Ten TNT swimmers have, or will be competing at their respective college conference meets as the college swim season nears its end. Our swimmers are currently competing in the states of Mississippi (Katelyn Herrera – Delta State), California (Wesley Coles – Fresno Pacific, Matlyn Morris – Fresno Pacific, Bre Abell, Fresno Pacific, Haley Baker – Biola, Lauren Davis – UOP, Chris Nolan – UC Santa Barbara, and Kyle Grissom – USC), and Pennsylvania (Matthew Tashima – Saint Vincent College).
Katelyn Herrera attends her first conference championship meet swimming for Delta State at the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference Championships (NSISC) that takes place over the week of February 17-20. Katelyn scored 22 points with a championship swim, and 8th place finish, in the 1000 freestyle swimming 10:40.03 in the event, being the third Delta State swimmer in the race. She went on the finish 13th in the 400 IM, improving over three seconds to a 4:41.57 during the preliminary heats, and then shaving off hundredths during finals for a 4:41.52. She is the top seed in the consolation heat for the 500 free after swimming 5:08.71 in the preliminary heats.
Wesley Coles is competing for Fresno Pacific in his senior year, and swam at the Pacific College Swimming Conference (PCSC) Championships over the February 12-15 week. Wesley had a 3rd place finish in the 500 free with a time of 4:32.28, as well as a third place finish in the 200 free with at time of 1:39.23 after swimming 1:39.07 in the preliminary heats. He was the event champion, being the only swimmer at the meet to go under the 1:50.00 mark with a 1:49.50 in the 200 fly.
Matlyn Morris joined Wesley as she returns from multiple injuries, and scores by finishing sixth in the B-final of the 50 free with a time of 24.45, and seventh in the B-final of the 100 free where she swam a time of 53.35. She makes the A-final in the 100 back swimming a time of 58.68 and finishing seventh there. Fresno Pacific women finished fifth at the meet behind UC San Diego, Cal State East Bay, Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine.
In her second year of collegiate swimming for Fresno Pacific, Bre Abell earned second swims in the scoring C-final of the 50 free swimming 24.84 and finishing 6th in that heat. Her highest place was third in the B-final of the 200 free where she swam 1:56.15 there. She also scored in the C-final of the 100 free where her 53.63 was enough for a 5th place finish.
A former Hanford TNT swimmer, Haley Baker, also competed at the PCSC meet for Biola, and finished 33rd while competing in the D-final in the 50 free with a time of 25.61, and swam to a C-final in the 200 free after swimming 1:58.97 in the preliminary heats. She also swam 54.54 in the 100 free D-final
Lauren Davis, competing in her first year for the University of the Pacific (UOP), has made the travel team for the University, and competes at the MPSF Championships that runs from February 17th to 20th. She squeezed into the C-final in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:07.75, and is currently seeded 14th in the 200 breaststroke.
Joining Lauren at the MPSF Championships is Chris Nolan competing for UC Santa Barbara, and who is seeded 1st in the 200 fly with his time of 1:46.81. Chris did move from 16th in the preliminary heats of the 500 free where he swam 4:36.07 to 15th during finals in the event. He held on to a championship seeding in the 100 fly swimming a lifetime best of 48.81 going into finals in 8th place.
Cody Nash is currently competing at the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Championships for Wilmington College, and he earned a 3rd place finish in the B-final of the 500 free with a time of 4:57.20 after being seeded 21st in the event. He is the 2nd highest scoring Wilmington swimmer for the 500 free. He was seeded 13th in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:03.61, and then swam 1:01.35 in the preliminary heats to go into the B-final heat in 2nd. Cody is seeded 9th in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:19.11.
Matthew Tashima competed at the President’s Athletic Conference (PAC) Championships for Saint Vincent College during his second year of collegiate competition, and his conference meet concluded on February 13th where he finished 2nd in the B-final of the 50 free with a time of 22.02, and 4th in the B-final of the 100 fly with his time of 54.11. His highest finish was 3rd in the A-final of the 100 free as a sophomore, swimming 47.68 there, and being the second fastest Saint Vincent swimmer in the event. Saint Vincent finished 4th at the meet.
Kyle Grissom’s Pac-12 Championships are scheduled for March 2nd through 5th as he competes for the University of Southern California (USC).