Fourteen TNT swimmers traveled to Southwestern Community College in Chula Vista over the third weekend of December, right before Christmas, to compete at the 2019 Winter Age Group Championships hosted by San Diego Imperial Swimming. Ten of our swimmers performed well enough in the preliminary heats to earn a spot among the top 16 athletes to score for the team, thereby contributing to the team’s 14th place finish.
The top finisher for the team was Porterville’s Nathan Boudreaux who touched 2nd in the 10-under boys 50 yard breaststroke with a time of 38.00, improving nearly two seconds in the preliminary heats. Nathan also touched 5th in the 100 breaststroke, and scored a point in the 50 backstroke by touching 16th in the preliminary heats. Nathan scored 32 points total. At 93 points total, our highest point recipient was 12-year old Michelle Murphy who scored in all nine events she competed in. Her highest finish was a pair of 5th places, one in the 200 backstroke where she improved nearly eight seconds to a 2:22.20, and also in the 200 freestyle where she improved nearly four and a half seconds to a 2:02.14. Michelle was followed in points by 12-year old Addison Mccullough who scored a total of 67 points in eight of her nine events. Her highest place was a pair of 6th place finishes that included the 200 fly (2:28.76), and 100 breaststroke (1:14.78). Both events were well over a three second improvement for her. Our next highest point recipient was Visalia’s Ella Bettencourt who scored in four events for a total of 44 points. Ella, just coming off a successful senior-level Sectional Championship, posted five lifetime best times, including her highest finish of 5th place in the 50 freestyle after posting a time of 24.73 in the championship final heat. Our remaining points from individual events came from Meghan Adams (12 points), Emma Bettencourt (3), Kate Geiger (12), Isabella Klawitter (3), Luke Vanwoudenberg (2), Maryn Vanwoudenberg (3), and Josh Wee (5).
An astounding 81% improvement rate for the team was led by seven swimmers who maintained a 100% improvement rate, and these included: Isabella Klawitter, Landon Mauge, Addison Mccullough, Michelle Murphy, Luke Vanwoudenberg, Maryn Vanwoudenberg and Josh Wee. Also, both Meghan Adams and Vincente Sanchez each improved 80% of their times.