GRAND OPENING OF TAC’S 50M OUTDOOR POOL JULY 11^TH

The Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC) is extremely pleased to announce the opening of our brand new 50M Outdoor Pool.  The event will take place on Monday, July 11^th at 3:00pm.  All are welcome and encouraged to attend.  Festivities will begin with welcome speeches from four Triangle area dignitaries and follow with the “First Dive” at approximately 3:30. We will offer refreshments and guests are welcomed to tour the new pool and building. 

This fourth pool on the TAC campus shows our commitment to the Triangle area’s requirements for additional aquatic spaces for the health, safety and competitive needs of our residents and guests.  The increased lane capacity will go a long way to help make this happen.  The pool features both heating and cooling of the water, a canopy over two sides of the pool to allow for covered swimmer instruction while in the water, new restrooms and a large pool deck.  TAC plans to operate the pool year-round and will offer open swim times each day while there are no indoor events at the Facility.

Please join us for our Grand Opening and see the latest addition to our campus! 

Jamie Bloom, head coach of the YMCA of the Triangle Area Swim Team (YOTA), was recognized as a PRIDE month trailblazer in the following article on the USA Swimming website. Congratulations, Jamie!

Swimming impacts individuals in different ways. For some, it is a fun hobby. For others it is simply a workout. For many it is a life skill. For Jamie Bloom: “It has been the foundation for who I am and what I do.”

Growing up in Lexington, Massachusetts, Bloom played multiple sports, citing their presence in her family’s home. Her parents played tennis and both of her sisters played sports at the collegiate level. Her siblings swam in the summer, but for Bloom, swimming was an all-year focus. 

When the head coaching position at YOTA presented itself, Bloom transitioned into that title and stepped down from William Peace. She has been serving as the North Carolina Swimming’s Safe Sport Chair and is about to transition into the North Carolina Swimming’s DEI Chair as well. Bloom has spent many hours educating others on swim safety and is a huge advocate on club teams becoming Safe Sport recognized. In addition to these roles, she is also vice-chair of the Coach Advisory Committee, been on staff for multiple LSC and Zone camps as well as been both head manager and head coach at the National Diversity Select Camp. 

One of her passions is getting younger coaches involved and helping create more representation among swim coaches. Bloom exclaimed, “Kids just need to see people that look like them.”

In order to create more representation, it is important to convince individuals why coaching is worth it.

“We need to talk about the sport. We need to talk about the benefits of being a coach, of all the great opportunities that you have to influence lives,” suggests Bloom.

Diversity is another topic that Bloom feels strongly about. “It’s never been a secret. I’ve never shied away from identifying myself. I certainly don’t introduce myself as ‘Hello, I am Jamie, I am a lesbian.’ But, especially at this point in my life, it is something that I am proud of.”

Thinking back to the beginning of her swimming and coaching career, “As far as gay and lesbian athletes go, there weren’t a lot that were out. Swimming seemed at the time to be a little bit of the last frontier,” Bloom explained.

Bloom suggested one approach to creating more representation is to go into communities where swimming isn’t present.

“Competitive swimming is scary to people who aren’t comfortable around the water; who don’t have access to the water,” she said. “I think that we need to do our best to make ourselves part of the communities that we want to be involved in our programs.”

Swimming can be crucial in not only saving lives but adding value to them. Bloom acknowledged, “Sports for me have always been stabilizing. It has always been something that I knew the structure of and could always go back to, could depend on.” 

Bloom wants others to have the same access to the sport that has positively impacted her. “I think that sports should be for all. I think that we should be giving opportunities to anyone that wants to participate.”

Trish Martin, NCS General Chair and USA Swimming official, was selected as a meet official for the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, representing USA Swimming and North Carolina Swimming. Congratulations, Trish!

Several athletes with North Carolina Swimming ties earned medals on the first day of the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Ryan Held (formerly with NC State) and Justin Ress (formerly with NC State and Marlins of Raleigh) joined Caeleb Dressel and Brooks Curry on the gold medal-winning men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team. Erika Brown (formerly with SwimMAC) and Claire Curzan (TAC Titans) teamed up with Torre Huske and Kate Douglas to capture bronze in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.

Congratulations swimmers and good luck the rest of the way!

