NEWSLETTER // FEBRUARY 3, 2026

TEAM UPDATES

GREAT WORK AT LIE SECOND CHANCE

Congratulations to our athletes who raced at the 2026 LIE Second Chance Challenge in Long Island, NY! AGUA closed out the regular competition season with great momentum going into our championship meets. Our swimmers achieved many new Junior Mets, Senior Mets, and Zones qualifications.

AGUA brought home 57 event wins, with Olivia Kim (five gold medals) and Daniel Andguladze (eight gold medals) leading the way.

The AGUA coaches also thank the following athletes for standing out as R.A.D. teammates over the weekend. These AGUA team members exemplified our team values of respect, accountability and discipline:

Natalie Cheung, Hudson Chiu, Vesper Hong, Emerson Mars, Mason Messina, Hugo Novaro Cortijo, Tsubasa Ogata, Addilyn Seacord, Sloane Solash, Edward Strok, Katerina Spartioti, Sebastian Wassenaar and Aurelia Zomopoulos

Congratulations to all of our individual event winners:

Aitana Almandoz - 100 breaststroke; 500 freestyle; 200 IM
Daniel Andguladze - 50, 100 and 200 freestyle; 100 butterfly; 50 and 100 backstroke; 100 breaststroke; 200 IM
Salvatore Bove - 200 backstroke
Lucien Chan - 50 freestyle
Derek Cox - 100 freestyle
Morgan Dasilva - 200 freestyle; 200 IM
Atticus Fogarty - 200 breaststroke; 100 and 200 freestyle; 400 IM
Chloe Fu - 50 backstroke; 100 and 200 freestyle; 200 IM
Jade Golnar - 50 butterfly; 50 backstroke; 50 and 100 freestyle
Noah Gutin - 100 and 200 breaststroke
Adrian Harutunyan - 50 breaststroke
Olivia Kim - 50 and 100 butterfly; 100 backstroke; 50 and 100 breaststroke
Zach Levin - 200 butterfly
Jolie Loghmanee - 50 freestyle
Josephine Luding - 100 butterfly; 50, 100 and 200 freestyle
Nikhil Mehra - 100 backstroke
Kaia Mejia - 100 breaststroke
Max Paltridge - 500 freestyle
Jeffrey Qian - 50 and 100 backstroke; 50 and 100 breaststroke
Claire Schen - 100 butterfly
Mia Schneider - 100 backstroke
Sabrina Shafer - 400 IM
Flip Smit van Riel - 50 and 100 freestyle
Rose South - 200 backstroke
Katerina Spartioti - 200 breaststroke
Henry Tong - 100 butterfly
Kaily Zhou - 50 breaststroke

UPCOMING SWIM MEETS

2026 TYR SENIOR METROPOLITAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Who // All Qualifiers
When // Thursday, February 12 through Sunday, February 15, 2026
Where // Nassau County Aquatic Center
Swimmer Uniform //
- Thursday - Choice AGUA shirt
- Friday - Black AGUA shirt
- Saturday - Dark gray AGUA shirt
- Sunday - Light gray/white AGUA shirt
Tentative Call Times //
- Thursday 1000 Freestyle - 3:45pm
- Thursday 800 Freestyle Relay - 5pm
- Friday Prelims -
  - 100 breast - 7:30am
  - 200 free, 100 fly and 400 IM - 8am
- Saturday Prelims -
  - 200 IM - 7am
  - 50 free and 100 back - 8am
  - 500 free - 8:30am
- Sunday Prelims -
  - 200 back - 7am
  - 200 breast and 100 free - 8am
  - 200 fly - 8:30am
- Friday and Saturday Finals - 4pm
- Sunday Finals - 3:30pm
Job Sign-Up // Now Available
- All unfilled slots will be assigned by the AGUA coaching staff next week to complete our team requirement.

