Glacier Swim Club takes 2nd place at Alaska State Championship

The Glacier Swim Club came up big at this year’s state championship in Anchorage at the end of April with a number of team records and personal best times recorded just in time for the club’s 50th year in Juneau.

Glacier Swim Club placed second overall at the Alaska Swimming State Championships from April 27-30 in combined team points. GSC girls came in first place with the most points. Additionally, Valerie Pieman, Lily Frances, Samantha Schwarting and PJ Foy all received high point awards in their age groups.

Foy received Outstanding Male Athlete, and the John Abrams Outstanding Official Award went to Cathy Foy, while Scott Griffith received the Senior Coach of the Year Award.

Team records were open boys 100 back went to Foy, girls ages 15-16 200 free went to Schwarting, girls ages 13-14 1,000 and 1,650 free went to Peimann, plus girls ages 13-14 relays (4×50 free, 4×50 medley, 4×100 medley). Additionally, GSC earned two state records.

The state records broken were by the relay teams consisting of Dannan Mills, Pieman, Amy Liddle and Francis in the girls games ages 13-14, 400 medley relay, and 200 free relay.

Club captain Sven Rasmussen said swim clubs from all across the state competed in this year’s competition, which displayed “phenomenal performances” from all of the GSC swimmers, adding that the championship meet was a culmination of everyone’s hard work throughout the season.

“In terms of overall meet, I think everyone swam really well, lots of improvement,” Rasmussen said. “Some people had tough races, but part of the experience is being able to shake off those races and move onto the next one and still compete well even if you’ve had a bad race and not let it bog you down and I think we saw a lot of that at the meet.”

Foy said earning the outstanding male athlete title was a great honor that he felt grateful to achieve.

“I’m really glad that whoever votes on that thought that I represented Alaska in a way that they wanted or a way that I possess the qualities that they wanted to see,” Foy said. “That meet was a lot of fun because I was just able to see my friends a lot and it was just a good time to bond with friends.”

Even though it’s only Foy’s junior year at TMHS, he said he’s already committed to swim at the University of North Carolina. Next on Foy’s radar, he said he plans to focus on longer course training during summer meets Junior Nationals at the end of July in California.

“I’m going to try to base my sense off of longer distance so that I can be ready for the long course, which is a 50-meter pool instead of 25 yards,” Foy said. “Nationals is going to be really fun to compete against people I’ve never competed with, from the East Coast to the West Coast, it’ll be a lot of fun for me. Also, I really did enjoy being there for my team at state and helping the younger kids.”

A full list of results and times can be accessed at teamunify.com.

• Contact reporter Jonson Kuhn at jonson.kuhn@juneauempire.com.