BAAC Swimmers Break Club Records Leading up to Long Course Championships in July
BUFFALO, NY, July 1, 2019 - The Buffalo Area Aquatic Club (BAAC) concluded the first two months of the Niagara Swimming long course season last weekend with unprecedented time improvements in six local and regional swim meets from Rochester, New York to Geneva, Ohio under Coach Cutler.
BAAC kicked off the long course season by hosting the BAAC Kick-Off Open in their home pool at the University of Buffalo on May 5th. Highlights from this meet included first time ever long course events from Jonathan Burroughs, Liam Carroll, Brian Craig, Teagen Horvath, Rebecca Kallus, Timmy Megan and Meer Renschler Pandey. Nicole Marchese dropped over two seconds in the 100 Backstroke in the Women’s Open. Most improved cumulative times for their events included Celia Morey (-66.53), Reagan Peiper (-52.36), and Elliott Borden (-44.61). Participating in their first long distance events included Luciana Alessi, Sasha Borkson, Emily Dillon, Jess Napier and Belle Umansky in the 400 Freestyle and Lauren Golden in the 800 Freestyle.
In BAAC’s second meet of the season, the team headed to Tonawanda for the Natalie Lewis Spring Invitational on May 17th-19th. BAAC placed 4th overall out of 15 clubs with the BAAC Women’s Team earning 2nd place. Katarina Umansky broke the 100 Butterfly BAAC record from 2008 by over 3 seconds in the 8 and Under age group. Megan Jermak set a personal best time in the 200 Freestyle. Most improved cumulative times for their events included Elliott Borden (-121.55), Veronika Puzanovova (-120.12), Cadence Pisa (-107.09), Cara Marchese (-91.19), Madeline Loeffler (-77.97) and Belle Umansky (-76.67). Swimmers placing in the top 3 for their events included Luciana Alessi, Elliott Borden, Emily Dillon, Lauren Golden, Celia Morey and Katarina Umansky. In the 10 and under age group, Anna Huntress made her debut in long course swimming by competing in five events.
Rounding out May, the BAAC 12 and Under Team competed in the STAR Long Course Kick-off on May 31st - June 2nd. The 10 and Under Women’s relay team of Luciana Alessi, Katarina Umansky, Madeline Loeffler and Lauren Golden broke the 200 Meter Freestyle BAAC relay record for the 9-10 age group set in 2018. Leading the team in points was the Alessi family of Luca and Luciana who scored 119 and 116 points respectively with multiple top 3 finishes. Additional top 3 finishers included Lauren Golden, Tara Przybysz and Katarina Umansky. High five awards go to several swimmers competing in difficult first time events including Amelia Jermak, Lauren Golden and Julia Burg in the 200 Breaststroke, Tara Przybysz in the 200 Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly, Belle Umansky in the 200 Backstroke and 200 Breaststroke and Katarina Umansky in the 200 Butterfly. Molly Fulco also led the team in competing in five new events for long course.
Leading into June, the BAAC team hit the road with two travel meets. First up was the Niagara Super Circuit in Webster, New York on June 8th. With each swimmer competing in three events, Cadence Pisa led the team in time improvement (-62.81), followed by Spencer Remick (-28.29) and Audrey Jensen (-18.58). Swimmers tackling first time events included Emily Dillon in the 1500 Freestyle and Alexey Simakov in the 200 Free, 100 Breaststroke and 100 Backstroke.
Following the Webster meet, the team headed to Geneva, Ohio for the Jerry Holtrey Invitational on June 14th - 16th. The BAAC Women’s team finished in 9th place out of 35 teams. Audrey Jensen, Katarina Umansky, Luciana Alessi and Lauren Golden broke their own BAAC record by five seconds for the 9-10 age group in the 200 Freestyle Relay winning 1st place. Swimmers making the top 10 finals in this highly competitive meet included Luciana Alessi, Audrey Jensen and Lauren Golden who earned runner-up in high points for the 10 and Under age group. Best improvement in times included Emily Dillon dropping 3 seconds in the Women’s Open 100 freestyle and cumulative time drops for Veronika Puzanovova (-51.68), Celia Morey (-48.45), Audrey Jensen (-30.17), Jonathan Burroughs (-28.01), and Reagan Peiper (-21.52). High five award goes to Maya Huntress for competing in the 400 Freestyle and 400 Individual Medley for the first time.
And finally last weekend, the team competed in the Buffalo Niagara Sports Commission Summer Invitational on June 21st to 23rd. BAAC placed 7th overall out of 21 teams with the Women’s Team placing 4th and the Men’s Team placing 9th. Lauren Golden broke the 50 Butterfly BAAC record for 9-10 age group dating back to 2010. Best improvement in times for the 13 and Over age groups include Spencer Remick dropping 98.23 seconds in five events, Elliott Borden dropping over 56 seconds in the 800 Freestyle, Jess Napier dropping 14.96 seconds including a 3 second drop in the 100 Fly, Sofia Hall dropping 2.5 seconds in the 50 Backstroke and Rachel Martin achieving season personal best times in all events. Achieving times for their first longer distance events included Luca Alessi (200 Free), Cadence Pisa (400 Free), Veronika Puzanonova (200 Breast), Meer Renschler Pandey (200 Free), Gabe Russell Webster (200 Free) and Katarina Umansky (200 Back). Lucy Culliton achieved her first long course times in the 8 and Under division.
With less than three weeks left until the Niagara Long Course Championships, BAAC will host the BAAC Last Chance Meet at Alumni Arena on July 7th. For more information on BAAC, visit www.buffaloswimming.com.
ABOUT BAAC:
The Buffalo Area Aquatic Club (BAAC) is a year-round, USA Swimming competitive team that offers professional coaching and technique instruction. Originally founded in the 1960s as UB Amherst Swimming, BAAC has a tradition of excellence, producing many of the area's premier swimmers. Athletes who have trained and competed with the club have achieved success at the regional, national, and collegiate level. Under the leadership of our dedicated coaching staff and a passionate family of athletes and parents, BAAC is committed to setting the tone for excellence in Western New York swimming.
BAAC is part of the Niagara Swimming LSC and is a nonprofit organization run by an elected Board of Directors.
