Defending Champion SOFLO Heads Field For FGC Junior Olympics

SOFLO is awarded the USA Swimming National Club Excellence Silver Medal for 2020 for the first time in club history. SOFLO has been a Bronze Medal club winner eight of the last nine years (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), but had never earned silver. SOFLO moved up from 5,362 to 9,324 rating points and was the only Florida Gold Coast club to earn silver medal club honors and one of only eight teams from around the state. South Florida Aquatic Club, the largest and one of the most diverse clubs in the Florida Gold Coast, was awarded USA Swimming’s National Club Excellence Silver Medal Award for 2020 for the first time in club history. SOFLO has been a Bronze Medal club eight of the last nine years (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), but has never earned silver. SOFLO’s first year of existence was 2011 after starting out as the Comets. The club will celebrate its 20th year of existence in 2020.The excellence award program is divided into gold, silver and bronze divisions. The rankings only include 18-and-under swimmers eliminating most pro and college swimmers. The Top-20 clubs earn Gold level ranking and those rated 21-100 are designated as Silver honorees. The next 100 clubs are recognized at the Bronze level. The rankings give points scores based on a power point rating system that gives swim points based on how fast it is relative to a swimmer’s age. The focus of the USA Swimming voluntary program is to identify and reward up to 200 USA Swimming-sanctioned clubs that have attained a high level of athlete performance.SOFLO is in good company around the state with Sarasota Sharks (18,918), Gator Swim Club (16,438), Sarasota Tsunami (16,425), Bolles (9,745), Episcopal Amberjax (9,354), Swim Florida (8,369) and Greater Tampa Swimming Association (6,962). Last year’s silver medal winners, Pine Crest Swimming (5,521) dropped to bronze medal and Gulliver Prep dropped out. Flood Aquatics (4,689) was the only other Florida Gold Coast awarded bronze medal status. - WRITTEN BY SHARON ROBB - Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com

FORT PIERCE, April 2, 2019—South Florida Aquatic Club swimmers were successful as Florida Gold Coast All-Stars in the annual dual meet against Florida Swimming at Anne Wilder Aquatic Complex. Sebastian Lares, 14, had one of his finest meets in his young career. He was a member of two winning Florida Gold Coast relay teams and had six Top 6 finishes in individual events. Lares anchored the 200-yard medley relay that won in 1:36.85 with teammates Joshua Zuchowski, Parker Rosenthal and Matthew Tarafa. Lares swam third leg on the 200-yard freestyle relay that finished first in 1:28.68 with Tarafa, Agustin Rodriguez and Zuchowski. Lares was also second in the 200-yard butterfly in a best time 1:59.60. It was the first time he broke 2 minutes. His No. 12 seed time was 2:06.41. Lares was third in the 400-yard individual medley in 4:13.65, fourth in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:00.34 and sixth in the 100-yard backstroke in 55.59, 100-yard butterfly in 55.54 and 200-yard backstroke in 2:03.07. Mariana Pinto was second in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:22.39 and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:03.37. Victoria Torres was second in the 200-yard breaststroke in a best time 2:23.15. Natalia Sibug was fifth in the 11-12 100-yard breaststroke and Victoria Torres was also fifth in 13-14. Javier Colmenares was third in the 100-yard butterfly in a best time 1:00.52, fourth in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:12.37 and sixth in the 100-yard individual medley in 1:02.33 and 500-yard freestyle in 5:13.25. Stefano Mazzi was fifth in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:10.94 and sixth in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:37.81. Natalia Sibug was sixth in the 50-yard breaststroke in 33.65. Florida Swimming swept all three team titles. Florida Swimming won the combined, 871-556; men, 403-263; and women, 406-259. SOFLO had six boys and four girls on the team at the three-day meet that ended on Sunday morning. The boys who qualified were Sebastian Lares, Alejandro Mateus, Javier Colmenares, Kevin Moya, Stefano Mazzi and Juan Vallmitjana. The girls were Victoria Torres, Mariana Pinto, Anastasia Lutz and Natalia Sibug. - WRITTEN BY SHARON ROBB - Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com