SHARKS AQUATIC CLUB - Cleveland County, North Carolina

Shark Bytes
from Coach David Messenger

Stingray Invite Results
This year's Stingray Invite was the largest and fastest yet. Over 950 swimmers were originally entered before they started turning swimmers away. Coming off a couple weeks of solid training over the holidays, our swimmers were ready for some great swims, and they did not disappoint. Our swimmers did a great job all weekend racing hard. Kathi and I are very pleased with how everyone performed at this time of year.

The Shark's team was led by:
Parker Campbell - finished first in 7 out of 8 events swum with six best times;
Alexandra Martelle - finished with 3 first places, 2 seconds, and 1 third along with 4 best times;
Lindsey Martelle - had 2 first place finishes and finished no worse than 8th in any event,
Madelyn Martelle - also had 2 first place finishes and finished in the top 9 in each event;
Kaitlyn Moss - had a first place finish in the 100 IM and finished in the top 5 in every event she swam;
Garrett Simpson - had 2 second place finishes, finished no worse than 9th place and had a best time in every event he swam;
Austin Toney - had a first place finish and swam 5 best times during the weekend
Ben Waldrep - finished first in 2 events, finished in the top 4 in each event and had best times all weekend.

Other swimmers turning in great performances were:
Kassidy Hamrick - 7 best times out of 8 events swum
Canaan Monteith - 4 best times with all but one B times
Erin Riggs - 6 best times, including a drop of 46 seconds in the 1000 Free
David Roby - 5 best times with two new JO cuts in the 200 Back and 200 Breast
John Michael Twiggs - 5 best times including a 15 second drop in the 100 Back
Taylor Wade - 5 best times with a 21 second drop in the 200 Free
Marissa Wright - 4 best times and an awesome swim in her first 500 Free

I was very proud of our swimmers throughout the three day meet. A lot of them were running low on gas by the end of the weekend but they still stood up and swam tough. These swims and experiences can not be replicated in practice and will pay dividends as we head into the championship meets. Congratulations to everybody for a great meet.

Carolina Classic Results
The Carolina Classic was held this past weekend in Columbia, SC at the University of South Carolina. It was a large meet with nearly all of the best teams in South Carolina in action. Our Sharks team swam great all weekend and finished 6th out of 22 teams. (FYI SMAC finished a distant 7th).

It's been 5 months since I've seen our team compete in a 3 day meet (thanks to Coach Kile's wedding) and I had such a great time being with the team and watching everybody swim. It was fun to be back in that environment and see exactly where we're at as a team. And no doubt, our team continues to work hard and the times continue to drop. The prelim/final format allowed for our 11 & ups to get two swims for their events and everybody took advantage of it, coming back at night and swimming even faster than the morning. There was some fast competition with several nationally ranked swimmers competing and our team stood up and raced fast all weekend. The Sharks team had a ton of great performances all weekend and Coach Kathi and I were having a blast watching our swimmers go crazy.

The top 5 point scorers for the girls were:
Lindsey Martelle (64 points, 3 wins, 7 top 4 finishes), Alexandra Martelle (61 points, 2 wins, 7 top 5 finishes), Kaitlyn Moss, (51 points, 7 top 5 finishes), Annie Shirk (38 points, 5 top 5 finishes), Madelyn Martelle (18 points, 2 top 5 finishes)

The top 5 point scorers for the boys were:
Parker Campbell (80 points, 4 wins, 1st or 2nd in every event), Jay Wilson (49 points, 5 top 5 finishes), Matt Campbell (43 points, 1 win, 5 top 5 finishes), Garrett Simpson (33 points, 5 top 5 finishes), Austin Toney (33 points 1 win, 3 top 5 finishes)

Other swimmers receiving points:
David Roby (25 points), Davis Kennedy (7 points), Ann Huston (6 points), Abbey Bragg (4 points), Spencer Hopper (3 points), Nicholas Rice (2 points).

