by Anthony Addlesberger
Chambersburg Chargers Swim Team
Head Coach
The Chambersburg Chargers YMCA Swim Team is entering its final weeks of preparation for the YMCA Long Course National Championships at Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, in Atlanta Georgia, from July 23-27. The Chargers have qualified eight swimmers for the meet, and will take six to compete in Atlanta.
The Chargers concluded their meet preparations with two very successful Long Course Meets: the first at Bucknell University from June 15-17, in which 12 Charger records were broken, and the second at Franklin and Marshall College from July 6-8, in which seven of those records were re-broken by the same two swimmers. Six YMCA National Cuts were achieved at these meets.
In the last two months, Danielle Pong has lowered Hannah Parson’s 11-12 Long Course Meter 100 Breaststroke record by 8 seconds: first from 1:29.23 to 1:25.21, then to 1:23.10, then to 1:21.56 at F&M. The 1:21.56 placed her first out of 76 swimmers in her age group, and qualified the 12 year old swimmer for her first YMCA National competition. The time was also a Charger girls open record, breaking Morgan Johnston’s 1:21.95 set last year as a 16 year old.
“Danielle’s improvement in the last two months has been phenomenal. She has made a conscious decision to train at a higher level, and to focus on making technical improvements in her strokes. At Bucknell, she swam nine events, and went eight lifetime best times,” said Chargers Head Coach Anthony Addlesberger. “To get a YMCA National cut at 12 years old and to swim it faster than any girl in Charger History is a tremendous tribute to her talent, work ethic, and attitude.”
Joining Danielle atop the record books this summer has been Marget Shelly, who has broken seven 11-12 Charger records. Marget’s time of 1:02.36 at F&M placed her first out of 90 swimmers and broke the meet record by two seconds. Most notably, the twelve year old broke the girls open 200 LCM freestyle and 400 LCM freestyle records, both held by renowned Charger swimmer Sarah Besecker. Marget’s times of 2:14.68 in the 200 and 4:47.63 in the 400 are also YMCA National Qualifying times.
“I remember being at Nationals as a Charger swimmer and watching my teammate Sarah swim those times as a high school Junior and thinking how good she was,” said Addlesberger. “I also remember thinking that she could most likely beat all of the boys on our National Team in the 400, some of us by a lot. Reflecting on this, it’s an unbelievable feeling to be able to coach two young swimmers capable of posting these times.”
Joining Shelly and Pong in Atlanta will be Jordan Metz, Kevin Shivers, Daniel Callis, and Eli Fierer. Metz has qualified in the 50 and 200 free; Shivers in the 50, 100, and 200 free; and Callis in the 50 free. All four boys will be competing in the 200 Medley, 200 Free, and 400 Free Relays.
“Our Senior guys have improved a lot this summer. Our entire team has made a commitment to swim fast and do our best every day in practice, and the results have been very good,” said Addlesberger. “Daniel Callis got his first individual National cut this weekend in the 50 free by dropping a full second to go 25.99. I think he dropped 10 total seconds in his four events this weekend.
After our twelfth place finish last year at YMCA Nationals in the 200 freestyle relay, I think most were expecting this to be a down year for us with the departure of Matt Rines and Mike Harmon, who had our fastest and second fastest splits, with Mike’s (who finished second in the nation in the 50) being the fastest in the entire meet. But now we’ve got 3 guys at 25, with a fourth poised to hit that time soon, and we’re very close to where we were before the meet last year with composite 50 times.
You can’t replace a Mike Harmon or a Matt Rines. The talent and experience they both brought to the National Team was critical to our success. But Jordan and Kevin, who have 12 National YMCA National trips between them, are strong leaders. Our team is learning and moving in the right direction, and doing so very quickly, and I expect all six swimmers to perform at a very high level in Atlanta.”
Chambersburg Chargers Swim Team
Head Coach
The Chambersburg Chargers YMCA Swim Team is entering its final weeks of preparation for the YMCA Long Course National Championships at Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, in Atlanta Georgia, from July 23-27. The Chargers have qualified eight swimmers for the meet, and will take six to compete in Atlanta.
The Chargers concluded their meet preparations with two very successful Long Course Meets: the first at Bucknell University from June 15-17, in which 12 Charger records were broken, and the second at Franklin and Marshall College from July 6-8, in which seven of those records were re-broken by the same two swimmers. Six YMCA National Cuts were achieved at these meets.
In the last two months, Danielle Pong has lowered Hannah Parson’s 11-12 Long Course Meter 100 Breaststroke record by 8 seconds: first from 1:29.23 to 1:25.21, then to 1:23.10, then to 1:21.56 at F&M. The 1:21.56 placed her first out of 76 swimmers in her age group, and qualified the 12 year old swimmer for her first YMCA National competition. The time was also a Charger girls open record, breaking Morgan Johnston’s 1:21.95 set last year as a 16 year old.
“Danielle’s improvement in the last two months has been phenomenal. She has made a conscious decision to train at a higher level, and to focus on making technical improvements in her strokes. At Bucknell, she swam nine events, and went eight lifetime best times,” said Chargers Head Coach Anthony Addlesberger. “To get a YMCA National cut at 12 years old and to swim it faster than any girl in Charger History is a tremendous tribute to her talent, work ethic, and attitude.”
Joining Danielle atop the record books this summer has been Marget Shelly, who has broken seven 11-12 Charger records. Marget’s time of 1:02.36 at F&M placed her first out of 90 swimmers and broke the meet record by two seconds. Most notably, the twelve year old broke the girls open 200 LCM freestyle and 400 LCM freestyle records, both held by renowned Charger swimmer Sarah Besecker. Marget’s times of 2:14.68 in the 200 and 4:47.63 in the 400 are also YMCA National Qualifying times.
“I remember being at Nationals as a Charger swimmer and watching my teammate Sarah swim those times as a high school Junior and thinking how good she was,” said Addlesberger. “I also remember thinking that she could most likely beat all of the boys on our National Team in the 400, some of us by a lot. Reflecting on this, it’s an unbelievable feeling to be able to coach two young swimmers capable of posting these times.”
Joining Shelly and Pong in Atlanta will be Jordan Metz, Kevin Shivers, Daniel Callis, and Eli Fierer. Metz has qualified in the 50 and 200 free; Shivers in the 50, 100, and 200 free; and Callis in the 50 free. All four boys will be competing in the 200 Medley, 200 Free, and 400 Free Relays.
“Our Senior guys have improved a lot this summer. Our entire team has made a commitment to swim fast and do our best every day in practice, and the results have been very good,” said Addlesberger. “Daniel Callis got his first individual National cut this weekend in the 50 free by dropping a full second to go 25.99. I think he dropped 10 total seconds in his four events this weekend.
After our twelfth place finish last year at YMCA Nationals in the 200 freestyle relay, I think most were expecting this to be a down year for us with the departure of Matt Rines and Mike Harmon, who had our fastest and second fastest splits, with Mike’s (who finished second in the nation in the 50) being the fastest in the entire meet. But now we’ve got 3 guys at 25, with a fourth poised to hit that time soon, and we’re very close to where we were before the meet last year with composite 50 times.
You can’t replace a Mike Harmon or a Matt Rines. The talent and experience they both brought to the National Team was critical to our success. But Jordan and Kevin, who have 12 National YMCA National trips between them, are strong leaders. Our team is learning and moving in the right direction, and doing so very quickly, and I expect all six swimmers to perform at a very high level in Atlanta.”
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