03.02) and 9th place Laura Heckroth (9:07.03).

Full results are at www.swimmakos.com/realsect/index.htm   Congratulations to all of our senior swimmers and to their coaches Liz Hinkleman, Lars Jorgensen and Keith Kennedy.

GTAC scored it's highest ever as a Large Team at the 2009 Long Course JO Championships: 6th Place with a score of 1115.5. Kelsi Berry and Matt Kaminski both won the 10 & under Individual High Point Awards. Kelsi is State Champion in 4 events (200 free, with a new GTAC Record, 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly); Matt is State Champion in 4 events (200 free, with a new GTAC Record, 50 back, 100 back and 100 free); Zhada Fields is State Champion in 11-12 50 back. There were 59 new Zone cuts achieved and 1 Sectional cut. And the 10 & under girls were Runners-Up High Point winners (Congrats to Kelsi Berry, Alex Richards, Allie Kemp, Regan Bohm, Morgan Colley, Brea Fields, Katie Kreger, Samantha Sucheck, Anna Birkemeier, Amy King, Jillian Sutter and Nadine Ayad).

Congratulations to all of our GTAC swimmers who worked so hard this season. Congratulations to Coaches Dave Eisenstein, Chris Pierson, Ryan McRoberts, Amanda "Red" Breen, Beth Dahlmann, Karl Strauss, Rich Szczepinski and Amanda Thompson for a job well-done.

And good luck to those who are going on to Zones!

The following 49 swimmers have qualified to compete at the 2009 Long Course Ohio JO Championships this coming weekend at Miami University. This is the largest group ever to qualify for GTAC:

Girls: Nadia Ayad, Nadine Ayad, Hannah Barnes, Kelsi Berry, Aurora Biggs, Anna Birkemeier, Kennedy Bohm, Regan Bohm, Meghan Burnard, Morgan Colley, Brea Fields, Zhada Fields, Ashleah Funkhouser, Alex Grzeszczak, Madison Jones, Allie Kemp, Amy King, Adrienne Kinor, Allison Kinor, Katie Kreger, Gabby Mancy, Maddi Maraugha, Maria Murillo, Alex Richards, Haley Rosiak, Jessica Suchekc, Samantha Sucheck, Al Sutter, Jillian Sutter, Mendon Thomas and Tara Vermandere.

Boys: Connor Aossey, Jack Barone, Nick Birkemeier, John Booth, Nick Brodie, Austin Carter, Justin Carter, Jack DiSalle, Sam Drees, Matt Gustafson, Matt Kaminski, Jacob Kreger, Griff Littlehale, Blake Noonan, Noah Peeps, Andrew Quattromani, Connor Trimble and Evan Williams.

See Psych Sheet and Live Results at http://swimmakos.com/realtime/index.htm

Congratulations to all of our swimmers who competed at the Northern Regional Championship at BGSU and Senior Championship Meet at Kenyon College this past weekend. Once again, GTAC won the Regional Meet with over 2000 points. Each swimmer achieved personal best times, and many achieved new JO, Zone and Sectional cut times. Special kudos to Senior Meet State Champions DJ MacDonald, for both the 100 Breast (1:09.79) and 200 Breast (2:31.43), and the Men's 400 Medley Relay (Rowan Williams, DJ MacDonald, Mike DiSalle, Dan Miller) (4:07.24). Even with only half of our senior swimmers in attendance, GTAC scored in the top ten overall. Results for both meets can be found at www.swimconnection.com/oh  Now it's on to Sectionals and Junior Nationals for our Seniors!

Good luck to all GTAC swimmers at JO's this weekend! Go GTAC!

The last weekend of June saw GTAC's team split between the Findlay Flag City Meet and the Cincinnati Marlins TYR Summer Invitational, and even with only a few of the age groupers at each locations, there were several firsts and dominating swims.

In Finday, (see www.fastswim.com for all results), every GTAC swimmer scored for the team, with Katie Kreger, Alex Richards and Regan Bohm all scoring first places. There were several new JO cuts made, and the Hurricanes, with only a handful of our younger swimmers competing, scored 7th place overall. And individually, Katie Kreger took 3rd place High Point for the 8 & under girls, while Allie Kemp earned 2nd place High Point for the 9-10 girls. Excellent job!

