Eleven TNT swimmers traveled to Chandler, Arizona for the Holiday Festival during the first weekend of December. The mid-70 degree weather resulted in a vast majority of our swimmers earning second swims during the weekend. These top performances were led by 10-year old Alonso Escobedo who trains in Hanford with Coach Rhonda Shaw. Alonso became the sole high-point recipient for TNT as he accumulated the third highest number of points among all 10-under boys at the meet. Alonso earned second swims in all ten events he entered. He swam away with four 2nd place finishes (500 free, 50 breast, 100 IM & 200 IM), two 3rd place finishes (200 free [2:20.70] & 100 back [1:16.40]), a 4th place finish (100 fly 1:15.95), a 5th place finish (50 back 35.34), an 8th place finish (50 fly 33.64) and a 9th place finish (50 free 30.87). Additionally, Alonso set four team records among his ten events. His time of 6:10.63 in the 500 freestyle was four seconds under Jonathan Granadas 6:14.61 that he swam at Junior Olympics in February of 2009, and Alonsos time currently ranks 266th among all 10-year old boys in the nation. The second record came in the 50 breaststroke where Alonsos 37.55 is 168th in the nation and was faster than his own previous record of 38.25 that he had set two month earlier. His 100 IM time of 1:12.80 also broke Jonathan Granadas previous record from Far Westerns of 1:13.13, and Alonsos time currently ranks 260th nationally. Finally his 2:36.40 in the 200 IM ranks 253rd nationally and broke Jonathan Granadas Far Western time of 2:37.21.
Final performances were additionally led by Khloe McCarthy who also swam to top-10 finishes in all 10 events that she had entered. Her highest finish was 3rd place in the 200 back (2:23.03), followed by three 6th place finishes in the 400 IM (4:59.26), 500 free (5:36.10) and 200 IM (2:45.49). Her 7th place finishes included the 1000 free (11:38.34) and 200 breast (2:39.89) events. Khloe went on to finish 8th in the 100 back (1:08.66) and 10th in each the 200 free (2:09.63), 50 breast (35.98) and 50 back (33.01) events. Khloe was the only other swimmer to set team records, and she did so in two events. Her 11:38.34 in the 1000 freestyle is 245th fastest time in the nation for all 12-year old girls and was faster than her own previous record of 11:51.10 that she set at the Selma meet in late September. Khloes 4:59.26 in the 400 IM is currently the 230th fastest nationally among all 12-year old girls and regained the team record in the event swimming under Mallory Korenwinders 5:05.22 set during the recent San Luis Obispo meet. In addition to finals in all event and two team records, Khloe achieved three Terrapin cuts and one 13-14 Far Western time standard while at the meet.
Fourteen year old Bre Abell training in Selma with Coach Pat Ota maintained the next largest number of finals, swimming to a 4th place finish in the 50 fly (28.25) and a pair of 9th place finishes, one in the 50 back (30.92) and the other in the 50 free (26.14). Three of our swimmers doubled up their finals, and they included our birthday boy of the meet (sweet 16), Alex Hansen, who finished 6th in the 400 IM (4:36.57) and 11th in the 100 breast (1:08.60), along with Cody Nash of Selma who finished 14th in both the 100 breast (1:08.55, preliminary time) and 14th in the 50 breast (31.67). Thirteen year old Chris Hansen chose to compete in the senior meet despite his young age, and nevertheless swam to an 16th place finish in the 100 breast (1:11.20 prelim). Emily Lehrman of Selma succeeded in a top 16 finish swimming to 11th in the 1650 (21:01.49) on the final day, while 10-year old Madison McCarthy finished 10th in the 100 back (1:21.46).
Fourteen year old Taylor Shaw of Hanford swam made her first Terrapin cut in the 200 breaststroke event and improved both the 100 breast and 1650 freestyle events. Thirteen year olds Katelyn Herrera and Owen Ansel each improved three events at the meet.