TAC Titans Blizzard Blitz
- December 10-13, 2020
- Cary, NC
- SCY
- Results on Meet Mobile as “2020 TAC Titans Blizzard Blitz Meet”
The TAC Titans annual Blizzard Blitz meet got underway tonight with timed finals of the 1000 free. For junior swimmers who already have qualifying times, this meet will be one of many around the country that will count towards the USA Swimming 18&U Winter Championships.
And while we typically focus on the 18 and under swimmers at a club-hosted meet like this, the first event of the meet actually went to Team USA veteran Ashley Twichell. The 31 year-old, who represents TAC, won with a 9:28.45. That appears to be Twichell’s 8th-fastest time ever, and her fastest since she went that lifetime best of 9:21.41 last March.
UVA commit Caroline Pennington took 2nd in 9:37.44, knocking over 18 seconds off of her personal best from this time last year. Not only that, but Pennington hit the halfway point at 4:46.55, actually beating her personal best time in the 500, which was a 4:46.76 from August. 16 year-old Charlotte Hook took 3rd in 9:42.89, less than half a second away from her lifetime best from March of this year. Those were the only three women under 10 minutes, as TAC swept the top six spots.
Further down the rankings, 14 year-old Nicole Zettel popped a big personal best, knocking 34 seconds off of her time from last November, her only other recorded 1000 free, to take 6th in 10:12.96.
On the men’s side, 17 year-old Lance Norris came close to breaking the 9 minute mark, but came just a bit short, winning with a time of 9:00.96. That’s still a lifetime best by over six seconds, with his previous best time coming from this March.
16 year-old teammate Braeden Haughey took 2nd in 9:05.42, just 0.03s shy of setting a new personal best.
We had Norris and Haughey ranked 14th and 18th, respectively on our first recruit rankings for the high school class of 2022. Norris has committed to NC State, and Haughey has committed to Virginia. Another Titan, Michael Cotter, slotted between them on that list at #17, and he’s scheduled to start competing here tomorrow.
29 year-old Christian Bayo, a Puerto Rican national who trains with TAC, took 3rd with a time of 9:12.26.
The meet continues tomorrow with the 200 free, 100 breast, 100 fly, and 400 IM. Tomorrow should mark the meet debut for NAG record-holder Claire Curzan, who is scheduled to swim the 100 fly.