In Cincinnati, (see http://results.teamunify.com/oscm/index.htm for live results) the Hurricanes have been very successful in coming back for finals in all age groups. Achieving High Point awards in their respective age groups were Matt Kaminski and Kelsi Berry (10 & unders), and Lorin Pierson (Open Men). Congratulations for the strong swimming which produced many new JO, Zone and Sectional cuts across the board.

Awesome job, Hurricanes!

GTAC's girls scored very well in the 10 & under and 11-12 segments of the 2009 Ohio Open Water Championships in Batavia, Ohio last week, bringing GTAC an overall 8th place in the combined scores.

The 10 & under girls took 3rd place collectively, while the strong team of 11-12 girls took 2nd place. All results can be viewed at www.OhioOpenWater.com .

Congratulations, Open Water Hurricanes!

Six Senior Swimmers who made the competitive cut times for the annual Mission Viejo TYR Swim Meet of Champions completed their first day of competition and put GTAC on the scoreboard immediately. Roman Willets took 12th in the 100 free and 16th in the 400 free, while Rowan Williams took 24th in the 200 back. The 400 free relay team of Katich, Willets, Williams and DiSalle took 10th, competing along side Olympians such as Nathan Adrian and Jason Lezak, the New Zealand national team and many other national champions. GTAC's swimmers also met up with former GTAC/SFS standout Jeff Pease who has been the coach of North Coast Aquatics for over 30 years, and produced many national champions and Olympians. Coach Pease sent his greetings back to Toledo and all of GTAC's swimmers.

Day Two: Roman Wiillets scored 14th in the 200 free; DJ MacDonald (one of the youngest swimmers at the meet)  scored 14th in the 200 Breast; the 800 free relay team of DiSalle, Willets, Katich and Williams took 10th place.

Day Three: The 400 MR scored 12th place while DJ MacDonald scored 12th in the 100 breast with a time of 1:09.66, a personal best. Meanwhile, Olympians Chloe Sutton and Katie Ziegler had outstanding races in the 200 free while Rebecca Soni nearly broke her world record in the 200 breast and Lezak and Adrian battled it out in the 50 free as the 41st annual SMOC continued.  Live results can be found at www.socalswim.org/HTresults/2009SwimMeetofChampions/  

Coaches at the Holy Toledo! Meet won gas cards, gift certficates, Mud Hens t-shirts and assorted prizes while swimmers who finished in the top 3 were awarded special Holy Toledo! swim caps, at the inaugural Holy Toledo! Meet this weekend. Local favorites Gino's Pizza and Tony Packo hot dogs were served throughout the day, Mud Hens tickets were available for tonight's game and everyone had the chance to "chuck a duck" (yellow rubber ducks, of course) into a boat in the pool for money prizes. It was a fast and fun meet for over 325 swimmers from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Holy Toledo! Results are now posted on this website under GTAC Hosted Meets.

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.

The swimmers from Anthony Wayne won the 2nd Annual Northwestern Ohio Middle School Swim League Championship on May 20, as Ottawa Hills came in 2nd and a consolidated Toledo Catholic Diocese team took 3rd. Swimmers of all abilities who are in 6th, 7th or 8th grade were able to represent their schools in the pool this past month. There were six teams who competed overall, including Eastwood, Bowling Green and Bedford, Michigan, junior high programs. The number of participants tripled from the first year of the league's inception, and it is already anticipated that many more schools will become involved in 2010.

The purpose of the NOMSSL is to encourage junior high students to consider swimming when deciding upon their high school sports, introduce the sport to new swimmers, and teach a healthy life sport to all kids. Results of all meets can be found on this website.

Congratulations to all of the swimmers who participated!

With nearly 200 swimmers, and over 60 swimmers committing to the challenging Long Course Elite Training program, GTAC has attained its highest numbers in many years and the most comprehensive training program in its 36 year history.

