Orlando, FL—Just one year ago, Fort Lauderdale Aquatics took four girls, only two of which had individual qualifying times, to Orlando to compete in the NCSA Junior Nationals. The team had no male qualifiers in either individual or relays. This year, just 360 days after the last Junior National meet, FLA kept a total of 14 swimmers in Orlando to compete just 2 days after the conclusion of Sectionals.

Lauren Driscoll, Lauren Cuervo, Damaris Iriondo, Emily Ramirez, Chelsea Britt, Leo Rodriguez and Dameon Nicholas all had Individual qualifying time standards, more than 3 times the amount of swimmers as last year with seven total swimmers. Tex Widmer, Veronica Gruelach, Hunter Cwalinski, Hibai Iriondo, Roger Powell, Nathalie Bijlsma and Caylin Drews all swam at Junior Nationals for the first time.

Two FLA swimmers also made their first Junior National finals. Driscoll and Britt accounted for 5 finals swims, with Britt placing 9th in both the 100 and 200 fly, and 17th in the 400 IM. Driscoll placed 10th in the 200 Back, and 18th in the 200 IM. The five Finals swims were also the first individual Junior National finals in team history.

“It is very exciting to bring 14 athletes to this meet,” Coach Ian Cross said. “All of our swimmers are getting exposed to the fastest 18-under competition in the country, and the rookies are seeing it for the first time. When that happens, it makes you work even harder to not only get there next time, but do even better. This particular meet is so fast, and so deep, that the difference between making an “A” final and not racing at night could be less than a second”. Head Coach Duffy Dillon added, “Our goal for next year is to make more individual finals, and get all of our relays to swim at night. We are closer to doing that than most people think. It is certainly attainable for this group of athletes.”

For a group of swimmers that only had 4 total swimmers last year to 14 this year, Coach Dillon may be right. One more year of training and experience might be exactly what this team needs to make an impact on a national level.