2022-2023 Season Review

YMCA OF THE TRIANGLE AREA SWIM TEAM

2022-2023 SEASON REVIEW

We started the 2022 - 2023 season in September with a focus on momentum. In the traditional scientific equation, P=MV, mass and velocity are multiplied together to determine the momentum of a given object. This year we found that our momentum, defined as our Purpose, was best calculated by combining our focus on Movement and Values. Our coaching staff placed an increased focus on the movement of our swimmers as we embraced our partnership with SwimStrong Dryland to capitalize on the strength of our movements in the water. Our emphasis on values and character development continued to be a driving force for us this year as we enhanced our senior leadership camp and prioritized routine value discussions through initiatives like Word of the Week. While these two disciplines may seem simplistic, the act of prioritizing them through countless efforts each and every day truly did build and sustain the momentum our team has today. This momentum brought great success for our athletes both in and out of the water as they reached new peaks and fought through the valleys of this season. I hope you enjoy taking a look back at some of this year ’ s highlights!

2022 We Build People Annual Campaign

YOTA started the season strong by raising a total of $130,775 for the 2022 We Build People Annual Campaign! This campaign is something unique to our team as it provides our athletes with an opportunity to work together to give back to their community in such a powerful way. The money raised in this campaign is truly life changing and our swimmers benefit from practicing this servant leadership just as much. The money raised through this campaign makes it possible for anyone to participate in the many life changing YMCA programs, like YOTA. The funds raised this year support the YMCA’s goal to improve health outcomes, support education, develop changemakers, and strengthen families.

Improve Health Outcomes

2022 ANNUAL CAMPAIGN

Education Support Develop Changemakers Strengthen Families

$500+ CLUB

Please join us in congratulating the following YOTA swimmers who raised $500 or more this year:

$1,000 + $700 - $999

Audrey Crowder

Bennett Harris

Caroline Healey

Tori Houde

Matthew Jewett

Ella Malzahn

Charlotte & Elizabeth McMillan

Cole Newman

Emma Ramey

Rhomen Sperry

Ella Stankavage

Nora Ubinger

Alena Volpe

Annalisa Volpe

Ellen Volpe

Peyton Womble

Hala Zafar

Isabella Zapata

$500 - $699

Ellie Bakelaar

Kate Bakelaar

Chrisna Bezuidenhout

Gwen Dailey

Jack Gruber

Caroline Gwaltney

Alice-Kate Hinson

Alexander Hummel

Goldie Hyman

Lindsay Lauver

Max Leuchtmann

Macy Organ

Caitlyn Russell

Louisa Sanoff

Corey Smith

Paige Snyder

Ryan West

Luke Bakelaar

Natalie Barber

Kameron Barnhill

Kobe Barnhill

Clarissa Bezuidenhout

Nahla Bolden

Jack Caulway

Peyton Cossey

Benjamin Eischeid

Dorothy Helms

Mallory Houston

Harper Miller

Kyle Mizell

Zoe Organ

Cordi Ramont

Sophia Reich

Isla Robertson

Alana Schneider

Kira Schneider

Kennedy Stoner

Hamilton Vaughn

Cooper Wiese

Dallas Young

SWIMSTRONG DRYLAND

This past August, we partnered with SwimStrong Dryland in order to further advance our dryland program. SwimStrong Dryland is more than just a dryland program. Their program consists of strength and conditioning, psychology, nutrition, and leadership opportunities. Their focus is to better athletes as a whole. They write workouts for every group from our green groups all the way up to Senior 1, with the intentions of building agility, flexibility and mobility in the younger age groups, to more explosive and powerful movements for the senior groups. We also had our very own coach George Vlahos (West Senior 2 t) win the SwimStrong e Year for 2022!