The Sharks team also had great swims by the following swimmers who had at least 5 best times this weekend:
Tori Bridges, Evan Morse, Kathryn Seen, Sammi Jo Thompson, and Taylor Wade.

All of the swimmers finishing top 5 in scoring also had at least 5 best times as well. It was great to see our team compete so well but it was also great to see our strong support group in the stands. I received several comments from other coaches, officials and even a few parents from other teams saying how great it was to see the parents from a team sitting together and supporting everybody on their team. It definitely brought a lot to the meet. Thank you to everybody for their support of their swimmers and our team. And congratulations to all of the swimmers for a great weekend!

Turkey Meet Results
Congratulations to all of the swimmers who competed at the CVAC Quad Meet this past Saturday. It was a fun meet and I would like to congratulate the following swimmers for competing in their first USA Swimming Meet:
Maddy Demetro, Jeremy Henkel, Jonathan Henkel, Reni Marcellino, Landon Monteith, and Olivia Moss
We had a lot of swimmers who swam great and had best times in every event they swam:
Emma Ayscue, Tori Bridges, Ryan Eusobio, Kassidy Hamrick, Brenner Martin, David Roby, Michael Seen, John Michael Twiggs, Taylor Wade, and Marissa Wright
Because of the my good friend's wedding in October, this is the first meet I've been to in several months and it was great to see how much everybody has improved and how fast they are getting. Congratulations again to everybody for a great meet.

Great Pumpkin Results
This past weekend the Sharks competed in our first short course meet of the season, and even though I was unable to attend due to a wedding, it was obvious from the results that our team swam great. I was happy to hear from Coach Kathi and several parents about how well our swimmers swam all weekend.
I would like to congratulate the following swimmers who had an incredible weekend and swam a best time in every event:
Ashtyn Martin, Nicholas Rice, Jay Wilson, and Marissa Wright
These swimmers also did great and had best times in all but two or three events:
Parker Campbell, Alexandra Handlin, Shea Hopper, Ann Huston, Evan Morse, Kaitlyn Moss, David Roby, Annie Shirk, Austin Toney, and Alyssa White
I would also like to congratulate our new swimmers who competed in their first meet with SAC:
Tyler Dodrill, Ryan Eusebio and Canaan Monteith.
Congratulations to all of our swimmers for a great meet.

S5- Sharks Super Saturday Smashing Success
The S3 (Sharks Super Saturday) was held this past Saturday at the Shelby City Park and it was a great time for all who attended. Thank you to the parents and everybody who made it one of the best banquets ever. We started with pictures, followed by a few parents meetings, a cookout (thanks Steven!), banquet and some free swim in the pool. I enjoyed seeing everybody there have a good time together and look forward to the next time we can do something similar.

I would like to congratulate all of our award winners from the long course season:

HIGH POINT AWARDS
Girls: 8 & U- Alexandra Handlin, 9-10- Kaitlyn Moss, 11-12- Annie Shirk, 13-14- Alexandra Martelle, 15-18- Spencer Hopper
Boys: 8 & Under- Nic Morris, 9-10- Jay Wilson, 11-12- Ben Waldrep, 13-14- Garrett Simpson, 15-18- William Quarles
MOST IMPROVED AWARDS
Girls: 8 & U- Emma Ayscue, 9-10- Marissa Wright, 11-12- Laura Wilson, 13-14- Erin Wilson, 15-18- Kathryn Seen
Boys: 8 & U- Goutam Gadiraju, 9-10- Davis Kennedy, 11-12- Brenner Martin, 13-14- Austin Toney, 15-18- Evan Morse
YEARLY AWARDS
Anne Potts Team Before Self Award - Alan Riggs
Tom Jones Sportsmanship Award- Abbey Bragg
Howard White 12 & Under Excellence Award- Annie Shirk
Shoco All Around Award- Emily Morgan

