Updated: February 25, 2010

Congratulations to the NFS Junior Olympic Championship Team who placed 14^th overall in a field of more than 50 teams.  This is the team’s highest finish.  We had 19 swimmers competing over a four-day period in Clearwater.

The team was made up of David Li, Jonathan Panchak, Caitlyn Johnson, Jackson Bloom, Travis Bloom, Gian Garcia, Joel Panchak, Maggie Bucy, Emma Devine, Lauren Johnson, Justine Watkins, Jackson Skigen, Speakman Smith, Julian Smith, Tyler Watson, Molly See, Lilian Szymczak, Anisa Vashi and Isabella Wagner.

Our highest placed female swimmer was Anisa Vashi finishing 13^th overall in the 10 and under girls with a total of 59 points, and the highest placed male swimmer was Gian Garcia finishing 15^th overall in the 11/12 boys with a total of 60 points.

Additionally, any swimmer that finishes in the top 6 in an event is invited to take part in the All Stars swim meet held in April.  We had four such swimmers, Jonathan Panchak, Gian Garcia, Anisa Vashi and Isabella Wagner.

Our 19 swimmers competed in a total of 78 races and had 40 personal bests.  Most of our swimmers had at least one personal best.  Jackson Skigen and Emma Devine swam the maximum of 6 events individually and had personal bests in each event.

We had many top 10 finishes, including Jonathan Panchak with a 3^rd place finish in the 100 breast and 200 breast, Gian Garcia with a 4^th in the 100 IM, 5^th in the 100 Fly, 6^th in the 50 fly and 9^th in the 100 free, Jackson Skigen with a 9^th place in the 50 back and in the 100 breast.  The girls turned in an equal amount of top 10 finishes, with Emma Devine placing 9^th in the 50 fly and 10^th in the 100 fly, Anisa Vashi placed 4^th in the 100 breast, 7^th in the 50 back and 50 breast and 8^th in the 100 IM and Isabella Wagner placed 5^th in the 100 breast, 8^th in the 50 breast, 9^th in the 200 IM and 10^th in the 100 back.

We also had several North Florida Swimming records broken over the weekend.  Jonthan Panchak broke three of his own records in the 100 breast (1:03.88), 200 breast (2:16.12) and 400 IM (4:38.66).  The boys had some great swims, but when Ryan Murphy holds most of the 9/10 and 11/12 records at NFS, it will take a special swimmer to beat those times.  Which one of you will make that happen?

Several girls broke some NFS records.  Anisa Vashi broke the 50 back record (34.18) and the 100 IM record (1:14.74).  Isabella Wagner broke the 100 back (1:14.02) and Emma Devine broke 5 records, 200 free (2:06.93), 100 back (1:07.25), 50 fly (28.27), 100 fly (1:03.72) and 200 IM (2:25.19). 

Congratulations to our relay teams and a special thank you to Maggie Bucy, Lilian Szymczak and Julian Smith who swam wonderfully, rounding out our relays and playing a vital role in our final standings.  The boys 11/12 400 free relay consisting of Gian Garcia, Jackson Bloom, Travis Bloom and Joel Panchack, broke the NFS record (4:04.43).  The girls 10 and under 200 free relay consisting of Anisa Vashi, Isabella Wagner, Molly See and Lilian Szymczak broke the NFS record with a time of 2:05.10.  Also the girls 11/12 200 free relay broke the NFS record with 1:49.75 and a team of Emma Devine, Justine Watkins, Lauren Johnson and Maggie Bucy.

With such a great performance, we hope to have an even better showing at the long course Junior Olympics this summer, so set some goals and work hard in practice.

For those of you that are attending the Area B Championship meet in March, good luck and swim fast!

Meet Sign-up Process
When you get the email:

1. Review the meet letter and entry form
2. Print out and complete the entry form
3. Write a check for the correct amount, send check and entry form to practice the next day