Sean Workman Leadership Training & Character Development

Bryan McPherson Program Research & Development

rittany Miller Nutrition Programming & Research

Eric Hudson Owner & Founder

In September we had 111 Senior level athletes from YOTA and an additional 45 senior level athletes from other North Carolina YMCA teams to Camp Seafarer for a weekend leadership retreat. We began the weekend with Friday evening events that were conducted by the Camp Seafarer staff and we got to know each other in very quick fashion! Saturday began with a keynote session entitled “Know Better, Do Better, that was presented by our own Yo Sobha. He engaged the swimmers with some thoughtful activities and gave them more opportunities to work together in their new groups.

Other workshops during the weekend included servant leadership, mentality, and goal setting. Swimmers also got to train in the pool, compete in an open water race on the river, complete 2 dryland sessions and participate in camp activities that included riflery, archery, golf, zip line, paddle sports, water sports, the blob, basketball, and 9 square. We began each day by attending optional yoga, then raising the flag before breakfast and lowered the flag prior to dinner. We enjoyed family style meals that were provided by Chef Allie and her staff and of course got to make s ’ mores over the fire on Saturday night! For sure one of the highlights of camp was the Saturday night variety show where we discovered hidden talents of many of our swimmers.

New friends were made, team bonding was at a premium and the bus ride home was quiet as swimmers tried to recover from the weekend with a nap to make up for lost sleep! We can’t wait to go back again next year!

2022 SENIOR LEADERSHIP CAMP

128 YOTA athletes competed in the 29th Annual YOTA x Arena Capital Classic. It was a BIG weekend filled with outstanding mid-season championship racing.

As a team, we had 58 individual swims and 30 YOTA relays finish in the Top 8. 24 new YMCA Nationals cuts were achieved, and 7 YOTA athletes qualified for YMCA Nationals for the very first time. Our men ’ s team placed 3rd, our women took 2nd, and YOTA placed 2nd as an overall combined team!

Thank you to all of our officials, hospitality workers, timers, meet marshalls, runners, and more! We would like to highlight the following volunteers for working all 7 sessions that weekend: Julie Stoner, Hali Bakelaar, Amy Eischeid, Maren Olsen, Kelly Paleocrassas, Kaiya Ramsey, the Sikes Family, The Skelly Family, Dacy Ayers, Steven Humbert, The Brunk Family, The Harris Family, The Lajoie Family and The Pearce Family. Thank you for all that you do!

Some of the fastest races in history took place at USA

Swimming’s Speedo Winter Junior National Championship meet at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, December 7th - 11th. YOTA’s own Max Ayres, Teddy Blake, Benjamin Eischeid, Stamatis

Paleocrassas, and Reese Stoner rode the momentum of their exciting Capital Classic weekend all the way to Greensboro to race on this historically competitive stage. Among the many highlights of the meet, Coach

Jamie and the boys had the opportunity to meet SwimStrong Dryland’s Eric Hudson in person for the very first time!

U N I O R N A T I O N A L S

0 2 2 S P E E D O W I N T E R

PARA HIGHLIGHTS SWIMMING

Casey Freeman made tremendous strides this past year as a para-athlete. She was a 5 time finalist as well as the S9 National Champion in the 200 backstroke at the Paralympic National Championships in December, held at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center, in Charlotte, NC. Most recently in April, Casey traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota to compete in the Para World Series meet. She was able to race some of the fastest para swimmers in the world, and placed in the top 25 of every race, with her highest place being 13th in the 100m backstroke. She continues to improve and is approaching emerging time standards, which will be her first chance at qualifying for the 2024 US Paralympic team! Casey plans to continue training as she will prepare for the US Paralympic Trials, which will take place in June of 2024.

