Triton Blog

Thirty-one TNT swimmers traveled south to Bakersfield over the June 7-8 weekend to compete in the long course meet following the close of the school year. Several used this meet as a tune-up for the upcoming June Age Group Invitational that takes place two weeks following.

Our top performer at the meet must go to 10-year old Layla Flores of Visalia who was an event champion in seven of the nine events that she competed in, and placed second in the remaining two events. A Far Western qualifier from earlier this year, Layla won the 100 meter fly (1:33.63), 50 breast (44.99), 50 free (33.57), 100 free (1:13.66), 50 fly (38.73), 50 back (41.41) and 200 IM (3:05.16) events. Other event champions included Danielle Albright who won the 11-12 200 breaststroke (3:08.94) while only 11-years old, Owen Ansel who won both the 200 breast (2:34.77) and 100 breaststroke (1:10.55), along with Janessa Bringe of Visalia who won the 12-under 400 IM (5:56.45).
Sixteen year old Fig Garden swimmer, and USA Swimming Junior National qualifier, Lauren Davis, won the 100 breaststroke (1:21.89), while Katelyn Herrera who won the 13-over 200 fly (2:36.22). Fourteen-year old Jakob Koorey took home the gold in the 200 breaststroke (2:50.47) and 100 breaststroke (1:18.50), and 8-year old Kaden Medeiros swam undefeated winning all three events that included the 50 free (47.64), 100 free (1:45.30), and 50 back (57.03) events. Chris Nolan pulled off an upset in the 100 freestyle (56.49) for the 15-over division, as Visalia’s 13-year old Megan Ridenour remained uncontested in both breaststroke events (3:09.13 in the 200 and 1:24.33 in the 100). Birthday girl Alex Roberts, now 12 years old, finished first in the 50 backstroke, while 12-year old Katherine Sullivan made her first Zone cut after winning the 200 backstroke event in a time of 2:45.63.

The team maintained a 55% improvement rate with four individuals improving 100% of their times. Improvements were led by 12-year old Jillian Gaines of Hanford who entered eight events, and improved all eight. She, along with the Garabedian due of 12-year old Amanda Garabedian and 10-year old Nadia Garabedian, who each improved seven of seven events, teamed with 16-year old Owen Ansel who entered and improved two events, to lead all swimmers in improvement rates. The largest time improvements came from Jillian Gaines and Amanda Garabedian, who each improved over 30 seconds in the 200 freestyle. Other swimmers who improved 50% or more of their times included: Danielle Albright (83%), Desmond Brown (83%), Tristan Gaines (75%), Damian Brown (67%), Benjamin Wheeler (67%), Jakob Koorey (63%), Olivia Garabedian (50%), Chris Nolan (50%), Alex Roberts (50%), and Katherine Sullivan (50%).

Over 480 swimmers competed at the Mike Snyder Memorial meet, and with 44 swimmers TNT represented the third largest team behind Clovis (201 swimmers), Fig Garden (51 swimmers), and just larger than Palo Alto (42 swimmers). Our team placed 2^nd with 741 points, behind Clovis’s 1,769 points, and ahead of Palo Alto (512), MAKO (371), and Fig Garden (309). Two swimmers came away with age-division high point awards, and were led by 10-year old Peyton Costa with 79 points who won eight of his 9 events in the 9-10 boys division, and improved 100% of his times. Mallory Korenwinder was the high point recipient in the 15-16 girls division with 50 points that resulted from wins in four of her six events. A runner-up high point was awarded to 10-year old Toby Jones who accumulated 46 points from winning the 50 breaststroke, and four second place finishes. Third-place high points were recognized as 10-year old Layla Flores who had three wins, two second place finishes, and two third place finishes, and 12-year old Skylar Ford who had two second place finishes, and two third place finishes. These two earned 58 and 44 points respectively.

Other event champions included Janessa Bringe (400 free), Wes Coles (200 free & 100 back), Alonso Escobedo (400 IM, 200 back & 200 IM), Chris Nolan (100 fly), Nathan Rhea (100 breast), Megan Ridenour (100 breast), Taylor Shaw (200 back), and Alexa Wong (50 back)

The 44 TNT swimmers improved two-thirds of all events that were entered prior to the meet. Fourteen of our teammates improved 100% of their times to lead to the 66% team improvement rate. Congratulations to Desmond Brown (improved 6 of 6 events), Peyton Costa (9 of 9), Alonso Escobedo (6 of 6), Layla Flores (8 of 8), Macenzie Garza (1 of 1), Megan Ridenour (3 of 3), Alex Roberts (3 of 3), Seiji Shinkawa (5 of 5), Shoji Shinkawa (4 of 4), Benjamin Wheeler (7 of 7), Brett Wong (2 of 2), Bryan Wong (1 of 1), Bryce Wong (1 of 1) and Jenna Yeates (2 of 2).

Twenty-two TNT swimmers competed at the Fresno IMX long course meet held at the Clovis North facility on May 3rd, and an additional 43 swimmers competed the following day at the JO Max meet in Tulare. Only one team record was set from any of the 65 entered swimmers over the weekend, and that came in the winning time of 1:23.18 by Peyton Costa in the 100 backstroke, thereby posting the 61st fastest time nationally for any 10-year old boy, and which was one of his four first place finishes in that age division at the meet. Jackson Huckabay had set the record as a 1:23.55 at Junior Olympics last summer.

