NEWSLETTER // FEBRUARY 24, 2026

TEAM UPDATES

GREAT JOB AT SENIOR METS!

Congratulations to our Senior Mets Team on a fantastic weekend of racing in Long Island, NY! AGUA earned runner-up honors for both the Women's Team and Men's Team Overall scores. We also saw countless personal bests and new qualifications for Sectionals, Futures, and Junior Nationals.

Rohan Mehra and Jonathan Packles led the way, as Rohan earned First-Place High Point honors and Jonathan raced to three new Metropolitan Swimming Records in the 50, 100 and 200 backstroke. Jonathan's 100 and 200 were also new AGUA Team Records, and his 200 is currently the top time in the country.

AGUA also raced to four new relay team records:

Women's 800 Free Relay (Veronica McCall, Milly Birch, Alegra Teixidor-Salerno, Penny Wheaton)
Men's 200 Medley Relay (Jonathan Packles, Eddy Chen, Derek Cox, Ethan Pak)
Men's 400 Medley Relay (Jonathan Packles, Eddy Chen, Derek Cox, Yahro Pique)
Men's 400 Free Relay (Derek Cox, Yahro Pique, Ethan Pak, Jonathan Packles)

The team came home with 6 relay and 12 individual medals, which are highlighted on our Instagram.

Extra congratulations to our individual point scorers:

Spyros Argeros - 100 and 200 breaststroke; 200 and 400 IM
Milly Birch - 200 butterfly; 200 backstroke; 200, 500 and 1000 freestyle
Naila Broening-Chai - 100 and 200 breaststroke
Eddy Chen - 100 and 200 breaststroke
Sienna Cho - 200 backstroke
Derek Cox - 200 butterfly; 100 breaststroke; 50 freestyle
Milo Devine - 200 breaststroke
Cooper Dong - 200 backstroke
Liv Doruk-Olsen - 100 and 200 butterfly; 400 IM
Lauren Fishbein - 100 and 200 backstroke; 200 and 400 IM
Luca Fong - 200 breaststroke; 200 IM
Iain Fulnecky - 100 and 200 breaststroke
Vincent Gookin - 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle
Claire Healy - 100 and 200 breaststroke
Eva Johnson - 100 butterfly; 100 and 200 backstroke
Emily Jukic - 1650 freestyle
Serge Lyashchenko - 200 butterfly
Thomas Mackey - 200 butterfly
Veronica McCall - 100 breaststroke; 100 and 200 backstroke; 200 and 400 IM
Rohan Mehra - 200 butterfly; 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle; 200 and 400 IM
Jonathan Packles - 100 and 200 backstroke; 400 IM
Ethan Pak - 50, 100 and 200 freestyle
Yahro Pique - 100, 200 and 500 freestyle
Bruce Qian - 100 and 200 butterfly; 1000 Freestyle; 200 and 400 IM
Xan Randolph - 200 backstroke; 1650 Freestyle
Will Rankin - 500 and 1650 Freestyle
Elonu Rodrigues - 200 butterfly; 200 backstroke; 400 IM
Alegra Teixidor-Salerno - 100 and 200 breaststroke; 200 and 400 IM
Penny Wheaton - 100, 500, 1000 and 1650 Freestyle
Chloe Yang - 100 and 200 butterfly

UPCOMING SWIM MEETS

METRO 8 & UNDER CHAMPIONSHIPS

Final Entries

Who // All swimmers ages 8 and under
When // Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8, 2026
Where // Felix Festa Middle School
Tentative Swimmer Call Times //
- Saturday 8-year-old Girls and 7 and Under Boys - 7:45am
- Saturday 8-year-old Boys and 7 and Under Girls - 2:15pm
- Sunday 8-year-old Girls and 7 and Under Boys - 7:30am
- Sunday 8-year-old Boys and 7 and Under Girls - 1pm