Click here to view the USA Swimming article

Beginning on Sept 1, USA Swimming will implement its new SWIMS 3.0 along with online registration for all members. Lisa Olack reviewed details of the program at the June NCS coach meeting. Below is a link to a recording of the meeting.

Topic: NCS Coach Meeting
Start Time: Jun 8, 2022 11:55 AM

Meeting Recording

North Carolina Swimming was spotlighted in a recent article on the USA Swimming website for its commitment to Safe Sport. NCS requires that clubs have Safe Sport Recognition approval to host a swim meet sanctioned by the LSC. 

Click here to view the USA Swimming article

YOTA swimmer Ross Noble just returned from Scotland where he represented the Scottish Junior National Team at the Glasgow International Meet. Ross, a dual citizen of the USA and the UK, trains with the YMCA of the Triangle Area in Raleigh.

The Glasgow International Meet attracted swimmers from the Danish, Icelandic and Irish national teams, as well as college swimmers from Stirling, Loughboro, and the University of Edinburgh. The Scottish Commonwealth Games team was also there.

At the meet, Noble made the finals in the 50, 100 and 200 Backstroke, plus the 100 and 200 Butterfly, scoring a Personal Best in the 100 fly.  In the fall, Ross will head to Harvard University, where he’ll join the Men’s Swim and Dive team.

NCS finished third overall at the 2022 Southern Zone Open Water Championships in De Leon Springs, Florida this past weekend. Below is a list of those NCS athletes who finished among the top sixteen in their division. Also below are the complete results by age group/gender and the Team Pursuit results. The NCS 11-12 boys (Parker Van Olst Jr., Eli Sweet, and Bodhi Cummins) earned a first place finish in Team Pursuit. Also winning their Team Pursuit division were the NCS 13-14 girls (Ella Cowles, Madi Hertzig, and Kathryn Cinson).

Top 16 Finishes by NCS Swimmers
Event	Name	Place
Girls 11-12 2K	Annie Shall	2
Girls 11-12 2K	Neela Chintapalli	9
Boys 11-12 2K	Eli Sweet	4
Boys 11-12 2K	Parker Van Olst Jr.	7
Boys 11-12 2K	Bodhi Cummins	9
Girls 13-14 5K	Kathryn Cinson	5
Girls 13-14 5K	Madi Hertzig	10
Girls 13-14 5K	Ella Cowles	14
Boys 13-14 5K	Drew Sito	9
Boys 13-14 5K	Ben Smith	16
Girls 15-16 5K	Riley Hawkins	11
Girls 15-16 5K	Kyley Lloyd	12
Girls 15-16 5K	Clara Carson	15
Boys 15-16 5K	Jackson Scheiber	5
Boys 15-16 5K	Owen Nye	9
Boys 15-16 5K	Christian Smith	14
Boys 15-16 5K	Isaac Holthan	15
Girls Open 5K	Charlotte LePage	7
Girls Open 5K	Esther Ghim	13
Girls Open 5K	Kailyn Becker	14
Boys Open 5K	Keith Williams	4
Boys Open 5K	Charles Henage	8

TEAM SCORES

11-12 2k Results

All age Group 5k Results

Open 5k Results

Over-All 5k Girls, and Boys Combined Age Results

11-12  Girls Pursuit.  Boys Pursuit

13-14  Girls Pursuit.  Boys Pursuit

Open  Girls Pursuit.  Boys Pursuit

USA Swimming recently announced the names of 60 athletes who will represent the U.S. internationally this summer at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, which take place August 24-27 in Honolulu, Hawaii; or the 2022 Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet, which takes place June 3-5 in Vancouver, Canada. 

The 41-person Pan Pac roster includes two SwimMAC athletes, Ben Delmar and Matthew Lucky. Coach Chuck Batchelor of SwimMAC was named to the PanPac coaching staff.

Named to to the 19-member Mel Zajac roster were SwimMAC’s Baylor Nelson and Braeden Haughey of the TAC Titans.

Congratulations to all!

2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships Roster

2022 Mel Zajac Jr. International Meet Roster

Click here to view USA Swimming Article

Congratulations to Bruce Marchionda (TAC Titans) on being named to the Team USA coaching staff for the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary June 18-July 3, 2022. Anthony Nesty (University of Florida) and Todd DeSorbo (University of Virginia) will be the head coaches of for the U.S. men’s and women’s swim teams, respectively.

Click here for the complete roster of athletes and coaches representing Team USA.