Charlotte’s Underwater Treasure: Mecklenburg Aquatic Club!

June 30th, 2008 categories: Charlotte Lifestyle, Fun for Kids

Living in Charlotte we have so much to be proud of — but there is just something “once in a lifetime” about the Olympics. This year we have a number of local athlete who have made it to the Olympic trials, thanks to the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club. Monday night our own Mark Gangloff, a MAC swimmer was the first Charlotte based swimmer to earn a ticket to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing! Mark came from behind placing second in the 100 meter breaststroke. (read Scott Fowler’s story here).

So what does it take to be an Olympian ~ a lot of pool time and a whole lot of talent. Coaching helps too and that is one thing Charlotte can safely boast about ~ The Mecklenburg Aquatic Club better known as MAC is one of the best in the country. For 31 years MAC has been spawning swimmers of Olympian stature. This year more than two dozen MAC swimmers with some sort of Charlotte connection will try to make the Olympics team. Longtime Charlotteans like Doug Van Wie, Ricky Berens and twins Matt and Sean Patton will be among them.

Just a few of the MAC accolades:

USA SWIMMING OLYMPIC TEAM MEMBER
1988,1996, 2008
USA SWIMMING OLYMPIC TRIAL QUALIFIERS
1988,1992,1996,2000,2004
USA SWIMMING NATIONAL JUNIOR TEAM MEMBER
1990,1991,1992,1995,1996,1997,1999,2003,2004,2005

MAC is more than just a Charlotte tradition, its a cherished jewel in the Queen City’s crown. So whether you’re ready for the podium or juts trying to learn to swim MACS is for you ~ sure you may never reach the Olympics but you will have swum in regal water and been around a whole lot of people who can show how to reach your best!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Charlotte Lifestyle, Fun for Kids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. mike Gibbons said at July 2nd, 2008 at 7:26 am

   Great post – congrats to Charlotte’s fastest!

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