What the Triple Crown Means

As we celebrate our historic first Triple Crown of Championships, we need to pause to reflect what this means for our program. 

The term “Triple Crown” is used across sports and always to reflect an accomplishment higher than simply being a one-time champion. In cycling, it refers to winning the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the UCI Road World Championships Road Race in the same season. In 1999-2000 the University of Arkansas Men’s Track & Field programs became the first SEC team to ever to win the Triple Crown when they won NCAA championships in Cross Country, Indoor Track & Field and Outdoor Track & Field. And of course in 1912, Sir Barton became the first horse to win the Triple Crown by winning the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes.

In February, Excel Aquatics won the 8 & Under Championship, the Region 1 Championship and Southeastern Championship all in a span of only 8 days. However, our Triple Crown is unique in a very important way. In cycling, track, or horse racing, the Triple Crown is a celebration of the same athletes while for us, it’s won by distinctly different groups of athletes. 

The 8 & Under Championship is the least predictable because it sees the most turnover from year to year. As a majority of the point scorers are 8 years old, typically each athlete gets only one year to help win that meet. The winning team is the one who has done the best job attracting, retaining and developing young swimmers. The scoreboard is a one-year snapshot of success and our title this year doesn’t reflect our chances of repeating next year. It does, however, bode well for future Region 1, SES and national championship teams. 

The Region 1 meet, which has a qualifying standard, precludes those swimmers who have achieved a SES cut time. Swimmers in the 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and Open age groups, can only swim in an event in which they are still striving for, but have not yet hit, an SES “A” time standard. Therefore, athletes on this team typically come from our “2” level groups. With all our growth in the 2022-23 season, Teal 2, Junior 2, Varsity 2, and Senior 2 all expanded  and it showed in the scores. Winning this meet, with our SES level swimmers sitting on the sidelines, reflects our investment in developing athletes. In fact, over half of our current National Team swimmers have come through the 2 levels. 

Finally, the SES Championship meet is a third and entirely distinct group of swimmers. While there were 11 swimmers who qualified for the SES meet at Regionals, a large majority of the SES team were swimming their first Championship of the season. Winning the SES meet is a reflection of years of effort. The SES meet highlights those teams that have developed talent at all ages. Incredibly, of the 8 age groups this year, Excel won 4 of them and placed second in 3 more. 

While we celebrate each Championship, the Triple Crown is special. By design, these 3 championships offer a spot for EVERY one of our Excel swimmers. Nobody had to ride the bench as everybody had a spot on 1 of our championship teams. What’s truly remarkable about the Triple Crown is that it requires a full-team focus. It demands that teams balance their energy on developing every age, every level and every swimmer. 

Congratulations to our whole Excel Family for a truly remarkable accomplishment.