Swimming Academic All-American

Powell named as Swimming Academic All-American

May 26, 2009….Ashley Powell, a Mt Juliet resident and graduating senior from the Pope John Paul II High School Swim Team, has been selected by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association as an Academic All-American for the 2008-2009 school year.

To be eligible for the award, swimmers must be graduating seniors having maintained an unweighted GPA of 3.75 through the first semester of their senior year. Additionally they must have also lettered in swimming for three years, including their senior year.

“Pope John Paul II High School has a strong tradition of academic excellence, and the swim team is proud of Ashley having attained this national recognition for her academic success”, Pope John Paul II Swim Coach John Barnes commented. “Ashley did a great job of balancing academics, athletics, and her leadership roles within Pope John Paul II; she is a fine example of the accomplished student-athlete which the high school produces each year.”

For more information on Pope John Paul II High School Swim Team, visit www.jp2hs.org

Spring Fling Meet produces Wilson County winner

Lebanon Swimmer wins 4 events at Spring Fling Meet

April 26, 2009….It was the first Long Course swim meet of the year; it was the Excel Aquatics Spring Fling Invitational in Brentwood TN. Long Course meets are held in 50 Meter pools, as compared to Short Course meets which are held in 25 Yard pools. The Olympics and most international meets are held in the Long Course format.

Lebanon High’s Bradley Gillilan, participating for Excel Aquatics, swam to victories in the Senior Boy’s 400 Meter Individual Medley (IM), 400 Meter Freestyle, 100 Meter Breaststroke and 800 Meter Freestyle.

The 400 Meter IM consists of 100 Meters each of Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Freestyle, in that order. Due to the distance, it allows those who may be weak in one stroke to be able to make up for the deficiency in other strokes.

In the IM, Gillilan was in 4^th place after the Butterfly leg, and moved up into 2^nd after the Backstroke, trailing by only 40-hundreths of a second. During the pullout phase at the beginning of the Breaststroke leg Gillilan looked left and made eye contact with the teammate he was trailing, who also happened to be looking over to see where Gillilan was. Gillilan at that point knew the race was his to win. Gillilan blasted out to a lead of 7.69 seconds after the Breaststroke and cruised home in four minutes 58 seconds and 91-hundreths (4:58.91), winning by over 5 seconds. The time was a personal best time for Gillilan, besting his old mark by 6.76 seconds.

“Bradley is one of the top distance freestylers in Tennessee, and as such has the confidence he can wear down the competition in the 400 Meter IM”, Excel Coach John Barnes explained. “He swam the race smart, and we knew that if he was close after the backstroke, then he had an excellent chance to win.”

“It’s all about strategy and then executing that strategy.”

In the 400 Meter Freestyle, Gillilan was seeded second going into the event, and was ahead at the first turn (50 Meter split) by 9-hundreths of a second, the closest anyone would be to him. After that he took over the race and never looked back. Gillilan had a full body length lead and a 1.92 second lead after the 200 Meter split. Gillilan won in a time of 4:19.18, a 3.27 second margin of victory.

“The 400 Meter time was about a half-second over his best time”, Barnes commented. “That is not a problem; he is exactly where we expect him to be at this point in training. He will improve as the summer progresses.”

The 100 Meter Breaststroke was a surprise victory, touching out the competition by less than a second. Gillilan turned a personal best time in the event, finishing with a 1:17.29, good enough for a Southeastern Swimming Long Course Championship Meet qualifying time.

“With the performance in the 100 Breaststroke, Bradley now has 9 qualifying times for the SES LC Championships, to go along with his 3 cuts for the Summer Senior Sectionals, 3 cuts for the NCSA Junior Nationals, and 2 cuts for the USA-Swimming Junior Nationals.”

The final event of the meet was the 800 Meter Freestyle, and Gillilan was in firm control of the event the entire distance, winning by over 7 seconds and finishing in a time of 8:52.07.

“The second seeded swimmer in the 800 is a talented kid and a fantastic competitor, and we have seen him make a charge in the back half of distances races before, and Bradley went into the swim aware of that. As a result Bradley conserved energy on the first half of the race for a second-half charge that never materialized by the other swimmer, thus his time was a little off his best.”

Gillilan also placed in the Senior Boy’s 200 Meter IM (2^nd Place); 200 Meter Freestyle (4^th Place); 200 Meter Breaststroke (4^th Place); 100 Meter Butterfly (5^th Place); and the 100 Meter Freestyle (8^th Place).

The next Long Course meet is May 29-31 in Brentwood TN at the Williamson County Indoor Sports Complex.

