Five Jags medal at Paw Power Invitational
Heading 122 miles northwest, the Cedar Shoals Aqua Jags swim team competed in the Paw Power Invitational Championship in Adairsville on Jan. 18. Despite finishing in seventh place out of ten teams, Jaguars won seven medals with four state cuts met. Overall, head coach Bee Nordgren was proud of her team’s efforts.
“The swimmers did a great job. Several earned medals, qualified more state cut times, and a couple of personal best’s. It is the best feeling in the world to see our swimmers succeed. All their hard work and effort was worth it to see them receive their medals,” Nordgren said.
Freshman Van Thang swam a 5:56.89 in the 500 yard freestyle, securing third place. Thang attributes his improvements to help he has received from his coaches.
“The coaches helped me work on my underwater kicks and the coaches helped me work on my endurance. This helped me win my heats and made me improve a lot,” Thang said.
Senior co-captain Sebastian Blanco finished third in the 100 fly with a time of 1:04.73. Additionally, the boys medley relay team, which consisted of Xiao, Blanco, Thang, and junior Emmett Cummings placed third with a time of 2:00.90. Blanco was proud of how he performed, but also how the rest of the team performed.
“Watching everyone winning a medal this year makes me proud because some started swimming this year at the school and won medals. I just feel happy and proud,” Blanco said.
Seventh grader Sage Dennison swam a 28.97 50 yard freestyle and a 1:07.20 100 yard freestyle. She wasn’t able to place on the podium since middle schoolers had to swim in the exhibition. Despite this, Dennison still enjoyed making memories with her teammates.
“Going to Buc-ee’s was one of my favorite Cedar swim team experiences. Going out with the team is always a fun experience,” Dennison said.
Rounding out the other medals were freshman Lauren Neace and senior co-captain Ryan Xiao. Neace finished second with a time of 1:02.18 in the 100 yard fly and first in the 500 yard freestyle at 5:33.93, a minute ahead of the second place finisher. Xiao swam a 23.18 50 yard freestyle, finishing third in the standings. He also placed third in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.04.
Looking ahead to the state championships from Feb. 5-8 at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, the team needs to make efficient use of every practice. However, this week, with Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, and after school activities cancelled Tuesday through Thursday due to inclement weather, the team has been short of practice time. Despite this, Nordgren remains optimistic.
“This is kind of funny now that we only had one practice this week because of the snow. We are going to the meet as prepared as we possibly can,” Nordgren said.
The Aqua Jags travel to Gainesville this evening to compete in the Winter Invitational before hosting senior night in the Gabrielsen Natatorium at the Ramsey Center at the University of Georgia on Jan. 31.
