Roswell All-Star Youth Swim Team Competes in State Meet

Roswell took its best swimmers to compete at the 2012 Georgia Recreation and Parks Association state swim meet at the Lakeshore Natatorium in Carrollton late last month, July 27-28.

The Roswell All- Star Youth Swimming team, or RAYS for short, determined the best of the best swimmers at their state qualifier meet. The top three finishers in each event were selected to be part of the state team. Swimmers 10 and under raced on Friday morning, while the 11 and up athletes swam the following morning.

This year, the RAYS almost doubled in size from last year. The RAYS consisted of the following 47 athletes: Megan Alexander, Alex Burke, Lillian Cherok, Cooper Cook, Gavin Dean, Grant Dean, Ilya Dyagilev, Aeevry Ellard, Fraser Ellard, Walter Ellard, Abby Erickson, Connor Erickson, Savannah Findley, Darby Goodyear, Savannah Jenkins, Alexandra Kerce, Megha Khosla, Raunak Khosla, Cynthia Lou, Kelani Machuca, Harrison MacLagan, Julia Marchuk, Nasya McArthur, Daniel McBride, Patrick McBride, Clare Merrigan, Dru Milton, Katherine Northenor, Samantha Northenor, Ashwin Pillai, Tara Pillai, Edy Poteet, Joseph Richter, Madison Ross, Cecilia Rubio, Julia Rubio, Emma Scheider, Sarah Scheider, Tobiah Smith, Georgia Stephens, Julianna Stephens, Lindsay Thomas, Anna Trively, Mia Trively, Kayla Underwood, Preslie Waller, and Tyler Waller.

They were instructed for four weeks under the official coaching staff of Kyle Smith (head coach), Cynthia Lou, Sarah Merrigan and Weaver Ellard.

Other assistant coaches included Brandon Romanos, Kimmy Barrows, Savannah Findley and Savannah Jenkins. The RAYS swam a total of 88 individual events and 20 relays during preliminary events at the state meet. Eleven swimmers - Burke, Cook, Erickson, R. Khosla, Lou, P. McBride, D. McBride, C. Rubio, J. Rubio, E. Scheider and Thomas - made it back as top eight finalists and were recognized in a parade right before swimming again at finals.

• R. Khosla won the silver medal in the 100IM (1:03.84),
• Lou won the gold in both the 50 Breast (32.94) and 100IM (1:02.54)
• E. Scheider won the silver medal in the 100 Free (59.13) and bronze in the 100IM (1:08.53).

Swimmers from all over Georgia enjoyed a welcome party at the East Carrollton Recreation Center, run by head coach of the Carrollton Blue Fins, David Weeks. Prior to the meet the teams were able to taste food samples from local restaurants and meet swimmers from other teams.

With such a great turnout, the RAYS coaches have high hopes for next years meet.

If you are interested in qualifying for the 2013 RAYS GRPA state swim team, check out the team website for more info. All Roswell Residents ages 7-18 as of June 1, 2013 are eligible to compete for a spot as a 2013 All-Star.