One hundred nineteen TNT swimmers were among the total 193 who competed at the Raisin Age Group Invitational at Selma High School over the third weekend of September, marking the second short course swim meet of the new season, and three swimmers came away winning all events they competed in.
Visalia’s 12-year old, Layla Flores, competed in eight events, and came away unchallenged in all eight. Layla is our premier 100 meter backstroker who established herself as the fastest long course swimmer in the event for the history of the team when she competed in Utah this last summer where she set the team record for the 11-12 age division. She continues to prove herself as not only the fastest on the team, but the fastest at the meet, and not only in backstroke, but also establishing herself as a well-rounded athlete by winning all eight events.
Selma’s eight-year old Lucas Huckabay also competed in eight total events, two of them for the very first time (100 back & 200 IM), and one of those in the 10-under division (200 IM), and he still managed gold-medal performances in all events. Lucas also improved over 13 seconds in the 200 freestyle, swimming a time of 2:31.07 as an 8-year old. He is one of the few 8-under swimmers fast enough to post times on our TNT All-Time Top 100 lists for the 10-under division.
Our final sweeping performance came from 10-year old Alexa Wong who also competed in a full slate of events, and established her dominance, winning all eight. She also improved 7 of her 8 swims, the largest being over 11 seconds in the 200 IM, marking what could be a pivotal, or break-through, meet for her. Alexa has a summer birthday (June), and she is already posting times that rank among the top 10 for the team, sitting within three to four seconds from some of our team records.
Ten-year old Nicholas Vassylenko came away winning seven of his eight events, and earned a second place in his remaining one, and Nicholas was one of 25 swimmers to improve 100% of their times; his largest improvement being over 11 seconds in the 100 IM. Bryan Wong came home with the next highest number of wins, swimming to a first place finish in five of his eight, and improving over 42 seconds in the 200 IM. Other event champions included: Sienna Abernathy (winning the 100 back), Danielle Albright (100 & 200 breast), Alonso Escobedo (200 back), Noah Haworth (100 fly), Logan Huckabay (50 fly), Tanner Kelm (50 breast & 200 free), JD Koster (200 fly), Cody Nash (100 & 200 breast), Jade Perez (100 back), and Sydnee Wilson (50 breast & 100 fly).
The top 8 swimmers scored in each event, and besides those who were event champions, these included: Eric Amador, Maguire Barteau, Ella Bettencourt, Drew Black, Nathan Boudreaux, Dylan Burr, Jonna-Lee Bush, Devon Cardoza, Duncan Champagne, Ciara Clarke, Ciena Clarke, Morgan Coddington, Dante Corasco, Jasmine Corpuz, Elias Dean, Colin Duffy, Jillian Duffy, Gabriela Durtra, Nadia Garabedian, Mackenzie Garza, Lauren Geiger, Noah Gutierrez, Daniel Haley, Caolinn Hardy, Noah Haworth, Jackson Huckabay, Jonas Huckabay, Sydney King, Isabella Klawitter, Carlos Lopez, Rylee Lord, Makayla McGuire, Michael Mendoza, Bella Navarretti, Sophie Nelsen, Preston Niayesh, Ava Olson, Tyson Phillips, Joshua Ramirez, Megan Ridenour, Alex Roberts, Ivan Rodriguez, Micah Ruiz, Delbert Salvadalena, Satoshi Shinkawa, Clara Shinn, Ethan Unruh, Addia Watson, Chesney Watson, and Jacob Wheeler.
Congratulations also go to the following swimmers who improved 100% of their times: Edmond Aguinaldo, Precious Aguinaldo, Ella Betencourt, Ella Bettencourt (yes – two different swimmers), Connor Bruton, Devon Cardoza, Ciara Clarke, Elias Dean, Lorelei Dean, Colin Duffy, Kate Geiger, Toby Jones, Genoveve Mcilwaine, Jaden O’Bosky, Edward Miguel Ong, Taylor Phillips, Tyson Phillips, Parker Princewill, Ivan Rodriguez, Edward Rodriquez, Luke Vanwoudenberg, Maryn Vanwoudenberg, Nicholas Vassylenko, Matthew Wheeler, and Bryan Wong.