Submitted by Mike Lazzara, President & CEO of the Rutherford Swim Association
During the 2020 pandemic the world shut down, activities were limited due to capacity restrictions. That did not discourage the Rutherford Swim Association from bringing to life their USA Swimming Team known as Rebel Aquatic Club. The organization was blessed to start their program with 84 swimmers which is rare for any competitive program to start yet alone in the middle of a global pandemic.
In its first official New Jersey-Sanctioned swim season (2021-2022), Rebel sent 20 athletes to the age group and senior New Jersey Gold Championships. To the surprise of many not only did the club score well in both divisions but on the age-group side they had a swimmer that earned the New Jersey Swimming High Point State Champion. This means that the athlete scored the highest points in their age group for the Gold Championship. And a few weeks later that same swimmer brought home the Eastern Zones Age-Group High Point Championship.
In the spring of 2021, Rebel Aquatic Club hosted its first-ever USA Swimming Meet at the
Rutherford Community Aquatic Center. The meet hosted 300 athletes from around the state
and was an opportunity for athletes to race during the back end of the pandemic. That meet
was known as MetersMania. MetersMania which was originally started at the Rutherford
Community Aquatic Center was moved to Jersey Aquatic Center, the move allowed for the
organization to invite more athletes. This past MetersMania the club welcomed over 800
athletes and had a dedicated session for athletes that were trying to accomplish their dream
and qualify for the olympic trials, some of those high performing athletes came from the
United States Army.
New Jersey Swimming, which has over 10,000 registered athletes, had passed a rule that would allow for Age-Group and Senior Gold Championships to be separated to allow for the Age-Group division to have their own “Gold Level” Championship. By doing so, this opened a bid process which was offered to all teams under the New Jersey Swimming LSC.
New Jersey Swimming has recognized the efforts of the Rutherford Swim Association and Rebel Aquatic Club for their dedication to supporting and growing the sport of swimming and has awarded the organization the bid to rebrand the Age-Group Level Championship meet. The meet will be known as the New Jersey Swimming Junior State Championship.
The championship will take place at the Jersey Aquatic Center March 7th-9th.
Rutherford Swim Association offers swim lessons, competitive swim teams, and a masters team.
For more information please visit RutherfordSwim.org
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