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14 NEW LONG COURSE SWIMMERS

Jun 192018

Seventy seven TNT swimmers competed at the long course meet typically held at the Reedley pool, but moved to the Clovis North complex, in late April. This two day event was an introductory meet with respect to long course swimming for fourteen of our athletes. Congratulations to Edmond Aguinaldo for posting five new long course times, along with his sister, Precious Aguinaldo who swam her first two events as a 10-year old. Visalia’s Carson Clarke has to be one of the youngest competitors at the meet, swimming his first event at age 7. He’s supported by his training partner in Visalia, 9-year old Shannell Flores who posted four new times. Although having competed for Sun Prairie Storm in Wisconsin as her first long course experience in 2016, Dasha Lester posted two new times with our club during this meet. Lucas Mcmunn made his debut in the 50 meter freestyle, posting a B-time right out of the shoot. Omolara Omolou also posted a B-time in one of her three events, but also achieved an A-time in 50 freestyle event for her age division. The brother duo of Edward Miguel Ong and Hayden Ong combined to compete in four new long course events at the meet, while the sister-brother duo twins of Abigail Rodriguez and Ivan Ridriguez combined a total of five new events. Ten year old Danny Rodriguez not only competed in a total of five new long course events during the meet, but was one of only three TNT swimmers who remained undefeated in events, and he did so by winning five of his five events. Finishing among the top three in all five of her events was 12-year old Mikayla Rodriguez, who also posted brand new times in all five events. Finally, age-counterpart, Josh Wee swam his first long course meet, by also competing in five new events.

The vast majority of our swimmers had previously recorded times with the team, and sixteen of them managed to improve 100% of the events they competed in. The improvements were led by two Lemoore swimmers who competed in the maximum allowable eight events, and improved all of them. These included Madalynn Lady and Michelle Murphy, both of whom recently attended the Short Course Far Western Championships. Perfect performances also came from Nathan Boudreaux (improving 1 of 1 events), Audrena Butts (improving 3 of 3), Riley Carpenter (4 of 4), Gabriela Dutra (3 of 3), Kate Geiger (4 of 4), Audrey Gutierrez (4 of 4), Kaylee Hicke (1 of 1), Noah Hoy (3 of 3), Jojo Mecum (3 of 3), Raquel Mecum (3 of 3), Delbert Salvadalena (2 of 2), Luke Vanwoudenberg (2 of 2), Alexa Wong (4 of 4), and Brett Wong (2 of 2).

Koster, Niayesh & Ridenour Final at 2018 Mesa Pro Swim

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Apr 192018

The USA Swimming Pro Swim Series is an sequence of six meets across the country beginning in January at the University of Texas, then moving to Georgia, then Mesa, Indiana, Santa Clara, and finally at Ohio. This series of meet brings together the top swimmers and coaches from across the United States, and often include Olympic-level athletes from around the world. These meets are arguably the first opportunity for our TNT swimmers to attend a swim meet that is televised.

This year, after a year of no qualifiers, TNT returned to the Mesa meet with our four Winter Junior National qualifiers, along with Mallory Korenwinder, to compete at the venue in Arizona. Besides the championship, and televised, performance of Mallory Korenwinder (who finished 8th in the 50 meter breaststroke), three of our four remaining swimmers earned a second swim in either the C or D final. After Mallory, JD Koster was our next highest finisher with a 17th place touch in the 20 meter butterfly during finals where he swam nearly three seconds faster than his preliminary swim. JD was a two-time finalist, also finishing 32nd in the 50 meter butterfly. Our next highest finisher was Visalia’s Megan Ridenour who won the D-final of the 50 meter breaststroke with a time of 34.25. Preston Niayesh was our other dual-finalist, and he finished 30th in the 200 breaststroke, and then 31st in the 50 breaststroke. Danielle Albright highest place was 39th in the 200 meter breaststroke.

