Seven Lakes, NC -Echo Lake – Congratulations to all NCS Athletes, Coaches, and Clubs represented this past weekend. Thank You to our host New WAVE swim team, FSSeries for the accu-chip timing results, to Ed and Terry Hill, and the Seven Lakes community for hosting this event, Thank You to all the NCS Officials who helped make this event a success, and Thank You to North Carolina Swimming. #ItTakesAVillage #NCSBetter2Gether #WEARENCS
2026 May NCS Open Water Champs Instagram Post
2026 NCS Open Water State Championships
The 2026 NCS Open Water State Championship meet will be May 29-30 at Seven Lakes in West End, NC (Lake Echo). Thank you to New Wave Swim Team for Hosting this Championship Meet.
OFFICIALS OPPORTUNITY: Open Water Judge/ Referee Clinic with Jim Riggs Saturday May 30, 2026 – For more information on how to get involved contact Jim Riggs- jsriggs11@gmail.com
Officials Clinic Saturday – 5/30/2025 – Open Water Lake Echo – Jim Riggs 980-291-5003 Clinic in conjunction with apprenticing at the event. Clinic at mid-day Judge/Referee Seven Lakes, West End, NC jsriggs11@gmail.com Refer to OW Clinic Training on NCS at: OpenWater Meet Information NCS Open Water Officials Clinic Notes
New Wave has volunteered to run this meet and is seeking others to help out to create a successful NCS OW Championship event. If interested in helping with the meet please Contact Jon Bescher 919-320-4998 Email: coachbesch@newwaveswimteam.org
The OW Committee heard the feedback, and have made adjustments to a transition plan bridging the 2026 Open Water Select Camp Selection Process. Please review below.
2026 Open Water Select Camp – Selected from 2026 NCS OW Champs, OW Zone Meet, OW Juniors/OW Nationals (see point chart below). A swimmer’s age group for camp will be determined by the swimmer’s age at the NCS Open Water Championships.
Automatic Qualifiers: The top (5) placing swimmers for each gender in the following events at the NCS Open Water Championships will automatically qualify for the 2026 Open Water Select Camp:
· 11-12 2K
· 13-14 3K
· 15-18 5K
An additional (3) swimmers in each age group will be selected to camp through the points system below, for a total of (8) swimmers per gender in each age group (11-12, 13-14, 15-18). A swimmer may not be in college at the time of the Select Camp. In such a case, the next highest finishing swimmers will be selected up to the tenth-place finisher.
| OW Nationals* | OW Jr. Nats* | OW Zone Meet* | NCS OW Champs | |
| Participation | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Additional Pts. | ||||
| Top 24 | 1 | |||
| Top 16 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Top 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Win | Automatic | Automatic | 4 | 2 |
*Update for 2026: Swimmers who competed and placed in the newly established knockout races at this year’s OW National, OW Junior National, or OW Zone meet receive separate/additional points for placement in those races, in addition to points earned via the individual 2K/5K.
OW Coordinator: Rachel Muller, Email: rachel.muller@ymcatriangle.org
NCS Open Water Finishes Second
Houston, Texas – NCS finished second overall at the 2026 Southern Zone Open Water Championships in League City, Texas this past weekend. Congratulations to all athletes, coaches, and the NCS Village who helped create this team for a successful Business trip. #WEARENCS
2026 SZ OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIPS AT LAKE LONGHORN, TX. HOSTED BY GULF SWIMMING.
Combined Team Scores
1. Florida Swimming 1152
2. North Carolina Swimming 812
3. Gulf Swimming 630
4. Florida Gold Coast Swimming 362
5. South Carolina Swimming 282
6. Southeastern Swimming Zone Tea 271
7. Team North Texas 236
8. Georgia Open Water Zone Team 213
9. Kentucky 123
10. South Texas Zone Team 118
11. Louisiana Zone Team 85
NCS OW Zone Team traveling to Texas
The 2026 NCS Open Water Zone Team will be traveling to Houston, Texas competing in the Southern Zone OW Championship meet April 24-26, 2026. To check out more on the SZ OW Championship meet, check out the Southern Zone Web Page for live updates.
