Eight year old Danielle Albright has had several meets leading into the winter where she swam undefeated, or nearly undefeated, and once again continued that performance at the Tulare meet where she won eight of her nine events. Maintaining an 80% improvement rate in a winter outdoor meet in Central California is a feat in itself, yet the highlight of her performance was in the 25 yard breaststroke event where her time of 17.94 broke the CCS record. Bakersfield swimmer Madison Goodvin had set the record in 2001 as an 18.01. The 25 yard events are not nationally recognized, but to put Danielles potential in context, her 50 yard breaststroke is the 24th fastest time that had been swam anywhere in the nation this year by an 8-year old girl, and her 100 yard breaststroke stands as the 16th fastest time swam in 2011. Congratulations to both Danielle and her coach, Angela Martinho.
Seven year old Ian Belflower, along with 17-year old Colin Landweer were our swimmers who went undefeated at the meet. Bakersfield swimmer Ian swam 10 events and went home with 10 wins. Preparing for Sectionals, Colin entered 2 events and won both. Ians younger brother by a year, Chase Belflower, nearly matched his brothers performance by winning 5 of his 8 events and placing 2nd in his other 3. Our other near sweep came from 5 year old Paige Costa who won 5 of her 6 events, along with Mia Newkirk who took home 6 first place finishes, 2 second place finishes, and a third place finish.
Other event champions included Peyton Costa (100 IM), Allyson Duffy (200 free & 500 free), Michael Jia (100 fly), Toby Jones (50 breast), Micah Ruiz (100 back, 50 free, 100 IM & 100 free), and Emily Sullivan (50 breast, 50 back & 25 breast).
Swimmers who improved 100% of their times included Chase Belfower (age 6), Paige Costa (age 5), Colin Landweer (age 17), Daniel Magargee (age 8), and Mikayla Vierra (age 8).