WCSA Meet Results
The WCSA Championship meet is the last meet every summer and every time I walk away thinking that its definitely one of the funnest meets we go to all year. Our swimmers train, taper and focus for bigger meets but this meet is more about the team and less about individual performances. We had some great swims, a lot of personal best times, but more importantly a great time swimming together as a team. Our team finished 2nd place overall in points but for anybody who was there, they will remember this meet as being the "Thriller" meet. We won the spirit award at last year's WCSA Champ meet with our tribute to America. Everybody dressed up in red, white, and blue and we showed our American spirit. We won that spirit award hands down. This year we dressed up as characters from Michael Jackson's Thriller, much to CVAC's surprise, and rocked the house! Our swimmers never looked so scary, and that says a lot considering how some of them look walking into morning practice. Alan Riggs did an impressive job as the white Michael Jackson, Ari Wallace played a great role as Michael's date and the rest of the team stole the show dressed as the zombies. They had torn up prom and wedding dresses they bought from goodwill and all kinds of make up with scary hair. You think that dressing up would be good enough, but our guys took it to another level when they performed the Thriller dance several times during the parade. I missed every other team's parade because I was watching our swimmers strut, clap, and zombie walk around the pool. It was awesome! Due to some discrepancy, we somehow ended up tying for the Spirit award! They waited too late, last minute actually, to get the coaches vote and at the end their were only a couple of coaches left. The final tally had us tied with RCST but we took home the trophy. Either way, it was too much fun. But now we have a year to figure how to top that. Its going to be tough but I don't see a reason why we can't go three in a row. Definite threepeat.

Summer Break
It's now day three of our summer break, depending on when you receive this. We will start back in two weeks on Wednesday, August 19. I'll have the fall practice schedule out soon and will also post the registration dates. We will have two registration dates in which parents, not swimmers, will come into register their swimmer for the fall. Any outstanding balances must be paid before registration. Once everybody returns they will receive a packet that will include the short course schedule, with meet intent form, the swim suit policy and order form, and other team information. There also be several parent meetings but we'll take care of that in a few weeks. Right now, enjoy your break and spend some time taking it easy before we crank it back up. See you all in a few weeks.

Senior Champ Results
William Quarles represented the Sharks team at the North Carolina Senior Championships in Charlotte this past weekend. It was a fast meet with about 150 swimmers missing from last year's meet due to the faster time standards. William has been attending the NC State Championships Meets for the Sharks team since he was 10 and its only fitting that his last Champ meet would result in all best times. He swam great all weekend, finishing strong in every race and breaking three Sharks long course records in the process. William will be attending and swimming for East Carolina University in the fall and swam against several future teammates. Congratulations to William for another great championship meet.

Age Group Champs Results
The North Carolina Age Group Championships were held this past weekend in Cary, NC with over 500 of the fastest 14 & Under swimmers in the state competing. Our Sharks team did awesome, finishing 19th overall. We had 13 swimmers at the meet but we did not have 4 swimmers in any single age group so we couldn't compete in any relays. With relays we would have easily finished a lot higher. The Sharks Aquatic Club was the highest scoring team west of Charlotte and the 2nd highest Blue Ridge team. Its quite an accomplishment for our team and our community.

The team had a lot of personal best times and great performances all weekend. Kaitlyn Moss was the team's highest scorer with 27 points, followed by Ben Waldrep (26), Lindsey Martelle (25) and Madelyn Martelle (24). Shark swimmers with top 8 finishes were: Waldrep (5th place- 50 Breast), Lindsey Martelle (6th place- 50 Breast), Austin Toney (6th place- 200 Breast), and Kaitlyn Moss (8th place- 200 Free). Parker Campbell, Alexandra Martelle, and Annie Shirk also swam incredible and finished with at least one top 16 finish in the state. Garrett Simpson swam all but one personal best time all weekend.

The Sharks team record book was rewritten with awesome swims all weekend. A total of 13 SAC records were broken.

