Twenty TNT swimmers competed at the June Age Group Invitational in Ventura over the third weekend of June, and two of our swimmers came away as event champions in their respective swims. Fourteen year old Janessa Bringe of Visalia took home the first gold, swimming 9:50.26 in the 800 freestyle on day one, and improved nearly 25 seconds in the events to do it. Janessa scored in two additional events, and these included an 11th place finish in the 400 free (4:46.31) and 13th place finish in the 200 fly (2:41.91). Thirteen year old Danielle Albright was our only other event champion, and she did this in the 11-14 200 meter breaststroke event, improving nearly two seconds to a 2:45.38 there. Daniella also placed 2nd in the 100 breast (1:16.77), 3rd in the 400 IM (5:20.94), 5th in the 200 IM (2:33.08), 6th in the 200 free after swimming 2:15.90 in the preliminary heats, and 7th in the 400 free after swimming 4:44.91 in the preliminary heats.
A total of 16 swimmers scored in individual events, and these included Visalia’s Ella Bettencourt who placed 12th in the 10-under 50 back, as well as her training partner from Visalia, Ciara Clarke who finished 11th in the 10-under 100 back, 9th in the 50 back and 14th in the 50 free. Visalia’s Layla Flores finished in top-16 spots in all but one event, her highest finish being a pair of 4th places in the 50 back and 50 breaststrokes, and she finished 5th in the 100 breaststroke. She also finished 8th in the 100 back, and 14th in the 200 IM. Her training partner from Visalia, Mackenzie Garza finished 4th in the 50 free, and 10th in the 100 free, while their training partner, Lauren Geiger, finished 16th in the 200 back. Twelve year old Gage Price scored in two of his events, and these included the 13th place in the 100 back, and 16th place in the 50 back. Visalia’s Megan Ridenour doubled up her finals by finishing 3rd in the 100 breast, and 5th in the 200 breast, while Alex Roberts doubled up in the 13-14 division with a 14th place in the 100 back, and 15th place in the 100 fly. Katherine Sullivan also doubled up, and her scoring events included a 12th place in the 200 fly, and 14th place in the 400 IM. Ten year old Alexa Wong scored in every event she swam, and these included a 4th place in the 50 fly, 8th place in the 100 fly, 9th place in the 200 IM, 10th place in the 50 free, and a pair of 11th place finishes that included the 200 free and 100 free events. Twelve year old Bryan Wong finished 3rd in the 50 breaststroke, 5th in the 100 breast, 14th in the 200 IM and 16th in the 100 free, while his brother, Bryce Wong, finished 10th in the 13-14 200 IM event.
Twelve year old Peyton Costa highlighted record-breaking performances, and was the runner up in the 11-12 200 IM, placed 4th in the 100 back, 5th in both the 50 back and 100 free, and 6th in the 400 free. Peyton came away from the meet with five new team records in the 11-12 boys division, beginning with his 1:12.36 in the 100 backstroke which fell well under Parker Giles’s 1:15.08 he set as the record during Junior Olympics in 2012. Peyton’s time currently stands as the 138th fastest nationally for 12-year old boys. His next record was in the 200 IM where he posted a 2:31.84 and resetting one of our longest standing records set by coach Jason Ricablanca, and set at Pacifica in 1994 as a 2:36.30. This time stands as the 74th fastest nationally. Next, Peyton swam a 1:03.03 in the 100 free and this time slid under Jackson Huckabay’s 1:03.05 that he had set as the record last year at JO’s. This time ranks 159th nationally. Peyton’s medley relay lead-off swim of 33.11 is also a new team record for the 50 meter backstroke, and this time falling under Kyle Grissom’s previous record of 33.87 that was set at JO’s in 2010. Finally, Peyton swam the 200 meter backstroke event, solidifying a record that had been shared between two other swimmers throughout the year. Gage Price had set the record as a 2:46.78 at the Clovis meet last month, and now Peyton falls well below that standard with a 2:37.96 by improving his time over 15 seconds, and establishing a time that stands as the 129th fastest nationally for his age.
Ava Olson had our team’s only other record-breaking performance, and she had her highest finish as 4th in the 100 fly where she broke a team record with a time of 1:20.07, sliding under Kylie Walker’s 1:20.11 that she set as the record while competing at Zones in 2013. Ava’s new record stands as the 66th fastest nationally for girls at age 10. Ava also finished 5th in the 50 fly, 8th in the 200 IM, 12th in the 200 free, and 16th in the 100 free.
Three team relay records were established at the meet, highlighted by the 13-14 girls’ team of Alex Roberts, Danielle Albright, Janessa Bringe and Mackenzie Garza swimming a time of 2:09.10 in the 13-14 200 meter medley relay, sliding under the team record of 2:09.73 previously held by Mia Newkirk, Mallory Korenwinder, Emily Goodbar and Bre Abell at Junior Olympics in 2011. The highlight comes in the fact that this record is also under the CCS record set in 2013 as a 2:09.59. The new record is the 12th fastest time posted by any set of four girls in the nation to date. Two additional relay team records were set at the meet, both by the same set of four boys: Peyton Costa, Bryan Wong, Gage Price and Daniel Haley. These four swam 5:02.07 in the 400 medley relay, and 2:16.05 in the 200 medley relay, and placing 3rd at the meet in both.
Others competing at the meet included Libby Adriaansen who had her highest finish as 25th in the 13-14 100 breaststroke, Visalia’s Daniel Haley whose highest finish was 22nd in the 11-12 100 back, 15-year old Garrison Price who finished 23rd in the 200 fly, and 17th year old Blake Wong whose highest place was 39th in the 100 breaststroke. Those swimmers improving 100% of their times included: Libby Adriaansen, Ella Bettencourt, Ciara Clarke, Peyton Costa, Daniel Haley, Ava Olson, Garrison Price, Alex Roberts, Alexa Wong, Bryan Wong and Bryce Wong.