FOUR FINAL AT FAR WESTERNS

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Apr 182018

Pacific Swimming’s Far Western Championships is considered one of the most prestigious age group competitions across the country due to its history, and has served as an initial testing stage for many top performing age group athletes in past years who went on to become some of the top swimmers in the world. It is a meet that fields only the top eight (ten in this year’s case) athletes from each event for a championship final heat, with no consolation or bonus final. This year, Tule Nation Tritons had four of our fifteen swimmers earn a spot among the top ten performers in their respective events at the meet that took place in the Santa Clara International Swim Complex over the first weekend of April.

Our finalists were led by 13-year old Bryan Wong who shared in the highest place of anyone on our team, and also earned a final swim in two of his events, doing both of these while competing at the bottom of the 13-14 age division. Bryan’s highest finish was 4^th place in the 13-14 200 yard breaststroke event, where he posted a time of 2:14.08 as a lifetime best by over a second during the first day of the meet, and then finished the meet with his other final, that resulting from a nearly nine second improvement in the 400 IM by swimming a time of 4:14.98 in the final heat (also posting his lifetime best 100 fly along the way as a split). The only team record that was broken at the meet also belonged to Bryan, who posted a time of 2:02.94 in the 200 IM, and placed 15^th in the event, surpassing his own previous record of 2:03.37 that he set at the Junior Olympics just two months earlier. His time currently stands as the 88^th fastest nationally for boys at age 13.

Our next highest finisher was 16-year old Garrison Price who posted a time of 52.04 in the 100 fly, and finished 4^th. Sixteen year old Bryce Wong scored in the 15-16 200 fly by swimming a time of 1:56.86, and finishing 7^th there, while Visalia’s 16-year old Janessa Bringe scored with an 8^th place finish in the girls 1000 yard freestyle by improving nearly seven seconds to a 10:44.70 in the event.

Remaining swimmers with their highest place finish include Visalia’s Ella Bettencourt (age 12) who finished 18^th in the 50 breaststroke, Drew Black (age 11) who finished 53^rd in both the 50 and 100 fly, Selma’s William Butts (age 12) finishing 45^th in the 50 fly, Peyton Costa (age 14) finishing 17^th in the 500 free, Visalia’s Layla Flores (age 14) finishing 15^th in the 200 IM, Visalia’s Mackenzie Garza (age 16) finishing 28^th in the 100 free, Selma’s Lucas Huckabay (age 10) finishing 11^th in both the 200 free and 50 free, Lemoore’s Madalynn Lady (age 10) finishing 27^th in the 50 back, Lemoore’s Michelle Murphy (age 10) finishing 14^th in the 100 free, Ava Olson (age 12) finished 25^th in the 200 fly, and Alexa Wong (age 11) who finished 43^rd in the 400 IM.

Congratulations to Drew Black, and the Selma duo of William Butts and Lucas Huckabay who were our only swimmers to improve 100% of their times while at the meet.

