Who says swimming is a summer sport?? Certainly not the KAC Waverunners! The Waverunners are a USA sanctioned competitive swim team that trains during the fall and winter at the University of the Cumberlands. Their goal is simple: To enhance a swimmer’s individual performance through building strong bodies, using individual feedback, increasing yardage, and improving technique. Their hard work over the past 7 months was rewarded in March during the Kentucky State Short Course Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Waverunners, led by Dee Dole, completed their season by sending four qualifying swimmers to compete against swimmers from across the state. The team sent two swimmers to compete in the 12 & Under Division and two swimmers in the 13 & OverDivision. The Waverunners had a strong showing in various events across three days of competition! The swimmers improved from their seed times in many events, and three of the four swimmers qualified during preliminaries to swim finals. The State Championship meet limits the number of events swimmers can swim per day; therefor, swimmers were entered into events that improved their chances of swimming best times and qualifying for finals.
Silas Black, age 10, met the qualifying standards to swim 10 events for the 9-10 age group which included the 100 Yard IM, 200 Yard IM, 50 Yard Fly, 100 Yard Fly, 50 Yard Breast, 50 Yard Back, 100 Yard Back, 200 Yard Free, 100 Yard Free, and 50 Yard Free. He competed in 8 of the 10 qualifying events,dropping times in 7 of 8 events and qualifying in prelims for finals in the 100 Breast and a timed final in the 200 IM. Silas finished the season with the following overall State placements: 12th in the 100 Breast (1:37.09), 21st in the 100 Free (1:16.93), 22nd in the 50 Free (32.81), 23rd in the 50 Yard Breast (45.23) and 100 IM (1:24.84), 25th in the 100 Fly (1:44.16), and 31st in the 200 IM (3:14.36).
Aiden Senel, age 12, met the standards to swim in 11 events for the 11-12 age group which included 200 Yard IM, 500 Yard Free, 100 Yard Fly, 100 Yard Back, 200 Yard Free, 100 Yard Free, 50 Yard Free, 50 Yard Fly, 50 Yard Breast, 100 Yard Breast and 50 Yard Back. Aiden competed in 8 of 11 qualifying events, dropping times in 4 of 8 events, and qualified in prelims to swim finals in the 200 Free, 500 Free, as well as a timed final in the 200 IM. Aiden finished the season with the following overall State placements: 12th in the 200 Free (2:14.64), 17th in the 100 Free (1:03.22), 19th in the 500 Free (6:05.25), 20th in the 100 Fly (1:16.90), 21st in the 50 Back (33.96), 22nd in the 100 Back (1:14.84), 26th in the 200 IM (2:38.87), and 35th in the 50 Fly (34.15).
Blake Butler, age 14, qualified to compete in the 13 & Above Division in the 100 Yard Breast, 50 Yard Free, and 100 Yard Back for the 13-14 age group. Blake improved upon his previous times in 2 of 3 events, and maintained his seed time in the 50 Free. Overall, Blake finished 29th in the 100 Back with a time of 1:03.92, 31st in the 50 Free with a time of 25.40, and 32ndin the 100 Breast with a time of 1:13.06.
Jason Killian, age 18, qualified to swim the Men’s Open age category in the 100 Yard Breast, 50 Yard Free, and 100 Yard Free. In his preliminary swims, Jason qualified to swim finals in the 100 Breast and 50 Free. He finished with a time of 59.53 for an overall 14th place finish in the Breast and a 13th place finish in the 50 Free. Jason placed 19th overall in the 100 Free.
The team’s honorable mention went to Julia Butler, who had obtained state qualifying times in the 50 Yard Breast and 100 Yard Breast for the 9-10 age category. However, a March birthdate, just before the Championship, moved her to the 11-12 age category; thus, changing the qualifying times needed to compete.
Information about the KAC Waverunners team can be found on their Facebook page.
