Nearly 400 swimmers competed at the Dowain Wright Memorial swim meet hosted at the Bullard High School pool in Fresno over the November 18th – 19th weekend where 72 TNT swimmers were the third largest team at the meet, and who contributed to the team’s 2nd place finish behind Clovis, and ahead of Fresno Dolphins. This was our final swim meet moving into the winter championship-level meets that include the Winter Age Group Championships in San Diego, Husky Invitational in Washington state, and Junior Nationals in Idaho.
Two of our swimmers came away with High Point recognition within their respective age and gender divisions. These went to Visalia’s Carson Clarke who came home with the plaque for the 6-under boys division by scoring 27 points. Carson was the event champion in three of his four events that included the 50 free (51.01), 25 free (22.53), and 25 back (25.15). Tule Nation Tritons is also proud of our runner-up in the division. Hanford’s James Lady was the next highest point getter at the meet in the division. Our only other high point recipient was Drew Black who was uncontested in six of her seven events at the meet, winning the 100 free (1:02.99), 50 breast (39.02), 200 IM (2:34.78), 100 fly (1:09.81), 50 back (33.96), and 100 IM (1:16.18) events. Tule Nation Triton swimmers were the top two point-getters in this division as well with Lemoore’s Michelle Murphy scoring only two points behind Drew among 24 athletes in the division. Michelle was the event champion for the 50 fly (33.83), 100 back (1:19.76), and 50 free (30.86) events.
Other High Point runner-ups included Ava Olson in the 11-12 girls division who was the event champion for the 200 IM (2:28.07), and her Selma counterpart, William Butts who was the 11-12 boy’s runner up, and event champion in the 50 back (33.77). Additional event champions at the meet included Visalia’s 12-year old Ella Bettencourt (50 fly – 30.46), Visalia’s 16-year old Janessa Bringe (400 IM – 5:01.15, 200 fly – 2:17.66 & 200 IM – 2:20.50), and her team mate, 14-year old Layla Flores (50 free – 25.73 & 500 free – 5:26.99), 7-year old Regan Hildreth (50 breast – 48.78), Visalia’s 16-year old Megan Ridenour (500 free – 5:43.58), and Selma’s 12-year old Chesney Watson (500 free – 5:42.23).
Eleven TNT swimmers maintained a 100% improvement rate for 50-yard events and longer, and this recognition goes to: Carson Clarke (1 of 1), Shannell Flores (3 of 3), Kate Geiger (6 of 6), Daniel Haley (6 of 6), Regan Hildreth (4 of 4), James Lady (1 of 1), Rita Rasner (3 of 3), Clara Shinn (2 of 2), Liam Shinn (3 of 3), Chesney Watson (4 of 4), and Ava Wofford (2 of 2). A welcome goes to Alexis Bilotti, Spencer Eastman-Gmez, Danielle Hager, Gabrielle Mendoza, Noah Ortega, Sebastian Ortega, and Reece Phillips for posting all new times with the team.