MILESTONE FOCUS AT SWAGR

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Mar 272018

Eight TNT swimmers representing five of our six current towns competed at the 2018 SWAGR meet in Clovis, many of whom are focused on the Far Western Championships two weeks hence. Selma’s 11-year old Sienna Abernathy maintained a 100% improvement rate, and had as her highlight event a 14-second improvement in the 500 yard freestyle where her time of 5:42.76 just missed the Far Western standard by .07 seconds while still on the bottom of the 11-12 age division. Visalia’s 12-year old, Ella Bettencourt, is already a first-time Far Western qualifier, but she added to her Far Western schedule by achieving a new cut in the 100 yard freestyle after swimming 58.30 in the event, and improving by nearly a full second. Drew Black is another swimmer who already has Far Western cuts, and she posted a time of 59.11 in her 100 freestyle, just missing a new event for Far Westerns by a mere .62 seconds. Another swimmer who is knocking at the door of Far Westerns is Selma’s 13-year old, Tyler Coles, who improved nearly four seconds in the 200 backstroke to post a time of 2:08.09, which is now within a second of the Far Western time standard (only .8 seconds away), and while still on the bottom of the 13-14 age division. Layla Flores is probably the most veteran of our Far Western qualifiers who attended the SWAGR meet, and will be attending Far Westerns, and her highlight event was a new Sectional time standard achieved in the 100 yard breaststroke where she posted a time of 1:07.24 in the event as the event champion. Hanford’s 11-year old Thomas Matthews is another swimmer to keep an eye on for next year’s Far Western’s since he is now well within range of qualifying in four events (50 fly, 50 back, 100 fly & 100 back) after swimming 2 seconds from the standard in each 50, and 4 seconds from the standard in each 100 yard event. Lemoore’s Michelle Murphy already has a full schedule of qualified events at Far Westerns, but still, her 8-second improvement in the 200 IM to a 2:40.99 is a new cut, and in one of her off events. Finally, 11-year old Alexa Wong entered only two events into SWAGR, with clear intent of achieving new Far Western cuts in both events, and she did just that by improving over two seconds in the 200 IM (2:22.84), and nearly 19 seconds in the 400 IM (4:57.69).

Far Western Championships takes place at the Santa Clara International Swim Center over the first weekend of April.

MALLORY KORENWINDER & KYLE GRISSOM COMPETE AT D1 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Mar 272018

Our very own Mallory Korenwinder competed at her first Division 1 NCAA Championship meet in March of 2018 at the University of Ohio, in Columbus as a collegiate sophomore. She competed in the 100 yard breaststroke where she had her highest finish at 27th, as well as the 200 yard breaststroke, and 200 medley relay for the University of Arizona (Pac-12). The women’s NCAA meet took place one week prior to the men’s D1 NCAA championship where our Kyle Grissom competed in the 200 freestyle relay for USC.

DANIELLE ALBRIGHT SWIMS TO CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS AT SPRING SECTIONALS

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Mar 242018

Five of seven TNT swimmers earned second swims at the 2018 Spring Sectional Championships over the first weekend of March in Carlsbad, and 15-year old Danielle Albright led the group with the only championship swim, marching out from the ready-room in the 100 yard breaststroke where she posted a time of 1:04.89 in the preliminary heats for an 8^th place finish into finals. In a meet that recognized the top 30 in one of three heats, Danielle also came home with a C-final swim in the 400 IM where she posted a time of 4:34.94 in the preliminary heats.

Visalia’s Megan Ridenour had the next highest place on the team, with her 1:05.15 swim in the 100 breaststroke finals which was enough for a 15^th place finish there. Megan maintained one of the highest improvement rates, bettering two of her three events. Alonso Escobedo competed in five events at the meet, improved three of them, and earned a second swim in the B-final of the 400 IM where he swam 4:09.53 in the preliminary heats, and then posted a life-time best in finals with a 4:07.33 for a 17^th place finish. Visalia’s Mackenzie Garza was our only swimmer to maintain a 100% improvement rate, bettering both of her events, and finishing 19^th in the 50 freestyle after posting a time of 24.07 in the preliminary heats. JD Koster was our only other finalist, and he did this in the 400 IM after swimming a time of 4:09.90 in the prelims, and then finishing 20^th in the B-final.

Preston Niayesh had his highest finish as 39^th in the 100 breaststroke (59.87), while Selma’s Jonas Huckabay touched 94^th in the 500 free (4:58.98).

FLORES & RIDENOUR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL AT CLOVIS

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Mar 242018

Eleven TNT swimmers competed at the Juanita Allington Memorial Swim Meet over the last weekend of February, and six of our swimmers performed in scoring position within individual events. Our two top performers who earned championship swims both finished in 5^th place, and included Visalia’s 14-year old Layla Flores who improved nearly eight seconds in the 400 IM to post a time of 4:38.78 after improving over five seconds in the preliminary heats. Her Visalia training partner, and Junior National qualifier, 17-year old Megan Ridenour posted a time of 1:05.74 in the 100 yard breaststroke, and finished 5^th in that event. Both swimmers scored in two events, with Layla finishing 16^th in the 200 IM (2:14.09), and Megan finishing 12^th in the 200 breast (2:25.85).