AGUA LAST CHANCE MEET

Final Entries

Who // All swimmers ages 9 and older.
When // Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8, 2026
Where // Asphalt Green, Upper East Side
Service Hour Sign Up // Now available
- All families will be limited to two sign-ups until Tuesday, March 3
Tentative Swimmer Call Times //
- Saturday & Sunday 9- to-12-year olds - 7:30am
- Saturday Distance Session - 12pm
- Saturday 13 and Over - 2:30pm
- Sunday 13 & Over - 12:30pm

JUNIOR METROPOLITAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Preliminary Entries; Correction Deadline: Friday, February 27

Who // All qualifiers
When // Friday, March 13 through Sunday, March 15, 2026
Where // Nassau County Aquatic Center

AGE GROUP TEAM CHALLENGE

Preliminary Entries; Correction Deadline: Friday, February 27

Who // All qualifiers (minimum and maximum time standards)
When // Friday, March 13 through Sunday, March 15, 2026
Where // Nassau County Aquatic Center

EASTERN ZONE SENIOR SECTIONALS

Who // All Qualifiers
When // Thursday, March 26 through Sunday, March 29, 2026
Where // Ithaca, NY

EASTERN ZONE AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS

Who // All qualifiers
When // Wednesday, April 1, through Saturday, April 4, 2026
Where // Buffalo, NY

OPEN WATER JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Who // All qualifiers
When // Friday, April 3, and Saturday, April 4, 2026
Where // Sarasota, FL

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

February 24

Sky Lee

February 25

Ziad Neshan

Lily Ramirez

Vivian Roveri

February 27

Eddy Chen

February 28

Willy Orzolek

Lena Watts

March 1

Logan Moreno

Jeffrey Qian

March 2

Lasha Rainauli

Kaelen Thakker

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Add our upcoming spring 2026 events to your calendar:

Monday, April 13: Long course group placements begin
Saturday, May 2: Asphalt Green 29th Annual Big Swim
Saturday, May 23, and Sunday, May 24: AGUA Memorial Day Invitational
Thursday, May 28: Asphalt Green Gala
Monday, June 29: Summer practice schedules begin (available soon)
Thursday, July 9 through Sunday, July 12: Senior Met Championships
Friday, July 17 through Sunday, July 19: Junior Met Championships

The AGUA Team Banquet date and full long-course meet calendar will be available in the coming weeks.

NOW AVAILABLE: USA SWIMMING SAFE SPORT CLASSES

USA Swimming Safe Sport staff is hosting Zoom trainings for parents, young athletes, and coaches to assist clubs in completing the Training and Education requirements of the Safe Sport Club Recognition program.

All participants must register in advance to attend training (see below). Alternatively, you can log in as an athlete or as a parent to take the course. We appreciate your help in keeping us a USA Swimming SafeSport- recognized club!

Parent Trainings: Tuesday, March 17, at 8pm ET – REGISTER
Athlete Trainings (12-17 years old): Thursday, March 19, at 8pm ET – REGISTER

GET INVOLVED: BECOME AN OFFICIAL

AGUA is still looking for more Admin Officials and stroke-and-turn judges! Becoming an official is a great way to get involved in your swimmer's life and sport. You will learn the rules of competitive swimming and how meets work.

Learn more and reach out to Charles Asch and Ashley Chan with any questions.

REMINDERS

LOCKER ROOM REMINDERS

As we continue the 2025-2026 AGUA season, we want to remind our athletes of locker room policies and best practices:

Locker rooms are shared spaces at both Asphalt Green's Battery Park City and Upper East Side campuses. 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 inside locker rooms, both on campus and during travel meets.
Swimmers should lock their belongings in a locker during practice.
Only swimmers who are Asphalt Green members are permitted to use the member locker rooms at Asphalt Green. There are no exceptions.

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

You can shop for team gear and the entire SwimOutlet catalog at our AGUA team store using the link below. You may use your normal SwimOutlet account login. No additional instructions or details are required.

VIEW TEAM STORE