Stands were packed last week for the third annual Dolfin NASA Showcase Classic at the Long Center in Clearwater, FL. This meet attracts some of the best 14 and unders in the country and offers teams the opportunity to swim against top-level swimmers they normally wouldn’t compete against at meets. The professionally run championship offers a chance to gain experience, swim fast and sneak off to the beach when it’s all over! Many families stay a few extra days and make a vacation out of the trip.
It’s not surprising that almost 850 swimmers were entered in the meet and teams look forward to traveling for it every year. Casey Hnatiuk, head coach of the LYONS Swim Club in Chicago has brought his swimmers since the meet started three years ago. He explained, “It’s a nice pool, great facility and weather. It’s a very organized and well-run meet and the level of competition remains high.”
Adding to the excitement of competition, the Florida Swim Network live-streamed the entire event. Joe Auer, co-founder of the Florida Swim Network said, “It’s like a Junior Nationals for the Age-Groupers which is pretty cool. They come from all over the country to go to this meet. It’s catered towards the kids so they have the podium and all the awards. We interview all the winners. We make it special and they love it.”
The number of viewers who tuned into the meet on the Florida Swim Network is astounding. During the course of the competition, the feed had over 94,000 unique viewers. That’s 25,000 more viewers than the typical attendance at an NFL game! Even more impressive is the amount of time viewers spent watching. On average, viewers stayed on the site for a little more than ten minutes. In the click-happy culture of the internet where people frequently only spend about thirty seconds on a site, eleven minutes is a long time! It signals that many people were interested in the swimming and stuck around to watch multiple heats.
After four days of competition, Nova of Virginia Aquatics, Inc won the girls title, followed by The Fish in second and the Aqua Jets Swim Team in third. Poseidon Swimming came out on top for boys swimming, with Nova and the Virginia Gators putting up scores for second and third. In overall team points, Nova claimed the victory by 300 points. The Fish were named runners-up with the Virginia Gators close behind.
Girls – Team Scores:
Place Team Points
1 Nova of Virginia Aquatics, Inc 704. 50
2 The Fish The Fish 493
3 Aquajets Swim Team 440. 50
4 Virginia Gators 376
5 Nation’s Capital Swim Club 361
Boys – Team Scores
Place Team Points
1 Poseidon Swimming Inc 492
2 Nova of Virginia Aquatics, Inc 388
3 Virginia Gators Virginia Gators 377. 50
4 St Charles Swim Team 357
5 Nation’s Capital Swim Club 327. 50
Overall- Team Scores
Place Team Points
1 Nova of Virginia Aquatics 1,092. 50
2 The Fish 765
3 Virginia Gators 753. 50
4 Nation’s Capital Swim Club 688. 50
5 Poseidon Swimming Inc 661
Congratulations to all teams that participated. What a great four days of fast swimming! We look forward to doing it again next year!
Swimming News press release is courtesy of Meredith Roberts and Dolfin, a SwimSwam partner.
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