SAC Long Course Team Records Broken :

9-10 Girls Long Course Record
Kaitlyn Moss- 100 & 200 Free, 100 Back
11-12 Girls Long Course Record
Lindsey Martelle- 100 Breast
13-14 Girls Long Course Record
Alexandra Martelle - 50 & 100 Free, 100 & 200 Back, 100 Breast
11-12 Boys Long Course Record
Parker Campbell- 200 & 400 Free
13-14 Boys Long Course Record
Austin Toney- 100 & 200 Breast

Last Chance Meet
Its official. The summer meets at the Shelby City Park are now over. Once again, the Last Chance Meet was a great success with a ton of positive comments coming in all weekend from coaches, parents, and families. Participants from North Carolina, along with those from New York, West Virginia, and New Zealand were all impressed with the meet, the facility and the helpful families that make it possible. Thank you to everybody who helped out and did their part to make this a great meet for all of the swimmers. We had a lot of parents who had swimmers in the meet and were a huge help all weekend and we also had a good number of parents who helped all weekend even though their swimmer(s) were not in the meet. THANK YOU to all of the officials, timing system crew, hospitality, heat sheet table and timers who made this meet run smooth all weekend. You guys do a great job and seem to get better with each meet. And while the parents were doing their thing and keeping the meet going, our swimmers were in the water doing their thing, swimming lights out! There were a lot of great swims all weekend with some huge drops by a couple of swimmers along with a ton of personal best times. David Roby punched his ticket to Age Group Champ Meet next weekend with a state qualifying time in the 100 Breast. He swam it as a split in the 200 Breast in the next to last event of the weekend. He ended up dropping 3 seconds in the 200 as well. Great job David! But David wasn't the only one. The following swimmers lit it up all weekend and turned in nearly all personal best times: Alexandra Handlin, Sayre Hopper, Shea Hopper, Katie Jackson, Davis Kennedy, Jay Wilson and Marissa Wright. Congratulations to all the swimmers for a great meet.

AGE GROUP CHAMPS
The next meet for our swimmers will be the North Carolina Age Group Long Course Championships this weekend in Cary, North Carolina. This meet will bring together the fastest 14 & Unders swimmers in the state for an awesome meet. Following the Age Group Champ meet will be the Senior Champ meet in Charlotte, for swimmers over the age of 15. Good luck to our swimmers as they represent our team at the North Carolina Age Group and Senior State Championship Meets.

State Games of NC Results
The NC State Games were held last weekend in Charlotte and it was a great meet for our team. Our swimmers have been training strong all summer and they definitely showed it at the meet. Our taper meets are coming up soon and this meet was a great indicator of some fast times ahead. There were a lot of best times and a lot of strong racing.

SAC LC Meet
We knew the summer was going to be short and with the LC Meet next weekend, it seems like the summer is flying by faster than expected. The LC (Last Chance) Meet is the final meet we host this summer and its the grand daddy of them all. This is the largest meet we host and its the last chance for swimmers to qualify for the State Championship Meets. For most of the swimmers attending, this is the biggest meet of the summer and everyone is looking to swim best times. This year we have swimmers from New York, West Virginia, and one swimmer from New Zealand competing with our normal teams from all over North and South Carolina. Over 600 swimmers and their families will once again be taking over the city of Shelby and we need to be ready.

SAC Invite Results
The '09 SAC Invite is now over. It was another great meet with a lot of great swims and an over all fun weekend. Visiting coaches and parents were once again thanking our team for another outstanding meet. This year's meet was the largest SAC Invite ever and with the great support from our parents we pulled it off with no problem. A "little" rain slowed us down Friday night but after that the weekend just rolled right along as planned. Thank you to everybody who helped out. It was a great team effort this weekend and I'm proud of our program. We had to turn away teams from the meet this year because our reputation for hosting a great meet is spreading and every team in the area wants to get in. Thank you for your time, commitment and support to our program. Its what makes our team special. And congratulations to all of the swimmers for a great meet! We had a ton of great swims, best times, and strong performances all weekend. We were definitely better than we were at the May meet and with the summer training beginning Thursday, we're ready to step up the training.

