Dear AGUA families,

We want to take a moment to share our appreciation for your patience and understanding as we navigate the unexpected closure of our Upper East Side Olympic pool. Our top priority is returning to normal AGUA programming as soon as possible. Thankfully, repair work has begun and we hope to have an estimated reopening date soon. As of now, please plan for the pool to remain closed through at least this weekend (3/24/24). Please look out for communication from Asphalt Green and AGUA for updates.

This past week, you should have received remote pool and dryland workouts from the AGUA coaching staff. We were also able to facilitate in-person dryland sessions for each group and search throughout the city for alternate pool space. We have since been able to accommodate the AGUA swimmers who will compete at the upcoming Eastern Zone Senior Sectionals (3/21 through 3/24) and Eastern Zone Age Group Championships (3/27 through 3/30).

This week, coaches will continue to provide remote pool and dryland workouts for our athletes. We have also scheduled in-person dryland practices for all groups. Please look out for emails from your lead group coach regarding alternate-location swim practices through the rest of this week. While we have been fortunate to find pool time at alternate facilities, we have not been able to secure enough space and time to provide our standard pool time for all groups. In the short term, as more resources become available, we will add more in-water practices as space allows. 

We understand and apologize for the challenges caused by this interruption to our usual programming. We will continue to provide updates as needed and are looking forward to seeing our team back together again soon.

Congratulations to our athletes who competed at the 2024 Junior Metropolitan Championships! Our swimmers achieved the Combined Team Runner Up Title, countless personal best times, finals swim appearances, and event wins!

Bruce Qian earned high point honors for 13-year-old boys, while George Wang earned third. Milly Birch also earned third-place overall in the 13-year-old girls category.

Bruce teamed up with Luca Fong, Will Rankin and Tim Seliger to set new  Junior Metropolitan Meet, Metropolitan Swimming, and AGUA program records in the 400 freestyle relay. In addition, Bruce, Luca, Tim and Mason Kostov set a new AGUA record in the 13-14 boys 200 freestyle relay. 

Our coaches would like to thank Kate Casciato, Cooper Dong, Eamonn Hynes, Mia Jukic, Maya Mulholland, Nicholas Pichlmeier, Bruce Qian, and Chloe Yang for exemplifying our team values of respect, accountability, and discipline throughout the weekend. 

• Aitana Almandoz - 50 breaststroke; 50, 100 and 200 freestyle
• Alexander Argeros - 50, 100 and 200 backstroke
• Camille Auth - 500 freestyle
• Pietro Belvedere - 200 backstroke
• Milly Birch – 100 and 200 butterfly; 100 and 200 backstroke; 500 and 1000 freestyle; 200 and 400 IM
• Kate Casciato – 50 and 100 freestyle
• Sebastian Chang - 100 breaststroke
• Joshua Cho - 200 butterfly
• Sienna Cho - 200 backstroke; 200 breaststroke; 400 IM
• Elliott Darwell – 50 and 100 butterfly
• Jonathan Davis - 50 breaststroke
• Milo Devine - 100 and 200 breaststroke; 200 IM
• Atticus Fogarty - 50, 100 and 200 butterfly; 50 backstroke; 50 breaststroke; 100, 200 and 500 freestyle; 400 IM
• Luca Fong - 200 backstroke; 100 and 200 breaststroke; 50, 100 and 200 freestyle; 200 IM
• Chloe Fu - 50 backstroke; 50 and 100 breaststroke; 50 freestyle; 100 IM
• Elizabeth Gehrie – 50 and 100 butterfly; 100 backstroke; 200 IM
• Pia Ghimire - 100 butterfly
• Sophia Hadar – 100 and 200 butterfly; 500 freestyle
• Nikolai Haridasan - 100 and 200 butterfly; 200 breaststroke; 200 freestyle; 200 and 400 IM
• Claire Healy - 100 butterfly; 100 and 200 breaststroke
• Alex Hoffmann - 200 butterfly; 200 breaststroke; 500 and 1000 freestyle; 400 IM
• Zairong Jiang – 50 and 100 butterfly; 50 backstroke
• Eva Johnson - 100 butterfly; 100 and 200 backstroke
• Mayrah Johnson - 50 backstroke; 100 IM
• Emily Jukic - 200 breaststroke; 500 and 1000 freestyle
• Mia Jukic - 100 backstroke; 50, and 100 breaststroke; 100 and 200 freestyle
• Olivia Kim – 50 and 100 butterfly; 50 backstroke; 50 and 100 breaststroke; 100 and 500 freestyle; 100 and 200 IM
• Mason Kostov – 50, 100 and 500 freestyle
• Parker Lee-Walters - 50, 100 and 200 backstroke; 100 and 200 breaststroke; 400 IM
• Bridget Lockwood - 200 backstroke; 1000 freestyle
• Jolie Loghmanee - 50 backstroke; 50 freestyle
• Benjamin Luding - 100 butterfly; 100 backstroke; 50 and 100 breaststroke; 200 and 500 freestyle; 100 and 200 IM
• Josephine Luding - 50 butterfly; 50, 100 and 200 backstroke; 50 and 100 freestyle; 100 and 200 IM
• Veronica McCall - 100 butterfly; 100 and 200 backstroke; 100 and 200 breaststroke; 200 IM
• Tegan Mejia - 50 backstroke; 50 and 100 breaststroke
• Rayah Milam – 200 and 400 IM
• Skyler Miskin - 50, 100 and 200 butterfly; 50 and 100 backstroke; 500 freestyle; 100, 200 and 400 IM
• Maya Mulholland – 50 and 100 backstroke; 100, 200, and 500 freestyle; 200 IM
• Jonathan Packles - 100 and 200 backstroke
• Max Paltridge - 200 backstroke; 500 freestyle
• Nicholas Pichlmeier – 50 and 100 breaststroke
• Ellise Plevin - 200 breaststroke
• Bruce Qian - 100 and 200 butterfly; 100 backstroke; 50, 100, 200 and 500 freestyle; 200 and 400 IM
• Andrew Quach - 100 butterfly; 50 freestyle
• Viaan Ramnath – 100 and 200 butterfly; 200 backstroke; 400 IM
• Xan Randolph - 100 and 200 backstroke; 500 and 1000 freestyle
• Will Rankin - 100 and 200 backstroke; 200, 500 and 1000 freestyle
• Mikel Ruiz-Massieu – 50 and 100 breaststroke
• Tim Seliger - 50 and 100 freestyle; 200 IM
• Mark Silverman - 200 butterfly; 200 breaststroke; 500 freestyle; 400 IM
• Quinn Smith - 200 freestyle
• Rose South – 50 and 100 backstroke; 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke; 100 and 200 IM
• Allegra Speight-Ray – 200 and 1000 freestyle
• George Wang - 100 and 200 butterfly; 200 backstroke; 100 and 200 breaststroke; 100, 200 and 500 freestyle; 400 IM
• Lucy Watts - 50 breaststroke
• Cassie Wheaton - 200 backstroke; 100 and 200 breaststroke; 100, 200 and 500 freestyle; 200 and 400 IM
• Penny Wheaton – 100 and 200 butterfly; 500 and 1000 freestyle; 200 and 400 IM
• Chloe Yang – 100 and 200 butterfly
• Leo Yang - 100 and 200 breaststroke

Stay tuned next week for a recap of the Age Group Team Challenge!