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GPAC Swimming: Malone repeats as Most Outstanding, Clements wins title at SES Championships

greg johnson
·6 min read
Ian Malone was the Most Outstanding swimmer at the Southeastern Swimming Long Course Championships on July 17 at the Huntsville Aquatics Center from Huntsville, Ala..
Ian Malone was the Most Outstanding swimmer at the Southeastern Swimming Long Course Championships on July 17 at the Huntsville Aquatics Center from Huntsville, Ala..

Ian Malone and Taylor Clements notched new individual titles while a tremendous team effort led the Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club team to a seventh-place finish at the 2022 Southeastern Swimming Long Course Championships held July 14-17 from Huntsville, Ala..

“It was a really exciting weekend,” GPAC new age group coach Logan Cale said. “The swimmers were very positive and very supportive of each other. Watching GPAC swimmers win their events and the team placing so well was the best part.”

Malone won all six of his individual events as well as the meet’s high-point award for his age group.

The 14-year old swimmer scored a perfect 120 points, sweeping the titles in the 50, 100, 200 and 400-meter freestyle races, as well as the 200 and 400-meter individual medleys. He also anchored the sixth place freestyle relay.

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In five of those wins, Malone set five team records.

He lowered his own team marks in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, as well as the 200 individual medley. His new time in the 400 freestyle smashed the old team record from 1985 — held by GPAC alum and local swim coach Chris Barfield — by more than six seconds.

Malone's marks in the 50 and 400 freestyle were new ‘AAAA’ times. His 50 time was also a new USA Swimming Futures championship cut. This was Malone’s third time winning the Most Outstanding. He won it two years ago as well as back in February at the 2022 Short Course Championships.

Taylor Clements captured the 50 breaststroke on the last night of the meet to join Malone with a gold medal. She was the silver medalist in the 100 breaststroke and finished fifth in the 200 breaststroke. The 14-year-old also nabbed a fifth-place finish in the 50 freestyle with a new ‘AAAA’ time.

Clements scored 88 points for the team and was tied for the leading scorer among the girls.

Taylor Clements poses for a photo after capturing the 50-meter breaststroke at the Southeastern Swimming Long Course Championships on July 17 at the Huntsville Aquatics Center from Huntsville, Ala..
Taylor Clements poses for a photo after capturing the 50-meter breaststroke at the Southeastern Swimming Long Course Championships on July 17 at the Huntsville Aquatics Center from Huntsville, Ala..

Elsewhere, Marcela Dos Santos, won silver in the 200 freestyle and bronze in the 400 distance, setting new ‘AAA’ times in each. She tied Clements with 88 points and was a top-eight finalist in all six of her events.

GPAC had big help from its 10-and-under squad at the meet, with the group of seven scoring more than a quarter of the team’s points.

Highlighted by a pair of silver medals in the 200 and 400 freestyle, Lane Robinson, 10, scored 88 points with top-eight performances in all six of his events. Arthur Phillips, 10, also put up points in all six of his events and posted 69 points to the team tally. His brother Axel, 9, added 36 points with scoring swims in the 200 and 400m freestyle. He also placed 6th in the 200 IM. Isla Fox, 10, swam best times in her events at the meet, and Nicky Lypko, 10, had a blast at his first SES championships, dropping big time in his 200 IM and 200 free.

GPAC also had a boost from its distance freestyle corps, in addition to Dos Santos and Robinson, swimmers from across the team’s age groups were posting best times and scoring swims. Graeson Garcia, 12, was the only 11-12 boy for GPAC and came through with a second-place finish in the 800m freestyle. He also scored sixth in the 400m free.

Noah Jacobs, 13, dropped 30 seconds in his 800 free to snag 8th place, and dropped almost 2 minutes from his previous best 1500m freestyle to score 5th. Jack Hebert, 16, dropped almost 15 seconds in his mile to nab 14th place points. Jack also posted a new ‘AAA’ time in his 200m IM.

Sara Lypko, 17, bookended her championship meet with a pair of 4th place finishes in the 1500m free on the first day of the meet, and the 800m free on Sunday. She also scored a 6th place finish in the 400m IM.

Logan Robinson, 16, dropped nearly 40 seconds in his 1500 freestyle final to finish sixth. He finished eighth in the 200 IM with a new ‘AAAA’ time from the preliminaries, and he set a new ‘AAAA’ time in the 100 freestyle, scoring 11th. Both of these resulted in Futures Championship qualifying times.

Lily Walker, 13, nabbed an eighth place finish in the 1500 freestyle to round out her championship meet. That was Lily’s first time swimming the mile in the long course  pool, and she earned a new ‘AA’ time for her effort. She also dropped almost 20 seconds to set another ‘AA’ time in her 800 freestyle race.

Returning from his first year at school, GPAC alum Jack Rowell, 18, returned to don his GPAC cap again and swim the quadruple crown of long events. Jack contributed 55 points to the team with a silver medal in the 1500, fourth in the 400 IM, fifth in the 800 freestyle and ninth in the 400 freestyle.

GPAC traditionally has strong individual medley events at the championships, and this meet was no different. Along with Lypko, senior Ella Freeman, 17, was a finalist in the 400 IM, finishing eighth. She also made the finals in the 200 IM and the 200 breaststroke, where she finished sixth. Jillian Beardsley, 15, made the consolation finals of the senior girls’ 400 IM, finishing 15th, and nabbed a point for her new best time in the 200m butterfly.

Aidan Hall, 13, scored a fourth-place finish in the 50 butterfly on the first night of the meet, and Max Little, 15, scored a consolation final in the 200 breaststroke and dropped over three seconds.

Hudson Trammell, 17, placed fifth in the 100 butterfly on the last day of the meet. His time of 56.52 seconds was just two-hundredths of a second from the team record and just three-hundredths from the summer Junior National Championships qualifying time. Trammell did secure his first-ever Winter Junior National championship time standard, and was a new ‘AAAA’ time for him.

(From L to R) GPAC head coach Greg Johnson, 14-year old swimmer Ian Malone, head age group coach Nathan Smith and assistant coach Logan Cale pose for a photo at the end of the Southeastern Swimming Long Course Championships on July 17 at the Huntsville Aquatics Center from Huntsville, Ala..
(From L to R) GPAC head coach Greg Johnson, 14-year old swimmer Ian Malone, head age group coach Nathan Smith and assistant coach Logan Cale pose for a photo at the end of the Southeastern Swimming Long Course Championships on July 17 at the Huntsville Aquatics Center from Huntsville, Ala..

The swimmers who achieved new motivational times at the meet were:

A: Lauren Armstrong, Landon Garcia, Aidan Hall, Arthur Phillips, Jameson Walker

AA: Graeson Garcia, Landon Garcia, Aidan Hall, Jack Hebert, Noah Jacobs, Max Little, Arthur Phillips, Lane Robinson, Hudson Trammell, Audrey Turner, Lily Walker

AAA: Noah Day, Marcela Dos Santos, Ella Freeman, Jack Hebert, Lane Robinson

AAAA: Taylor Clements, Ian Malone, Logan Robinson, Hudson Trammell

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Malone, Clements led GPAC swimming to seventh at Southeastern Swim meet