Twenty two TNT swimmers competed at the 2013 San Diego Imperial Winter Age Group Championships in late December, where six team records were set, four event champions, one relay win, and 40 swims earning team points in finals that contributed to a team placing of 8th among nearly 40 teams, were only a handful of the highlights defining this successful meet.
Point accumulations were led by ten year old Danielle Albright, and Visalia’s ten year old Kylie Walker with each swimming to a final heat in nine and eight events respectively, earning 146.5 and 135 points from their individual events.
Danielle Albright took home wins in the 50 breaststroke and 500 freestyle events, where her 500 free resets her previous team record of 5:55.66 to a 5:47.12, and a time that currently stands as the 10th fastest nationally. Although not a team record, her 34.33 in the 50 breaststroke is the second fastest time posted in California to date within this reporting cycle, and stands as the 5th fastest nationally. Danielle also finished 3rd in the 200 IM, and broke the team record in that event with her time of 2:32.06. Her previous record was set at the Tulare meet in October and the new record is the 71st fastest time posted nationally for a 10-year old girl. Her final record came in the 4th place finish of the 200 free, where her time of 2:15.62 slides under Skylar Ford’s previous record of 2:16.53 that was set at Junior Olympics in February of 2013. This new record ranks 80th among 10-year old girls in the nation. Danielle also placed 5th in the 100 free (1:04.63), 2nd in the 100 breast (1:15.05), 2nd in the 100 IM (1:11.48), 6th in the 200 breast (2:45.98), and 6th in the 50 free (29.62).
Kylie Walker came home with wins in both the 100 fly (1:08.49) and the 50 back (33.46) events. Her second place finish in the 50 fly resulted in being the first 10-under female TNT swimmer to go under 30 seconds in the event, breaking a team record that was set by Skylar Ford at the Tulare meet last year as a 30.06. Kylie’s 29.41 currently stands as the 6th fastest nationally for girls at 10. Kylie also swam to a 6th place finish in the 50 breast (37.45), 3rd place finish in the 100 free (1:03.45), 3rd place finish in the 100 IM (1:11.45), 3rd place finish in the 100 back (1:12.68), and a 2nd place finish in the 50 free (28.01).
A team record-breaking performance also came in the 10-under boys 50 backstroke event where Peyton Costa set his first team record with a 33.77 which is under the record of 33.96 that Jonathan Granada had set at the Selma meet four years ago in April of 2009. Peyton’s time ranks 200 among boys across the nation at age 10. Peyton also placed 7th in the 50 fly (32.45), 7th in the 200 free (2:19.57), 8th in the 50 free (29.00), and 10th in the 500 free (6:14.96).
Additional finalists included Janessa Bringe who finished 8th in the 200 fly (2:29.43) that resulted from a time improvement of over 15 seconds, 14th in the 400 IM (5:18.42), and 14th in the 500 free (5:46.96). Visalia swimmer Skylar Ford placed while still on the bottom of the age group, finishing 5th in the 50 fly (29.17), 8th in the 50 back (31.62), 16th in the 100 back (1:09.29), and 16th in the 50 free (27.34). Ten year old Toby Jones came home with finals from his 6th place finish in the 50 breast (39.71), and 7th place finish in the 100 breast (1:25.66), while Preston Niayesh, also on the bottom of an age group, finished 5th in the 100 breast (1:07.23), 13th in the 100 fly (1:00.69), 4th in the 200 breast (2:24.20) improving nearly 14 seconds, and 13th in the 200 fly (2:17.13). Megan Ridenour of Visalia swam to multiple finals that included a second place finish in the 50 breast (33.22), a 2nd place finish in the 100 breast (1:13.11) and a 15th place finish in the 50 fly (30.61). Selma Swimmer, Satoshi Shinkawa, is another one of our athletes competing at the bottom of the age group, and he finished 11th in the 200 fly with a time of 2:16.63. Our final top-16 swimmer was ten year old Benjamin Wheeler who scored with a 14th place finish in the 500 free (6:30.25).
Our winning 10-under 200 freestyle relay time of 2:02.52 was composed of Toby Jones (who split 30.58), Benjamin Wheeler (31.86), Tomas Contreras (34.01) and Peyton Costa (26.04). These boys also placed 2nd in the 200 medley relay (2:22.20), and 3rd in the 400 free relay (4:38.24) with Daniel Haley replacing Tomas Contreras. Our top scoring female relay was the 11-12 girls 200 medley relay team of Katherine Sullivan (34.98), Megan Ridenuor (br-33.81), Skylar Ford (fly-29.56) and Janessa Bringe (fr-29.33) combining for a 2:07.68 and a 6th place finish. These same girls finished 10th in the 400 free relay (4:17.20). The girl’s 200 free relay, where Priscilla Niayesh replaced Katherine Sullivan, finished 8th and a time of 1:54.15.
Our remaining athletes along with their highest placed event who also competed at the meet include: 16-year old Justin Bos (32nd in the 100 fly – 58.48), 10-year old Desmond Brown (21st in the 50 breast – 45.70), 10-year old Tomas Contreras (11th in the 50 breast – 42.89), 13-year old Quinton Davis (48th in the 200 free – 2:11.05 and 100 free – 57.42), 10-year old Layla Flores (12th in the 100 breast – 1:27.09), 15-year old Lauren Geiger (21st in the 100 fly – 1:04.93), 9-year old Daniel Haley (23rd in the 500 free – 7:00.19), 14-year old Jacqui Koster (21st in the 100 breast – 1:17.27), 13-year old Madison McCarthy (19th in the 100 back – 1:06.35), 11-year old Priscilla Niayesh (34th in the 100 breast – 1:23.17), 11-year old Alex Roberts (36th in the 100 back – 1:13.26), and 11-year old Katherine Sullivan (20th in the 400 IM – 5:28.73).