In additional to its standard nine group divisions, based upon skill and strength levels, GTAC first offered a non-competitive program four years ago for those swimmers who merely wanted to stay in shape or keep their skills fresh while pursuing other activities, and its long-standing swim school trained over 800 children and adults last year. Now GTAC provides more fully personalized training in their competitive program by offering an elite component for those swimmers who commit to 100% practice and meet participation.

"We know that even among our competitive swimmers, each one has a different goal," states Head Coach Keith Kennedy. "Some only wish to attend a few meets and a few practices each week, because they are still deciding which sport they want to focus upon, or they have other activities which are important to them at this stage. We value them and their goals. They give their all when they are at practice, and we give them the same excellent training each time. " The Elite team, on the other hand, is an accelerated program for swimmers who "have made a 100% commitment to year round swimming, and are working to achieve special goals, whether it be collegiate swimming, first place at districts or zone cuts in particular strokes." By having the Elite program, GTAC provides one more piece of personalized training in its continuum from the non-swimmer to the top-ranked national swimmer.

Long Course begins on Monday, May 11. For more information, click the tabs at left or call 419-531-2800 to schedule a visit to practice.

The Northwest Ohio Middle School Swim League, focusing upon swimmers of all abilities in 6th, 7th and 8th grades, kicked off its 2nd season today with an ever growing roster of swimmers. The following junior high programs will be represented this year: Anthony Wayne, Bedford (MI), Bowling Green, Eastwood, Ottawa Hills and Toledo Catholic Schools (with swimmers from several parochial schools) programs. Swimmers can either practice at the St Francis pool with a coach provided by the program or with their own coach, or they can train at their own school's pool. Swimmers of all abilities, from year round USA/Y swimmers to first timers, are involved in this program to encourage junior high kids to get into the swim and consider swimming as a prospective high school sport later on. Meets will be held May 7, 14 and 20 at SFS.

It's not too late to get involved, either on an existing team, or by creating a team from your school. E-mail Cindy Millen Roberts: cynthiamillen@gmail.com and join the fun! Click on the Middle School tab to the left for more info and costs.

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!

GTAC's Long Course Season will kick off on May 11 with unique training opportunities for those swimmers who wish to commit to full-time, challenging training over the summer months. The Elite Program, for age group and senior swimmers, will require a commitment to additional practices and meets, attendance at additional meets, and greater dryland components. In this way, the needs of all swimmers are better met, and a more challenging level of training can be provided to those who seek it.

As in the past, the senior and national level teams will be co-trained by Head Coach Keith Kennedy and UT Coach and former Olympian Lars Jorgensen. The remainder of the team will divided into small groups for personalized training by eight assistant coaches, all of whom have extensive coaching experience and four years of varsity collegiate swimming competition. Head Age Group coach Chris Pierson will continue to coordinate all entries and work with Coach Kennedy to place swimmers one of ten groups which best fit that swimmer's current skill level.

Long Course registration information and May's practice schedule will be posted April 9. There will be discount for all registration paid in full by May 1. The Long Course meet schedule is now posted. To visit our current practices, stop by any Monday through Thursday at 3:30pm (for senior swimmers) or 5:15pm (for younger swimmers) between now and May 9 (Note that we will be closed for the Easter holiday, April 13-16). For questions, please e-mail the office manager Cindy Millen Roberts at cynthiamillen@gmail.com

On Sunday, GTAC swimmers capped a very successful Sectional Meet with several great swims and new Junior National cuts. Willets scored 9th in the 200 fly and 6th in the 100 free. Joe Katich scored 19th in the 100 free, while Rowan Williams took 29th in the 100 free and 10th in the 200 backstroke. All were personal best times. The Hurricanes ended the meet with a 6th place finish in the 400 Free Relay (Williams, Katich, DiSalle, Willets), and are coming home with a 5th place overall finish from Fort Lauderdale (and some nice suntans).

On Saturday, day three, Rowan Williams led the pack with his 10th place finish in the 100 back; Roman Willets scored 22nd in the same event and 12th place in the 50 free, while Joe Katich scored 24th in the 50 free. The 400 Medley Relay Team of Williams, MacDonald, Willets and Katich took 6th place, while Zimmerman, Trimble, Mike DiSalle and Miller took 24th place. it was a rainy day to swim outdoors, but the Hurricanes kept up the pace.

