Representation in finals, and team point accumulation from individual events, was led by Bryan Wong who earned second swims in four of his six events, and posted a championship final swim in the 400 IM where his 3:56.95 touched fast enough for a bronze medal finish in the event. His swim was also a new team record, improving from his previous record of 3:59.45 set in December 2020 during the midst of the pandemic. His new record currently stands as the 40th fastest nationally for male swimmers of age 17. Bryan also earned a second swim in the 200 breaststroke event with a time of 2:02.04 that finished 12th in the event. His time once again fell under a record that was previously his at a 2:02.26 set this past December at Junior Nationals in Texas. Bryan went under his previous record during both swims (prelims and finals). His new record currently ranks 49th nationally among male swimmers at his age. His other events that earned a swim in finals included the 200 IM (18th, 1:52.69), and the 100 breaststroke (13th, 56.14). Our next swimmer who earned a second swim was Ava Olson who swam a 4:24.55 in the 400 IM event, posting a lifetime best, and finished 14th. Finally, Alexa Wong touched 28th in the 200 fly after posting a lifetime best of 2:04.24 in the preliminary heats, and swimming under arguably one of the longest standing records what was established by Lynnie North as a 2:04.34 back in 1993 during a swim meet in the Fig Garde Racquet Club swimming pool. Alexa’s new team record currently ranks 45th in the nation for girls at age 15.
The TNT Spring Sectional Team for this year was composed of eight TNT swimmers representing towns of Coalinga, Visalia, Hanford, and Tulare who competed over the first weekend of March in Carlsbad, California. Three swimmers of our team performed well enough in the preliminary heats to earn a second swim in one of two final heats for their respective events.
Besides the brother-sister duo of Bryan and Alexa Wong, Michelle Murphy also re-established team records, and she did this in two of her four events, while also being our youngest swimmer competing in Sectionals at fourteen years old. Michelle first posted a time of 5:04.20 in the 500 freestyle, which was nearly a 15-second improvement, and swam under Ava Olson’s previous team record of 5:04.98 set at the same meet two years earlier in 2020. Michelle’s new record stands as the 76th fastest nationally for girls at age 14. Her second record was in the 200 freestyle, where she posted a time of 1:54.63 in the event, which slid under the previous record set by Samantha Goates in 2004 as a 1:54.71. Michelle’s new record stands at the 153rd spot nationally for girls at the same age. Two of our swimmers improved 100% of their times, and these included Kate Geiger who trains out of Visalia, and Addison Mccullough. All eight TNT swimmers competing at Sectionals posted times in our team’s All Time Top-100 list, and they included Ella Bettencourt, and Gage Price.