ABSC Shines in First Meet Weekend - Recapping Both Meets

ABSC couldn’t have started the meet season on a more positive note, as both the annual Red & Black and ABSC vs. Marietta Marlins meets resulted in strong showings for the club.

Before recapping the meet, a big THANK YOU goes out to all of our volunteers from the weekend. The ABSC parents set the example of teamwork for their swimmers by willingly volunteering their time. From announcing, to selling heat sheets, to running the computers, to officiating, to timing, our parents were the engine that made the meets go. You blessed our coaching staff by allowing us to do what we love in coaching your swimmers, and you blessed your swimmers by providing them a meet to swim in. THANK YOU!

I also want to give a big Thank You to all of the 13&over swimmers – the “Big Dawgs” – that participated in the Big Dawg/Little Dawg mentoring and made the night special for our 10&Unders on Friday night.

Red & Black Meet Recap

A night highlighted by a strong team atmosphere and the unveiling of the fun new “Big Dawg/Little Dawg” mentoring system also carried it’s fair share of drama and competition. After the dust settled, the Black Team walked away victorious in this showdown of ABSC squads for the 9th time in the last 10 years.

A close battle, the Black Team was able to secure their victory by producing an outstanding performance on the closing relays. The final tally ended up: Black Team: 1091.5, Red Team: 1053.5

It looked early in the meet as if the Red Team would prevail, taking a comfortable lead after the freestyle events at the beginning of the meet. But the Black Team roared back into the competition with a strong showing on the breaststroke and IM events, taking the lead and never looking back.

A close meet going into the final relays had the Red Team trailing by only 29 points. With a first place relay finish netting 18 points to the winning team for each age group, it was anyone’s meet. Particularly considering the Red Team had a strong showing in the freestyle events early in the meet, it appeared they had a chance.

But while the Red Team had a faster seed time in almost every relay age group, the Black Team had other plans for the outcome of the meet. With a surprising win in the 11-12 girls age group, and a Red Team DQ on the 1st place senior boys relay, the black team would go on to secure their victory.

ABSC vs. Marlins Recap

After dividing and competing against one another Friday evening, ABSC reunited Sunday morning to take on the Marietta Marlins. In what became a comfortable victory for ABSC, the intrigue in the meet comes more from the historical perspective than what actually took place Sunday morning. Here’s what I mean:

The Marietta Marlins have historically been one of the fastest teams in the state of Georgia! Despite their smaller numbers this season relative to ABSC, they still boast one of the most talented lineups of any team we’ll face this year. Loaded with several individual state champions, junior national qualifiers, and former members of the Georgia Zone Team, the Marlins are no small task.

In fact, the Marlins used to participate in the same Division as ABSC, swimming the Divisionals meet at Ramsey every March. They routinely won that meet for a span of about 10 years — some years winning by a sizable margin.

History aside, on Sunday there was no drama with the final outcome. ABSC headed into the final relays with a big lead, and further distanced themselves by the end of the meet! We took first place in every relay except the 10&under boys, who were barely out-touched by some talented Marlin youngsters. The 13-14 boys actually took first on the A-relay, and second on the B-relay, with the Marlins A-relay placing 3rd.

Even as recently as last summer, the Marlins proved a big challenge as they placed ahead of ABSC at the 14&Under state meet. So for us to start the season with a big win like this, is always a great sign of things to come.

Go Dawgs!