NEWSLETTER // DEC. 26, 2024

Our next newsletter will be Tuesday, January 7, 2025.

TEAM UPDATES

GREAT WORK AT NCAP INVITATIONAL

Congratulations to all our athletes who raced at the 2024 NCAP December Invitational in College Park, MD! AGUA swimmers raced to National Top-Ten rankings, AGUA Team Records, medals, new qualifying standards and so much more!

Bruce Qian led the team with six-for-six gold medal swims in the 13-14 Boys 100, 200 and 500 freestyle, 100 and 200 butterfly and 200 IM. Bruce's efforts also broke two longstanding AGUA Team Records:

200 Fly (1:52.97; Previously set at 1:54.01 in 2010)
500 Free (4:39.79; Previously set at 4:43.69 in 2010)

The following AGUA swimmers joined Bruce as New Team Record Breakers from the meet:

Oliver Shao: 15 to 18 and Open 1650 freestyle (15:16.48; Previously set at 15:19.63 in 2018)
Mason Kostov, Bruce Qian, Andrew Quach, Jaden Huang: 13 to 14 200 Freestyle Relay (1:29,48; Previously set at 1:30.45 in 2024)

The AGUA coaches would also like to thank Mayrah Johnson, Yahro Pique, Mark Silverman and Ben Vargas for standing out as RAD teammates at the meet.

Additional congratulations to all of our top eight finishers:

Aitana Almandoz - 50, 100 and 500 freestyle
Alex Argeros - 50, 100 and 200 backstroke; 100 and 200 IM
Milly Birch - 100 and 200 butterfly; 100 and 200 backstroke; 200 and 400 IM
Kayla Bolster - 100 freestyle
Elliott Darwell - 50 butterfly; 200 freestyle
Tessa Feld - 1000 freestyle
Lauren Fishbein - 100 breaststroke
Atticus Fogarty - 1000 freestyle; 400 IM
David Gutin - 100 and 200 backstroke
Claire Healy - 100 and 200 breaststroke
Mayrah Johnson - 50 and 100 freestyle; 100 IM
Emily Jukic - 1000 freestyle
Mason Kostov - 50 and 100 freestyle
Wyatt Lee-Walters - 50 and 100 breaststroke; 200 IM
Benjamin Luding - 100 breaststroke; 100 IM
Skyler Miskin - 50, 100 and 200 butterfly; 200 and 500 freestyle; 200 and 400 IM
Bruce Qian - 100 and 200 butterfly; 100, 200 and 500 freestyle; 200 IM
Xan Randolph - 200 backstroke; 1000 freestyle
Mikel Ruiz-Massieu - 200 freestyle; 100 and 200 IM
Oliver Shao - 200 backstroke; 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle; 400 IM
Mark Silverman - 400 IM
Mia Slowik - 200 backstroke
Rose South - 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke; 200 IM
Felix Turpin - 100 backstroke
Ben Vargas - 400 IM
Penny Wheaton - 200 butterfly; 500 and 1000 freestyle
Leo Yang - 100 breaststroke
Kylie Zhu - 100 butterfly

UPCOMING SWIM MEETS

RUTGERS INVITATIONAL

PRELIMINARY ENTRIES - Please notify your lead coach of any errors by Saturday, Dec. 28 at 12pm.

Who // Invited athletes
When // Friday, January 10 through Sunday, January 12
Where // Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ
TENTATIVE Swimmer Call Times //
- Open Preliminaries - 7am
- Open Finals - 5pm
- 14-and-Under Timed Finals - 1pm
- Friday Distance - 10:30am
- Sunday Distance - 10am

AGUA MLK INVITATIONAL

PRELIMINARY ENTRIES - Please notify your lead coach of any errors by Saturday, Dec. 28 at 12pm.

Who // Invited athletes
When // Saturday, January 18 through Monday, January 20
Where // Asphalt Green, Upper East Side
Service Sign Up // Will open on Tuesday, January 7 at 9am

ANNOUNCEMENTS

UPDATE: AGUA PRIVATE LESSONS

Please note, effective January 1, 2025, AGUA private lesson prices will adjust to:

BPC or UES 30-minute lesson: $92.50
BPC or UES 60-minute lesson: $185

Packages for two lessons will still be available.

NOW REQUIRED: AGUA CAPS WITH UPDATED LOGO

AGUA caps with our new logo are now available for purchase at the front desk! These caps are not customized. Please note that either an updated customized or generic AGUA cap is required for competition beginning January 1, 2025. Please plan accordingly.

You can purchase caps at the front desk of the AquaCenter or the front desk of our Battery Park City campus. Latex caps cost $6 and silicone caps cost $16.

Please note that all swimmers will be limited to purchasing a maximum of two caps until further notice.

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

December 27

Matthew Renwick

Winter Su

December 28

Alina Attarwala

Emily Jukic

Mason Kostov

December 29

Selom Ahouandjinou

Eamonn Hynes

Skye Yang

December 30

Xan Randolph

December 31

Iain Fulnecky

January 2

Artem Safroniuk

Flo Smit van Riel

January 3

Alex Bannasch

Sage Kidder

January 4

Camille Cruz

Isabella Fakhouri

Ashy Milam

REMINDERS

LOCKER ROOM REMINDERS

As we continue the 2024-2025 AGUA season, we want to take the opportunity to remind our athletes of locker room policies and best practices:

Locker rooms are shared spaces at both BPC & UES. All AGUA swimmers should speak and behave in alignment with our team values of respect, accountability and discipline.
There are absolutely no photos or videos permitted to be taken inside the locker rooms, both on campus and during travel meets.
Swimmers should lock their belongings in a locker during practice.

REQUIRED ID CARDS

All swimmers must use their ID cards to access our facilities. Swimmers are not permitted to enter the facilities without their ID cards.

ACCESS AGUA'S SWIMOUTLET PORTAL

We are excited to announce our new partnership with SwimOutlet for the 2024-2025 season. You can shop for team gear and the entire SwimOutlet catalog at our new AGUA team store using the link below.

Click here for the link to the new AGUA Team Store. You may use your normal SwimOutlet account login. No additional instructions or details are required.