Nearly 700 swimmers representing thirty-one teams competed at the short course Junior Olympics in Clovis over the third weekend of February, and 29 of those teams scored at the meet with Tule Nation Tritons earning 1,812.5 points to finish 4th behind Santa Barbara Swim Club (1,874 points), Ccat Swimming (2,111), and Clovis Swim Club (4,423). Clovis fielded 107 swimmers to TNT’s 51, Santa Barbara’s 47, and Ccat’s 42.
Individual events accounted for over 1,200 points of the team total point accumulation, and these came from 37 of our swimmers earning scoring positions in one or more events, and led by Lemoore’s 10-year old Michelle Murphy’s 129 individual point total, earning a final swim in all eight individual events she competed in, and winning the 10-under 50 yard freestyle event after posting 28.81 for her time. In addition to being named one of two CCS Swimmer of the Year recipients from TNT, Michelle was also one of only five TNT swimmers to become event champions at the meet. Joining Michelle are Visalia’s Layla Flores who won the 13-14 100 back (59.99), 50 free (25.18), and 200 back (2:11.50). Selma’s Logan Huckabay was an event champion at age seven who won the 8-under 50 fly (37.60), and his brother Lucas Huckabay was our team’s second highest point getter at 128 points, who won the 10-under 200 free (2:15.51), 50 free (29.01), and 100 free (1:02.61). Like Michelle, Lucas also earned a second swim in all eight events he entered. Fifteen-year-old Bryce Wong was our only other event champion who won the 15-18 100 breast (1:02.90) and 100 free (50.50).
Only one other swimmer earned a point total in the triple-digits, and that was Lemoore’s Madalynn Lady, who at 113 points was the only other TNT swimmer to score in all eight events entered. Thirty-four additional swimmers scored in individual events, and these included: Logan Huckabay (81 points), Ella Bettencourt (78), Layla Flores (77), Ava Olson (75), Ciara Clarke (50), Drew Black (48), Nathan Boudreaux (47), Chesney Watson (47), Bryan Wong (47), William Butts (43.5), Bryce Wong (40), Daniel Haley (38), Alexa Wong (38), Sydnee Wilson (28.5), Peyton Costa (27), Regan Hildreth (21.5), Tyler Coles (20), Danny Rodriguez (18), Dasha Lester (17), Ashton King (12), Thomas Matthews (12), Sienna Abernathy (9), Drew Johnston (6), Ciena Clarke (5), Sophia Rubalcaba (5), Dylan Hunt (4), Cody Coles (3), Raegan Greiner (3), Jaxon Hoover (3), Landon Mauge (3), Maguire Barteau (2), Kate Geiger (2), Mikayla Rodriguez (2), Emelia Rasner (1).
A single team record was broken at the meet, and this record was re-established by 13-year old Bryan Wong who posted a time of 2:03.37 in the 13-14 boys 200 IM, finishing 3rd in the event, but setting the fastest time on record for the history of our team. The previous record was set by Kohlton Norys at age 14 at the same Junior Olympics in 2004 when Bryan was about two months old. Bryan’s time currently stands at the 70th fastest nationally for boys at age 13.Sixteen of our swimmers maintained a 100% improvement rate, and these included Drew Black (improving 9 of 9 events that included a relay lead-off), Lucas Huckabay (improving 8 of 8), Madalynn Lady (8 of 8), Ciara Clarke (8 of 8), Thomas Matthews (7 of 7), Layla Flores (4 of 4), Danny Rodriguez (4 of 4), Bryan Wong (3 of 3), Regan Hildreth (3 of 3), Bryce Wong (2 of 2), Xavier Gutierrez (2 of 2), Nathan Hunt (2 of 2), Luke Vanwoudenberg (2 of 2), Jillian Duffy (1 of 1), Isaac Gutierrez (1 of 1), Ayla Morgan (1 of 1). Additionally, thirteen other swimmers maintained an improvement rate above the 71% team average, and these include: William Butts (88%), Sydnee Wilson (88%), Drew Johnston (88%), Dasha Lester (86%), Chesney Watson (83%), Sienna Abernathy (83%), Sophia Rubalcaba (83%), Genoveve Mcilwaine (80%), Michelle Murphy (75%), Ava Olson (75%), Alexa Wong (75%), Nathan Boudreaux (75%), and Duncan Champagne (75%).