Meet Recaps
SwimRVA Invite
Over the weekend of June 14-17, 207 YOTA athletes made the trip up to Richmond, Virginia for the 2024 SwimRVA Invite. This meet is always a great opportunity to race swimmers from outside of our LSC and race some of their best events before heading into championship season. Throughout the weekend, YOTA athletes swam 1,478 races, earned 927 best times, and scored 6,472.5 points. For the third year in a row, YOTA raised the championship trophy on Sunday night and brought it back home to the Triangle safely. That’s a THREE PEAT ladies and gentlemen!
Olympic and Paralympic Trials
David Wahlen proudly represented YOTA at Olympic Trials in his main event, the 100 backstroke. He had a great swim and achieved his 2nd fastest time ever (fastest ever in prelims) while also moving up 5 spots from his original seeding. David was also able to race in 2 time trials while he was at the meet. In addition to his racing, David took in the full trials experience! From visiting the Aqua Zone, participating in autograph signing sessions, watching every session that he was not competing in, live (including seeing 2 world records), plus taking advantage of all the amenities available to participating athletes, the event was totally awesome, incredibly overwhelming and just amazing to be able to experience.
A week later, Casey attended her 2nd US Paralympic Team Trials at the University of Minnesota. She waas one of only 87 Para athletes in the country to qualify for this prestigious event. She swam 5 events, and made finals in 4 of them. She was able to pull 3 best times and bettered her morning time in almost every race. She placed 6th in the 100 Back, 5th in the 400 Free, 7th in the 200 IM, and 6th in the 50 Free. The event was televised on Peacock and is still streaming there if you are interested in seeing her dawn the YOTA cap!
YOTA 1500
On Saturday June 22, 59 YOTA swimmers took over the Willis R Casey Aquatic Center at NC State to race the 1500 together. The 1500 is the longest race that swimmers can compete in and it is not offered at many meets. Even when it is offered, it is not usually offered during a session that has the flexibility needed for swimmers who are looking to swim it for the first time. We are grateful to be able to offer this opportunity to our swimmers so that they can gain more distance swimming experience, without the stress of a full meet weekend. BIG congratulations to everyone who took advantage of this opportunity and BIG thank you to everyone who volunteered to time and count for them.
TAC Long Course Qualifier
169 YOTA athletes raced at the TAC Long Course Qualifier in a final effort to punch their ticket to their long course championship meet. Of the 472 swims, YOTA had 259 best times, 71 new time standards achieved, and 23 new Age Group Championship qualifiers. From Green Group to Senior 1, YOTA athletes looked great in the water and made it known they are ready for championship season!