On Friday at the Speedo Sectional Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Roman Willets scored 5th place with long course Junior National cut in the 200 free and 14th place in the 100 fly. 14 year old DJ MacDonald scored 19th in the 100 breast, and the 800 Free Relay team of Mike DiSalle, Rowan Williams, Joe Katich and Roman Willets scored 10th place.

On Thursday, the 8 GTAC Men competing at the Speedo Sectional Championships in Fort Lauderdale scored 5th and 10th place in both the 200 Medley Relay and the 200 Free Relay.

Congratulations on a great Speedo Sectional Meet!

GTAC achieved 9th place overall with over 800 points scored, with five state champions and 10 year old Matt Kaminski winning 3rd place high point for all 10 & under boys. There were dozens of faster Zone, and several new Sectional time cuts, as the Hurricanes swam overwhelmingly fast at Bowling Green. Here is how they scored:

10 & under Girls: 7th, 200 FR (Regan Bohm, Alex Richards, Allie Kemp, Kelsi Berry); 4th, 200 MR (Allie Kemp, Amy King, Kelsi Berry, Alex Richards); Kelsi Berry, 4th, 100 back; 10th, 200 free; 13th, 50 free; 7th, 200 IM; 10th, 100 IM; 10th, 100 free; 4th, 50 back; Allie Kemp, 13th, 100 back; 11th, 50 back. 10 & under Boys: 8th, 200 FR (Scott Thomas, Blake Noonan, Griff Littlehale, Matt Kaminski); 12th, 200 MR (Cyrus Thomley, Scott Thomas, Matt Kaminski, Griff Littlehale); Matt Kaminski, 1st, 100 back; 6th, 200 free; 6th, 200 IM; 2nd, 50 free; 5th, 100 IM; 2nd, 100 free; 2nd 50 back. 11-12 Girls: 1st, 200 FR (Haley Rosiak, Zhada Fields, Kennedy Bohm, Maria Murillo); 11th, 400 MR (Haley Rosiak, Zhada Fields, Nadia Ayad, Maria Murillo); 6th, 200 MR (Zhada Fields, Ashleah Funkhouser, Nadia Ayad, Maria Murillo); 4th, 400 FR (Haley Rosiak, Zhada Fields, Kennedy Bohm, Maria Murillo); Nadia Ayad, 14th, 50 fly; Kennedy Bohm, 11th, 500 free; 16th, 200 free; Zhada Fields, 5th, 50 back; 6th, 50 free; 12th, 100 IM; 11th, 100 back; 9th, 100 free; Maria Murillo, 2nd, 50 free; 4th, 500 free; 2nd, 200 free; 15th, 200 IM; 3rd, 100 free; Haley Rosiak, 14th, 50 back, 16th, 100 free; 11-12 Boys: 9th, 200 MR (Noah Peeps, Austin Carter, Evan Willams, Nick Brodie); 13th, 400 FR (Noah Peeps, Evan Williams, Austin Carter, Nick Brodie); Nick Brodie, 2nd, 50 breast; 9th, 100 breast; 16th, 50 free; Austin Carter, 11th, 100 breast; 13-14 girls: Tara Vermandere, 8th, 1650 free; 13-14 boys; 5th, 800 FR (Justin Carter, DJ MacDonald, Connor Aossey, Connor Trimble); 5th, 200 FR (Carter, MacDonald, Aossey, Trimble); 7th, 400 MR (Carter, MacDonald, Trimble, Aossey); 7th, 200 MR (Carter, MacDonald, Trimble, Aossey); 5th, 400 FR (Carter, MacDonald, Aossey, Trimble); DJ MacDonald, 2nd, 100 breast; 15th, 200 free; 4th, 200 breast; 9th, 500 free; 15th, 200 free; Connor Trimble; 8th, 100 breast, 9th, 200 free; 5th, 100 free; 4th, 50 free; 12th, 100 back.

Congratulations GTAC Hurricanes!

