USA Swimming has released the 2012 “Medal Awards” that awards teams based on their all-around performance in the pool, and for the first time ever David Marsh’s SwimMAC Carolina club has come out on top with 59,856 points.
What’s even more stunning about that victory is that the team did so under the new rules, which only accounts for athletes aged 18 and under. That means that their impressive post-grad group (Micah Lawrence, Eugene Godsoe, Davis Tarwater, Cullen Jones, Josh Schneider, etc.) didn’t even factor into the score this year.
The Dynamo Swim Club out of Atlanta, who won Junior Nationals, took 2nd overall. That makes two teams out of the Atlanta area in the top 6 (along with Swim Atlanta), which is an impressive density of talent. The Mission Viejo Nadadores took 3rd (they were boosted, in part, by the fact that open water scoring counts this year).
Among the more impressive rises on the list is the number 8 First Colony Swim Team. They have never earned gold-medal status before, and this year lept all the way to 8th place ahead of such legendary clubs as Bolles (9th), Curl Burke (11th), and Germantown Academy (12th). They are coached by Allison Beebe, and should continue to thrive with a revamped coaching staff (including new head age group coach Evan Chastain, who comes from the New Trier Swim Club).
Other first-time gold medal programs (which is a sign of big improvements) include Spartaquatics, led by Peter Wright, and Crimson Aquatics in Massachusetts.
The top of this year’s list looks drastically different than last year’s, where North Baltimore was the champion. They were hurt by no longer scoring points for Michael Phelps and the rest of their professional training group, but their 5th-place finish shows that they’re doing good things at the Junior and Age Group levels as well.
Palo Alto completed the top 5 by jumping from 8th last year to 4th this year.
The full list of gold medal clubs, and their point totals, are below. To check out all of the gold, silver, and bronze level clubs, click here.
1. SwimMAC Carolina, 59,856
2. Dynamo Swim Club, 50,882
3. Mission Viejo Nadadores, 47,588
4. Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics, 46,072
5. North Baltimore Aquatic Club, 44,005
6. Swim Atlanta, 38,388
7. Sarasota YMCA Sharks, 33,104
8. First Colony Swim Team, 32,765
9. Bolles School Sharks, 32,554
10. Lakeside Swim Team, 31,970
11. Curl Burke Swim Club, 31,928
12. Germantown Academy A.C., 31,508
13. Carmel Swim Club, 29,897
14. Y Spartaquatics Swim Club, 29,141
15. North Coast Aquatics, 28,856
16. Rockville-Montgomery S.C., 25,951
17. NOVA of Virginia Aquatics, 24,383
18. Nashville Aquatic Club, 23,808
19. Santa Clara Swim Club, 22,874
20. Crimson Aquatics, 22,462
