For the third year in a row Nation’s Capital Swim Club of the Washington, D.C., area, earned the top position in the USA Swimming Club Excellence program, recognizing the organization’s highest-performing clubs in the development of athletes 18 years and younger.
NCAP, whose top athletes include National Team members Katie Ledecky and Cassidy Bayer, plus National Junior Team member Sam Pomajevich tallied 90,635 points, finishing more than 40,000 points ahead of second-place finisher and first-time Gold level ranking club Marlins of Raleigh. Dynamo Swim Club of Atlanta, Ga., placed third and jumped up from number fourth a year ago.
“Nation’s Capital Swim Club is honored to be named the No. 1 Swim Team in the nation for the third year in a row in the Club Excellence Program,” said Tom Ugast, NCAP Chief Executive Officer. “This achievement is reached because of the dedication of our 18 & Under athletes, their coaches and parents. It’s truly a ‘team effort’ for us to help every young athlete in our program reach their highest potential. Thanks to USA Swimming for the recognition.”
In its 16th year, the Club Excellence program identifies clubs that execute strong, well-rounded programs to produce elite 18-and-under athletes. 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.
“Earning a Gold, Silver or Bronze ranking is a reflection of the hard work and time invested by athletes and coaches and has become a highly coveted honor for our teams. Each year, the competition to earn a Club Excellence ranking continues to be more and more challenging.” said Pat Hogan, USA Swimming’s Club Development Managing Director. “On behalf of USA Swimming, I want to congratulate each of the 200 clubs that have earned a ranking in the 2017 program.”
Each team’s ranking score is based on the FINA Points Table, a power point rating system that assigns point values to swimming performances based on the Gold, Silver or Bronze time standard. Starting with the 2017 Club Excellence rankings, Gold swims were multiplied by a factor of 2.0; points for Silver level swims were increased by a factor of 1.5.
The following clubs achieved the Gold Medal ranking for 2017, with Local Swimming Committee (LSC) designation. Sixteen different LSCs are represented in the Gold Medal level.
| Club | LSC | Points | |
| 1. | Nation’s Capital Swim Club | (Potomac Valley) | 90,635 |
| 2. | Marlins of Raleigh | (North Carolina) | 45,915 |
| 3. | Dynamo Swim Club | (Georgia) | 44,500 |
| 4. | Carmel Swim Club | (Indiana) | 43,768 |
| 5. | Sandpipers of Nevada | (Southern California) | 38,245 |
| 6. | Sarasota YMCA Sharks | (Florida) | 36,369 |
| 7. | North Baltimore Aquatic Club | (Maryland) | 34,084 |
| 8. | Lakeside Swim Team | (Kentucky) | 32,083 |
| 9. | Nitro Swimming | (South Texas) | 31,997 |
| 10. | NOVA of Virginia Aquatics | (Virginia) | 30,808 |
| 11. | Aquazot Swim Club | (Southern California) | 30,759 |
| 12. | Fort Collins Area Swim Team | (Colorado) | 29,820 |
| 13. | Scottsdale Aquatic Club | (Arizona) | 28,790 |
| 14. | Lakeside Aquatic Club | (North Texas) | 28,004 |
| 15. | Northern KY Clippers Swimming | (Ohio) | 27,037 |
| 16. | Nashville Aquatic Club | (Southeastern) | 26,609 |
| 17. | Pleasanton Seahawks | (Pacific) | 26,444 |
| 18. | Mission Viejo Nadadores | (Southern California) | 25,533 |
| 19. | Bolles School Sharks | (Florida) | 24,814 |
| 20. | Gator Swim Club | (Florida) | 24,577 |
Click here to view the complete 2017 Club Excellence Program results.
Marlins of Raleigh, Fort Collins Area Swim Team, Lakeside Aquatic Club, and Northern KY Clippers all achieved a Gold Medal ranking for the first time. Since the inception of this program, 77 different clubs have earned Gold Medal ranking at least once and North Baltimore Aquatic Club is the only club to retain its Gold Medal ranking each year since the program began in 2002.
Out of the 200 clubs recognized as Gold, Silver and Bronze programs, Southern California Swimming and Middle Atlantic led all LSCs with 11 clubs recognized, followed by Southeastern at 10 clubs represented.
In addition to recognizing high-performing teams, the program provides grant funding that enable clubs to expand and enhance the services already provided to athletes. A total of $450,000 in grants will be distributed to the 100 Gold- and Silver-level clubs.
In conjunction with the USA Swimming Club Excellence program, USA Swimming will induct seven members into the 2017 Podium Club. Each team achieving a Gold Medal ranking for four consecutive years will be named to the Podium Club. In addition to earning Gold grant dollars, Podium Club members will receive a financial bonus from a pool of dollars to be divided equally among the number of teams in the Podium Club each year.
Congratulations to the following seven teams that were inducted into the Podium Club for 2017:
- Aquazot Swim Club
- Bolles School Sharks
- Dynamo Swim Club
- Lakeside Swim Team
- Nation’s Capital Swim Club
- North Baltimore Aquatic Club
- Sarasota YMCA Sharks
For more information about the Club Excellence program visit www.usaswimming.org.
Press release courtesy of USA Swimming.