NBAC Plans A Big Splash With Honors

 (Neil Hodge/USA Swimming)

By: Keith Mills

The United States Olympic swim trials are set for June 30-July 7 in Omaha, Neb., which means the pool at the Meadowbrook Swim Club in Mount Washington will be churning with Olympic qualifiers the next six weeks. Meadowbrook -- the home of the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, which has placed 15 swimmers in the trials (16, if you count Michael Phelps) -- will be the subject of a barrage of national and international attention the next few weeks.

The trials are not the only big event coming up for NBAC and its nationally ranked athletes. NBAC will honor its Olympic champions and astounding club success with a May 10 gala, "NBAC Countdown to Gold: Baltimore to Beijing."

The gala will honor NBAC’s four Olympic gold medalists: Theresa Andrews (Annapolis High School), Anita Nall (Towson High), Beth Botsford (Garrison Forest) and Phelps (Towson) and its four other Olympians: Pat Kennedy (Loyola Blakefield), Katie Hoff (Fallston), Jill Johnson and Whitney Metzler. The occasion also will look ahead to the 2008 games in Beijing, where Phelps and Hoff will lead a deep and talented U.S. team.

“We’re real excited about the gala on May 10,” John Cadigan said. “And we’re real excited about all of the kids who will represent us in the trials.”

Cadigan is the general manager of Meadowbrook and an age-group coach at NBAC, which was founded 40 years ago by former Loyola swim coach Murray Stephens, and it is now one of the most successful age-group clubs in the history of American swimming. And with Phelps returning to Baltimore and NBAC after the ’08 Beijing games, it features the two most dominant swimmers on the planet in Phelps and Hoff.

Hoff will turn 19 in early June and is just reaching her prime. She has qualified for all 13 women’s events at the U.S. trials and is the American record holder and current world champion in the 200-meter individual medley. She also leads a group of young NBAC men and women looking to join their more famous Baltimore teammates in Beijing later in the summer.

Elizabeth Pelton, an eighth-grader at the Cathedral School in North Baltimore, is one of the most talented young swimmers in the country. She has qualified for five events at the trials: 200 backstroke, 100 and 200 butterflies and the 200 and 400 individual medleys.

Felicia Lee, like Pelton, is among the best young female swimmers in the U.S. Lee, 16, began her high school career at Towson and is now being home-schooled. She has qualified in five events at the trials: 100 and 200 backstrokes, 100 and 200 butterflies and the 400 individual medley.

Michele King is a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, where she was an All-American in four events last year. A graduate of Spring Grove High in York, Pa., she helped the U.S. Pan American relay win a gold medal in the 400 individual medley last year. She will swim four events at the trials: the 50 and 100 freestyles, the 100 backstroke and the 200 individual medley.

Courtney Kalisz, a senior at Fallston High School, has won numerous age-group national titles and is another versatile and talented athlete, qualifying in the 200 backstroke, the 100 and 200 butterflies and the 200 and 400 individual medleys.

Kailey Morris, a sophomore at Penn State, joined NBAC while a student at Lewisburg High in Pennsylvania along with her younger brother Brennan and sister Camryne. Brennan has also qualified for the trials while Kailey will swim in the 400 individual medley.

Natalie Beale is a home-schooled student who helped NBAC set two age-group national records in last month's Eastern Zone meet. Beale, Pelton, Camryne Morris and Jordan Surhoff won both the 13-14 200 and 400 individual medley races, setting records in both events.

Amanda Dunnigan, a junior at the University of South Carolina, was a high school All-American at C. Milton Wright High School in Bel Air in 2005, finishing sixth in the U.S. Nationals. She will join Hoff, Pelton, Lee and Kalicz in the 400 individual medley.

Ashley Knapik is an NBAC veteran and a longtime relay teammate of Hoff and King. At the trials she will swim the 100 and 200-fly.

Dan Madwed, a graduate of Westhill-Stamford High in Connecticut, where he was the state swimmer of the year two years ago, joined NBAC and moved to Baltimore when his high school career ended. He leads the male North Baltimore swimmers by qualifying in five events: the 100 and 200 butterflies, 200 and 400 freestyles and 200 individual medley.

Brennan Morris will swim in the 200 backstroke and 1,500 freestyle, one of two club swimmers to earn a spot in racing’s most grueling event.

Ian Rowe will join Morris in the 1,500 freestyle. Two years ago, Rowe and Lee were named Outstanding Rookie Swimmers at the U.S. Nationals.

Connor Wills, nationally ranked in three events at the 15-16 age group two years ago, will join Madwed at the trials in the 200 butterfly.

Andrew Cosgarea is a freshman at McDonogh, and like Pelton and Lee, is one of the nation’s most talented young swimmers.

Austin Surhoff, a junior at St. Paul’s, is Jordan's brother and the son of former Oriole B.J. Surhoff and his wife Polly, who coaches the swim team at St. Paul’s. In Omaha, he’ll swim the 200 backstroke and 200 individual medley.

Paul Yetter is also headed to Omaha and the U.S. trials. Yetter is a graduate of Loyola, where he swam for Stephens, and is now in charge of North Baltimore's powerhouse women's team. He was also honored last week by the U.S. Olympic Committee as the nation's Developmental Coach of the Year.

Issue 3.18: May 1, 2008