A-May-Zing Meet Results
Congratulations to all of the swimmers who competed at our first long course meet of the season last weekend in Huntersville. I saw a lot of surprised faces from our swimmers as they first walked into the pool and realized it was 50 meters instead of 25 yards. But that didn't keep them from racing hard and swimming some fast times. It was a tough meet for our team, just coming back from break, but looking at all of the best times our team had it was evident how much faster we've become since last summer. Congratulations to everyone for a great first meet.

Short Course Banquet
Thank you to everybody who attended our Short Course Banquet last night. There was a lot of great food and everybody had a nice time getting together away from the pool. It was nice to see all of the swimmers actually dressed nicely, compared to seeing them everyday in their caps and goggles. Our graduating Senior swimmers, William Quarles and Alan Riggs, did a nice job with our first annual "Senior Speeches". They both did great recounting their days as members of our team and I'm already looking forward to hearing next year's graduating class and their speeches. Congratulations to everybody for a great short course season.

BRSL Champ Results
The Blue Ridge Swim League Championship meet was held this past weekend in downtown Charlotte and it was 2 1/2 days of fun, fast swimming. Our team finished the short course season, the same way we've swum all year, swimming tough, fast and having a good time along the way. Our team had great performances, from our newest swimmers who swam in their first Blue Ridge Champ meet to our seniors who swam for the last time against the familiar Blue Ridge teams. I just had a great time all weekend being around our team and was happy to see a lot of our newer swimmers competing at the Championship meet. As a team we finished 4th overall, closely behind the Gaston Gators and Cattaba Valley Aquatic Club (CVAC). Nomad, who had 3 times as many swimmers entered than we did, won the meet even though they did not have as many individual champions as we did. They had the quantity but we certainly carried the quality at this meet.

Blue Ridge Individual Champions
The Sharks team was led by Garrett Simpson who swam great and won every event he swam (200 IM, 500 Free, 100 Free, 100 IM, 200 Free, 100 Back, 50 Fly). Other individual champs were: Matt Campbell (100 Fly), Parker Campbell (50 Back, 50 Free), Alexandra Martelle (100 Back, 100 Breast), Emily Morgan (1000 Free), Kaitlyn Moss (100 Free), Alan Riggs (1650 Free), Annie Shirk (100 Free, 100 Fly), and Ben Waldrep (50 Breast, 100 Breast).

High Point Awards
Below are the Sharks swimmers who finished top 6 in scoring for their Age Group.

10 & Under Girls: Kaitlyn Moss- 2nd, Madleyn Martelle- 6th
10 & Under Boys: Jay Wilson- 3rd
11-12 Girls: Lindsey Martelle- 5th
11-12 Boys: Garrett Simpson- 1st, Ben Waldrep- 2nd,
Matt Campbell- 5th
13-14 Girls: Alexandra Martelle- 6th
13-14 Boys: David Roby- 6th
Senior Boys: William Quarles- 2nd

The Sharks team had great swims all weekend. The following swimmers had all best times, or very close to it: Matt Campbell, Parker Campbell, Kassidy Hamrick, Ann Huston, Alex Hutchins, Zane Kingery, Lindsey Martelle, Kaitlyn Moss, Erin Riggs, David Roby, Annie Shirk, Austin Toney, Ben Waldrep, Erin Wilson, and Jay Wilson.

