Five of our nineteen TNT swimmers were among the 307 total athletes who attended the Merced Halloween meet over the fourth weekend of October came home with High Point distinctions, accumulating enough points from their combined events to place first, second or third in their respective age divisions. Two of our swimmers took home the top honors, and these included 11-year old Danielle Albright with 56 points, outplacing the next 11-12 swimmer by three points. Danielle was the event champion in three of the eight events she swam over the weekend, including the 50 breaststroke (34.29), 100 breaststroke (1:12.89) and 100 IM (1:09.41) events. Our other first place high point went to Selma’s Jeremiah Santillana who outscored the next 15-over contender by eleven points. Jeremiah was also the event champion in three of his eight events, winning the 100 fly (59.72), 50 free (24.34) and 100 back (1:01.46) events.
Visalia’s stand-out swimmer, 10-year old Layla Flores, went home as our only 2nd place high point recipient for the 10-under division, outscoring the 3-place by 13 points. Layla matched the largest number of 1st place finishes on our entire team, winning four of her eight events, and was our only swimmer to place second in all her remaining events, thereby accumulating the most points for any TNT swimmer. Layla won the 100 free (1:02.92), 100 back (1:13.01), 100 IM (1:12.28) and 500 free (6:24.05) events. Two of our swimmers were recognized as the third place high point recipients, and these included 12-year old Katherine Sullivan who edged out the next competitor by one point, and was the event champion in 100 back (1:07.47), 200 IM (2:30.52), 100 fly (1:07.97) and 50 back (31.67) events. Hanford’s Tristain Gaies was the other 3rd place high recipient, outplacing his next competitor by nine points, and doing so by winning the 1000 freestyle event (11:29.44). He had a second place finish in the 100 back (1:06.91) and four third place finishes including the 100 breast (1:14.50), 100 fly (1:02.25), 50 free (25.06) and 200 IM (2:21.20) events.
Other event champions included Peyton Costa who won the 11-12 boys 1000 free (12:02.46), and Alex Roberts who won the 11-12 girls 200 free (2:16.41). Two swimmers improved 100% of their times at the meet, and this feat was accomplished all by Hanford swimmers, including 7-year old Drew Black, 8-year old Kate Frost, 10-year old Nathan Hunt, 9-year old Isabella Klawitter, and 13-year old Matthew Ross. Both 11-year old Dylan Hunt and 12-year old Katherine Sullivan maintained the next highest improvement rate at 75%. Congratulations to all.