Lakeside Aquatic Club Wins 2023 LC Texas Age Group Swimming (TAGS) Championship

2023 LC Texas Age Group Swimming (TAGS) Championship

• July 26-30, 2023
• Northside Aquatic Center, San Antonio, TX
• LCM (50 meters)
• Results

The Alamo Area Aquatics Association hosted the 2023 Texas Age Group Swimming (TAGS) Championship last month in San Antonio, Texas. Topping both the combined and girl’s team scores was Lakeside Aquatic Club, while Nitro Swimming came out ahead on the boy’s side of the meet.

Team Scores – Combined:

1. Lakeside Aquatic Club – 2901
2. Nitro Swimming – 2350.5
3. Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club – 1122

Team Scores – Girls:

1. Lakeside Aquatic Club – 2013
2. Nitro Swimming – 1148
3. Alamo Area Aquatics Association – 572

Team Scores – Boys:

1. Nitro Swimming – 1202.5
2. Lakeside Aquatic Club – 888
3. Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club – 736.5

Four meet records fell over the course of the competition, with all of them being done in boy’s events. Alexander Thomas from the Dads Club Swim Team took down the meet record in the 11-12 50 backstroke, as he touched 1st in a personal best time of 29.04. He completed a sweep of the backstroke events, adding wins in the 100 (1:03.70) and 200 (2:16.42), with his performance in the 200 moving him up to 17th all-time for 11-12 boys. 

Thomas’ older teammate Jacob Bougaieff broke the boy’s 13-14 TAGS record in the 100 breaststroke. The 14-year-old dropped over two seconds to stop the clock at 1:06.17 and narrowly beat runner-up Charlie Wang by a few tenths (1:06.38). Both Bougaieff and Wang secured a 2023 Winter Juniors cut with their times, and also moved up to 43rd and 49th all-time, respectively, in the all-time rankings. 

In the boy’s 11-12 50 breaststroke, Edmond Reynolds clocked a new meet record time of 32.40 to win the event by two seconds. He also swept the rest of the breaststroke events, going best times of 1:10.66 and 2:35.66, in the 100 and 200, respectively. Reynolds’ 100 breaststroke time cracked the top-20 all-time for the age group at 17th. 

Rounding out the TAGS record-setters was 10-year-old Barry Zhang. Zhang won all seven of his individual events, and dipped below the meet record in the 100 fly with a new personal best time (1:10.01). He also had a fantastic swim in the 100 breaststroke, where he dropped over five seconds to log a best time of 1:20.47.

Among the top performers on the girls’ side of the competition Kate Canales from Aqua Swift Aquatics. The 14-year-old collected four victories in the 13-14 age group, highlighted by her performance in the 200 breaststroke. She knocked over a second off her personal best to go 2:39.95 and clear the field by almost three seconds.

Elisabeth Chiu headlined the 11-12 age group with seven individual victories. Chiu, who swims with the Rockwall Aquatic Center of Excellence, set a big best time of 1:07.42 in the 100 backstroke. Earlier in the meet she also saw about a second improvement in the 200 freestyle, as she got her hand on the wall 1st to record a time of 2:10.38.

Leading the 10 & under girls was Abi Cowart of the Alamo Area Aquatics Association. Cowart secured four 1st-place finishes, as well as three 2nd-place finishes. Highlighting her victories was the 100 backstroke, as she knocked over three seconds off her best to record a 1:13.40 and move to 47th all-time for the age group. 

Cowart was the runner-up finisher in the 400 freestyle, where she posted a big best time of 4:55.20 to finish less than half a second behind Josie Sun (4:54.79). Both Sun and Cowart climbed inside the top-50 all-time with their swims, as Cowart now ranks 41st and Sun currently sits at 38th.

Another top performer was Lakeside Aquatic Club’s Kennedi Southern. The 13-year-old won the 100 freestyle in 57.54, which puts her under the Summer Junior Nationals time standard for the event. She also led off her team’s winning 200 freestyle relay in 26.42, which also takes her below what the Summer Juniors cut was for this year.