Three additional swimmers came away undefeated in their single age categories while competing at the Clovis meet. Jakob Koorey took home three of three wins for the 14-year old boy’s division (200 breast, 200 fly & 400 IM), while Khole McCarthy was uncontested in the 16-year old division winning the 400 free, 200 back, 200 breast & 400 IM events. Cody Nash entered and won his single event of the 200 breaststroke for the 18-year old male division, and nine-year old Gage Price went home after winning all four of his events (200 free, 100 back, 100 fly & 200 IM).

Other event champions included Danielle Albright (age 11: 100 breast, 100 fly & 200 IM), Skylar Ford (age 12: 100 back), Kyle Grissom (age 16: 200 fly), Toby Jones (age 10: 200 IM), Jimmy Koster (age 16: 400 free & 200 back), and Katherine Sullivan (age 12: 200 IM).

Those improving 100% at the Fresno meet in Clovis included: Danielle Albright (5 of 5), Tristan Gaines (1 of 1), Daniel Haley (3 of 3), JD Koster (2 of 2), Jimmy Koster (2 of 2), Gage Price (2 of 2), and Benjamin Wheeler (3 of 3). Congratulations to Layla Flores, Skylar Ford, Mackenzie Garza, Daniel Haley, Jakob Koorey, JD Koster, Jimmy Koster, Sofia Mora, Gage Price, and Megan Ridenour for entering new long course events.

New events were posted at the short course meet in Tulare by Oscar Basaula (age 6), Allie Benegar (age 11), Bridget Benegar (age 8), Asher Broussard (age 13), Emma Chase (age 6), Ciara Clarke (age 8), Dominic Colvin (age 10), Mallory Colvin (age 6), Jayden Cunningham (age 13), Mackenzie Garza (age 12), Dylan Hunt (age 11), Alyssa Logan (age 11), Makenna Martin (age 12), Kaden Medeiros (age 8), Haylee Metheney (age 11), Alexandra Milliorn-Feller (age 13), Holden Milliorn-Feler (age 10), Nathaniel Miskey (age 10), Parker Princewill (age 8), Mason Storey (age 8), Alexa Wong (age 7), and Jenna Yeates (age 10).
One hundred percent improvement rates from the meet in Tulare came from: Danielle Albright (2 of 2), Allie Benegar (3 of 3 – improving over 20 seconds in the 100 back), Asher Broussard (improving nearly 18 seconds in the 200 IM), Ciara Clarke (2 of 2), Dominic Colvin (2 of 2), Amanda Garabedian (4 of 4), Mackenzie Garza (2 of 2), Morgan Garza (4 of 4), Dylan Hunt (1 of 1), Alyssa Logan (1 of 1), Rylee Lord (3 of 3 – improving over 16 seconds in the 100 fly), Kaden Medeiros (2 of 2), Joseph Oliveira (1 of 1), Parker Princewill (2 of 2 – improving nearly 15 seconds in the 100 free), Alexa Wong (1 of 1), Brett Wong (2 of 2), Bryce Wong (2 of 2), and Jenna Yeates (2 of 2).

Ten year old Visalia swimmer Kylie Walker came away with the most impressive overall performance for any of the eight TNT swimmers attending the 2014 Far Western meet that took place over the first weekend of April in Morgan Hill. She improved three of her five events with the largest drop of over one second in the 100 fly where her time of 1:04.75 was not only a silver medal finish in the event, but is also currently the 9th fastest time posted by any 10-year old girl in the nation. Needless to say, her Far Western swim was an improvement of her previous team record of 1:05.99 that she swam at Junior Olympics two months earlier. Kylie’s other second place finish was in the 50 fly where her time of 29.11 slid under her preexisting record of 29.31 that she set at Junior Olympics, and her current time also stands as the 9th fastest nationally. Her final time improvement, and new record, also resulted in a championship final. Kylie swam 1:00.50 in the 100 freestyle, once again going under her preexisting record of 1:00.78 from JO’s, and finishing 8th in that event. This time currently ranks 64th nationally. She rounded out her four finals with a 27.60 in the 50 freestyle, a time that was enough for a 5th place finish at the meet.

Two additional individuals set team records, both in the 10-under boys division with one resulting in a championship final that fielded ten swimmers. Peyton Costa improved three of his ten events, the 100 back by a margin of over three seconds. The 1:11.29 earned a spot in the top-10, where he moved from 10th to 9th, and went well under Jonathan Granada’s 1:13.34 that he posted as the previous team record at the Selma meet back in 2009. Peyton’s time stands as the 223rd fastest nationally.

Visalia swimmer Benjamin Wheeler had one of the highest improvement percentages at the meet, improving three of his four events, the largest in the 500 freestyle where he improved by over 16 seconds. His time of 6:06.32 was well under the previous team record set four years ago by Alonso Escobedo at the Arizona meet as a 6:10.63. Benjamin’s time stands as the 260th fastest for any 10-year old in the nation.

Three of our swimmers improved 100% of their times, and the improvement rates were led by Toby Jones who improved six of six events, the largest drop of nearly 19 seconds in the 200 IM being the largest improvement by any TNT swimmer at the meet. Toby’s highest place was 18th in the 100 breaststroke. Danielle Albright qualified at the bottom of the age group, and improved her single event (50 breaststroke), and finished 35th there. Visalia Swimmer Janessa Bringe competed in two events, and improved by nearly five seconds in the 500 free. Her highest finish was 36th in the 200 fly. Visalia team mate Layla Flores improved two of three events. Her highest finish was 29th in the 100 breaststroke, while Selma swimmer Madison Pallares had her highest finish as 50th in the 50 breaststroke event.