Senior Sectional Results
William Quarles competed in the Southern Zone Senior Sectional Meet this past weekend in Cary, NC. This meet requires qualifying times and is attend by some of the fastest swimmers in the Southeast United States. Teams from North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi were there. There were also three USA Olympic Medalist swimming in the meet, Cullen Jones, Mark Gangloff and Amanda Weir. It was a very fast meet and William swam the best meet of his life. William had huge drops in every event he swam and each time was a Junior National B cut. To attend the Spring Junior National meet in Orlando, Florida next weekend he had to get just one A cut. He could then swim any two events in which he had the B cut. Here is the breakdown of couple of his best swims; 50 Free- dropped .4, went 21.87, missing the A cut by .18; 200 Free- dropped 6 seconds!, 1:44.86, missing the A cut by 1.7; 200 Back- dropped 3 seconds, 1:55.57, missing the A cut by .7. He was so close in so many but needed just one event to be able to attend the junior national meet. Williams best event was the 100 Back. In the morning he dropped a second, swam 53.19 and missed the cut by .10! The meet was so fast that a Junior National A cut wasn't fast enough to make top 24 and qualify for evening finals so he had to time trial it Sunday night after the meet. He swam an awesome race, 53.11, but missed the cut by .02! It takes longer to snap your fingers. But even though he was so close, he kept an amazing attitude. Our sport teaches a lot of life values; hard work, discipline and teamwork but sometimes it teaches life's tough lessons as well. I was proud of William's performance in the water but was more proud of him out of the water as he took each great swim in stride. He came so close to making his first Junior Cut but realized that the .02 he missed by did not define how he swam at this meet. It didn't define how much he improved this year or what he's had to do just to get to this point. He also knows that its not over. Blue Ridge Champs are in 2 1/2 weeks and I can't wait to see William, along with the rest of our Sharks team who have swam so great this year, do what they do best and swim FAST! Congratulations William on having a great meet.

Pirate's Gold Invitational
I'm sorry I was unable to attend the Quad Meet at Isothermal Community College this past Saturday but from talking to Kathi and looking at the results, our team did awesome. Sayre Hopper, Kaitlyn Moss, Rachel Wallace and Marissa Wright each had a great meet and swam best times in every event! Ann Huston, Madelyn Martelle, Alan Riggs, David Roby, and Austin Toney also swam great and took home two out of three best times. It was great to hear that everyone swam well and had a good time.

Age Group Champ Results
The Sharks team competed in the North Carolina Age Group Short Course Championships this past weekend in Huntersville, NC and it was one for the record books. This meet brings the fastest swimmers, ages 14 and under, together for a weekend of racing and that's exactly what they did. The Shark swimmers had an outstanding meet; finishing 14th in the state. We were the 2nd highest scoring team west of Charlotte and were the highest scoring team from the Blue Ridge Swim League. It was a great accomplishment for our team and an outstanding weekend for our swimmers.

State Champion - Garrett Simpson
The Sharks were led by Garrett Simpson, who had an unbelievable meet, taking first and becoming state champion in the 50 free and 50 fly. Garrett swam incredible in every event he competed in and finished the meet 2nd in the high point scoring for his age group. Garrett also finished 2nd in three events and 3rd in one event, with best times in every event. Garrett had an awesome meet but was not alone. Alexandra Martelle, Lindsey Martelle, Annie Shirk, Austin Toney, and Ben Waldrep all had top 16 swims and came back to swim finals at night. The whole team did great. Best times were turned in all weekend and it was fun to watch our swimmers compete against the best in the state. Congratulations to Kathi and all the swimmers for an outstanding meet. Please note, as you look at the results, the number of A, AA, AAA, and AAAA times our swimmers turned in.

Age Group Champs
This weekend our 14 & Unders will be attending the North Carolina Age Group Championship Meet in Huntersville. Good luck to everyone as they compete against the fastest age group swimmers in the state. I will have the psych sheet posted as soon as its available.