Thirteen year old Bryan Wong was the only other swimmer with two scoring swims, and he did this with two 14^th place finishes, one in the 200 breast where he posted a lifetime best of 2:15.20, and the 100 breast where he swam a time of 1:02.54. Our other scoring swims came from Visalia’s Mackenzie Garza who finished 13^th in the 50 free (24.57), Brett Wong who finished 18^th in the 50 free (22.56), and Selma’s Jonas Huckabay who finished 20^th in the 1650 freestyle (17:58.97).

Other finalist included Visalia’s Janessa Bringe (100 fly & 200 IM), Peyton Costa (200 back, 400 IM, 100 back, & 100 breast), and Bryce Wong (100 back). Selma’s Jackson Huckabay had his highest finish as 43^rd in the 200 IM, while 12-year old Ava Olson finished 85^th in the 200 IM as our youngest competitor at the senior-level meet.

TNT PLACES 4th AT JUNIOR OLYMPICS

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Mar 242018

Nearly 700 swimmers representing thirty-one teams competed at the short course Junior Olympics in Clovis over the third weekend of February, and 29 of those teams scored at the meet with Tule Nation Tritons earning 1,812.5 points to finish 4^th behind Santa Barbara Swim Club (1,874 points), Ccat Swimming (2,111), and Clovis Swim Club (4,423). Clovis fielded 107 swimmers to TNT’s 51, Santa Barbara’s 47, and Ccat’s 42.

Individual events accounted for over 1,200 points of the team total point accumulation, and these came from 37 of our swimmers earning scoring positions in one or more events, and led by Lemoore’s 10-year old Michelle Murphy’s 129 individual point total, earning a final swim in all eight individual events she competed in, and winning the 10-under 50 yard freestyle event after posting 28.81 for her time. In addition to being named one of two CCS Swimmer of the Year recipients from TNT, Michelle was also one of only five TNT swimmers to become event champions at the meet. Joining Michelle are Visalia’s Layla Flores who won the 13-14 100 back (59.99), 50 free (25.18), and 200 back (2:11.50). Selma’s Logan Huckabay was an event champion at age seven who won the 8-under 50 fly (37.60), and his brother Lucas Huckabay was our team’s second highest point getter at 128 points, who won the 10-under 200 free (2:15.51), 50 free (29.01), and 100 free (1:02.61). Like Michelle, Lucas also earned a second swim in all eight events he entered. Fifteen-year-old Bryce Wong was our only other event champion who won the 15-18 100 breast (1:02.90) and 100 free (50.50).

Only one other swimmer earned a point total in the triple-digits, and that was Lemoore’s Madalynn Lady, who at 113 points was the only other TNT swimmer to score in all eight events entered. Thirty-four additional swimmers scored in individual events, and these included: Logan Huckabay (81 points), Ella Bettencourt (78), Layla Flores (77), Ava Olson (75), Ciara Clarke (50), Drew Black (48), Nathan Boudreaux (47), Chesney Watson (47), Bryan Wong (47), William Butts (43.5), Bryce Wong (40), Daniel Haley (38), Alexa Wong (38), Sydnee Wilson (28.5), Peyton Costa (27), Regan Hildreth (21.5), Tyler Coles (20), Danny Rodriguez (18), Dasha Lester (17), Ashton King (12), Thomas Matthews (12), Sienna Abernathy (9), Drew Johnston (6), Ciena Clarke (5), Sophia Rubalcaba (5), Dylan Hunt (4), Cody Coles (3), Raegan Greiner (3), Jaxon Hoover (3), Landon Mauge (3), Maguire Barteau (2), Kate Geiger (2), Mikayla Rodriguez (2), Emelia Rasner (1).

