Thirteen TNT swimmers competed in the 2019 Kevin Perry Senior Meet hosted this year by the La Mirada Armada swim team, and three of our swimmers performed well enough in the short course preliminary heats to move on to the consolation heat of long course finals during a meet that offered three heats in finals. (Yes, prelims were short course, and finals were long course.) The meet was host to over 1000 swimmers over the last weekend of October. To reflect the magnitude of the meet, several events fielded 200 to nearly 400 athletes, and included former Olympians such as Cristian Quintero, along with other swimmers from USC, Cal Berkley and UC Santa Barbara to name a few teams present.
Our highest performance was from 15-year old Bryan Wong who won the consolation heat of the 400 IM by posting a lifetime best meter swim of 4:38.91, improving nearly three seconds, and doing that after posting a lifetime short course best of 4:03.99 in the same event during the preliminary heats. His final (long course) swim was a new team record, swimming under Chris Nolan’s 4:40.56 that was set at Sectionals in 2014. This is currently the top time in the nation for 15 year old males with only 17 times posted nationally, considering the long course season is yet to come. Bryan also finished 12th in the 200 IM after posting a lifetime best of 1:53.87 in the short course preliminary heats where he once again set a team record. There he went under JD Koster’s 1:55.06 set at the very same meet, and same pool, last year. This time currently stands as the 16th fastest nationally for 15-year olds. He then touched 13th in the 200 breaststroke after again posting a lifetime best of 2:05.39 in the short course preliminary heats.
The next highest finish was the 14th place posted by Danielle Albright in the 100 breaststroke. She swam 1:04.57 during the short course preliminary heats, and then 1:16.89 during the long course consolation final heat. Bryce Wong posted his lifetime best of 1:53.28 during the short course 200 fly event, and then touched 16th in the consolation heat of the event with a time of 2:13.50 (long course).
Another other team record-breaking performance was in the 200 yard butterfly by thirteen year old Alexa Wong who posted a time of 2:08.49 to finish 44th in the event. She just slides under Emily Goodbar’s previous team record of 2:08.62 set at Far Westerns in 2012. Another highlight of the meet was the lead-off performance of Ella Bettencourt in the 200 meter freestyle relay. Ella posted a time of 28.20 during the long course swim, and established her first Sectional time standard.
Remaining swimmers, along with their highest placing event, include: Layla Flores (100 free at 29th), Alex Roberts (100 back at 32nd), Ava Olson (400 IM at 48th), Drew Black (200 fly at 100th), Gage Price (100 back at 112th), Peyton Costa (500 free at 125th), Luke Vanwoudenberg (100 back at 149th), and Kate Geiger (50 free at 240th).