Boca Raton, FL—It took 3 full days under the south Florida sun and a grueling schedule that included both preliminaries and finals sessions on consecutive days, but at the evening’s end on Sunday night, Fort Lauderdale Aquatics could hold up their “Mission Accomplished” banner high. The team had two primary objectives over the weekend: Swim best times, and make as many JO cuts as possible.

FLA raked in 28 new JO cuts during the 3 day event, which is quite an achievement for the team. Arguably the most incredible statistic to come from the meet, however, is the whopping 298 combined best times among the swimmers. With the long days, endless nights, and suffocating heat, the coaching staff could not have been happier, not only to see the meet end, but to evaluate the performances at meet’s end.

“This is the hardest weekend on a swimmer the entire summer”, Coach Lisa said on Sunday. “Prelims don’t get done until 2:30 or 3:00, and then there are time trials, and then you are getting in at 4:30 to warm up for finals. When the day is over, you may be home at 8:30 or 9:00 at night. And you do it for 3 straight days. Under those conditions, you worry about fatigue and mental preparedness with inexperienced swimmers. But our kids seemed to get better each day. I don’t really know how to explain it, other than our kids our tough. Maybe the toughest group we have ever had. I think the coaching staff and parents are more worn out than they are, and we didn’t even have to swim.”

Coach Ian shared the same sentiment. “I really feel that these kids are battle tested, and battle proven after this weekend. They all deserve medals for valor and courage”, he said with a grin. “Seriously, it is difficult to do what they did, and to do it without complaining. It’s unbelievable. Now they can enjoy a much deserved day off on Monday.”

The new JO cuts came from 17 FLA athletes, which meant that the cuts were distributed evenly amongst the team. 10 Swimmers were 13-over, and seven 12-under. The 13-over swimmers with new JO cuts were Sam Basch (50 free and first-time qualifier), Leah Behar (100 Back and 100 Free), Eugenio Bricio (200 Back, 400 Free), Felipe Bricio (400 free, 400 IM), Ryan Rosenbaum (100 and 200 Back), Domenic Zenga (50 Free) Lance Rutkin (200 Back, 400 IM), Jorge D’Ugard (100 Back), Eric Frey (100,200 Breast, 400 Free), Kaylee Petik (100 Breast, 400 IM) and Diedre Milano (1500 Free).

The 12-under swimmers with new JO cuts were Shanese Langsett (100 Breast), Lizzy Ryder (50 and 100 Fly, 100 Free), Caroline Nava (50 and 100 Back,50 Fly), Miriyam Ghali (200 Fly), Lexy Walker (50 Back), Max Lettau (400 Free) and John Floyd (200 Breast).