AccuChip Results
Safe travels to our NCS Athletes & Staff next week. Lets Go NCS! #WEARENCS
Open Water VideoOPEN WATER ZONE APPLICATION OPEN
NCS Swimmer swims Length of Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe – 16 year old, Lorelei Schmidt, traveled across the country to swim the length of Lake Tahoe (21.3 miles). Lorelei is a North Carolina Swimming member who trains with the Marlins Of Raleigh, and has always loved long distance swimming. This ordinary teenager has an “Extra-ordinary” mindset filled with confidence, determination, and a fearless approach accepting the challenges of open water swimming adventures. Lorelei began her swim, Friday, August 8, around 7:00pm in 65F degree water temp as the moon was beginning to rise, swimming the length of Lake Tahoe. Lorelei swam through the night making landfall just after 6am in 11 hours and 30 minutes. Way to Go Lorelei!
https://www.tahoeopenwater.org/august-8-2025-lorelei-schmidt-length-of-lake-tahoe/
Special shout out to her support crew, family, MOR Coach John McDonald, and all who were on the boat by her side providing fuelings and hydration to sustain her marathon swim. Congratulations Lorelei! Just Keep Swimming! #WEARENCS
NCS swimmer takes on Hawaiian Channel
Kaiwi Channel, Hawaii – 16 year old, Lorelei Schmidt, traveled across the country to swim solo from one Hawaiian island to the other. Also known as the Molokai Channel, this body of water separates the islands of O’ahu and Moloka’i in Hawaii. The channel is 27 miles (44km), with maximum depths up to 2,300ft (700m). This channel is included in the 7 challenges of Oceans Seven open water swimming series. Lorelei is a North Carolina Swimming member who trains with the Marlins Of Raleigh, and has always loved long distance swimming. This ordinary teenager has an “Extra-ordinary” mindset filled with confidence, determination, and a fearless approach accepting the challenges of open water swimming adventures. Lorelei began her swim around 6:00am as the sun was beginning to rise, and made it to O’ahu shore at 1:43am in 19hours and 38 minutes, joining a small group of the young females to successfully cross this channel. Special shout out to her support crew, and her parents, who were on the boat by her side providing fuelings and hydration to sustain her marathon swim. Lorelei has been swimming in numerous long distance swimming events across the country from Lake Tahoe, Catalina Channel, 20 Bridges Manhatten Swim, and now the Kaiwi Channel can be added to her list of accomplishments. Two days before Lorelei began her swim, two other open water swimmers had to abort their swim due to cookiecutter shark attacks. Check out this article https://dailynewsofopenwaterswimming.com/lorelei-schmidt-travels-cross-country-to-cross-molokai-in-19-hours-38-minutes/.
Congratulations Lorelei! Just Keep Swimming! #WEARENCS
OPEN WATER SWIMMING WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
ALGHERO, ITALY – 2024 Open Water World Junior Championships. Congratulations to NCS Athletes Daisy Collins (NCAC) and Griffin Cagle (SwimMAC) who earned their names to the Team USA Open Water Junior World Championship rosters. The ancient city of Alghero, Italy is set to host the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming Junior World Championships 2024 from 5-8 September 2024. Nestled on the picturesque island of Sardinia, Alghero will welcome more than 200 open water athletes aged 14-19 from 35 countries for this prestigious event. Let’s Go Team USA! #WEARENCS
2024 SZ Open Water Team
The 2024 Southern Zone Open Water Championships, was held at Barren Lake State Park, Lucas, KY on May 31 – June 2, 2024. Congratulations to these athletes for being named to the SZ Open Water Team.
Junior National Open Water SZ Qualifiers
2024 Southern Zone Open Water Championships results are in. Florida wins the team title. North Carolina, and Gulf have a close battle for 2nd and 3rd with NC taking 2nd by 1 point.
Congratulations to Kevin Ryan and Kentucky Swimming on a job well done!
#WEARENCS
