YOTA Mail!

The Power of Purple shines its brightest during championship season. Some of the best memories that will last a lifetime are created at these meets and no one knows it more than our alumni who take time to reflect on their time with YOTA years later. Check out this letter written to all current YOTA swimmers from Keenan Day, a 2022 YOTA Alum and current swimmer at Emory University! Keenan will be graduating from Emory this spring with a degree in Nursing and will begin working at the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta hospital on the pediatric neurology, and endocrinology floor shortly after. Congratulations, Keenan! Thank you for making the Purple People proud.

Meet Recaps

MOR Short Course Qualifier

257 YOTA swimmers took over the Pullen Aquatic Center for the MOR Short Course Qualifier over the weekend of February 13-15. This meet was a great opportunity for swimmers to lock in their best swims of the season before heading into our championship meets. Many earned best times, new YMCA Regionals cuts, and some last chance Age Group Champ cuts too!

NCS Age Group Championships

62 YOTA age group swimmers kicked off the championship season at Triangle Aquatic Center over the weekend of February 26-March 1 for the 2026 North Carolina Swimming Short Course Age Group Championships. These swimmers took full advantage of the opportunity to race amongst the fastest swimmers in the entire state. 16 YOTA swimmers placed in the top 16 in their individual events and 33 YOTA relays placed in the top 16 as well.

Performance highlights include:

Miles Ayres: Boys 13-14 200 Freestyle State Champion and new futures cut
Peyton Cossey: New SC YMCA Nationals cut in the 500 Freestyle
Katie Wilson: New SC YMCA Nationals cut in the 200 Breaststroke
Michael White: First LC YMCA Nationals cut in the 1000 Freestyle
Leo Stevens, Tristan Keough, Isaac Wredberg, Lee Lowther: Boys 10&U 200 Freestyle Relay NEW TEAM RECORD

After 4 days of racing, YOTA earned 6th place overall with a total of 1,074.5 points. Well done, YOTA!

High School Hardwear

Congratulations to all of our YOTA swimmers who competed for their high school championship meets over the last month! Big shoutout to the following swimmers who dominated their high school state meets by placing in the top 3:

Jenna Bolton (Research Triangle): 400 Free Relay - 3rd
Josh Jones (Carrboro): 100 Back, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Free Relay - 2nd, 100 Fly STATE CHAMPION
Shane Keough (Franklin Academy): 200 IM - 3rd
Campbell Lange (Cardinal Gibbons): 50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Free Relay STATE CHAMPION
Ryan Sutherland (Jordan): 100 Fly & 100 Breast - 3rd, 200 Free Relay STATE CHAMPION
Hala Zafar (Cedar Ridge): 200 Free Relay - 2nd

Alumni Spotlight - March Madness

We would like to take a moment to highlight the 34 YOTA alumni who are competing for their college teams this championship season. Many have already completed their conference meets and are now preparing for NCAAs. Follow along and cheer them on as they finish their seasons strong!

Looking Ahead

March 6-8: Jon Jolley YMCA State Championships (GYSSA) at the Greensboro Aquatic Center (All YOTA Athletes)
March 19-22: Upper Southeast Regional YMCA Championships (USRY) at the Liberty Aquatic Center (Qualified Athletes)
March 30 - April 3: YMCA National Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center (Qualified Athletes)

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