Ten TNT swimmers competed at the 2019 Spring Sectional meet held over the last weekend of February in Carlsbad, California, and half of our team earned a second swim at the meet. Our highest place was a championship swim, and 10th place finish in the 100 breaststroke where Preston Niayesh posted a time of 56.74 to reflect our team’s highest place. Following closely was an 11th place finish by Garrison Price who won the consolation heat with a time of 1:50.09 in the 200 fly, and improved nearly two seconds in the event. Two additional swimmers scored in the consolation heat (top 20) by placing 19th, and these included Danielle Albright’s 1:04.86 in the 100 breaststroke, and JK Koster’s 1:53.34 in the 200 fly. Our remaining points came in the bonus heat where Bryce Wong, making his first appearance to the Spring Sectional meet, touched 29th with a time of 1:55.29 in the 200 fly.
Visalia’s Layla Flores had her highest place at 72nd in the 50 free (24.46) while her training partner, Mackenzie Garza, touched 50th in the same event (24.25). Visalia’s Lauren Geiger, now competing for Fresno Pacific, touched 106th in the 100 fly (58.86), and Selma’s Jonas Huckabay had his highest finish at 76th in the 200 free (1:45.10). At age 14 Bryan Wong was our youngest competitor, and he finished 39th at his best in the 400 IM (4:08.97).
Bryan Wong was our only swimmer to set 13-14 year old team records at the meet, and he did this in three events, beginning with his time of 4:41.01 in the 500 free by improving nearly five seconds. This falls well under his 4:45.93 record he set at the Winter Age Group meet this past December, and currently stands as the 42nd fastest nationally for boys at age 14. He then posted a time of 4:08.97 in the 400 IM to claim a new team record that was previously set at 4:13.18 by Nathan Rhea while competing at Winter Sectionals in 2009. This new record currently stands as the 43rd fastest nationally. Finally, by improving nearly a full second in the 200 breaststroke, Bryan posted a time of 2:09.80 and improved his Winter Age Group record of 2:10.70, and becomes the 49th fastest swimmer in the nation for the event, and age.