Twenty TNT swimmers competed at the 2016 Winter Age Group Championships held on Coronado Island in San Diego over the December 17-19 weekend with 559 of the total 753 points generated from individual events led by twelve year old Bryan Wong who was not only the teams sole event champion, but took home the gold in three of his eight events, placing second in the 500 free (5:22.18), and third in three additional events (100 free – 57.16; 200 IM – 2:19.47 & 200 free – 2:02.40). Rounding out a sixth place finish in the 100 fly (1:04.54), Bryan was a championship (top-8) finalist in all events that he participated in, and thereby contributed a total of 138 points to the team total. His three first place events were also new team records, beginning with the 31.71 that he swam in the 50 breaststroke event. His time slid under Preston Niayesh’s 31.98 that stood as the previous team record set at the Tulare meet three years earlier in 2013. Bryan’s new record stands as the 95th fastest nationally for swimmers at age 12. Establishing himself as a breaststroker, Bryan went on to set the team record in his next gold medal event, the 100 breast where his time of 1:09.22 ranks 120th nationally, and shaved .05 seconds off of Preston’s previous record of 1:09.27, being the only two TNT male swimmers to go under the 1:10 mark. Bryan previously held the 200 breaststroke record, most recently setting it at the Tulare meet earlier in the month as a 2:36.64, but now in his final gold-medal performance, falls well under that time to a 2:30.99, and placing himself as the 83rd fastest 12-year old male in the nation for the event to date.
Our next highest point contributor was Alexa Wong who also placed in the championship (top-8) heat for nine events that she participated in, scoring a total of 131 points. Her highest finish was the 2nd place in the 100 butterfly (1:11.69), and she followed that with a pair of 3rd place finishes that included the 50 fly (32.09), and 50 free (29.17) events, as well as a pair of 4th place finishes that included the 200 IM (2:36.14), and 100 back (1:12.19), and a pair of 5th place finishes that included the 100 free (1:04.22), and 200 free (2:19.55). Her final two events paired up for 6th place finishes, and included the 50 back (34.73), and 100 IM (1:13.16).
Gage Price was the next highest point getter at 77 points generated by championship swims in four of his events. Gage’s top place was 5th in the 200 back (2:23.04), and he followed that performance with a pair of sixth place finishes that included the 50 back, (31.32) and 100 back (1:06.33) events. His final top-8 finish was 7th in the 100 fly (1:05.45). Additionally, Gage finished top-16 in three other events that included the 100 free (10th), 50 fly (9th), and 500 free (9th) events. Selma’s Sydnee Wilson was one of three swimmers to improve 100% of their times, and she also had three championship swims that included a pair of 4th place finishes for both the 50 fly (32.51) and 100 breaststroke (1:23.35) events, and a 5th place finish in the 50 breast (37.78). Her remaining top-16 scoring swims include the 200 IM (14th), 100 IM (15th) and 50 free (9th). Selma’s Sienna Abernathy was our next highest point contributor with 54, and she did this with three top-8 finishes that included a pair of 6th places for the 100 free (1:06.83), and the 50 free (29.96), and a 7th place finish in the 200 free (2:25.52). Sienna also finished 10th in the 50 fly, and 9th in the 100 fly. Visalia’s Daniel Haley would be next in points at 41, while finishing 6th in the 12-under 200 butterfly event with a time of 2:35.76. Daniel had five additional scoring events that included the 200 back (13th), 100 free (16th), 50 back (9th), 100 back (10th) and 500 free (10th) events. Drew Black made her first appearance at the meet, and had a top-8 finish with a 7th place in the 50 fly (33.56), and also scored in the 100 free (16th), 50 back (13th), and 100 back (12th). Another double digit scorer was Selma’s Lucas Huckabay who scored in four individual events that included the 100 free (15th), 200 free (11th), 100 back (12th) and 50 free (10th). Bryce Wong was one of three 100% improvement swimmers, and our only other double digit winner, scoring in the 100 fly (11th) and 100 back (12th). Our remaining scorer in individual events was Ava Olson who finished 10th in the 200 fly.
Our remaining swimmers, along with their highest placed event, includes Aidan Champagne (50 breast – 30th), Duncan Champagne (50 breast – 20th), Ciara Clarke (50 breast – 29th), Diego Gutierrez (100 free – 30th), Isaac Gutierrez (100 breast – 43rd), Xavier Gutierrez (200 breast – 29th), Addison Mccullough (100 fly – 17th), Micah Ruiz (200 back – 23rd), Benjamin Wheeler (200 back – 25th), and Brett Wong (200 back – 31st). Addison Mccullough was one of only three individuals to improve 100% of their times.