Competitor Coach of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based coach who has risen above the competition. As with any item of recognition, Competitor Coach of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one coach whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a coach who was clearly in the limelight, or one whose work fell through the cracks a bit more among other stories. If your favorite coach wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.
Bruce Marchionda has led the TAC Titans into becoming one of the top clubs in the country over the last number of years, and his swimmers continued to prove why that’s the case racing at home at the CMC Triangle Classic (LCM) meet in mid-June.
The Titans saw numerous impressive performances, led by Reina Liu, the 16-year-old standout who continued to climb the all-time rankings in the girls’ 15-16 age group.
Liu most notably set a personal best time of 25.26 in the 50 free, moving her up to 12th all-time in the 15-16 age group and 2nd this season, only trailing Rylee Erisman (24.94).
Liu also set new best times in the 100 back (1:00.70) and 200 IM (2:14.83), ranking her 26th and 47th all-time in the age group, respectively, and she narrowly missed her 200 back PB by five one-hundredths in 2:12.46. Her best time of 2:12.41, set last summer, ranks 62nd all-time among 15-16s.
This season, Liu ranks 3rd in the 15-16 age group in the 100 back, 4th in the 200 IM and 5th in the 200 back.
On the boys’ side, 17-year-old Davis Jackson shone with four new personal best times, highlighted by his backstroke performances.
Jackson set new bests of 55.29 in the 100 back and 2:00.45 in the 200 back, ranking him 53rd and 65th all-time in the 17-18 age group, respectively. Among 17-year-old Americans all-time, Jackson ranks 20th in the 100 back and 35th in the 200 back.
He also set best times in the 200 IM (2:04.08) and 200 breast (2:25.78), the latter of which ranks him 4th this season among 17-year-old boys.
The TAC Titans also saw results that jump off the page from 14-year-old Steven Zhou-He on the boys’ side and Charley Hanoian and Greta Hockett for the girls.
Zhou-He cracked the top 100 all-time in the boys’ 13-14 age group in the 100 fly, clocking 57.24 to rank 83rd, and it also ranks him 4th this season. He also moves to 7th this season in the 200 fly (2:09.02), 8th in the 200 IM (2:11.49) and 9th in the 400 IM (4:39.63).
Hanoian, who was 12 during the competition but has since aged up and turned 13, produced a time of 1:15.66 in the 100 breast, ranking her 2nd in the girls’ 11-12 age group this season and 94th all-time. Her 200 breast PB of 2:49.32 sits 7th this season in the age group.
Hockett, 13, set best times in the 100 fly (1:03.78) and 50 free (27.33) that rank her 6th and 7th, respectively, among 13-year-old girls this season.
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