3A High School State Results
The High School season finished this past weekend with the 3A State Championship meet in Chapel Hill. William Quarles and Spencer Hopper led the way for the Sharks team with outstanding swimming and best times all day. William Quarles, Forrestview High, finished 4th the 100 Fly with a 52.74 and 5th in the 100 Back with a 54.06. Both times are under the Junior National B Time Standard. William also swam a best time leading off the 400 Free Relay with a time of 48.74. Spencer Hopper, Hunter Huss High, swam personal best times in the 200 Free, finishing 10th with a time of 2:06.10 and in the 500 Free finishing 13th with a time of 5:36.55. Congratulations to all of our swimmers for a great meet.
Spencer Hopper: 200 FR - 10th, 500 FR - 13th, William Quarles: 100 FL - 4th, 100 BK - 5th, Sarah Catherine Greenlee: 500 FR - 24th

2A High School State Results
The 2A High School state Championships meet were held last weekend at N.C. State University and our Shark swimmers swam awesome! Alan Riggs had huge drops in his 200 Free; finishing in fifth place. He finished in 7th place in the 500 Free. Emily Morgan also had several top 8 finishes with great swims in the 200 Free and the 500 Free; both 7th place finishes. Below are the 2A State results for all the Shark swimmers.
Sarah Casaday: 50 FR - 24th, 100FR - 24th Emily Morgan: 200 FR - 7th, 500 FR - 7th, Alan Riggs: 200 FR - 5th, 500 FR - 7th, Kathryn Seen: 100 BK - 34th, Torie Shirk: 200 IM - 28th, Brian Stucky: 200 FR - 30th, 100FR - 36th, Sammi Jo Thompson: 200 FR - 19th, 500 FR - 19th, Sarah Thompson: 100 BR - 26th

3A High School Regional Results
Raleigh wasn't the only place Shark swimmers were swimming fast on Saturday. The 3A Western Regional meet was swam at Huntersville and our Shark swimmers stood out. Sarah Catherine Greenlee, Spencer Hopper, and William Quarles all swam great and qualified for the 3A State Championship meet next weekend in Chapel Hill. William Quarles had an outstanding meet swimming best times in the 100 Fly, finishing in 4th place and winning the 100 Back with a 54.06; less than a second away from the Junior National Cut. Spencer Hopper also swam best times finishing 7th in the 200 Free and 12th in the 500 Free. Congratulations to every body for a great meet and good luck next weekend in Chapel Hill.
Megan Burns: 200 IM - 19th, 100 FL - 21st, Sarah Catherine Greenlee: 200 FR - 16th, 500 FR - 16th, William Quarles: 100 FL - 4th, 100 BK - 1st, Spencer Hopper: 200 FR - 7th, 500 FR - 12th

Western Open Results
This was the last chance for our 14 & Under swimmers to qualify for the North Carolina Age Group Championship Meet on Feb. 20-22. Congratulations to the following swimmers who gained a qualifying time this past weekend: Matt Campbell (100 Fly, 50 Fly), Lindsey Martelle (50 Free), Madelyn Martelle (50 Free), Austin Toney (100 Breast). All of these swimmers swam great all weekend along with Taylor Wade, Sayre Hopper, Ann Huston, Alexandra Martelle, Kimberlee Farris, Spencer Burton, and Kassidy Hamrick who all had multiple best times. Congratulations to everybody for a great meet.

Senior Championship Results
The NC Senior Championship meet was held this past weekend in Cary, NC. William Quarles and Alan Riggs represented the Sharks team and did a great job racing against the fastest swimmers in North Carolina. William posted several best times and strong swims all weekend. Alan Riggs had a break out swim in the 1000 Free on Thursday night and dropped 24 seconds. Great job to both swimmers. They will both be representing their high schools in the North Carolina High School 2A State Champ Meet and 3A Regional Meet this weekend.

1A/2A High School Championships
Good luck to the following Swimmers as they compete in the North Carolina 2A High School State Championship Meet thisd weekend at N.C. State University.
Shelby: Sarah Casaday, Emily Morgan, Alan Riggs, Kathryn Seen, Torie Shirk, & Brian Stucky. Thomas Jefferson: Sammi Jo & Sarah Thompson.

