Below are the results from the 2021 North Carolina Swimming Open Water Championship Meet held at Seven Lakes, NC last weekend. Congratulations to all the swimmers who competed, and thank you to all the coaches, meet officials, and other volunteers who participated.
Open Water Zone Meet: Team Results
Congratulations to the North Carolina Open Water Zone team on its outstanding performance at the 2021 Open Water Zone meet in Chattanooga, TN! The NCS Squad scored 555 points to finish in second place behind Florida Swimming.
Click here for individual results

NCS Swimmers win National Open Water Titles

Several North Carolina Swimming athletes competed at the 2021 USA Swimming National Championships and Junior National Championships in Fort Myers Beach, Florida this past weekend. USA Olympic Team qualifier and National Team memer, Ashley Twichell (TAC Titans), won her fourth national championship in the Women’s 5K. She also finished second in the Women’s 10K.
Jacob Pishko (TAC Titans) won the National Championship in the Men’s Junior 7.5K event. Alexander Ayers (SwimMAC) placed third in the Men’s 5K for Juniors. Other North Carolina Swimming athletes competing in the Open Water Nationals and Junior Nationals were Brandon Miller (NCAC) in the Men’s 10K, Brooke Zettel (TAC Titans) in the Women’s 5K, Makayla Cincanelli (MOR) Women’s Junior 7.5K, Caroline Pennington (TAC Titans) Women’s Junior 7.5K, Jackson Shreiber (WAVE) Men’s Junior 5K, Samuel Marsteiner (WAVE) Men’s Junior 5K, Matthew Marsteiner (WAVE) Men’s Junior 5K, and Evan Prabhu (SwimMAC) Men’s Junior 5K.
Congratulations Swimmers!
2021 Open Water Zones: Application Form
Dear Coaches, Swimmers, and Parents,
At this time we are planning on attending Open Water Zones in Chattanooga, TN on 6/4/2021 – 6/6/2021. I have heard from the host team, and they are in the preliminary planning. I have committed NC Swimming to going.
This year, we will be doing an application process, instead of using any meets. The link for the application is below.
OPEN WATER ZONE TEAM APPLICATION FORM
Applications will close on Monday March 1st, 8:00AM.
We are asking for the 1650, 1000, and 500 times. We realize with the limited amount of swims everyone is allowed this year, that not everyone will have the opportunity to swim those events. Please just fill in the times that you have. The Open Water Selection Committee will take a look at the times, along with the Open Water experience and choose the team of 32. There will be four(4) 11-12 girls, four(4) 11-12 boys, four(4) 13-14 girls, four(4) 13-14 boys, four(4) 15-16 girls, four(4) 15-16 boys, four(4) open girls, and four(4) open boys.
The selection committee consists of John Payne, Jonathan Bescher, JP Merchant. Amy Faulk, and David McDevitt.
It will not be a team travel trip. The parents/swimmers will be responsible getting to Chattanooga, and to the lake. They will be responsible for making and paying for hotel arrangements, along with their own food. NC Swimming will be sending 3 coaches and 1 Official to the meet. The coaches will be Head Coach Brett Ciancanelli, Assistant Coach/Manager Jonathan Bescher, Assistant Coach Blake Addison, and Official Leigh Ciancanelli. All costs associated with the trip will be the responsibility of the Parent/Guardians of the swimmer.
There will be a timeline so the swimmers know when to show up. We will be working on getting a block of hotel rooms that is near the lake. This will alow the swimmers to decide on how they want to travel to the meet. If some swimmers wanted to room together, that would not be on NC Swimming, that would be purely up to the families involved.
There will be a slight cost for the meet to cover the registration fee for the meet.
We are now sponsored by Speedo.
If you have any questions, please email me at coachbesch@newwaveswimteam.org
Thanks,
jon
Jonathan Bescher
NCS Open Water Zone Team: Information
Dear Coaches,
With the fall Open Water Meet being moved to October, and some teams/swimmers still uncertain about going to meet in October, there was no qualifying meet for the 2021 NCS Open Water Zone team, which will swim in the Southern Zone Open Water meet in Chattanooga on June 5 & 6. There will be a loosen up swim at the lake on June 4th.
A few things that are going to be different this year for the 2021 Open Water Zones.
1. It will not be a team travel trip. The parents/swimmers will be responsible for getting to Chattanooga, and to the lake. They will be responsible for making and paying for hotel arrangements, along with their own food. NC Swimming will be sending three coaches and one official to the meet. The coaches will be Head Coach Brett Ciancanelli, Assistant Coach/Manager Jonathan Bescher, Assistant Coach Blake Addison, and Official Leigh Ciancanelli. All costs associated with the trip will be the responsibility of the Parent/Guardians of the swimmer.
There will be a timeline so the swimmers know when to show up. We will be working on getting a block of hotel rooms near the lake. This will allow the swimmers to decide on how they want to travel to the meet. If some swimmers wanted to room together, that would not be on NC Swimming, that would be purely up to the families involved.
2. Team selection will be determined by an application process. We will be asking for 500, 1000, and 1650 times, along with any Open Water experience you may have.
The application will open on 2/1/2021, and close on 2/28/2021. The closing date will be after Senior and Age Group Champs. The link to the application will be posted on the NCS website and sent out closer to the 2/1/2021 date.
The selection committee will consist of John Payne, Jonathan Bescher, David McDevitt, JP Merchant, and Amy Faulk.
The team will be announced on Monday 3/15/2021.
3. There will be a slight cost for the event to cover the registration fee. Once we get that cost, we will make sure to include it in the application along with any reminders. This will be the only thing that will need to be paid to NC Swimming.
4. The NCS Open Water Zone team will now be sponsored by Speedo. Swimmers will still be getting gear for the meet.
If you have any questions about the process, please contact Jonathan Bescher at coachbesch@newwaveswimteam.org
Thanks,
Jon
Jonathan Bescher
2020 NC Open Water Zone Team: initial roster
Below is the initial roster for the 2020 NCS Open Water Zone team. If athletes decline the invitation, the next person on the list will be contacted.
11-12 Girls | |
Whelehan | Sloan |
Cinson | Kathryn |
Rojas | Anna |
Hertzig | Madi |
11-12 Boys | |
Harris | Cole |
Cooler | Tripp |
Prabhu | Gino |
Brooks | Nicholas |
13-14 Girls | |
Eward | Ellery |
Willis | Lily Ann |
Whelehan | Meredith |
Ivanov | Katherine |
13-14 Boys | |
Nye | Owen |
Marsteiner | Sam |
Osman | Max |
Scheiber | Jackson |
15-16 Girls | |
Smith | Clare |
Parmenter | Katie |
Carpenter | Emily |
Cotter | Keelan |
15-16 Boys | |
Jacobs | Chad |
Williams | Keith |
Ayers | Alex |
Hitchcock | Andrew |
Open Girls | |
Hefner | Caitlin |
Pennington | Isabel |
Ciancanelli | MaKayla |
Sleime | Leyla |
Open Boys | |
Hughes | Connor |
Lloyd | Kenneth |
Cotter | Michael |
Norris | Lance |
Ashley Twichell qualifies for Olympic Games!