SHORT COURSE

AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS

CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM 2023

Miles Ayres

Andy Barger

Kameron Barnhill

Lauren Brewer

Juliet Christopherson

Maddy Cox

Everett Crosby

James Davis

Gabe DeVizia

Charlotte Doyle

Savanna Doyle

Poppy Fishburn

Aiden Gajowski

Jax Garrett

Alice-Kate Hinson

Brady Houtz

Alexander Hummel

Gavin Ivory

Beckham Jackson

Joshua Jones

Alannah Keough

Shane Keough

Henry Lajoie

Dean Lei

Max Leuchtmann

Michael Lychak

Harper Maxwell

Emerson McLaughlin

Braelyn Miller

Aubrey Mitchell

Cameron Morris

Lucy Osborn

Leah Platts-Mills

Ruby Richey

Paige Snyder

Laura Soliman

Graham Sutton

Lathan Walker

Christopher Wayne

Bennett White

Michael White

Blake Zimmermann

The YOTA Age Group swimmers kicked off the 2023 short course championship season with a stellar weekend at the North Carolina Swimming Age Group Championships in Charlotte, NC! This meet is an exciting experience each year as it is the fastest and most competitive age group championship meet in North Carolina. This year ’ s meet was the loudest and most energetic it has been in years, and our swimmers thrived off of this energy each day. YOTA finished the weekend with a total of 32 top 16 finishes and placed 12th overall as a team. Brady Houtz and Juliet

Christopherson both placed in the top 5 and earned their golden tickets to the North Carolina Swimming Select Camp. Congratulations to all of our Age Group Champ swimmers!

2023 GYSSA LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS

364 YOTA swimmers kicked off the YMCA Championship series at the GYSSA League Championships in Greensboro on March 3rd5th. This meet was held at a couple of different sites throughout the state and commenced the start of the championship season for the YMCA teams in the state of North Carolina. The meet was a great way for many of our age group swimmers to end their season successfully as a team. YOTA maintained its winning streak by placing first with a total of 3,688 points! Congratulations to all GYSSA Champ swimmers!

UPPER SOUTHEAST REGIONAL YMCA CHAMPIONSHIPS

207 YOTA swimmers headed to Goldsboro over the weekend of March 16-19th to compete in the Upper Southeast Regional YMCA Championships. This meet is the regional level championship for YMCA swimmers in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Goldsboro was one of two sites that was hosting the meet, with Duncan, South Carolina being the western site host. The Arena action heats, walkout human tunnels for the evening finals sessions, and the energy shown by all teams on deck made for an incredible environment for all swimmers. YOTA was able to capture the team title for the 2nd year in a row while also adding 2 more swimmers to the YMCA Nationals team! Congrats to all YOTA USRY swimmers!

2023 SHORT COURSE

YMCA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Max Ayres

Kate Bakelaar

Chrisna Bezuidenhout

Clarissa Bezuidenhout

Teddy Blake

Grace Brunk

Makenna Corcoran

Gabe DeVizia

Benjamin Eischeid

Casey Freeman

Bennett Harris

Caroline Healey

Evan Hepburn

Jack Humbert

Yasmine Kwong

Ben Lajoie

Carter Lange

Elodie Mitchell

Axel Mori

Paige O'Keefe

Logan Page

Stamatis Paleocrassas

Sophie Perry

Luke Ramsey

Wiley Sikes

Breanna Smith

Reese Stoner

Ryan Sutherland

Andrew Volpe

Eddie Wang

Ryan West

Cooper Wiese

Dallas Young

THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 100

YEARS OF YMCA

NATIONAL SWIMMING

& DIVING

33 YOTA swimmers attended the YMCA National championships in Greensboro during the week of April 3-7. This was the 100th year of YMCA nationals and our team was fortunate to be able to experience everything that the centennial celebration had to offer. Some highlights include Tuesday night’s parade of athletes being amplified by the “Cold Steel” drumline from North Carolina A&T performing on deck and on the high dives, a talk show hosted by Rowdy Gains, and a meet and greet Monday night that included Olympic medalists such as Charlie Houchin, a former YOTA swimmer! YOTA set the tone for the energy level on deck, cheering each teammate on and being each other's number one fan. The support from and for their teammates elevated each swimmer’s performance, resulting in each of them reaching new levels of swimming. YOTA improved in their seeded positions and finished in the top 10 as a team with the women placing 27th, and the men placing 5th! There were also 3 team records broken: Reese Stoner in the men ’ s 15-18 200 backstroke, and the relay team of Reese Stoner, Max Ayres, Benjamin Eischeid and Stamatis Paleocrassas in the men ’ s open

200 and 400 medley relays. Congrats to all YOTA YMCA National swimmers on a historic meet!

