On Saturday, July 6, the Wellington Wahoo swim team hosted the Florida Gold Coast Palm Beach County B Championships. The meet was open to only Palm Beach County teams, and it drew 10 teams from Jupiter to Boca Raton.
In all, more than 150 swimmers hit the water at the Wellington Aquatics Complex to work on cutting their times in various events, according to longtime Wahoo swim coach Rich Whalen.
“They’re trying to qualify for the Junior Olympics, senior championships and the Gold Coast senior championships,” Whalen explained. “We have first-time swimmers, some who just aged up to the next age group and some who are just in development.”
Both boys and girls in various age groups competed in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly events. Swimmers have limited time to improve their times before the Florida Gold Coast Junior Olympics are held July 18-21. The Florida Gold Coast Senior Championships are set for July 26-28.
Swimmers will have one more opportunity to work on their cuts July 12-14 in Pompano Beach in the Area One Silver Championships before the Junior Olympics.
One Wahoo swimmer who has been able to significantly cut his time is 14-year-old Logan Zieschang, who competed in the 100-yard backstroke, the 100-yard butterfly, and 200-yard freestyle events. The Wellington High School student has been improving through the summer.
“I dropped some time, and I got cuts for my bigger meets,” he said. “I just worked on everything that I wasn’t doing so well on, my starts and finishes. Last time I got disqualified on a turn, but I fixed that, and it felt pretty good.”
Zieschang was able to drop his time enough to not have to participate in the Silver Championships coming up in Pompano Beach. It is an impressive performance from the sophomore, considering he has only been swimming competitively for a year and a half.
For more information about the Wahoo Swim Team, visit www.wellingtonswimming.com.
