By SCOTT PAKE

East Carolina Aquatics

 

ATLANTA — Twelve swimmers age 14 and under from East Carolina Aquatics competed March 12-15 in the Eastern Section Southern Zone Age Group Short Course Championships at the Georgia Tech aquatic center.

More than 1,200 age group swimmers who qualified with sectional time standards competed at the meet, representing 121 teams from Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia.

ECA’s team finished 21st, breaking four team records and finishing in the top 20 in several events.

For the 10 and under girls, Emma Hastings, 10, was ECA’s top finisher, earning bronze in the 500-yard freestyle and besting her own ECA team record with a time of 5:48.52. Hastings also finished in the top 20 in the 100 fly (1:08.59, fourth), 200 free (2:12.24, fifth), 200 IM (2:33.86, sixth), 100 free (1:01.70, seventh), 50 free (28.38, eighth), 50 fly (31.33, ninth), and 100 back (1:12.39, 13th). Claire Chesnutt, 10, placed 13th in the 100 free (1:03.72) and 17th in the 50 free, but it was her 500 free that earned her an invitation to the N.C. Swimming Select Camp. The camp is for swimmers placing top five in a major championship meet. Chesnutt dropped 11 seconds, clocking 6:04.81, to place ninth overall and earn her spot. Hastings previously qualified at the 2015 N.C. Swimming AG Championships.

Matthew McCray, 10, placed 13th in the 200 free (2:19.13) and 14th in the 500 free. His time of 6:19.50 was in the top five out of N.C. swimmers, earning McCray a N.C. Select Camp spot. Campbell Barnes, 10, had a scoring swim, placing 18th in the 50 fly (32.25).

The meet was in prelims and finals format for ages 11 and up, with swimmers finishing in the top 20 in the preliminaries returning to compete in finals the same evening. Erin Smith, 12, made finals in the 50 back (29.58) for her age group, placing 17th overall. Bethany Tart, 12, finished just outside of finals, placing 27th in the 100 free (57.58).

Jack Nowacek, 12, continued his assault on the ECA record books, beating the 1997 100 breast record by Jason Wong in the prelims with a time of 1:10.20. He lowered his record in finals (1:09.19) placing ninth overall. He took sixth in the 100 IM and broke his own ECA record with a new all-time low of 1:01.75. He also broke his own ECA record in the 50 breast placing seventh with 31.56. Nowacek also placed 10th overall in the 100 Free (55.13). In his final race of the weekend, he took down the 11-12 50 free record set by Philip Perdue in 2009 with a time of 24.76, placing fourth overall. Colby Loveless joined Nowacek at the finals of the 50 free, going 25.36 to finish eighth.

In the 13-14 girls division, 14-year-old Morgan Despres placed ninth in the 50 free (24.84). The 400 free relay team of Abigail Burns, Julia Kohake, Virginia Kohake and Despres placed 20th overall with time of 3:45.78. The same group placed 26th in the 400 Medley Relay (4:16.95).

East Carolina Aquatics is a year-round swim team for youth and adults ages 4 and up, with more than 450 swimmers in Greenville, Morehead City, Cape Carteret, and Washington.