This past weekend eight swimmers competed in the Summer Awards Invitational at George Mason University. We anticipated some solid swims based on the work put in and venue, but no one (except the coaches) predicted the level of success achieved by our swimmers.
Out of hundreds of swimmers FUAC registered three first place finishes (Caron, Covington and Gencavage), two second place finishes (Caron and Brumbaugh), two fourth place finishes (Neelley and Gencavage), and three sixth place finishes (Phillips and Brumbaugh). In addition to these top six finishers FUAC had another 11 top 12 finishes.
Leading the way for the Blue Devils was Michelle Caron who registered two personal best times in the 50 (1st place) and 100 meter freestyle (2nd place) events. Both times qualified her for the Virginia Senior Championship, and her 50 freestyle time (29.56) was a Zone Team qualifying time and "AAA" time. In addition to Michelle's stellar performance, 10 year old George Brumbaugh finished 2nd in the 400 meter freestyle in his first ever appearance in that event. Continuing the streak of great performances in the mid-distance events, Chris Covington dropped over 12 seconds off his previous best time in the 400 meter freestyle (1st place), and Laura Neelley registered a solid performance in the 800 meter freestyle.
On the stroke side Jeremy Gencavage dropped nine seconds in the 100 meter backstroke on the way to bringing home a first place, and Riley Phillips dropped almost four seconds in the 100 meter fly (9th place). Other notable swims came from Dillon Hatch who registered best times in the 50 and 100 free events.