METRO 8 & UNDER CHAMPIONSHIPS

Preliminary Entries; Correction Deadline: Friday, February 6

Who // All swimmers ages 8 and younger.
When // Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8, 2026
Where // Felix Festa Middle School

AGUA LAST CHANCE MEET

Register Here; Deadline: Friday, February 6

Who // All swimmers ages 9 and older.
When // Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8, 2026
Where // Asphalt Green, Upper East Side

JUNIOR METROPOLITAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

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

AGE GROUP TEAM CHALLENGE

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
Hotel Block // Hotel Ithaca
- Start Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026
- End Date: Sunday, March 29, 2026
- Reservation Deadline: Monday, February 23, 2026
- Room Rate: $159/night before tax

EASTERN ZONE AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS

Who // All qualifiers
When // Wednesday, April 1, through Saturday, April 4, 2026
Where // Buffalo, NY
Hotel Block // Buffalo Marriott at LECOM HARBORCENTER
- Start Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2026
- End Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
- Reservation Deadline: Wednesday, February 18, 2026
- Room Rate: $219/night before tax

OPEN WATER JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

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

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

February 4

Aitana Almandoz

Allison Zhu

February 5

Sebastian de la Cruz

February 6

Chloe Yang

February 7

Daniel Andguladze

Donald Chan

Nadia Morbi-Husain

February 8

Kylie Zhu

February 9

Spyros Argeros

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Add our upcoming winter and spring 2026 events to your calendar:

Thursday, February 19: Digital Dive In #3
- Long Course Season and Group Placements
- Register Here
Monday, February 23: Spring Practice Schedules Begin
- Upper East Side
- Battery Park City
Monday, April 13: Long course group placements begin
- Details available in the coming weeks
Saturday, May 2: Asphalt Green 29th Annual Big Swim
Saturday, May 23, and Sunday, May 24: AGUA Memorial Day Invitational

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, February 17, at 8pm ET – REGISTER
Tuesday, March 17, at 8pm ET – REGISTER

Athlete Trainings (12-17 years old):

Thursday, February 19, at 8pm ET – REGISTER
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.

Click here to 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:

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.

AGUA TEAM TYR DISCOUNT CODE

Looking for additional TYR gear? Make sure you use our AGUA Team Discount Code: TYRSWIM6NV directly on the TYR website.

COACH COMMUNICATIONS

To streamline communication, please do not reply to this newsletter. Instead, please use the following email addresses for all questions:

Andy Ross // UES AG1 + Private Lesson Booking Assistance

Jeff Chen // UES AG1 + UES AG2

Evan Banciella // BPC AG1 + AG2

Hailey Hewitt // UES AG3

John Alaimo // Senior Prep

Youngho Kim // Senior I

Diana Ross // Senior II

David Rodriguez // National

FOLLOW US ON INSTA

Follow us @aguaswim for announcements, shoutouts, and more!

PRACTICE

SCHEDULE UPDATES

Thursday, February 5, 2026

Canceled // Senior II, Senior I, Senior Prep Gold, AG3 Gold

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

All Senior Mets Qualifiers (GIRLS) // 5:30pm-7pm swim (UES campus)
All Senior Mets Qualifiers (BOYS) // 6:45pm-8:15pm swim (UES campus)
Canceled // Senior Prep Green (see below)

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Senior Prep Green and Gold // 6:30pm-8pm swim (UES campus)
- Gold dryland canceled
Senior II and National // 5:30pm-6:30pm swim (UES campus)
- Drylands canceled

Friday, February 13, 2026

Senior I // 6:30pm-8pm swim (UES campus)
Canceled // Senior II

Saturday, February 14, 2026

AG3 Green and Gold // 7am-8:30am swim (UES campus)
Canceled // Senior I (see below); Senior II, National

Sunday, February 15, 2026

Senior Prep Green and Gold // 8am-10am swim (UES campus)
- Green dryland canceled
Senior I // 10:30am-12pm swim (UES campus)
Canceled // National

Monday, February 16, 2026

Senior Prep Green and Gold // 4pm-5:30pm swim (UES campus)
Canceled // Senior II morning practice

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Senior II // 5:45pm-6:45pm dryland (Asphalt Green)

Friday, April 3, through Sunday, April 5, 2026

Canceled // All BPC & UES Practices

Thursday, April 9, through Sunday, April 12, 2026

Canceled // All BPC & UES Practices

SPORTS, FITNESS, AND PLAY FOR ALL

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