3A High School Regionals
The following swimmers will be competing in the North Carolina 3A Western Regional Meet this weekend in Huntersville. The top twelve finishers will qualify for the 3A State Championship Meet next weekend in Chapel Hill.
Kings Mountain: Megan Burns and Sarah Catherine Greenlee. Forrestview: William Quarles. Hunter Huss: Spencer Hopper.

New Website!
Welcome to the new Sharks Aquatics Club web site. I will be testing all links on the site in which you can be a part of. If you click on a link and it does not work then email me A.S.A.P. Please include where you were on the site, and the link that you were clicking, so that I can correct the error. The new site's goal is to be as informational as possible. On the left side of the homepage, you will see the "Team Update" section. Be sure to pay close attention to this area for the latest team notices as they become available. Below are news articles about our Shark swimmers, from local news services, such as the Shelby Star newspaper. Next is a "Games" section that is a work in progress and for now includes a puzzle for your enjoyment. If you have any ideas for future puzzles, please contact me, as we have a puzzle maker. All we need from you are the questions and the answers. I also included some links to other useful places. In the center of the homepage entitled "Shark Bytes" (as in computer bytes), is the area which will, in the very near future, include Coach Dave's recaps of our swim meets. On the right side of the homepage is meet information which includes a snapshot of our next meet, upcoming meet info, and past meet results; all of which will become links to the information as they become available. Last, but not least, is a "Parents" section which includes helpful informational links to better inform our parents. New sections to the web site will be added as time allows. I will entertain all ideas for the web site and pass them along to our board for approval. Together we can make the new site a fun and informational tool for our team. Thank You, in advance, for your input.

SAC Quad Meet Results
Congratulations to all the swimmers who competed in the Sharks Quad Meet. We had a lot of swimmers competing in their first US Swimming Meet and they did great! Thank you to all the parents that made this meet possible. Thank you to the officials, timing system crew, timers and those who helped with the concessions. Everyone did great keeping the meet moving and the visiting teams enjoyed the meet as well. Thank you also to everyone who brought in concession supplies. Our team did a great job providing everything we needed for the meet.

Carolina Classic Results
The Sharks team traveled to Columbia, SC on December 5-7 to compete in the Carolina Classic. Once again our team swam incredible against some of the fastest teams in South Carolina. Everyone had a good time hanging out in Columbia and nearly every swimmer had personal best times. It was also great to see the strong support from our Sharks parents and families in the crowd. Our team was not the biggest team there but the cheering and enthusiasm from the Sharks crowd was very evident to all the swimmers and coaches on the pool deck. The meet results are now posted on the website. The Sharks team was led by Garrett Simpson who won every event he swum except for one, in which he finished 2nd. In the process, Garrett broke 1 individual meet record, 11-12 Boys 50 Fly, and was a member of 2 relays that also broke meet records. We had a lot of swimmers qualify for the State Championship meets and we had a lot of swimmers who swam personal best times all weekend, such as Kimberlee Farris, Erin Riggs, Alan Riggs, who qualified for States in the 50 Free and the 1650 Free, David Roby, Austin Toney, Ben Waldrep, Ari Wallace. Our team also had standout performances by Abbey Bragg (4 Top 3 finishes), Alexandra Martelle ( 5 Top 5 Finishes), Lindsey Martelle (4 Top 5 Finishes), Emily Morgan (Finished Top 5 in all 8 events), David Roby (finished Top 3 in all 4 events), and Annie Shirk (5 Top 5 Finishes). Meet Records- The Carolina Classic has been a fast meet for over 15 years and it's a great accomplishment to break the meet record. Congratulations to the swimmers below for breaking a meet record. Garrett Simpson- Boys 11-12 50 Fly Austin Toney- Boys 11-12 200 Breast 11-12 Boys 400 Medley Relay (David Roby, Austin Toney, Garrett Simpson, Ben Waldrep) 11-12 Boys 400 Free Relay (Ben Waldrep, Austin Toney, Matt Campbell, Garrett Simpson)

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