Thirty-eight TNT swimmers competed at the All Star Qualifying meet over the first full weekend of the New Year. Several of our swimmers age 14 and under had expressed an interest in representing Central California Swimming (CCS) as a 2012 All Star team member. The All Star meet is scheduled to take place during the January 21-22 weekend in Lodi.
Eight of our swimmers performed will enough at the qualifying meet to make the team. Congratulations to: Skylar Ford from Visalia (10-under girls), Janessa Bringe from Visalia (10-under girls), Jonas Huckabay from Selma (11-12 boys), Jackson Huckabay from Selma (10-under boys), Morgan Coddington from Selma (13-14 girls, Kyle Grissom from Porterville (13-14 boys), Preston Niayesh from Visalia (11-12 boys), and Satoshi Shinkwawa from Selma (11-12 boys). Our TNT group will be well represented by both our eight qualified swimmers, as well as our three coaches, Gary Ota of Selma (All Star Head Coach), Angela Martinho of Tulare (10-under coach), and Caroline Reynaud of Fig Garden (11-12 coach), along with the CCS Age Group Chair, our very own Kim Korenwinder.
A 2012 All Star member at age 11, Preston Niayesh led our team in winning four of his 6 events (100 breast 1:20.51, 100 fly 1:14.51, 200 breast 2:48.29, and 100 back 1:16.75) at the All Star Q meet. He was followed by 14-year old Emily Goodbar who became the event champion in both the 500 free (5:24.29) and 200 IM (2:16.74) events. Our other event champions included 7-year old Ian Belflower (100 fly 1:24.87), 14-year old Kyle Grissom (100 fly 58.18), 9-year old Jackson Huckabay (50 back 36.70), and 11 year old Satoshi Shinkawa who improved 23 seconds in the 500 free (6:12.60) in what may have turned out to be the race of the meet with less than two seconds separating Satoshi, Jonas Huckabay (6:13.17), and JD Koster (6:14.26) in the 500 free event, with all three 11-year old boys swimming in the same heat.
Considering the time of the year, our teams improvement percentage was a respectable 40%, and was led by 11-year old Satoshi Shinkawa who trains in Selma and improved 6 of his 7 events for an 86% improvement rate. Other swimmers who improved 50% or more of their times included: Caolinn Hardy (78%), Skylar Ford (75%), Mark Tiersma (75%), Jimmy Koster (67%), Anna Lehrman (67%), Alex Roberts (67%), Morgan Coddington (63%), Katherine Sullivan (63%), Kyle Grissom (60%), Maya Herrera (57%), Cody Nash (57%), Bre Abell (50%), Justin Bos (50%), Noah Haworth (50%), Jackson Huckabay (50%), Paul Lerro (50%), and Scott Yribarren (50%).