Ashley Twichell (TAC Titans) joined fellow Team USA member Haley Anderson in qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games!
For the first time since open water swimming became an Olympic sport in 2008, the United States will have two women competing in the 10k at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Haley Anderson and Ashley Twichell finished second and sixth Sunday in the 10k open water race at the 18th FINA World Championships in South Korea, turning in times of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 48.1 seconds, and 1:54:50.5, respectively.
They became the first American swimmers to qualify for next year’s Olympic Team by virtue of their top 10 finishes. Click here to read the entire USA Swimming article.
Congratulations!
NCS Open Water Champs: Results

The 2019 North Carolina Swimming Open Water Championships were held at Lake Echo; Seven Lakes, NC this past weekend. Events included the 400 meter, mile, 5K, 3K, 2K, and 800 meter distances. The 13-14 age group competed in the 3K, ages 11-12 in the 2K and 10U in the 800 meter event. Those who swam all three events (the 5K, the 3K, and the 2K) had their results in those events combined to determine their position in the Poseidon standings.
2019 NCS Open Water Zone Team

Here is the initial 2019 NC Open Water Zone Team. The meet will be held On April 13th and 14th in Ft Myers, Fl. This year it will be swum at Florida Gulf Coast University, in a lake. The team will fly down on April 12th and return on April 14th. This year, the zone was asked to use the FINA standard for the Age Up, which is the end of the year (12/31/2019). So, there are some swimmers who would have made the team that are now in the older age group. This is not something that NC Swimming asked for, but was asked for by USA Swimming, to make it easier for them for qualification purposes to Open Water Junior Nationals and Open Water Nationals.
We realize that at the meet in September, swimmers were told it was their age as of April 13th, however, we were not told by USA Swimming until after our meet.
11-12 Girls
Mere Whelehan
Isabel Volk
Mackenzie Collins
Clarke Neace
13-14 Girls
Keelan Cotter
Nicole Zettel
Katya Ivanov
Lily Ann WIllis
15-16 Girls
Caitlin Hefner
MaKayla Ciancanelli
Emily Knorr
Emily Carpenter
Open Girls
Sydney Morgan
Olivia Sutter
Isabel Pennington
Gweny Durak
11-12 Boys
Alex Hill
Greyson Young
Holden Ball
Norvin Clontz III
13-14 Boys
Max Marrujo
Drew Hitchcock
Landon Lloyd
Lucca Battaglini
15-16 Boys
Michael Cotter
Lance Norris
Logan Zucker
Braeden Haughey
Open Boys
Connor Hughes
James Wyatt
Jared Carter
Owen Lloyd
An email from Manager Jonathan Bescher will be sent out the parents shortly. If you don’t receive an email from Jonathan Bescher by 1/4, please email him at coachbesch@newwaveswimteam.org
I will answer emails about the meet itself, but I will NOT respond to any emails regarding the date being to determine the age of the swimmer at the meet. This was not my decision.
Thanks,
jon