PVS Athletes Poised to Compete in Indy!
By Reach for the Wall Staff
Feature Image Courtesy USA Swimming
The US Olympic Trials are set for competition starting June 15, concluding the 23rd at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. With the entry deadline of noon June 4th, the final opportunities to qualify were held over the weekend (May 31-June 2). Locally, there were 2 meets where current and future Trials qualifiers competed- the NCAP Elite Qualifier and the Maryland State Long Course Championship. The NCAP Elite Qualifier featured many swimmers from the University of Virginia professional and college team that used the meet as a final tune-up for Indianapolis, while the local up-and-comers snatched the opportunity to race and achieve best times, and in a few instances get their Trial qualifying times. Congratulations to Virginia Hinds (All Star Aquatics) who met the standard in the Women’s 200 Backstroke on the last night of finals, placing 4th overall in 2:13.14!
While no additional Trial cuts were obtained at the Maryland State meet, it was a final tune-up for Adriano Arioti (swam 3 events), and Evan Mackesy (swam 6 events). Andrea Dworak (RMSC) attended both meets, vying for a qualifying time in the 200 Freestyle, but was just shy of the 2:00.89 standard, her time at the NCAP meet was 2:01.15 and the 2:02.45 at the Maryland State meet.
SwimSwam has reported that since the Trial qualifying period opened in November 2022, over 800 swimmers have met the qualifying standards through the middle of May, 22 of those 800+ are registered within PVS (PDF List of Qualifiers Courtesy PVS Swimming, Note: Virginia Hinds not yet added to the list).
As a refresher we wanted to show the ‘Competition Pyramid’ to giver perspective on how a swimmer can gain exposure to National Meets and point toward the once-every-4-year Trials. The graphic on the left was created by Reach for the Wall to include the championship style meets held within the LSC and Zone at the base of the pyramid. The second graphic is from USA Swimming, which starts with the Sectional meets as the baseline for National competition. USA Swimming currently has the time standards listed for Olympic Trials, Summer Nationals*, Futures, US Open, and Winter Jr. Nationals so you can see the minimum standards to qualify for each meet/each level of the pyramid. *This summer, Nationals consists of a 19 & Over qualifying time and an 18 & Under time…more or less combining Jr. and Sr. Nationals into one meet.
For the Sectional meets and below (as depicted in the Pyramid on the left), you can find the qualifying times at the PVS website. Additional information about Sectional and Zone Meets can be located at the Eastern Zone Website .
To get our readership ‘pumped up’ for the local athletes headed to Indianapolis, we will publish a series of posts titled ‘5 questions for an Olympic Trials Qualifier’. Each profile will contain a short bio of the swimmer, the event(s) the swimmer will compete in, and the series of 5 question/answers. As the meet unfolds we will do our best to publish ‘real-time’ results as well as any media that we get from those in attendance or watching via watch parties in the DMV. If you are heading to Indianapolis and would like to contribute, please send an email to: operations@reachforthewall.org and we’ll work with you to publish your media.