A single team record was broken at the meet, and this record was re-established by 13-year old Bryan Wong who posted a time of 2:03.37 in the 13-14 boys 200 IM, finishing 3^rd in the event, but setting the fastest time on record for the history of our team. The previous record was set by Kohlton Norys at age 14 at the same Junior Olympics in 2004 when Bryan was about two months old. Bryan’s time currently stands at the 70^th fastest nationally for boys at age 13.

Sixteen of our swimmers maintained a 100% improvement rate, and these included Drew Black (improving 9 of 9 events that included a relay lead-off), Lucas Huckabay (improving 8 of 8), Madalynn Lady (8 of 8), Ciara Clarke (8 of 8), Thomas Matthews (7 of 7), Layla Flores (4 of 4), Danny Rodriguez (4 of 4), Bryan Wong (3 of 3), Regan Hildreth (3 of 3), Bryce Wong (2 of 2), Xavier Gutierrez (2 of 2), Nathan Hunt (2 of 2), Luke Vanwoudenberg (2 of 2), Jillian Duffy (1 of 1), Isaac Gutierrez (1 of 1), Ayla Morgan (1 of 1). Additionally, thirteen other swimmers maintained an improvement rate above the 71% team average, and these include: William Butts (88%), Sydnee Wilson (88%), Drew Johnston (88%), Dasha Lester (86%), Chesney Watson (83%), Sienna Abernathy (83%), Sophia Rubalcaba (83%), Genoveve Mcilwaine (80%), Michelle Murphy (75%), Ava Olson (75%), Alexa Wong (75%), Nathan Boudreaux (75%), and Duncan Champagne (75%).

BRYAN WONG SETS TEAM RECORD AT GOLDEN WEST SENIOR MEET

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Mar 242018

Eleven TNT swimmers traveled to Golden West College in Huntington Beach to compete in the long course day of the February 17^th weekend, and 13-year old Bryan Wong is providing a preview of what’s to come when the long course season is in full swing later this summer. At only our second long course meet in the year, Bryan set a new team record while on the bottom of the 13-14 age group in the 200 meter freestyle by posting a time of 2:05.03 which was well below Kohlton Nory’s 2:06.39 that was set as the previous team record in Bakersfield back in 2004. Being an unusually early time for a long course meet, Bryan’s time is currently posted as the second fastest out of 102 total swims nationally for boys at age 13.

Although there were no event champions from TNT, JD Koster came away with the highest finish on the team as 2^nd in the 200 meter individual medley after posting 2:15.54 in the event, and in fact all three of his swims were top-8 finishes that included a 4^th place in the 100 meter fly (59.85), and 7^th place finish in the 200 fly (2:13.96). Our senior team also came away with a pair of 3^rd place finishes that included Alonso Escobedo’s 200 IM (2:16.09), and Preston Niayesh’s 100 meter breaststroke (1:08.51). Additionally, Preston placed 5^th in the 200 meter breast (2:33.69), and Alonso also placed 8^th in the 200 meter free (2:03.22). Our 13-year old, Bryan Wong, came away in 4^th place in the 400 IM (4:56.61) while competing amongst senior swimmers that represented countries such as Korea. Other top-8 finishers included the 5th place finish of Danielle Albright in the 200 meter breaststroke (2:50.33), and the 8^th place finish of Visalia’s Megan Ridenour in the 100 meter breaststroke (1:18.52).

Brett Wong, who was our only swimmer to improve 100% of his times, had his highest finish as 10^th in the 100 free (56.44), while Visalia’s Mackenzie Garza placed highest in 14^th while competing in the 50 free (28.58). Bryce Wong came in 16^th as his highest place in the 200 IM (2:23.08), while Visalia’s Janessa Bringe touched 17^th as her highest place in the 100 fly (1:11.26). Peyton Costa was our final swimmer, who placed 29^th in the 400 free (4:37.54).

2018 Short Course JO Last Chance Meet

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Mar 242018

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