Taylor Shaw (13-14 girls), Chris Nolan (13-14 boys), Allison Ross (15-over girls) & Nathan Rhea (15-over boys) were among our 50 swimmers who competed at the Porterville long course meet during the weekend of March 20-21, but were the only ones who swam away with high point awards.
Taylor Shaw (age 14), training in Hanford, was the champion in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 backstroke events, placed second in the 200 IM, 800 free and 200 free events, and third in the 100 free and 100 back events. Her final event was a sixth place finish in the 50 free, and all events accumulated 47 points to outscore teammate Bre Abell training in Selma who was a close second with 43 points.
Chris Nolan is on the bottom of the age group at age 13 and dominated his 13-14 peers by scoring 69 points which was 22 points beyond the second place swimmer. Chris took first place finishes in seven of his eight events (100 free, 200 breast, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 50 free and 200 fly), and a 3rd place finish in his 100 backstroke event. Chris Nolan is on the roster for Far Westerns and qualifies in five events while on the bottom of the age group, and improved 100% of his times at Porterville.
Allison Rosss 56 points edged out teammate Hannah Giles (50 points) to take home the high point award for the 15-over age group in the girls division. Allison was the champion in both the 200 breaststroke and 200 backstroke events, and took second place finishes in the 200 IM, 100 back, and 100 breaststroke events. She also had third place finishes in the 100 free and 50 free and a 4th place finish in the 200 freestyle event.
Nathan Rhea, also on the bottom of the 15-over age group took home the high point for the male swimmers by winning five of his six events (200 IM, 100 back, 200 breast, 100 breast and 200 fly). His second place finish came in the 200 backstroke to teammate Sam Hansen. Nathans 52 points edged out teammate Colin Landweer (49 points) for the high point award.
Three new Far Western cuts were made by two individuals who already were on the qualifying list for the prestigious age group meet. Sixteen year old Wesley Coles swam a 1:02.38 in the 100 meter butterfly event to not only make an addition Far Western cut (to bring his total to 8), but this is also his first qualifying time for the Speedo Grand Challenge to held at Irvine in May. Ten year old Parker Giles increased his Far Western cuts from four to six by qualifying in two additional events: 200 meter freestyle (2:45.13) and 100 meter free (1:15.20). Parkers 100 meter freestyle time is approximately 1.5 seconds off of the team record.
Over half of our swimmers (26) now have newly recorded long course time with the team. The 24 remaining swimmers maintained a 68% improvement percentage with ten of them improving all events that were entered and swam. Congratulations go to perfect improvement performances by: Jake Caminero, Joshua Caminero, Wes Coles, Chris Hansen, Makenna Mason, Michael Mason, Madison McCarthy, Athena Niayesh, Chris Nolan and Savanah Nolan.
