According to FAST board member Dawn Dixon, “There has been a Fayetteville Area Swim Team for as long as I remember. In fact, a classmate of mine just posted a picture on Facebook of an Elk Valley Times article from the early 80’s on the swim team.” There were a few years without a team, but the Fayetteville Area Swim Team (FAST) has been around in Fayetteville every year for at least 16 years. However, while having a team in 2020, due to COVID-19 there was no summer swim league. This posed a big challenge for FAST in their 2021 season as Dixon states, “Even though ⅔ of our team was comprise of returning swimmers, very few of them had been in the water swimming competitively for 2 years, since the last FAST Championship meet was in July of 2019.”
FAST is a part of the RACE League which is typically composed of 10 teams from Fayetteville, TN; Winchester, TN; Manchester, TN; Tullahoma, TN; Shelbyville, TN; Lewisburg, TN; Lawrenceburg, TN; McMinville, TN; Sewanee, TN; and Athens, AL. The RACE League typically holds its Championship meet at the end of the season in Sewanee, at the University of the South. However this summer, due to COVID-19, the league had separate tre-meets throughout the region and ended the swimming season in Athens, Alabama on Saturday, July 10th.
To date, FAST has won every swim meet this summer with the expectation of a narrow loss to Manchester. FAST finished their regular season with a record of 6-1. In the mini-Champs in Athens, FAST finished 2nd out of 3 teams, finishing right behind Athens and ahead of Lewisburg. According to Dixon, “The results from the mini championship meets are being manually rolled up from the 4 different locations, and we hope to have those consolidated results soon.”
At the Athens meet, FAST placed second in team points, with many team members earning awards for top 6 finished. Stand out performances at the Athens meet included Marvel Holman (8), Nora McCormick (9), and Trevor Murphy (12) who all placed 1st in each of the 3 event they swam. Nora McCormick (9) also finished with high points in her 9-10 age group for all of the RACE League, finishing with 2nd in freestyle, 1st in individual medley, and 1st in butterfly. Max Gordon (6 and under) finished 1st in freestyle and 3rd in backstroke. Marvel Holma (8 and under) finished 3rd in freestyle, 1st in individual medley, and 3rd in butterfly. In the breaststroke, both Noah Saumier and Andrew Dixon had one top 3 finish in their age group, while Trevor Murphy (finsihed in 2nd, 3rd, and 5th) and Taya Shreve (finished in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) had more than one top 3 finish. In the 8 and under boys freestyle relay, Ethan McKenzie, Max Gordon, Larkin Holman, and Brady Bradford finished in 1st place. In the 9-10 girls freestyle relay, Aubrey Kubond, Anna Prince, Charlotte Pace, and Nora McCormick finished in 1st place. According to the preliminary results, FAST finished 5th out of 10 teams and finished less than 100 points away from 3rd. The team plans to use these results as motivation to help them improve for the next season. Including their relays, FAST earned 70 medals for individuals placing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in all of the RACE League.
FAST also recently held its end of season awards party to celebrate the achievements of the swimmers, as well as the time and effort put in by the coaches. According to Dixon, “The top 10 points earners throughout the 2021 season for the 10 and under age group included: Luke Shreve, Max Gordon, Marvel Holman, Rhett Winsett, Ethan McKenzie, Brady Bradford, Nora McCormick, Aubrey Kubond, Charlie Murphy, and Connor Woodward. The top 10 points earners for the 11-18 age group included Allie Grace Newton, Sam Robinson, Vincent Ruhlander, Daniel Smith, Eliza McCormick, Kennedy Richardson, Trevor Murphy, Eli Hester, Taya Shreve, and Andrew Dixon.”
FAST is also tremendously involved in the community. According to Dixon, “One of the most unique aspect of the swim team is that there is only one team for all of Lincoln County, so FAST swimmers practice and compete together year after year. Unlike other sports, where kids may be placed on different teams every year, FAST relationships last year after tear, and allows the kids to really form a summer swim family. FAST is comprised of students from Lincoln County Schools, Fayetteville City Schools, and Riverside Christian Academy who all come together to form one team for the summer league. Also, because they have gotten to know one another during summer swim, they actually sit together and cheer for each other as we attend winter swim meets as part of different middle and high school teams.”
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