Congratulations to GTAC's 8 & unders for their outstanding swims at the Barbara Kay Mini-Meet, typically recognized as the 8 & under Ohio Mini-Championships. All of our swimmers dropped time and many scored in the top ten, including Bubby Barnes, age 6, who won first place in the 6 & under 25 Breast. Our Relays all scored very well, especially our 8 & under Girls 200 MR, which took first place (Bohm, Kight, Kreger, Sucheck) and 12th (Richards, Ayad, Fields, Shook); 8 & under Girls 200 FR, 3rd (Kreger, Sucheck, Bohm, Kight) and 15th (Ayad, Metzger, Vining, Sahloff); 7 & under Girls 100 MR, 9th (Funkhouser, Kemp, Kreger, Shook); 7 & under Girls 100 FR, 10th (Funkhouser, Kreger, Shook, Kemp). The boys also did an outstanding job, especially since our 7 & under Relays were made up of boys aged 5 & 6! The 7 & under Boys 100 FR took 6th place (Barnes, Nowels, Burnard, Sahloff), and their 100 MR scored 6th as well. Congratulations to all of our youngest swimmers! Even the smallest Hurricane makes a big splash at GTAC!

GTAC/SFS Swimmer Roman Willets won the Ohio State High School Championship today in the 200 free with a time of 1:38.69. Willets also scored second in the 100 free with a time of 44.95 (just getting tapped out by his future Michigan teammate, Eric Huffman of Upper Arlington). Sophomore Rowan Williams scored 6th place in the 100 back, with a time of 52.18. With Relays scoring well, the Knights came in 6tth place overall. Congratulations to Roman, Rowan, Dan DiSalle, Mike DiSalle, Dan Miller, Matt Marshall, DJ MacDonald and Joe Katich. 

UT/GTAC Swimmers led the way with two pool and conference record-breaking swims at MAC Championships on Thursday. Making it one-two-three for the Rockets in the 500, Jacy Dyer won with an NCAA B cut time of 4:45.50, followed Laura Heckroth (4:47.53-NCAA B) and Caitlyn Cormack (4:48.14-NCAA B). In the 200 IM, Meg Reissig set a new pool and conference record with an NCAA B time of 1:59.49. Jacy, Meg, Caitlin and Kylie Gamelier, who was 2nd in the 100 breast, were named to the All-MAC First Team. Laura was named to the All-MAC Second Team. The UT Rockets are coached by Lars Jorgensen, who also is a senior coach for GTAC. For full results, click http://bgsufalcons.cstv.com/sports/w-swim/spec-rel/09-mac-swim-tourney.html?DB_OEM_ID=9400  

By Saturday night, GTAC was ahead of the all other Northern Ohio teams by over 500 points, as the Hurricanes went to Fremont and came home as the clear NW Ohio Regional Champions for 2009. All 64 of our swimmers achieved personal best times, and many won their events. In addition, there were new State (AA) cuts made by Andrew Quattromani, Tara Vermandere, Allie Kemp, Haley Rosiak, Evan Williams, Nadia Ayad, Zhada Fields, Noah Peeps, Nick Brodie, Maria Murillo and Kennedy Bohm. All results and final scores can be found at www.sandotterswimming.com/N.W._Ohio_Regional_A_Meet.htm

Congratulations, GTAC Hurricanes!

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!

Roman Willets, the top-ranked high school 200 freestyler in Ohio and one of the fastest nationally, signed with the University of Michigan Wolverines on November 12, during the NCAA early signing period. Recruited by several top swimming schools, Willets chose the Wolverines, where he will be swimming with several of the top collegiate swimmers in the nation. UM produces more Olympians than any other Big Ten program, including Tom Dolan, Tom Malchow, Dan Ketchum and Alex Vanderkaay. Roman follows in the footsteps of former GTAC/SFS stand-out Tony Kurth ('99) who set records at UM, and dozens of other GTAC swimmers over the past 36 years who have successfully competed at the collegiate level in all divisions. Since 2000, GTAC swimmers have earned over $1.5 million in athletic scholarships from such programs as Wisconsin, Texas, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Miami of Ohio and Harvard. Congratulations to Roman and Coach Kennedy.