The YMCA Swimming virtual museum can be found HERE.

100 YEARS OF YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, ACHIEVEMENT, FRIENDSHIP, FAMILY & COMMUNITY

THE YMCA OF THE TRIANGLE AREA SWIM TEAM

University of North Carolina - Wilmington

Penn State University

Gap Year

Max Ayres

Colorado Mesa University

Allie Caulway

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Caroline Gwaltney

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Chrisna Bezuidenhout

Miami University

Makenna Corcoran

Gap Year

Clarissa Bezuidenhout

Oakland University

Benjamin Eischeid

Towson University

Casey Hinkley

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Jaydn Hodge

Howard University

Ella Humbert

University of North Carolina - Pembroke

Zoe Organ

Appalachian State University

John Reese Taylor

Gap Year

Christopher Ivery North Carolina A&T

Maya Peterson George Mason University

Josh Thrower North Carolina State University

MC Kistler

United States

Naval Academy

Alexis Powers

East Carolina University

Melanie Vargas

Louisiana State University

MacKenna Morris

Middlebury College

Wiley Sikes

Trinity University - Texas

Anna Wells

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Madison Morris Louisiana State University

Reese Stoner

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

VIEW THE 2023

"THROUGH THE YEARS" SENIOR SLIDESHOW

2

YOTA AWARD RECIPIENTS

SENIOR LEVELS

East Senior I East Senior II East AG Select

Allie VanderBroek

Stamatis Paleocrassas

Luke Watts

AGE GROUP LEVELS

A.E. Finley YMCA

Emme Middleton

Landon Roddy

Madalyn Gutierrez-Kasbohm

Owen Schilling

Alex Hopwood

Owen Boling

Anna Muttillo

Aiden Gajowski

Kerr Family YMCA

Cora Messier

Sai Patel

Clara Champion

Quinton Brooke

Laura Soliman

Lathan Walker

Scarlett Allen

Blake Zimmerman

Chapel Hill YMCA

Emmie Figler

Leo Stevens

Alex Eriksen

Davidson Smithwick

Elyse Sutton

Quinn Hepburn

Gillian Eriksen

Will Benson

Taylor Family YMCA

Eliza Muller

Jack Reynolds

Olivia Wilkins

Alex Lei

Zoey Rowe

Madeline Cornwell

Valentina Trovera

Landon Banko

Each year, the YOTA Award goes to the swimmers that represent the YMCA Core Values of honesty, caring, respect, and responsibility to the highest degree. These swimmers truly encompass what it means to be a YOTA team member and are highly regarded by their teammates, coaches, and community. We're honored to recognize these swimmers as the 2023 YOTA Award Winners!

West Senior I West Senior II / West AG Select

Downtown Durham YMCA

Elise Luedke

Dorothy Thaden

Mira Imankulov

Rhomen Sperry

Scarlett Jones

Callie Blazer

Luke Bakelaar

Hailey Creech

OPC Age Group

Ava Linder

Nolan Wiley

June Pierce

Daniel Puckett

HONESTY HON RESPECT RESPECT RESPECTRES ESPONSIBILITY RESPONSIBILITY RESPONSI

MC Kistler

Lauren Brewer

Cael Lychak

Elodie Mitchell Ben Lajoie

Harper Ludwig

Jackson Vaughn

Aubrey Mitchell Isla Robertson

Each year we strive to empower our swimmers to reach their full potential as an athlete and as a YMCA community leader. As we reflect on this past season, it is clear to see how our focus on movement and values helped us execute our purpose. The momentum that we built this year sustained our purpose, power, and direction in the most challenging of times. The strong foundation that was built for excellence endured the obstacles our athletes faced this year. Through the peaks and valleys, our athletes were able to define their goals and see them as reachable. They were able to get over the initial hurdle of challenges and use that momentum to grow through them.

We hope that you will cherish the memories that were made this year and that the momentum you gained will continue to propel each of us to greater success and opportunity in the future.