Forty-nine TNT swimmers competed at the summer long course Junior Olympics during the last weekend of July in bringing the team to a second place finish behind Clovis Swim Club. Our overall team performance was supported by ten champions of individual events. The team total was led by the only TNT swimmer with three individual event wins, that being Visalia’s Layla Flores who, while on the bottom of the 13-14 girls age division, went uncontested in the 100 back where she swam a time of 1:11.40, the 200 backstroke (2:33.06), and the 200 IM (2:32.80). At 142 points from individual events, Layla was our team’s highest contributor to the overall team point accumulation.
Our gold-medal performances went to Sienna Abernathy who was the winner of both the 10-under 50 meter freestyle (31.66), and the 100 meter freestyle (1:08.83). Her 100 free time is now a new team record that stands as the 65th fastest nationally for girls at age 10, and went under her own previous record of 1:09.11 that was set at the Clovis meet one month earlier. Sienna also set a new team record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:31.28, and this one went under Alexa Wong’s previous record of 2:32.88 set at the June Age Group Invitational, just one month earlier. Her new record now stands as the 98th fastest nationally for the age.
Ten year old Drew Black came home with two wins, and hers also resulted in two team records. Her 1:20.00 in the 100 meter breaststroke was the fastest in that event, and her time went under Ava Olson’s previous record 1:20.07 set at the June Age Group Invitational one year earlier. Drew’s new record stands as the 135th fastest nationally for girls of the same age. Her second gold-medal performance was in the 50 backstroke, where her time of 37.17 fell under Ciara Clarke’s previous team record of 38.22 that was set last year at the very same meet. Drew’s time in this event ranks 138th nationally, and was the only other team record from the meet.
Libby Adriaansen came home with a gold medal, and hers was in the 15-over 200 meter breaststroke where her 3:06.01 was posted as the fastest time in the event. Porterville’s Nathan Boudreaux, at age eight, had his first long course experience be Junior Olympics, and he took home the gold in the 8-under 50 breaststroke after swimming a time of 51.83 in the time-based final. Peyton Costa had his win while on the bottom of the 13-14 division, and he did this with an impressive time of 58.44 in the 100 meter freestyle event. Selma’s Celeste Madrigal made her first appearance as a TNT swimmer, and her performance resulted in becoming the champion of the 15-over 50 meter freestyle with a time of 29.04. Her training partner in Selma, Kylie Walker was a double winner of the 13-14 girls division in both the 100 meter butterfly (1:08.44), and the 50 meter freestyle (28.50), while our brother duo of Bryan and Bryce Wong combined for three wins in the family. At age 13, Bryan took home the gold in the 13-14 400 free (4:28.44), while Bryce went uncontested in both the 100 back (1:08.06), and 200 backstroke (2:28.88) events.
Our remaining athletes, and their highest place-finish include: Ella Bettencourt (8th: 11-12 50 back & 50 fly), Ciara Clarke (6th: 11-12 50 fly), Ciena Clarke (11th: 8-under 50 free), Cody Coles (2nd: 10-under 50 fly), Tyler Coles (9th: 13-14 100 back), Laney Cox (55th: 11-12 100 free), Riley Duffy (19th: 11-12 50 fly), Emma Enquist (16th: 15-over 50 free), Ethan Enquist (24th: 15-over 100 free), Jillian Gaines (15th: 15-over 400 free), Diego Gutierrez (3rd: 13-14 200 IM), Isaac Gutierrez (6th: 15-over 100 breast), Xavier Gutierrez (30th: 13-14 100 free), Daniel Haley (7th: 11-14 1500 free), Jackson Huckabay (2nd: 11-14 400 IM), Logan Huckabay (2nd: 8-under 50 fly), Lucas Huckabay (2nd: 10-under 50 free), Nathan Hunt (5th: 11-12 50 back), Ashton King (15th: 15-over 100 back), Isabella Klawitter (14th: 11-12 400 free), Madalynn Lady (17th: 10-under 100 breast), Addison Mccullough (5th: 10-under 200 IM), Genoveve Mcilwaine (11th: 13-14 100 breast), Raquel Mecum (27th: 10-under 50 breast), Caroline Mendyk (10th: 11-12 100 breast), Michelle Murphy (5th: 10-under 50 back, 50 free, 50 fly), Ava Olson (5th: 11-12 100 fly, 100 breast), Caleb Peltzer (29th: 15-over 50 free), Jade Perez (9th: 8-under 50 free), Tyson Phillips (27th: 10-under 50 back), Emelia Rasner (10th: 10-under 50 back), Joseph Ross (4th: 11-12 50 free), Katherine Sullivan (2nd: 15-over 200 fly), Chesney Watson (5th: 11-14 1500 free), Alexa Wong (7th: 11-12 100 fly), Brett Wong (5th: 15-over 200 IM, 50 free).