For more information on swimming options for Wilson County residents, visit www.SwimWilsonCounty.com.

Gillilan 30th at Junior Nationals!

Gillilan 30^th in Mile at Junior National Swimming Championships in Orlando

March 22, 2009….He followed his older brother Travis in the water to train, and has seemingly never left. Lebanon High School junior, Bradley Gillilan appears to be more at home in the water than he is on land, and as a Junior at Lebanon High School, he has probably swam more yardage than his classmates have combined.

A payoff to Gillilan’s hard work and intense drive occurred this past week at the NCSA Junior National Swimming Championships. Over 1,500 swimmers from across the nation attended the highly competitive meet. Gillilan is the first swimmer from Lebanon to attend the annual meet.

In his final event in the meet, the 1,500 Meter Freestyle, Gillilan was seeded 56^th out of 64 swimmers entered in the event. Gillilan turned three best times in the single event, on his way to moving up 26 spots and finishing in 30^th Place.

Best times were achieved in the 400 Meter Freestyle, where he turned a legal split time of 4:18.56. At the 800 Meter split, he set a best time of 8:43.32. Hitting the wall at the finish with a time of 16:33.55, Gillilan knocked 27.83 seconds off his previous best time.

The time in the 1,500 Meter Free was a qualifying time standard for the 1,650 Yard Freestyle at the USA-Swimming Short Course Junior National Meet to be held in December at Ohio State University.

“Bradley qualified for the USA-S Junior National Meet in the 1,000 Yard Freestyle earlier in the week, and this is his second cut”, Coach John Barnes stated. “He is close to a cut in the 500 Yard Freestyle, and we expect him to get that mark by the time the meet comes around in December.”

Gillilan time trialed the 500 Yard Free two days before the 1,500 Meter Free, and turned a 4:41.49, a drop of 4.23 seconds from his time at the Southeastern Swimming Short Course Championships three weeks earlier.

“Bradley chose to taper for Jr Nationals, and even though he had a good Southeasterns meet, he was not fully rested then. He was tapered for this meet, and had some great swims. He gets back in the water this week, and will focus on the coming summer competitions. What is done is done; now we move towards the future.”

In the Fall of 2009, as a senior at Lebanon High School, Gillilan is scheduled to compete at the Grand Prix Meet in November at the University of Minneapolis, followed four weeks later by participating in the Junior National Meet at Ohio State University.

For more information on swimming for Wilson County residents, visit www.SwimWilsonCounty.com.

Gillilan Swims at Junior Nationals!

Gillilan Moves Up at Junior National Swim Meet

3/18/09 Orlando FL.....More than 1,500 swimmers from across the nation are participating in the National Coaches Swimming Association (NCSA) Junior National Swimming Championships. Lebanon High School junior Bradley Gillilan qualified for the meet, and is representing Excel Aquatics.

Gillilan's first event was on Tuesday the 17th, and it was the 1,000 Yard Freestyle. Gillilan entered the meet seeded 81st for the event.

Gillilan took out the swim strong in the first half, turning a 1:50.20 in the first 200 yard split, and hitting 4:42.32 at the 500 yard split.

"That 4:42 was a legal best split time for Bradley, and it beat his previous best time in the 500 by over three seconds", Excel Aquatics coach and Lebanon resident John Barnes noted. "When a swimmer does a best time in a split like that, we know something good is going to happen in the rest of the race."

Gillilan's second 500 of the race came in at 4:53.24, for a final time in the 1,000 of 9:35.56. It was a best time for Gillilan, a 12.00 second drop in the event; and good enough for a 58th place finish.

"Bradley moved up 23 spots between his seed placement and his final placing", Barnes commented. "It was a great swim, and it sets the stage for the rest of the week."

The time by Gillilan also was a USA-Swimming (USAS) Short Course Junior National qualifying time for the 1,000 Yard Freestyle. USAS Junior Nationals are the next step in the progression of swimmers after the NCSA Junior Nationals. The USAS Short Course Junior National Meet will be held December 10-12, 2009 in Columbus, Ohio.

"There is a tremendous upside in Bradley for any college team that pursues him. He is the top distance swimmer with Excel Aquatics, and the top 1,000 Yard Freestyle swimmer in Middle Tennessee. He has accomplished this without having touched weights, nor has he done two-a-days with his practices. We teach more strategy in our training compared to others, and Gillilan has understood and implemented the focus on each set in practice."

Gillilan will swim in the 1,500 Meter Freestyle on Saturday, the 21st.

For more information on swimming options in Wilson County, visit www.SwimWilsonCounty.com.